Officials in Ohio were investigating two men after a social media prank that involved zombie decorations and a frozen pond caused a stir.
Fox 6 Now reported Monday that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was investigating the incident after one man posted pictures of fake disfigured heads and limbs on Facebook. The man said he had stumbled upon real bodies on a frozen pond in Clermont County.
However, the Sycamore Township men were using zombie decorations for the hoax. The station reported they used the props from their zombie nativity scene, which went viral late last year.
“We had a little zombie figure and threw him in the pond and we thought we needed to take a picture of it and post it on my buddy (Dustin Smith’s) Facebook page,” Jasen Dixon told Fox 6 Now. “He pretended he was camping at East Fork and ran across a body frozen in the ice. We messed with people and everyone was falling for it.”
Someone who saw the photos called the police and authorities contacted Smith, who initially hung up on police thinking it was someone pulling a prank on him.
Officer Matt Kruse from the Natural Resources Department told the station that the case was under investigation, but wouldn’t elaborate on the possibility of charges for Smith and Dixon.
East Fork Lake had been the site of some search missions by police. A 16-year-old boy’s body was recovered from the lake in July.
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