A few weeks back we met a woman at the Burien Farmers Market who claimed to know a lot of things about the missing SeaTac man Nicholas Francisco, last seen Feb. 13th leaving his workplace in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

But we don’t like to print speculation or gossip, so we didn’t go with it.

She knew that his wife had filed for divorce, and she said a few things that raised more than just one eyebrow – all before we read anything like that in the local press.

But we’re not going to print any of those speculative things here yet…sorry.

However, we will tell you that the mainstream Seattle media is reporting that Nicholas’ wife Christine, 28, has indeed filed for divorce, citing “willful abandonment that continues for a period of time” and a “history of acts of domestic violence … or an assault or sexual assault which causes grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm” as her reasons.

Christine has a daughter, 4, and a son, 2, and is also pregnant.

More information here, and much more forum-style speculation here and here.

Sometimes it’s fun to read the Craigslist “Missed Connections” and follow the fascinating storylines of all our rascally neighboring humanoids, and this last week was no exception.

We first found this ad on May 28th on seattle-tacoma craigslist > south king > missed connections:

How was your trip to Maui??? - w4m - 25 (SeaTac)

We met at at an airport parking place in Seatac on May 19th.

I was going to Disneyland and you were going to Maui.

You helped my daughter and I out with our luggage.

If you remember me, please let me know!

Then, a few days later, came this rather interesting rebuttal:

Hi,

You posted this for my husband.

His trip to Maui went fine, I was a day late due to a conference.

Why do you want to know how his trip went?

You must be the lady he mentioned when we were in Hilo.

He said you have a nice looking daughter and thought that you may have adopted her.

He said you stared at him plenty.

Mrs. Jake B.

SEATAC – Autopsy results indicate that the imprisoned director of a Thai museum in Bangkok died of natural causes at the SeaTac Detention Center (first reported here).

According to a spokeswoman for the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Roxanna Brown passed away from “peritonitis,” an infection caused by a perforated gastric ulcer.

The 62-year-old Brown, a U.S. citizen, died around 2:30am Wednesday while being held for further investigation.

Brown was the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand. Investigators accused her of allowing collectors to overstate the value of art donated to several Southern California museums and claim tax deductions.

Authorities arrested Brown last week while she was in Seattle visiting relatives. She was charged with one count of wire fraud.

Maggie Ogden, a spokeswoman for the Federal Detention Center, said Brown was booked May 9.

She said all inmates coming into the facility are screened by medical staff, but she declined to speak specifically about Brown’s case.

Brown’s death is under investigation, she said.

SOURCE:

• Seattle P-I

SEATAC – A renowned Asian antiquities expert, indicted in Los Angeles in connection with a federal investigation into illegal trafficking of pilfered Southeast Asian art, has died in custody at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.

Roxanna Brown, the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand, was found dead around 2:30 a.m., said FDC spokeswoman Maggie Ogden.

Brown was arrested at her hotel last Friday as she prepared to have dinner with colleagues from the University of Washington, where she was scheduled to speak Saturday, according to news reports.

Ogden said the cause of Brown’s death is under investigation. Brown had complained of being ill after her arrest and her scheduled appearance before a U.S. magistrate Monday was postponed because she didn’t feel well. Emily Langlie, the spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle, said Brown was able to appear in court Tuesday and that her extradition to Los Angeles to answer the charges was pending.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, the Los Angeles prosecutor heading the illegal antiquities investigation, said Brown was “one of many targets” of the probe. He declined to say how her death would affect the investigation.

Brown, 62, who lived in Bangkok, was indicted on a single count of wire fraud for allegedly allowing her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms of items donated to museums. Those appraisals, according to court documents, were inflated so that the donors could claim fraudulent tax deductions.

SOURCE:

• The Seattle Times

Found on seattle-tacoma craigslist > seattle > rants & raves:

Hey, it’s cool if you don’t make a lot of money and have to scrimp and save just to get by, I get that. I don’t make a ton of money either.

I had to pay a ton of money to go on my vacation with my family, and with two small kids, trust me, it’s pretty crazy travelling.

So, I forget things sometimes. But why is it that if you ever forget and leave something on an Alaska Airlines flight, you can write it off as gone. Do you guys think that just because something is in the seatback pocket, it’s yours???

Do you honestly think that I WANTED you to have my fricking iPod that I spent 6 months saving up for?????

My kids loved listening to the playlist I made for them in the car, and now they can’t thanks to you.

Jerks. You guys have a lost and found. If you find something valuable left on a plane, turn it in.

Email: pers-659423238@craigslist.org