Wasting Time with the Internet Lurker: May 2007

Well ladies and gentleman another week has passed and it is time to do some wasting of time. However this is not a lite and happy post. This is one of intrigue and suspicion. You see some time ago the Lurker had attended a fest, a party if you will, and a discussion of Carvel Ice Cream came up. We did a little frivolous searching and watched some wonderful old videos. It was all a good time until the party took a dark and foreboding tone. Possible murder, greed, and mystery was suddenly revealed to us all.
Today the Lurker brings you the usual fare but he brings you the case of Tom Carvel.

To begin Carvel Ice Cream stores has been a staple in the northeast for just about ever. You would walk into the stores and walk out with a ice cream cake in the shape of a whale. The commercials were even more campy. You would see some floating cake with a hideous voiceover and then you would hear the gravely voice of Mr. Carvel.
According to the wiki entry he was possibly murdered. I reprint the text below:

Tom Carvel died in Pine Plains, Dutchess County, New York in 1990 and is buried with his wife Agnes in an outdoor grave in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, which is only a couple of miles away from the spot where he began selling ice cream in 1929.
Pamela Carvel, a niece of the late Tom Carvel, is not convinced that her uncle died of natural causes 17 years ago in his upstate New York home. She thinks he was slain -- killed because he realized employees had been stealing millions from his company. A private investigator for the niece says the doctor whose name is on Tom Carvel's death certificate has admitted he can't recall signing it -- and the handwriting that appears on another part of the document and explains how Carvel died does not appear to be his.
Pamela wants to have Carvel's body exhumed for a posthumous autopsy.
Pamela and other relatives have long suspected Tom Carvel was drugged or suffocated by someone he thought was stealing money from him. His death sparked a complex and still-pending battle over his estate, stemming largely from questions about money Carvel had earmarked for donation to children's charities. Pamela Carvel suspects an untold amount was stolen instead of going to those charitable causes.
As one might expect when there are millions of dollars involved, the charges and countercharges through the years have included accusations that Pamela Carvel was herself trying to steal from the Carvel estate after her uncle's widow, Agnes, died in 1998.
Pamela Carvel says his death occurred one day before he had planned to fire two veteran employees he had suspected of stealing from him. Her uncle died as she was heading back to New York at his behest to help investigate how he suspected his ice cream empire was being systematically embezzled.
While the timing of his death was suspicious, it took a back seat to the family's grief. No autopsy was performed, and Tom Carvel was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Westchester County.
Subsequently, there were more and more suspicions of financial chicanery and missing money.
Carvel's estate is said to be worth about $80 million to $250 million.

Spooky!!!! Now for some supplemental information

Commercials

The icon himself Cookie Puss

The new mascot who has a bit of a TUDE'

Now what have we learned? Do not become a millionaire because of ice cream because your workers will kill you. So next time you bite into a crunchy ice cream cake remember the blood is on your hands um....fork...as well.