Entry One: INTRODUCTION

My brother, Russell Buchan is shown on the home page gaily enjoying a lobster feast among friends. His mood on the night of January 20, 2001 was not as joyful, the food not as festive. Russell and I had stopped at a Shoney’s in St. Petersburg for a late night snack. In separate cars, we had just left visiting our mother in the nursing home. Mom had been removed from life support, a feeding tube to her stomach. This decision was made after her health turned progressively worse and operative procedures would be required to prolong her life. At eighty-five, it was not recommended to perform the required extensive surgical procedures. Mother had been placed on a feeding tube the prior April after a series of heart attacks. Initially, when the feeding tube had been removed, medical personnel told us mother would pass away in 48 to 72 hours. That was a week ago.

As we shared a cup of coffee, I soon realized that Russell’s torment was not because of my mother’s condition. It was fear that his masterful plan to take total control of my mother’s estate might be foiled. He feared that his years of planning and manipulation, perhaps he had left a stone unturned.

My mother’s estate would be valued at $3,500,000. Russell wanted it all. Our father had passed away in April 1994. Most of the family’s property holdings were held jointly and upon my father’s death, all assets passed to my mother.

The doctors had told us, mother could pass that weekend. The look of fear engulfed my brother’s face. It was as if he had planned the perfect murder, and just before pulling the trigger, everything flashed before him. He was not sure that every alibi; every detail would be precisely executed. Although, from my estimate, Russell had spent 14 years planning this take over, he now feared he could fail.

We sat and talked in Shoney’s that evening for what may have been two hours or more. Shoney’s closed at midnight and the manager at about 1:00 AM asked if we could leave so they could lock the doors.

Russell had said many things that evening that put many of his past activities into perspective. When I left Russell that evening, I drove across the street to the Ramada Inn parking lot and began writing notes of what had transpired that evening. I wrote for more than an hour.

As this chronicle is written, I will refer to the notes of that evening many times. I am writing this chronicle in hopes of helping others families avoid the calamity our family has faced. This is the story of how one family member sought to destroy a family unit and steal all its assets for his own benefit. In the process he will reduce a three and one half million-dollar estate to rubble because of greed, avarice, jealousy, envy and revenge.