Livingston Powerball 'Murder-Suicide' Report Is Fake: Police

Livingston, NJ – Did you happen to see an eye-catching “news” article about a Powerball-related murder-suicide in Livingston?

Don’t panic… it’s fake, police say.

Livingston police are reporting that an online news site has spread a false story about a local man who “murdered his family and committed suicide” after losing the Powerball lottery.

The Livingston Police Department posted the following statement via social media on Thursday afternoon.

A Thursday afternoon visit to the website that published the report – News10Live.com – also showed articles with dubious-sounding headlines such as:

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• 4-Year-Old Girl Survives 3 Weeks Eating Roaches and Drinking Toilet Water After Mother Dies In The Shower
• McDonald’s Will Stop Serving Obese Children in January 2016

“News10live.com is a fake-news website,” OnlineThreatAlerts.com claims. “All of the articles on the fake website are fictional, should not be taken as facts, and any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental. So, any article or news reported by the bogus website should not be taken seriously. Please remember that not everything that you read on the internet is true.”

The article – as posted on News10Live.com on Thursday afternoon - read:

“Ralph Weinstein, an investment banker on Wall Street, was found dead along with his wife and three children in their home. According to reports, authorities received a call from the school reporting the children had not attended school, which is unusual for the Weinstein family. Authorities attempted to make contact with the Weinstein family via phone before going to the home. Once authorities were unable to make contact, police arrived at the Weinstein residence at approximately 8:55 a.m. in response to a call from the school where the Weinstein children attended. Authorities entered the home to find the Weinstein family dead in their living room.”

The article continued:

“Upon the discovery of the authorities, a suicide note and video was found in the home. According to the note, Ralph Weinstein was upset that he had spent his life savings on playing the Powerball only to lose everything. Reportedly, Mr. Weinstein spent over $400,000 on Powerball tickets, between New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.”

The article concluded:

“Upon the review of the city coroners office, the three children, ages 9, 14, and 17, were murdered first, followed by the murder of his wife, Sarah and ending with the suicide death of himself. Authorities found the family covered in thousands of bloodstained Powerball tickets in the living room of the home.”

Livingston police have been unable to confirm if any of the mentioned names in the report are real people, TAP Into Livingston stated.

The online reaction to the article on the LPD’s Facebook page was critical of the article’s attempt at humor.

“Someone has a very bad sense of humor,” wrote one commenter. “If humor was behind this fake story, hunt the person down and have them explain it to our local judge and fine them, or make them clean the Oval for the rest of the year.”

Screenshot of News10Live.com taken on Jan. 14