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2026-10-09 The Columbus Dispatch, "The car that ran on water", 8 Jul 2007

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Found

  • Death: 20 Mar 1998 at the Grove City Cracker Barrel, with his twin brother Stephen and two Belgian investors, Phillippe Vandemoortele and Marc Vancraeyenest. Stephen recalls his words: "They poisoned me." The Franklin County coroner ruled a cerebral aneurysm (Meyer had high blood pressure). Toxicology found only lidocaine and phenytoin. The Grove City police investigation was led by Lt. Steve Robinette. No audiotapes of the two Belgians' interviews were in the file; Robinette said it is "possible the men's interviews were not taped". The Belgians had agreed to buy 56 acres on Seeds Road, Grove City, where the city had approved a research campus two months earlier.
  • Court cases: William E. Brooks (Anchorage, aviation business) invested "more than $300,000"; "their money was returned in a 1994 settlement in Franklin County Common Pleas Court". Then: "Two years later, a Fayette County judge found 'gross and egregious fraud' in Meyer's contract negotiation with two businessmen. Their money was returned." Roger L. Hurley, a retired Darke County judge, defended Meyer.
  • Witness accounts (priority 2), quoted as given:
  • Charles Hughes (truck driver, Jackson Township, who hosted Meyer) says he saw Meyer "power his tractor for 15 minutes on well water", with "no fumes whatsoever".
  • Charlie Hughes, his son, recalls visitors in limousines ("Men in turbans") and Meyer saying "The Arabs wanted to offer me $250 million to stop today". He also recalls that Army officials questioned Meyer about the foreigners.
  • Stephen Meyer recalls an "$800 million" offer.
  • Mainstream view as quoted: Ohio State professor emeritus Neville Reay, "you can't get something for nothing."
  • Media: "It Runs on Water" (1995 documentary narrated by Arthur C. Clarke; the Dispatch says it aired on the BBC, while the stanslegacy timeline says Channel 4, 17 Dec 1995). James Robey's Kentucky Water Fuel Museum and his book "Water Car".
  • "As many of his more than 20 patents expire this year" (2007).

How this bears on the claims

  • Historical record: the venue of the fraud finding is Fayette County, not Franklin County. This matches the docket CVH19930292 (stanslegacy note).
  • The missing tapes of the Belgians are an absence-of-evidence item (see SOURCE HONESTY). The police file would settle whether they were ever interviewed on tape.
  • Witness claims of a running tractor and offers to buy him out are single-witness accounts recorded 2007. They are family recollections, decades after the events.