Former Pro Skater Pappas Found Dead; Was a Murder Suspect

Mar 11 2007 / Melbourne, Australia Former pro skateboarder Ben Pappas, the younger brother of pro Tas Pappas, was found dead yesterday in waters off of Melbourne, Australia.  Police are investigating the circumstances of his death to determine if it was a suicide, though it appears his body was weighted down, according to the Herald Sun.

Pappas, 29, was wanted in connection with the murder of his former girlfriend, Lynette Phillips, whose body was found eight days earlier.  She had been beaten and her body weighted down and dumped in a river.  

As a pro Pappas rose as high as No. 2 ranked in the world, but following continued battles with drugs, he fell out of the sport.  In 1999, the then 21-year-old was arrested trying to smuggle 103 grams of cocaine into Melbourne airport packed into the sole of skate shoe.

After that incident, Pappas was able to avoid jail time by giving up his passport, but his skating career basically ended as a result.

Pappas and Phillips, 27, were involved off and on relationship and she was a recovering long-term drug addict.

This is the second prominent skateboarder to have died in Melbourne in the last week.  Shane Cross was killed when the motorcycle he was a passenger on crashed into a hotel wall last Wednesday.  Skateboarder Ali Boulala was driving the motorcycle and remains in critcal condition.