Woman invented dead soldier daughter

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C., May 21 (UPI) -- A North Charleston, S.C., woman has admitted to inventing a daughter she claimed was slain in Iraq to convince creditors to give her more time to pay bills.

Melanie Grant, 39, said she fed a false story about a daughter who was killed while serving in Iraq to Suburban Funeral Home, which took out a $242.77 obituary in The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for the fictional Lt. Melissa Hope Grant, The Post and Courier reported Wednesday.

Grant said she decided to come clean about the fabrication after the obituary was published and comments were posted online expressing sympathy for the death.

"I just made it up. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking," Grant said. She said the idea "just came in my head" as a way of convincing her creditors to back off.

Skip Mikell, executive vice president and general manager of Suburban Funeral Home, said the business will not attempt to collect the money Grant owes for the obituary.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International