The former book editor for romance author Susan Meachen who faked her own death for two years said she saw red flags the writer was still alive – and claims the writer has been posting on TikTok and on Facebook under the pen name TN Steele the whole time.
Meachen was believed dead since September 2020, when someone claiming to be her daughter posted from her Facebook account saying she had died of suicide.
However on January 2 this year, Meachen’s story hit headlines when that same Facebook account posted to a private fan group, claiming that Meachen’s family had faked her death while she was in a mental health crisis, and revealing she had continued to publish under the pseudonym TN Steele.
Meachen’s former editor, author Kasey Hill, has now revealed she had suspicions about her ‘suicide’, saying the first red flag was the announcement that Meachen was leaving the ‘book world.’
‘We spoke the day before her death she told me she was self committing to [to a mental health institution] the next day,’ Hill told DailyMail.com.
She also noticed that Meachen’s Facebook account was promoting her books in a familiar writing and spelling style. Hill said, ‘everything looked exactly like how Susan messaged me and how Susan wrote her books.’
Romance novelist Susan Meachen faked her death September 2020 and revealed to the world she was alive last week
When Hill learned it was a hoax she told DailyMail.com she ‘crashed’ then reached out to Meacham to find out what the truth really was. ‘I felt violated, betrayed …every emotion you can think of’
‘Finding Faith’ (pictured) was Meachen’s latest release before her alleged death
Another tell-tale sign was the way she wrote the word ‘supposed,’ which Hill said, she would often misspell. She also noticed when she went online to find information about Meachen’s death, nothing would appear.
And when the news came out Meachen was in fact alive, Hill said the author had been posting to TikTok ‘the entire time’, she told the U.S Sun.
She told DailyMail.com that she also created a pen name account on Facebook October 2020 – less than a month after her alleged death – called TN Steele and friended people on it.
‘No one knew it was her, but she admitted it to me that TN Steele was indeed her,’ she said. ‘She deleted it once she came out alive.’
An initial search for Meachen on the social media platform gave no results.
Hill told DailyMail.com that the pair became friends over the past year after Meachen purchased her book – Surviving Sarah – about a girl bullied into suicide.
She said she had been helping with edits on three of her books- ‘His Wicked Way,’ ‘Losing Him’ and ‘Finding Faith.’
She said the pair grew close and spoke often about their personal struggles with depression. When she learned that Meachen took her life on September 8, 2020 she revealed that she was racked with guilt and was grieving the loss.
‘I was having surgery that month and I was in and out of the ER so I couldn’t invest in her mental health and I felt like I failed her,’ Hill said.
When news of her death made headlines two days later, it rocked the fans of the romance world, and money was raised to help fund her funeral.
Meachen made a shocking return to social media on January 2 telling her fans that she was alive and appearing to suggest her family was to blame for the announcement of her death two years prior.
‘I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not,’ the post read.
‘My family did what they thought was best for me and I can’t fault them for it.
‘I am in a good place now and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin.’
When Hill learned it was a hoax, she said she ‘crashed’ before reaching out to Meacham to find out what the truth really was.
Meachen has independently published 10 romance novels, including such titles as Losing Him & Finding You and Chance Encounters
‘I felt violated, betrayed …every emotion you can think of.’
Hill said the news hit her particularly hard as she suffers from seasonal depression and bipolar along with a slew of other mental health issues herself.
Hill said Meachen denied the allegations that she faked her own death – and didn’t show any remorse for her actions.
‘She just said what was true and what not. She wasn’t apologetic at all. Her responses were very narcissistic.’
Hill said they have not spoken since, nor does she plan too.
She said their work relationship was revolved around her editing a few of her books, but their friendship was more intimate.
Hill said that Meachen revealed to he that she one shot herself and was hospitalized during a suicide attempt.
She also shared that weeks before Meachen faked her death she had gone into a 72-hour-lockdown. Part of the reason, Hill said was due to the wrong medication she was on.
