Nebraska consumers, bankers, and business owners are struggling to come to terms with the fact that they may never fully recoup more than $19 million owed them after the principal owner of a bankrupt title insurance agency committed suicide.

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Authorities say David Hunter, the principal owner of State Title Services Inc., shot himself in January 2002, as a check kiting scheme he started in 1995 began to unravel. Check kiting involves issuing a check on an account that has been closed or has insufficient funds to cover the amount for which the check was written.

Just days after Hunter's death, the Nebraska Department of Insurance suspended the insurance agency's license and warned consumers that the company would not be conducting further real estate closings. This left several home buyers in a jam at the last minute, including one home buyer and his son who lost a $73,000 down payment on a 360-acre farm.

More than 860 creditors must now stand in line to see if they will recoup their losses. The bankruptcy proceedings are estimated to take 18 months to two years to come to a close.