Body of 'make-believe spy' in Los Angeles left to decompose in car almost two weeks

Inside his own head, Jeffrey Alan Lash was a secret government operative under constant surveillance by the CIA, the FBI or both.

He spent lavishly to build up an arsenal of 1,200 firearms, 6-1/2 tonnes of ammunition and explosive-making materials, which he piled high in every room of the small condominium he shared with his fiancée in a well-heeled hillside enclave high above the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles.

He had 12 cars, including one reported to be bullet-proof and worth around US$100,000. When he and his fiancée went to dinner at the local Italian restaurant, they drove in separate cars, and always paid in cash.

Any time Lash saw a camera, he would get upset. He told people his name was Bob Smith. Then he died, and things got truly strange.

Police in Los Angeles have spent several days figuring out why Lash's body ended up in a car outside his house and was left to decompose for almost two weeks. They found it last Saturday - not because of a tip-off from the neighbours, who appear to have been oblivious throughout - but because a lawyer representing his fiancée gave them a call.

They also deployed a bomb squad and chemical experts in Hazmat suits to go through his vast arsenal of weapons and explosives - all of it, to judge police photographs and initial reports from the investigation, acquired legally and left untouched.