One of the biggest theories on why Presley may have faked his death is because he had to in order to escape the mafia. Gail Brewer-Giorgio, the author of the 1988 bestselling book Is Elvis Alive, recalled in a recent interview with TIME how she pored through thousands of FBI documents to come to the conclusion that Presley was an American hero who had to go into witness protection.

“Do I know if Elvis is alive today? No, I don’t know,” she said. “But I know he didn’t die on Aug. 16.”

FBI enlisted Presley as an undercover agent in 1976 to help the agency infiltrate a criminal organization called “The Fraternity,” which was apparently made up of dozens of racketeers.

Agency (FBI) had approached Presley because a member of “The Fraternity” had apparent dealings with Presley over the sale of an airplane the singer had. But when Presley was found to be a mole, he was put into the witness protection program.

“Elvis faked his death because he was going to be killed and there was no doubt about it,” Gail Brewer-Giorgio said.

The FBI did not immediately comment on the decades-old claim that Brewer-Giorgio describes at length in her book. There’s no mention of Presley aiding the FBI in the more than 760 files the federal agency has released that pertain to the singer between 1956 and 1980. The FBI never investigated Presley, but a folder in his name was created because he had been the target of several extortion attempts the FBI probed.

The released documents outline the extortion cases, and they also show Presley’s admiration for the FBI. During a tour Presley took of the FBI’s headquarters in 1971, the musician “spoke favorably” of the bureau and offered his “services in any way,” according to an FBI memo. There’s also mention of Presley’s plane and a business arrangement involving the aircraft. Elvis experts say the docket lacks evidence suggesting Presley is alive.
“All of the evidence points to a death — the medical evidence, the eyewitness report,” Lacy told TIME. “To have him have faked his death would have required the silence and the services of literally hundreds if not thousands of people over the years.”

Others point to Elvis’ tombstone as evidence. Besides believed sightings, skeptics also point to what they insist are slip-ups from Presley’s family in media interviews and an apparent name misspelling on the King’s tombstone as proof of a cover-up.

The skeptics say Presley’s middle name was purposefully spelled wrong — Aaron instead of Aron — on his tombstone because putting his real name would have been taboo since he was alive. Debunkers say the King started spelling his middle name Aaron instead of Aron later in life.

For the funeral, a wax figure of Elvis was used, kept cool by an elaborate system of dry ice and battery-operated, sound-proof fans located in the casket. How else do explain why the body was sweating?

Corpses don't sweat, Aitcheson said. But wax will. He performed his own experiment by cooling a wax candle in the freezer and then taking it out into room temperature. Condensation formed on the candle's surface.
Also, there is the business of an unclaimed life insurance policy, Elvis' handwriting on his own death certificate and a woman who received telephone calls from him until 1986. The report will detail everything, Aitcheson promised.