Yesterday we heard about a supposed McDonald's fast food heir who was viciously beaten and robbed in France. But today there are reports that Geoffrey McDonald may not actually be one of those McDonalds.

He still definitely got beaten and hamburglar'd, that seems certain. But upon doing some digging, reporters at AOL News (this is where we get our news from these days, it seems) have found that no one associated with McDonald's in the US has ever heard of this Geoffrey McDonald. The whole McDonald's connection seems to have come about somewhere between the incident and the original reportage, done by French newspaper La Montagne. AOL asked that reporter, Valery Lefort, where he had heard that McDonald was, in fact, an heir to the Fry Kids fortune (which wasn't that sizable anyway, considering McDonald's was sold out of the McDonald family decades ago). All Lefort could say was "I am sure the story is true, but I can't tell you how I know. I have to protect someone." Hm. He also made some reference to "how the French police work," which is vague and really makes no sense. The French police are just always assuming people are heirs to things? "Sacre bleu! Zees 'obo here, lying in 'is own wiiine, is named Walton! 'Eee must be a Wal-Mart 'obo!" Is that how the French police work? (I really hope that's how the French police work.)

So the mystery deepens. But the central story does, mostly, remain the same. An old rich American got beaten and robbed in his fancy French chateau. A tragedy for sure, no matter who the guy is related to.