After a year-plus of mystery, it appears that the story of Tim Dog—the '90s rapper who was reported dead last February, then thought to have faked his death and disappeared in order to escape debt after running elaborate scams on a number of women—has reached a conclusion, and it was the one we thought all along.

Last night, Dateline NBC (which ensnared Tim Dog in a sting operation in 2011) revealed that it obtained a death certificate from the Dekalb County (GA) Board of Health stating that the rapper—whose 1991 track "Fuck Compton" was instrumental in starting the East Coast/West Coast beef that defined '90s hip-hop—died in hospice care in Atlanta.

According to the certificate, Tim Dog died on February 14, 2013. His death was originally reported by The Source a day later in an article that has since been deleted, though you can find Feb. 15 aggregations of that post (like mine) across the net.

Tim Dog's career as a rapper burned short and bright, but he evolved into a prolific scam artist as documented by Noisey's Drew Millard. With his death confirmed, Tim Dog leaves behind not just family and friends, but a trail of women swindled out of tens of thousands of dollars.

[top image via Getty, death certificate via NBC]