The faked-death story goes as follows. In the months leading up to his death, Fossett may have been leading what breathless news reports describe as "a secret double life".
As Fossett's many previous collaborations with Sir Richard Branson suggest, he was a born showman, meticulous about maintaining a gilded public image. According to the faked death theory, disappearing off the face of the earth would allow him to avoid both fates – while leaving a fitting personal legacy after a swashbuckling career that had started to enter its teatime years.
According to the case against Fossett, the plane he was flying might also have been designed to make a rescue operation difficult. Most of its lightweight structure is invisible to radar and infrared detectors. It is also easily dismantled and hidden.Update: They found the wreckage of Fossett's plane; they're still searching for remains.
Yes, because the human mind has a bias towards expecting extreme events (such as the deaths of famous people) to require extreme causes proportionate to their fame. I.e., there's no way that a simple car crash could have killed the Princess of Wales; you or me, certainly, but not Lady Diana; it had to be a vast conspiracy.
So it goes with conspiracy theories. They usually turn out to be wrong. Entertaining, but wrong. Too bad.