WEBVTT - Episode 3: The Imposter 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.716 Pushkin Just a quick heads up before we start. This 0:00:22.756 --> 0:00:31.436 episode contains a brief reference to suicide previously a deep cover. 0:00:32.716 --> 0:00:36.156 I said, I'm calling about a girl you might know 0:00:36.396 --> 0:00:39.996 named Brooke Henson, and he said, I wondered when you 0:00:39.996 --> 0:00:42.836 were gonna call. When my son brought her home, I 0:00:43.436 --> 0:00:47.516 knew she was troubled. It was the same Adelaide. She 0:00:47.756 --> 0:00:51.476 was the same person, regardless of the moniker that she 0:00:51.596 --> 0:00:55.076 was she was using. She had the same flaws, the 0:00:55.116 --> 0:00:59.916 same loves, the same laughs. I haven't determined that the 0:00:59.956 --> 0:01:03.556 woman in question is not our victim Brookley Henson. Her 0:01:03.596 --> 0:01:07.116 behavior fits the profile of a spy far better than 0:01:07.196 --> 0:01:19.316 that of the average identity. Back in two thousand and six, 0:01:19.636 --> 0:01:23.076 there was a woman enrolled at Columbia University who claimed 0:01:23.116 --> 0:01:27.356 to be Brooke Henson, but in reality she was an impostor. 0:01:27.836 --> 0:01:30.676 She was using the identity of another woman who'd gone 0:01:30.716 --> 0:01:35.996 missing from South Carolina seven years earlier. This impostor she'd 0:01:35.996 --> 0:01:40.636 deceived Columbia University, her boyfriends, and many others. It was 0:01:40.636 --> 0:01:44.596 a hot mess. And I know this because she herself 0:01:44.716 --> 0:01:47.516 told me, told me all about it, starting with the 0:01:47.556 --> 0:01:50.356 moment that it all began to fall apart for her. 0:01:50.956 --> 0:01:54.756 I think I got a message from Columbia Security saying 0:01:54.756 --> 0:01:57.196 they wanted to talk to me, and I was like, 0:01:57.316 --> 0:02:00.796 oh shit. A short while later, she received a call 0:02:01.036 --> 0:02:04.756 from a detective in the NYPD. He basically asked me 0:02:04.796 --> 0:02:08.156 if I'm Brooke Henson and I say yes, and he says, well, 0:02:08.796 --> 0:02:11.236 why are you listed as missing? And then I tell 0:02:11.276 --> 0:02:13.716 him like, I am running from my family. I don't 0:02:13.716 --> 0:02:15.436 want anything to do with them, and he's like, okay, 0:02:15.436 --> 0:02:18.236 that's fine, I'll tell the detectives down there. And it 0:02:18.316 --> 0:02:21.676 seemed like that might be the end of it. But 0:02:21.716 --> 0:02:25.516 then the detective called back because he said the authorities 0:02:25.556 --> 0:02:30.476 down in South Carolina wanted more information. South Carolina people 0:02:30.516 --> 0:02:33.516 just want to double check that you're actually Brooke Henson. 0:02:33.516 --> 0:02:35.116 So I have a couple of questions. Are you okay 0:02:35.116 --> 0:02:38.356 with that? And I was like sure, Were you like 0:02:38.556 --> 0:02:42.196 panicky at all with yeah? Oh my yeah, of course. 0:02:42.956 --> 0:02:46.036 But she was prepared. She knew a lot about the 0:02:46.116 --> 0:02:49.716 real Brooke Henson. There was a lot of stuff on 0:02:49.756 --> 0:02:52.996 the Internet about her being missing, and I had read 0:02:52.996 --> 0:02:56.956 every shred of it. The detective started asking questions about 0:02:56.956 --> 0:02:59.996 the names of friends and family members from back home 0:03:00.036 --> 0:03:03.556 and Traveler's Rest, South Carolina. She could only hope that 0:03:03.596 --> 0:03:07.156 she answered enough of these questions correctly that the detective 0:03:07.156 --> 0:03:09.716 would be satisfied, and it seemed like he got what 0:03:09.796 --> 0:03:13.836 he needed. But that didn't last very long. This detective 0:03:13.916 --> 0:03:15.516 kept calling me back and he goes, are you sure 0:03:15.556 --> 0:03:17.676 you're telling me the truth? Because he goes, I can 0:03:17.756 --> 0:03:19.996 help you, and I was like, no, no, no no, I'm 0:03:19.996 --> 0:03:22.476 telling the truth. And then he would call by he goes, 0:03:22.516 --> 0:03:24.756 you know, I know a judge, like, I'm pretty sure, 0:03:24.796 --> 0:03:26.396 like we can figure this out. Are you sure you're 0:03:26.396 --> 0:03:28.396 telling me the truth? Like, no, no no, no, I'm telling 0:03:28.436 --> 0:03:31.956 the truth. Is your like anxiety kicking in? Oh yeah, yeah, 0:03:31.956 --> 0:03:34.556 Like sometimes I'll get hives when I get really anxious, 0:03:34.596 --> 0:03:37.396 and I'll just my blood pressure goes up really high 0:03:37.396 --> 0:03:39.676 and so I'll get red and all of that was happening. 0:03:40.236 --> 0:03:42.756 That sounds pretty terrible. It was, Yeah, it was one 0:03:42.836 --> 0:03:48.196 hundred percent terrible. All of this is terrible, Jake, It's 0:03:48.236 --> 0:03:53.756 all horrible. Eventually, the NYPD detective calls back and tells 0:03:53.756 --> 0:03:57.196 her that the authorities down in South Carolina are insisting 0:03:57.276 --> 0:04:01.196 on more proof. They want her to provide DNA to 0:04:01.276 --> 0:04:06.076 confirm that she really is Brokenson. She stalls. She says 0:04:06.116 --> 0:04:08.636 that she has two final papers to finish over the 0:04:08.636 --> 0:04:12.396 weekend and asks if she can possibly meet the detective 0:04:12.596 --> 0:04:16.196 at her apartment on the following Monday and then take 0:04:16.236 --> 0:04:20.996 the DNA test. The detective agrees, like, what's your plan 0:04:21.116 --> 0:04:22.716 as your Oh, I didn't have a plan at that point. 0:04:22.716 --> 0:04:24.196 I mean, I was just hoping it would all go away. 0:04:25.836 --> 0:04:29.436 I'm like just stupid, right, Like, you know, there's no 0:04:29.516 --> 0:04:33.876 there's no plan, Like I can't fix this. I'm just 0:04:33.916 --> 0:04:35.356 thinking like what if I miss them? Like what if 0:04:35.356 --> 0:04:37.356 I'm not home? Is it a big deal that they 0:04:37.476 --> 0:04:38.796 come back? Or is this like we don't have the 0:04:38.836 --> 0:04:41.116 resources for this and this isn't a big deal, Like 0:04:41.356 --> 0:04:44.596 I didn't know at that point. She finishes her two 0:04:44.596 --> 0:04:47.676 papers and then she kind of comes to her senses, 0:04:48.036 --> 0:04:51.156 has this moment when she realizes that this is not 0:04:51.316 --> 0:04:54.516 all magically just going to go away, that the police 0:04:54.756 --> 0:04:58.516 they're onto her. So she decides she's got to do something. 0:04:59.236 --> 0:05:02.836 I went to get a U wall truck because I 0:05:02.876 --> 0:05:05.396 had decided I'm freaking getting out of here, and I 0:05:05.476 --> 0:05:07.836 was going to pack up my apartment. I still thought 0:05:07.836 --> 0:05:09.476 like I could come like this is gonna down, I 0:05:09.476 --> 0:05:12.836 can come back, It'll be urry. Her plan was to 0:05:12.836 --> 0:05:16.276 pack up her place, move everything into storage, and then 0:05:16.356 --> 0:05:20.356 grab her two dogs, Pooching and Odie, and disappear for 0:05:20.396 --> 0:05:24.396 a while. And so I rented the truck and I 0:05:24.436 --> 0:05:25.836 took all the money I had it out of my 0:05:25.876 --> 0:05:28.356 account and I think they probably had my accounts flagged. 0:05:29.156 --> 0:05:31.676 And so by the time I got back to my apartment, 0:05:31.796 --> 0:05:33.796 I pulled around the corner of my unhaul truck and 0:05:33.876 --> 0:05:36.876 there were New York City cops knocking on the door. 0:05:36.916 --> 0:05:39.796 And I was like, oh shit, because she's too late. 0:05:40.196 --> 0:05:44.676 The cops are there. So now she has a choice 0:05:44.676 --> 0:05:48.876 to make either a run for it or B just 0:05:48.956 --> 0:05:52.436 turn herself in, tell the cops everything about who she 0:05:52.516 --> 0:05:56.996 really is. No choice is tempting. It's second nature, actually, 0:05:57.036 --> 0:05:59.756 because she's been more or less on the run for years. 0:06:00.396 --> 0:06:04.996 But the problem is Pooching and Odie. They're inside the apartment, 0:06:05.556 --> 0:06:08.476 and no matter what, she cannot leave her dogs. So 0:06:08.796 --> 0:06:12.636 it's gotta be b turn herself in. So I pulled 0:06:12.636 --> 0:06:15.956 over in front of a fire hydrant and I walked 0:06:15.996 --> 0:06:18.396 around the block, and by the time I got around, 0:06:18.396 --> 0:06:24.916 they were gone, and so I was like, oh, So 0:06:24.956 --> 0:06:28.436 I went upstairs, packed the quickest bag I could pack, 0:06:28.636 --> 0:06:31.236 grab my dogs, called a cab, and left. Would you 0:06:31.236 --> 0:06:34.236 do it to? You? Haul? Left it here? It's not 0:06:34.556 --> 0:06:36.556 I don't want people to think that Mead chuckling is. 0:06:36.756 --> 0:06:39.636 I don't think any of this is funny. It's just 0:06:39.836 --> 0:06:43.836 uncomfortable and whatever. But yeah, I just left it there. 0:06:46.196 --> 0:06:49.756 That's kind of crazy. I know all of it's crazy. 0:06:50.516 --> 0:06:55.476 I was scared, and this decision to run for it, 0:06:55.876 --> 0:06:59.196 more than anything else, it's what makes this story go 0:06:59.356 --> 0:07:04.276 bat shit. It's the decision that confounds everyone, the authorities 0:07:04.276 --> 0:07:08.796 down in South Carolina, the Secret Service, the assistant US Attorney. 0:07:09.436 --> 0:07:13.636 Because now it's got them all thinking, who leaves a 0:07:13.876 --> 0:07:17.716 U haul idling at the curb? Why is this woman running? 0:07:17.996 --> 0:07:23.356 What is she hiding? Because it's got to be something big, right. 0:07:39.476 --> 0:07:43.876 I'm Jake Halbern and this is deep Cover, Never Seen Again, 0:08:08.716 --> 0:08:18.036 Episode three. The Impostor. This woman the one I'm speaking to. 0:08:18.276 --> 0:08:22.756 The impostor. She's gone by many names, including Natalie Fisher, 0:08:23.116 --> 0:08:27.716 Natalie Bowman, and Brooke Henson. Her real name, well, I 0:08:27.716 --> 0:08:31.556 should say her birth name is Esther Reid. And I'm 0:08:31.596 --> 0:08:34.076 going to call her Esther. That's the first name that 0:08:34.116 --> 0:08:37.556 she goes by. Currently. Esther lives in a small city 0:08:37.596 --> 0:08:41.596 in the Pacific Northwest. We started talking months ago. I 0:08:41.676 --> 0:08:44.316 eventually went out there to visit her, and she told 0:08:44.316 --> 0:08:46.956 me that only four people in her city knew her 0:08:46.996 --> 0:08:50.996 full back story, well five if you counted me. And 0:08:51.076 --> 0:08:54.076 in this episode, we're going to take a deep dive 0:08:54.276 --> 0:08:57.236 into her side of the story because at this point 0:08:57.596 --> 0:09:00.796 you've heard from John Campbell, You've heard his theories, his 0:09:00.916 --> 0:09:04.396 suspicions that this mystery woman was not just an identity 0:09:04.436 --> 0:09:07.156 thief but a spy who seemed to be on the run. 0:09:07.916 --> 0:09:11.236 And Esther was on the run, but what she was 0:09:11.316 --> 0:09:17.956 running from, well that's complicated. Back in the early nineteen nineties, 0:09:18.396 --> 0:09:20.716 Esther Reid was a young girl in a small town 0:09:20.716 --> 0:09:24.196 in Montana. She lived in a tiny two bedroom house 0:09:24.316 --> 0:09:29.796 with unfinished walls. Outside, there were chickens, geese, rabbits, goats, 0:09:29.836 --> 0:09:33.116 and a big garden. She says her dad was a 0:09:33.196 --> 0:09:38.996 serious man. My dad is very, very very religious, and 0:09:39.036 --> 0:09:42.116 so like there was no TV in the house. We 0:09:42.276 --> 0:09:45.876 weren't really allowed to listen to any music that had 0:09:45.956 --> 0:09:50.956 a beat, anything with a drum beat was considered satanic 0:09:51.116 --> 0:09:55.516 or evil, so we weren't allowed at school. Her father 0:09:55.556 --> 0:09:59.476 didn't allow her to wear pants. Instead, she wore homelesspun dresses. 0:10:00.196 --> 0:10:03.436 Her mom was the fun one, always making up games 0:10:03.476 --> 0:10:06.916 and telling them stories. When I think about my mom, 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:12.116 I just remember hers right in her effervescence, and she 0:10:12.236 --> 0:10:18.196 was just so amazingly loving and kind and giving. Esther 0:10:18.356 --> 0:10:21.236 told me stories where her mom seemed like a magician. 0:10:21.716 --> 0:10:25.676 She conjured joy even in tough situations when no one 0:10:25.676 --> 0:10:28.796 could sleep in the sweltering heat. She rallied the kids 0:10:28.836 --> 0:10:31.916 in the middle of the night to make fudge. Another time, 0:10:31.956 --> 0:10:34.116 the kids were having a water fight, and instead of 0:10:34.116 --> 0:10:37.276 breaking it up, she dragged a hose into the house 0:10:37.516 --> 0:10:41.156 and soaked them. My mom was definitely a lemons into 0:10:41.236 --> 0:10:46.516 lemonade girl, and really definitely the happiness is what you 0:10:46.556 --> 0:10:49.996 make of it. Esther says her parents' relationship was very 0:10:50.076 --> 0:10:53.236 business like like. She only remembers seeing her dad hug 0:10:53.276 --> 0:10:55.996 her mom a few times, and it was like that 0:10:56.356 --> 0:10:59.316 right up until the day that their marriage effectively ended. 0:11:00.196 --> 0:11:04.836 Like the way my dad told her he wanted to divorce, 0:11:05.236 --> 0:11:07.676 as he wrote her a letter, And I think at 0:11:07.716 --> 0:11:09.716 that point they had been married eight years, and he 0:11:09.796 --> 0:11:13.876 wrote a letter, I think on a Friday, and he 0:11:13.956 --> 0:11:15.956 put it in her purse and she found it when 0:11:15.956 --> 0:11:20.556 she got to work, and he basically said, this isn't working. 0:11:21.796 --> 0:11:24.036 I would like you to take Esther and move out, 0:11:24.716 --> 0:11:31.116 and he wanted her gone by Sunday. Esther was twelve 0:11:31.156 --> 0:11:34.436 when this happened. She and her mother moved out and 0:11:34.636 --> 0:11:37.276 life didn't get any easier for her. A year or 0:11:37.276 --> 0:11:42.196 two later, ESS's mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. Meanwhile, 0:11:42.636 --> 0:11:46.756 Esther started high school and hated it. Not the schoolwork. 0:11:46.876 --> 0:11:50.316 She was very bright and she actually had a photographic memory. 0:11:51.036 --> 0:11:53.556 It was the social aspect of going to school that 0:11:53.676 --> 0:11:56.556 was just really tough for her. She dreaded it, in fact, 0:11:57.156 --> 0:12:01.836 so she played hooky as much as she could. Her 0:12:01.876 --> 0:12:05.156 mom typically left the house early each morning for work, 0:12:05.756 --> 0:12:08.796 and instead of going to school, Esther often just stayed 0:12:08.836 --> 0:12:11.836 in the house. One week, when her mom stayed home 0:12:11.876 --> 0:12:15.756 from work, Esther had to improvise. I would pretend to 0:12:15.796 --> 0:12:18.716 go to school. And then we had a part of 0:12:18.716 --> 0:12:21.676 our basement that was unfinished, and I had a little TV, 0:12:22.516 --> 0:12:24.356 a little black and white TV that I had bought 0:12:24.396 --> 0:12:27.556 at a garage sale, and I put that back there 0:12:27.676 --> 0:12:30.876 and I spent that whole week down there. At the time, 0:12:31.156 --> 0:12:34.196 Esther felt something was off, but she just didn't know 0:12:34.236 --> 0:12:37.156 what it was. She knew that she needed a loane 0:12:37.156 --> 0:12:40.756 time to recharge. She described it to me kind of 0:12:40.756 --> 0:12:44.756 like hibernation. It was only years later that Esther would 0:12:44.836 --> 0:12:49.996 learn she had a social anxiety disorder. Eventually, Esther and 0:12:50.036 --> 0:12:53.916 her mom decided to move to Seattle. Esther continued to 0:12:53.956 --> 0:12:57.156 struggle there, and she no longer had the support of 0:12:57.156 --> 0:13:00.396 the small town community that she and her family had known. 0:13:01.316 --> 0:13:03.596 She dropped out of high school in her junior year. 0:13:04.196 --> 0:13:06.956 Her mom insisted that she get a job, so she 0:13:07.036 --> 0:13:10.916 started working at a nursing home. Esther did have a 0:13:10.956 --> 0:13:14.676 bunch of older siblings, but at this point, the only 0:13:14.716 --> 0:13:18.036 real constant in her life was her mom. My mom 0:13:18.076 --> 0:13:20.396 was really the only person I was really close to. 0:13:20.516 --> 0:13:24.956 I mean, I had friends, but it's very difficult when 0:13:24.956 --> 0:13:29.756 you have undiagnosed, untreated social anxiety to be friendly with someone, right. 0:13:29.796 --> 0:13:33.396 You just felt uncomfortable around everyone. And my mom was 0:13:33.476 --> 0:13:36.516 really the only person who knew I had these issues, 0:13:37.236 --> 0:13:43.076 and so she kind of managed life for me. But 0:13:43.156 --> 0:13:46.356 then when she was seventeen years old, her mom's cancer 0:13:46.396 --> 0:13:49.876 came back. Esther watched her mom struggle for the next 0:13:49.916 --> 0:13:53.396 few years, and by the time she was twenty, her 0:13:53.476 --> 0:13:59.716 mom had died. I was incredibly depressed. I've just lost 0:13:59.796 --> 0:14:04.116 my mom. I have no contact with really anybody who's 0:14:05.636 --> 0:14:13.156 able willing to help, you know, thinking about killing myself 0:14:13.196 --> 0:14:16.716 all the time. I did not care about anything at 0:14:16.756 --> 0:14:19.236 that point. I didn't care about myself. I didn't care 0:14:19.236 --> 0:14:22.476 about anybody else. I just wanted to die so I 0:14:22.476 --> 0:14:26.796 could see my mom. So really, there was no There 0:14:26.836 --> 0:14:35.036 was definitely no future thought. It's just survival. She couldn't 0:14:35.076 --> 0:14:38.596 hold down a steady job, her car was repossessed. She 0:14:38.636 --> 0:14:41.396 didn't have a reliable place to live, so she slept 0:14:41.436 --> 0:14:43.236 on the floor at a friend's place for a bit. 0:14:44.076 --> 0:14:47.996 It was during this time that she did something pretty desperate. 0:14:48.356 --> 0:14:51.156 I was working for like maybe a week two I 0:14:51.196 --> 0:14:52.876 don't think it was two weeks, so I didn't I 0:14:52.956 --> 0:14:54.516 was not able to work for two weeks, so maybe 0:14:54.556 --> 0:14:57.156 like i'd been there for four or five days, and 0:14:57.196 --> 0:15:00.636 then I stole my coworker's purse. She had it sitting 0:15:00.676 --> 0:15:03.596 on like the nurses station. The purse had a bunch 0:15:03.596 --> 0:15:07.236 of credit cards and a driver's license. Then Esther showed 0:15:07.316 --> 0:15:10.396 up at a department store claiming to be that coworker. 0:15:10.996 --> 0:15:13.876 She had added her own photo to the ID. The 0:15:13.956 --> 0:15:17.116 credit card had been reported as stolen, so when Esther 0:15:17.236 --> 0:15:20.676 tried to use it, she got arrested. Esther pled to 0:15:20.716 --> 0:15:23.356 the charges. She had to pay a fine, and she 0:15:23.436 --> 0:15:25.956 got off with a year of probation and three days 0:15:25.956 --> 0:15:30.876 in jail. This actually wasn't the first time she'd stolen 0:15:30.916 --> 0:15:34.156 from somebody. In the wake of her mom's death, she 0:15:34.236 --> 0:15:37.316 swiped a check book from her sister Edna and wrote 0:15:37.356 --> 0:15:41.276 some hot checks in her name. Edna also lived in Seattle, 0:15:41.436 --> 0:15:44.476 and Esther saw her from time to time, but they 0:15:44.516 --> 0:15:48.316 had a rocky relationship, and it only got rockier after 0:15:48.356 --> 0:15:52.516 the whole stolen checks incident. As far as I could tell, 0:15:53.196 --> 0:15:58.116 Esther's mom was the lynchpin to absolutely everything, and without her, 0:15:58.716 --> 0:16:03.316 Esther's life just derailed, popped right off the tracks, and 0:16:03.596 --> 0:16:10.436 rattled onward toward the abyss. Esther felt like there was 0:16:10.516 --> 0:16:13.476 nothing left for her in Seattle. I think at that 0:16:13.556 --> 0:16:15.876 point it probably felt like I could run away from 0:16:15.916 --> 0:16:19.956 my problems, right like if I don't if I don't 0:16:20.036 --> 0:16:22.516 think about my mom, and if I'm not living in Seattle, 0:16:22.596 --> 0:16:26.236 then it won't be so painful, and like maybe I 0:16:26.276 --> 0:16:33.436 can get over it. So she just left town, didn't 0:16:33.436 --> 0:16:36.596 really tell anyone where she was going, just kind of vanished, 0:16:36.996 --> 0:16:39.596 bought the cheapest plane ticket she could find, which was 0:16:39.716 --> 0:16:42.876 to Salt Lake City. She found an inexpensive place to 0:16:42.956 --> 0:16:46.076 stay a weekly rental, and she hold up there for 0:16:46.116 --> 0:16:50.116 a while, but she kept getting these messages from her family, 0:16:50.436 --> 0:16:54.316 especially from her sister Edna, who wanted to know where 0:16:54.356 --> 0:16:58.716 are you. Esther says, in her highly anxious state, she 0:16:58.796 --> 0:17:01.876 felt as if she were being stalked. She says. One 0:17:01.876 --> 0:17:04.636 of her other sisters threatened to call the cops on her, 0:17:04.916 --> 0:17:10.236 apparently just to intimidate her. What. Esther wanted space to 0:17:10.356 --> 0:17:14.596 hibernate a bit away from her family, and suddenly this 0:17:14.636 --> 0:17:17.196 didn't really feel like the escape that she had envisioned, 0:17:17.916 --> 0:17:20.636 because she wanted a clean break with her own past, 0:17:21.196 --> 0:17:25.676 a clean break with being Esther Reid. And eventually she 0:17:25.716 --> 0:17:29.196 came up with a solution. She decided to start using 0:17:29.236 --> 0:17:31.716 the name of someone she knew, a girl back in 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:36.636 Seattle named Natalie Fisher. She knew a decent amount about Natalie. 0:17:37.236 --> 0:17:40.236 Esther says at some point she had access to Natalie's 0:17:40.236 --> 0:17:44.316 wallet and saw her social Security number, and don't forget Esther, 0:17:44.596 --> 0:17:47.876 she had a photographic memory, so she knew some of 0:17:47.956 --> 0:17:51.556 Natalie's vital information, and what she didn't know she figured 0:17:51.556 --> 0:17:55.516 out online. She then obtained a birth certificate in Natalie's 0:17:55.596 --> 0:17:59.316 name and eventually got an ID and then on paper 0:17:59.356 --> 0:18:04.076 at least she was Natalie Fisher. Pretty bold right not 0:18:04.156 --> 0:18:07.996 to mention illegal. What's the logic that's going through your 0:18:08.036 --> 0:18:10.916 brain when you're doing this. I always just viewed it 0:18:10.956 --> 0:18:14.836 as me using a different name. I never thought I 0:18:14.956 --> 0:18:17.956 was her or anything. I mean, I changed my name 0:18:17.996 --> 0:18:20.236 before I left all the time. I hated the name Ester, 0:18:20.436 --> 0:18:22.196 so I was you know, when I was a little girl, 0:18:22.236 --> 0:18:25.156 I wanted to go by Herford, and you know, changed 0:18:25.156 --> 0:18:27.996 my name to Elizabeth or Liz or so it just 0:18:28.036 --> 0:18:30.916 didn't My name didn't make me who I was. I 0:18:30.956 --> 0:18:33.356 never viewed it like that. I just always saw it 0:18:33.356 --> 0:18:36.996 as I get to be me and like she can't 0:18:36.996 --> 0:18:42.636 find me. She's talking about her sister, Edna, who'd been 0:18:42.676 --> 0:18:45.636 trying to get in touch with her. But as I 0:18:45.676 --> 0:18:49.076 see it, it was far more than just Edna. It 0:18:49.116 --> 0:18:51.796 was the co worker who's purse she'd stolen, and the 0:18:51.876 --> 0:18:54.716 high school in Seattle that she'd avoided, like the plague, 0:18:55.196 --> 0:18:57.556 and the hole that she found herself in after she 0:18:57.636 --> 0:19:01.316 lost her mom. With a new name. She put all 0:19:01.356 --> 0:19:03.956 of that in the past. There was no connection to 0:19:03.996 --> 0:19:07.236 it now, no point of reference, not even a set 0:19:07.276 --> 0:19:10.436 of nine digits on a Social Security card. Or at 0:19:10.476 --> 0:19:14.596 least that's what she told herself the past. It had 0:19:14.596 --> 0:19:18.436 been erased, and as Esther put it, I get to 0:19:18.476 --> 0:19:38.836 be me whoever that was. Esther left Seattle in the 0:19:38.956 --> 0:19:42.236 fall of nineteen ninety nine, and she drifted around for 0:19:42.316 --> 0:19:45.996 almost two years. I don't know exactly how she was 0:19:46.076 --> 0:19:49.396 making ends meet. This period in Esther's life is kind 0:19:49.436 --> 0:19:53.156 of a black hole. I only have her version of events. 0:19:53.196 --> 0:19:56.756 She says she worked odd jobs, short term gigs that 0:19:56.796 --> 0:19:59.836 she found on Craigslist, and that she eked out a 0:19:59.876 --> 0:20:04.436 modest existence as Natalie Fisher. The way she described it 0:20:04.436 --> 0:20:08.716 seems like she was adrift, no purpose, no plan other 0:20:08.796 --> 0:20:13.036 than being who she once was. But when she looked 0:20:13.036 --> 0:20:16.556 back on her past, it wasn't all bad. There was 0:20:16.636 --> 0:20:20.116 something she felt shed done well. Things she felt good about. 0:20:20.436 --> 0:20:22.356 And one of them was, if you can believe it, 0:20:22.636 --> 0:20:25.196 being on a high school debate team. Now it might 0:20:25.236 --> 0:20:28.956 be thinking, could someone who has paralyzing social anxiety really 0:20:29.036 --> 0:20:31.996 thrive on a debate team, And the answer it turns 0:20:31.996 --> 0:20:35.796 out as yes, those were my people. I just felt 0:20:35.916 --> 0:20:39.316 very comfortable among those individuals. Plus they were all like 0:20:39.436 --> 0:20:42.836 little brainiac nerds like me, So it wasn't a big deal. 0:20:43.796 --> 0:20:50.196 All of my quirkiness or idiosyncrasies that I hadn't been appropriate, 0:20:50.236 --> 0:20:52.396 least socialized when I was a kid, those things didn't 0:20:52.436 --> 0:20:55.116 stand out and make me a weirdo among that crowd. 0:20:55.596 --> 0:20:58.356 Back in high school, when she wasn't playing hooky, she 0:20:58.476 --> 0:21:03.396 actually participated in debate tournaments and she loved it. Also, 0:21:03.676 --> 0:21:07.556 for someone with social anxiety, debate was the opposite of 0:21:07.556 --> 0:21:11.276 a cocktail party, that's my take. Anyhow, there was a 0:21:11.316 --> 0:21:16.556 strict format that dictated when things would happen, opening statements, rebuttals, 0:21:16.876 --> 0:21:21.716 closing remarks. Everything was so clear. Plus it was also 0:21:21.836 --> 0:21:26.716 intellectually engaging. She says that it overrode her social anxiety. 0:21:26.876 --> 0:21:30.116 For Esther, the world of debate tournaments was a world 0:21:30.116 --> 0:21:33.476 that made sense, and so she decided to go to 0:21:33.596 --> 0:21:40.236 debate camp, the Arizona Debate Institute. She arrived at the 0:21:40.276 --> 0:21:46.156 Twin Palms Hotel in Tempe, pink exterior, tiny balconies, obligatory 0:21:46.156 --> 0:21:49.876 palm trees, and a lobby packed with lots of precocious 0:21:49.916 --> 0:22:00.196 college students getting ready to debate. You take one hundred 0:22:00.236 --> 0:22:02.796 and twenty college students from all across the country that 0:22:02.836 --> 0:22:04.876 have not generally met before in lock. I'm in a 0:22:04.956 --> 0:22:08.396 hotel for two weeks and high pressure situations. It's exactly 0:22:08.396 --> 0:22:12.756 what you think be like. That's John Brushky, the organizer 0:22:12.756 --> 0:22:16.076 of the debate camp. It would really get up and 0:22:16.116 --> 0:22:17.876 go to the lectures because they wanted to be at 0:22:17.876 --> 0:22:21.076 the lectures. Then they would work from like noon till midnight, 0:22:22.196 --> 0:22:23.876 and they neither decided they're going to pull an all 0:22:23.956 --> 0:22:28.916 night or to finish their research or you know, socialize. 0:22:29.516 --> 0:22:33.676 It sounds like a Nerds version of spring Break. Yes, exactly, 0:22:34.196 --> 0:22:38.956 a Revenge of the Nerds Tempe, Arizona edition. So this 0:22:39.036 --> 0:22:42.476 is the scene that Estra walked into posing as Natalie. 0:22:43.356 --> 0:22:46.156 John still remembers when he first met her. So her 0:22:46.236 --> 0:22:50.836 narrative was, I make my money playing competitive chess and 0:22:50.956 --> 0:22:52.916 I kind of live a nomadic life, right, so we 0:22:52.916 --> 0:22:55.196 were trying to get what's your home address? That was 0:22:55.236 --> 0:22:57.996 a question we couldn't get out of her registration. John 0:22:58.036 --> 0:23:02.436 remembers that this nomadic young woman, she was ambitious. She 0:23:02.516 --> 0:23:05.796 told him that she wanted to win a national debate championship, 0:23:06.436 --> 0:23:10.196 you know, when she wasn't playing pro chess. So a 0:23:10.236 --> 0:23:13.556 bit odd perhaps, but hey, this was Revenge of the 0:23:13.636 --> 0:23:20.916 Nerds Tempe edition. Esther's story. It wasn't all made up. 0:23:21.396 --> 0:23:24.596 She actually did spend many of her days playing chess online. 0:23:25.236 --> 0:23:27.036 Chess is an escape for me. I would play it 0:23:27.076 --> 0:23:28.956 for hours and people would be like, why are you 0:23:28.996 --> 0:23:31.236 doing that? So she came up with an answer to 0:23:31.276 --> 0:23:34.436 that question, a lie that became part of her fictional biography. 0:23:34.956 --> 0:23:37.836 She told people she was a professional chess player, which 0:23:37.916 --> 0:23:40.396 was a good lie, of course, because Esther knew a 0:23:40.436 --> 0:23:44.316 lot about chess. She was slowly crafting her own semi 0:23:44.316 --> 0:23:48.556 fictional narrative, and she was learning when lying stick to 0:23:48.596 --> 0:23:52.036 the truth right, because as she toyed with the details, 0:23:52.116 --> 0:23:55.356 adjusting them here and there, she learned the dangers of 0:23:55.396 --> 0:23:58.636 straying too far from the truth. Like one time some 0:23:58.716 --> 0:24:02.396 guy chatted her up and she improvised a bit too much, 0:24:03.076 --> 0:24:06.076 and I was like, oh, I'm going to a tennis 0:24:06.076 --> 0:24:09.516 tournament because oh, you're a teenis plan? I was like, yeah, yeah, 0:24:09.516 --> 0:24:12.956 I'm a tesselayer. This was a problem because Esther didn't 0:24:12.956 --> 0:24:16.196 actually know that much about tennis, and also once Ali 0:24:16.396 --> 0:24:19.516 was out, it spread. I mean because then once you 0:24:19.556 --> 0:24:21.556 tell people, then they're like, oh, you know what she does? 0:24:22.076 --> 0:24:24.636 She pleased tenant and I'm like, gosh, shit, you know, 0:24:24.796 --> 0:24:27.356 like it just it would eventually get me in trouvel 0:24:27.916 --> 0:24:31.036 So she quickly realized better to stick with the chess story, 0:24:31.356 --> 0:24:34.196 and it worked well. At the debate camp, she spun 0:24:34.236 --> 0:24:36.956 her tail, she made some friends, and she even won 0:24:36.996 --> 0:24:40.996 an award for her performance as a debater. Afterwards, she 0:24:41.076 --> 0:24:45.636 started talking to John Brushki, the debate coach, about attending college. 0:24:46.436 --> 0:24:49.156 In addition to running the debate camp, John was a 0:24:49.196 --> 0:24:54.276 professor at California State University Fullerton. He encouraged her to 0:24:54.316 --> 0:24:58.236 apply there. For Esther, it was a moment of hope 0:24:58.276 --> 0:25:02.636 and possibility. For two years, she had felt lost, but 0:25:02.796 --> 0:25:06.796 suddenly her life seemed to have traction. Esther soon started 0:25:06.796 --> 0:25:09.876 to make plans to move to California and take classes 0:25:09.916 --> 0:25:13.116 at cal State Fullerton. She stayed in touch with her 0:25:13.156 --> 0:25:16.156 friends that she'd made in Tempe, her people, as she 0:25:16.236 --> 0:25:18.996 called them. At one point she met up with them 0:25:18.996 --> 0:25:22.956 at a debate tournament in Washington, d c. At Catholic University. 0:25:23.596 --> 0:25:26.876 And this is where she met Ian Fleischman. You may 0:25:26.996 --> 0:25:29.956 remember him. He was the handsome young cadet from West 0:25:29.956 --> 0:25:34.196 Point who became her boyfriend. Esther was struck almost right 0:25:34.236 --> 0:25:40.476 away by his thoughtfulness. He's a very good listener. You know, 0:25:40.516 --> 0:25:43.596 sometimes you'll tell people something and like they'll kind of listen, 0:25:43.636 --> 0:25:46.916 but really they're only waiting for their moment to interject. 0:25:46.996 --> 0:25:50.716 And Ian's not like that at always very genuine and 0:25:50.836 --> 0:25:53.796 this feeling, this sense that she had about him, it 0:25:53.836 --> 0:25:57.036 only grew with time. Like Ian's the type of guy 0:25:57.076 --> 0:25:59.116 that would change your oil and fill up your gas 0:25:59.156 --> 0:26:02.556