WEBVTT - Episode 4: A Very Sophisticated Gal 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:26.716 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. I think I got a 0:00:26.756 --> 0:00:30.836 message from Columbia Security saying they wanted to talk to me, 0:00:31.556 --> 0:00:34.636 and I was like, oh shit. I remember the chief 0:00:34.676 --> 0:00:36.396 asking me, like, how far are you going to take this? 0:00:37.956 --> 0:00:42.036 It said chief, until I can interview Esther Reid, I 0:00:42.156 --> 0:00:45.836 can't clear this tip. I went to get a U 0:00:45.916 --> 0:00:49.436 wall truck because I had decided I'm freaking getting out 0:00:49.436 --> 0:00:53.076 of here. So I went upstairs, packed the quickest bag 0:00:53.116 --> 0:00:56.356 I could pack, grab my dogs, called a cab, and left. 0:00:56.436 --> 0:00:58.516 Would you do it to U haul? Left it here? 0:00:59.356 --> 0:01:03.076 That's kind of crazy. I know, all of it's crazy. 0:01:03.676 --> 0:01:10.716 I was scared. When Esther fled New York City. She 0:01:10.716 --> 0:01:14.356 didn't get very far. Basically, she just crossed the Hudson 0:01:14.476 --> 0:01:18.236 River and stopped a few miles away in Secaucus, New Jersey, 0:01:18.556 --> 0:01:21.076 got a hotel room. She was with her two little 0:01:21.076 --> 0:01:24.836 shitsus Pouchin and Odie, and they were just looking at 0:01:24.836 --> 0:01:28.196 her the way dogs do, as if to say, what's 0:01:28.236 --> 0:01:31.436 the plan? Boss? Like, what is going to your brain 0:01:31.476 --> 0:01:34.436 when you're in that hotel room in Jersey? I have 0:01:34.476 --> 0:01:40.196 no idea? I mean, that was absolute panic. I knew 0:01:40.196 --> 0:01:43.556 I needed to get a flight and so I remember 0:01:43.836 --> 0:01:47.636 I needed vet certificates for my dogs to fly. So 0:01:47.676 --> 0:01:50.916 she finds a vet who basically certifies that these dogs 0:01:50.956 --> 0:01:53.556 don't have rabies or whatever, and then she comes up 0:01:53.556 --> 0:01:57.156 with a plan. She decides to fly to Ohio and 0:01:57.196 --> 0:02:00.436 then a few weeks later catches a ride to Chicago 0:02:00.876 --> 0:02:03.956 using a ride share that she found on craigslist. Your 0:02:04.356 --> 0:02:08.076 life is like one series of ridiculous like yes, logistical 0:02:08.156 --> 0:02:11.036 challenges like your you are on the run at this point, 0:02:11.076 --> 0:02:16.716 that is, that's yes. I didn't necessarily view myself. I 0:02:16.796 --> 0:02:18.676 was still hoping that it wouldn't be a big deal 0:02:18.716 --> 0:02:21.956 and they would might be over it. So I didn't 0:02:21.996 --> 0:02:26.876 realize I was on the run. I just kept thinking, like, well, 0:02:26.876 --> 0:02:29.276 come on, I mean you you you left the U 0:02:29.356 --> 0:02:32.276 haul in front of your apartment and I left your 0:02:32.276 --> 0:02:35.436 apartment like you. I mean, at that moment, I was, 0:02:35.476 --> 0:02:38.396 but I was I should did. I knew I was 0:02:38.436 --> 0:02:40.196 on the run, but I still was thinking I can 0:02:40.236 --> 0:02:42.876 avoid truffle, Like if I could just like lay low, 0:02:43.996 --> 0:02:48.916 this could work out. I'm an undying optimist, and so 0:02:49.116 --> 0:02:51.716 I really did think, like maybe they won't be able 0:02:51.756 --> 0:02:54.516 to find me, just that it would become a cold case, 0:02:56.036 --> 0:02:59.356 and like they would stop devoting resources to it and 0:02:59.436 --> 0:03:02.036 it might have become a cold case after all. At 0:03:02.076 --> 0:03:04.956 this point, Esther was just a missing person of interest 0:03:05.356 --> 0:03:08.516 in a possible case of identity theft and finding her 0:03:08.756 --> 0:03:12.396 it was all about resources, like how badly do you 0:03:12.436 --> 0:03:15.076 want to find her? And unless her case became some 0:03:15.156 --> 0:03:18.916 kind of top priority, which it currently wasn't, well, then 0:03:18.956 --> 0:03:21.516 there wouldn't be much of a man hunt or woman 0:03:21.596 --> 0:03:24.876 hunt as it were. As far as Esther was concerned, 0:03:25.236 --> 0:03:32.836 she was relatively safe. Meanwhile, down in Traveler's Rest, South Carolina, 0:03:32.996 --> 0:03:36.156 John Campbell was kind of at a loss. He was 0:03:36.196 --> 0:03:38.916 supposed to be solving the case of Brooke Henson, who'd 0:03:38.996 --> 0:03:43.316 vanished seven years before. It was now two thousand and six, 0:03:43.916 --> 0:03:47.676 and this whole other thing with Esther read up at Columbia. 0:03:47.756 --> 0:03:49.876 It was just a lead that John was chasing down, 0:03:50.236 --> 0:03:52.876 a tip, a kind of side trail that he'd been 0:03:52.956 --> 0:03:56.116 jogging down in the hopes of finding Brooke or at 0:03:56.156 --> 0:03:58.196 least a clue as to what had happened to Brooke. 0:03:58.916 --> 0:04:02.596 But Esther's trail was getting cold. She fled New York 0:04:02.676 --> 0:04:05.476 City in the summer, and by a Christmas time, six 0:04:05.516 --> 0:04:08.876 months later, John still had no idea where Esther was, 0:04:09.396 --> 0:04:11.836 and he was no closer to solving the Brook Henson 0:04:11.876 --> 0:04:16.436 case either. John's boss wanted an update. We had a 0:04:16.436 --> 0:04:18.236 new chief of police, and he came in and he said, 0:04:18.276 --> 0:04:21.436 where are we on this Henson tip thing? I said, 0:04:21.476 --> 0:04:23.196 We're dead in the water. I mean, she didn't show 0:04:23.276 --> 0:04:26.916 up to give a DNA sample like she said she would. 0:04:27.076 --> 0:04:30.676 She hasn't been back to her apartment. Nobody knows, she 0:04:30.676 --> 0:04:32.716 hadn't been to class, Nobody knows where she went. She's 0:04:32.716 --> 0:04:36.596 in the wind, she's gone. John's boss, the chief, had 0:04:36.636 --> 0:04:39.476 shared some information about the case with the local press, 0:04:40.076 --> 0:04:44.236 but apparently they wanted more details. So the chief tells 0:04:44.356 --> 0:04:47.196 John opened the file and let the press have whatever 0:04:47.236 --> 0:04:50.356 they want. And I said, all right, are you sure? 0:04:50.156 --> 0:04:53.476 Are you kidding because we'd never done that, and he's like, yeah, 0:04:53.556 --> 0:04:57.676 we're an open book. And I said, okay, heyman, he's 0:04:57.676 --> 0:05:02.156 the chief. The Travelers Rest Police Department shared what they 0:05:02.236 --> 0:05:05.196 knew with the local press, told them that there was 0:05:05.196 --> 0:05:08.956 this impostor who'd stolen Brooks identity and gotten into an 0:05:08.956 --> 0:05:13.116 eye Vy league school, and for the first time revealed 0:05:13.156 --> 0:05:19.156 her name publicly. Esther Reid. We opened the boat and 0:05:19.196 --> 0:05:21.876 we told him everything we had, and man, they took 0:05:21.916 --> 0:05:26.236 that and ran. This decision to open the file turns 0:05:26.236 --> 0:05:29.836 out to be a huge deal. John shares the evidence 0:05:29.876 --> 0:05:34.636 in the case history, but also his espionage theories, even 0:05:34.636 --> 0:05:38.036 if some of those theories were half baked, and I 0:05:38.076 --> 0:05:41.436 should note not everyone in law enforcement was buying into 0:05:41.516 --> 0:05:46.156 John's ideas. Over at the Secret Service, Don Long was skeptical, 0:05:46.636 --> 0:05:50.436 but the Secret Service wasn't talking to the media John was. 0:05:51.116 --> 0:05:54.796 The point is, once John started talking, he said something 0:05:54.836 --> 0:05:59.556 in motion, a media juggernaut. Pretty Soon everyone would know 0:05:59.596 --> 0:06:03.236 about Esther Reid, and finding her would become more than 0:06:03.276 --> 0:06:06.236 just a priority for law enforcement. It would become a 0:06:06.276 --> 0:06:10.196 reality TV show of sorts, a content test to see 0:06:10.196 --> 0:06:29.636 who could find her first. I'm Jake Albert and this 0:06:29.876 --> 0:06:57.796 is Deep Cover Season three, Never Seen Again, Episode four, 0:06:58.476 --> 0:07:07.716 a very sophisticated gale. So the local TV station down 0:07:07.716 --> 0:07:11.596 in Greenville, South Carolina runs its story and right away 0:07:11.996 --> 0:07:15.316 John Campbell's phone rings. On the other end was a 0:07:15.356 --> 0:07:19.196 guy named Tom Colbert from California. Tom was a former 0:07:19.236 --> 0:07:22.836 news guy, used to work for CBS and Paramount, but 0:07:22.996 --> 0:07:25.876 now he had his own business. He worked closely with 0:07:25.956 --> 0:07:29.716 local journalists. They would feed him tips and then Tom 0:07:29.756 --> 0:07:32.596 would pass the best ones along to the big media outlets. 0:07:33.116 --> 0:07:35.756 Tom charged a finder's fee, of course, and he gave 0:07:35.796 --> 0:07:38.636 a cut to the local news guys. He was basically 0:07:38.636 --> 0:07:42.036 a middleman and Tom he was good at his job. 0:07:42.516 --> 0:07:46.676 Some people called him the gem hunter because Tom he 0:07:46.796 --> 0:07:50.756 found the gems. Anyway, Tom gets this tip from a 0:07:50.756 --> 0:07:55.076 TV reporter in Greenville about the Esther read story, and 0:07:55.196 --> 0:07:59.116 right away he calls John Campbell to get his take 0:07:59.196 --> 0:08:02.876 on Esther. He talked about the potential for being a 0:08:02.956 --> 0:08:08.276 Russian spy going to various universities under cover. It had 0:08:08.316 --> 0:08:10.876 so many interest elements, the fact that it could be 0:08:10.956 --> 0:08:15.716 involved with espionage. That wasn't clear to me until John 0:08:15.836 --> 0:08:18.596 really laid it out and said, no, I really think 0:08:18.596 --> 0:08:23.236 this gal has a different name for other reasons. I 0:08:23.276 --> 0:08:26.116 thought it was maybe just for money, trying to get 0:08:26.156 --> 0:08:28.196 into bank accounts now, and he said, no, this is 0:08:28.236 --> 0:08:32.436 a very sophisticated gal. This was John's pet theory that 0:08:32.716 --> 0:08:36.156 Esther was a spy. He stressed the fact that Esther 0:08:36.276 --> 0:08:39.996 had dated several military men, including two West Point cadets 0:08:40.236 --> 0:08:43.636 and a Naval Academy midshipman and that she seemed to 0:08:43.676 --> 0:08:48.796 be a master at creating aliases and then vanishing. Tom 0:08:49.156 --> 0:08:51.476 was intrigued. I mean, there are a lot of people 0:08:51.556 --> 0:08:57.356 stealing names, but something dealing with espionage spies, that was 0:08:57.396 --> 0:09:03.436 a fascinating, fascinating development and opened my eyes. Tom jumped 0:09:03.476 --> 0:09:06.116 on the story. Within a day or so, he sent 0:09:06.156 --> 0:09:09.076 out a press release. It told the story of how 0:09:09.276 --> 0:09:13.236 John Campbell was tracking down a mysterious con artist. It 0:09:13.316 --> 0:09:17.716 quotes John as saying she's incredibly bright, articulate, and a conniving, 0:09:17.756 --> 0:09:22.796 manipulative person, almost to the point of being pathological. The 0:09:22.876 --> 0:09:27.076 press release also says that Esther seduced several military men. 0:09:27.796 --> 0:09:32.196 It adds quote Reid allegedly has been funded through mysterious 0:09:32.236 --> 0:09:35.716 money orders for years from sources in Germany and Italy. 0:09:36.196 --> 0:09:39.276 She has told lovers she is a professional chess player. 0:09:40.396 --> 0:09:43.756 The press release had a long list of contacts, including 0:09:43.836 --> 0:09:48.316 John Campbell, Esther's sister, and also the Fleischmann's, her ex 0:09:48.356 --> 0:09:53.116 boyfriend's parents. Three days later, Esther was on the front 0:09:53.116 --> 0:09:57.396 page of the New York Post. The banner headline was klepto, 0:09:57.516 --> 0:10:03.476 brainiac id thief scams colleges. The article heralded her as 0:10:03.476 --> 0:10:07.756 a brazen brunette beauty. It included comments from both John 0:10:07.796 --> 0:10:13.156 Campbell and Ian's Fred Fleischman suggesting that Esther was a spy. 0:10:14.036 --> 0:10:17.356 The article ended with a quote from John saying, the 0:10:17.436 --> 0:10:20.356 one million dollar question is where she turns up next? 0:10:20.756 --> 0:10:23.956 And is who? It was kind of like the old 0:10:24.036 --> 0:10:27.476 children's game Where in the world is Carmen San Diego, 0:10:28.276 --> 0:10:31.236 only a version that was spy themed and a bit 0:10:31.316 --> 0:10:34.876 sexed up. The article had some facts and a lot 0:10:34.876 --> 0:10:42.036 of conjecture. It made for great reading. That's what really 0:10:42.076 --> 0:10:45.836 set off a firestorm of the phone ringing. John suddenly 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:48.916 had to balance being a detective, a spokesman, and a 0:10:48.996 --> 0:10:51.956 dad because he had a toddler at the time. I 0:10:52.036 --> 0:10:56.116 have a little office in the police department, and I'd 0:10:56.156 --> 0:10:58.036 be there for hours and hours an hour, So my 0:10:58.076 --> 0:11:00.676 son's like on the floor playing under my desk, playing 0:11:00.676 --> 0:11:02.556 with his hot wheels in the hallway and stuff like 0:11:02.596 --> 0:11:06.116 that while I'm on the phone with the press. For 0:11:06.156 --> 0:11:08.796 a while, it basically became a full time job for 0:11:10.036 --> 0:11:12.676 so anybody they call, I talked to anybody they could 0:11:12.676 --> 0:11:17.716 get me on the phone, and I talked for days straight. 0:11:17.836 --> 0:11:22.796 The phone rang for days NonStop from reporters, and when 0:11:22.836 --> 0:11:25.516 people couldn't get ahold of me, they just published whatever 0:11:25.556 --> 0:11:27.836 somebody else, whatever I told somebody else. There's all kinds 0:11:27.876 --> 0:11:30.476 of things that say, John Campbell said, my idn't even 0:11:30.516 --> 0:11:31.916 talked to that guy in my whole life, not even 0:11:31.956 --> 0:11:36.436 who that is. You know. As the newspaper clippings piled up, 0:11:36.836 --> 0:11:41.556 things got serious. A grand jury formally indicted Esther. This 0:11:41.636 --> 0:11:44.796 happened in September of two thousand and seven, roughly a 0:11:44.916 --> 0:11:49.556 year after Esther fled. New York City prosecutors charged her 0:11:49.636 --> 0:11:54.236 with fraud and identity theft. They said Esther fraudulently obtained 0:11:54.276 --> 0:11:58.076 a copy of Brooks birth certificate, applied for US passport, 0:11:58.436 --> 0:12:00.876 and took out more than one hundred thousand dollars in 0:12:00.916 --> 0:12:06.356 student loans. And with this indictment, Esther officially became a 0:12:06.356 --> 0:12:11.196 federal fugitive. Meanwhile, forty eight hours the CBS News Show 0:12:11.316 --> 0:12:14.516 picked up the story. They decided to do a full 0:12:14.556 --> 0:12:18.076 hour segment on Esther Reid. In fact, they ultimately did 0:12:18.156 --> 0:12:21.596 two segments, and I want to share some excerpts from 0:12:21.596 --> 0:12:25.876 both of them. Capture the Queen to Night's forty eight 0:12:25.876 --> 0:12:30.916 Hours mystery, the producers hired a professional sleuth to track 0:12:31.076 --> 0:12:34.596 Esther down. My name is Stephen Rombaum. I'm a private 0:12:34.636 --> 0:12:37.756 investigator and I am currently hunting for us to read. 0:12:39.476 --> 0:12:42.236 Over the course of his career, Stephen had chased after 0:12:42.356 --> 0:12:46.796 some pretty serious bad guys, including Nazi war criminals. Now 0:12:46.916 --> 0:12:50.036 Stephen told viewers about his latest target. This is a 0:12:50.076 --> 0:12:55.636 woman that completely reinvented herself from being a chubby Montana 0:12:55.796 --> 0:13:00.116 high school dropout to an attractive IVY League co ed 0:13:00.516 --> 0:13:04.436 able to conn her way into Harvard, into Columbia, going 0:13:04.476 --> 0:13:07.916 to military balls at West Point. She is certainly not 0:13:08.036 --> 0:13:11.396 above using her feminine wiles to get whatever she wants. 0:13:12.316 --> 0:13:15.756 So Stephen the private eye, he hits the road looking 0:13:15.756 --> 0:13:19.236 for Esther. It's pretty wild, actually, because at this point 0:13:19.476 --> 0:13:22.916 there's the official law enforcement search for Esther Reid being 0:13:22.996 --> 0:13:26.596 led by the Secret Service and John Campbell, and then 0:13:26.756 --> 0:13:29.676 there's the made for TV version of this search being 0:13:29.756 --> 0:13:32.596 led by Stephen and along with him one of the 0:13:32.636 --> 0:13:36.156 show's hosts, Peter van Zand how do you begin, Well, 0:13:36.196 --> 0:13:39.476 we begin by finding out everything we can about her background, 0:13:39.556 --> 0:13:46.236 her alias's, places, where she's lived. Rombaum heads first to 0:13:46.516 --> 0:13:51.036 Esther's last known address, the Manhattan apartment where she was 0:13:51.116 --> 0:13:55.836 living as Brooke Henson, and then we see Steve Rombaum 0:13:55.876 --> 0:14:00.196 going through Esther's abandoned possessions. Thank goodness, Sir, Landlord saved 0:14:00.236 --> 0:14:03.876 all of this. This is just extraordinary. It's everything a 0:14:03.956 --> 0:14:07.876 private eye could hope for, a treasure trove of documents 0:14:07.876 --> 0:14:12.396 from Esther's life as Brooke. She left behind her credit 0:14:12.396 --> 0:14:17.196 card bills, her bank statements, her phone bills, countless countless leads. 0:14:18.196 --> 0:14:21.996 So Steve is gathering some pretty important clues about where 0:14:22.156 --> 0:14:26.036 Esther might be. Good old fashioned detective work. But there 0:14:26.076 --> 0:14:29.876 are other moments when the story feels pure tabloid and 0:14:29.956 --> 0:14:34.156 it's less about financial crimes and more about Esther's personal life. 0:14:34.756 --> 0:14:38.396 Here's the show's host, Peter van Zant again, and some 0:14:38.476 --> 0:14:41.556 of her targets were the men she was dating. How 0:14:41.596 --> 0:14:43.476 many men do you think esther Rita has gone through. 0:14:43.596 --> 0:14:46.756 I'm aware of about a dozen. They talked about her 0:14:46.836 --> 0:14:49.796 like she was some sort of femme fatal, and that's 0:14:49.956 --> 0:14:53.636 kind of the vibe throughout these two episodes. The producers 0:14:53.716 --> 0:14:56.596 pick up on the whole spy theory and run with it. 0:14:57.076 --> 0:14:59.956 They get a hold of some instant messages between Esther 0:15:00.276 --> 0:15:03.636 and one of her West Point boyfriends. In the exchange, 0:15:03.756 --> 0:15:06.956 the boyfriend says that he's been studying maps and timelines 0:15:07.196 --> 0:15:11.636 in his military science class. Esther wrote back, I want 0:15:11.636 --> 0:15:15.116 to see it when you're finished. Steve the Private Eye 0:15:15.436 --> 0:15:19.556 gives his analysis on this too. This is a classic 0:15:19.836 --> 0:15:25.396 method of espionage, using sex and using intimacy to get 0:15:25.396 --> 0:15:28.276 this sort of information. I mean, this is Mata Hari. 0:15:28.436 --> 0:15:33.116 One oh one, Mata Hari. I want to dive into 0:15:33.156 --> 0:15:36.476 this reference for a sec Mata Hari was an exotic 0:15:36.596 --> 0:15:39.676 dancer who was accused of being a spy during World 0:15:39.676 --> 0:15:46.476 War One. In old photos, she's dressed as a belly 0:15:46.596 --> 0:15:50.196 dancer wearing a jewel encrusted bra. Doesn't look a thing 0:15:50.236 --> 0:15:54.196 like Esther Reid, and yet there's some really interesting parallels. 0:15:55.876 --> 0:16:00.516 Mata Hari was actually a Dutch woman named Margarita Zella. 0:16:00.636 --> 0:16:04.036 She too was running from a troubled past. Parents divorced, 0:16:04.276 --> 0:16:07.396 mom died. She was left with relatives she didn't care for, 0:16:08.076 --> 0:16:12.356 so she invented herself. Told some she was a Javanese 0:16:12.396 --> 0:16:15.436 princess and others that she was an Indian temple dancer. 0:16:18.516 --> 0:16:22.316 During the war, a French intelligence officer became convinced that 0:16:22.356 --> 0:16:25.796 she was a spy. There wasn't a ton of proof, 0:16:26.436 --> 0:16:29.396 but in the end she was executed by a firing squad. 0:16:33.356 --> 0:16:37.356 Since then, she's become a legend, a stock character, like 0:16:37.476 --> 0:16:41.996 the mean stepmother or the evil CEO. And the thing 0:16:41.996 --> 0:16:45.996 about stock characters is we believe in them, We look 0:16:46.076 --> 0:16:48.916 for them, and we call them out even when the 0:16:48.956 --> 0:16:59.876 facts don't add up. Hello, yeah, oh great, Okay, I 0:16:59.916 --> 0:17:05.596 think we're destinesses. We're going oh if if not, I'm 0:17:05.636 --> 0:17:10.796 not reducing. I reached out to Steve Rambaum, the Private Eye. 0:17:11.356 --> 0:17:14.716 I was still wondering about the whole spy thing. Like 0:17:14.956 --> 0:17:18.276 back then, how serious were people in the media and 0:17:18.396 --> 0:17:23.276 in law enforcement about this espionage theory. They were concerned that, 0:17:23.396 --> 0:17:26.036 you know, maybe she's a spy for Iran, Maybe she's 0:17:26.036 --> 0:17:30.196 a spy for this, you know, Russian. Both of those 0:17:30.196 --> 0:17:35.036 things actually came up. I'll confess I left, but not 0:17:35.196 --> 0:17:39.436 everybody laughed. Steve says he never really brought into the 0:17:39.476 --> 0:17:42.796 idea that Esther was a spy or a master criminal 0:17:42.796 --> 0:17:46.036 of any kind. I mean, you know, this was not 0:17:46.876 --> 0:17:52.476 a young female Bernie Madoff who stole millions. You're talking 0:17:52.516 --> 0:17:58.156 about defrauding the scholarship system and getting a fake birth 0:17:58.236 --> 0:18:03.116 certificate and building a false identity. I can introduce you 0:18:03.156 --> 0:18:06.996 to probably ten thousand people who've done who've done the 0:18:07.116 --> 0:18:10.436 same or worse. So I asked him, what was it 0:18:10.556 --> 0:18:13.236 then about the ester Reid case that the media was 0:18:13.276 --> 0:18:16.276 so keen on number one, she was a young female, 0:18:16.396 --> 0:18:18.756 that they were able to make it look like she 0:18:18.876 --> 0:18:25.436 was one step ahead of the combined investigative forces of America, 0:18:26.396 --> 0:18:29.356 which I have to tell you wasn't true because federal 0:18:29.396 --> 0:18:31.876 agents were working on bigger cases and didn't think that 0:18:31.916 --> 0:18:35.876 this was, you know, a major national security event until 0:18:35.876 --> 0:18:38.716 everybody made it look like that. And then there was 0:18:38.756 --> 0:18:41.476 the spy story and the whole perception that she was 0:18:41.516 --> 0:18:44.236 a fem fatal, not to mention the fact that she 0:18:44.276 --> 0:18:47.756 had conned the ivy leagues. Basically, as far as I 0:18:47.796 --> 0:18:52.036 could tell, it all just made for good TV. Steve 0:18:52.076 --> 0:18:54.276 told me that he didn't want to bad mouth the 0:18:54.316 --> 0:18:56.516 media because of all the good he's seen it do. 0:18:57.316 --> 0:18:59.596 I'll be very honest. I'm not going to be hypocritical 0:18:59.596 --> 0:19:02.996 and deny this. I've worked with the media dozens of 0:19:03.076 --> 0:19:08.556 times to get important and urgent matters, you know, into 0:19:08.556 --> 0:19:12.636 the public eye and kind of nudge law enforcement. These 0:19:12.676 --> 0:19:15.636 were cases where kids had gone missing, or where Steve 0:19:15.756 --> 0:19:19.676 is tracking down alleged war criminals, important matters that had 0:19:19.716 --> 0:19:23.476 been overlooked, stories that Steve felt should be at the 0:19:23.516 --> 0:19:27.716 top of the media food chain. I think moving Esther 0:19:27.836 --> 0:19:32.316 Reid to the top of the food chain was, you know, 0:19:32.356 --> 0:19:35.916 a weed bit cynical. Wow. Do you feel like you 0:19:35.956 --> 0:19:40.876 were a part of that at all? Sure? Sure, I 0:19:40.916 --> 0:19:44.476 mean I was working a case. I did not say 0:19:44.596 --> 0:19:48.956 anything during that case to anyone that was in the 0:19:49.036 --> 0:20:06.276 slightest bit exaggeration. We'll be right back. When Steve Rombaumb 0:20:06.396 --> 0:20:09.396 was filming for forty eight hours and criss cross the 0:20:09.436 --> 0:20:14.196 country tracking down Esther Reid, he remained confident in his mission. 0:20:14.556 --> 0:20:17.716 I would be very surprised the Freedom Finder. If I 0:20:17.716 --> 0:20:20.916 didn't genuinely believe that, I wouldn't be daring enough to 0:20:20.956 --> 0:20:24.116 say it on television. But by the time the first 0:20:24.196 --> 0:20:27.436 forty eight hours special aired in December of two thousand 0:20:27.436 --> 0:20:31.316 and seven, Steve hadn't founder and the story, which is 0:20:31.356 --> 0:20:35.476 getting bigger and bigger. Around the same time, the legendary 0:20:35.516 --> 0:20:39.276 TV show America's Most Wanted also ran a story on 0:20:39.516 --> 0:20:43.276 Esther and some other female fugitives too. They called the 0:20:43.316 --> 0:20:48.276 episode Bad Girls. America's Most Wanted was a big deal 0:20:48.316 --> 0:20:52.116 back then, especially if you worked in law enforcement. Like 0:20:52.556 --> 0:20:55.516 if you got your case on that show, it greatly 0:20:55.516 --> 0:20:58.676 increased the chances that you'd catch your fugitive because so 0:20:58.716 --> 0:21:01.436 many people watched the show and then called in with tips. 0:21:02.396 --> 0:21:05.276 When I spoke with Don Long, the Secret Service agent, 0:21:05.556 --> 0:21:08.476 he told me he was actually surprised that Esther made 0:21:08.476 --> 0:21:11.756 it onto the show, which makes sense to me. I mean, 0:21:11.996 --> 0:21:15.396 she was not a domestic terrorist, or a serial killer 0:21:15.756 --> 0:21:19.076 or a bank robber, but be that as it may, 0:21:19.636 --> 0:21:23.156 she was now on everyone's radar. The fact that this 0:21:23.236 --> 0:21:28.596 was highlighted on America's Most Wanted certainly raised or elevated 0:21:28.676 --> 0:21:33.196 the level here within the Secret Service. It also enlightened 0:21:33.196 --> 0:21:37.756 me on some investigative steps I could take to highlight 0:21:37.796 --> 0:21:41.796 the case even more within my own agency. Don talked 0:21:41.796 --> 0:21:44.996 to his superiors at headquarters in DC and made the 0:21:44.996 --> 0:21:47.876 case that Esther should also be on the Secret Services 0:21:47.956 --> 0:21:51.956 Most Wanted list. They agreed and put her on the list. 0:21:52.476 --> 0:21:54.916 The way Don saw it, he had a job to do, 0:21:55.356 --> 0:21:57.996 and this helped him do it. The more people that 0:21:58.036 --> 0:22:00.436 are looking for your suspect, the better chance you have 0:22:00.476 --> 0:22:05.036 of finding them. Esther's face and her story were now everywhere, 0:22:05.436 --> 0:22:08.396 and the FEDS had made it clear capturing her was 0:22:08.476 --> 0:22:14.836 officially a priority. So you're probably wondering at this point 0:22:15.316 --> 0:22:18.476 what was Esther doing while all this was happening, Like, 0:22:18.796 --> 0:22:22.556 how was she processing this media circus? Well, the short 0:22:22.596 --> 0:22:25.116 answer is it took a while for the circus to 0:22:25.116 --> 0:22:29.236 get underway. Esther had actually been on the run for 0:22:29.316 --> 0:22:31.236 a year and a half by the time the first 0:22:31.316 --> 0:22:34.756 forty eight Hours story ran, and during all this time 0:22:34.916 --> 0:22:38.516 leading up to that, Esther cut off all contact with 0:22:38.556 --> 0:22:43.276 her old friends. Did you stay in touch with anyone 0:22:43.396 --> 0:22:46.596 during that time? No? Absolutely, nobody knew where I was 0:22:46.636 --> 0:22:53.356 at nothing. Did you make new friends? You were just 0:22:53.436 --> 0:22:58.596 like solo with my babies? Yes, with two dogs. Wow, 0:22:58.716 --> 0:23:02.276 that's a long time to be solo. Yes, it was 0:23:02.356 --> 0:23:06.596 a very very bad period. Esther stayed at cheap rentals 0:23:06.636 --> 0:23:10.996 and motels, mainly in the Midwest. She says she squeaked 0:23:11.036 --> 0:23:14.716 by for money. She had this little trick where she 0:23:14.796 --> 0:23:18.036 bought clothing at J. C. Penny on sale and then 0:23:18.076 --> 0:23:20.996 found a way to return the merchandise for the full price. 0:23:21.756 --> 0:23:24.276 She says she was just taking advantage of a loophole 0:23:24.276 --> 0:23:26.956 in the system. I think it's safe to say it 0:23:26.996 --> 0:23:30.796 was a scam. During this time, she pretty much became 0:23:30.796 --> 0:23:34.036 a shut in. She says she was laying low hoping 0:23:34.036 --> 0:23:37.316 this would all just blow over. And to be honest, 0:23:37.636 --> 0:23:39.436 this is a part of her story that I didn't 0:23:39.436 --> 0:23:43.676 fully get, Like, wasn't she googling herself? Part of it 0:23:43.716 --> 0:23:46.596 may have been denial, but Astor also told me that 0:23:46.676 --> 0:23:50.516 she worried that by inputting certain search terms about herself 0:23:50.916 --> 0:23:53.676 that she might tip off the authorities and give away 0:23:53.676 --> 0:23:58.156 her location, so she didn't do it. Then one day, 0:23:58.676 --> 0:24:01.996 she was up in Michigan staying at a motel. She 0:24:02.076 --> 0:24:05.796 was in her room with her dogs watching TV when 0:24:05.796 --> 0:24:09.996 a very brief segment on Fox News came on featuring her. 0:24:11.276 --> 0:24:16.196 And I remember seeing my picture and it's saying Esther 0:24:16.356 --> 0:24:21.036 read and I was like, oh shit, like literally, oh shit, 0:24:21.876 --> 0:24:25.436 this isn't going to go away. Esther says his segment 0:24:25.556 --> 0:24:28.756 was short, but it told her enough. Told her that 0:24:28.756 --> 0:24:31.676 the authorities were looking for her, and they had started 0:24:31.716 --> 0:24:35.316 connecting the dots, uncovering at least some of the aliases 0:24:35.316 --> 0:24:38.156 that she'd used. I knew they would probably be able 0:24:38.156 --> 0:24:40.396 to figure out that I wasn't Brookentson, but I didn't 0:24:40.436 --> 0:24:46.116 think they would connect Brookentson to Esther read. Up until then, 0:24:46.316 --> 0:24:49.316 she had believed that her aliases would help keep her safe. 0:24:49.796 --> 0:24:52.516 She held on to all of her paperwork, all of 0:24:52.516 --> 0:24:56.276 her fraudulently obtained ideas. Yeah, I hold on to everything 0:24:56.516 --> 0:25:00.076 you had, your like Jason Bourne wallet with all your IDs. Yes, 0:25:00.556 --> 0:25:03.516 it was hidden in the bottom of my trunk right, 0:25:03.596 --> 0:25:06.196 always kept it. But she realized that none of that 0:25:06.236 --> 0:25:09.556 would keep her safe any longer. In fact, those ideas 0:25:09.876 --> 0:25:13.156 were now a liability. Immediately, I went and cut up 0:25:13.196 --> 0:25:15.276 every piece of idea I had on me, and I 0:25:16.036 --> 0:25:18.396 cut it all up like the little scissors, into tiny 0:25:18.436 --> 0:25:22.036 little pieces and flushed them. Wow, you were really pretty well. 0:25:22.076 --> 0:25:23.836 I thought like they might be coming right this moment, 0:25:23.916 --> 0:25:27.956 you know, like I don't handle panic very well. Clearly, 0:25:30.596 --> 0:25:33.476 there were so many instances where Esther could have come clean, 0:25:34.116 --> 0:25:38.436 turned herself in quietly without much fanfare, and maybe straightened 0:25:38.436 --> 0:25:43.396 everything out. But not now. So you cut all these 0:25:43.516 --> 0:25:46.436 up and flushed them on the toilet. And then what 0:25:48.356 --> 0:25:50.476 I think? Then? I just thought on the bed and panicked. 0:25:57.436 --> 0:25:59.836 Esther didn't know the full extent of it or how 0:25:59.876 --> 0:26:03.956 it had happened. But this thing, this story, it had 0:26:03.996 --> 0:26:09.036 grown building momentum like a tsunami. A local TV report 0:26:09.196 --> 0:26:13.276 ring Greenville, South Carolina, had tipped off Tom Colbert, the 0:26:13.396 --> 0:26:16.476 gem Hunter, who then brought it to the national media. 0:26:16.756 --> 0:26:20.716 Before long, it was a newspaper cover story, then fought 0:26:20.716 --> 0:26:24.316 her for cable news, and finally a full blown hour 0:26:24.476 --> 0:26:29.196 on one of America's best known TV shows. There were 0:26:29.236 --> 0:26:33.836 no longer any easy outs, no explaining this away. Yeah, sure, 0:26:33.996 --> 0:26:37.316 maybe she was no Bernie made off. And yeah, perhaps 0:26:37.316 --> 0:26:40.876 the espionage theory was just that a theory, but at 0:26:40.916 --> 0:26:44.996 this point didn't matter. The public was now hooked, and 0:26:45.116 --> 0:26:48.236 so were people in positions of power. They were all 0:26:48.276 --> 0:26:51.876 looking for the mystery girl, the Mata Hari and Esther 0:26:52.636 --> 0:26:56.436 she was it. The question now was there any place 0:26:56.516 --> 0:27:03.796 left for her to hide? Next time on deep Cover, 0:27:04.556 --> 0:27:07.036 I mean, we were chasing her around the country, and 0:27:07.556 --> 0:27:09.436 you know, we would look each other out. How are 0:27:09.436 --> 0:27:13.356