Without a Trace
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NPR's ThruLine podcast sort of feels like stepping into a time machine. Each episode, our Peabody award-winning show travels beyond the headlines to answer the question, how did we get here? Listen to one of Apple's favorite podcasts of 2024 by searching for ThruLine on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

I cannot believe this is real life. My logical brain just shut down. We're going in for first. Do not even. Claws are out. Don't you give up. Is everybody ready to race? Yes! For On the Amazing Race! This season, there are more big surprises than ever before. Wow. These seasons of surprises will give you a heart attack. The Amazing Race. New season begins CBS tonight and streaming on Paramount+.

My intention was never ever to hurt anybody. Esther Reed is a highly intelligent individual. My mom used to say that I could tell ice to Eskimos. I could really do that. The problem with Esther Reed is you don't know what's real and you don't know what's not real. That's something that can definitely be used to manipulate and to hurt people. I certainly could do it.

Like the character and catch me if you can. I was also wondering if I could write you a personal check. Esther Reed was able to manufacture identities and convincingly live in those identities. Harvard Medical School?

She was able to fabricate fraudulent marriage certificates and birth certificates. That is a woman I knew in college as Natalie Fisher. She told me that she was going by Bowman. This is a woman that completely reinvented herself. From being a chubby Montana high school dropout to an attractive Ivy League co-ed, able to con her way into Harvard, into Columbia, going to military balls at West Point.

She is certainly not above using her feminine wiles to get whatever she wants. And then she picked the wrong identity. In the summer of 2006, I received a phone call stating that there was someone in New York City calling herself Brooke Henson. South Carolina authorities sent the NYPD detectives to check her out. The next day, she was gone. It was Esther Reed and not Brooke Henson. I'm interested in finding out if Esther Reed knows anything about Brooke Henson's disappearance.

My name is Steven Rombom. I'm a private investigator and I am currently hunting for Esther Reed. The only life she's ever known has been someone who steals identities and commits major fraud schemes. She's getting wire transfers from overseas, communicating with people at West Point.

Law enforcement is concerned, you know, maybe this is a spy. We want to shut it down as quickly as possible. It just snowballed. I think Esther Reed has the ability to be as cold-blooded as she needs to be. The shooting happened this morning at the Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. It was never supposed to happen that way. Catch her if you can. Tonight's 48 Hours Mystery. They say she stole a missing girl's identity. Now she's missing too.

I became a different person in name only. I'm basically the same girl. Could you tell me who you are? What is your name? Esther Reid. Are you sure? Yes. Well, in first grade I was Esther Elizabeth Hereford Reid. I think when I was about 18 I was Elizabeth Reid. Then I was Natalie Fisher. Then I went by the name Natalie Bowman. Then Brooke Henson. And finally Jennifer Myers.

Esther Reed granted 48 Hours her first interview. The circumstances of how we found Esther will become clear as we unravel this mystery. Esther Reed is cunning. She's calculated.

And she's intelligent. That's a perfect combination for a con artist. Right now, she must be living a life trying to keep one step ahead of the law. Private investigator Steve Rombom, working for 48 Hours, and U.S. Marshal John Bridge were each searching for the elusive Esther Reed. She really is very much on the run now, I think in a way that she never was before.

After stealing many identities and running numerous brilliant scams, this master con woman has earned a spot on the US Secret Service's 10 Most Wanted list. She lived this life as other people. She was not Esther Reed from 1999 on. Walt Wilkins, a US attorney, has investigated Esther's background. How good is Esther? She's good. She's real good.

Trying to understand the riddle of Esther Reed, we traveled to her hometown of Townsend, Montana. It's a very small town in the middle of Montana, and if you blink, you miss it. Edna Strom is one of Esther's eight older siblings.

We used to play in the creek a lot. I mean, that was the big thing, especially if you could do it without Mom finding out. Edna has not seen Esther in person for nearly a decade, but she agreed to show us the family home.

Now, what do we have here? This is a surprise trunk. The people that bought the house were cleaning out the attic and they found a trunk. You want to see what's inside? I do. I really want to see what's inside. Why don't we turn this... I'm curious. The trunk is the first in a trail of clues our investigation will uncover. This is Esther's dress. How old would you guess Esther is in this room? I'd say she's like four or five. Looks like a very happy young girl. She was. She was always smiling.

This was a photograph. It was inside that box. Yes. I was a very happy kid. Very, very happy. What goes through your mind when you look at that? It's hard because this period of my life was great. It's just a shame what happened and how I disappeared. Why did you disappear? I just was so afraid of the world. After Esther's parents divorced, she felt like an outcast.

What do you think Esther saw when she looked in the mirror? Somebody she didn't want to be. Someone she didn't like. Someone I think she would have done anything to escape from if she could have. Jim Terrio was Esther's English teacher and debate coach. She was very, very smart. A kid with so much potential. Do you feel as though you're intellectually gifted? I would say yes.

I assimilate information quickly, I remember it, I'm able to problem solve, things like that. Did she used to argue with you? Yeah, she practiced on me. Did she win those arguments generally? She did. EJ Reid is Esther's brother. They were very close, and EJ felt Esther's brilliance every day, especially when the two played chess. She blew me away.

I mean, I couldn't even hold a candle to her. Your sister always thinks a few moves ahead. She's definitely always thinking a little bit ahead. But as smart as she was, Esther dropped out of high school and moved with her mom to Seattle. Then, in 1998, Esther's mother passed away. My mom always just loved me. If she was there, it was fine. And when she died, it wasn't fine anymore.

Nothing was fine anymore. She didn't like who she was and where she was going. She would say, "I just wish I was someone else." Esther's metamorphosis from small town girl to big city con woman had begun. And so did her life of crime. I have lost my only compass in life. I've lost my only support system.

And I'm spiraling out of control, and I have nowhere to turn. The next matter is State of Washington versus Esther Reed. Would you explain to me just briefly... During this period, Esther stole a co-worker's purse. How do you plead? Guilty. Esther even took Edna's purse and drained her checking account of thousands of dollars. It was like somebody slugged me in the stomach. Edna was steamed. I just told her, you can't live like this. You have ripped me off, and...

You know, who are you? We have a very toxic relationship. I think I push her buttons and I think she pushes my buttons. What was the last thing the two of you said to each other before you parted? We just hugged each other and said we loved each other. And then she said, "I promise I will keep in touch." And she did for a while. When did you next see your sister? I never saw her again. Esther Reed had ceased to exist.

NPR's ThruLine podcast sort of feels like stepping into a time machine. Each episode, our Peabody award-winning show travels beyond the headlines to answer the question, how did we get here? Listen to one of Apple's favorite podcasts of 2024 by searching for ThruLine on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

I cannot believe this is real life. My logical brain just shut down. We're going in for first. Do not even. Claws are out. Don't you give up. Is everybody ready to race? Yeah! For On the Amazing Race! This season, there are more big surprises than ever before. Wow. These seasons of surprises will give you a heart attack. The Amazing Race. New season begins CBS tonight and streaming on Paramount+.

By 1999, Esther Reed knew she needed to leave town. I was really, really angry and my life was falling apart. Now a convicted criminal with family problems, 21-year-old Esther decided it was time to ditch her old life and find a new identity. I decided, okay, I'm just going to move on.

In the beginning I thought I just needed a driver's license and I could just have a name and that would be okay. And it was at that time, around that time, you made the decision to become Natalie Fisher? Yes. Very soon after that. It's gonna sound really bad but she's wicked smart. Meet the real Natalie Fisher, the sister of Esther's old boyfriend. Did she seem friendly to you? Yeah, she seemed like she was a nice person.

but she's quiet. Quiet, but cunning. Before long, Esther had gotten a hold of Natalie's social security number and began using it to rip her off. I got a phone call from the collection agency representing AT&T, and they informed me that I owed them like $400 or $500. Esther got a driver's license in Natalie's name and proceeded to live as Natalie.

Esther left Seattle in 2000 and spent much of the next two years traveling cross-country in a car like this, staying in cheap motels. But despite her life of vagrancy and petty crime, a part of Esther still wanted to find a path to success and a place where she truly belonged.

I hated the name Esther. I never liked it, so I was never attached to that name. My intention was to have a life that I could live, and I tried my best not to hurt people. Forced to live by her wits, Esther needed a way to make money any way she could. She perfectly forged these JCPenney receipts and used them to return items for more than they were worth.

Esther pocketed tens of thousands of dollars. I'm not going to discuss money of any sort. Okay, but you managed to make some money somehow. I managed to survive. She did more than survive. She transformed herself by losing weight and having cosmetic surgery.

Who is this woman? That is the woman I knew in college as Natalie Fisher. She was a very nice person. She was very friendly. Two years later, she met Brandy Olson at a debate camp in Tempe, Arizona. Brandy says Natalie Fisher always had plenty of money and a ready explanation of where it came from. She had a very well-paying job as a professional chess player, she said.

How do you make money in chess? Well, she told us that the prizes if you won a tournament were pretty substantial, upwards of $10,000. She always seemed to have money. Where'd she get it? She was getting it from opening up credit cards in other people's names. U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins. She was living a relatively good lifestyle. At least that's what our evidence suggests during that time.

Brandy was on a college debate team and Natalie used her new friend to meet people at debate tournaments. She wanted to go back to college and she'd been interested in a debate so she was gonna start getting into that. Esther's ruse worked. She met debate coach John Bruschke and in 2002 he invited Natalie to attend

Cal State Fullerton. Whether it's embracing Meecha or not, what I'm saying is-- And asked her to join his team. She agreed, but by the time she got there, she had a different name. Natalie was very guarded about her past. I mean, I once, in fact, asked her the question, you know, is your last name Fisher or Bowman? While you were at Cal State Fullerton, you make a decision to change your identity from Natalie Fisher to Natalie Bowman. Why? I knew I couldn't be Natalie Fisher.

That's because Natalie Fisher was monitoring her credit report and realized someone was stealing from her. Esther needed to refine her scam and get someone's social security number. So I got the idea that you could use a missing persons. That's why I started college as Natalie Bowman. I thought she was missing. I was just going to go to college, you know, get along with my life.

If there's anyone who knows what Esther was going through, it's Frank Abagnale. You live this life. Esther Reed is living this life. What is it like every day? Are you looking over your shoulder? It's horrible. It's an extremely difficult life to live. His exploits as a young con man inspired the movie Catch Me If You Can. I'd like to cash this check here and then...

I'd like to take you out for a steak dinner. Abagnale spent years posing as a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer.

He says he knows why Esther loved to debate. There's no greater debate person than a con man who has the answer to every question instantly. So someone like Esther has to be a good actor. You're acting, you're playing a role. You're not really that person, you're just pretending to be that person. Esther has creativity, she has talent, she's intelligent, she has a personality. So she has a lot of things going for her.

She paid for everything with cash and she always had money and she was very generous with her money. Bita Shigaghi, who was Esther's roommate at Cal State Fullerton, had no idea her close friend was an imposter. This is a picture of my mother. Bita trusted Esther completely and they bonded.

after learning both their mothers had died of cancer. She said, "Oh my goodness, I haven't met another person who's lost their mother at such a young age like I have." She seemed to feel like I understood where she was coming from. But back in Seattle, three years had passed since Esther's family had heard from her. It's the betrayal, and that she has left everybody hanging. That she doesn't even have the consideration to call and say,

I truly am okay. The family filed a missing persons report and Edna wondered if she'd ever see Esther again. What are you thinking to yourselves? That somebody had hurt her and that she was dead. Esther was very much alive and she was moving on to another identity. In the spring of 2003, Esther ditched the name Natalie Bowman, left Cal State Fullerton and hit the road.

She told Bita she was being stalked and had to change her name yet again. Bita believed her. And what was going to be her new name? The one that she ended up picking was Brooke. And I said, oh, I like that one. And you know, that you could pass for a Brooke. And then I said, well, what's your last name going to be? And she said Henson. In Brooke Henson, Esther felt she'd found the perfect cover. It proved to be anything but.

For some reason, new people are not as frightening as people I know. Like people I get used to, then I start to see a look on their face that wasn't there before or maybe she's treating me different now. So new places for some reason were safer for me. After her first taste of college life in California under the name Natalie Bowman, Esther Reed wanted more. She was clearly qualitatively better than other students in the class.

In fact, Esther wanted to go to Harvard. She asked her professor, Mitch Avila, to write her a letter of recommendation. But there was a catch. Well, she asked me to write it for her under another name. I asked him, and he said yes. What did you tell him so that he'd say yes? I know I told him I was in danger and had to change my name. I don't remember why. She claimed at the time that she was being stalked.

A lot of debate is a lot of BS. You learn how to come up with creative arguments, you craft them, you research them, you develop them, and you present them. And that's sort of what I did. It was Esther's most ambitious identity theft yet, and one she thought was foolproof. What was that name? Brooke Henson. Brooke Henson, a young woman from South Carolina who was missing but presumed murdered.

I really thought that I could live my life as Brooke Henson and they wouldn't know and I would have a new life. In 2004, Esther fulfilled her childhood dream. She applied and was accepted to Harvard University. It's Extension School anyway. She went at someone else, that surprises me. But that she made it doesn't surprise me in the least. Esther had big plans for her new identity.

As Brooke Henson, she wanted to attend law school. She'd been wanting to be a lawyer since she was very small. Esther had fooled Harvard, but she wanted more. She'd scored well on the SAT and soon set her sights on another Ivy League school. I applied to Columbia, and I was incredibly shocked when she called me and said, "You've been accepted." The high school dropout from Townsend, Montana, was in the big leagues.

What was it like for you to walk the campus of Columbia University as a full-fledged student? I had a feeling that this was going to be the start of my life and I was incredibly excited about that. Esther financed her new life by acquiring more than $100,000 in fraudulent student loans. I never ever borrowed a penny that I did not intend on paying back. I intended to be Brooke Henson for the rest of my life.

After months with no contact, Esther was now back in touch with her friend in California, Bita Shigaghi. She told me that she really loved New York. Bita went to visit her on July 4th, 2005. Did you call her Brooke or Natalie? No, Natalie. Always called her Natalie. Still unaware that her best friend was a con artist. It was a blast.

We went everywhere. We went to cafes. We took a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and we took some pictures. She didn't like taking pictures so I really had to talk her into even getting these pictures with me. - She didn't like to take pictures? - No, she didn't. - How come? - Well, she told me she just didn't like the way she looked in pictures.

That same 4th of July was also the sixth anniversary of the real Brooke Henson's disappearance. According to the police, there's still not a trace of evidence. Her aunt, Lisa Henson, held a vigil. Something needs to be done to find out what happened. Somebody needs to come forward. I know you did, baby. We all miss her.

There may have been foul play involved in her disappearance. South Carolina investigator John Campbell had nearly run out of new leads. We would get the occasional sighting, but we would never be able to substantiate it. It was like she dropped off the face of the earth. Back up at Columbia, the fake Brooke Henson was making the most of her new life. She had a 3.22 GPA, an apartment near Central Park, and was dating a West Point cadet.

Among the textbooks, you were studying psychology and criminology. Yes. And logically, someone would say, "What perfect two courses for a con woman to take to hone her craft." What perfect two courses for a lawyer to take. In July of 2006, feeling confident after two years at Columbia... I knew I wasn't doing anything wrong enough to get caught. Esther applied for a job.

Doing a background check, the employer Googled Brooke Henson. He discovered she was a missing person and quickly called South Carolina authorities. It didn't make any sense to me that there was somebody alive in New York. It was actually Brooke. Detective John Campbell was shocked and skeptical. I didn't think it was possible that Brooke had gone to New York and somehow got into an Ivy League school after she'd been a high school dropout.

But then again, that's exactly what this high school dropout had done. A lot of kids who are incredibly bright drop out of high school because we're bored.

Campbell asked a New York detective to make contact. And what did you tell him? I told him my name is Brooke Henson. And ask her some questions that Lisa Henson, Brooke's aunt, had prepared. What is your brother's best friend's name? What's your late uncle's first name? Things like that. Remarkably, Esther got nearly all the answers right. So I really had hope then. Then Lisa saw a photo. Is this Brooke? No.

You're certain of that? Absolutely, positively, she is not Brooke Henson. But Lisa and Detective Campbell wanted more information. Technically, she is a suspect until we can clear her. I started thinking either she had something to do with Brooke's disappearance or she knew somebody who was involved in it.

Campbell asked a New York detective to call Brooke and request a DNA sample. What are you going through at that moment? Are you panicked? Sure. Esther decided to flee. She quickly went out and rented a U-Haul truck. I came back, and the New York City police were at my door. And I went upstairs, grabbed my dog and my suitcase, and I left. The only thing I couldn't leave was my dogs.

As Esther's cons made headlines, she went underground. 48 Hours then set out to find her, hiring renowned private investigator Steve Rombom. How do you begin? Well, we begin by finding out everything we can about her background, her aliases, places where she's lived. Rombom first heads to Esther's old apartment in Manhattan. Thank goodness her landlord saved all of this.

Oh, baby, baby, baby. Steve Rombom strikes gold. This is Brooke Henson's certified birth certificate. A paper trail of Esther's life as Brooke. She left behind her credit card bills, her bank statements, her phone bills.

countless, countless leads. We've got evidence here of massive financial frauds. And some of her targets were the men she was dating. How many men do you think Esther Reed has gone through? I'm aware of about a dozen. What was it about Esther that made her so attractive to men? She's a master of manipulation, and she can socially engineer anyone into liking her.

At least five of Esther's boyfriends were cadets and midshipmen from West Point and Annapolis. There are fears that Esther has been taking her scams to a whole new level. Law enforcement is concerned that she might be involved in espionage. When I made the decision to leave New York, I never spoke to anyone I knew ever again.

It was July 2006. Having shed her identity as Brooke Hanson, Esther Reed escaped from New York. Where'd you go? Just to a hotel over in Jersey. I took a cab. I just knew I needed time to think.

And then she was gone, but the authorities were closing in. A federal grand jury in South Carolina handed down this indictment, charging Esther Reed with felony identity theft and student loan fraud. With the full investigative powers of the Secret Service now deployed, it seemed likely that Esther would be apprehended quickly. When it came in as a potential identity theft case, the Secret Service became immediately involved.

U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins. The fact that Esther got a passport under the name Brooke Henson, was that kind of a fatal mistake for her? If someone is able to obtain a U.S. passport fraudulently, we're going to take that very seriously. Either they're going to find her or I'm going to find her.

Hot on Esther's trail is 48 Hours private investigator Steve Rombach. He tracked Esther all the way from Vermont to Florida to California. I would be very surprised if we don't find her. If I didn't genuinely believe that, I wouldn't be daring enough to say it on television.

Pouring over Esther's old cell phone records, Rombom decided to head for Chicago. There are a lot of significant leads in the Chicago area. We know she lived there. We know she did whatever she does there. Those records led us to this man, Stephen Fouts, a convicted sexual predator. We caught him going into his favorite bar. Stephen Fouts, say you.

There were more than 100 phone calls between you and Esther Reid on your cell phone and hers. Fouts claims a woman named Wanda used his cell phone to make those calls to Esther. She had my telephone, all right? Do you believe that? Do you believe that? No, I don't. The Fouts lead is a dead end. So Rombom next zeroes in on Stephen Donald, an old boyfriend of Esther's, also in Chicago.

He may know her current location. He certainly has a lot of information we don't yet have. After observing Donald in his apartment, Rombom coaxes him outside. We then decided to move in ourselves. Here we go. Do it.

Steven, Peter Van San. Are you in contact with Esther Reed today? No, of course not. Do you have any idea where she is? No. You understand that she may be involved in illegal activities and that those who associated with her will be likely questioned. And I'm giving you an opportunity to tell us what you know about her. Well, you tell the federal authorities. I'd be more than happy to speak with them as they are a fine, upstanding, professional group of people.

But Donald goes back on his word. Authorities say he refused to cooperate. And while Rombaum was in Chicago, Esther was still at large. I don't believe Esther's been in contact with any of her family or friends. I honestly believe that she pretty much left everyone behind.

Joining the hunt on the federal side is U.S. Marshal John Bridge. Because she's able to change her identities, it presents a unique challenge in figuring out what identity she's now using. To uncover that new identity, he has to match wits with Esther. There's an old saying, you can't connect the dots until you collect the dots.

And when the dots are connected and Esther's pattern becomes clear, authorities are alarmed. Esther is dating a series of military men, but no one knows why. We investigated, along with the military, a potential security risk that Esther Reed might impose to the United States. That she could be a spy. That she could be a spy, that she could obtain information and

counterespionage, sell the information to other countries. Fueling the suspicion was the fact that Esther had received several wire transfers of cash from a man in Germany. We were certainly concerned about any international wire transfer, especially coming from Germany. In the States, investigators focused on Kyle Bringle, a West Point cadet with whom Esther was romantically involved. Kyle Bringle.

Who is he? - Military academy candidate, military academy graduate. This is again somebody who, should he choose, probably can rise through the ranks to the very top of the military. - With Kyle Brengel, you have IMs in which you're asking about what he's studying, if he could provide you with some of this information, including potential battle plans. Why did you ask him for that? - I cannot imagine I would ever ask Kyle for a battle plan.

But her instant messages with Kyle say otherwise. Kyle, training briefing. Got lots of maps and timelines. Esther, is it for a class or something real? Kyle, yeah, for my military science class. Just like what I'll do as an infantry platoon leader. Esther, I want to see it when you're finished. Kyle, I'll send it to you.

This is a classic method of espionage, using sex and using intimacy to get this sort of information. I mean, this is Mata Hari 101. Are you a spy, Esther? No. Never. You can die for being a spy. I would never even consider doing that. Again, her IMs to Kyle Bringle conflict with her story. Esther, I'd so love to be James Bond.

Kyle, really? You want to be a spy? Esther, oh please, that would be a dream job. - Either I was drunk or we were joking. I have no idea why I would say that. - Why shouldn't I think you're just BSing me right now? That the master con woman is just conning me and conning this audience. - I am never very clear on why people consider me a con artist. I don't think everyone who tells a lie is a con artist.

Frank Abagnale, who himself used sex to get information when he was a con man, thinks he knows why Esther was romantically involved with so many military students. She's using the sex to meet them, but then once she gets to meet them, she can question them all day long in a very way that they don't realize they're even being questioned about, you know, how do I do this? When you go do this, what do you have to do? It's to round out her military character. I don't think Esther is into espionage.

But Esther didn't limit her relationships solely to military men. The one thing she's religious about paying her bills for apparently are for eHarmony.com and Match.com. She's trolling the internet for the next boyfriend, for the next sucker. And she found them everywhere. Traveling all over the country, Esther was hooking up with men in Connecticut, New York, and Florida.

So the $64,000 question, where is Esther Reed, Steve? Don't know yet. Do you feel like you're getting close? Very close. In February 2008, investigators get a huge break. They link Esther to a car purchased in the greater Chicago area. All we have is a license plate number. And we're just hoping and waiting that eventually law enforcement will find this particular car.

They do, but in a way no one ever expected. Police searched on the ground and from the air for a suspect they believe shot several people inside this Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park.

Despite being hunted by the Secret Service and U.S. Marshals... Esther Reed could be anywhere right now. ...investigated by a U.S. attorney and hounded by private investigator Steve Rombaum... I think Saddam Hussein changed his sleeping arrangements less often than she did. ...Esther Reed was still at large more than a year and a half after her escape from New York.

still changing identities to keep one step ahead of her pursuers. - After Brooke Henson and I decided we're not playing with real people, I'm gonna create an identity, so I didn't think I could get in any trouble for that one. - What was the name that you became? - Jennifer Myers. - Jennifer Myers. And where did Jennifer go to live? - I traveled.

Unbeknownst to Esther, investigators uncovered her new identity and U.S. Marshal John Bridge was closing in fast. We had information that Esther was in the area of Tinley Park. And Tinley Park, a suburb of Chicago, on February 2nd, 2008, was the worst place in the country for Esther to be. What were you doing there?

Staying in a hotel. The shooting happened this morning at the Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. Cops were searching everywhere in town after five women were brutally murdered in a Lane Bryant store.

The killer was still on the loose. I had just gotten lunch and I noticed there was tons of police and I was like, "What the heck is that?" Police began cruising parking lots, running checks on all out-of-state license plates. Just by chance, they came across Esther's car.

I was awakened by a door knock. You opened the door, and who's standing there? The police. And actually, I thought they were doing a manhunt looking for the guy. So I said, sure, come on in. He asked me if I had identification. I said, sure. He checked my identification, and it came back invalid. And he said, let's just take you down to the station. We'll figure it all out. It was overwhelming. There was an absolute panic. Finally, Esther is forced to admit her true identity.

she is arrested and charged with multiple counts, including identity theft and student loan fraud. After nine long years, Esther spoke with her sister Edna from a jailhouse phone. I told her I loved her. She told me she loved me and that she missed everyone. And I said, "Then why were you gone so long?" And she said, "I don't know." I'm still very frightened how I will handle a family I can't deal with.

It's pain. I mean, every time I talk about it, it's pain. I just, happy girl. I think Esther is a lost soul. Ann Fitz was Esther's defense attorney. Esther has an underlying psychological disorder. It stems from a social anxiety disorder. She feels like people are out to get her.

Social anxiety disorder is a very common phobia and defined as an excessive or irrational fear of being watched, judged, and criticized by others. How convenient. Social anxiety disorder. Boy, it seems to explain all the bad decisions you made in your life. I've been diagnosed by some of the top psychiatrists in the field. You could be acting.

- I could be. - You studied it. - I could be, but they happen to be the top experts. - This is a woman who has spent years manipulating people. What makes you think she's not just manipulating you? - Well, she could be manipulating me, but from my perspective as her attorney, I have to believe her.

Esther's defense will never be heard at trial. Six months after her capture, she admits to the fraud and identity theft charges, but refuses to detail her many scams. Are you a criminal, Esther? Sure. I mean, I'm a felon. I just pled guilty to four felonies. Esther, now 30 years old, is sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. In your opinion, was Esther Reed a spy?

I don't believe she was. My thoughts are that she was merely looking into possibility of broadening her criminal schemes. Federal investigators concluded that Kyle Brengel did nothing wrong and the Lane Bryant killer has never been found. Do you think Esther Reed knows the difference between right and wrong? I hope she does today and I hope that she realizes what she's done to the Henson family.

Brooke Henson's aunt, Lisa, had to live with the pain of not knowing what happened to her niece, who remains missing. I don't think she ever considered anybody that this would affect. She was all about Esther. A mother lost her daughter. And if I could fix it, I would. I don't know how to make it better. Esther agreed to this interview after her sentencing.

There's one question on everyone's mind. People wonder, why couldn't you just do this as Esther Reed? You had such intellect, such talent, such ability. Just do this as yourself. Esther Reed wonders why I couldn't have. I just wanted to go to college. I wanted to go to college and have a family where I wasn't constantly plagued by these toxic relationships that I couldn't make work.

After nearly a decade of running from her family, the law, and herself, what will become of Esther Reed? I think Esther Reed has remarkable potential to do something. God knows what it is. I suspect she'll find what it is. I suspect if it doesn't exist, she'll create it.

Who are you going to be in this new life? I don't know if I'll stick with Esther Reed or if I'll change my name legally. This is, for me, the start of my life. There's a slight waiting period, which I intend to endure with optimism and excitement. And then I intend to go on and be something great. No BS? No BS. Esther Reed was released from federal prison in 2011.

NPR's ThruLine podcast sort of feels like stepping into a time machine. Each episode, our Peabody award-winning show travels beyond the headlines to answer the question, how did we get here? Listen to one of Apple's favorite podcasts of 2024 by searching for ThruLine on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

I cannot believe this is real life. My logical brain just shut down. We're going in for first. Do not even. Claws are out. Don't you give up. Is everybody ready to race? Yeah! We're on The Amazing Race! This season, there are more big surprises than ever before. Wow. These seasons of surprises will give you a heart attack. The Amazing Race. New season begins CBS tonight and streaming on Paramount+.