In 1993, Indiana man, Richard Hoagland said he needed to go to the emergency room, but he never returned. Eventually, his wife and two kid assumed that he was dead, or at least gone for good. Now, 23 years later, they realized that Hoagland had actually been living under a false name in Florida with his new family.
Hoagland has been living in Zephyrhills, Florida, under the name of Terry Jude Symansky. The original Terry Symansky had been an unmarried, childless fisherman who passed away in a freak accident in 1991. After Hoagland left his family in Indianapolis, he had rented an apartment from Symansky’s father, and after the father had passed away shortly after, Hoagland took Terry’s identity.
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The 63-year-old Mr. Hoagland was finally caught after 23 years when Terry Symansky’s nephew realized something was wrong while researching his family on Ancestry.com. See, Hoagland had remarried under Symansky’s name four years after the real Symansky had passed away. It was that certificate that exposed Hoagland.
Hoagland’s second wife, Linda, who he had left in Indianapolis, recently spoke to ABC’s 20/20 about when her husband left her back in 1993.
“He called me at work and told me that he was ill … and that he needed to go to the emergency room,” she explained. “And I said, ‘Well why don’t you just wait, and I’ll go with you?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t have time to wait.’”
After he went missing, Linda checked local hospitals, but he was nowhere to be found. His vehicle was eventually found in an airport parking lot, but Hoagland had not boarded a flight that day. Police did interrogate Linda in relation to her husband’s disappearance, but found that she had nothing to do with it.
When Hoagland was discovered in Florida, his new wife, Mary Hickman, found a briefcase containing everything regarding his real identity, as well as a property deed for land in Louisiana and a storage unit key. He is currently being charged with identity fraud.
[H/T Daily Mail]
