Results tagged “estherelizabethreed”

Before there was hipster grifter Kari Ferrell, there was Esther Elizabeth Reed, the grifter. Reed faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. She claimed to be a chess champion (a boyfriend's father became suspicious when she didn't know what an opening gambit was) and was suspected of being a spy (she kept dating West Point cadets!). But when Reed, under the name "Brooke Henson," applied for a job as a housekeeper in Manhattan, her employer did a background check and she went on the lam (she left everything except her combs and toothbrush—things that would have her DNA). 48 Hours Mystery interviewed Reed, who said, "I planned on being Brooke Henson for the rest of my life... I'm going to create an identity. I didn’t think I could get into any trouble for that." She was eventually found a year and a half in Chicago; when the cops found her, she recalled, "It was overwhelming. There was absolute panic and I said, 'I'm Esther Reed.'" Reed, who had $100,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card debt, claims she would have paid it all back.

Last year, the federal authorities had been looking for Esther Elizabeth Reed, a woman who faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. Reed was on the lam, but this past weekend's murders at a mall outside Chicago led the police to Reed, who had been living in the very same town the killings occurred.

Earlier this week, the Post ran another story about Esther Elizabeth Reed, the woman used other people's identities to attend colleges, mostly recently at Columbia, and made others around her suspect she was in espionage, as she tried to avoid detection. A man who dated Reed spoke to the Post and offered her letters to him. All hail email accounts where you can store email from your exes!

This past week, the Post has had a series of articles about the 28 year old woman who seemed to be on the run and used a variety of identities, most recently in the New York area, to get by. Esther Elizabeth Reed attended Columbia using the name of a missing woman (which set off some alarms) and she might be in espionage, based on what an ex-boyfriend's father observed (she wanted them to launder money! she got a nose job! calls from Europe!). Today's article has Reed's father weigh in: "I got a phone call from her when she was living on other people's credit cards, and she said, 'Dad, I'm going to be doing things that you don't approve of - things that are not in your value system.'" Which might include forging her sister's checks. An old teacher described her as "never happy with who she was." While Reed doesn't seem to be doing anything illegal (aside from using other people's identities and still being wanted for the check forging in Seattle), her story is very strange.

The Post followed up its story about Esther Elizabeth Reed, the mysterious con artist who had used a number of identities, including one from a missing woman, while attending Columbia and other institutions of higher learning. Reed had dated some army cadets, and the father of one spoke to the Post about his suspicions. And it seriously sounds like something out of a TV show or movie.

Continue reading "More Details About Academic Grifter"

The Post has this crazy story about how a woman used various identities to attend schools like Columbia, Harvard, and California State. Naturally, she studied criminology and psychology! It sounds like a Law & Order: Criminal Intent multi-episode arc in the making.