tv 2020 ABC June 21, 2013 10:00pm-11:01pm PDT
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episode of "20/20," starting right now. tonight on "20/20" -- the perfect crime, almost. >> you really thought you would be able to pull this off? >> yeah, it was stupid. >> he had the perfect plan for a bank heist. every bizarre detail worked out. extra suspects, courtesy of craigslist? check. >> i needed to create the crowd and i went to craigslist. >> now, imagine me, times 15. what's up, dude? >> escape by inner tube? check. wife kept in the dark? check. >> not even in my wildest nightmares could i have dreamt up the kinds of things that he was actually doing. >> so, how did he get caught? >> this wasn't your typical witness, was it? >> no. >> catch me if you can. plus -- tired of your life? or just your wife? then arrange a death -- you're
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own. and leave your son to discover it. >> i don't know where he is, i can't find him. you got to help me. and that's when the whole search went crazy. >> and so did his wife, when she began finding those mysterious e-mails. >> it was like someone rising from the dead. >> disappearing act. and, this sweet little old lady, whole is no lady. she's not even a woman! but a cross dressing crook, impersonating his dead mother to get her money. >> he became her. that's exactly what he did. >> the perfect crime -- almost. here's david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> good evening. he almost got away with it. the high school hunk turned gentleman bank robber who had the brains and, unfortunately, the desperation, to plan one of the most outrageous bank heists in years. the question at the heart of it -- how to keep eye witnesses from identifying him? >> well, he hired extras, people who had idea what they were
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showing up for. cloning himself 15 times over. and if it sounds like a movie -- it might soon be. tonight, though, the real life script, from the robber himself, even before he gives it to hollywood, he's giving it exclusively to "20/20." here's gio benitez. >> reporter: in the annals of robberies gone wrong, there is a long list of do's and don'ts. like always know your escape route. and try to come up with a better disguise than a tree. >> he had tree branches duct taped about his body. >> reporter: but for anthony curcio, the line between brilliant and botched is blurred. he pulled off the perfect crime -- almost. from high school football fame -- to bank heist infamy. >> it's like something out of a movie. >> a brazen bank robbery suspect. >> wearing gloves, sunglasses and a mask. >> attacking an armored truck, making his escape on an inner tube. >> reporter: curcio is now known in his hometown as the crook who
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almost got away with a seriously crazy plan. it started heard on the outskirts of seattle, the sleepy town of monroe, washington, where manicured lawns smack of ordinary life. the kind of place where life seems pretty predictable, unless, of course, you're planning the unpredictable. in curcio's case, it was a crime fit for hollywood, complete with decoys and disguises, darings cams on jet skis and inner tubes and backs overflowing with loot. you had just stolen $400,000. what does that even look like? >> i would say enough to fit in a bathtub. >> reporter: curcio's life of crime started innocently enough. a golden boy from a well-to do family with everything going for him and for whom everything came a little too easy. captain of the high school football team, known for his friday night lights victories. >> catching a touchdown pass, that's a true feeling. >> reporter: how much of that defined who you were?
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>> everything. that's what i was. >> reporter: he had it all. good looks, a talent for sports and a pretty cheerleader girlfriend named emily. >> i knew that there was something special about emily. beyond special, for sure. >> you know, we were that couple, where the teacher would call me mrs. curcio. and i remember the first time that he told me that he loved me, i was just kind of like, oh my god. >> reporter: the two became inseparable in high school and stayed together when he went to college at the university of idaho. no longer the big fish in a small pond, curcio was now feeling the pressure of college sports. his way to cope? alcohol. lots of alcohol. that was your escape. you just kept drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and drinking. >> it got so bad after a couple months of that, i was just drinking straight out of the bottle. >> reporter: the next season, a torn acl was curcio's introduction to a new vice, vicodin, which numbed the pain of just about everything. >> i was insecure about not being good enough. vicodin took that away from me. it calmed me down. it made me feel like anthony
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doesn't need to be an athlete. >> reporter: how far would you go to get it? >> i started forging prescriptions going into pharmacies, faking injuries. one day, i'd be john with a dental issue and the next pharmacy, i'd be stephen with a hurt leg. that was where i crossed the line. in high school, i had this moral foundation, integrity. once i met vicodin, that all went out the window. >> reporter: you talk about vicodin like it's a person. >> vicodin, well, it's an enemy, is what it is. >> reporter: pills became his life blood. >> when my addiction progressed, my criminal involvement progressed, too. >> reporter: the more pills he took, the more brazen his behavior. like dressing up as a mover to steal college furniture. he even created counterfeit baseball cards to sell on ebay. all for his addiction. >> all i remember is that moment after i take pills and feeling like the man again. everything's cool, everything's at peace. >> reporter: it was that man who
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married his high school sweetheart emily and became a father to a little girl. he lived a double life for over a decade. you were putting on this front. >> as best i could, yes. >> he was the spin master, and i was like putty, i believed everything that he said. >> reporter: he was a man used to turning a quick buck, so he got into real estate, fliching houses to support an increasingly lavish lifestyle. >> not even in my wildest nightmares could i have dreamt up or made up the kinds of things that he was actually doing. >> reporter: she stayed with him through multiple stints of rehab, but had no idea how far her husband had fallen. at his worst, curcio says he was blowing through $15,000 a month on drugs, popping 50 pills a day. he was living on the edge. then, he went over it. after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in homehomes -- the market crashes -- >> yes. >> reporter: and now you've not just lost your money, now you're losing your drugs.
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>> now i'm losing my drugs. >> reporter: the man on top of the world was going belly upon the verge of losing his big house and the mercedes parked out front. now, with less than $20 in his bank account, he was even stealing groceries. so, he did what came naturally. find his next fix. sitting in a parking lot, munching on a jack in the box burger, curcio came up with an even grander plan for some fast cash. >> i had just been into the bank, the bank of america. and i see the armored car show up. >> reporter: what did you say to yourself? >> this is the's. >> reporter: curcio became obsessed with, even addicted to, planning an armored truck heist. drawing elaborate diagrams of the scene, spending hours watching the trucks and learning their blind spots. all to the hum of tom petty's "free fallin" on the radio. >> and when i was on pills, i have ocd, very detail-oriented. >> reporter: curcio came up with a clever disguise when he was
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out casing the bank. >> i started to dress up as, like, a landscaper, that was doing the grounds. i got this landscaping outfit, blue shift, blue hat, safety vest. and i was so obvious, right in front of them, that he couldn't see me. >> reporter: the getaway plan? use something fast to get down a slow-moving creek. a jetski would do. but when he found the water wasn't deep enough -- >> i start digging this thing out six, seven, eight hours a day. >> reporter: you realize you were literally changing the g geography of a creek. >> yes. >> reporter: so this could work. >> yes. stupid. >> reporter: you really thought you would be able to pull this off. >> yeah. there was no question that i would be able to pull it off. that's how i thought then. >> reporter: on the first dry or rather, wet run, the jetski hit a rock. still not deep enough. so he came up with plan b. he would use an inflatable yellow inner tube to float his way to freedom. and here's where curcio's plan jumped the tracks. on a practice run, curcio stashed his disguise behind a
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nearby dumpster, forgetting, of course, that where there are dumpsters, there are dumpster divers. >> this homeless guy with this long bear and a dog started yelling, i know what that stuff is, or something like that. i was like, what are you talking about? and i got into my car. i'm thinking, man, you just jeopardized everything. you've done all this planning and all this stuff in order not to get caught and then i started to think, even if he has a light description, that doesn't mean anything. >> reporter: to curcio, there was no turning back and now there was just one step left. creating 15 accomplices to help him pull off his perfect crime. >> i realized that i could create decoys by just blending into the crowd. >> reporter: you needed to create the crowd. >> i needed to create the crowd and that's when i went to craigslist. >> reporter: and this latest idea took curcio's already wacky plan -- >> what's up dude? >> reporter: to a whole new level. >> this is my day. it's game time. >> this is my day. it's game time. >> reporter: stay with us. mileage... at gas
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>> reporter: anthony curcio was about to attempt one of the most bizarre bank robberies in recent history. after three months of meticulous planning, everything was in place, including the final detail -- decoys. >> i needed to create the crowd. how can i get people to show up at this place at one time or whatever? my thing was, i'm going to go make a craigslist posting and i'm going to get people to wear the exact same thing i was wearing. >> reporter: he posted a convincing ad, luring eager landscapers with promises of 28 bucks an hour. it specified a uniform. blue hat, blue shirt, safety glasses and a yellow vest. a minor investment for someone looking for a job. he even followed up by e-mail with more details, where and when to meet and to stay put until their supervisor showed up. and it worked. the morning of the crime, a crowd of hopeful workers stood cluelessly outside the bank. this was the get up curcio's ad
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called for. now imagine me, times 15. what's up, dude? now, one of these guys was going to pull off the ultimate heist that morning. the rest? they were going to help. they just didn't know it. cori skinner was one of those workers. >> everybody was kind of sitting around talking and waiting to go to work. and about 35 minutes later, we finally realized that we weren't there to work. >> reporter: cori went to high school with anthony curcio, but had no idea what the most popular kid in school was about to do. >> i'm definitely nervous. it felt just like a -- before a big game except, now i'm dealing with my life here. all of a sudden, i see the armored car. so, i take my mace, i get about 15 feet from him and pepper sprayed him. >> reporter: this bank surveillance video tells the story.
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curcio comes out of nowhere and hits the guard with enough mace to stun a bear. the guard reaches for his eyes and lets go of the bags of money hanging on the cart. curcio makes his move. >> i just did what i planned on doing. i grabbed the money, took off. >> reporter: detectives tim "buzz" buzzell and barry hatch didn't need to get the call that morning, they heard it. >> i was on another case and i kept hearing sirens and sirens. and i go, oh, something's -- something big's going on. >> reporter: buzz and hatch, each with 15 years of sleuthing under their holstered belts, constitute two-thirds of the detective unit in the small town of monroe. but when buzz and hatch arrive at the bank that day, they encounter a first. 15 clones of their crook. when you started seeing all these people wearing the same clothes, what were you thinking? >> a lot of people dressed up the same way might be a distraction to some. but really, we're chasing a guy running down the street
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stripping off his clothes. >> reporter: they learn from eyewitnesses that the culprit is tall, skinny and athletic and that he took off carrying the two bags of cash under his arm, like, what else? a football. where was he running off to? did they tell you where? >> right down to the creek. >> reporter: right down this way? >> yep. >> reporter: we see how busy this road is. >> it's a very busy intersection and road. >> reporter: and it happened in the middle of the day? >> yes. and he almost got hit by a truck. >> reporter: the witnesses saw the robber race down this path toward the creek, fumbling one bag along the way. clearly overwhelmed by the weight of his treasure. then, for 200 feet at breakneck speed, he ran to the edge of the creek to make his unlikely getaway on an inner tube. >> the officers told me that the inner tube was on the far side of the creek, saw it was resting up against some trees and brush. >> reporter: what did you think when you saw it? >> it was a strange way to try to escape from a robbery and where did he go? >> reporter: where'd he go?
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the last place anyone would look for a thief. >> i have to get out of there. so, i'm trying to think in this whole chaotic mess. and the only place i could think of, was, well, the one place that the police aren't going to be is at the police station right now. >> reporter: curcio sets off in the direction of the local police station, now looking like an average joe walking down main street. but this was where curcio's plan really goes awry with two thoughtless blunders. number one? >> my shoes are soaking wet. >> reporter: when he tries to use a phone at a nearby business, he nearly blows his cover. >> i'm hoping that the receptionist doesn't notice them. i say, "is it all right if i use your phone?" >> reporter: he gets on the phone and arranges a ride, but then blunder number two hits him. where do you stash $400,000 in cash? >> after counting it, it was like, "okay, it's a done deal." you know, pat myself on the back. i saved the day, in my mind. then i'm trying to figure out,
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well, what do i do with this money? where am i going to keep it? >> reporter: you spend all that time planning this heist and all that -- you had no idea what you were doing with the money? >> no. >> reporter: but there was something curcio left behind in his mad dash. >> when he ran off, he had tore off his mask, a particle mask, dark sunglasses, a hat, a wig and threw that onto the ground and continued running down to the river. >> reporter: and what were you thinking when you hear all this? >> i'm suspecting that all of that is great evidence to catch whoever did it. >> reporter: inside the robber's mask? trace amounts of saliva that would contain his dna. but finding the man that matched that dna would take these detectives on a cat and mouse chase right out of "catch me if you can." >> we had someone that called in a report of robbery-type items being hidden behind a dumpster near the bank. >> reporter: when they dig up the report, they find the caller not only discovered the disguise, he also took down the
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license plate of the man who came back for the items. when that officer put that license plate in there, what -- what do you learn about that? >> the owner of the vehicle. >> reporter: and who is that owner? >> emily curcio. >> reporter: and in the small town of monroe, everyone knew emily curcio was married to anthony curcio. >> anthony's name was the one that quickly came to the top of the list. >> reporter: how you have this name at the top of the list. and what do you do with it? >> well, we've got to track down the witness, to start with, to really solidify what he saw was what he saw. >> reporter: and this wasn't your typical witness, was it? >> no. >> reporter: when we come back, who was the mystery caller who had been keeping an eye on curcio? his identity would shock everyone. his identity would shock everyone. stay with us. anet. love holds us in the beginning. comforts us as we grow old. love is the reason you care.
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>> 911, what's your emergency? >> yeah. i found a bunch of burglary tools. >> reporter: three weeks before anthony curcio made off down that babbling brook on an inner tube, this call came into 911 reporting suspicious items behind a dumpster. >> you found burglary tools? >> yeah, a cap, a wig, a can of mace bigger than i've ever seen. >> all right. can i get your last name please? >> dean, d-e-a-n. >> your first name? >> alan, a-l-a-n. >> alan, what's your phone number? >> i don't have one. i'm homeless. >> reporter: homeless. that's right, the caller was someone who didn't have much but among his belongings? a moral compass. remember the dumpster guy who warned curcio weeks before the robbery about being up to no good? >> i thought, well, maybe if he's homeless, maybe he's been drinking, maybe he's not going to remember my description. >> reporter: now, he was a crucial witness and buzz and hatch needed to find him to help them nail curcio. but how do you find a witness with no address?
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>> i want to a mcdonald's and i bought ten regular hamburgers and i started handing out hamburgers to homeless people, asking if they knew a guy named alan. >> reporter: in tiny monroe, there was only one place you take hamburgers to find a homeless guy. tent city. >> six hamburgers later, i found a tent with a guy named alan. >> reporter: so now you have four hamburgers left. and what happens when you reach alan's tent? >> you know, you can't really knock on the door of a tent, but i just said, "alan, are you in there? it's the police." and he responded with, "it's about time you got here." >> reporter: this is alan dean, perhaps the unlikeliest source for the key that would unlock this entire case. what did you see behind that dumpster? >> well, just a wig, sunglasses, a big can of mace, stuff like that. i knew what it was. >> reporter: what was it? >> burglaring tools, robbery tools. >> reporter: how'd you know? >> i mean, who else is going to wear a wig? >> reporter: and you see a guy, don't you?
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what happens? >> he walked straight up to it, so i knew it was his. and i went over and told him that the police were coming to take a look at that stuff and he might as well just leave it alone. >> reporter: and so what happened? the moment he picks that up, what do you do? >> he got in his car, i wrote the tag number down. >> reporter: and you have a pen? you have a pen right now. >> yeah. i like to do the crosswords. >> reporter: so you always have a pen with you? >> yeah. >> reporter: what do you think he thought of you have? >> i think he didn't -- he felt like that i wouldn't remember anything or something like that. >> reporter: you never thought that he was going to be the key witness. >> oh, no way. no. i underestimated him completely, yes. >> reporter: with dean's statement, detectives are closing in on curcio. >> then we decided we needed to set up surveillance on anthony. >> reporter: and how did that go? >> at first, not good, because we couldn't find him. >> reporter: so, where does a thief with $400,000 go? >> las vegas. >> reporter: that's right. instead of laying low, curcio heads to the palms hotel in sin city and sin he did.
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cheating on emily, throwing money around with another woman. but after a night of sex, drugs and a britney spears concert, curcio's conscience got the better of him. nagging thoughts of his wife, toddler and now a newborn, just weeks old. >> i was like, "why did you do that? why are you in vegas? why aren't you home with your family? why aren't you a husband? why aren't you a father?" and here i have all this money and it still didn't solve that problem. and it made me sick. >> reporter: he returns home to a very suspicious wife. the town rumor mill still buzzing from the heist. >> he would make comments about the robbery, like, "oh, did you see this in the paper?" and he'd hand me the paper and be like, "oh my gosh, isn't this awesome?" you know, "isn't this cool?" i'm like, "yeah, pretty cool." you know, like, whoever did that's going to get caught and then i'm sure they're going to think it's really cool then. >> reporter: but emily isn't the only one watching him.
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so are buzz and hatch, waiting patiently while suspect number one keeps screwing up. his 400 g's not bank romming flashy purchases like a range rover. then one day, when he stops at a gas station, cops get the break they need. >> they saw him get out with a gatorade bottle that he had it in his vehicle and throw it into the trash. >> reporter: inside that bottle? enough of curcio's dna to compare to the saliva in that mask ditched at the scene. bingo! it's a match. what's going through your mind? >> we got him. we got our guy. >> reporter: while hanging out in this target parking lot with a little pocket money -- $17,000. anthony curcio was arrested. >> there was definitely a moment where it sunk in that he definitely had something to do with this and how the hell did i get here, was when i looked
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through that peephole and there's four armed police, fbi agents on my porch. >> reporter: after years of secret addiction and lies, watching her best friend spiral out of control, emily was spent. >> my heart just dropped, you know. and at the same moment, it was like, ah, you know, thank god. it's over. you know? this is done. >> reporter: he eventually pled guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison. but it was emily's sentence too, now a full time working mom left to raise their two girls alone. >> i sold off all of our belongings, basically, and i just left the house and moved in with my parents. >> reporter: when the stolen money was finally recovered, it took eight people four hours to hand count the crumpled bills that arrived in garbage bags. curcio has given up his
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addiction and drawing diagrams of armored trucks. he's now taken to drawing pictures for children's books and educating young people about drug addiction. he's already co-authored a book about his wild heist and is working on making amends with emily. so, emily, a lot of people might be looking at this and saying, what on earth is she doing with this guy? he's lied to you. he's stolen money. he's cheated on you. why are you sitting right next to him? >> because i never forgot about who he was when i fell in love with him. and i just knew that he was still that person somewhere deep inside. >> reporter: released from prison just ten weeks ago, anthony curcio, the once local football hero, returned home to the small, quiet town of monroe.
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now, instead of crime, he has family on his mind. >> i had justified that i was doing this for my family. but you know what? someone that's doing that for their family would have not gambled with them and lost five years of not being around them. >> reporter: you felt like you gambled with them? >> yeah. and you should never gamble with something you're not willing to lose. >> as you can see, anthony now has two children, still together with that high school sweetheart. would you have taken him back? we're on twitter throughout the hour. let us know, use #abc2020. elizabeth and i will be right back. next, an undertoe took this husband's life. she started plank his funeral. but he started planning his own party. poolside. >> this is not necessarily a genius plot, was it? >> when "the perfect crime -- genius plot, was it? >> when "the perfect crime -- almost" returns.pany where over seventyent of store management started as
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"the almost perfect crime" continues. here's paula faris. >> reporter: it is a familiar fantasy. dump your old life for a one-way ticket to paradise. it is the day dream of a million mid-life crises. raymond roth decided to hit re-set on his life a few weeks before his 48th birthday. his grand exit began with a day at the beach in new york. and a great big lie. >> like surreal, kind of, you know? >> reporter: jon roth shows us the exact spot where his father got in over his head. >> i'm afraid that my dad might just show up out of nowhere and that would be -- that would be crazy. >> reporter: saturday, july 28th, 2012. the weather, overcast and cool with a chance of rain. nevertheless, raymond and son
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decide it's a perfect beach day. neighbor ron christian remembers. >> he just said, see you later, we're going to the beach. >> reporter: a father/son day at the beach. what could be more fun? >> unless it evolves into criminal activity. >> reporter: at the beach, they choose their spot with care. >> we kind of went off over back there. it was a no-swim zone. >> reporter: just the place for a swim, raymond decides. >> he took his shirt off, he took his shoes off, even. >> reporter: half an hour later, jon sounds the alarm. saying his dad went for a dip and disappeared. >> i called my stepmom, i told her, i don't know where he is. >> dad went into the water and never came back out. >> she started crying on the phone. >> reporter: roth calls 911 and runs for help. >> and i told them, "i don't know where he is, i can't find him, you got to help me." and then that's when the whole search went crazy. >> reporter: helicopters, lifeguards, the coast guard. everyone responds to the scene.
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raymond is not an easy guy to lose. >> he's, like, 6'3", about 280. >> reporter: they comb the beach and fish for his large body in the sea. >> it was a full rescue effort at that time. >> reporter: but raymond roth is nowhere to be found. >> we're all crying on the beach that, you know, maybe he had a heart attack, maybe, you know, the undertow. >> reporter: but then, what about this? among his belongings left on the beach -- a wallet with no driver's license. a cell phone with no calls or texts. and -- as evana soon discovers -- bank accounts with no money. >> there was nothing left. >> reporter: and although it is unclear exactly when, raymond had also significantly increased -- >> tripled. >> reporter: his life insurance. but i would never do anyone any good. because raymond roth didn't have the decency to stay dead.
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>> then the horror started. >> reporter: four days after the disappearance, evana roth stumbles upon her stepson jon's open e-mail account. uh-oh. >> all the e-mails popped up. >> reporter: she reads a dumbfounding series of secret messages, from raymond, sent before the day he went missing. raymond mentions a "last will and testament." speaks of "going the distance" and getting can cash for the trip." raymond warns jon, use a pay phone. and most mysterious of all, "call me at the resort." >> and i'm like, "i can't believe it, he's alive. we have to call the authorities." >> reporter: then evana gets a phone call. >> he called my name. he was like, "evan --," and i just hung up the phone. i couldn't believe it was his voice. it was like someone rising from the dead. i thought he was dead. >> reporter: when evana figured out her husband was still alive, she wanted to kill him. instead, she did the next best thing. she blew the whistle on her allegedly scheming husband and his side-kick, her stepson.
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and where in the world was raymond during his not so near death experience? tanning in tahiti? cooling his heels in cancun? posing as a playboy in paris, perhaps? nope. he drives his honda down to his timeshare in orlando, florida. >> it's hard to believe that anybody would do that and then go to his timeshare. you know -- if you're going to do that, you got to disappear for about ten years. >> reporter: jon roth says one day on the front porch, his father laid out the plan to end his life. >> he said, well, i'm just going to go into the water and not come out and that will be it. and i was like, what? are you kidding? you're just going to try to kill yourself? and he goes, no, no, no, no, i'll be in florida. you know, like, he was, ta-da. >> reporter: ray's magical thinking. >> he said that my role was to
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just convince everybody that he was dead and once that happened, i would collect on the moneys and deliver the moneys to him in florida. >> reporter: and then that day in july, it's go time. >> he said, "ok, here's all my things. i'm leaving. see you later, bye. you wait 30 minutes, and then you tell everybody i'm missing." >> reporter: so, the father basically told his son, if you don't do this, i'm going to kill you? >> yes. >> reporter: as for raymond,his dream of a cosmic do-over, dashed. he heads for home, you know, in his honda. and immediately gets pulled over for speeding. never mind his real violation -- dwd. driving while supposedly dead. >> i got a guy on a traffic stop listed as missing involuntary out of new york. >> reporter: raymond is sent on his way. being a missing person is not a crime. but insurance fraud is. and those are the charges waiting for him when he finally
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resurfaces in new york. where it seems nobody loves raymond. >> ray, now is the time to apologize. >> reporter: raymond says the life insurance angle was his son's idea, he had nothing to do with that. but prosecutors charge both men with insurance fraud. so ends one man's fatally flawed plan. raymond roth will have to live with the consequences, but not with his wife. living up to her vow, "til death do us part," she filed for divorce. >> i didn't realize that, you know, he'd turned into such a horrible person. >> reporter: the least of raymond's worries, since instead of a bachelor pad timeshare down south, he may be sharing a prison cell upstate. >> raymond roth is currently in jail on a slew of new charges from this past march. attempted kidnapping, burglary and impersonating a police officer. his next court date is this coming monday.
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after his attorney gets reports from a psychiatrist. might be a good idea. we'll be right back. next -- there's a big lie behind those granny sunglasses. but only these man hands would give it away. >> how bizarre was this case? >> i've never seen anything like this before. >> and you haven't, either. just wait. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] if you can't stand the heat, get off the test track. get the mercedes-benz you've been burning for at the summer event, going on now at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. hurry, before this opportunity cools off. ♪ i'm sorry. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces the samsung galaxy s4 active.
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there was something strange about mrs. pruzik, how she always wore sunglasses, how her clothes never quite fit. but the strangest thing of all, how a woman close to 80 years old managed to pull off almost the perfect crime, until her hands gave it away. here's amy robach. >> reporter: it's your average ho-hum afternoon at the dmv. as security cameras roll, a 77-year-old woman named irene prusik, dressed in red -- her favorite color -- steps up
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to the counter for the utterly routine task of renewing her license. not much to see, right? but in fact, this seemingly innocuous video holds the key to a tantalizing mystery, a twisted tale of cross-dressing and crime. how bizarre was this case? >> in all my years, i've never seen anything like this before. >> reporter: irene prusik was a former actress and model who made her home in this neighborhood in brook lunn, new york. irene spent her entire life in this elegant brownstone, and was a well-known figure to neighbors like john coffey. how would you describe irene? >> she was a woman that had elegance, she had poise, she knew how to carry herself. >> reporter: irene shared her home with her son, tom, who was known around the neighborhood as a quiet, enigmatic man. >> he didn't have too many friends in the neighborhood that i know of.
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he had none that i know of. >> reporter: but 2003, irene and her family had hit hard times. unable to keep up on payments on the family brownstone, the property was sold under foreclosure. staring eviction in the face, irene was getting desperate. fighting to keep her home, she filed lawsuit after lawsuit to avoid eviction. this photo of irene was taken by her attorney april of 2009. it was later that year when security cameras recorded that video of her renewing her license at the dmv. but for the past six years, there was something about irene that was a hidden mystery. her real home was not the townhouse in brooklyn, but here. irene prusik had been dead and buried since 2003. "our beloved mother," reads irene's headstone, "everyone's talking about the lady in red." also, a note from her son,
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"love, tom." but thomas parkin, shown here at the funeral home in front of his mother's casket, had much more sinister matters in mind than bereavement. parkin was a con man and a thief who hatched the big lie. an elaborate scheme to impersonate his dead mother for criminal gain. >> he became her. that's exactly what he did. because in his own mind, in his own plan, she needed to still be alive. >> reporter: parkin's incredible ruse started the very day of his mother's funeral. for her death certificate, he provided the funeral director with a fake date of birth and social security number, which means her death was never officially recorded. so the government continued to issue irene's monthly social security checks, and parkin, seen here on a bank surveillance camera, cashed them for himself. parkin was also able to dupe
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various banks into issuing him credit cards in his dead mother's name. even the court system fell for parkin's scheme. he filed lawsuits in his dead mother's name in order to hang on to the brooklyn townhouse, and no one was the wiser. why didn't the court system catch him? >> the agencies he was dealing with are set up to take things at face value. he was exploiting that reliance on honesty. >> reporter: but in the most bizarre twist, parkin would actually dress up as his dead mother to further his scheme. that dmv video of "irene" renewing her license? authorities say that's really parkin dressed in drag, assisted by an accomplice. what was your reaction to that? >> the thing that jumped out at me was, he's doing a pretty good job, except that person walking across the dmv floor is walking like a 45-year-old man, not like a debilitated 73-year-old.
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>> reporter: parkin might never have been found out if it wasn't for a stunning development in the case in march of 2009. believe it or not, parkin himself walked into the brooklyn district attorney's office, complaining that he and his mother were being defrauded over their townhouse. >> thomas parkin came into this office and repeatedly told them, "irene prusik is alive, irene prusik is alive, irene prusik is alive." >> reporter: it doesn't take long for investigators to discover that irene is actually dead, dead, dead. while pretending to look into his fraud claim, investigators press parkin on the phone to set up a face to face meeting with his mother. >> it would aid our case if we could actually sit down and speak to your mother. >> okay. >> okay -- >> yeah, the thing is, is that she doesn't know, we haven't kept her up-to-date or informed of what has been going on. most of the time, she is in jersey, like she is now. >> right.
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>> because friday was her birthday so she wanted to be out there with the rest of the family. >> god bless her. god bless her. you have a party? >> well, we had a little bit of a celebration over here. >> reporter: finally, parkin agrees to arrange a meeting with his mother at the brooklyn townhouse. a hidden camera is rolling as investigators enter the building, and parkin's accomplice leads them to a darkened room. >> and they walked in, and there is mr. parkin wearing dark glasses, and he's got a scarf around his neck, doesn't say a word. >> reporter: it's hard to tell exactly who is behind this getup, but there is an obvious clue to one of the investigators. >> he didn't know for sure who that was, but he does remember the hands. he remembered them being man hands. >> reporter: authorities had nailed the cross dressing crook dead to rights. he was arrested and charged with grand larceny and mortgage fraud. in another bizarre twist, parkin
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gives this rambling statement to police, saying when he gave his mother cpr the night she died, "i felt a feeling in my chest and believe her spirit went in me," and guided him to "put on her things." what do you make of that statement? >> when i asked him about it, he said that he had not been taking his medication, that he didn't really mean it, that's not what happened. >> reporter: but parkin was convicted on all charges. he didn't want to talk to "20/20" on camera, but during our interview with his attorney, he unexpectedly called in and agreed to answer some of our questions over the phone. just explain and tell us, from your point of view, why you impersonated your mother. what was your motivation? >> well, that's completely erroneous, and i've always maintained that. >> reporter: so, you say you've never dressed up as your mother? >> never, and there was never any -- any indication of any witnesses that said i did. >> reporter: do you know who dressed up as your mother, who impersonated her?
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>> no. >> reporter: the judge was unmoved by parkin's denials. he threw the book at the transvestite thief, sentencing him to 13 to 41 years in prison. >> it's a very harsh sentence that was meant to send a message. tom parkin pulled off complex frauds for years. mr. parkin is on a level all his own. i don't think we'll see his like anytime real soon. all business purchases. so you can capture your receipts, and manage them online with jot,
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