♪ narrator: and a wonderful life. there was the mansion in chicago, it was a whirlwind romance. >> he professed his love in a poem. >> the wonderful life, the mansion in chicago, the yacht in the mediterranean and vacations anywhere they wanted to go. >> you look beautiful, michelle. really, really beautiful. >> a successful surgeon. his practice pulled in a staggering $1 million a month. >> he would go on spending sprees. he had three drivers on call. >> but then on one of those exotic trips together, the doctor disappeared. >> was there a note of any kind? >> nothing. >> leaving behind his wife, his yacht, and some very angry people. >> he is a very evil person. >> what had he done?

>> that was the worst night of my life. >> and what could his wife do now? >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> where did the diamonds go? >> with him i suppose. >> and who was this wealthy man of mystery, now living in the italian alps? >> i don't think they have any idea what's going to happen. the weather was perfect, the accommodations aboard their private fully-staffed 80-foot yacht perfect. it was late september 2004, and with her mother and a few close girlfriends along to help the couple celebrate, michelle weinberger had every reason to believe she was living a perfectly charmed life with the

man of her dreams. then, as if suddenly doused with cold water, her dream ended. >> when i woke up in the morning at 7:00 a.m. with a horrible feeling in my stomach, he wasn't there next to me. and i put my hand on his side of the bed and i remember feeling it empty. >> michelle says she darted from the bed and ran around the boat calling for her husband mark. no answer. >> the captain told me that he went jogging. so i started jogging all up and down the beach looking for him. and i just had this horrible feeling, which continued for the rest of that day. >> there was plenty of time to think in those anxious hours. was he dead? injured? kidnapped? was their gilded lifestyle about to end in tragedy? >> i really believe that he was my soul mate and he believed that, too. and he was just the kindest, most gentle man i had ever met.

>> really a prince charming. >> absolutely. >> the night before he vanished, mark had seemed so happy, posing for a dinner time picture with michelle and a friend. now he was gone. by midafternoon michelle was a frantic ball of nerves, clearly mark was not out jogging, as the yacht's captain had told her earlier that morning. so she demanded answers. >> the captain finally said, well, i'm just going to tell you where he is now because you're on the brink of having a nervous breakdown. soy want you to know that he bought some kind of a present in town and he took a jet to paris to finish the present and he's going to come back by the end of the day, before the sun goes down. >> that story didn't surprise michelle. for the past few days, mark had been acting like a man who was planning something big. >> he was always running and doing something and i was kind of, like, this is our vacation. this is our time to spend together.

i would rather not have some big fabulous present and just have you lay with me by the pool and not be sneaking around. >> and what did he say? >> he said, you never want to trust me about surprises. you really need to trust me. this is going to be huge. >> if michelle knew anything about her husband, it was that he was a born romantic who went all out for special occasions. it had only been five years since fate had brought mark weinberger into her life. changing it in ways unimaginable at the time. it all began with a ladies' night out at a chicago bar. >> i saw him at a bar. he was out with his friend who had recently gotten divorced. and we just started talking and we hit it off. i thought he was really intriguing. >> she was michelle kramer back then, a 25-year-old college student from a blue collar family still living with her folks. mark weinberger, 11 years older, was already a very successful ear nose and throat doctor.

>> we were bonding about medicine because i had just gotten through doing a stint in neuroscience at the university of chicago. we were just making jokes about the medical milieu. he was very funny. >> so you hit it off right off the bat? >> we went out to dinner. it was thursday. i spent all weekend with him and by monday i was enamored and smitten. >> within months michelle had moved out of her parents' home and into mark's townhouse in chicago. the whirlwind was on, athens, miami, caribbean sunsets and french champagne. >> michelle, you look beautiful. >> for a southwest chicago girl whose father was a pipe fitter, this was head-turning stuff. >> just want to say this is the best vacation ever. i love you, baby. >> her new love was a philosophy quoting poetry writing renaissance man.

>> he professed his love in a poem. >> you had an unbelievable life. >> it really was, yeah. like it was just so romantic when i first met him, it was awesome. and then things just got, like, exponentially more outrageous as time went on. >> outrageously good. >> yeah. >> for instance, instead of simply popping the question to michelle, mark flew her to rome. he had a driver bring her to meet him. mark dropped to one knee and presented her with an enormous ring while a group of minstrels he had hired serenaded them. >> i was crying and everybody in the piazza was clapping. it was a beautiful moment. >> their wedding in 2001 was actually a three-act extravaganza. first a small wedding in chicago's botanic garden held solely for the purpose of allowing michelle's father, who was dying of cancer, to walk her

down the aisle. next, there was a lavish blessing ceremony in a 12th century villa on italy's coast. mark flew in a dozen gifts from the states. then mark topped it all off by renting chicago's field museum and inviting 110 guests for another formal reception there. those were the memories that kept running through michelle's mind as she and her mother waited for mark to return. but when the sun set that night and mark had not returned, as the captain had promised, michelle knew something was horribly wrong. but what? there were no reports of an accident involving mark, no signs of foul play, no ransom notes. only questions. was there a note of any kind? >> nothing. >> no message, nothing. >> i went through the boat like a crazy person just tearing everything up looking for something. and the only two things i found was 1,000 euros and my passport in a drawer.

>> after 24 hours of watching a hysterical michelle suffer, the yacht's captain gave her the number for a greek cell phone that mark had been secretly using ever since they had been on the yacht. michelle had no idea what would happen when she dialed that number, but she was desperate to hear her husband's voice. >> he answered rather happily, like 5:00 a.m., he said, hello? i was in shock. i said, hello? then he fumbled with the phone and he hung up. >> did he know it was you on the phone? >> oh, yeah. >> how did that feel? >> i was devastated. i felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. i couldn't understand why he would do that. >> as it turned out, michelle's husband had, as promised, given her a huge surprise, all right. he deserted her. for reasons she did not yet understand, michelle would have to return home alone.

she knew her life as she had been living it was over. what she didn't know was that the devastation her husband had left behind went deeper than her own personal agony. and that the twisted tale of the runaway doctor would eventually lead to one of the unlikeliest places on earth. where was the doctor, and why had he abandons his incredibly profitable medical practice? >> in a good week, how much money did he take in? >> he was bringing in about $1 million a month. >> when "the great escape" continues.

the picturesque greek isles where dr. mark weinberger the picturesque greek isles where dr. mark weinberger deserted his wife in september 2004 are half a world away from the rust belt region of indiana where he made his fortune. mark weinberger was not from indiana. he didn't grow up on hoop dreams or the hope of a union job. in fact, he didn't even live here. according to pulitzer prize winning writer buzz who wrote this article for "vanity fair" and consulted with us on this story, mark weinberger was a

nerdy kid from a wealthy new york suburb who was driven by sibling rivalry to outshine his brothers. >> mark figured, the way to be the apple of my parents' eye is to do well in school. he went to the university of pennsylvania, then went to ucla medical school where he thrived. >> he could have established his ear nose and throat medical practice anywhere, but in 1996 he chose merrillville, indiana. it was close enough to chicago that he could live there and have chauffeurs drive him to his office every day. but most important, he could count on the air pollution in northwest indiana to provide a steady stream of patients with sinus problems. >> in northwest indiana where you're breathing in the pollution, you've got high pollen and extreme changes in temperature, it's not unusual to see a high degree of patients who suffer from sinus problems. >> suzette dennington, weinberger's top medical assistant worked closely with him day in and day out.

>> he was an excellent physician. >> what do you think motivated him? >> his desire to be the best at what he did. >> in 2000, weinberger began aggressively advertising himself as a sinus specialist. he billed himself as dr. nose and his practice grew rapidly. >> we could see 40 to 50 patients on an office day. out of those, 10 to 16 would be new patients. >> how many surgeries was he performing? >> on an average, within 15 to 22 a week. >> 15 to 22 surgeries, one man, every week. >> yes. >> and you've worked in this business a long time. i mean, how busy is that compared to your average surgeon? >> huge. >> dennington said patients who walked into the clinic with anything from breathing problems to bad headaches were told that his sinus surgeries were an alternative to taking medications every day and had a 95% success rate. >> his technique was incredible.

i've done sinus surgeries for 18 years. never saw the technique that he used, and it was the benefit to the patients was amazing. >> weinberger's business model it seemed was based on the three-word slogan of salesmen everywhere -- volume, volume, volume. >> i think he measured a certain amount of his worth by how many procedures he was doing. >> of course, the fact that nearly all of weinberger's patients seemed to have the same problem and required the exact same surgery greatly simplified things. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> what did the doctor recommend? >> surgery immediately. >> surgery. >> surgery asap. >> as consistent as these former patients say weinberger was with his diagnoses, suzette denning ton said he was quite flexible

when billing insurance companies. >> it all depended on the amount the insurance company was willing to pay. it could be anywhere from $1500 to $16,000 per procedure. >> as much as $16,000 per procedure, 15 to 20 procedures a week. >> correct. >> in a good week, how much money do you think he took in? >> i do know that at one point for the entire business he was bringing in about $1 million a month. >> even a man with expensive taste, such as mark weinberger, could live large on a cash flow like that. and according to writer buzz bissinger, he did. at home, there were uniformed maids, a personal trainer and masseuse. >> he would go on these spending sprees. he lived in a $2.5 million condominium. he had three drivers on call by limo. >> who could have known in those

first blissful days, as the music played and champagne flowed, how it would all end. certainly not mark weinberger's new bride michelle. >> a northwest indiana doctor is apparently on the run tonight and he's left behind serious legal trouble. >> in the weeks and months after her husband left her in greece, michelle was bound and determined to find out why her husband had abandoned her. coming up -- lying low, living large. >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> 500,000. >> uh-huh. >> and where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose. i didn't find out anything about diamonds until after he had left. "that's not right..." "maybe if i reboot..." "what's with all the popups?" "why does it keep on crashing?"

"this is taking forever." "i think it's time for the fixmestick." fixmestick is a plug-in virus removal device. it's the smart, simple, safe way to clean your computer yourself. with fixmestick you don't have to replace your computer. it helps you keep your files, and your privacy. fixmestick reboots your computer from a system on the stick, so that it can remove the malware that got past your antivirus software. it's the smart, simple way to clean an infected computer, with a whole lot going on inside the stick... [computers sound] "alright, this computer's powered down. " "let's reboot from the stick, and start scanning..." fixmestick contains 3 independent scanners, and connects to more in the cloud, for fast and effective detection of the latest threats. "i thought so - this one got around the antivirus software!" "not a problem." "we're on it." today's viruses sabotage the computers they infect, like a burglar who gets into your house,

and deactivates your security system. once your computer is infected, it's far easier to clean it with an external device... that's what makes fixmestick so effective. "ok, i see spyware, trojans, keyloggers, and here it is, the rootkit!" the fixmestick is like having your own it department in the palm of your hand. and because it connects to the internet, it's always up to date. "coffee" we're going to need some more coffee down here... " "anyone," "coffee?" advanced technology in an external device has enabled people all over the world to get the upper hand against viruses and malware. try it for 30 days, and see for yourself why more than a million people trust fixmestick to keep their computer fast, clean, and safe." call us today or visit us online.

in the weeks after her husband had abandoned her in greece, michelle examined every memory she had of mark weinberg. in the weeks after her husband had abandoned her in greece, michelle examined every memory she had of mark weinberger. >> she's the hostess and she's the mostest. >> turning each unreliable fragment in her mind as if seeing scenes from her life for the first time. >> i have marky all to myself. >> none of it made sense to michelle. hadn't they had it all? money, youth, happiness.

what on earth caused him to chuck it all without as much as a note of explanation. >> november 1st was our three-year anniversary and a bit of a turning point for me. but prior to that i still believed wholeheartedly that he was going to send for me. and if he sent for me, i would have went with him. >> really? >> i would have, yes. and that day came and went with no phone call, no letter, nothing. and that made me realize that i needed to take care of myself and try to get back on my own two feet. >> mark was still alive. she knew that because, even though she hadn't heard from him since that brief phone call in

greece, credit card statements were still coming in to their home in chicago. >> he's going to the biggest fashion houses across france and buying clothing and he's at casinos. >> and you're back and you can't even pay the water bill. >> right. and i'm sitting there crying every night listening to our songs, you know, mourning his loss and he's in the south of france. >> his credit card tally in the south of france alone added up to more than $50,000. since there's no law against disappearing, michelle couldn't really go to the authorities. it seemed the only people even interested in finding mark weinberger were his creditors. but michelle wouldn't give up. on more than one occasion, michelle flew to europe in hopes of tracking down and confronting her husband. >> just me and a pair of handcuffs. i brought handcuffs because i figured if he saw me he might, like, be freaked out. i just wanted an explanation. >> she even came close once, arriving at a paris hotel just a day after weinberger had checked out. but back home she still faced a growing pile of unpaid bills.

mark had never allowed her to see the bills before or even have her own checking account. >> it's almost laughable in a way when i get faxes from banks saying i owe $3.5 million because i don't even have a concept in my head of what $3 million is. >> eventually, michelle learned that mark weinberger had left her $6 million in debt. we first met michelle in february 2005. five months after her husband had vanished. at that time, michelle's home was in foreclosure and she had realized she had no choice but to file for divorce. >> i don't know how ready to say i am filing for divorce, but financially it's a necessity right now so it's something that has to be done in order to try to separate myself from the debt that he's accrued. >> in october 2005, a little over a year after her husband literally jumped ship, michelle

filed for bankruptcy. >> the person that i fell in love with, the person that i knew for five years, that person certainly was a soul mate and a best friend to me. this person who would leave behind such devastation in his wake, i don't know who he is. >> with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, michelle told us she should have seen the signs of trouble coming. mark was sometimes distant. he could be rude, even abusive to people he deemed his social inferiors. but the summer of 2004, a few months before mark disappeared, seemed to be the real turning point. michelle was pregnant. >> both of us could not have been happier at that moment. those good feelings lasted for a couple weeks. and then i had to go to hawaii for an apa conference that i was presenting at. >> presenting at the american psychological association that

july was a prestigious honor for a grad student like michelle. even though mark begged her not to go, she went anyway. >> and things started to change while i was in hawaii. he called me and said lawyers were claiming that he was doing unnecessary surgery and he was afraid it was going to become a class action suit, at which point he jumps ten steps ahead and assumes that his insurance company would settle, his license would be taken away, and everything would be destroyed. >> so his life is flashing before his eyes. >> uh-huh. >> one of those former patients now had terminal cancer, and she was suing him for not diagnosing it sooner. michelle says that for mark the malpractice suit was more than just a blemish on his reputation. it was a blow to his vanity. and though michelle assured him of her love and support, she said she could feel her husband

pulling away. >> i knew he was stressed out about the lawsuits, but i really believed in my heart it was something we could fight against. >> a few weeks later, it was michelle who was devastated and needed support when she suffered a miscarriage and had to be hospitalized. >> and he promised, he swore that he would be there before i went under anesthesia. and he insisted that he had to go into his office to take care of some things, and he didn't show up. and i was shocked. >> whatever mark weinberger was doing in the office those days was also a mystery to employees like suzette dennington, weinberger's top medical assistant at the sinus clinic. >> he started to be one of the first people in the office and last people to leave every day. >> what was he doing in his office? >> i don't know. the door was closed. it was very quiet. we would have to knock on the door and let him know that there was another patient ready to be

seen. he definitely withdrew. >> suzette says that wasn't the only strange thing going on that summer. suddenly, shipments of camping gear began arriving at the weinberger clinic. >> one of his treatment rooms in one wing of the building was full of camping equipment. i really didn't see him as being much of a camper. >> he's more four seasons hotel type. >> right. but he was almost frantically packing it up. >> what kinds of equipment did he have? >> there were several backpacks. there were just bags that were stuffed with things that you couldn't see. >> and then there were the strange men with thick european accents that some employees reported seeing coming into the offices with briefcases to meet privately with weinberger. michelle later learned those men were diamond dealers from new york. >> i think he bought about maybe $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> 500,000. >> uh-huh. >> and where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose.

i didn't find out anything about diamonds until after he had left. >> diamonds, light, untraceable. just the kind of tip that's found in a book michelle discovered among mark's things after he left. michelle came to see that her husband had been planning his vanishing act for months. >> he had apparently packed two huge suitcases full of water filtration systems, gps equipment, language tapes. all types of bizarre things, and he shipped one of the bags to kahn and another bag to athens. >> a meticulous plan, perfectly executed, though even in hindsight michelle now remembered how nervous he had been on the day they flew to greece. >> he was yelling at everybody and he's, like, i have to make this flight. i'm like, we're not going to miss the flight. we're not late. he was just completely uncontrollable in the airport. >> oddly enough, even knowing

her husband had deliberately deceived, humiliated and abandoned her, michelle continued to defend him. >> he was an excellent doctor. that's why it really infuriated me to see his name dragged through the mud. >> the real culprits, michelle felt, were former patients egged on by greedy lawyers who were suing him for malpractice. >> i think it's a big opportunistic, but that's the state of our legal system in this country. that's what doctors have to face every day. >> how can you stand up for him now? >> because i know how much he cared about his patients. in the end, i think that he was a very scared man. >> had it actually been one of those patients who caused mark weinberger to flee, forfeiting all he worked for? michelle was sure of it. she had often heard mark mention a former patient in the weeks and months before he left. a woman with terminal cancer. >> she had a cough that wouldn't

go away, sore throat, hoarseness. these are things that a first year medical student would recognize as signs and symptoms of throat cancer or laryngeal cancer. weinberger didn't pay attention. the winter over northwest it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and... ...keeps you up to 100% flake free head and shoulders' dry scalp care for mild-to-moderate eczema? it can be used almost everywhere on almost everybody. the arm of an arm wrestler? the back of a quarterback? the face of a fairy? prescription eucrisa is a nose to toes eczema ointment.

it blocks overactive pde4 enzymes within your skin. and it's steroid-free. do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site. the most common side effect is application site pain. ask your doctor about eucrisa. it was love at first touch met and all you wanted to do was surround them in comfort and protection that's why only pampers swaddlers is the #1 choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness and premium protection mom: "oh hi baby" so all they feel is love wishing you love, sleep and play. pampers

in winter, the skies over northwest indiana where dr. mark weinberger practiced medicine, usually the winter over northwest indiana where dr. weinberger practiced medicine usually had all the luster of -- but for weinberger and his wife michelle late december 2001 was just another caribbean holiday. >> it's a beautiful day here. >> it's perhaps good that the

happy couple couldn't see the future on a day such as this because there was so much unhappiness ahead. in three years, he would be on the run, somewhere in europe, and she would be alone, brokenhearted and bankrupt. of course, they had no way of seeing any of this coming. not here. not on this night. >> but far to the north in indiana, one of dr. weinberger's patients, phyllis barnes could clearly see her future was looking grim. >> my sister went through hell. >> phyllis' sister peggy hood says phyllis' road through hell began three months earlier when she went to see dr. weinberger. >> she had trouble catching her breath. she seemed to have sort of cold-like systems or bronchitis. she just seemed rundown. >> you thought it might be

allergies or a cold. >> yeah. >> it could have been a number of things. her voice was raspy. she had a sore throat. but perhaps the most troubling symptom for phyllis, a lifelong smoker, was that she had recently begun coughing up blood. >> i believe when she went to dr. weinberger she told him she was a smoker. i don't think she tried to hide that from anybody. >> how did she find out about mark weinberger? >> i believe one of her co-workers may have seen billboards. >> the nose dr. >> uh-huh. >> in hindsight, going to the self-proclaimed nose doctor may have been a mistake. but since phyllis had a long history of sinus problems, seeking out a sinus specialist for her breathing problem seemed logical. >> the first time i heard about him was when she called me. she was going to have sinus surgery and she needed a ride to

and from the surgery. >> dr. weinberger's diagnosis? sinusitis, nasal polyps, deviated septum, all problems he told phyllis that could be cure with surgery. >> did your sister get better after the surgery? >> no. she got progressively worse after the surgery. >> by thanksgiving, just six weeks after her surgery with weinberger, phyllis barnes was gasping for breath. repeated follow-up visits to the clinic brought no relief. her family feared she might have pneumonia. >> i had to call the ambulance one night to have her taken to the emergency room because she couldn't breathe. >> shawn barnes, phyllis' daughter, was only 16 at the time. >> she did end up pulling through, but it was a hard time to get through. >> within days of leaving the emergency room, phyllis was again gasping for breath. so in december 2001 she turned to another ear nose and throat doctor for relief. the new doctor immediately suspected something serious. her breathing was ragged and a

large lump was visible on the side of her neck. >> he called me on my cell phone and he said he had just seen my sister and he felt that she had possibly advanced cancer, and he had scheduled her for a biopsy. >> that biopsy quickly confirmed the doctor's hunch. at 47, phyllis barnes had stage four throat cancer. >> i hope you find something worthwhile to do today. >> a lifelong do-it-yourselfer, phyllis barnes was now facing the biggest recovery and rehab project of her life. >> daniel, do not say they're doing there to me. >> phyllis first came to northwest indiana from her native mississippi in the late '70s after college. >> i'm busy. >> but i love you, phyllis! >> oh, good. >> her sister peggy was already here and it was here that she met her husband, daniel barnes, started a family, and began a

career in social work, helping displaced steelworkers. >> it was a government agency that tried to help place people who had lost their jobs in this area. and she really liked that. >> a big part of that job involved public speaking. but by the time mark weinberger was popping champagne corks in the caribbean that new year's eve, that part of phyllis' career was over. surgeons had taken drastic action to fight the advanced cancer in her throat. >> she ended up losing her voice box. and it was a very disfiguring surgery. but i think she felt like, you know, after all she had gone through that she was going to be okay. >> and so phyllis barnes soldiered on.

there was the usual litany of chemo and radiation treatments, but phyllis also underwent additional throat surgeries and volunteered for experimental treatments. >> she suffered in silence. i think she kept a lot of what she was going through to herself. >> family members admit phyllis' cigarette use was probably a factor, but those who watched phyllis withering away wondered if dr. weinberger might have missed a chance to catch phyllis' cancer early, which cost her valuable time. >> regardless of why she got cancer, or how she got cancer or where she got cancer, she should have been able to go to a doctor and expect a certain quality of treatment that she didn't get. >> in late 2002, perhaps sensing time was not on her side, phyllis barnes hired personal injury lawyer ken allen to sue dr. weinberger for negligence and malpractice. >> phyllis had the classic signs and symptoms of throat cancer. she was a smoker for many years. she had a cough that wouldn't go away, sore throat, hoarseness. these are things that a first

year medical student would recognize as signs and symptoms of throat cancer or laryngeal cancer. weinberger didn't pay attention. >> i'm the youngest, phyllis and there's my daughter shawn and my husband couldn't come down. >> the soft, southern voice that had once been phyllis' calling card was gone. >> my co-workers are so used to me talking like this that people are always going to give me a look like, what's basically wrong with you? >> in a video deposition given shortly after the lawsuit was filed, phyllis spoke in a flat, robotic voice about her cancer and her struggle to live a normal life. >> some days i have to suction out my lungs if they're congested. >> the stakes could not have been higher. shawn, phyllis' only child, had recently lost her father to cancer. now she seemed destined to become an orphan, phyllis told her lawyer her daughter's welfare was her concern.

>> i am my daughter's only surviving parent. >> i want to make sure she goes to school. >> on september 16, 2004, almost exactly one year after that deposition was recorded, phyllis barnes died, surrounded by her family. as it happened, that was just two days before dr. weinberger and his wife left the united states for the greek islands, the great escape he had been planning for three months was about to begin. and right on his heels, a family and a lawyer seeking justice. >> he knew, having killed someone, that it was not something he could easily sweep under the rug. it really is evil, and he needs -- he deserves to be punished. nick was born to move. not necessarily after 3 toddlers with boundless energy. but lower back pain won't stop him from keeping up.

because at a dr. scholl's kiosk he got a recommendation for our best custom fit orthotic to relieve his foot, knee, or lower back pain, from being on his feet. by reducing shock and stress on his body with every step. so look out world, dad's taking charge. dr. scholl's. born to move.

dr. mark weinberger was never shy about telling the people dr. mark weinberger was never shy about telling the people of northwest indiana who he was and what he was about. and neither is ken allen, a man who was weinberger's chief nemesis before he vanished and later became one of his most persistent pursuers. >> he knew he was mutilating patients to bill the insurance companies for surgeries that weren't necessary. it really is evil, and he needs -- he deserves to be punished. >> ken allen, you'll remember, is the lawyer phyllis barnes hired to sue weinberger. in court documents, allen alleges that weinberger

misdiagnosed phyllis' trouble breathing and gave her a surgery she didn't need while missing the advanced throat cancer that eventually killed her. >> he needs to understand it wasn't just the insurance companies that were harmed. it was people. lives were destroyed. people were hurt. >> phyllis barnes, it turns out, was just the tip of the iceberg. once mark weinberger fled, malpractice complaints began flooding in to lawyers like ken allen. among those new clients were kayla thomas and her mother valerie. in 2003, 8-year-old kayla began having headaches so severe they caused vomiting and extreme sensitivity to light. valerie said she decided to take kayla to dr. weinberger after seeing a billboard about sinus

surgery to cure headaches. >> i took her to his office. they did a cat scan and they said she had a deviated septum and polyps and he could make her headache-free if she immediately had surgery. >> how soon did it happen? >> within two weeks. >> how is she? >> the headaches didn't stop. the light sensitivity got worse. >> it wasn't until she took kayla to specialists that she finally discovered the cause of kayla's misery. >> they did a cat scan as well of her head, and they told us that evening that there was a tumor there. >> and what was that night like? >> that was the worst night of my life. >> though the tumor turned out to be noncancerous, it was growing. surgeons told the thomases kayla would need immediate brain surgery to reduce the pressure in her head. >> and kayla, do you understand what the doctor said? >> i didn't understand most of it, but some of it like i would

have to have surgery and then how i would have to be taken care of afterward i understood. >> but there was a problem. valerie says the university of chicago doctors told her scar tissue from the weinberger sinus surgery prevented them from removing more than 5% to 10% of the tumor. >> her neurosurgeon, neurologist and endocrinologist and all said, why? they said, a 9-year-old doesn't have polyps that need to be removed. >> in time, more than 350 of weinberger's former patients would join in lawsuits against him while he was lounging in the cafes and casinos of europe. almost all of them accused him of the same things, misdiagnosing real problems and performing unnecessary surgeries. >> mark weinberger ran a surgery mill. he saw up to 100 patients or more a day. he did 100 or 150 surgeries a month. and he made a lot of money. >> how do you see 100 patients in a day? >> you give every patient the same diagnosis and you give every patient the same

prescription -- surgery. >> 18 months after he had vanished, a federal grand jury indicted weinberger in absentia on 22 counts of health care fraud. by now, the state of indiana had revoked his license. the fbi had issued a warrant for his arrest. the clinic was sold. weinberger's ex-wife michelle said it was clear to her little effort was being made to actually find him. >> the fbi has a huge list of people they're looking for. there's terrorists on the list. here is a white collar criminal who just is hiding out in europe, and they made it clear to me that he wasn't their number one priority. >> though the fbi posted its arrest warrant with interpol an

oh! there's one. manatees in novelty ts? surprising. what's "come at me bro?" it's something you say to a friend. what's not surprising? how much money matt saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and... ...keeps you up to 100% flake free head and shoulders' dry scalp care

hey, need fast try cool mint zantac. it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac. no pill relieves heartburn faster. you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you? i'm making smoothies! how do i check my credit score? credit karma. don't worry, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit. but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ ♪ everything is working, working, just like it should ♪

though the fbi posted its arrest warrant with interpol, >> though the fbi posted its arrest warrant with interpol an international police organization, weinberger was, for all intents and purposes, out of sight and out of mind. but not in northwest indiana. >> he needs to be held to account, more than that he needs to be punished. and it's my job to do that. >> for ken allen, the weinberger case felt personal.

this was his backyard. and though he may not look like a working class hero in his tailored suits, ken allen says his father was a steel worker, like many of weinberger's former patients. in fact, allen says he worked in the mills himself as a teenager. that's him behind the wedding mask. >> a lot of my colleagues as lawyers somehow think they morph into something different once they get a law degree and all of that. and i know who i am. i knew where i came from, and i don't forget that. >> though hard to prove, ken allen believes his lawsuit on behalf of phyllis barnes and her subsequent death are what caused mark weinberger to flee. >> weinberger realized at that juncture that his gig was up. he knew, having killed someone, that it was not something he could easily sweep under the rug. >> and so, with prosecutorial zeal, this personal injury attorney hired private investigators to chase down

rumored sightings of mark weinberger. in china. israel. and france. >> it was almost like sightings of elvis because we would get tips or leads that we'd follow up on to a blind alley. >> but it was in this remote corner of italy, not far from the swiss border, that our story takes its most intriguing turn. two years after mark weinberger slipped off that yacht in the greek islands, a mysterious american rolled into the alpine village of courmayeur, making a lasting impression with his money. the alpine village of courmayeur crouches in the shadow of europe's highest peak on italy's side of the border with switzerland. it's quaint and remote. wealthy tourists are drawn to the slopes for the skiing in winter and mountain climbing in

warmer months. at night, they fill the local bars, cafes and restaurants, all of it providing the perfect cover for anyone who wants to live well without standing out. call it st. moritz without the glitz. do you forget how spectacular this is when you live here? >> you can't. you can't because it's very, very spectacular. very spectacular. >> lieutenant colonel guido davida heads this italian state police headquarters. >> you know everyone. >> no. everyone knows me. >> according to the colonel, it was in late 2006 at the beginning of another winter ski season that a certain high-rolling stranger rolled in to courmayeur. >> and he arrived how? >> in a large limousine with a driver we're told. >> first class. >> very first class. very first class. >> locals say the stranger appeared to be an american. >> a nice man.

very quiet man. >> did he cause problems here? >> no. >> sometimes he disappeared for months at a time. later police suspected the stranger may have had business to transact on the other side ever the mountains in switzerland. >> he went to a couple of time to swiss. >> to switzerland. >> yes. also by bicycle. >> yes. >> do you think he had bank accounts there?