of "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. it was a whirlwind romance. >> he professed his love at home. >> a whirlwind life. >> a mansion at home and vacations anywhere they wanted to go. >> you look beautiful. really really beautiful. >> a successful surgeon. his practice pulled in a staggering million dollars a month. >> he would go on spending sprees, had three drivers on call. >> on one of those exotic trips together, the doctor disappears. >> was there a note of any kind? >> nothing. >> leaving behind his wife, yacht, very angry people. >> he is a very evil person.

>> what had he done? >> that was the worst night of my life. >> what could his wife do now? >> i think he bought about $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left. >> where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose. >> who is this man of mystery living in the italian alps. >> i don't think they have any idea what's going to happen. >> it had all the makings of a perfect fantasy. the perfect husband away with his perfect wife, for her 30th birthday in the picture perfect greek isle. the weather was perfect. the accommodations aboard their private fully staffed 80 foot yacht, perfect. it was late september, 2004. with her mother and a few close girlfriend is a long to help the golden couple celebrate, michelle weinberger had ever

reason to believe she was living a perfectly charmed life with the man of her dreams. as with doused with suddenly cold water her dreams ended. >> when i woke up at 7:00 a.m. with a horrible feeling in my stomach he wasn't next to me. i remember putting my hand on the side of the bed and feeling it empty. >> michelle says she ran around the bed calling for her husband, mark. no answer. >> the captain told me he started jogging. i started jogging all around looking for him. i had this horrible feeling which continued the rest of that day. there was plenty of time to think in those anxious hours. was he dead, injured, kidnapped? was their guilded lifestyle about to end in tragedy? >> i really believed he was my soulmate and he believe that, too. he was 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 with a dinnertime picture with michelle and a friend. now, he was gone. by mid-afternoon, michelle was a frantic ball of nerves. clearly, mark was not out jogging as the yacht captain said earlier that morning she demanded answers. >> the captain said, will tell you where he is now because you're on the brink of having a nervous breakdown. he bought some kind of present for you in town and took a jet to paris to finish the present and will come back by the end of the day, when the sun comes up. >> reporter: that story didn't surprise michelle. for the past few days, mark had been acting like man planning something big. >> he was always running and doing something. i said, this is our vacation, time to spend together.

i would rather not have a big fabulous present and have you lay with me by the pool and not be sneaking around. >> what did he say. >> he said, you never want to trust me about surprises. you need to trust me, this is going to be huge. >> if michelle knew anything about her husband, he was a born romantic that went all out for special occasions. it had only been five years since fate 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 out with a friend who had recently gotten divorced. we just started talking and we hit it off. i thought he was really intriguing. >> she was michelle cramer back then a college student from a blue college family still living

with her folks. mark was already very successful, 10 years older, a successful nose and throat doctor. >> i had gotten through a stint at chicago and we were making jokes about the medical mill. >> hit it off right off the bat? >> we went to dinner. it was a thursday and i spend thursday, friday, saturday, sunday with him. by monday i was enamored and smitten. >> reporter: within months michelle moved out of her parents' home and into mark's apartment. the whirlwind was on. >> you look beautiful. >> for a southwest chicago girl whose father was a pipe fitter, this is head turning stuff. >> i love you, baby. >> her new love was a philosophy quoting poetry writing renaissance man.

>> he professed his love in a poem. he swept me off my feet. >> you had an unbelievable life. >> it really was, yeah. it was so romantic when i first met him and it was awesome. things just got like ex responsible eveningsly more outrageous as time went on. >> outrageously good? >> outrageously good. >> for instance, instead of simply popping the question to michelle, mark threw her to rome. he had a driver bring her to meet him at the piazza, and once there mark dropped to one knee and presented her with an enormous ring while a group of minstrels he hired serenaded. >> i was crying and everybody else was clapping. it was a beautiful moment. >> their wedding in 2001 was a three act extravaganza, first a small wedding in chicago's

botanical allowing her father, dying of cancer, to walk her down the aisle. next, a lavish blessing ceremony in italy's coast. mark threw in a dozen guests from the states. mark topped it all off by renting chicago's field museum and inviting 0.1 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. 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 tearing everything up looking for something. the only two things i found was a thousand euros and my passport

in a drawer. >> after 24 hours of watching an hysterical michelle suffer, the yachts captain gave her the number for a greek cell phone 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. she was desperate to hear her husband's voice. he answered rather happily at 5:00 a.m. he said, hello. i was in shock and he said hello and fumbled with the phone and hung up. >> did he know it was you? >> yeah. >> then what happened. >> i was devastated, felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. >> it turned out her husband had as promised given her a huge surprise all right. he deserted her. for reasons she did not

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 run away doctor would eventually lead to one of the unlikeliest places on earth. coming up, where was the doctor and why had he abandoned his incredibly profitable medical practice. >> how many surgeries was he performing? >> on an average, within 15-22 a week. >> 15-22 surgery, one man every week. >> yes. >> in a good week, how much money do you think he took in? >> he was bringing in about a million dollars a month. >> when he "dateline" continues. .

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the picturesque greek isle where dr. mark weinberger deserted his wife in 2004 are half a world away from the region of northwest indiana where he made his fortune. mark 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 writer who consulted on this story, he was a nerdy kid driven by sibling rivalry to outshine his brother. >> he figured the way to be the apple of my parents' eye, do well in school. he went to the university of pennsylvania and went to ucla medical school where he thrived. >> he could have established his hear, nose and throat practice anywhere. she chose indiana close enough to chicago he could live there

and have chauffeurs drive him one hour to his office everyday. most important he could count on the air pollution in northwest indiana to bring in sinus problems. >> in northwest indiana you have the extreme change in temperatures it's not unusual to see a high degree of patients with sinus problems. susan's 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 to aggressively advertising himself as a sinus specialist and billed himself as dr. nose and his practice grew rapidly. >> we could see 40-50 patients on an office day. out of those, 10-16 would be new patients. >> how many new surgeries was he

performing? >> on average, within 15-22 on a week? >> 15-22 surgeries one man every week? >> yep. >> you worked in this a long time. how busy is that compared to your average surgeon? >> huge. >> patients who walked in with anything from breathing to sinus headaches were told his surgeries were an alternative to taking medicine and had a 95% success rate. >> his techniques were incredible i've done sinus surgery 18 years. never seen this with the patients was amazing. >> his business model was salesmen every week, volume volume volume. >> i think he measured a certain amount of his work by how many procedures he was doing. >> the fact nearly all of

weinberger's patients seemed to have the same problem and required the exact same surgery greatly simplified things. >> deviated septum, pop lips. >> deviated septum and polyps. >> what did the doctor recommend? >> surgery immediately. >> surgery. >> surgery, asap. >> as consistent as these former patients say he was with surgeries, he was quite flexible billing insurance companies. >> it all depended on the amount the insurance company was willing to pay, anywhere from $1500 to $16,000 per procedure. >> as much as $16,000 per procedure 15-20 procedures a week? >> correct. >> in a good week, how much money do you think he took in? >> i do know at one point for the entire business he was bringing in about a million

dollars a month. >> even a man with expensive tastes such as mark could live large on a cash flow like that. according to writer, buzz, he did. at home uniform maids, a personal trainer and a masseuse. >> he would go on spending sprees, lived in a $2.5 million condominium and had three drivers on call. >> who could have known in those first bliss full days as the music played and champagne flowed how it would all end. certainly not his bride, michelle. >> a northwest indiana doctor is on the run and left behind serious troubles. >> 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, flying low and living large.

>> he had apparently packed two suitcases with water filtration system, gps equipment, language tapes, all types of bizarre things. i think he bought about $500,000 worth of diamonds before he left? >> $500,000? >> uh-huh. >> where did the diamonds go? >> with him, i suppose. i didn't find out anything about diamonds until he had left. >> when "dateline" continues. els els i need a new book for my son. stories. stories or quotes? time for a rhyme? or not rhyming's fine. no rhymes. skivvies. gadgets or skivvies? boxed set? perfect!

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in the weeks after her husband had abandoned her in greece, michelle examined every memory she had of mark weinberger. >> she is the hostess and is the mostess. >> turning each fragment over in her unreliable mind as if seeing it for the first time. >> i have markey to myself. i'm holding him as a prisoner. >> none of it made any sense to michelle. hadn't they had it all? money, youth, even happiness? what on earth she wondered could have caused him to chuck it all without a note of explanation. >> november 1st was our three year anniversary, a bit of a turning point for me. prior to that, i still believed wholeheartedly he was going to send for me. if he sent for me i would have went with him. >> really? >> i would have, yes. that day came and went with no

phone call, no letter, nothing. that made me realize i need 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 into 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. i'm sitting there crying at night listening to our songs 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 be freaked out. i just wanted an explanation. >> she even came close once, arriving at a paris hotel just a day after weinberger had check 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 have a concept in my head what $3 million is. >> eventually, michelle learned mark left her $6 million in debt. we first met michelle in 2005,

five months after her husband had vanished and her home was in disclosure and she had no choice but to file for divorce. >> i don't know how ready i am filing for divorce but financially it's a necessity and something that has to be done in order to separate myself from the debt he's encrewed. >> in october of 2005, a little over a year after her husband literally jumped ship, michelle filed for bankruptcy. the person i fell in love with, the person i knew for five years, that person certainly was a soulmate and best friend to me. this person who would leave behind such devastation in his wake, i don't know who he is. >> with the ben fit of 20/20 hindsight, michelle tells us she should have seen the signs of trouble coming.

mark was sometimes distant and even rude to those he deemed his social inferiors. the summer of 2004, the month before he 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 a couple weeks. and then i had to go to hawaii for an apa conference i was presenting at. >> presenting at the american psychological association's conference that july was a prestigious honor for a grad student like michelle. michelle says even though mark begged her not to go, she went anyway. >> things started to change while i was in hawaii. he called me and said that the lawyers are claiming he was doing unnecessary surgery and he was afraid it would become a class action suit, at which point he jumped 10 steps ahead and assumed his insurance

company would settle, his medical license would be taken away and everything destroy. >> 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 for mark, the malpractice suit was more than a blemish on his reputation, a blow on his vanity. although michelle assured him of her love and support she said she could feel him pulling away. >> i knew he was stressed about the lawsuits but felt i could help him. >> reporter: a few weeks later it was michelle that needed support when she suffered a miscarriage and had to be hospitalized. >> he promised and swore he would be there before i went under anesthesia. he in insisted he had to go to

his office and take care of things and i was shocked. >> whatever weinberger was doing was a surprise to his top medical assistant at the sinus clinic. he was one of the first people to arrive and last to leave everyday. what was he doing in his office? >> i don't know. the door was closed. it was very quiet. we would knock on the door to let him know there was definitely another patient waiting to be seen. he definitely with drew. >> she 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 the treatment rooms was full of camping equipment. didn't see him much of a camper. >> more four seasons hotel? >> right. >> he was frantically packing it up. >> what kind of equipment?

>> several backpacks and bags stuffed with things you couldn't see. >> then, there were strange men with thick european accents some employees reported seeing coming into the office 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. >> with him i suppose. i didn't find out anything about them until after he left. >> diamonds, untraceable, the kind of thing discovered in a book in mark's things before he left. she found her husband had been planning his vanishing act for months. >> he apparently packed two suitcases full of water filtration systems, gps equipment, language tapes, all types of bizarre things.

he shipped one back to cohn and another to athens. >> a meticulous plan perfectly executed even though in hindsight michelle now remembered how nervous he had been to greece. he was yelling at everybody, i have to make this flight. we're not late. he was completely uncontrollable in this airport. >> oddly enough, even knowing her husband had deliberately deceived, humiliated and abandoned her, michelle continued to defend him. >> she was an excellent doctor. that's why it infuriated me to see his name dragged through the mud. >> the real culprits michelle felt were former patients egged on by greedy lawyers suing him for malpractice. i think it's a bit opportunistic. that's the state of our legal system in this country doctors

face everyday. >> how can you stand up for him how to? >> i know how much he cared about his patients. in the end, i think 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 often heard him use the name of one of the patients with terminal cancer. she had a cough that wouldn't go away, sore throat, hoarseness. these are things a first year medical student would recognize as signs and symptoms of throat cancer and laryngeal cancer. he didn't pay attention. ♪ carla is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of her body.

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your top stories, president trump is quote open-minded about helping dreamers in exchange for border wall funding according to

south carolina senator, lindsey graham, a deal that could put an end to the government shutdown in its tenth day. a woman killed at a zoo, only interning there a few weeks. it left its enclosure during a cleaning and shot and killed by sheriff's deputies. back to "dateline." back to "dateline. in winter, the skies over northwest indiana, where dr. mark weinberger practiced medicine usually have all the luster of wet cotton. for weinberger and his wife, michelle, late december 2001 was just another blue skied caribbean holiday. >> it's a beautiful day here at parakay. >> it's perhaps good the happy

couple couldn't see the future on 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. >> new year's eve, 2002. i've never been so happy in my whole life. my dream. >> farther north in indiana, one of doctor weinberger's patients, phyllis barnes could clearly see her future was looking grim. >> my sister went through hell. >> reporter: her sister said her 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 symptoms or bronchitis. she seemed run down. >> you thought it might be allergies or a cold? >> yeah.

>> it could have been a number of things. her voice was raspy and she had a sore throat. perhaps the most troubling thing for phyllis, a life-long smoker, she had recently began 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 might have seen billboards. the nose doctor. >> in hindsight going to the self-proclaimed nose doctor may have been a mistake. since she had a long history of sinus problems, it seemed logical. >> the first time i heard about him she called me up, was going to have sinus surgery. >> the diagnose, sin you si tis

and deviated septum that could be helped with surgery. >> did she get better. >> no. she got worst. >> six weeks after the surgery, phyllis barnes was gasping for breath. repeated 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. in december of 2001 she turned to another ear, nose and throat doctor for relief. the new doctor immediately suspected something serious. the breathing was ragged and a large lump was visible on the

side of her neck. >> he called me on my cell phone and said he had just seen my sister and thought she had possibly advanced cancer and scheduled her for a biopsy. >> that biopsy quickly confirmed the doctor's hunch. at 47, phyllis barns had stage four throat cancer. >> i hope you find something worthwhile to do today. >> a life-long do it yourselfer, phyllis barnes was facing the biggest project of her life. >> do not stand there doing that to me. >> phyllis first came to northwest indiana from her native mississippi after college. >> i'm busy. go away. >> i love you, phyllis. >> good. >> her sister, peggy was already here. it was here she met her husband, daniel barnes, started a family and began a career in social

work helping displaced steel workers. >> it was a government agency who tried to place people who lost their jobs and she really liked that. >> a big part of that job was public speaking. by the time mark weinberg was popping champagne corks on new year's eve, that part of her career was over. surgeons had taken drastic action. >> she ended up losing her voice box. it was a very disfiguring surgery. i think she felt after all she had gone through she was going to be okay. >> so phyllis barnes soldiers on. there was the usual litany of chemo and radiation treatments and she underwent additional surgery and experimental treatments. >> she suffered in silence.

i think she kept a lot of what she was going through to herself. >> her family members thought her cigarette use was a factor and as they watched her wither away, they wondered if if he had caught it cost her valuable time. >> regardless why she got cancer, she should have been able to go to a doctor an get the quality of treatment she didn't get. >> reporter: in september of 2002 perhaps sensing time was not on her side, she hired a personal lawyer to sue him. >> phyllis thad he classic signs 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 a first year

medical student would recognize as signs and symptoms of throat cancer or laryngeal cancer. weinberger didn't pay attention. >> there's my daughter. >> the soft southern voice that had once been phyllis's calling card was gone. >> my co-workers are so used to me talking like this, basically, what's wrong with you. >> in a video deposition given shortly after the lawsuit was filed, phyllis spoke in a robotic voice about her cancer and 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 hired. shawn, phyllis' only child recently lost her father to cancer. now that she seemed destined to become an orphan, phyllis told her lawyer her daughter's

welfare was her main concern. >> i'm my daughter's only surviving parent. i want to make sure she goes to school. >> on september 16th, 2004, almost 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. coming up, right on his heels a family and lawyer seeking justice. >> he knew having killed someone it was not something he could easily sweep under the rug. it really is evil and he needs -- he deserves to be punished. e deserves to be punished okay, ron's favorite... chudley cannons. hmm... he's good. nobody knows the wizarding world like we do...

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in the last hour, a new york

federal judge sentencing cohen to prison. cohen to prison. dr. mark weinberger was never shy about telling the people of northwest indiana who he was and what he was about. neither is ken allen, a man who is weinberger's chief nemesis before he vanished and later became one of his more persistent pursuers. >> he knew he was mutilating patients to bill insurance companies for surgeries that weren't necessary. he really is evil and needs to be punished. ken allen is this lawyer phyllis

barnes hired to sue weinberger and alleging he misdiagnosed her troubled breathing and gave her a sinus 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 destroy. people were hurt. >> phyllis barnes, it turns out, was just the tip of the iceberg. once mark weinberger fled malpractice complaints began flooding into lawyers like ken allen. among those 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 says she decided to take kayla to dr. weinberger seeing an ad that sinus surgery is a

cure for headaches. >> he did a cat scan and she had deviated septum and polyps and could be free from headaches the rest of her life if she had immediate surgery. >> how quickly did it happen? >> within two weeks. >> how did it work. >> the headaches never stopped and the light sensitivity became worse. >> she finally went to a medical center and found the cause of her misery. >> they did a cat scan and told us that evening there was a tumor there. >> what was that night like. that was the worst night of my life. though the tumor turned out to be non-cancerous it was growing and the surgeons told the thomases kayla would need immediate brain surgery to reduce the pressure in her head. >> do you understand what the doctor said? >> i didn't understand most of

it but some of it. i would have to have surgery and afterward be taken care of, i understand. >> there was a problem. valerie says the university doctors said the scar tissue from the sinus surgery prevented them from removing 5% of the tumor. >> they all said why. each one said a 9-year-old doesn't have polyps that need to be removed. >> in time, more than 350 of mark's former patients would join in lawsuits against him while he was lounge ing the cafes and casinos in europe. almost all accused him of this same thing, 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 surgery as 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 vanished, a federal grand jury indicted him in absentia on 22 counts of healthcare fraud. by now the state of indiana revoked his medical license and sinus clinic sold off to settle outstanding debts and the fbi issued an arrest. his ex-wife, michelle, said it was clear to her little effort was made to actually find him. >> the fbi has a huge list, terrorists on the list. here's a white collar criminal hiding out in europe. they made it clear to me he wasn't their number one priority. >> am coming up, first class fugitive. >> he arrived how? >> with a driver, we were told.

>> he was traveling first class? >> very first class. >> when "dateline" continues. e"s

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though the fbi posted its arrest warrant with interpol, an international police organization, mark 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 and more than that, punished, my job to do that. >> for ken allen, the weinberger case felt personal. this was his backyard. although he may not look like a working class hero in his tailored suits, he says his father was a steelworker like many of his former patients. allen worked there as a teenager. that's him behind the welding masks. >> a lot of my colleagues as lawyers think they morph into

something different once they get a law degree. i know who i am and where i came from. i don't forget that. >> hard to prove, ken allen believes his lawsuit on behalf of phyllis are what caused mark to flee. >> mark realized at that juncture that his gig was up. he knew, having killed someone, nat it was not something he could easily sweep under the rug. >> with prosecutorial zeal, this personal injury attorney hired private investigators to chase down sightings. in china, israel, in france. >> it was almost like sightings of elvis because we would get tips or leads we would follow up on to a blind alley. >> but it was in this remote corner of italy not far from the

swiss border our story talks its most intriguing turn. two years after mark slipped off that yacht in the greek islands, a mysterious american rolled into an alpine village, making a lasting impression with his money. >> courmayer is 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 for mountain climbing in warmer months. all of it providing the perfect cover for anyone who wants to live well without standing out. call it st. maritz without the glitz? >> do you forget how spectacular

this is when you live here? >> you can't because it's very spectacular. this colonel heads the italian state police. >> you know everyone? >> no. everyone knows me. >> according to the colonel, it was in 2006 beginning of another ski season a certain high rolling stranger arrived. >> he arrived how? >> in a large limousine with a driver, we were told. >> first class? >> very first class. >> local people said the stranger appeared to be an american. he kept to himself. >> he was described as a very quiet man. didn't cause any trouble? >> no. >> sometimes he disappeared for months at a time. later, the police figured the stranger may have had business to transact on the other side of the mountains in switzerland.

>> he went a couple times to switzerland. >> switzerland. >> also by bike. >> do you think he had bank accounts there? >> yes. coming up, a fugitive comes in from the cold. >> i would live here. >> when "dateline" continues. ers

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>> monica says mark stern told her he was a stockbroker from new york who had made a lot of money but now only wanted to live a peaceful life. >> and he told me, my life was really, really, really stressed, and now -- and here i enjoy here and so i've found finally quiet.

and that was impressive for me because i'm quiet. >> according to monica, her mark stern was a born romantic, who knew how to sweep a girl off her feet. >> so valentine's day 2009, he arrived with this rose with a big smile, was an amazing night. so there happened private things. >> love. >> yeah. yeah. first time with him and after i was always -- it was always good. >> monica says even in their moments of intimacy the man she knew as mark stern clammed up whenever she asked for details about his past. >> what he told me was, don't ask me my past, please. >> don't ask. >> exactly. >> still, monica says the relationship became serious

enough that she introduced him to her parents, who were quite taken by this sophisticated american. >> with my parents, talked about economy, talked about experience on the mountain, philosophy. >> philosophy. >> philosophy, yeah. >> philosophy, a tantalizing clue perhaps but only for someone familiar with the life story of a certain free-spending, philosophy-loving fugitive doctor from america. philosophy, after all, had always been a pet passion of mark weinberger's. but that tidbit meant nothing to monica. she had never even heard of mark weinberger. all she knew was that this man, this mark stern, loved her. >> from the first day he was a really good man with me. with me, my family, with my friends, was a good man. for me was a good man.

>> in the spring of 2009, monica says she and mark took a grueling bike trip through alpine passes to switzerland. monica says it was in a swiss village that mark told her he wanted to spend one night on the mountain alone. >> the next morning i bring my cycle and up the mountain to him. he come close to me with a big smile, screaming thank you, monica, thank you, monica, thank you, monica. why, mark? because i passed the best night of my life. >> after returning to courmayeur, monica says mark stern told her he had been inspired by that night on the mountain and wanted to spend a whole year at a high altitude in a tent alone. >> he wanted to write a book, how to survive above -- >> 6,000 feet. >> exactly. for an entire year. >> that september monica says

mark set up and equipped three separate campsites in the mountains above courmayeur. >> really beautiful. really beautiful. >> she says he told her that after publishing that book he was writing they would move to switzerland together and perhaps adopt children. >> this is my little city i started building. >> and so, as the temperatures dropped in the fall of 2009 and the snow came, the man monica knew as mark stern set to make a name for himself in the alps. to her, it seemed crazy. but writer buzz bissinger says monica's mark stern was actually behaving true to form. >> i think when he decided, i'm living this philosophical, aesthetic monk-like life, i have to do it big live type. i'm going to go to the mountain and live up to my butt in snow, in 15-degree-below weather and prove my manhood, unlike anyone else has ever proved it. it makes perfect sense to me

because that's exactly what a narcissist does. >> so this is my camp. >> monica recorded this video of her boyfriend's mountain campsite on her cell phone. >> so the city is growing a little. >> though his tastes for having the very best gear money could buy is evident, the new and improved alpine mark demonstrates he has learned the value of improvisation. >> these are $8 gardening gloves, and i got sick of getting my hands wet with my expensive 100 euro high-tech gore-tex gloves. >> in this clip, mark and monica have found an unoccupied shelter on the mountain. it's not as posh as that chicago townhouse he once owned, but after months of living alone in a tent, this shelter seems to suit him. >> if i owned this place, i would live here. i would live here. >> why not? >> for sure. >> these were the happy times,

the moments when past burdens seemed to melt away like spring snow. but monica says there were also days when her lover seemed to be cracking under the weight of something unseen. and yet undeniable. >> november 2009, he was a little depressed because was cold and at the time he was alone. and so was difficult, really difficult. one day he began to cry. what's up, mark? what's up? i'm tired, really tired. why, mark? forget, but i'm tired. >> was mark stern just tired of living in a tent or tired of living a lie? whichever it was, as he settled in for another cold and lonely night on the mountain, he had no idea of how close his past was to catching up to him. but how close were police to

catching up to him? >> it's the alps. there are a lot of places to hide. for years after her husband abandoned her in the greek jardiance asked- and now you know. jardiance is the first type 2 diabetes pill proven to both reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease... ...and lower a1c, with diet and exercise. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. this may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away

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for years after her husband abandoned her in the greek isles, michelle kramer fought back every way she could. she tried tracking him down herself, following leads to paris and cannes. she enlisted the public's help. >> it was peeling the scars from my heart.

>> once the story grew cold, michelle resigned herself to the probability mark weinberger was gone forever. >> i had hoped that he would be caught, but i thought there was a really good chance that he would die on the run in europe and nobody would know where he was. >> then in december 2008, four years after mark weinberger left her with just a passport and 1,000 euros, michelle kramer got a call from the fbi and asked her to do an interview with "america's most wanted." >> the fbi hoped i would help them. i had stopped doing a lot of media at that point. i was focusing on my career and trying to move forward. but i thought, okay, i'll help with the investigation. i felt like i really needed an answer from him. >> it was a long shot, michelle thought, another pointless appeal broadcast into the ether. >> he's probably living the high life again somewhere in the

mediterranean. >> this time was different. this time the mark weinberger story found extended shelf life on the internet where more than a year later on december 9, 2009, the right pair of eyes finally found it. >> so i receive a strange call to my phone, was a friend. he told me, monica, mark is not what he claim to be. what do you mean? trust me. >> the next day, that friend met with monica and showed her a picture of the man she knew as mark stern. it was a printout taken from the "america's most wanted" web site. >> my entire world fall. my knees crack. what's up? it's not true. and my -- >> you didn't believe it. >> yeah. i don't believe it.

>> a quick internet search confirmed the dimensions of a lie that left her dazzled and undone. her lover, mark stern, was actually mark weinberger, an international fugitive and he was apparently capable of anything. >> first think, okay, i go to the police. i know where he is. i'm sorry, mark, but -- >> you need to tell the truth. >> exactly. >> i think it was a very torturous decision, but i think at the end of the day she felt she had an obligation. i give her a tremendous amount of credit. she did the right thing. >> it was inside this police station that monica spaconi told police her lover, perhaps her first since becoming a woman, was a wanted man. >> was she crying? >> not exactly. but she was very, very scared. who really was this mark she knew? >> colonel davida says soon after monica left the office, a local rental agent walked in,

also complaining about a man named mark who hadn't paid his rent in three months. most important, the agency had a copy of mark weinberger's real passport. >> he left a copy of his real passport? >> a copy of his real passport, yes. >> and he's a fugitive on the run. >> yes. you can't rent a flat if you don't leave a copy of your document. >> not only did police now know monica's boyfriend and the deadbeat renter were one in the same, thanks to monica, they also knew which of three campsites he was currently using. >> she also told us mark was going to stay there for a week. >> he would be in this location for a week. >> for a week, yes. >> without her doing that, who knows if they ever would have found him? you know, it's the alps. there are a lot of places to hide. >> the next day, police put a helicopter in the air to search the area. though they saw tracks in the snow, near where monica said they would find weinberger's

camp, bad weather forced them to abandon the aerial search. but even then luck seemed to be with the police. hikers just down from the mountain reported seeing something strange. >> the same day people coming down from mountain told us there was strange male leaving a tent. >> finally, on the morning of december 15, 2009, three days after monica had first tipped them off, a team of police officers set out on a cross-country trek to a remote area near the swiss border. >> in the distance, we could see a man walking around a tent. >> did he seem startled to see you? >> yes. >> and what does he say? >> there were not wearing the uniform. they approached, asking him, what are you doing here? he answered, i want to live a quiet life. >> i want to live a quiet life. >> yeah. they asked him, who are you? he answered, my name is mark

weinberger. >> and that was that. after five years on the run and four months on the mountain, the search for mark weinberger was over. no confrontation, no dash for freedom. instead, the fugitive doctor posed for pictures. inside the tent, police found euros worth about $3,000, top-notch equipment, a stockpile of food and medicine. >> cialis, like viagra. and some survival medications. >> under italian law, weinberger could be held for 24 hours while police verified his identity. so mark weinberger was taken back down the mountain to the police barracks in courmayeur. >> he was in very good shape, very kauai e. i asked him, are you married? i'm divorced. what's your job? i'm a surgeon. >> a surgeon. >> did he say anything about the charges against him? >> no. >> while at the police station,

weinberger was given a cursory pat-down and offered lunch. >> he had food with us at our same table. >> was he hungry? >> i think, yes. also because our food is very, very -- how i say -- good. >> according to the officers at the table, weinberger took a desperate turn. >> what can you say about what happened next? >> we better not talk about that, please. coming up -- mark weinberger had not yet given up on escaping his past. >> i don't think they have any idea what's going to happen.

after five years on the run, the capture of mark weinberger in the italian alps was almost anticlie mack tick. no shootouts, car chases or international intrigue. just friendly cops chatting up an amiable american over pictures, pasta and wine. >> it's very italian and

everything seems cool. >> any sense of what was about to happen next? >> none. no. i think they were shocked. he says he has to go to the bathroom, as would be police procedure, they follow him into the bathroom. i don't think they have any idea what's going to happen. >> an italian cop stood in an open doorway as weinberger sat on the toilet. then in a flash, the officer saw weinberger's hand jerked toward his own throat. >> he pulls a knife out that he has concealed and attempts to kill himself. >> though weinberger managed to inflict a superficial cut on his neck, police officers were able to stop him before he did serious damage. >> some say he was trying to attempt suicide so he would get placed in a prison hospital. i don't think he was thinking that far ahead. i think he was trying to kill himself. >> days later, while recovering in a hospital, he tried again, this time by putting a plastic bag over his head. >> he did not want to go back.

there was too much, a trail of devastation. >> within a week, news of mark weinberger's arrest was everywhere. in merrillville, indiana, former patients woke to find their nose doctor on the front page. in alabama, michelle kramer, the wife he had abandoned, was just wrapping up another long day as a psychology intern when she heard the news. >> tears started coming out of my eyes and i didn't know if they were tears of joy or tears of sadness. i couldn't even identify what my emotions were. >> out in california, shawn barnes, a college student, was heading home for the holidays when her aunt called to tell her. >> i got that news, and you have all this time to think going across the country. and it was just like the strangest christmas present i ever could have imagined. >> shawn's mother phyllis barnes, remember, had been a patient of weinberger's and filed the first malpractice suit against him. >> i wasn't sure at first if it was a good or bad thing or what.

>> by february 2010, arrangements for weinberger's extradition had been completed and he was back in the united states and facing a world of legal trouble. first, there was a 22-count criminal insurance fraud indictment charging him with billing surgeries he didn't do and overbilling for those he did do. then hundreds of former patients were suing him for malpractice. >> what he has done to my daughter is horrific. >> remember valerie thomas' daughter kayla? she's the adorable 8-year-old who got sinus surgery from mark weinberger back in 2004 when her real problem was a brain tumor. she's 15 now and still struggling with complications from that surgery. >> he knew what he was doing. he knew that the surgery could cause me problems. >> what kind of a man do you think would skip out on all this trouble? >> a coward. >> while weinberger was chasing adventure in europe -- >> are you happy? >> i'm happy, baby. >> -- kayla is growing up with a benign tumor in her head. kayla's mom says the tumor could not be removed because extensive

scar tissue from the weinberger surgery blocked access to it. >> she's had spinal taps because of the tumor causing intercranial pressure. >> what is your prognosis now, kayla? a lot of things are taken day by day. >> and that's the way you want to take it. >> i guess right now there's no other way to take it. >> on good days, kayla thomas if they had gotten more of the tumor out, maybe my life now could be a little bit better. >> patients and others hoping mark weinberger would be severely punished by the criminal justice system were soon disappointed. eight months after his return to the united states, federal prosecutors offered mike weinberger a plea deal which he accepted. in exchange for agreeing to plead guilty to all of the federal insurance fraud charges, mark weinberger would get four years in prison. >> if he gets four years, a slap

on the wrist in club fed, i guarantee you he will be out somewhere, whether it's in the united states or somewhere else, practicing medicine doing the same kind of thing in some way, shape or form. >> regardless of the punishment he had ultimately received from the criminal justice system, it seemed certain the malpractice suits would keep him tied up in civil courts for years. there are more than 350 medical each with the potential to put mark weinberger in a financial prison from which there is no parole. >> it really is not about the money. it's about getting a large judgment against this man so that he can't feel any freedom for the rest of his life. >> march 2011, 6 1/2 years after he disappeared into the greek night, the first malpractice case against mark weinberger was ready for trial in civil court. coming up -- >> he is a very evil person.

>> nothing is ever as >> the look in the eyes is a look i've never seen from him, that i would have never expected to see on his face. and that -- when you care about somebody and you see that kind of look, it can't help but touch you. >> nothing is ever as cut and try as you believe it is. i need a new book for my son. stories. stories or quotes? time for a rhyme? or not rhyming's fine. no rhymes.

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perhaps it was always there, in his eyes, a calculating gaze that could convince women to love him. >> i love you, baby. >> i love you, baby.

>> persuade patients to trust him. >> i was very impressed with him. >> and make even seasoned cops believe he was harmless. >> he looked happy. >> whatever it was, the eyes that stared out from front pages after mark weinberger's capture, still had the power to move even those he had left behind. >> the look in the eyes is a look i've never seen from him, that i would have never expected to see on his face. and that -- when you care about somebody and you see that kind of look, it can't help but touch you. >> suzette dennington, once mark weinberger's top medical assistant, was one of the few willing to say a kind word about him as his legal problems mounted. >> nothing is ever as cut and try as you believe it is. >> according to dennington, weinberger was a fine doctor simply being attacked by patients and lawyers because of the salacious tabloid aspects of his story had made him an easy target. >> i really don't think that he

set out to scam the world and, you know, be guilty of all the things that they are so easily saying he's guilty of. >> attorney ken allen, however, sees it differently. >> you look into somebody's eyes and you expect some glimmer of humanity, some soul, something. he has nothing. he is a very evil person. >> in preparing to bring the phyllis barnes case to court, ken allen was able to question the runaway doctor in jail. >> i saw a very sinister person, a very sinister person. and a person who is very capable of pretending he has some measure of remorse. but i could see he was not changed or remorseful at all. >> in march 2011, more than six years after her death, the family of phyllis barnes finally got their chance to present

their malpractice case against mark weinberger in a civil trial. weinberger elected not to attend. ken allen's case hinged on convincing the jury weinberger could have caught phyllis' cancer had he given her a thorough examination. allen told the jurors that phyllis barnes, a two-pack-a-day smoker had gone to see weinberger complaining of trouble bleeding, coughing and hoarseness. she was coughing up blood. despite all of that, allen said weinberger violated standard of care by focusing exclusively on her sinuses. >> he was an ent doctor. mark weinberger simply forgot about the "e" and "t" and focused on the "n." you can't do that. if you're an ent doctor, you're required to examine a patient's throat. that was one of the reasons why phyllis came to see him. weinberger didn't even bother to look at her throat.

>> as if calling his next witness from the grave, ken allen played a recording of phyllis barnes on a large tv monitor. >> he told me that he only took whatever the insurance was willing to pay, and i felt like that was -- everything seemed to this was all good, that it was just sinuses and no problem. so he did order a cat scan of the sinuses and scheduled surgery. >> this, ken allen told the jury, is the cat scan dr. weinberger did of phyllis barnes' sinuses. according to experts who testified at trial, the scan showed phyllis' sinuses were actually clear. >> weinberger -- and i hesitate to call him a doctor -- treated phyllis barnes as nothing more than an insurance paycheck. >> according to the ear nose and throat doctor who discovered phyllis' throat cancer two months later, the sinus surgery was not only unnecessary, it

probably caused her cancer to grow more rapidly than it might have otherwise. ken allen told the jury the reason mark weinberger recommended sinus surgery for phyllis barnes was greed. mark weinberger needed money to support his lavish lifestyle, allen told the court, and sinus surgery is what paid the bills. >> will you please tell us your name and spell your last name for the court reporter. >> michelle kramer. >> allen put weinberger's ex-wife michelle on the big screen to talk about their high life. >> we had a yacht that was in the mediterranean half the year and in the balm bahamas the other half of the year. >> in prerecorded testimony, michelle told the court that the phyllis barnes case weighed heavily on her husband's mind the week before he abandoned her. >> he was constantly fretting and worrying about the lawsuit, becoming increasingly paranoid and anxious.

>> shawn barnes, phyllis' daughter, also told the court of the devastating effect her mother's death had on her life. her father had died of brain cancer 18 months earlier. >> i basically had to grow up overnight. suddenly had bills to pay, was in danger of losing my house and i had to go to school. i was going to work part time. i didn't have the opportunity to go out and be a college student or be a teenager because i had all of these responsibilities suddenly. >> ken allen wrapped up his case by playing the testimony he recorded of mark weinberger in jail. we can't show you the tape because the judge in the case ruled that broadcasting it would prejudice future juries. however, we can tell you that mark weinberger answered the question the same way more than 150 times, on the advice of counsel, i'm asserting my fifth amendment privilege not to answer the question. after that it deposition was

played for the court, weinberger's attorney began his defense by admitting mark weinberger is probably not a likeable guy. but that he told the jury is beside the point. this case, he says, is about one thing and one thing only. dr. weinberger's treatment of phyllis barnes. james ho was the attorney hired by weinberger's malpractice insurer to defend him. ho did not respond to a request for an interview. however, in court he told the jury phyllis barnes needed sinus surgery. not only was she a candidate but after that surgery she never again complained about her sinuses. "vanity fair" writer buzz bissinger says that defense fits in perfectly with what he's learned about mark weinberger. i believe he thinks all of the surgery he did was necessary. >> weinberger's lawyer had witnesses that said phyllis

barnes' cancer was probably not even detectible when she first visited dr. weinberger. in fact, other professionals such as the emergency room doctors who had seen phyllis barnes at the same time had failed to detect her throat cancer. >> i would ask people just to look at it for more than just one side. >> interestingly, suzette dennington, perhaps mark weinberger's most passionate defender, was not called to testify. >> he advertised just as a sinus specialist. patients called him knowing or suspecting they had sinus problems. why is it unusual that he confirms that, yes, indeed you have that condition and why would he not offer them a surgical solution to their conditions? >> weinberger's attorney closed his case by reminding the jury the case before them only concerned dr. weinberger's treatment of one patient, not that doctor's wealth or reputation or the fact that he had fled the country. with that, the jury began

deliberating on how much, if any, money should be paid by mark weinberger and his insurance company to the family of phyllis barnes. there was one more twist still to come, and it could end up costing mark weinberger so much more than money. >> weinberger believes he's the smartest man in the room, and today he discovered he's not.

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the skies turned blue over northwest indiana the day the case went toed jury. 25-year-old shawn barnes could feel a burden lifting. >> it's been hanging over my head for at this point almost ten years. >> in the what-if world of her imagination, shawn barnes sees her friends she still would have a parent to turn to if she got into a jam. >> i try not to think about it because i feel like the more i think of the what ifs, the more i just hurt myself in the long run. but in a lot of ways i feel like, if i didn't have to live my life completely on my own, maybe i could get somewhere. >> shawn was still a teenager when her mother's death made her an orphan. her inheritance consisted of a small life insurance payout and a pile of debt, including a mortgage on the old house she grew up in. >> i learned every type of insurance you had to have in

about a day and a half and how to pay all of these bills and i cut off my cable and i got a different phone and just how to cut down all of these costs. and it was things that no one else my age ever had to think of. >> she did get help once mark weinberger fled the country and the local press began writing about the people he left behind. with donation, loans, scholarships and part-time jobs, shawn put herself through college. in 2008, she graduated with honors. shawn says even though financial hardships have forced her to put her career hopes on hold, her life has one silver lining. >> i had 17 years with my dad, 19 years with my mom. and even the bad parts were still better than some of the lives i see other people living who have parents. i wish i had both of them still. i wish i had opportunities that other people i see my age having. but i'm glad that it was really good when it was.

>> it was after dark by the time the jury of four men and four women reached their unanimous decision. dr. mark weinberger had committed malpractice in the case of phyllis barnes. >> we're pleased that the jury has held mark weinberger accountable for his misdeeds. >> the jury determined that phyllis' estate should be awarded a total of $13 million in compensatory and punitive damages. >> having this verdict at least puts her to rest in the most positive way, knowing that, you know, in her passing she's bringing this man to justice. >> just how much money shawn barnes will actually see is an open question. indiana caps malpractice awards at $1.25 million. and though mark weinberger's insurance company is on the hook for $250,000, weinberger says he's broke. still, the verdict is a significant first step in ken allen's pledge to bury mark weinberger under a mountain of debt. >> if you had him in front of him, what would you tell him? >> this is your just desserts,

you son of a . >> ken allen is a shark. when he gets a case, he is a dog with a bone. suzette dennington, his wife michelle and, yes, monica spaconi, the woman who turned him in. >> imagine, she's turning in the man she loves, maybe the only person she's ever really truly felt comfortable with and loved in her life. >> how deep is the scar for you? >> it's deep. it's deep. deep. >> but monica says she still cares deeply for the man she knew as mark stern and the feeling is evidently mutual. >> i receive a letter from a collection. >> what did it say?

>> i love you. don't forget me or don't forget the mountain. so he search to be real with me. he was i think real with me. >> it's noteworthy that shortly after weinberger's capture in italy, his italian girlfriend began corresponding with his american ex via facebook. >> i was picturing a thin blonde girl who was maybe about 20, 25. i was 25 when i met him. that's what i had picture. >> monica is about the opposite of you. >> yes. we shared one thing in common. he lied to her and he lied to me. and i did everything i could to get him turned in, and she actually is the person that turned him in. so we had a lot in common. >> it took a few years, but michelle kramer has moved on in her life.

remember how she felt about the lawyers who began zeroing in on her ex-husband just before he fled? >> i think it's a bit opportunistic but that's the state of our legal system in this country. >> she's changed her mind about that. >> i thought the lawyers were targeting him and he was just too cowardly to stand up and that's why he left. but i didn't think he actually did any of these things. >> but now you do. >> i do. >> you think the lawyers had a right to go after him. >> oh, yeah. i'm very glad that they did. >> whether he hopes to return to monica in the alps one day or write a book about his time there, mark weinberger will apparently have plenty of time to plan his next step. >> last month, a federal courthouse rejected the plea deal weinberger agreed to with prosecutors saying 4 1/2 years was not nearly enough given the scope of the crime. after the judge rejected the deal, mark weinberger withdrew his guilty plea. he now faces the possibility of a criminal trial and a much longer prison term if he's convicted on all 22 counts of health care fraud.

>> it feels so good to know that he's not going to get out anytime in the foreseeable future. i think everybody can rest easier knowing that. and i think my sister would be pleased with the decision. >> weinberger believes that he's the smartest man in the room, and today he discovered he's not. i think this will end for him in jail, and that's our hope. >> as a student of philosophy, mark weinberger is no doubt familiar with the ancient greek philosopher who wrote, a man's character is his fate. >> he was very grandiose, he whereas very entitled. he was haughty at times. >> for michelle kramer whose life changed in the blink of a greek sunset and many former patients and their families, the imprisonment and public shaming of dr. nose feels like a fate well deserved.

♪ welcome to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. tonight if you thought 2018 was wild, just wait until 2019. we'll look back at a crazy year in politics and preview what next year has in store. plus, i'll talk to a republican congressman who won't be back next year.