. >> reporter: meghan verikas is a pittsburgh girl born and raised. steeler games, tight-knit friends, a solid family. >> i grew up with my parents who've been married for 35 years. >> reporter: meghan's own love life wasn't so simple. she got married in her 20s. but she and her husband drifted apart. so she threw herself into her work, managing a busy hotel downtown. >> it's a fun job. you meet a lotta different people. >> reporter: one of those people was a local doctor, who checked in during the winter of 2014. his name was leon jacob. what's your first impression? >> he was arrogant. "oh, i'm a doctor. give me whatever suite you have." >> reporter: what did you make of that? did you think to yourself, i don't want anything to do with this guy? >> exactly. exactly. but he wears on you. >> reporter: leon came from a well-to-do family and attended an elite boarding school. now, he told her, he was a transplant surgeon. >> i think that anybody is enamored by somebody who can save lives. >> reporter: like meghan, leon was unlucky in love. he told her he

meghan verikas had a protective order against him.o, for the first time in weeks, she should have felt safe. but that evening, her phone rang. it was a police officer. >> and he basically said that there was a credible threat to my life. >> reporter: police came to meet meghan the next morning. her friend, aerial, remembered meghan was so afraid she wore a disguise. >> you know she's putting this wig on, putting a hat on, jeans, tennis shoes, t-shirt, so that, you know, she could try to be as inconspicuous as possible. >> reporter: meghan and aerial checked the officer's i.d.s once by one. then investigators shared the tip they got from the bail bondsman, michael kubosh. >> they think that my ex-boyfriend may have hired somebody to have me hurt. and that i need to be surrounded by people 24 hours a day and not be left alone. >> reporter: normally i would say that must have been shocking. were you all that surprised that -- >> i wasn't. >> reporter: the police suggested meghan go back to pittsburgh for a while. so she bought a ticket a