Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Con Man Who "Married" His Daughter - The Albert Walker Story

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Albert Johnson Walker was a Canadian financial adviser who stole over $3 million CAD from clients in the late 1980s, then fled Canada in 1990 with his teenage daughter Sheena to avoid prosecution. While living in England under false names, he manipulated and ultimately stole the identity of a British man named Ronald Platt, even convincing Platt to move to Canada, which left the identity available. When the real Platt returned to England in 1996 and threatened to expose him, Walker murdered him in Devon, weighted the body with an anchor, and dumped it at sea.

This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone base consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu, and Hulu on Disney Plus. So this weirdo gets caught pretending that his daughter is his wife? What? So the guy's name is Albert, and Albert's around 42 when this story starts, and he's living in Ontario, Canada. And Albert is very much a shady guy.

Like he owns a financial services company where he helps people invest their money. But here's a problem with that, though. It's all a scam. Albert is actually just a con man running a Ponzi scheme. But whatever, he's making good money from this scam, and of course he's using all this money to flex his lifestyle, like he's going on expensive vacations and buying nice cars and all that. But one day, in 1987, all that changes. Because suddenly, kaboom, the stock market crashes.

And Albert's investors start freaking out, and they hit him up wanting to withdraw their investments. And pretty quickly, he runs out of money to pay everyone back, because, you know, it's a big Ponzi scheme. and all his clients get impatient and pissed off, and Albert realizes it's only a matter of time before the whole scheme collapses. And if that isn't bad enough, he's also going through a really ugly divorce. So Albert's life sucks right now, and he's caught between pissed off investors and an awful personal life. So what does he decide to do?

He decides to just flee the country, and he's going to take at least one of his kids with him. even if it means he'll have to abduct them. So in 1990, he takes what's left of the investor's money, and he gets his 15-year-old daughter, this girl, Sheena, and he flees the country. And the two of them travel from Canada all the way over to London, England. So through this Ponzi scheme, he had defrauded his clients out of $3.2 million. So there's no telling how much of that he fled with.

But anyway, eventually, Albert's ex-wife realizes that he's fled the country with one of their daughters, and she alerts the police. So now police are looking for him, and they ultimately put Albert on Interpol's most wanted list. Meanwhile, Albert and Sheena get to London, and they don't stay there too long. They move to Paris and then to Geneva, because they're trying to leave a false trail for the police. And after bouncing around for a while, in 1991, Albert finally settles in Herrigate, in England, which is like a quiet, low-key town, the kind of place where, someone could easily slip under the radar. And so there, he and Sheena chill and they try and blend in.

By this point, Albert, he's changed his name and they're pretending that his 15-year-old daughter, Sheena, is actually his wife. Because he thinks it would look suspicious, traveling around with a 15-year-old girl. So he tells everyone that this is his wife, and Sheena goes along with it. But I guess it works. People think Albert is a normal guy, and, you know, he gets a job. and he and Sheena even start going to church every Sunday, and no one around them suspects a thing. Here's the thing, though, although everything is going fine so far, Albert knows that he can't just rely on a fake name forever,

because all it takes is one background check, and he'll be exposed as a fugitive. So he decides that he needs a real identity, one for himself and one for his daughter, Sheena. But how do you pull that off when you're a wanted man? Well, that is when he comes up with an insane idea. What if he finds a local couple, convinces them to leave the country, and then takes their identities for himself and his daughter?

Sounds like a perfect plan. But here's where the story gets really wild. One day in 1992, Albert walks into a fine art auctioneer shop looking for some paintings, and there he meets this woman, Elaine. And so he starts chatting with Elaine, and he finds out. out that she just happens to be dating a guy a bit older than her. This guy, Ronald. And so she's 31, while Ronald is 49. And also, Albert learns that Elaine and Ronald have been dreaming about moving away to Canada one day. But unfortunately, times are tough, and they don't have the money to make that

happen. So Albert hears this, and he starts thinking, I'm about to con these people and take their identity. So he gets to work on this con, and he offers Elaine a gig where he asks her to take pictures of the fountains in Geneva for some coffee table book that he's involved in. He also tells her to scout real estate in France for his real estate portfolio, and he actually pays her well. Then he hires both Elaine and Ronald as directors in his company, because I guess he started some bullshit company in England, but this conveniently gives him access to their signatures. Now, despite their big dreams, Elaine and Ronald don't really seem to be preparing to move to Canada. I don't know why they're dragging their feet on this, but I guess they either don't have enough money to travel, or maybe they just haven't made up their minds yet. Regardless, Albert doesn't like this.

This is messing up his plans, and he starts growing impatient. And after more time passes, and they still haven't moved yet, Albert decides that he is done waiting. So, as a Christmas present, he goes. gifts them a one-way flight ticket to Canada. And he's like, here, I hope this will help you start your dream life. And this seems to work. Ronald and Elaine pack their bags and they move to Canada.

So finally, Albert has what he wants. They are out of the picture, and he completely takes over Ronald's identity and starts living as him. And I guess Sheena starts living as Elaine. And six months go by. And the plan seems to be going smoothly so far. No one suspects a thing. But then something crazy happens. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Elaine returns from Canada.

Apparently things didn't work out with her and Ronald, and also she wasn't able to find a job there. And Albert, who's now living as Ronald, finds out that she's back and he starts freaking the hell out. Because if she finds out that he's Ronald, then he's going to get busted. So he goes to her, and he starts trying to convince her to go away. back to Canada. He even offers her money to do so. But Elaine, she doesn't go for it. She's completely done with Canada. And so Albert knows that this is a big problem for him. So in 1994, he quietly moves away from Harrigan, first to Devon, then to Essex, so that she won't uncover his new identity. And if things couldn't get bad enough for him, then Ronald, the real Ronald, also moves back

from Canada. So at this point, Albert knows that it's only a matter of time before he's exposed, and he decides that the only thing he can do is murder Ronald. So one day he hits him up, and he invites him to go out with him on a boat trip, and Ronald's like, sure. So they go. And once they're out, all alone on the water, Albert grabs an anchor and suddenly, pow, he hits him on the head with it, knocking him unconscious. Then he throws him, overboard and unfortunately Ronald eventually drowns. Then Albert leaves and he goes on to live his life now as Ronald. And still no one suspects anything. So it looks like he's going to get away with all this. Until.

Weeks pass and a local fisherman discovers Ronald's body floating in the water and he radios the Coast Guard. And eventually the police get involved and they start in investigating. And when they examine Ronald's body, they find a Rolex watch on his wrist. And here's the thing about Rolex watches. The company actually keeps track of every servicing record, including serial numbers and owners. So police trace the watch back to its owner. And that is how they confirm that this body belongs to Ronald. And when they look into who Ronald is, they find that another man has been using his identity. That man is, that man is Albert. And so, bam, they arrest him. Here's a picture of him in real life. And so ultimately,

he goes to trial and he's found guilty and he gets sentenced to life in prison.