SERIALously - 288: Online Dating Scam Ends With Two Bodies Floating in the River | The Case of Laura Kowal

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey guys, I am so excited because we are finally going back out on tour and this is going to be our biggest tour yet. We are hitting a lot of cities coming to a city near you and this tour is going to be unlike the last tour and unlike any episode or case that we have ever presented. It's going to be an all new exclusive case, an entirely new approach, interactive with you guys guys and it is just gonna be so great I am so excited to connect with all of you guys I am very eager for you to hear this case and it's just going to be an unforgettable night so tickets are on sale now but grab yours now before they're gone you can get all of the information at AnnieElease.com I will also link it in the show notes and I'm really excited to see you there so head head to AnnaElease.com, grab your tickets and I'll be seeing you soon.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Three years after Kelly Gow's father died from cancer, her mother, 57-year-old Laura Kowal, decided she was ready to start dating again. I feel just laying on the couch when I got here. Like three in 10 adults have done, turn to online dating. My mom felt the emotions of feeling loved and having companionship just through email. She matched with someone who called himself Frank Horton. She had all these buckets full in her life. There was this one bucket that was missing of having a relationship. A search for a missing woman. Laura Cowell was last seen on Friday. Kelly Gow is a daughter searching for answers.

Starting point is 00:01:37 Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. Hope you guys are all having a good start to your week. I hope you're also ready for some twists and turns because this case kind of has a little bit of everything. It has scamming, catfishing, online dating, betrayal, what else? I mean, murder, a little bit of everything. And it kind of highlights this crime that's been on the rise, I feel like, in the last

Starting point is 00:02:29 ten years. And that's online scamming, right? People are either catfishing to scam people out of money, to lure them in so they can murder them. They are using online dating and online platforms almost as their personal playground to do some really disgusting and evil crap. And some people not say that like scamming should be taken lightly, but like some people are only after money and like getting a quick buck. But as we know in a lot of these cases that we talk about, other people truly do use this platform as a way to identify their target, identify their prey, and then

Starting point is 00:03:06 inflict all sorts of weird, twisted, perverse things. So we are going to be talking about one of those cases today, and I'm really curious to know what your thoughts are along the way. I'm calling in regards to your mother, who may have been involved in a fraud scam. I'm not someone who decides, after all I've accomplished in my life, now I'm gonna become a criminal mastermind. We need you guys to prepare yourselves

Starting point is 00:03:36 for what we're going to tell you. In August of 2020, a woman named Kelly Kowal saw that she had a missed call from an unknown number. The person had left her a voicemail, when she listened to it she heard that the caller was a federal agent. They were actually working as a US Postal Inspector. According to this caller, somebody close to her was involved in some sort of scheme. So this inspector was now trying to reach that person and their hope was that Kelly would be able to help them do that. Almost like, hey we can't get a

Starting point is 00:04:03 hold of this person. We were able to identify that you are either a friend, a relative, can you put us in touch? Something like that. Now, Kelly was obviously shocked. I mean, it's not every day that the feds are blowing up your phone, right? But the other shocking thing was just who the caller was looking for.

Starting point is 00:04:19 Because it was somebody who Kelly was super close with. Somebody who she never would have pegged as some sort of potential criminal, someone who would certainly never commit fraud, because as it turns out, the agents were looking for 57-year-old Laura Cole, Kelly's own mother. I'm calling in regards to your mother

Starting point is 00:04:39 who may have been involved in a fraud scam. So like any daughter would do, Kelly called her mom, Laura, immediately saying, these feds are looking for you, what's going on? But her mom was just like, don't panic, don't panic, it's nothing, I'll take care of it, I'll handle it. Except something about that call, something in her mother's voice

Starting point is 00:04:57 that didn't quite sit right with Kelly. Something was clearly off with Laura. So Kelly hopped in her car and she drove to her mom's house. However, by the time Kelly arrived, there was no sign of her mom anywhere. It was like she had completely vanished and nobody had any idea where she could have gone. Was she on the run? Was she hiding from whatever or whoever? I mean was she running from the feds? Was she hiding from other people that were involved? I mean who knew what was going on at this point, right? Or worse, if she was mixed up in something dangerous,

Starting point is 00:05:27 had the people that she was involved with gotten to her first? Now, before I move on to this next part, I think I do need to explain a little bit about who Laura is, because her daughter Kelly, of course, thought, there's no way she's a scammer. There's no way she would be involved in anything like this.

Starting point is 00:05:42 Yet the police definitely felt otherwise. So we need to kind of dig into her background a little bit and then you can decide for yourselves which version of the story sounds more likely. Laura was a retired healthcare executive from Illinois, and from the looks of things, she lived a pretty normal midwestern life in Chicago. She and her husband had one daughter, Kelly, who, remember, she was very, very close with. And in fact, when her husband passed away from cancer in 2015, Kelly was the person who was there for her mom the most. Laura leaned on her and really needed her support.

Starting point is 00:06:14 Now, Laura's husband had been sick for three years, and his prognosis was never good. So it's not like his death was sudden or unexpected, but still Laura had spent the entire time being optimistic, hoping for the best. Turns out that maybe she was too optimistic, because when he did finally pass, it felt like a horrible blow to Laura. She just was knocked off her feet and not prepared for this. And aside from that, she was just kind of lost. She had been with him for decades.

Starting point is 00:06:40 They had built a life together, raised a family together. They had looked forward to retiring together. So after taking some time to grieve, Laura decided that she needed a change. She needed something new, something exciting, something that she could look forward to so that she could get past her grief. And she had always been a pretty social person. Kelly even sometimes jokingly called her the mayor because it was the way that she was always getting involved in community events, in with the social crowds, bringing people together. So in Laura's mind, it kind of made sense to now move to a new

Starting point is 00:07:09 town to meet brand new people, to just be have a fresh start where she wasn't constantly reminded of the things that she had lost. So she packed up her life in Chicago and she moved to Galena, Illinois, a city that was about three hours west, pretty close to the border of Iowa and the Mississippi River too. Now it had a completely different vibe from the big city of Chicago. Galena was this gorgeous small town that almost feels like it's frozen in time. I mean, it's full of old historic buildings, these green beautiful parks, and if you go there you could almost feel like you've gone back to a point in the past when life was

Starting point is 00:07:44 just slower, simpler, easier. And I know there's never actually a time when everything was good and all that simple, but you know what? That was kind of the vibe that Laura was looking for. She just wanted to slow down. She wanted something peaceful. And she thought that Galena was what she needed. But it turns out it wasn't enough.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Laura still wanted something more. She was still lonely. And while she had all of these great things going for her in her life, what she felt like she was missing was a real connection. She was ready to get back into the world of dating, a world that she had really been out of for decades at this point, right? She and her first husband had gotten together so many years earlier, so getting back into the dating scene, it was brand new. But according to her daughter Kelly, Laura was ready. She wanted to get back out there. But she also wanted to go about things as safely as possible because she knew that there are always risks when you decide you're going to try and open your heart to somebody new. Now with online dating being at like the peak pinnacle of this time, she decided in 2018 that she was going to sign up for Match.com. And she was actually a little bit nervous

Starting point is 00:08:45 about doing things the old fashioned way, like going out, meeting a stranger for drinks in a bar, something like that. It felt safer to her to meet people online. Like she could get to know somebody from the comfort of her own home before deciding if she wanted to meet up with them in real life.

Starting point is 00:08:59 And maybe she figured, you know, if she ever connected with a real weirdo out there, it would be easier to block them than it would be to get away from them in real life. But in any event, she started, you know, if she ever connected with a real weirdo out there, it would be easier to block them than it would be to get away from them in real life. But in any event, she started, you know, perusing on Match.com. And it didn't take long for Laura to get a match. She matched with a man named Frank Borg, and he was a very good looking, he was around the same age as her, and by all accounts, he seemed to be super successful.

Starting point is 00:09:22 And here's how her daughter Kelly described it. She was almost giddy about him. His name was Frank and he was from the Iowa City area, which was a connection to my mom. My mom grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa and had strong roots through the state of Iowa, so she really liked that. but he actually was originally from Sweden so there was dual citizenship there. He was widowed just like her. He had one daughter similar to her, was around the same age and he had a really successful career in the investment industry, financial industry, and he was in the process of slowly trying to retire is what she had shared with me so he was in the process of slowly trying to retire is what she had shared with me so he was still working and traveling across the globe but with the

Starting point is 00:10:10 hopes to take a step back and kind of transition into a consulting type role in his career so that's what she had shared with me about him and that he now too was located in the Chicago area as his US based location whenever he wasn't traveling internationally. So this match seemed great. She met someone that she had a lot in common with. They both grew up in Iowa, which was great. They both had lost a spouse, both had one child.

Starting point is 00:10:39 I mean, it seemed as though the stars were aligning. Now Frank also had the dual citizenship, right, between America and Sweden, and he also had this really successful financial career that made him travel all the time, just all over the world. Now because of that, it made it difficult to find a time to meet up with Laura in person. He was always traveling. It was difficult to nail a time and a place down, which, if you think that maybe, okay, well, because they had just met, he's always on the road, it's long distance, they're never meeting in person, they're probably not hitting it off, it would be difficult to sustain any relationship like that, no less a brand new one. Well, it was actually the complete opposite. It actually only took them 12 days from meeting online for

Starting point is 00:11:19 that very first time exchanging hellos to now full on telling each other that they loved each other. 12 days. Which is pretty fast, right? I mean, I wish I knew who said it first, if it was Frank or Laura, but they were now in love less than two weeks after meeting. And maybe it was just one of those things where when you know, you know, and they had both suffered loss before, they didn't want to waste any more time, and maybe they just, you know, whatever, fell in love.

Starting point is 00:11:44 Now according to his profile, Frank was a European businessman who was also living abroad at the time. He ran a company called Goose Investments, which specialized in helping regular people invest money and manage their portfolios. And I say regular people, but like, you know, your lay people, people who don't have like oodles and oodles of money. So by all accounts, Frank seemed like quite the catch. And he wasn't just hiding behind a computer screen either. I mean, Frank and Laura's relationship may have started with emails and messages, but before long they were calling each other every day and every night. They also messaged each other all the time. And Frank always knew just what to say to cheer Laura up. He knew when he should send her little love messages, little love notes. He always knew how to play it, like what would make her happy. And the most important thing

Starting point is 00:12:29 was Laura seemed happy, happier than she had been in years in fact. She had been alone ever since her husband's death, which was now at this point three years earlier. So now things were looking up, all thanks to Frank. So Laura and Frank dated from 2018 to 2020. So two years, which is a pretty substantial relationship, right? And during those two years, she would tell her daughter Kelly how she was going on these little romantic weekend getaways with him, little trips here and there. But despite all of that, Kelly never met Frank. Not once. And during all of their little weekend getaways too, or travel, whatever it was that it entailed, Frank never made his way to Galena, where they lived. He never got to know Kelly and never really made an effort to.

Starting point is 00:13:12 And there seems to be a little bit of weirdness going on there, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, no real red flags, but you would think that after two years he'd probably meet your daughter at some point, or there would be some sort of, you know, time in which your paths would cross, but there wasn't anything. In fact, there were no real red flags until 2020 when Kelly got that really weird call from the feds about her mom being involved in some type of fraud. And then remember, she rushed over to her mom's house and she could not find her anywhere. So right away, as soon as she realized that Laura wasn't home, she started getting worried. It wasn't like her to just take off without a word, especially when they had just been on the phone a little while earlier.

Starting point is 00:13:49 If Laura had plans that day, she definitely would have said something about it. She would have been like, you know, there's nothing to worry about, don't panic, I'm going out for a little bit, I'll be back, it'll all be sorted out. But that never happened. Or at least, Kelly was never made aware of that information. But see, Laura did have plans that day. She had plans to meet a neighbor for lunch. However, about 10 minutes before they

Starting point is 00:14:10 were supposed to meet up, Laura texted this neighbor saying, you know, something's come up. I'm not free anymore. I've got to cancel. Of course, though, Kelly, like I said, didn't know any of that. She just knew that her mom was now gone without a word. And maybe any other day, Kelly would have just shrugged it off.

Starting point is 00:14:24 She might have just figured, okay, my mom ran out for a quick errand or maybe she's out for a walk around the block, who really knows? But with that weird voicemail, just something was pulling at her gut. Something wasn't right. And as it turns out,

Starting point is 00:14:36 Kelly was a little bit of a sleuth in her own right. She was really good at digging into things and investigating. She also knew how to log on to her mom's laptop. So she grabbed it and went to town. And how to log on to her mom's laptop, so she grabbed it and went to town. And then she got access to her email, which I gotta say, props to Kelly, because that was exactly the right place for her to be looking. Because as she was going through her mom's account, she found a lot of receipts. And I am talking a lot of receipts. These weren't receipts

Starting point is 00:15:01 from grocery stores or online shopping. It was way worse than that. It was wire transfers, wire transfer after wire transfer, all sending money to a company called Goose Investments, aka Frank's Company. So after doing some quick math and adding up all of these wire transfers, Kelly realized just how much money her mom had been sending this boyfriend over the past two years. And buckle up, guys. $1.5 million. Okay, so I think that I may have shared with you recently here on the podcast. I know I definitely shared over on my Instagram, but I have converted to skims recently. I used to be like a loyal die-hard customer of somebody else, I'm not gonna say who, but koff koff vs. And I hated it. I hated the quality, it would rip, it would like stretch out,

Starting point is 00:15:56 it wasn't good, but I always wanted something comfortable and seamless and I never found, and seamless I mean like what it sounds like, no seams, and I never found anything that I liked and was comparable. But my sister Amy had been talking to me about skims for years. She wears like their underwear, their pajamas, all of this stuff. So finally I gave in and I was like okay let me do a haul, let me try a bunch of their stuff, let me see like even if only like one percent of it sticks. I mean that's better than nothing. Let's just try it. And look, I did a huge order from the fits everybody collection and I kept every single thing. Underwear, bras, bandos, pajamas, I mean you name it. So then, this is what I think I showed you on

Starting point is 00:16:38 Instagram, I did another haul of, because I finally found a replacement seamless underwear, and I did a huge haul of like I think I got like 20 pair and I just did the unboxing and I showed you guys and I'm like, that's how obsessed I am. I love it. There is a lot of hype around it. I get it. But let me just tell you it's legit. It is so comfortable, so soft, so stretchy to where it fits every curve and like you don't even feel like you're wearing anything. Right now TMI I'm wearing their underwear and their bra. It's like my staple. I wear it every single day now. I love it. So personally I will never go back. Their Fits Everybody thong it seriously like melts into your skin and it feels like you're wearing nothing but yet you feel like covered and contained. It's so good and their Fits

Starting point is 00:17:20 Everybody triangle bralette is also amazing. You feel supported, you feel secure, but you don't have like wires digging into you. It is the best. So if you haven't tried them yet, I highly encourage you. I don't know why I slept on them for so long. And you can shop Skims Fits Everybody collection and more at skims.com. Then after you place your order, be sure to let them know that I sent you. Just select podcast in the survey and select my show in the drop down menu that follows. It's a huge help. That way they know I sent you, Just select podcast in the survey and select my show in the drop-down menu that follows. It's a huge help that way they know I sent you, but you seriously will love it. Again, that is skims.com. Go check it out. You guys know that I love my Diet Coke. I drink it probably two to

Starting point is 00:17:56 three times a day, which don't come for me. I know it's bad, it's bad, and I see you guys all commenting all the time like, Annie, aspartame, it's horrible for you. Don't do it, don't do it. But I'm like, give me an alternative then, because I literally live for Diet Coke, and so many of you have been telling me for like two years now to try Ollipop, but I am like loyal to Diet Coke, so I never wanted to. I tried it, and I wish that I tried it sooner. I need to start believing your recommendations more, because OllPOP is way different than traditional soda, yet you still get the exact same taste that you love from all of those. They also use a functional ingredient blend that supports digestive help, and they offer a full scope of delicious alternatives

Starting point is 00:18:36 to traditional soda, like I said, giving you the flavor that you want without the typical health trade-off. Which when I talk about health, get this, when I started drinking Olypop and then looked into it and then they became a sponsor of this channel, I realized that 90% of Americans consume more than the daily recommended added sugar intake of 30 grams. And soda are the leading source of added sugars in the American diet, which Olypop is much, much lower in sugar compared to conventional soda. They only have 2-5 grams of sugar, and they're from natural sources, there's no added sugar. Their Vintage Cola, which is what I have replaced my Diet Coke with, only has 2 grams of sugar, which compared to regular Coke, has 39 grams of sugar.

Starting point is 00:19:21 39 vs. 2. Also, for summertime, let me just tell you their orange squeeze which tastes just like Fanta has 5 grams of sugar where Fanta has 44 grams of sugar. So it tastes great, it tastes the same, and it's way better for you. I'm converting okay? And you can get a free can of Ollipop. Buy any two cans of Ollipop in store and Ollipop will pay you back for one of them. It works on any flavor from any retailer. Just go to drinkollipop.com. Ollipop is also sold online at drinkollipop.com or on Amazon and it's also available in almost 50,000 retailers nationwide including Costco, Walmart, Target, Publix, Whole Foods, Kroger, and HEB. So go check it out by any two cans in store

Starting point is 00:20:07 and they will pay you back for one. And let me know what flavors you guys have been trying because I definitely want to try more than just the vintage cola and the orange squeeze. So drop your flavor recommendations in the chat. Again, drinkolipop.com. So picture this. Your mother's missing, apparently after getting involved in some kind of scam. Then you find out that she spent over one and a half million dollars to her online boyfriend, who, by the way, you've never met in person. I mean, there's one conclusion that almost anyone would jump to, right? Anadelvy, the Tinder swindler, scammer, fraudder, D, all of the above. So if you're thinking that Frank was a con artist and Laura was his victim, you are certainly not alone.

Starting point is 00:20:55 That's exactly what Kelly was thinking as well. Yet, there were some questions that she wasn't quite sure about yet. Namely, if Frank was a scammer, then who had her mom visited on all those weekend getaways? Where was she going during the last two years of this relationship? Who was she talking to on the phone day and night messaging and getting love letters from? Her mind was reeling, trying to figure everything out, trying to like reconcile what's going on. My mom's missing, she's been wiring this money. The feds called me this morning looking for her. Like, what is happening? And there were so many possibilities. I mean, maybe Frank, this scammer had hurt her somehow. But it was also possible that Laura had been in on it somehow. Maybe she

Starting point is 00:21:35 was helping Frank. Maybe she went along with this because she loved him. And now both of them were hiding out somewhere trying to fly under the radar, especially since she knew that the feds were on to her. I mean, there were a lot of possibilities. And I get it. It sounds kind of out there, I know, but as Kelly was going through all of her mom's emails and seeing all of these things, she was starting to realize that she didn't really know her mom the way that she thought that she did. Her mom had been keeping so much from her. I mean, who knew what other secrets she was hiding? So after she had gone through her mom's computer, Kelly decided to scour the entire house. I mean, who knew what other secrets she was hiding? So after she had gone through her mom's computer, Kelly decided to scour the entire house. I mean, looking for any type of clue. I'm talking papers, documents, anything. And eventually, her efforts paid off because Kelly found a note,

Starting point is 00:22:18 which, let me read it to you. Kelly, you have kept me going this long. I love you. You were right in your judgment of me. I've been living a double life this past year. It has left me going this long. I love you. You were right in your judgment of me. I've been living a double life this past year. It has left me broke and broken. Yes, it involves Frank, the man that I met through online dating. I tried to stop this many times, but I knew I would end up dead."

Starting point is 00:22:38 Which, can you imagine finding that note from your loved one, no less your mom? I mean, at first I feel like my thought would be like, is she saying goodbye? Is this a goodbye letter? But now at the last sentence saying she would end up dead, does that mean people are after her? What is going on here?

Starting point is 00:22:55 And when Kelly found that note, she also found something that her mom would never leave behind if she ever planned on returning. And that's her dog Effie. Effie was Laura's best friend. And at first, Kelly just assumed that the fact that Effie was there was a good sign. Like, okay, her mom must've just stepped out. She'll come back at some point.

Starting point is 00:23:12 She just had to. To see if she is home. And if she's not home, do you mind opening the garage door to see if her car is there? So she stayed on the phone with me and walked over to our property. And she said, well, Effie's home.

Starting point is 00:23:25 Effie the dog is home because Effie started barking. So immediately for me, that was instant reassurance that wherever my mom was at, if she was not home, she was coming back because my mom kept that dog on such a routine schedule of eating meals at a certain time and all of that. My mom would never leave that dog. So for me, that was a good sign. But then I had the neighbor open the garage door and she had told me that her car was gone. And at that point, I kind of cut her off and I just said, I will be home very shortly. And I said, I will touch base with you right when I get home. And Kelly, at what point did you get law enforcement involved with the disappearance of your mom? I arrived to my mom's house early that afternoon and opened the door, came into the house,

Starting point is 00:24:13 and everything seemed normal. There was nothing out of place. Effie looked like she'd just woken up, so there wasn't anything with Effie the dog that seemed different. My mom had been gardening that morning and I'm a huge gardener. So it was not uncommon to find a bunch of cleaned vegetables drying on the counter. The house was completely clean and in order. But I knew that if there were any financial implications involved with all of this, that

Starting point is 00:24:40 I just had to start going through whatever I could in the house. And so my gut told me to go and look at the office desk. And the first door that I opened, there was a sheet of paper on top with an international phone number with the name Frank under it. And at that point, my heart sank because I knew in my gut that this was all tied together. And underneath that international phone number was paper documentation of financial wire transfers that were transferred to numerous countries and just various financial information that I found. So I didn't take the time to various financial information that I found. So I didn't take the time to go through that in detail, but I saw enough to know that something had happened to my mom.

Starting point is 00:25:32 Then an entire night passed and Laura still didn't make it home. So that's when Kelly finally reported her missing. Now, right away, the police got involved and Kelly showed them everything that she had learned already. And of course, they focused on all of her emails and the wire transfers with Frank right off the bat.

Starting point is 00:25:49 And after digging through Laura's computer, they felt like without question, Laura had been the victim of a romance scam, trapped by Frank with these promises of love. But it didn't stop there. Laura didn't just get roped into giving Frank one and a half million dollars. She actually got wrapped up in the scheme herself. The police even believed that she had been working with Frank to assist him with his scams. And apparently this is sadly pretty common

Starting point is 00:26:16 in a lot of situations like this. Once scammers take you for all that you're worth, they then try to bring you in and rope you into the scam, into the con with them. And again, I know it might sound out there and more like a movie, but in 2023 alone, there are more than 64,000 reports to law enforcement of different romantic scams in the United States. 64,000. Altogether, scammers made more than $1 billion from their victims. And sadly, that might even be an underestimate,

Starting point is 00:26:46 because those are just the scams that got reported to the police. A lot of the officials think there are a ton of other people out there who got ripped off and are just way too embarrassed to let anybody know. They don't want to admit that they fell for it. They just want to forget about it. So they take the loss and never say anything to the police. So in reality, that number could be a lot higher, which let me just say right now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being the victim of and never say anything to the police. So in reality, that number could be a lot higher. Which, let me just say right now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being the victim of a crime. Regardless if it's a romance scam, a financial scam, whatever it is, there is no shame in that. It's the scammers' fault, not yours. Not to mention, scamming has just gotten so

Starting point is 00:27:22 elevated over the last few years, where now it's like you don't have just the Nigerian prince who's emailing you saying oh give me a wire transfer and I'll give you two million dollars but there's actually countries that have full scamming networks like headquarters where people are dialed in and know exactly what to do what links to send what phone calls to make and it's almost run like a well-oiled machine, like a business, which side note here, if you guys ever get any text messages that say like, oh, you have a UPS or a USPS delivery,

Starting point is 00:27:53 click this link to confirm or do anything, never click the links guys, never click the links. If you get emails saying they're from PayPal and that you need to verify your receipt, click this link, open this attachment, never do it, never do it. It's now, that is how they're moving forward with these scams. They are getting so detailed and they look so real.

Starting point is 00:28:14 So just don't ever open any attachments or links from any unknown number or any unknown email address. Now, another one of these businesses is called a scam farm. And there there they actually trick people into falling in love with them and ripping them off and they do this like rinse, recycle, repeat all day every day. They create a fake profile, they make sure that all of the photos on the profile are you know conventionally attractive because that's something that matters to a lot of people on dating sites as we know. And in Frank's case, they stole pictures

Starting point is 00:28:45 from a Chilean doctor who was somebody who had absolutely zero involvement in this case at all. Just again, an attractive man and slapped it on Frank's profile. Which as a side note, I can only imagine how weird it must've been for that guy, the actual doctor, when Laura's case started hitting the news to then see his own face plastered

Starting point is 00:29:04 all over the TV and internet. Like, that would be super unnerving. So anyway, once the profile is made, these scammers will then make up an entire personality and backstory. And then they just start matching away with people. And once someone is on the hook, they will do everything they can to make it seem like they are a real person. They might even have somebody get on the phone, like how Laura was talking to a man who she thought was Frank. I mean, there are no stops.

Starting point is 00:29:28 They will do whatever they have to do, especially because as we know, it's easy to get suspicious if you're not hearing a voice, right? Or not seeing photos of somebody holding up a sign or doing things like that. So they have people like, hey, she's getting suspicious. Call her up now, talk to her for a while.

Starting point is 00:29:43 That is how like, precisely these things are run. And the truth is when you really break it down, all they're doing is love bombing, right? They're acting sweet, available, accessible, just to gain this other person's trust. They're also sharing all of these details about their lives, which are of course made up, usually a sob story about their tough childhood or like in Frank's case, how he lost his spouse too, and really just try to love bomb you and build that connection to where it's shared interests, shared life history. They research their target a lot of the time too so that they know that whatever they're saying isn't off base, that it will align with this other person. I mean, it's so scary. Then once you start falling for them, they start asking you for money.

Starting point is 00:30:24 And it may start small with just a few dollars here and there, maybe a Venmo request here and there, but then the requests start getting bigger, bigger and bigger and bigger, asking for more until finally they get as much as they possibly can get out of you. And then once you're broke, they blackmail you. And then once you have nothing left to give and you are just completely bone broke, that's when these skeezy assholes blackmail you. They'll either threaten you, they will threaten to leak compromising photos of you

Starting point is 00:30:53 to the public, to your employer, to your family, whatever they can do to threaten you to say, no, no, no, I need more money. And if you don't give me more money, here's what I'm gonna do to retaliate. Now we of course don't know for sure if Laura was ever blackmailed this way. It's not clear to me what she told Frank, what she sent Frank, or if any part of it was compromising, but it definitely does sound like a possibility,

Starting point is 00:31:14 especially given what we know about Laura's personality. She just didn't really seem like someone who would take advantage of somebody else unless she maybe really felt like she had to, but she was now involved in the scheme. So much so that the police learned that Laura even helped set up fake dating profiles for Frank or for whoever was pretending to be Frank. She also created fake corporations, fake bank accounts for him. She moved money around through different wire transfers. I mean, she was in on this scam. So Laura had been roped in as what they call being a money mule for Frank. And that's a term for somebody who helps launder or move illegal funds around.

Starting point is 00:31:51 Sometimes the mule knows what they're doing, but other times they don't. And it sounds to me like Laura did know what she was doing and that she wasn't supposed to be doing it, which I'm just speculating, but I'm basing this in part on the fact that she was covering her tracks. At some point before her disappearance, she began talking to Frank through a burner phone instead of her regular cell phone. So it seems like she was doing things to protect herself and the secrets that she was keeping. And it's safe to assume that when she went missing, it was because Kelly had called her

Starting point is 00:32:19 to say she got that voicemail from the feds, that the feds were on to her. She probably knew, of course, that she had been breaking the law, so now she knew the police wanted to talk to her about it. So she panicked and she skipped town. Except the police were able to pull security camera footage. And with that, they realized that after Laura left her house, after she canceled that lunch with her neighbor,

Starting point is 00:32:39 she got on I-84 and headed south. She eventually passed a gas station in Illinois, which this was also caught on security cameras, and then the last time that her phone pinged it was in Iowa. Then, the very next day, on August 9, 2020, Laura's car was found. If you're still tossing and turning all night and feeling like edgy during the day, let me tell you about CBD from CB Distillery. Millions are turning to their CBD for relief because it works.

Starting point is 00:33:14 In fact, over 90% of customers report better sleep with CBD. And it's not just sleep. CB Distillery offers targeted formulations for just about everything. Sleep, stress, mood and focus, pain after exercise, they even have CBD for pets. And it's all made with the highest quality, clean ingredients. No fillers, just premium CBD. And for me, I really like the pain stick because if you ever see me walking, or even I guess when you see me recording these podcasts, I'm like I have a really bad posture and I get the worst aches and pains in like my traps and like right by my neck. So their

Starting point is 00:33:50 pain stick, I'll like swipe that on when I get home and I am so relaxed my shoulders just drop, I feel like way less tension. It's the best. And with over 2 million satisfied customers and a 100% money back guarantee, CB Distillery is the source to trust. So if you're struggling with sleep, stress, or other health concerns and haven't found relief, make the change like millions are, to CBD from CB Distillery. And for a limited time, you can save 25% off your entire order. Visit CB Distillery and use promo code AE.

Starting point is 00:34:22 That's CBdistillery.com promo code AE. That's cbdistillery.com promo code AE, cbdistillery.com. Specific product availability depends on individual state regulations. Laura's car was on a boat ramp in a small Illinois town, which was more than three and a half hours south of where Laura lived. And I want to be clear, there was no real reason for Laura to be driving there. She didn't know anybody in this town, she had never been there before, I mean, so far as Kelly knew. So it's not like she went there to visit friends or because she had business there. And like I mentioned before, the car wasn't just parked in a lot or on the street,

Starting point is 00:35:02 it was literally on a boat ramp that led right into the Mississippi River. So when the police found Laura's car, it was a big, important discovery. But it was also kind of a bit of a dead end, because for so long they had been trying to track Laura's movements through security cameras, cell phone pings, all of those things, and now the investigation was drying up. So their next move was to start looking into this Frank guy himself, trying to figure out who he was, who was behind this profile, who was behind this entire scam operation.

Starting point is 00:35:31 And the good news was that the police didn't really have to do any digging. Frank had actually been on their radar for quite some time. In fact, they had already caught him, or more accurately, them, because Frank was multiple people. And these people were practically in Laura's own backyard in the town that she used to live in, Chicago. One of the scammers was a woman

Starting point is 00:35:52 named Jennifer Gosha and she was an Iraq war veteran who worked for the post office. Which remember earlier I said sometimes these scammers find a way to bring their victim into the scam? Well that's exactly what happened to Jennifer. She believed that she was dating this guy named Anthony, but unlike with Laura, their relationship was not online. She actually knew this guy in real life and he seemed very legit. I mean, that is, at first he told her he was a doctor. She believed it because he clearly had a lot of money. He wore nice clothes. He drove this fancy car. He wore a Rolex. I mean, he had all the things that you would assume be in line with somebody being a doctor. But as their relationship went on, Anthony started asking for little favors from Jennifer.

Starting point is 00:36:33 And it all started out pretty innocent, you know, new relationship kind of stuff. Can I borrow a few bucks for this? Can you pick something up for me at the store? Do you mind if you grab this dinner instead of me? That sort of thing. Which looking back in retrospect, I think it's easy to identify that maybe those are like the early markers and indicators of a scam, but when you're in the moment you're probably like, yeah sure I'll door dash you some food or I'll pay for this door dasher. Yeah, I'll grab you a pack

Starting point is 00:36:58 of cigarettes. I'm at CVS. I don't know if that's what it was, but you know I'm just trying to think of little things that you might buy at a store. But anyways, as time went on he began asking for more and more from Jennifer. It wasn't just little errands or little small loans here and there. He was now hitting up Jennifer for money all the time and the amounts that he was asking for. They were just getting bigger and bigger. Then somewhere along the way Anthony's friend, a guy named Samuel, also came into the picture. Which surprise surprise, Samuel also needed cash. He also needed money. He needed help. He needed all of this help with a variety of things,

Starting point is 00:37:32 and all of that had to come from Jennifer's wallet. So Jennifer was sending these two guys thousands of dollars. And you might think, okay, well at some point she clearly would cut them off, right? She would realize that Samuel and Anthony were just taking, taking, taking, and never paying her back, and that this was a scam. Except they were paying her back. Well, sort of. Jennifer would send them money,

Starting point is 00:37:52 and they would then send her money back. But then, sometimes other people would send her money. And then Samuel and Anthony would tell her like, okay, so-and-so sent you money, but now I need you to move that money into another account for us. So please and thank you, please go do that. And Jennifer would would just do it which this is how it all tied back to Laura because one time this Frank guy asked Laura for $75,000 and Laura sent it no questions asked

Starting point is 00:38:17 except that money did not go to Frank I mean it did in theory it went to the people who were posing as Frank Jennifer Samuel and Anthony but it didn't go to who, you know, this fictitious Frank person was. So Jennifer was scamming Laura. But according to her, she had no idea what was going on. She didn't know who she was involved with, what she was involved with. She just got roped into this somehow. And she kept saying that, even once the police were able to literally follow the trail of money right to her front door. But Jennifer swore up and down she had

Starting point is 00:38:47 never catfished anyone. According to her, she only transferred those funds and moved that money around because, you know, well, her boyfriend had asked her to deny Iraqi war. I raised my Children. I'm not someone who decides after all I've accomplished in my life. Now I'm going to become a criminal mastermind. I'm gonna come up with the scheme. So I'm gonna come up with the scheme. It's not gonna be this dumbass scheme. Gosha told us the alleged co-conspirator she was dating used her to help launder money scammed from others.

Starting point is 00:39:15 Do you ever think to yourself, I played a part in someone's life being roped? I have thought that many, many times. And... I didn't play a part in it knowingly. You're saying you're a victim of the scammers as well? I'm absolutely a victim. But I... And you're a victim who may end up doing time?

Starting point is 00:39:46 And only because they feel like I should have known. And Jennifer said she could not possibly be behind these scams because she herself, she was basically broke. She had been sending all of this money around, doing all these transfers, all these transactions for Anthony and Samuel, and in all of that, she hadn't kept any money for herself. She also swore up and down that she had no idea that she was ever doing anything illegal.

Starting point is 00:40:10 She had no idea that Samuel and Anthony were just out there scamming women, catfishing women, doing all these horrific things and roping her into this scam as well. However, that said, you've got to wonder, you know, were any red flags ever waving for Jennifer? Just given the sheer amount of cash that she was moving around. Between her, Anthony, and Samuel, there was something like $750,000 flowing in and out of all of their accounts. That's three quarters of a million dollars. That's a lot of money, and it's all stolen from lonely people on dating websites, which

Starting point is 00:40:43 is so evil and heartbreaking. And they had accounts on all of the big sites, not just match.com, but OKCupid, I think plenty of fish too. I mean, all the major players in the dating space back in 2018, 2020. And in addition to the dating site scam, which is more personal, more hands-on, I'm sure we all have received at some point

Starting point is 00:41:04 something in our email, right? Where it says your email address has been compromised or your bank account has been compromised. You need to click this link. You need to call this phone number, those things too. Well, Samuel and Anthony did those scams as well. They had a bunch of fake businesses set up all under different names. They also had numerous bank accounts, again under different names, presumably to make it harder for anybody to notice what they were up to. So this was all enough to charge Jennifer, Samuel, and Anthony with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Starting point is 00:41:34 This was in July of 2020. And for context, this was one month before Laura went missing. So like I said, they already had their guys. They just hadn't made the connection yet. And apparently the police didn't believe a word of what Jennifer said about being innocent and having no idea what she was involved with. Supposedly, investigators even had recordings that proved she knew what was going on. Sadly, those recordings don't appear to have been released anywhere, so it's hard to say

Starting point is 00:41:59 much about them, what Jennifer actually said, what the context was, really any of it. But the police also knew that Laura was somehow tied to this scheme and they wanted to close in on her as well. So that's when they called her daughter Kelly, asking for help locating her, and then Kelly called Laura to ask what was going on and Laura just took off and skipped town. Then as we know, they tracked Laura's movements and her car ended up on that boat ramp by the Mississippi River. And on that same day, on August 9th, Kelly got the kind of news that nobody ever wants to receive. This is Detective Casey Foulkes with the Sheriff's Office. My partner, Detective Phillips, is here. We need you guys to prepare yourselves for what we're going to tell you. Someone had spotted a body floating in the Mississippi River. It had made it all the way to South Missouri, so it must have been floating downstream for quite some time.

Starting point is 00:42:50 And when the recovery team got there, they realized that the deceased body was a woman in her mid-50s. And later, the body was positively ID'd as Laura. During her autopsy, the medical examiner ruled that Laura's cause of death was drowning. There were no injuries and her tox report came back completely clean. So this meant that there was no evidence that anybody pushed her into the water or drugged her. There was no sign that anybody forced her into that river. And based on that, the police concluded that Laura had taken her own life. Maybe the fear and the stress of almost getting caught in this scam was way too much for

Starting point is 00:43:25 her, so she just decided she had no other option but to end it all. But Kelly wasn't buying that explanation. I mean, first, she knew her mother. Or at least, I mean, she thought she knew her. We, of course, know Laura was keeping some incredibly major secrets. But even if Laura never opened up about what was going on with her and Frank and the scamming and the financials and all of that, Kelly still knew her mom well enough to say she would never take her own life. This isn't my mom. That's just not who she is. And in fairness, there wasn't a ton of evidence to prove that Laura's death was at her own hands. The police only came to that conclusion because they couldn't prove

Starting point is 00:43:58 that it was murder. There was no drugs, no injuries, no weapon. So that's what they kind of were left with, that that was really the only thing that they could come up with. Although I guess theoretically you could, you know, march somebody into a river at gunpoint and then sort of like shove them into it and let the current take them away and do the work for you without leaving any mark. I suppose that's a possibility.

Starting point is 00:44:20 But the point is, Kelly just thought that it was really unfair for the police to announce that this was suicide when they really couldn't be sure, when maybe there was something else at play here. And that wasn't all that had Kelly feeling this way. She also had her suspicions after she talked with that couple who first had spotted Laura's body floating in the river. Because they told her something that hadn't made it into any of the news reports. There apparently was a second body in the water. I recently was driving to work and it was like 730 in the morning, completely light outside, and I saw a freaking coyote.

Starting point is 00:44:59 And I thought coyotes were nocturnal. I truly did, which maybe they're not and maybe I'm just a dummy, but it freaked me out so bad. It ran right across the freeway off-ramp in front of me. Literally in the middle of the day, not the middle of the day, but morning, like it was bright outside. I freaked out, I swerved, I like sat in my car kind of jolted for a minute and I was like what is going on? And I feel like a day can change within an instant and we need nourishment so that we can stay sharp, keep out of danger, and like be on alert. And Kachava's whole body meal shakes will keep your body and your mind nourished all day, just ready for anything. When I first tried Kachava, I knew that I was going to like it

Starting point is 00:45:36 because it was a meal replacement and it was still so filling and the flavors were so amazing, but I didn't realize how I could mix and match so many flavors together to get something like super customized and tasty. For example, you can mix a couple of them and you can get like this glazed donut flavor. With my daughter, she loves her shakes, so I'll make some for her with vanilla with chocolate and she drinks it, which makes me so happy because there's 25 grams of plant protein, 26 vitamins and minerals, six grams of fiber, and 85 superfoods, nutrients, and plant-based ingredients. I really like their chai flavor now too.

Starting point is 00:46:12 I just started that one. But like I said, especially for summer too, like mixing their coconut acai with their vanilla, it's just so refreshing and it like fills you up. I've also personalized mine a few times where I'll throw in some frozen fruit, maybe like a scoop of peanut butter. And afterwards afterwards I just feel energized, focused, calm, and just really like full and satisfied for hours.

Starting point is 00:46:31 With every two scoops of kachava, you get 85 plus superfoods, nutrients, and plant-based ingredients. There's also no artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. It's non-GMO, no soy, no animal products, no gluten, and no preservatives. And you can try Kachava risk-free with their love it guarantee. But trust me, the thousands of rave reviews agree that you are going to love it. So stay sharp and fuel yourself with Kachava. Go to kachava.com and use code AE for 15% off your next order.

Starting point is 00:47:00 That's kachava, K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com, code AE, for 15% off. So while Kelly was looking into her mother's death and doing her own investigating, she met up with the couple who said that they were the ones who spotted her mom's remains floating in the river. Their names are Gary and Kathy. And before I get into this next part of the story, I need to tell you, I haven't been able to verify it. Gary and Kathy talked about it when they were interviewed on a podcast called The Protectors, and it's a very fascinating interview. The Protectors also

Starting point is 00:47:39 interviewed Kelly as well to help get her mom's story out, which you should definitely check it out for yourselves if you want to hear more. But the point is, I don't have any way of verifying Gary and Kathy's story. So decide for yourself. However, I will say Kelly did think that they were credible. So I was not contacted by Gary and Kathy immediately. It was actually the weeks following August 9th of when my mother's body was recovered that I received a Facebook message from an individual that claimed to be a family member of Gary and Kathy and during this time I had mentioned previously web splews, people I didn't know, it became a lot of who was reaching out contacting me and all the

Starting point is 00:48:24 speculation that was going on. And so I received this message saying, I'm a family member of the couple that found your mom on the river and they're trying to get a hold of you. And I think you need to listen to what they have to say because it's not being reported of everything that they found. And I didn't know if it was real or not and this was actually the same day as my mother's funeral and memorial service that evening. So I had to do a little investigating myself to figure out who Gary and Kathy really were and once did, I connected with them. And I knew immediately that they were a credible couple and everything that they said was genuine. And they absolutely cared and not only was I traumatized my entire family from this situation, but they were

Starting point is 00:49:19 as well. They were the couple that found my mother dead on the river. And so their tradition was to go out fishing on weekends or Sunday evenings. And they are from the Canton, Missouri area, so very familiar with the river and like I said, frequent it every weekend. That is their tradition as a couple. And they were out on the river and Jerry and Kathy noticed something floating in the water and it looked like a body and they approached it and it was a female body but what they had shared with me is that this body that they found and actually called 911 on was not my mother's body there was another female body that they found first before finding my mother's.

Starting point is 00:50:08 And hearing that I completely shocked me. Um, I think changed just even the heaviness of this entire situation to say how, you know, what more is involved in this entire thing? The fact that they found another female body along with my mothers that day on the river on August 9th. So according to Gary and Kathy, they saw a body in the river on August 9th and reported it to the police. That much we already knew, right? But according to them, the body clearly wasn't Laura's. It was a woman who was wearing a bikini. And I noticed something odd in the water. It's around six o'clock in the evening. So I mowed her over to it and it was a woman. A light brown haired woman floating face down. She had what I thought was a swim, two-piece swimsuit. And it had like a floral pattern on it. And her hair was short, but in a ponytail. And I could not see what her bottoms were. They were too far in the water. But as soon as I found her, I mean, I was just

Starting point is 00:51:16 like, I couldn't reach down and touch her at one time. And my wife was there. She's seen it too. But all this time we are drifting down towards that dredging equipment. And so I immediately called 911 and talked to whoever it was. But while this is, while I'm explaining what's going on, we're getting closer to the dredging stuff and finally I, I had to make a decision, grab the body or let it go underneath the stuff, the piping and stuff. And I let it go. And I told my wife, we'll just go down river

Starting point is 00:51:55 and get ahead of her. And then when she comes out, which it wasn't nothing that would have tore her up or anything, it was just going under some floating pipes. She won't go through any of the dredging equipment or none of that. So Gary and Kathy decided they would just wait for that body that they had discovered to drift under those pipes and then come out on the other side. Except it never did. It just vanished right there while they were watching. Then they found Laura's body just

Starting point is 00:52:22 a few minutes later and they knew that it was zero chance that it was the same body that they had just seen moments earlier. I mean, the haircut, the clothing, the build, the age, every detail about these two bodies, the two women were entirely different. On a scale of one to ten, how sure are you that what you saw was two different bodies? Twelve. All right, now that answers it right there. I think it's just gonna take one person to talk and and they can clear it all up. So when authorities got to the scene, they

Starting point is 00:52:52 apparently looked everywhere for the first body that this couple had come across, but there was no sign of it and to this day, it doesn't seem like anything really came of it, which that's a really weird story, right? And it's kind of hard to make sense of. I mean, it's really confusing. There were two bodies in the river. One disappeared. One was Laura. It's not clear how they were connected or if they were connected. It's bizarre. And a lot of people think that there are two possible interpretations here. One is that this was all just a massive coincidence that Laura did take her own life

Starting point is 00:53:25 and then drifted down to Missouri. Then in a completely unrelated development, this other bikini woman also died and ended up in the exact same part of the river at the same time. And those remains, for whatever reason, were tragically lost. However, the second theory,

Starting point is 00:53:40 and I will say this one is a little out there, so do with it what you want, is that this wasn't a coincidence at all. That it just certainly was no coincidence that these two bodies turned up in the same place. That someone died at Laura's side at the same time, but rather that they were killed together. Maybe it was somebody else who was caught up in the scam, or maybe somebody else who was unfortunate enough to get mixed up with all of the wrong people. But either way, the theory suggests that someone might have murdered both Laura and this other woman, doing this by forcing them into the water and letting them drown together. And that sadly, the police just couldn't prove it because this second victim disappeared

Starting point is 00:54:18 before they could even get to the scene. Which I don't know, which of those theories sounds more credible to you. There's a lot of conversation and speculation out there and I will say they're weighted pretty evenly in terms of who believes what. And Kelly definitely thought that there was something more there, something that was worth investigating. She wasn't just gonna like roll over and take this lying down. And she was very frustrated with the fact that the police were just not investigating. Especially because in her mind, there were other details

Starting point is 00:54:46 that just weren't adding up in all of this, like the circumstances around how Laura's car was found, for example. I mean, if Laura was gonna take her own life, why drive to this random town, this town that she had never even been to before? Why spend three and a half hours, or maybe even more on the road,

Starting point is 00:55:03 just to end it all at that location. Why? It wasn't even a significant location. Canton, Missouri and more silently are completely foreign locations to me and my family. We did not know where they were at until we looked on a map. So my mom, myself, our family have no connection down to that area. Now in interviews, Kelly said that she would accept whatever conclusions the police came to. After, they did an actual thorough investigation where they tied up all the loose ends and did all of the things that they needed to do to fully investigate. In Kelly's mind, the problem was that nobody even was looking closely enough at her mother's death yet.

Starting point is 00:55:43 So she just wanted these investigators and these officials to take a deeper look. To Kelly, there were no other signs that Laura had ever expected to die that day. And one of those little signs was that she had texted her friend, the neighbor that she was supposed to get lunch with that day.

Starting point is 00:55:56 She texted her just a few hours before her death saying, everything is good. Now, maybe she just didn't want that neighbor to worry, but Kelly also thought that it was a really odd thing to say if Laura was planning on taking her own life. And on top of that, like I mentioned before, when Laura left, she also left her dog Effie behind. Laura loved Effie.

Starting point is 00:56:14 She had her for years. She treated her like another member of the family. So Kelly couldn't believe that Laura would do something that was so permanent and taking her own life without at least arranging for a pet sitter or somebody to come be with Effie. She would want to make sure that Effie was taken care of after she was gone, and Laura hadn't done a single thing to make sure that Effie would be okay. She didn't even cancel her weekend plans. She was supposed to have friends over that weekend for

Starting point is 00:56:39 craft day. They were going to learn how to make, you know, these little cement bird baths together, I guess, which is pretty intense. And if you know me, you know, freaked out by birds, but whatever, each their own. But why would she make these kinds of plans if she wasn't gonna even be around for the weekend? Or alternatively, let's just, you know, for the sake of argument, say, if this was a spur of the moment decision

Starting point is 00:56:58 and Laura didn't intend to take her own life until that moment right before she did, why didn't she call anyone to say goodbye? Why'd she tell her daughter everything was gonna be okay? She was going to handle it rather than say goodbye, unless maybe that was that note that she left behind. But remember, that last sentence of the note was that she would end up hurt,

Starting point is 00:57:18 not that she would hurt herself. It included that exact line where she said, I tried to stop it, but I knew I would end up dead. So does that sound like a clear cut admission on her part that she knew she wasn't gonna come out of this alive? But Kelly didn't think that this was a sign that Laura was thinking about self harm. She thought that it was a sign that this Frank guy,

Starting point is 00:57:37 or more accurately, one of the people pretending to be Frank had been threatening Laura. And personally, that's what that letter sounds like to me, that note, it doesn't sound like, you know, I tried to stop it, I got in too deep, and now like I love you but I have to say goodbye. That's not what it was. It says, I tried to stop it, but I knew I would end up dead. Who talks about self-harm in a way of saying, I knew I would end up dead? That to me just kind of insinuates somebody doing the act to you, doesn't it? Unless I'm crazy, but that's how I read into it. Now I do think that one thing is clear. Whether it was murder

Starting point is 00:58:10 or a self-harm situation, Samuel, Anthony, and Jennifer had put Laura in this position. Even if they didn't kill her themselves, they brought her into this entire criminal scheme, and they potentially had her feeling so hopeless that death seemed like the only way out. Sam eventually pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in July of 2023, and he took a plea deal and agreed to work with the prosecutors to tell them more about this scam, you know, who was involved, how it worked, and in return, he received a 10-year prison sentence. Now at first, it seemed like Jennifer was willing to accept a plea deal.

Starting point is 00:58:45 Guilty or not, it sounds like she just kind of wanted all this to go away, to not have to go through this long legal process when she might lose anyway. But then a judge pointed something out to her. That pleading guilty would mean that she would be a convicted felon. That would also mean losing her pension from all of those years working at the post office, which tough situation to be in, right? So from the sounds of it, once Jennifer realized that she would have nothing to retire on, she decided that she was better off taking her chances in court and she rejected the plea deal. Then in 2024, when her trial was supposed to start, she ended up pleading guilty. So it was kind of a lot of back and forth for nothing, and she admitted to wire fraud, making false statements to a federal agent, all the things that went along with it, and she ended up

Starting point is 00:59:28 getting three years of probation, starting with six months of house arrest. Now, as for Anthony, he was the only person in this scheme who actually went to trial. He pleaded not guilty, and he took his chances with a jury, which this was a bad call because he ended up being found guilty of 14 different counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank, passport fraud, I mean, you name it. He was also sentenced to 20 years in prison. So adios, see you later. So two of the three scammers are currently behind bars, which is great. But Kelly? Kelly is of course still looking for answers still to this day. She's still asking for information and leads. I'm asking that if anyone has any

Starting point is 01:00:11 information regarding the disappearance or death of my mother to come forward and share that information with the Joe Davies County Sheriff's Department. Now Kelly did manage to track down some of her mom's money, but here's the thing. It wasn't even in the United States anymore, which, again, to me, makes it sound like this scam was much bigger than what it was. I don't think it was something local in Chicago with only Anthony, Samuel, and Jennifer.

Starting point is 01:00:38 It feels bigger. It's left in a place where somebody will easily find it so they understand why that person did what they did. But the other thing that bothers me and Mike is the dog. And she had such an affection and love for that dog. And the manner, if we were to speculate the manner of death with suicide by drowning, then there was a very good chance that dog would not be found for days or weeks. And you know, do you think that is an indicator that your mother wasn't committing suicide?

Starting point is 01:01:09 Absolutely. Now, while we're on the subject of Kelly investigating and digging, I think it's important to mention that one day Kelly decided to do something. Now, some people might think that this was a little out there, but I can totally see why she thought that this was a good idea. But Kelly opened her mom's computer one last time and she wrote an email to Frank. She wrote this email from Laura's account and it said, Frank, I have not been well. I am feeling much better these days and would enjoy talking with you again. I have missed you. Can we talk tomorrow?

Starting point is 01:01:40 And guess what? Frank responded. This Frank guy actually responded, or whoever the hell was pretending to be Frank responded. And he actually called Laura's phone and left a message. Hello, this is Frank. How are you? Fine. So obviously this guy wasn't Anthony, Samuel, or Jennifer, right? They had all been arrested by this point. So who was this guy? Who was returning the call?

Starting point is 01:02:03 Is it just one of the many co-workers of this guy? Who was returning the call? Is it just one of the many coworkers of this organization? And I have to imagine that Kelly was probably thrilled to get this voicemail because now it was a new clue, a chance to find another person who was responsible for what happened to her mom. So she tried calling this fake Frank back, but he unfortunately didn't answer. And since then, she has never been able

Starting point is 01:02:23 to get ahold of him. Who knows though? Maybe one day she will hear from him again. But if I was Frank, I would be scared shitless. I'd be shitting my pants right now because Kelly is not playing around. And honestly, I love Kelly. It is so amazing that she is still fighting and looking for answers regarding her mom's death so that she can get the answers as to what really happened here. She even quit her job to help spread awareness about catfishing and online scams. Every single day, she's out there fighting, trying to help people understand what kind of con artists are out there and how they can be safer.

Starting point is 01:02:55 It's the scammers. It's the criminals behind those emails. It's Frank Borg from Sweden. This character, he killed my mom. And everyone that is involved in this scam, in any capacity, that's moving the money, that's placing a phone call, that's hitting enter and send on an email, they're all responsible. Kelly has also been taking care of Laura's dog Effie, and every week they travel to a local nursing home where Effie works as a therapy dog. So it's sweet that even little Effie is helping people in all of this. It's not just Kelly, it's the whole family, including, you know, the little non-human furry member of the family. Now this whole case, I think we can agree, it's just so heartbreaking, but it also should

Starting point is 01:03:36 be a wake-up call for everybody who's listening right now. When it comes to online relationships, please, please, please just remember if something feels wrong, it probably is. And if someone, even someone you think that you know and trust is asking you for things that make you feel uncomfortable, it's a huge red flag. And something I've said before but I'll say it again is your gut and your intuition, it's really there as your first line of defense. Your first line of defense against predators, against scams, against anything. Sometimes I know it's difficult because if you feel a certain way, you try to justify it, almost apologize for feeling that way or ignore it. But it's there to protect

Starting point is 01:04:13 you. Your gut is there to just defend you from these people, so please, if something feels wrong, listen to your gut. I also want to give many thanks to Kelly for sharing her interview and to Doug Taylor, the producer of the Protectors podcast. Their aim is to educate consumers on all of the fraud, financial crimes, and cybercriminal activities that are becoming more and more common. And one of their taglines is, don't become the next victim. Which I think is a sentiment we all can appreciate. Their podcast is presented by the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators,

Starting point is 01:04:45 and it takes you inside the minds of criminals from all around the world, and with leading experts and the investigators who put them behind bars. And you can check out their full episode, The Life and Mysterious Death of Laura Kowal, a romance investment scheme victim, at ProtectorsPodcast.com. I don't know, guys, what do you think about this case? Do you think it was all a coincidence that Laura was involved in this scheme and then she took her own life because she felt like there was no way out? Or do you think that this goes deeper, that more people are

Starting point is 01:05:13 involved and they didn't want her to speak and so somebody did this to her to cover up the bigger scheme of things? I mean we know that this fictitious Frank person ended up contacting her down the road again, so like down the road again? No. Um, so like what do you guys think is really going on here? I'm curious to know your thoughts. Thank you for tuning into another episode with me. I think it is a great reminder to just always be careful in the online dating world. Heck, just even the world in general. And if somebody's ever asking you for something and it feels wrong or feels like they're taking advantage of you in some way Chances are not to be a pessimist, but chances are they probably are so listen to your gut

Starting point is 01:05:50 I'll be back on the mic with you first thing on Thursday with an all-new headline highlights where I will be breaking down everything happening This week in the true crime world and then I will of course be back with you next Monday with an all-new deep dive Into a case. Thanks again for tuning in guys and until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, don't scam anybody, don't join any cults and be careful online dating. Alright, bye.

Your Ad Here

SERIALously - 288: Online Dating Scam Ends With Two Bodies Floating in the River | The Case of Laura Kowal

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.