Rowe Split Town News Today

>> he sold $250,000 of them for $38,000. >> he kept the money? >> and kept the money. >> of course, rowe split town soon enough. leaving his friend and surrogate father bankrupt. >> very worst thing thats ever happened to me in my life. i about lost my wife and my family. its devastating. >> so, when ron nelson saw the man that ruined his life plastered all over the front of the seattle newspaper under the name of steve heitman, he was eager to tell the world the mystery mans real name. and when...

>> steve heitman was just 20 when he drowned, and 25 years later, in wenatchee, washington, his mom still grieves. can anybody who hasnt lost a child understand what its like? >> i dont think so. its a feeling you never ever get over. >> she was facing another melancholy fourth of july, the anniversary of steves death, when she came home to find a reporter had left a message on her machine. >> he says i suspect somebody is using your dead sons identity, so i listened to that message at least thr...

>> did you trust him? >> not really. >> in february 1999, the local newspaper did a business feature on the new ski shop in town. steve heitman was interviewed, and his resume expanded to fill the space provided. she said he served in germany in the army, studied at the university of heidelberg and, of course, was an expert skier from an early age and had worked for the ski-makers atomic and head as a designer and field tester. did you ever see him ski? >> no. nobody had seen him ski. >> steve w...

In seattle, steve heitman opened a chain of ski shops without spending a dime of his own money. he had two microsoft millionaires in the palm of his hand. they even bought into an exotic car dealership. and before long, that business was wallowing in debt, too. and then, one day -- >> we were going to meet and ride motorcycles and calling and calling and calling, nope, nobody answers. >> and what happened to him? >> disappeared. straight up disappeared. >> what did you think? >> i laughed. i jus...

Soon he and ron nelson and ron nelsons money were going into business together. but there was more than business here. much more. >> when he left town, i hired a good attorney, and he said my only way out was to file bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy. i was just devastated. i was, you know, right near suicide. >> imagine, the kind of man who would steal a dead friends name, trade on the memory of a dead little boy, all in the service of con games. now imagine being married to him. what do you cal...

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