Page 5 - Paperwork John News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: who was this man who'd stolen debra's heart? this john meehan? tonia bales had no idea either, when he stole her heart decades ago. >> he was playful. he was interested, engaging, smiley. >> reporter: it was the late 1980s. tonia was a young nurse anesthetist in dayton, ohio. john was in law school there. until he met her, that is, and said he had a kind of epiphany. >> he said, "you know, i'm not even sure i'll be happy being an attorney. i think i wanna be a nurse anesthetist" and i think my jaw fell to the ground, because i thought he was, you know, a second-year law student. >...

One thing they found especially alarming was yet another police report about dirty john. this one from just two years earlier and much closer to home. the police in laguna beach had arrested john meehan for stalking a woman, and they discovered he'd rented an office space in which they found zip ties, cyanide and two loaded guns. what did all that say to you? >> he might be a killer. and she has to get out of this. >> reporter: has to? >> has to. >> reporter: john had an explanation of course, even for that cyanide. >> he says he has multiple sclerosis, and that he kept the capsules around in ...

John supplied the opioids that killed his own addicted brother. he was alone with his sick father when the old man died rather suddenly. john wasn't charged in those cases, but there were others, said luken, and as the years went on, he developed a certain criminal specialty. >> he would go on dating websites and he would find women that usually had good financial backing. he always told people he was a doctor. >> reporter: he seemed like an ideal catch, i suppose. >> yes. >> reporter: for a lot of these women. >> he was a true conman. he'd take their money and when they would find out about h...

The sisters snooped around the balboa house and -- jackpot. they found a stash of paperwork john had left there. legal documents, police reports. >> reports that he's stalked other women and that other women had restraining orders on him. >> reporter: john's papers outlined a long criminal history. multiple arrests and incarcerations, drug convictions. alarming stuff. >> and debra was hesitant to believe the stuff. she believed john. >> reporter: even after her daughters told her what they'd found, debra went straight to john, and he said they had the wrong guy. >> he said, "there's gonna be a...

And the phone was quiet for a minute. and she said, "oh, tonia. i knew you'd call me some day." >> reporter: wow. >> and so then, of course, my heart was racing and my knees were shaking just to make the phone call. and then she just unloaded on me, you know, all the details of trouble in the past. >> reporter: according to his own mother, john had been cheating and stealing and lying for years. even lied to tonia about his age. lopped off five years. oh, and he'd been convicted of cocaine trafficking. >> she said, you know, "is he still using drugs?" and i said "what?" >> reporter: so in some...