Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:01
Some people just know it's easy to
0:04
get Allstate's best price online. They
0:06
also know where to get half off pizzas on
0:08
Mondays, court side
0:11
seats at nosebleed prices, and
0:14
they know you can easily get
0:16
Allstate's lowest price on autoinsurance at
0:18
allstate.com. Prices
0:23
vary, including based on how you buy, subject
0:25
to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire and
0:27
Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, North Park, Illinois.
0:30
Judy was boring. Hello. Then,
0:32
Judy discovered chumbacasino.com. It's
0:35
my little escape. Now Judy's the
0:37
life of the party. Oh baby, mama's bringing
0:39
home the bacon. Whoa, take it easy
0:41
Judy. Ch-ch-ch-ch-chumba! The
0:44
Chumba life is for everybody. So go
0:46
to chumbacasino.com and play over 100 casino-style
0:48
games. Join today and play for
0:51
free for your chance to redeem
0:53
some serious prizes. Ch-ch-ch-ch-chumba! chumbacasino.com
0:55
No purchase necessary. Void work prohibited by law.
0:57
18 plus terms and conditions apply. See website
0:59
for details. Hey,
1:02
everyone. It's Kona. I just wanted to hop
1:04
on real quick and apologize for there not
1:06
being a new episode this week. COVID got
1:09
me. I got got. If
1:12
you follow us on TikTok, I posted
1:14
a couple of videos from my basement
1:16
where I was quarantining. And
1:19
I really tried to get an episode
1:21
together, but I just, my brain and
1:24
my fingers and the rest of my
1:26
body were not cooperating with each other.
1:29
So nothing new this week. But what we
1:31
did have, you know, which is even
1:33
better this week, is the new
1:35
Taylor Swift album came out. The
1:38
Tortured Poets Department Anthology. It's 31 songs.
1:41
And while I had insomnia, I
1:44
was listening to it. And one
1:47
of the songs actually reminded
1:49
me of an episode that we've already done.
1:52
And it's one of my favorite episodes
1:55
because it is
1:58
a little bit lighter. than a
2:01
lot of the ones that we do. And it's
2:03
very unlike every other episode that
2:05
we've done in that we
2:08
had a resolution going into it. The
2:12
case I'm talking about is the case
2:15
of Richard Hoagland. And the
2:17
song that I'm referring to is the song
2:19
Florida. Now
2:21
I'm going to play you a little
2:23
bit of Miss Swift herself talking about
2:25
the inspiration behind the song. And
2:28
then we'll kind of reconvene about
2:30
what I'm talking about. And
2:33
you just want to escape from everything you've ever known.
2:36
Is there a place you could go? I'm
2:39
always watching like Dateline. People,
2:42
you know, have these crimes that
2:44
they commit. Where do they immediately skip town and
2:46
go to? That they go to Florida. You
2:48
know, they like try to reinvent themselves,
2:50
have a new identity, blend in. It's
2:55
almost as if she was
2:58
reading my script for this
3:00
episode. Richard Hoagland was a
3:02
family man from Indianapolis, Indiana.
3:04
And on February 10th, 1993, he
3:07
called his wife from work, told her he was
3:09
going to the ER, and
3:11
then never came back. And
3:14
while it may be a little bit of a
3:16
spoiler alert, you may have been able to guess
3:18
by this point that he went to
3:20
Florida to reinvent himself
3:23
and start a new life. Now,
3:25
of course, you know, this being the real
3:27
world, it didn't exactly turn out the way
3:29
that he planned. And
3:31
that's what this episode is about.
3:33
So please buckle up
3:36
and enjoy this re-release of the
3:38
episode that we did on Richard
3:41
Hoagland. And we will
3:43
be back here with a brand new episode
3:45
next week. Some
3:50
people just know it's easy to get
3:52
Allstate's best price online. They
3:55
also know where to get half off pieces on
3:57
Mondays. Courtside seats
3:59
at no... be prices. And
4:02
they know you can easily get Allstate's
4:04
lowest price on auto insurance at allstate.com.
4:11
Prices vary, including based on how you buy,
4:13
subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire
4:15
and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, North Park,
4:17
Illinois. With Luckyland Slots,
4:19
you can get lucky just about
4:22
anywhere. This is your
4:24
captain speaking. We've got clear runway and the weather's
4:26
fine, but we're just going to circle up here
4:28
a while and get lucky. No,
4:30
no, nothing like that. It's just these cash
4:32
prizes add up quick, so I suggest you
4:34
sit back, keep your tray table upright, and
4:36
start getting lucky. Play
4:38
for free at luckylandslots.com. Are
4:40
you feeling lucky? No purchase
4:43
necessary. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus
4:45
terms and conditions apply. See website
4:47
for details. Judy
4:49
was boring. Hello. Then,
4:52
Judy discovered jumbocasino.com. It's
4:54
my little escape. Now, Judy's
4:56
the life of the party. Oh baby, mama's bringing home
4:58
the bacon. Whoa, take it easy,
5:00
Judy. Chumba Life is
5:02
for everybody. So go to chumbacasino.com
5:04
and play over 100 casino style
5:07
games. Join today and play for
5:09
free for your chance to redeem
5:11
some serious prizes. chumbacasino.com.
5:13
No purchase necessary. Voidware prohibited by law.
5:15
18 plus. Terms and conditions apply. See
5:18
website for details. Richard
5:22
Houghland was a successful family man who
5:24
lived with his wife in two sons
5:26
in a suburb outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.
5:29
On February 10th,
5:31
1993, he called his wife from work and told her
5:33
he was sick and heading to the emergency room. He
5:36
never came home again. For
5:39
over 23 years, his wife Linda and their
5:41
two sons wondered about his fate. But
5:44
in 2016, a bizarre story
5:46
emerged that proved Richard Houghland wasn't
5:48
who they or anyone else thought
5:50
he was. When
5:53
a person goes missing, there's a special kind of pain
5:55
in the not knowing. I want to
5:57
tell the stories of those who never came home. I
6:00
want to tell you the story of Richard Houghland.
6:03
I'm Kona Gallagher. And I'm Ethan Plick. And
6:05
this is, And Then They Were Gone. Welcome
6:47
back, everyone. Welcome back. This
6:50
case that I'm bringing you today is Richard
6:52
Houghland. And I know some of you listening
6:54
might be confused because you're like, but you
6:56
did this one already. Right, Houghie. Right.
6:59
But that is Robert
7:01
Houghland. There
7:04
was another married middle-aged father
7:06
who had gone missing and
7:08
was eventually found. But
7:10
this man was Richard Houghland. Weird.
7:14
Yeah. Not from the same
7:16
area, right? No. Indiana
7:18
and Connecticut. Okay. All
7:20
right. Yeah. That would be
7:22
really weird. I know, right? If they were like both from
7:24
Connecticut or whatever. Richard Houghland and
7:26
Linda Eisler married in 1982. It
7:30
was Richard's second marriage and Linda's
7:32
first. Children followed
7:34
soon after. Two boys named Matthew and
7:36
Doug. Richard Houghland
7:38
worked in insurance and was able to
7:40
afford his family an upper middle-class lifestyle.
7:43
They owned a large home outside of
7:45
Indianapolis and had a speedboat that they
7:47
would take out on the lake. They
7:51
went on lavish vacations and Richard
7:53
owned a closet full of expensive
7:56
suits. They were living the
7:58
American dream. that
8:00
all began to change in 1993.
8:03
Linda noticed that Richard was beginning to
8:06
act strangely. Her husband,
8:08
who was usually spontaneous and fun, was
8:10
now acting distant and withdrawn. She
8:13
feared that he was sinking into depression. Her
8:15
fears only grew when on February 10th,
8:20
1993, she received a bizarre phone call
8:22
from her husband. Richard, who
8:24
was at work, called her and told her that he
8:26
was sick. Sick enough
8:28
that he thought he had to go
8:30
to the emergency room. Oh no. Yeah.
8:32
So like, very bad. And Linda,
8:35
of course, you know, being a good wife, said
8:37
that she would go with him because, you know,
8:39
you don't want to just have your husband going
8:41
to the emergency room alone. But
8:44
he said that he couldn't wait and that he was going to
8:46
go now. About 40 minutes
8:48
after this phone call, Linda left to go pick up
8:50
their son Doug, who was six at the time from
8:52
daycare. When she got home,
8:54
their older son Matthew, who was
8:56
nine, was home alone.
8:59
Now this is in 1993 before
9:01
most people had cell phones and Linda
9:03
was worried about her husband. So like,
9:05
he was supposed to have been home
9:07
with their son Matthew. And so obviously
9:09
it sounds like he's at the hospital.
9:12
She's worried, you know. Well, sure. But
9:14
I mean, any emergency room visit is going to
9:16
be a lot longer than 45 minutes. Exactly.
9:18
Exactly. Even if there's like nothing wrong with you.
9:21
Do we know, did he say anything about what symptoms he
9:23
had or anything like that to his wife? Not
9:25
that I saw, just that he was very sick.
9:28
I'm sure he did because it would be really
9:30
insane if he didn't. But you know, I'm only
9:32
going to call you the next time I
9:34
feel sick and just say, I feel sick.
9:37
I feel sick. I'm going to the ER.
9:39
And not tell you anything. No further information
9:41
available. But yeah, it was not in the articles that
9:43
I read. I think, you know, by
9:45
the time a lot of this was written about, nobody
9:48
really cared. Fair
9:50
point. But of course,
9:52
at the time, she's worried because, you
9:54
know, she hadn't heard from him. He
9:56
wasn't home. Like, she didn't know what was
9:58
going on. six-year-old who,
10:01
I mean, I guess
10:03
you could leave the nine-year-old in charge of the
10:05
six-year-old, but that's kind of pushing it. Yeah,
10:07
it was the early 90s, so like maybe,
10:09
but you know. That's true. But yeah, you're
10:11
right. It is pushing it. So
10:14
she, of course, called the hospital, but
10:17
he wasn't there. So
10:19
that was like the closest hospital that she
10:21
called. So she called a different hospital, but
10:24
no, Richard, he hadn't checked
10:26
in at any hospital in the area.
10:30
Linda was growing more confused and more concerned
10:33
by the minute, but then
10:35
Richard called. Did he say where
10:37
he was? Well, not exactly.
10:41
When he called that evening, he said
10:43
the words that would change the course
10:46
of Linda's life. Quote, I
10:48
can't live this way anymore. I feel you
10:50
would be better off without me. End
10:52
quote. That's not good. No,
10:55
and that is all he said before
10:57
hanging out. So
11:00
no time for follow-up questions. No like, what
11:02
do you mean by that? No,
11:04
you know, we won't be
11:06
better without you. Like what are you planning? You
11:09
know, she must have been
11:11
absolutely terrified, you know? Well, yeah, I mean,
11:14
does that mean – I'm sure it's running through her
11:16
head. Does that mean is he
11:19
divorcing me? Is he suicidal?
11:21
Exactly. It could be
11:23
any number of things, none of which are good. Right,
11:26
yeah. So she was
11:28
frantic, you know, I'm sure running through every
11:30
single possibility on her head, you know, while
11:32
still trying to take care of their two
11:34
kids, who of course they're kids. So they're
11:36
like, okay, well, when's dinner, you know? Yeah.
11:40
But then he called back and
11:43
said something even more bizarre. Quote,
11:46
I don't want to go to jail. I'm
11:48
never coming back. End quote. All
11:53
right. Yeah. So again, he
11:55
hung up before when he was able
11:57
to ask any follow-up questions like jail.
12:00
Yeah, like
12:02
what are you talking about because to
12:04
her knowledge Richard like wasn't in any
12:06
trouble He wasn't a lawbreaker You
12:09
know there was no reason that she was aware of
12:11
that this would even be a concern for him and
12:14
you said he sold insurance Yeah Like
12:19
from all accounts he's like a standard family
12:21
man 9 to 5 type of dude like
12:23
no, you know Vices
12:26
that she's aware of like nothing, you know
12:28
She could not figure out what any of
12:30
this was about like all of it came
12:32
out of the blue You know, he left
12:34
for work that morning and she thought everything
12:36
was normal So after
12:39
he called, you know, she didn't know what to do
12:41
So she started looking around the house to see if
12:43
she could like find any answers to whatever the hell
12:45
was happening All of
12:47
Richard's things were still there his clothes
12:50
his passport his toothbrush You
12:53
know, he of course had his wallet with him obviously
12:56
But it was February in
12:59
Indianapolis, which is terrible
13:01
weather and His winter
13:03
coat was still there which honestly is weird because
13:06
it seems strange to me that he wouldn't have
13:08
just taken that to Work that morning, you
13:10
know, yeah Whether he was planning this
13:12
or not exactly. Yeah, regardless like you would think
13:14
that you would take your winter coat to work
13:16
with you So when
13:19
he didn't return home Linda reported him
13:21
missing I don't know a
13:24
lot about you know, how police immediately
13:26
reacted. I'm sure that they didn't like
13:29
Hop to it that night but
13:31
it does sound like they Started
13:34
an investigation relatively quickly like they
13:36
might have made her wait that
13:38
stereotypical 48 hours I'm
13:41
not exactly sure but a few
13:43
days later. They were actively looking
13:45
and They
13:47
found his car Richard's
13:49
car was found abandoned at
13:52
the Indianapolis International Airport. Oh
13:56
Yeah, so of course,
13:58
you know, they're thinking like, oh, he
14:01
like took off. But
14:03
his name wasn't listed on any flights that
14:05
had gone out. However,
14:09
keep in mind, this is pre-9-11. And
14:12
while you did still have to like show
14:15
ID to get on a plane, it was
14:17
a lot easier to get on
14:19
a flight. You know, there were
14:21
way fewer checks. Like I think that if,
14:23
you know, maybe if you had like a
14:25
fake ID or something along those lines, you
14:28
would have a much better chance of getting on a plane in 1993
14:30
than you would now. Sure.
14:34
But you also have to think that he
14:37
had to have used a credit card to purchase the
14:39
ticket. No, because you could do it in cash then. Well,
14:42
yeah, I mean, I understand that, but like,
14:46
seems kind of weird if he had like a couple hundred
14:48
bucks just in his wallet. I don't
14:50
know, I mean, he could have gone to the ATN. Or
14:53
if he was planning this, you know, he could have
14:55
been squirreling cash away. Yeah, that's true. Linda
14:59
doesn't know what to make of this though. You know,
15:01
like I said, they found his car at the
15:03
airport. They think maybe he took a flight,
15:05
but you know, without his name on any
15:08
passenger lists, they have no clue as to
15:11
one if he did, or two where he
15:13
could have gone. Right. But
15:15
then later that month, Linda
15:18
heard from Richard. He
15:20
called her collect a few times, but
15:23
offered a little in the way of explanation. Linda
15:27
was able to trace the calls and
15:29
they came from Aruba and
15:31
Venezuela. Oh, no extradition
15:33
in Venezuela. Oh, is that true? Yeah.
15:36
Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. So
15:39
if he did commit some crime that
15:41
he thought he was going to get arrested for, they're
15:47
not gonna be able to extradite him from
15:49
Venezuela. Yeah, well, I find it amazing
15:51
that he made it to Aruba and he didn't
15:53
have his passport with him. Oh, right. He
15:56
must have like had some sort
15:58
of fake passport or something because. He would have
16:00
had to take a plane. You can't
16:02
drive down to Aruba, it's an island.
16:07
So I find it really interesting that
16:09
he was able to get there and
16:11
then from there, presumably
16:14
to Venezuela. I don't
16:16
know if he made stops in between, but either
16:18
way, that's impressive. Yeah, definitely. I
16:23
mean, even I don't think
16:25
Aruba was one of those countries that you
16:27
could get into with just
16:30
a birth certificate like Canada. Oh,
16:32
yeah, yeah, yeah. Back then, but...
16:34
But even if Aruba was, then
16:36
it's way lower. Venezuela, definitely. Yeah,
16:39
exactly. So I don't know. But
16:41
yeah, I mean, really, he ended
16:44
up a lot further away than I think anybody
16:46
expected. So Linda
16:48
still, even though he had been in touch
16:50
and she knew he was at least alive,
16:52
she had no idea what was actually going
16:54
on or what prompted any of this. But
16:57
her life was falling apart. Not
17:01
only did she lose the husband and
17:03
the father of her children, but Richard
17:05
was the breadwinner and he just split,
17:08
leaving her with no money or backup
17:10
plan, just a bunch of
17:12
maxed out credit cards. To
17:15
make matters worse, police were beginning to think that
17:17
there was more to the story. They
17:20
started suspecting Richard of being involved
17:22
in illegal business dealings. What's
17:25
more is they thought Linda was in on
17:27
it as well. I wonder
17:29
why they would think that. Well,
17:32
their theory was that Richard had a left
17:34
to set up a new life and that
17:36
Linda and the boys would be following him.
17:39
I mean, if that was the case, it would
17:41
be odd for her to report him
17:44
missing. Well, maybe, you know, it was
17:46
a situation where like she
17:49
was doing that to throw suspicion off
17:52
of herself, right? You know, she played
17:54
the role of this confused wife
17:57
who didn't know what had happened and nobody
17:59
would suspect. that she was involved
18:01
in these illegal business dealings. It
18:04
seems kind of elaborate though, you know?
18:06
Yeah. Especially considering, like up
18:09
to this point, it didn't
18:11
seem like any law enforcement was
18:13
investigating him. So like if he
18:15
was planning on picking up and starting a new life
18:18
somewhere and then bringing the wife and kids
18:20
over, like just go and
18:22
do it. Right, and don't talk about
18:24
it and just like quietly. Just disappear, yeah.
18:26
Yeah, yeah. Like the whole family.
18:28
Well, exactly, yeah. Linda
18:30
told ABC News, quote, they interrogated me
18:33
over and over. They alluded a lot
18:35
to the possibility that he was involved
18:37
in some type of drug trafficking, which
18:39
I had no clue, end quote. Though
18:42
Linda had nothing to do with her husband's
18:45
disappearance or any illegal dealings, whatever
18:47
they were, she did begin to think that
18:49
the police may have been onto something regarding
18:51
her husband because strange
18:54
things started happening. Linda
18:57
noticed that she was being followed around
18:59
town. When she received
19:01
her mail, much of it looked like it
19:03
had already been opened and resealed. And
19:06
her father even found a listening
19:09
device on her phone. Interesting.
19:12
Yeah. So
19:14
something was going on, but
19:17
she had no idea what. Eventually,
19:19
the financial mess that Richard left
19:21
became too much for Linda, and
19:23
she lost their house and
19:25
their car. She and
19:27
her boys moved in with her parents to save
19:30
money, but Linda still felt like she was being
19:32
watched. This feeling
19:34
didn't go away, and six months later,
19:36
she took her children and moved to
19:38
another town in Indiana and basically went
19:41
into hiding. She put
19:43
all of her bills in her parents' name and
19:45
would make her kids catch the school bus from
19:47
a friend's house so that nobody knew where they
19:49
lived. And
19:51
this paranoia lasted four years. And when
19:54
I say paranoia, I'm not saying that
19:56
it's unjustified because, again, her
19:59
dad found a listening device. on her
20:01
phone. I don't know
20:03
if whatever was going on continued for
20:05
all of those years or whatever, but
20:07
she definitely had a reason to be
20:10
paranoid. Yeah, it's worth the caution.
20:12
Yeah. So after
20:14
the collect calls in February of
20:16
1993, Linda didn't hear from
20:19
Richard again. The next
20:21
contact, though, came later that year
20:23
via birthday cards to
20:25
Matthew and Doug, each of
20:27
which had $50 inside. A
20:31
return address or stamps
20:34
from another country? No,
20:36
no. And yeah, I
20:39
don't remember and I don't have it
20:41
in here specifically
20:43
where it was postmarked from, but I know
20:46
that it was just kind of a dead
20:48
end, wherever it was. The card that
20:50
he sent to Doug for his seventh
20:52
birthday read, quote, have a
20:54
super birthday. You are a super boy.
20:57
I love you and miss seeing
20:59
you. Let your mom help spend this
21:01
money. You might want to put some away. Maybe
21:03
sometime soon we will get to see each other. I bet
21:06
I won't even know you. It has been
21:08
so long. Find your mother by dad,
21:11
end quote. Like
21:15
what a fucked up birthday
21:17
card to send your seven year old
21:19
son after you abandoned your family like,
21:21
you know, eight months prior or whatever. Sure,
21:24
it came up in therapy. Yeah,
21:27
yeah. But after those
21:29
cards, Richard never tried to
21:31
contact his family again. No more
21:34
cards, no more phone calls. Nothing.
21:37
As the years went on, Linda
21:39
started to rebuild her life. She
21:41
divorced Richard in absentia after
21:44
finding out that right before he left, he maxed
21:46
out a total of 26 credit cards. Whoa.
21:50
Yeah. And even forged
21:52
Linda's signature on a loan.
21:55
Wow. Now
21:58
the judge ordered Richard to pay the debt. but
22:00
you know, he obviously wasn't around to do so
22:02
but... It was meaningless but... Great,
22:04
well no, it's not meaningless because I
22:06
mean, because they were married, they were
22:09
herd deaths as well. Oh yeah, yeah.
22:11
So that was a really important judgment
22:13
in terms of like, Linda being able
22:15
to live a functional life. Yeah,
22:17
no, I just, I wasn't thinking about it like that but
22:19
you're right. Yeah.
22:22
In 2003, 10 years after he
22:24
went missing, Richard Hoagland was officially
22:26
declared dead by the state of
22:28
Indiana. With Luckyland
22:30
Slots, you can get lucky just
22:32
about anywhere. This is
22:34
your captain speaking. We've got clear runway and the
22:36
weather's fine, but we're just going to circle up
22:39
here a while and get lucky. No,
22:41
no, nothing like that. It's just these cash
22:43
prizes add up quick, so I suggest you
22:45
sit back, keep your tray table upright, and
22:47
start getting lucky. Play
22:49
for free at luckylandslots.com. Are
22:51
you feeling lucky? No purchase
22:53
necessary. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus
22:56
terms and conditions apply. See website
22:58
for details. When
23:02
someone is hurt in a truck accident,
23:04
the one question everyone has is why
23:06
did this terrible collision happen? To
23:09
answer that question takes an experienced team
23:11
of lawyers and experts. Not
23:14
everyone has this type of experience. At
23:16
Colombo Law, we are truck injury
23:18
lawyers. It's what we do every
23:20
day. When someone is hurt
23:23
by a truck, Colombo Law is the law
23:25
firm people call to get answers. Hurt
23:27
by a truck, call Colombo Law. If
23:31
you've been hurt by a truck, you can call
23:33
Colombo Law 24-7 and we'll be there to make
23:35
sure you're taken care of. When
23:37
someone is hurt by a truck, Colombo Law
23:39
is the law firm people call to get
23:41
answers. Hurt by a truck, call
23:44
Colombo Law. Linda eventually
23:46
remarried and worked as a nurse. Matthew
23:49
grew up and started his own family. Doug,
23:52
the one who was younger, who got
23:54
that birthday card, had a much rougher
23:56
go of it. He
23:58
says now that his issues were related to
24:00
his father's disappearance but his mother
24:03
disagrees. I mean they might have been
24:05
related to the birthday card. Yeah,
24:07
like specifically just that fucking birthday
24:09
card. She believes
24:11
that the toll that you know
24:13
Richard's whole abandonment
24:16
took on her family was immense, which
24:18
of course it was like how could
24:20
it not be? Yeah. When
24:23
Doug was in high school he broke his
24:26
hand. The doctors prescribed him pay
24:28
medicine and like we
24:30
know... Then it went downhill from there.
24:32
It did, you know, like it
24:35
happens for so so many people.
24:37
So that led
24:39
to a drug problem that has plagued
24:41
him ever since. He
24:43
has spent most of his adult life
24:46
in jail in prison for various just
24:48
drug related offenses. For
24:50
23 years Linda and
24:53
her two sons lived without answers until
24:56
2016 when she received a call from a
24:59
detective in Pasco County, Florida.
25:02
Detective Anthony Cardillo asked Linda if she
25:05
knew a man named
25:07
Richard Hoagland. She
25:09
told him yes, that was her ex-husband. Who
25:13
was also dead. Yeah, also officially
25:15
legally dead. And
25:17
had been at this point for 13 years. But
25:20
this detective told Linda that they
25:22
had her husband in custody. Okay,
25:25
so let's talk about what a piece of shit this guy is.
25:29
Also a dumbass because he
25:31
came back to the States and got arrested
25:33
in Florida. Well, 23 years later,
25:36
so apparently he was kind of good
25:39
at it. And
25:41
you will not believe when you hear
25:43
what this guy's been up to for the past 23 years.
25:45
Alright, let's get into it. So
25:48
apparently Richard bounced around Aruba, Venezuela and who knows
25:50
where else in 1993. But by 1994 he landed
25:52
in Florida. He
26:00
was in Florida that whole
26:02
time that whole time Wow,
26:06
okay. I take it back. I guess he's not as much
26:08
of a dumbass as I thought. Yeah, I mean
26:11
a piece of shit Yeah for
26:13
sure But yeah, so
26:15
he got to Florida and
26:17
he rented a room from
26:19
a man named Edward Simanski
26:22
Edward was grieving the loss of his son Terry
26:24
who had recently died in a fishing accident Richard
26:28
found Harry's death certificate and was
26:30
able to use the information on
26:33
it to request a birth certificate
26:39
Yep now with that
26:41
he was able to receive an
26:43
Alabama driver's license through the mail
26:46
Through the mail through the mail, which is
26:48
why I assume he did Alabama instead of Florida.
26:51
Yeah Now
26:53
once he had that Alabama driver's
26:55
license, he was able to obtain
26:57
a Florida driver's license. Gotcha
27:01
After that Richard began living his
27:03
life as Terry Simanski He
27:06
even got married As
27:09
Terry Simanski as Terry Simanski
27:14
Yep, and within a few years
27:16
his new wife gave birth to his son
27:20
What the hell Yeah together
27:22
they built a lovely life for themselves They
27:27
bought a home and investment properties that
27:29
they rented out Is
27:32
that what he did for a living? Yeah, basically Richard
27:35
even received his pilot's license and had
27:37
his own plane What?
27:42
Like he was living the life While
27:46
he left his first family in financial ruin being like
27:48
followed around and listened to and spied on and just
27:50
you know living through hell for years Richard
27:53
was finally discovered by the real Terry Simanski's nephew
28:01
In 2013, he was looking up
28:04
his family on ancestry.com and
28:06
found Terry Szymanski's marriage
28:08
certificate and pilot's license,
28:11
both of which were issued after they had buried him
28:13
in 1991. According
28:18
to an article on Medium written by
28:20
Shabango Lakshmi, the Szymanski family
28:22
was hesitant to do anything with this
28:25
information. They didn't know who
28:27
had stolen Terry's identity and they didn't know
28:29
if this would put them in danger or
28:31
what, you know? They
28:34
didn't know what they were looking at,
28:36
what they were walking into, potentially nothing. But
28:41
in 2016, so like three years later, their
28:43
nephew said, you know what, screw it, and
28:45
decided to contact the police anyway. When
28:48
Detective Cardio confronted Richard, he swore
28:50
that he was Terry Szymanski. He
28:53
provided his Social Security number, driver's
28:55
license, and birth certificate. Which
28:58
all seemed legit. Well, yeah, because they
29:01
were really, you know? They had
29:03
been issued by the proper government
29:05
agencies, you know? They weren't forgeries
29:08
or anything like that. They
29:10
were just gotten under
29:12
false pretenses. But then
29:15
Cardio showed Richard Terry's death
29:17
certificate and then
29:19
Richard finally admitted who he really was.
29:23
Richard was arrested for identity theft and
29:26
Indiana authorities wanted to charge him with
29:28
a lot more. Yeah, I'm sure.
29:31
Unfortunately, any other crimes,
29:33
including theft for the
29:35
money he took from Linda in order to start his
29:37
new life, had statutes of
29:40
limitations that had already run out.
29:43
Wow. Yeah, so like the fraud, like all of that
29:45
stuff. It had been 23 years, you know? And
29:48
basically statute of limitations in the US,
29:50
I mean, granted, it varies from state
29:52
to state, but like pretty much beyond
29:54
like murder, like 23 years, you can
29:56
get Away with. When
30:00
a lot like most statutes of
30:02
Limitations, Are. Up by then we'll yeah
30:04
and especially white collar crime. Exactly exactly
30:07
a you're talking probably five to ten
30:09
years and most yeah. So.
30:11
Eventually he ended up being sentenced
30:13
to two years in federal prison
30:16
for the identity theft. After
30:19
his release and Twenty Teen Winter
30:21
sued Richard for back child support
30:23
and was awarded one point eight
30:26
three million dollars. Did
30:28
Richard have that Now for sauce?
30:31
That hearing that was the first
30:33
time that Richards abandoned wife and
30:35
children had seen him in person
30:37
since Nineteen Ninety Three. God,
30:40
I can't even imagine that. His.
30:42
Younger son died Told the Indianapolis Star quote
30:44
if you think you had two kids and
30:46
you wanted to see them so bad. You
30:49
think you'd be a little bit emotional? But.
30:51
This guy. Nothing. There.
30:53
Is nothing there? And. Quote.
30:58
Neither. Of the Hoagland children wants to have
31:01
a relationship with the father who abandon them. Marry.
31:04
The woman he married in Florida divorced him
31:06
after his arrest and was able to keep
31:08
most of their assets. Are Well
31:10
that's good. Yeah is. I. Mean
31:13
Sunedison Podium: Of yeah I mean from
31:15
all accounts like she had no idea. I
31:17
mean she thought she married terrorists Umansky had
31:19
no idea about you know anything that he
31:21
had done in Indianapolis. So. She was
31:23
from what I can tell, like another innocent
31:26
victim and all of us. It's.
31:28
Unclear what routers relationship is with his
31:30
youngest son who was nineteen at the
31:32
time of his arrest. but Richard miss
31:34
back to Indiana after he was released
31:36
from prison was like. That part shocks
31:38
me. it's like do nobody. Oh and
31:40
to their like to cycle is this
31:43
to pick another state? Yeah to Slate.
31:45
Maybe Florida has done for you to
31:47
about like we have. Forty eight more
31:49
states are just go back to fucking
31:51
Venezuela. Yeah I just get out. Nobody
31:53
wants you. But. that's
31:56
basically it richard lake apparently has some sort
31:58
of gym lot and he is to
32:00
pay Linda back, you know, but
32:02
you know, he's not going to
32:04
like he's not going to be able to
32:06
pay back 1.83 million dollars and he's probably
32:08
working like the lowest like menial job that
32:11
he can, you know,
32:13
so that he doesn't have to. Right.
32:16
But yeah, he's just a shitty
32:18
person who abandoned his family. We've
32:21
covered many cases in which police have
32:23
believed that a missing person just ran off
32:26
to start a new life. And
32:28
this is one where it actually happened. Yeah. Yeah.
32:30
And there's still, we still don't
32:32
know like who the people were that
32:34
were that was following. No, or like
32:38
never found on her phone, any
32:40
of that out or really what
32:42
crimes he even actually committed other
32:44
than like, you know, like I said, it
32:47
does sound like he did. He was scrolling
32:49
away cash or something. Yeah. Yeah.
32:51
You know, in order to make his escape.
32:54
But yeah, I don't know if it
32:57
was insurance fraud, or if he was
32:59
involved in like illegal business dealings, if
33:01
there was some sort of like crime
33:04
element, drugs, gambling, like we have no
33:06
idea what this guy was actually into.
33:08
Like nobody was really able to figure
33:10
it out. Crazy. Yeah. And
33:13
it is worth mentioning before, you know, you may
33:15
start to think like,
33:17
Oh, well, maybe more people do run
33:20
off and start new lives. Like, unlike
33:22
the other stories we've told where that's
33:25
been a theory, he did contact people
33:27
after his disappearance. You
33:29
know, right? Yeah. The
33:31
shitty birthday card, the phone calls, exactly.
33:33
Multiple phone calls, you know, whatever.
33:36
So while yes, some people do run
33:38
off with no belongings, you know, no winter
33:40
coat to start a
33:42
new life. Most of them are not
33:45
Richard Houghland, thankfully.
34:10
Thank you for joining us for
34:12
this very special Patreon bonus episode
34:14
on a solved missing
34:16
person's case. Thank
34:19
you again so much for subscribing to our
34:22
Patreon. If you could actually, if you haven't
34:25
left us a review, that would be
34:27
great on the podcast app of your
34:29
choice. Yeah, that would be fantastic. Good
34:31
pods. Yeah, Apple, Spotify.
34:33
Apple, Spotify, anything. Podbean,
34:36
interestingly, is like our third highest source
34:38
of listeners. So don't know what that's about.
34:40
Never heard of it. No, yes, there
34:42
is Hayas. So like, it's another, you know,
34:44
platform. But yeah, so Podbean. So iHeartRadio,
34:46
we're everywhere. And you know, tell
34:48
your friends if you like it. Obviously you do.
34:51
You're on our Patreon. So thank you for that. But
34:53
yeah, tell your friends. You
34:56
know, we are trying to grow the podcast.
34:58
We've got some exciting things coming up. Oh,
35:01
we just started a Facebook group.
35:04
Oh, right. Yeah. So
35:06
this is a Facebook group
35:08
where you come and discuss
35:10
the episodes, but also anything
35:12
having to do with missing
35:15
persons cases. So not exclusively cases
35:17
that we've covered. Exactly. You
35:19
know, we will be posting about our cases, but
35:21
you can post about anything that you want. It
35:23
is a public group called Unsolved
35:25
Missing Persons Cases. It is public. Like
35:27
I said, you could get to it
35:30
from our Facebook page or you can
35:32
just search for it on Facebook. But
35:34
please, you know, join us. We have
35:36
just gotten started like two days ago.
35:39
So, you know, we've got a few members,
35:41
but not most of our listeners. So we
35:43
would love to see you there. Again,
35:46
we will have a normal episode next week.
35:48
So stay tuned for that. And
35:50
in the meantime, we will see you here soon. See
35:53
you soon. When
36:01
someone is heard a truck accident
36:03
the one question everyone has is
36:05
why did this terrible collision happen
36:07
Say that for some takes an
36:09
experience team of lawyers and x.
36:12
Not everyone has the side as
36:15
experienced a Colombo Love. We are
36:17
truck Injury Lawyers is what we
36:19
do every day when someone's hurt
36:21
by a truck. Colombo Law is
36:23
the law firm people call to
36:25
get answers. Hurt by a
36:27
truck call Colombo. Law.
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More