Sunday, May 5, 2013

Missing mom who abandoned her children and fled to Florida for 11 years only turned herself in after being wanted on unrelated forgery charges

A runaway mom who went missing for 11 years before walking into a police station last week did so because there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest.
Brenda Heist, who was eventually presumed dead by her husband and two children after suddenly going missing from their Pennsylvania home, walked into the Alachua County Jail in Gainsville, Florida last Friday after violating her probation.
The 53-year-old was released from jail a few weeks ago after being arrested for drug possession and driving with an expired tag in Pinellas County, Florida.
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Brenda Heist
Brenda Heist
Eleven years on the run: Brenda Heist pictured left at the time of her disappearance and right as she looked when she walked into a Florida police station last Friday

She gave police her alias Kelsie Lyanne Smith which alerted authorities that she was wanted in Pensacola for stealing a driving license. She was charged with forgery and giving a false name to police.
Following her release, she did not report to her parole officer, according to WTSP leading to the warrant for her in Santa Rosa County.
She will be transferred on Monday at the earliest to Santa Rosa County Jail. No bond has been set, authorities told ABC.

It emerged this week that Heist had set up a new life as a Florida cleaner and never spoke about the family she left behind.
Friends have spoken of their shock at discovering who she actually was and lifted the lid on her runaway life which was far less tragic than she has made out. For a time she lived happily in Florida, making money as a cleaner and living with friends.
Pictures reveal her drinking, swimming and hanging out with her new acquaintances to whom she never told her real story.
'We're learning now that life wasn't so bad for her in some of her friend's eyes, that are calling us today," Detective Sergeant Schofield, who is leading the investigation, told the Lancaster Online.
Sondra Forrester said: 'We were close, she was a friend, and we did things on weekends. We spent time at the beach, and fishing. She was around my three kids. She was very sweet. She called me sweetie. I felt bad for her. It sounded like she'd had a hard life. She said she was a widow, had no children, that her mother died when she was 6.'
Another friend who knew Heist as 'Lovie Smith' said she had no idea she was being deceived.

'I can’t believe she was being so dishonest… can’t believe she had kids,' she told CBS Philly.
heist
Missing: The then 42-year-old was last seen dropping off her two children at school in Lititz, Pennsylvania
Heist worked as a cleaner in the Panhandle after hitch-hiking there with a pair of vagrants.

She told police she was acting on a whim after suffering money problems and facing divorce.

When building her new life she apparently told friends she had a husband who had died.
She never revealed she had two children left to grow up thinking their mother may have been murdered.

'She didn’t want children, she didn’t like children and never had children. That’s what she told me,' the friend said.

'She spoke mostly about her husband and how much she really loved him and she was devastated that he died.'
It was through work as a cleaner that she stole another identity - lifting the driver's license of one of her housekeeping clients.

When the deception was discovered she moved on again.

Over the 11 years she is said to have three aliases.  She also went by Kelsei Smith and even served a short time in jail for identity theft when that was uncovered.
For a time it seems she was homeless although where and when is unclear.  Her real identity didn't emerge until she turned up at a Florida police station this week.
And as the news came out her family reacted in horror that they had been living a lie
Her daughter, Morgan Heist, 19, took to Twitter to reveal how angry she was after realizing her mother had willfully left.
'This doesn't seem real. I feel like I'm in my own horrible nightmare and can't wake up.'
She also tweeted that she was glad her father was now exonerated of any blame or suspicion about his wife's disappearance.
'To every person who ever questioned my dads place in my moms dissapearance, (sic) take that.'
Shock: New friends of Heist were shocked to hear of her real identity and that she'd left her family 11 years before
Shock: New friends of Heist were shocked to hear of her real identity and that she'd left her family 11 years before
All grown up: Morgan Heist, pictured with her brother Lee, has said wishes she had never cried for her missing mom who has finally showed up after eleven years
All grown up: Morgan Heist, pictured with her brother Lee, has said she wishes she had never cried for her missing mom who has finally showed up after eleven years
Morgan Heist's Twitter updates since finding out last Friday that her mom is still alive reveal a young woman whose joy has quickly turned to anger
Morgan Heist's Twitter updates since finding out last Friday that her mom is still alive reveal a young woman whose joy has quickly turned to anger
On Sunday she wrote: 'Tomorrow will be the day I will hopefully finally get closure in my life. I need the truth more than anything.'
But later that day she tweeted: 'My brother and I don't want contact with her as of now.'
By the next day her tweets about her mom had become more negative: 'You were finally becoming less and less of a memory. Now? You're a horrible nightmare.'
Since then they have continued in a similar vein. 'To think I would EVER want to talk to a woman like you.. I can't believe I wanted to possibly see you. F*** you "mother."
Another read: 'You will never gain my love or respect. You deserve to rot in hell for what you have done to me.'
Morgan also revealed to the media on Wednesday that knowing what she knows now, she wishes she never cried over her mom's fate.
Heist’s ex-husband meanwhile has said he is angry but working on forgiveness.
DAILYMAIL

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