In May 2014, a woman named Lisa, from the American mid-west, published a blog pleading with her estranged husband for money and answers. Her marriage had gone horribly wrong. The man she had pledged to love, honour and cherish had deceived her, left her with a massive debt, and then vanished.
“Scott, it has been several months since we’ve spoken,” the post began. “You said you were in counselling for the lying … I found no record of your divorce from Jennifer ... I am aware that you are currently engaged to Diana ...”
Lisa had known for a while that her husband was not who he claimed, but she was only just starting to discover how crooked he truly was. After creating the blog, she heard from women all over the United States who had also been wronged by the man she knew as Richard Scott Smith, but whom others called Mickey, Rick or Scott. Some of these women had married him. Some had incurred large debts because of him. At least one had been bankrupted.
The growing contingent of cheated women compared notes and found that Smith seemed to follow a playbook.
“I think there’s something twisted deep within this person where he feels compelled to beg for and get someone’s love and then punish them,” says filmmaker Heidi Ewing, who found herself drawn into the twisted rat’s nest of lies, predation and fraud that Smith had left in his wake, and eventually made a four-part documentary, Love Fraud.
The similarities between the women’s stories didn’t end when he vanished. Each woman who tried to report him to the authorities hit a brick wall.
Esta historia es de la edición September 2020 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 2020 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
