At the time Heist disappeared, police questioned her husband to see if he had anything to do with her disappearance. He had her declared dead in 2010 and collected on a life insurance policy and has also remarried. When reached by the media, he said he was angry at his wife for leaving their two kids without any answers. Brenda had been arrested on a charge last week, but had given police a different name. She confessed everything to police about her past a few days after her arrest.
She had to have deep emotional problems.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, MISCH. This story is not fun or gossip. IDK. Just sad.
ReplyDeleteFlorida!
ReplyDeleteGood ole Florida...
DeleteWait so now that she's been obviously declared alive will her husband have to reimburse the insurance company?
ReplyDeleteLooks like she was hiding in a meth lab. That would be a great way for a terrorist to infiltrate our society. Pose as homeless, stay off the grid. I know my mind's weird.
ReplyDeleteMinus the ditching the kids, theres something pretty awesome about leaving everything behind and floating around off the grid for 11 years...
ReplyDeleteThose poor kids.
ReplyDeleteAs an American you have every legal right to disappear. But not when you have kids, fuck you when you have kids.
ReplyDeleteMeth. Not even once.
ReplyDeleteLa Descarada---YOU BET! The threats are surely being composed as we type!
ReplyDeleteHoly Faces of Meth
ReplyDeleteI actually read this article yesterday. She and her husband were going through an amicable divorce at the time. She dropped her kids off at school one day and drove to park where she sat on a bench crying because finances were difficult and things were stressing her out. A couple of homeless people asked if she was okay. They all started talking and they invited her to travel to south Florida with them. She was at a vulnerable moment, obviously. As for why she stayed gone so long, I'm sure there was shame paired with fear. And then, it just became her life. I think it's a pretty interesting study of character.
ReplyDelete*to A park
ReplyDeleteReading between the lines it sounds like she suffered some kind of break down.
ReplyDeletetimebob +1
ReplyDeleteOh why do they all end up in FLORIDA?!!? GRRRRRRRR... we got enough crazies without them coming down here like it's a magnet.
ReplyDeletePoor lady. Thanks discoflux for the back story, i didnt know all of that.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder what the hubby spent her life insurance on, and if they were in the middle of a divorce, i say he shouldnt have gotten a penny of it, but it go to a account for the kids
I saw this on the news this morning, too, and the guy said that he was angry in part because lots of people believed he had killed his wife, and basically shunned him and his children.
ReplyDelete@Claritysk, at least in my state, none of those legal issues are altered until the divorce finalization is entered. The mere filing of a divorce does not change the status quo.
Come on Claritysk - Why try to make him the bad guy in this story. He probably spent it raising their children as a single father and dealing with the messes (investigations ect) that she left.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the story he and the kids went through hell. Because of her disappearance you was prime suspect. Neighbors wouldn't let their kids play with his because he was a suspected murderer- a lot of people like you that would have jumped to conclusion that he was somehow involved because they were in the middle of a divorce. He she wasn't such a worthless pos and had some assets he could and should sue her ass off. I wonder if there is some criminal charges which could be made against her.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine how pissed her kids must be at her for abandoning them? I know I would be.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Florida has to claim her - she's from Pennsylvania. Blame it on the Keystone State (and I'm from Pa so I can say this ;) )
ReplyDeleteTurn this story around and see how you would feel about the abandoned wife getting the insurance payout. How much sympathy would you have for the scumbag husband that left.
ReplyDeleteThe faces of meth has a new poster girl.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for all these people, some people just get a divorce and it's no biggy but for others it's a traumatic event. It's not easy to be going through tough financial times, I can only imagine what a vulnerable state she was in so I can totally understand why she would want to split to escape.
ReplyDeleteShe likely figured it would be better for the kids if they stayed with their Dad. I'm sure she missed them the entire time she was gone.
I feel sorry for both her and her kids. She had to have had some mental issues to walk away and then live like that. What she did to her family isn't right but she looks like she's lived through hell. Hope she gets some support from her mother and brother to get back to where maybe she can make amends to her children.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it, this is the second time she is messing with the lives of her children and ex-husband. First was when he disappeared, abandoning them and making her husband a suspect.
ReplyDeleteNOW, she returns to mess up whatever life he and the kids have made for themselves. He'll probably have to reimburse the insurance company. Hope that money wasn't in a college fund for the kids.
Of course she ended up in Florida.
ReplyDeleteOn a superficial note, ff she's homeless, where does she get the money to color her hair?
ReplyDeleteMy thought too. Maybe she shoplifted some Clairol.
DeleteWell it is warm in Florida and if you have to live on the street. Looks like she colored her hair though. She really has something mentally wrong to just walk away and leave her children.
ReplyDeleteThe husband didn't collect the insurance until 8 years later. She had to be declared legally dead first. He seems to have a done a good job with the kids, because one just graduated from college and the other one is currently attending college.
ReplyDeleteI was reading comments on many sites about this last night, and some people feel sorry for her -- saying she couldn't handle her situation. But if so, why didn't she just tell anyone? Why leave your kids like that?
Anyway, I smell a TV movie coming up. If the husband has to pay back the insurance, hopefully he can make some money on a movie deal. I'm afraid that if the mom gets any money, she'll blow it on drugs.
The story she gives about leaving because of some housing issue makes no sense. She leaves to live in a trailer with a guy? She leaves with total strangers she meets in a park? She leaves to live under a bridge?
What about the status of their marriage, however? He remarried, but now his "ex" is still alive.
Anyway, here's an update:
Missing Woman Resurfaces
She looks like a less attractive Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio in her before pic.
ReplyDeleteDid they confirm that this really is the same person?
ReplyDeleteLifetime presents Runaway Meth Mom starring Gollum as Meth Mom
ReplyDeleteOT but whatever happened to Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio anyway? I thought she was great.
ReplyDeleteThat poor guy, suspected all these years for murder, and of course those poor kids.
Iggy?
ReplyDeleteThis bitch. Seriously?
ReplyDeleteLife is that hard huh. Even people who kill themselves have he decency to leave a note. She could hav left a note or a message on an answering machine... etc.
She left her husband ot go through the harrassment of being accused of killing her. Who does that? As a missing white female, she made the news, and still didn't reach out to let people know she was alive?
Chances are, her drug addiction was in full swing before she hitched a ride to Florida.
Her ex and her kids finally got over her sudden death, and now she has the nerve to resurface. Bitch should have stayed dead/gone. I feel for her ex and hte kids. No one deserves this nonsense.
Amen!
DeleteAmen!
DeleteThose poor kids, and the husband. Poor guy. What a mess. Look at all the resources wasted. Officials have looked for her for years. Husband was investigated and watched for years. She has been arrested more than once. From what I read she seems to do OK as long as someone else is providing for her. Society needs to figure out what to do with these people because closing all the mental hospitals and letting those people out to fend for themselves isn't working. It's doing way more harm than good. She's left a pretty big trail of devastation.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't doubt she had a drug problem before she "disappeared" and that was somehow playing into the divorce and finances. Rational people don't choose this lifestyle for 11 years. I would have expected a collect call from her after a week of living on the street.
ReplyDeleteLeaving your husband is one thing, but leaving your kids? Maybe they were better off with her gone.
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ReplyDeleteUm, yes, in comparing the two photos, I would absolutely seek confirmation! It's hard to see the same person in these photos, and using the facial features?! Can't tell. The last 11 years may have been really, really hard on her, if it is the same person.
ReplyDeleteFrankly? As someone who was dumped a few weeks ago by my husband, I can see the appeal of just running away. My husband ran off and left me to deal with two kids and a large house and three dogs with not enough money. I wouldn't run off and disappear, but believe you me, it sounds pretty good right about now. The stress and pain is overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she colored her hair prior to disappearing and this is her natural color?
ReplyDeleteI think since she was declared dead, the dad wouldn't have to repay the money, the insurance company would have done thorough research to determine that 1)she was dead and 2) that he did not kill her and benefit from her death.
Krab, so sorry to hear what you're going through. I can't even imagine. Keep your chin up, it WILL get better. Signed, someone who's been there, too.
ReplyDeleteKrab, get your butt to an attorney ASAP - they'll get you in front of a judge and some sort of child support quickly. You and your kids are entitled to have a place to live and food to eat.
ReplyDeleteKrab, thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least the kids and ex will get some sort of closure. It must be horrible for them to have wondered for all these years.
ReplyDelete@ msgirl - Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio played the Captain on L&O Special Victims for awhile.
There is such a double standard for men and women who abandon their families. Most people are not interested to listen to a man's side of things, NO! Right away he's scum and a dead beat dad. But a woman? Most sympathise with her, and try to come up with plausible excuses for her. WHY???
ReplyDeleteI work in insurance, with some specificity in life insurance. Had this been a case of fraud (like he or she intentionally faked her death, or he killed her but was originally considered not involved with her disappearance), yes, the money would have to be paid back. In this case, I'm not so sure. There wasn't fraud; i.e. no evidence linked him, the beneficiary, to her disappearance, and he waited the requisite time to have her declared dead, and there was no reasonable evidence of her continued existence. The company would have a hard time collecting that money when the beneficiary did nothing wrong. It was all done in "good faith."
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Mail story (imagine the DM providing some useful info!) said in all her years in FL, she never once used an ID or a bank card, even when being paid for cleaning boats. And as for identifying her, the DM story had a Missing poster which indicated her identifying characteristic was the inability to grow facial hair, hence the pencil eyebrows in the old photo. You'll notice there aren't any brows in today's version.
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ReplyDeleteI actually had seen her around because she hangs out in Key Largo and at the little strip mall by the house we go to during the summer (my inlaws' ---I am broke).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, she is very to her self in that she's not rude, and barely makes eye contact. She has a lot of friends there also. Pretty popular. She had a different name which escapes me. Weird to know her story. I wish so many things. I always wondered what her story was (as I do when I see troubled individuals).
She went gray. Look at her 2" roots. The blonde is added color, not bleach. She could get hair dye for a few bucks.
ReplyDeleteIf she is suffering from some sort of mental issue, I have sympathy for her, but my heart aches for her kids. Listening to the ex husband talk about what they went through was pretty terrible. :(
ReplyDeletesad, really sad.
ReplyDeleteHer hair is bleached out gray and from the sun, morons. She needs forgiveness and medical care.
ReplyDeleteMy heart definitely goes out to the children. I can literally feel their pain and wonderment of where their mother went. I struggled with my children but never once thought of giving them up for any reason.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with the financial difficulties and the issues with her husband and probability of divorce and possibly a custody battle, I could see how her situation would be similar to a mother who gives her children up for adoption to give them a better life.
Maybe she realized she couldn't give them the life they deserve. Maybe she knew her husband could file claims on the insurance and her children would have a chance at college they might not have otherwise had.
And now, not only do the children need closure but so does she.
Very sad story. I pray God watches over her and the family and gives them guidance in this situation.