Rolling Stone had a great article back in June, 2009, about a girl named Esther Reed who stole a missing girl’s identity, “Brooke Henson,” to start a new, better life for herself – one that included enrolment at Harvard University and Columbia University.

When police finally caught wind of what Esther was doing, they obviously suspected her of being a serial killer and international spy, and she soon found herself on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.

A portion of the article that describes the thinking of the police officer in charge of the investigation:

Using Fleischmann’s information — including the cellphone records — Campbell uncovered her pre-Cal State identity, “Natalie Fisher.” He also ran the name “Esther Reed” through the National Crime Information Center database and discovered that she was listed as a missing person. Campbell sent a photo of “Brooke Henson” to Washington police, who showed it to the Reed family. They confirmed it was Esther. It was their first indication in seven years that she was still alive.

Campbell struggled to make sense of the facts. What could Esther Reed’s motivation possibly be? Was she a drug courier, as Fleischmann suggested? Or, just maybe, could she have murdered Brooke Henson and the other girls she impersonated? “I thought, ‘Man, she might be a serial killer,’” recalls Campbell. Then one day, while reading the hundreds of pages of instant messages that Kyle Brengel had turned over, his eyes lit on a passage in which Esther expressed keen curiosity about a term paper the cadet was writing about tactical troop movements. In another exchange, she told Kyle that she’d love to be James Bond — that being a spy would be her dream job.

Of course, Campbell concluded: Esther Reed was a spy.

If Campbell had learned anything from his time in the Coast Guard, it was that threats lurk everywhere. Everything started falling into place: the military boyfriends, the plastic surgery, the wire transfer from Europe, the false passport. Campbell could see now that Esther had been infiltrating military intelligence at its roots, by seducing young cadets at West Point who would become tomorrow’s military leaders.

“It’s Cold War spy stuff, the same thing the Soviet Union did to us for 50 years!” says Campbell, still excited by his theory. “They’d have some girl go in, have sex with them. Did you ever see the movie The Good Shepherd? It’s exactly like that. Ten years from now, the guy is going up for his first star as a general, and he’s on the Joint Chiefs of Staff or something. The guy gets a package, it has a movie in it, and it’s ‘You work for us now.’ That’s classic espionage.”

Campbell notified the Secret Service and the Army. The manhunt was on.

A regular Columbo, this guy. It’s always surprising to me how easily suspicious people can get. What’s that? She stole someone’s identity? Get me the Pentagon! I’ve found a Russian.

…oh…she’s just a confused kid from South Carolina…right…that was my second guess. First guess: Russian. Second guess: confused kid.

My third guess?

Mermaid.

…the evidence supports my theory.

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