Two decades later, wife finds out what became of vanished husband
Indiana woman’s former spouse arrested in Florida on identity theft charges
Twenty-three years had passed since Linda Iseler had seen or heard from her husband. The Indiana woman had assumed Richard Hoagland — who had mysteriously vanished after11years of marriage — was dead.
That all changed this summer when Iseker received a phone from detective Anthony Cardillo of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Department in Florida, according to ABC News.
“He asked me if I knew who Richard Hoagland was, and I said, ‘Yes, that’s my ex-husband,’ ” Iseler recalled.
“He said, ‘We have him in custody.’ ”
After abandoning his family in1993, Hoagland moved to Florida, where he constructed an entirely new existence from scratch.
Police say he started by stealing the death certificate and adopting the identity of a man named Terry Jude Symansky, a fisherman who died in 1991.
News about Hoagland’s arrest broke in July, but his ex-wife and the investigator who uncovered his true identity have recently spoken out on ABC’s “20/20.”
For more than two decades, Terry Symansky appeared to lead an ordinary life in Pasco County. He had a wife named Mary and a teenage son, owned property and “worked odd jobs,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The truth began to surface when a nephew of the real Terry Symansky - who drowned in1991at the age of 33 - started an Ancestry.com family search, according to NBC affiliate WFLA. Knowing that his uncle was dead, the nephew was surprised to find someone with the same name living in Central Florida.
Fearing that their fake relative might try to harm them, family members waited three years before eventually contacting authorities in April.
Hoagland, 63, was arrested in July and charged with fraudulent use of personal identification, the paper reported. He has pleaded not guilty.
Hoagland’s disappearance in 1993 seemed to come without warning, Iseler told “20/20.”
She said the family lived in a large home, took exotic vacations and appeared to have a healthy marriage. Their two sons were ages 6 and 9 at the time.
Then, one day, without warning, everything changed.
Iseler was never able to find her husband, even after calling all the local hospitals.
In his absence, Hoagland’s family suffered, never knowing what had become of him.
In addition to losing their house and cars, Iseler said there was even a point when police suspected she may have been criminally responsible for her husband’s disappearance.
She told investigators that Hoagland told her in the early 1990s that he was wanted by the FBI for embezzling millions of dollars and had no choice but to leave town, according to the Tampa Bay Times. In reality, police told the paper, Hoagland told investigators that he left Indiana to get away from his wife.
Eventually, the paper reported, Hoagland’s wife assumed her husband was dead.
“They interrogated me over and over and over,” she told “20/20.” “They alluded a lot to the possibility that he was involved in some type of drug trafficking, which I had no clue.”
“He devastated us,” she added.