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"Ivy League" Grifter On 48 Hours
By
Jen Chung
Published May 8, 2009
Modified May 8, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 8, 2009
Modified May 8, 2009
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Before there was hipster grifter Kari Ferrell, there was Esther Elizabeth Reed, the Ivy League grifter. Reed faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. She claimed to be a chess champion (a boyfriend's father became suspicious when she didn't know what an opening gambit was) and was suspected of being a spy (she kept dating West Point cadets!). But when Reed, under the name "Brooke Henson," applied for a job as a housekeeper in Manhattan, her employer did a background check and she went on the lam (she left everything except her combs and toothbrush—things that would have her DNA). 48 Hours Mystery interviewed Reed, who said, "I planned on being Brooke Henson for the rest of my life... I'm going to create an identity. I didn’t think I could get into any trouble for that." She was eventually found a year and a half in Chicago; when the cops found her, she recalled, "It was overwhelming. There was absolute panic and I said, 'I'm Esther Reed.'" Reed, who had $100,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card debt, claims she would have paid it all back.
Tagged
Brooke Henson
con artist
Esther Elizabeth Reed
identity theft
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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