00:00:00
I'm totally committed to this adoption and I want you and Lori to be the mommy and daddy to this baby.
00:00:12
I would like to see her, but I feel she should be placed in your arms as she is your baby.
00:00:16
They are reading the words of a woman who has promised them a child. I felt such a bond with you and I want you to adopt this baby.
00:00:24
You are the only couple that I am pursuing. This baby is not mine, she is yours.
00:00:28
From one woman to another, the gift of motherhood. I know I have found the mommy and daddy for this baby.
00:00:36
And I know God handpicked you for us. Karen and Mark Mantooth spent years trying to become parents.
00:00:45
That's all I've ever wanted out of life was to be a wife and a mom. First, unsuccessful treatments for infertility.
00:00:53
Then, two adoptions that fell through. Heartbreak after heartbreak. The frustration of, am I ever going to be a mom?
00:01:01
So it's been a tough, nasty road. It has. It has. They thought the long wait was almost over when in the fall of 2005,
00:01:09
they met a woman looking for a couple just like them, a loving family to adopt her baby girl.
00:01:15
It was late in her pregnancy. She only had six or seven weeks left to go. The Mantus didn't find her through a traditional adoption agency,
00:01:23
but with the help of the Internet, they had signed up with an adoption matchmaking service
00:01:28
that posted their profile online, essentially an advertisement offering themselves as potential parents.
00:01:35
The audience was targeted to birth mothers who wanted to find a home for their child.
00:01:40
Karen and the birth mother bonded quickly, talking on the phone several times a day.
00:01:45
I'm like, this person really cares about this baby. You know, she really cares about what kind of family this baby's going to.
00:01:53
Finally, Karen and Mark seemed to be on their way to parenthood. While they prepared for their baby at home in Texas,
00:02:00
800 miles away, a Tennessee couple hoping to adopt also was turning to the Internet.
00:02:06
I just started kind of playing online, seeing what was out there. This would be Lori and Chris Coleman's second adoption.
00:02:13
This time, the Colemans thought they could find a potential birth mother on their own,
00:02:17
using the vast adoption resources online. Websites, message boards, chat rooms. It's all part of the world of independent adoption.
00:02:26
I started discovering all these postings from expectant mothers. Independent adoptions are usually less expensive than traditional private adoptions.
00:02:35
That's because lawyers or agencies aren't paid to find a birth mother, but step in later just to do the legal paperwork.
00:02:43
What were you seeing online? The birth mother looking for a loving family? Yeah, exactly.
00:02:47
The Colmans found a promising candidate quickly. Lori replied to a posting from a pregnant woman named Christy.
00:02:54
Soon they were talking daily and exchanging heartfelt emails, like this one. Christy writes, the Colmans are a godsend.
00:03:01
I am so happy that I have found you. I wanted the perfect family for this baby, and I know in my heart I have found them.
00:03:10
I am 100% sure about this adoption and placing this baby with you both. Lori and Christy became fast friends, confidants even.
00:03:19
She called me a lot. Twice, Lori drove three hours to Nashville to meet Christy in person.
00:03:25
She gave Lori a photo of her daughter and said she was a single mother raising a two-year-old alone.
00:03:31
She was just a really, really super nice, sweet person that I just connected with.
00:03:36
The Coleman's hired an attorney to draw up the adoption papers. Christy signed documents saying she was nearly eight months pregnant.
00:03:43
and Lori and Chris made plans to be at the hospital for the birth. They also agreed to pay some of Christy's living expenses, rent and food,
00:03:52
all standard procedure in most private adoptions. In Texas, Karen and Mark Mantooth also had hired an attorney
00:03:58
and were making plans to be there for their baby's birth. She needed to know that someone was going to love her baby.
00:04:07
Both the Colmans and the Mantooths felt the anticipation and excitement of impending parenthood.
00:04:13
The birth mothers had told them they were the ones, the only ones, and there was no going back.
00:04:20
But there was just one problem. Both couples were talking to the same person. Christy, it appeared, had promised her baby to two different families.
00:04:33
Was she simply undecided? Or was this some kind of cruel game, playing with people's lives?
00:04:39
She was really just totally confusing me at this point. We're just wanting to find out the truth. Is this what we understand? Is this really happening?
00:04:47
We wondered the same thing, so Dateline decided to go looking for Christy with our hidden cameras
00:04:52
to find out if these couples were about to become new parents or victims of a heartless con.
00:05:12
Two families, the Mantus from Texas and the Coleman's from Tennessee, have a lot in common.
00:05:19
Both wanted to adopt, and both thought they'd found the perfect birth mother, a woman they'd met online.
00:05:26
It turned out to be the same woman, Christy. Just how did they figure that out? It began when, just four weeks before Christy was due to give birth, she suddenly stopped calling Lori Coleman.
00:05:38
The number you have dialed is not valid. Christy's cell phone was disconnected. We were so afraid that something had happened to her.
00:05:45
Yeah, something's happened to her. She forgot to pay the phone bill. You know, she's not near her phone. She'll call us tomorrow.
00:05:51
But that didn happen Days went by Then a week No word No emails Nothing I thought that maybe she was just changing her mind She was too embarrassed to tell you Yeah she didn want to hurt us because we were so close
00:06:05
The Coleman's were desperate for an explanation, and Lori turned to the internet again.
00:06:10
Through a message board where adoptive families share information, she started talking to Karen and Mark Mantooth.
00:06:16
They told her their story about Christy, and how three months earlier, their relationship had ended in almost the exact same way.
00:06:25
The number you have dialed is not valid. With a disconnected cell phone. Again, just weeks before she'd said she was due to give birth.
00:06:33
Christy had given documents to both couples. There were different due dates and different last names.
00:06:40
But... They were from the same area. They were the same age. Address was the exact same except for the city.
00:06:47
Social security numbers. Data bar. And it was just too much coincidence. In both cases, Christy had called the couples frequently.
00:06:55
more and more as the due dates approached. At first, just to chat, then to ask for money.
00:07:01
She told both families that she was behind on her rent and short on cash for basic necessities.
00:07:07
She would just say, do you know anybody that could help me with food? To which you would say, how much do you need?
00:07:13
Sure. She was asking us for food for her daughter. What good person is going to say no?
00:07:20
The Cullmans had given Christy more than $800, $300 in Walmart cards for food, and $510 for rent.
00:07:28
The Mantooths say they'd sent her more than $1,200. When it's the last month of your pregnancy and you can't work because you can't be on your feet all day,
00:07:38
I had no problems doing that. Even though it's common practice for adoptive families to pay some living expenses for a potential birth mother,
00:07:48
most couples understand that it's a gamble. That's because if the woman changes her mind and the adoption doesn't go through,
00:07:55
she's not legally required to return the money. But this situation did not appear to be a case of second thoughts.
00:08:01
To the families involved, it had the makings of a scam. I fully believe it was a scam from the start.
00:08:09
Yes. How would you describe what she did to you? Emotional rape. Yep. That's what I felt like.
00:08:14
I felt like that I had just been stripped raw of every emotion I could even think of.
00:08:22
When the Coleman's realized Christy might be a con artist preying on vulnerable families,
00:08:28
their sadness turned to anger. My frame of mind was, I'm going to find out who this girl is.
00:08:34
I'm going to get this girl. I want to do something. Yeah, I'm going to find the girl.
00:08:39
And Dateline wanted to find her too. We asked the Coleman's to try to get back in touch with Christy so that we could investigate.
00:08:47
I sent her an email and said, I want the baby. I want to know you're okay. I care about you as a friend.
00:08:54
But I'm also coming to someone who's desperate for a baby, and I want the baby. We wanted her to feel like we were just suckers.
00:09:02
And just as suddenly as she'd vanished, Christy reappeared on Lori's computer screen, an instant message.
00:09:09
She says that she's fine. She's sorry she lost contact. Why the abrupt disappearance?
00:09:17
Christy said she had run off to Florida for her grandfather's funeral and that she'd lost her cell phone.
00:09:23
And I say, do you still want us to have the baby? And she says, yes, without a doubt.
00:09:27
With that, the women took right up where they'd left off. Hello? Chatting on the phone day in and day out.
00:09:33
Nothing getting ready for bed. What are you doing? Only this time, Lori was acting, pretending not to be suspicious.
00:09:39
Now it is. It really does seem like everything's falling into place now. Lori and Christy made plans for the following week a lunch date in Nashville.
00:09:48
What she didn't tell her is that Dateline would be there too, with our hidden cameras watching her every move.
00:10:09
Dateline is going to Nashville, where finally we'll meet Christy, the woman who is promising to give her baby up for adoption to Lori and Chris Coleman.
00:10:19
The Coleman's had already given Christy $800 and say they'd spend thousands more on legal fees to prepare for the adoption.
00:10:27
But now Dateline has decided to investigate, so we will provide the money. And the night before our meeting, Christy asks for even more.
00:10:35
She calls Lori to say that she and her little girl Jasmine are hungry and broke.
00:10:39
What I could do is I could run to the Walmart in Murfreesboro. We buy them a $100 gift card at Walmart for food.
00:10:47
Lori calls Christy back and urges her to use it. You need to get out and go get some groceries.
00:10:54
The next day, we finally get a look at Christy up close and in person. She arrives at a Nashville hotel for what she thinks is a casual lunch date.
00:11:02
No idea that Dateline is watching. or that Lori is part of our hidden camera operation.
00:11:08
She comes upstairs where I'm posing as Lori's friend, with five cameras secretly rolling.
00:11:14
Nice to meet you. As we sit down to lunch, I get right to the point, though Christy thinks I'm kidding.
00:11:21
I'll be your servant because I want to find out everything about you. Christy does look pregnant,
00:11:26
but not quite like a woman in her ninth month, as she claims to be. Told you I've dropped a lot.
00:11:32
And she repeatedly plays up how soon she thinks the baby will be born. I'm telling you, I'm having the baby today or tomorrow.
00:11:38
If I don't have her tomorrow, I'm going in there and saying I'm having contractions.
00:11:41
I know it's not nice to lie. Over the next two hours, Christy has a ready answer for every question.
00:11:47
Details we say we need for the adoption paperwork. Her address. And what's your address?
00:11:52
It 781 Waynesville Road Her midwife name What the midwife name again Wareham Diana Wareham Her history What your maiden name Tidwell She even volunteers information about her job a profession that highlights her generosity and goodwill
00:12:08
I work at a domestic violence shelter. And what do you do there? I'm an advocate.
00:12:13
Good for you. I love it. What's the shelter's name? Hope House. She even answers sensitive questions without hesitation, telling us just what she thinks we want to hear.
00:12:24
Is this going to be hard for you, giving the baby up? Actually, I don't think so, because I never got attached to the baby.
00:12:31
My whole pregnancy, I never considered it my baby. Throughout our hidden camera meeting, Christy makes a point of talking about her daughter, Jasmine.
00:12:39
I can't even take a shower without her pulling the curtain going, Mommy, look at my coloring page.
00:12:43
Does she know that the baby's going elsewhere? It's Lori. And Christy takes pains to show how careful she was
00:12:50
in selecting Lori out of all of the women on the Internet who wanted to adopt her baby.
00:12:55
A lot of people emailed me. I got a lot of emails. Why'd you pick her? Because she didn't come right out and say, I want the baby.
00:13:03
She says, I'm going to be there for you. And she actually cared more about me than the baby.
00:13:07
I wanted to know the family. I'm also going to hand over some babies who are completely lunatic.
00:13:11
Christy doesn't know that Lori's husband, Chris, is watching it all in the next room.
00:13:16
He's sure Christy is lying and gets fed up with her act. I was to the point where I was so angry, I was so mad, I had to leave.
00:13:27
Christy, on the other hand, seems willing to stay all afternoon. She hasn't said a word about money yet.
00:13:33
She's too busy laying it on thick, getting Lori excited about the birth. Oh, you're going to see it all in the delivery room, honey.
00:13:39
Now, is Chris being in the delivery room, too? Oh, Chris would so be. In case you fall apart.
00:13:44
I'm not going to fall apart. He just needs to stay on the top part. Hey, I want him to cut the cord, too, or you to cut the cord.
00:13:49
Maybe you. So just take the baby and go. And once again, she says something to convince Lori she's serious about handing over the baby.
00:13:57
I don't want to hold her and I don't want her being brought to me. I don't want it laid on my stomach.
00:14:00
I don't want to hold her. I just want you to snip and go. Christy is saying all the right things.
00:14:07
Her performance is so convincing that despite everything Lori knows, she finds herself being drawn back in.
00:14:14
Okay, so now I'm getting like really, really, really doubly, extremely excited. You're not going to change your mind, right?
00:14:18
No, I'm not changing my mind. After all, Lori is still a woman deeply longing for a baby.
00:14:25
And even though she is here as part of a Dateline investigation, she can't help but feel a spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, some of what Christy says is true.
00:14:35
I kept thinking, well, maybe she's scamming everybody but us. So even though you were being nice for us and having this contact to let it play out.
00:14:46
I was still thinking, well, I might get the baby. We just need to get as much done.
00:14:51
But soon enough, Christy turns the conversation to the real reason we think she's here.
00:14:55
She drops a not-so-subtle hint that she needs the cash. I just need to get the rent paid, or I'll be without a place to live.
00:15:06
Five, Howard. Lori hands over more than $600. Then Christy gets up to go. Outside, we watch the two women say goodbye and wonder if they'll ever see each other again,
00:15:20
or if Christy is about to take the money and run. Minutes later, to our surprise, Christy calls Lori's cell phone.
00:15:35
As casual as can be. Was Lori right to hope? Could Christy be for real this time?
00:15:42
We were about to find out. You're not going to change my address? No, I'm not changing my mind.
00:16:00
Christy says she's telling the truth, but is she really going to give her baby up for adoption?
00:16:05
We'd been doing some checking up on her and the information she had so willingly supplied.
00:16:10
And what's your address? It's 781... The address was bogus. Diana Warren. Her midwife's office doesn't exist.
00:16:18
Hope House. Nor does the domestic violence shelter where she claimed to work. And her name?
00:16:24
Tidwell. Your maiden name is Tidwell? One thing's for sure, she's not who she says she is.
00:16:29
Dateline searched public records in Tennessee and found a mugshot of Christy Tidwell from a 1998 drug arrest.
00:16:35
She looks nothing like the Christy we know. But guess what? It turns out she's her girlfriend.
00:16:42
Our hidden camera saw them together. And remember the Walmart card we'd bought in response to Christy's desperate plea for food?
00:16:49
We watched the two women spend that money together. Not on groceries, but on baby supplies.
00:16:56
Strange purchases for a woman who says she's about to give up her baby for adoption.
00:17:04
So who is she, this woman we had just spent the afternoon with? You're going to see it all in the delivery room.
00:17:10
In the hours after that meeting, she called repeatedly, telling Lori where she was going and with whom.
00:17:17
All of it lies. We know because our hidden cameras were still watching. She told Lori she was picking up Jasmine, her two-year-old,
00:17:28
while we see the two women go to an upscale Nashville mall and dine at this expensive restaurant.
00:17:33
No toddler in sight. She had no idea that Lori was nearby in the mall parking lot.
00:17:40
When once again, she did something that took us by surprise. What? She told Lori she was in labor.
00:17:46
You've had three contractions then? And gave specific instructions on what she and Chris should do.
00:17:52
When the contractions got to 14 minutes apart Chris and I would need to come get her and take her to the hospital And she then told me that well it looks like by the time you get home Kennedy going to have a baby sister
00:18:05
So what did this woman, who was supposedly in labor, do next? She got behind the wheel of a car and went on a shopping spree.
00:18:13
We watched her drive all over suburban Nashville, grocery shopping, stopping at a dollar store, a Kmart, a Walmart,
00:18:21
looking as if she didn't have a care in the world. Meanwhile, Lori was back at the hotel waiting by the phone.
00:18:29
Two hours passed. It was at that point that I tried to call her cell phone. We're sorry. The number you have dialed is not valid.
00:18:37
Please check the number and try your call again. Message 33 BNA. And her cell phone had been disconnected.
00:18:44
That's when it hit me. You know, it hurts me on belief. Whatever hopes Lori had been harboring about adopting that baby girl were gone.
00:18:52
And they were going to have to go home, and there's going to be a nursery there.
00:18:59
I just didn't think it would hurt this bad. I thought I was prepared, but... She had hurt Lori just as she had hurt the couple from Texas, Karen and Mark Mantooth, months before.
00:19:13
And Dateline found her trail of deception is even longer than that. And you all feel pretty certain it was the same person?
00:19:20
Yes, definitely. After you hear their stories, the woman we knew as Christy is going to have quite a bit of explaining to do.
00:19:30
What happened? Your cell phone's cut off. When it comes to this woman and the promises she's made, the hearts she's broken, there is always one question.
00:19:51
How could anybody be so cruel and so heartless? They are from different states and different backgrounds,
00:19:57
but all of these people believe they were conned in the same cruel way by the person we knew as Christy.
00:20:03
After a few conversations, she said we would be the perfect parents for her baby.
00:20:08
This New York woman read us some of Christy's emails. I feel she should be placed in your arms when first born.
00:20:15
She is your baby, not mine. And years ago, thinking a baby was on the way, This couple from North Carolina sent her more than $2,000 before she disappeared.
00:20:25
It was just like a piece of my heart had been ripped out of me. The North Carolina couple knew her as Jamie,
00:20:31
while Dateline found other adoptive families who'd met her online as Amy. They all admit they were easily taken in by her.
00:20:39
You are desperate to have a child when you are willing to go through all of this.
00:20:45
And that was the biggest dream and the biggest goal of my life. So yes, there is a desperation there.
00:20:50
Isn't that the key? Yes, that's the key. Isn't that what any scammer would know?
00:20:56
Like you're a bunch of sitting ducks? Yep. You and anybody else who really wants a baby is the night before.
00:21:06
We show the group some of our hidden camera videotape. She's buying baby clothes.
00:21:10
The easy lies and intimate conversation. What did you think watching that? I think she's sick.
00:21:18
What was the worst thing you heard her say? She don't want to even touch the baby.
00:21:23
I want you to cut the umbilical cord. Yeah. Because she was playing in to those emotions.
00:21:29
Because anything like that that we get to do, that we get to be a part of, just makes it that much more special.
00:21:36
It's just cold and manipulative. And how can somebody do that? How can they take people like us that can't conceive a child?
00:21:47
How could they come into her life and make her so devastated wanting that child and walking away with nothing?
00:21:56
Now we wanted to look for Christy again, this time to get an explanation and to let her know Dateline was on to her.
00:22:04
And we found her the morning after she'd claimed to be in labor. Christy! Hey! How you doing?
00:22:12
Good. For a woman who was supposedly about to give birth, She seemed awfully relaxed.
00:22:18
So are you in labor? You told Lori you're in labor. I stopped contractions. When did they start?
00:22:22
They stopped last night about 11.30. She had told us her name was Christy Tidwell Miller.
00:22:28
Okay, I have a couple of questions for you. We showed her the real Christy Tidwell.
00:22:31
My name is Victoria Cordieri. I'm with Dateline NBC. Oh, okay. And this is Christy Tidwell.
00:22:38
Your friend that we've seen you going around with. I see you recording me. Because we're with Dateline NBC.
00:22:42
And not only, there's a lot of information you gave us that didn't check out. I don't have a talk to you until I talk to my wife.
00:22:50
Well, these are pictures that you sent to other women promising them babies. As Amy in Alabama, this is you.
00:22:59
As Amy in Pennsylvania saying this is your daughter. I can talk to my attorney. Do you have any explanation that you can give me?
00:23:05
Why do you think you disconnected your phone? Christy! She drove off, but within minutes she called Lori Coleman from a new cell phone number.
00:23:14
And later that morning, she surprised us yet again by agreeing to sit down and answer our questions
00:23:20
in the very same room where she told a string of lies the day before. First of all, who are you?
00:23:27
Amy. Amy, last name? Cumbie. Who's Amy Oost? Oh, that's my maiden name. Why are you representing yourself as Christy Miller?
00:23:35
I don't know. She admitted she'd lied to the Colmans, and she'd scammed others as well.
00:23:41
I've done this before, and I just need help. You need what kind of help? I just need help. I didn't mean for it to go this far.
00:23:52
She described how she uses the Internet to find her targets. Tell me what you'd do.
00:23:56
Go look at websites, try to find a family. What do you tell? that makes them believe you?
00:24:03
I just tell them that I want them to have the baby. Do you think this is fraud? Yeah.
00:24:09
What are you doing it for? Are you just doing it for the money? I don't know. Do you feel powerful when you're holding a baby over somebody's head?
00:24:16
No. And they're pleading with you? So why do you think you're doing it? I don't know.
00:24:23
Really, I don't know why I'm doing it. You're not working. So you are doing it for the money.
00:24:30
part of that i guess yeah she told us that she learned the adoption scam from her ex-husband
00:24:37
he's the one that got away with it the first time so where's your ex-husband now he's not doing this
00:24:44
he's not involved in this this is you so whose fault is this mine you know i've seen a lot of
00:24:50
scams but the level of cruelty in this scam is hard for me to imagine especially as a mother
00:24:56
to string somebody along who wants to have a baby and then to even go as far as to tell them that
00:25:02
you're in labor and then cut them off is I can't even conceive of that I can't even imagine how
00:25:07
somebody would think to do that I mean do you realize the level of cruelty yes are you having
00:25:13
a good laugh no every time you got off the phone no what were you thinking I don't know I wasn't I
00:25:21
I guess I was just... You were just... Believing it, too. Believing that you were in labor?
00:25:27
No, just believing my own lies at times. Christy, who we now know is really named Amy,
00:25:33
says her real due date was months, not days away. And that she was buying infant clothing because her girlfriend wants to keep the baby.
00:25:41
She must have been so clingy. And as for Jasmine, the two-year-old she talked about so often, so convincingly...
00:25:48
Mommy, look at my coloring page. she'd made her up as part of the con. I can't be a mother.
00:25:54
I don't know how to be one, I guess. Despite her lies, she still tried to insist
00:25:58
she had planned on allowing the Coleman's to adopt her baby. You never intended to give the baby to Lori.
00:26:04
Yes, I did. You cut her off last night. I still called, and I was still in a contact.
00:26:10
You called after we caught you. You did exactly with this what you've done before.
00:26:16
When you're done, you're done, and you have the phone cut off. Can you just be that honest?
00:26:23
Yeah, that is what I do. I don't know what to say. I really don't know what to say.
00:26:27
Because what are you saying about yourself? I'm a terrible person. Do you really think that?
00:26:35
Honestly, I do. Did you think that before you got caught? Yeah. But it didn't stop you?
00:26:47
I guess not. The Colemans were nearby, listening. We invited them in. It's not often that you get to see the face, you know, or see the pain of the people that you hurt.
00:27:04
As you're emailing and these people are just strangers, know that I fell in love with Lori.
00:27:10
No, you didn't. You told me what I wanted to hear. And then I fell in love with you as a friend.
00:27:16
You have the perfect family. You have a loving husband. You have a wonderful daughter.
00:27:20
That's what I wanted. Here's what I would like to see happen. You've been caught.
00:27:25
You've been busted by Dateline. Just stop the lies Tell us the truth I was sitting there listening to you just now and all I hearing is one lie after one lie after another
00:27:39
I had to sit there and listen to my wife cry for two days straight in the room that we had set up for the baby that you were supposed to give us.
00:27:52
How do you feel about that? It hurts me. It hurts you? You don't know how it hurts.
00:27:57
You don't know. You should be thankful that you can have kids. Even when I knew what you were doing was a lie, you could ask Vicki.
00:28:05
What did I tell you? She still had hope. Why don't you still have hope? No, I can't have hope.
00:28:11
That's not fair. We have to go home to an empty nursery. I mean, you're sitting there crying, and we're the victims here.
00:28:19
The other people that you scammed are the victims here. And all you have to say is, I don't know.
00:28:27
I'm sorry. I wish I did know. I mean, maybe I have mental problems. I don't know.
00:28:34
Was there any satisfaction for you at all in being able to confront her? Yes. Yes, there was.
00:28:41
Because I got to look in this girl's eyes and make her know that we caught her at her own game,
00:28:48
that we were not as stupid as she thought we were. Did you see remorse when you were watching that?
00:28:53
Absolutely not. I saw eyes that were just empty. I wanted to choke the girl. I did.
00:29:00
At the same time, you're sitting there thinking, that poor, poor, poor, innocent baby.
00:29:11
I don't know what else to say after I get help. I just hope y'all can forgive me.
00:29:17
Before you think this story ends with redemption, that this woman possibly could be sorry for the pain she's caused,
00:29:23
you might want to hear something else. But we found out about her after our story aired.
00:29:43
Amy Oskumby, we first met her as Christy, left our interview a worried woman, afraid her next stop might be jail.
00:29:52
I'll take the heat for it, you know. If I go to jail, I mean, maybe that's what I need.
00:29:57
What do you think should happen to her? She needs to go to jail. Jail. Jail. Jail.
00:30:01
Jail, prison. And there's at least one more person who would like to see her behind bars.
00:30:07
This man. I think she's probably one of the most sinister people I've ever met in my life.
00:30:12
Dateline tracked down Eric Cumby, the ex-husband Amy claimed had introduced her to adoption scams.
00:30:18
My ex-husband had a lot to do with this, too. He's the one that got away with it the first time.
00:30:24
Was I ever involved in an adoption scam? No. In fact, her former husband says he wasn't her accomplice.
00:30:33
He was her victim. They were married in 2000, and after just two months, he says, she abruptly disappeared.
00:30:40
When she left, I received a stack of bills that were probably about 12 inches high.
00:30:46
I had credit cards I didn't know I had. I owed people I didn't even know money. She put me about $15,000 in debt.
00:30:53
Cumbie believes his entire marriage was an elaborate con. She is a professional con artist.
00:30:59
This is her job. This is what she does. And she's very good at it. So it appears there are numerous people who want this woman to face justice Three couples reported her to the police Karen and Mark Mantooth filed reports in Texas and Tennessee
00:31:14
while the Colmans went to the FBI, as well as to local law enforcement. They all say no one seemed willing or able to prosecute.
00:31:23
What our local district attorney told us was, Chris and Lori, I'm sorry, I don't know what to charge her with.
00:31:29
Proving adoption fraud can be difficult. Remember, a potential birth mother is allowed by law to change her mind
00:31:35
and keep whatever money she's received for expenses. It's so frustrating that this girl, you know, scammed all of us and many more people,
00:31:44
and nothing's being done about it. That's where things stood when Dateline first broadcast this story.
00:31:52
By then, the woman who'd admitted her real name was Amy, not Christy, had seemingly disappeared.
00:31:59
She checked out of her hotel and had disconnected her cell phone. But that wasn't the end of the story.
00:32:06
When our report aired, some viewers recognized this woman and contacted Dateline with new information.
00:32:12
A buddy of mine called me and says, hey, turn it on channel four right now. And sure enough, it was Amy.
00:32:17
My knees buckled and I fell to the floor. These people say they too were scammed by the woman at the center of our story.
00:32:25
Mike and Chantel Early say Amy Comby promised them a baby and that they sent her nearly $1,000.
00:32:32
She knew what to say to us to draw us in and make us feel like we were going to have a little girl.
00:32:39
The Early say they drove all the way from Iowa to Nashville because Amy told them she was about to give birth.
00:32:45
Then, they say, she cut them off. It was a devastating car ride back with an empty car seat.
00:32:52
And I still held on. I still had that little glimmer of hope. I think that's what the hardest thing was, watching that show
00:33:03
and seeing all the other couples having the same hope. You know, that baby was everybody's baby.
00:33:10
These two men from Amy's past say they were victims of a different sort, that Amy stole their hearts and then their money.
00:33:18
What did you think when you saw what she was doing? It's just like, not again. What are you doing? When is enough enough?
00:33:25
Jimmy Hodge says he and Amy were married in 1998. And just like the ex-husband we met earlier, he says Amy fleeced him, then fled.
00:33:35
She left me and took off and just took everything. I mean, everything. The house was cleaned out. She took my dog.
00:33:44
Nathan Offutt says he's an ex-boyfriend who also was taken for a financial ride.
00:33:49
The stories and stuff were like the same format, just different little lies in it.
00:33:53
So where was Amy when our report aired? Apparently pulling another con. This time she convinced a domestic violence shelter to put her up in an apartment,
00:34:02
claiming she and her girlfriend were sisters who had been abused by their father and needed a place to hide.
00:34:08
Imagine the shelter director's shock when she watched our story and learned the truth.
00:34:12
She says she immediately called the Nashville police. Police arrested Amy on an outstanding warrant for a probation violation.
00:34:20
She'd pleaded guilty to running out on a hotel bill using yet another fake name, Marissa Fultz.
00:34:26
But what about the real Christy, Amy's girlfriend? Remember, our hidden cameras had seen the two women go on a shopping spree together
00:34:33
with money that was meant for rent and food. Well she was not arrested And in fact the real Christy who appeared to be in on the scheme agreed to an interview with Dateline She claims she another one of Amy victims
00:34:48
You know, I lost a lot here. While she admits she lied to the domestic violence shelter about being abused,
00:34:54
she says she knew nothing about Amy's dealings with the Coleman's. She said her family was sending her money and churches was giving her money.
00:35:02
I never knew about anything else. Christy says she has bipolar disorder and that Amy convinced her to stop taking her medication
00:35:10
and to hand over her disability checks. What's more, she says she believed the baby would be hers too.
00:35:17
She said we could raise it together, be ours. Christy! She says it wasn't until she saw our story that she realized what her friend had done, using her name.
00:35:28
And it just blew my mind. I didn't know what to think. Were you ever involved in an adoption scam?
00:35:34
No, ma'am. And I can put my hand on the Bible. I couldn't hurt nobody like that.
00:35:40
In a final twist, Christy has joined the other couples we met in wanting to see this woman punished.
00:35:45
Did you ever give Amy Cumbie permission to use your name in a pregnancy scam with Ms. Coleman?
00:35:52
No, ma'am. I would swear on anything. I did not. Lori Coleman was there to testify at a preliminary hearing.
00:36:00
It was hard relieving everything because I'm at the point now to where I'm angry instead of just heartbroken.
00:36:11
Then Amy pleaded guilty to identity theft. She got a suspended sentence of two years, and after spending nearly ten months in jail,
00:36:20
she was released to a halfway house. But one big question remains. What happened to the baby?
00:36:26
Or perhaps, was there ever a baby? I told you I've dropped a lot. The math just doesn't add up.
00:36:33
What are you doing it for? When we met Amy, she said she was seven months pregnant.
00:36:38
Then six months later, she was in the domestic violence shelter still claiming to be pregnant.
00:36:43
Her room there was full of baby gear that the shelter had helped her collect from local charities.
00:36:48
Now you were with her every day for more than a year, and she never gave birth to a baby.
00:36:53
No. The men who knew her say Amy repeatedly said she was pregnant, then claimed to miscarry, and soon would announce she was pregnant again.
00:37:02
How often did she tell you she was pregnant? I got it so many times I couldn't count.
00:37:08
Jimmy Hodge says he even caught her strapping on padding before a baby shower in her honor.
00:37:12
Came home and I walk into the bathroom and she's over there with a pillow on her stomach
00:37:16
wrapping an ace bandage around it. I'm like, what the hell are you doing? The Coleman's believe that baby they wanted so badly never really existed.
00:37:26
Looking back, when I touched her stomach, as much as I touched it, her stomach was very soft.
00:37:33
I wanted to believe she was pregnant because I was desperate for a child. Fortunately, many of the couples who say they were burned by Amy have been able to fulfill their long-delayed dreams of parenthood.
00:37:50
The Mantus brought home a son they named Joshua just a month after they were stung.
00:37:55
Oh, I love you. Oh, hello, hello. And after all the anguish they've been through, the Colmans, too, have seen their dream come true.
00:38:04
Oh, goodness. They adopted Kingston, a baby boy they say makes their family complete.