Woman says mother's death led to ID thefts

COLUMBIA --- The Montana woman who pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a missing South Carolina woman in order to attend an Ivy League school says she became a criminal after her mother's death, according to transcripts of a television interview released Friday to The Associated Press.

"My mom always just loved me. If she was there, it was fine," Esther Elizabeth Reed told interviewer Peter Van Sant for CBS News' 48 Hours Mystery . "And when she died, it wasn't fine, anymore. Nothing was fine anymore."

In August, Ms. Reed pleaded guilty to stealing the woman's identity. She is serving four years in a federal prison in West Virginia.

After Ms. Reed's mother died in 1998, the teen stole from a co-worker, even draining her own sister's bank account of thousands of dollars.

Three years later, prosecutors say the Townsend, Mont., woman began juggling six false identities, something she says she did to try to escape from the relatives with whom she had "toxic relationships."

Ms. Reed went to California, where she took classes at California State University at Fullerton. She concocted various stories about herself, including that she earned her living as a chess champion. Along the way, she lost weight and got plastic surgery to change her appearance.

In 2003, when the real Natalie Bowman -- whose name Ms. Reed was using -- began monitoring her credit, Ms. Reed told her roommate she was being stalked. Ms. Reed needed to change her identity, she said, to protect herself.

Enter Brooke Henson.

"I really thought I could live my life as Brooke Henson," Ms. Reed says. "And they wouldn't know, and I would have a new life."

Ms. Henson, who is from Travelers Rest, S.C., went missing in 1999 at age 19. Authorities don't believe Ms. Reed had anything to do with her disappearance, and the case is still open.

Ms. Reed began posing as Ms. Henson in October 2003, obtaining an Ohio ID card using her identity, a high school equivalency degree -- and, eventually, entrance to Columbia University.

Ms. Reed's story unraveled in 2006, when a potential employer did an Internet search on Ms. Henson's name and found the missing person's reports. Authorities questioned Ms. Reed, who correctly answered personal questions provided by Ms. Henson's relatives but stopped cooperating when asked to take a DNA test.

Ms. Reed fled New York, grabbing her dog and a few belongings -- but leaving behind a damning paper trail of documents in Ms. Henson's name.

In South Carolina, a federal grand jury indicted Ms. Reed on identity theft and loan fraud charges, but it would be more than a year before she was apprehended.

The interview is set to air on CBS on tonight.