I quit my job and home for my dream man but he was a con artist

Kimberly Rae Owens, 58, is a respiratory therapist and mother-of-three living in Alabama, US. In 2021, she fell in love with a man and was with him for a year before discovering he was a serial conman who had committed fraud and theft in previous relationships. Here's her shocking story...

As I boarded the plane to Florida, I was nervous but felt a sense of exhilaration. For the first time in my life, I was embarking on a solo holiday, a sunshine break purely for me.

For most of my adult life I had been a loyal wife and hardworking mother. I’d married my husband in my twenties and we’d been married for 26 years. The first few years were great but we drifted apart. I knew I wasn’t in love but it took until my late forties to end it. It was a hard decision but the right thing to do. I wanted fun, affection and to shake life up a bit.

I was nervous about dating again but started seeing someone from work for a while. Then I tried online dating which was an experience! Either men wanted you for sex or they wanted you to commit. I went on a few dates but realised that it was just a game and wanted someone special.

I fell into a two-year relationship but again, I ended it. I was still learning about what I needed from life.

Which is why, after this break-up, I decided to take my first ever solo holiday to Key West, a beautiful part of Florida where I’d spent many happy times. I planned to meet up with a girlfriend after a few days to do some skydiving.

Love-bombed by my new boyfriend

It was while on a night out with that girlfriend that we got chatting to a security guard at the hotel. Tall, tanned and handsome with beautiful hazel eyes, Chad* really made me laugh. He gave me his number and when my friend was out on a date the following day, I decided to call him. He came over and we hung out by the pool, laughing and drinking. There was a definite spark and we promised to keep in touch.

As I sat on the plane flying home, I couldn’t stop smiling. When I landed, Chad had already texted saying: ‘I watched your plane leave. You’re the kind of woman I could fall in love with’ and I felt a warm glow. We texted and flirted, finding out more about each other. Then, a few months later, he invited me to stay with him for one of the big festivals.

He told me that he’d recently bought a sailboat for a good price. Tragically, the previous owner had killed himself and while the son had inherited the boat, he didn’t want it. It needed lots of work. Chad told me that he was busy moving from his apartment to the boat, so why didn’t I come and stay with him? It sounded like a wonderful opportunity.

A whirlwind romance

When I arrived in Florida the sun was shining and I couldn’t wait to see him. On the boat that night, after he’d returned from work we spent our first night together and the sex was amazing.

We had a fun few days, going out for meals and dancing together. He seemed incredibly popular with the locals, buying drinks for everyone and he seemed proud to be with me.

We continued to keep in touch and a few months later an opportunity to work in a Florida hospital came up and I decided to go for it. I’d been thinking about a change of career and I’d be based eight hours away from where Chad was living on the boat, so it wasn’t as if I was moving to be with him. But I could visit him more easily at the weekends and he’d be nearer to me.

When I told him my plans he seemed a little surprised but said, "If you’re all in, I’m all in."

Leaving my home and job

I moved in January 2022 and we made many exciting plans. He was going to fix up the boat and sail it north to moor in a marina closer to me. He mentioned something about needing to change his surname as he was going to inherit some money from his stepfather, who had insisted that he change his name to his. That seemed a little strange, but I didn’t think any more about it. We made plans to both get our captain’s licence and then run sailing trips on the boat. We even talked about engagement rings and our future.

But looking back, there were signs all was not well. There often seemed to be an issue with his credit card and I’d find myself having to pay for little things like petrol or trips out to the boat. He asked if I could put down the $500 deposit for a beautiful marina near my home so he could moor up when he arrived to be with me. But I didn’t mind. I was doing this for 'us'.

I could tell that Chad seemed to be getting depressed by how much time it was taking to fix the boat. On one of my visits to him he looked like he’d been sleeping rough. I took him to a hotel to get cleaned up and we went out for a lovely meal – which I paid for. The next night we went to another restaurant which he offered to pay for but then told me he’d 'lost his wallet'.

The disasters continued. When, several weeks later, the boat was finally fixed and he was sailing to be nearer to me, he was beset with more problems. The boat broke down an hour from where he’d set off, he was caught in a big storm, he got carbon monoxide poisoning, he lost a rudder.

Red flags

Something in my gut didn’t feel right. I cancelled the marina fees as I’d been paying $500 (£380) for four months and I drove down to see him. Once again, I ended up paying hundreds of dollars for the boat to be towed back to safety. Chad had been borrowing my truck for several months because he didn’t have a car and when I said I needed it back, he got angry with me, so I gave in and let him keep it a little longer.

It was one morning soon afterwards when we were out walking together that I suddenly had a panic attack. The night before, I’d watched a programme about a conman scamming someone out of money and I blurted out, "Are you going to take me for everything and then chop me up into little pieces?"

Chad laughed. He reassured me and I felt a little silly. But after he left that day to go back to the boat, I tracked him on my phone. For months we’d had Find My Phone on each others’ devices so we could trace each others’ whereabouts if we got lost. I saw he wasn’t going back to the boat at all. Within minutes, he’d untagged me from the tracker and I had no idea where he was.

The sickening truth

At that moment I knew. I just knew.

Panic set in. Chad still had my truck and I knew I needed to get it back or I’d never see it again. I’d already paid out thousands of dollars on the marina, on meals and hotels, on the boat – money I’d never see again. I didn’t want to lose any more.

Even worse, as I was checking my phone I discovered a message I’d had on there for 30 days that I’d never opened. It was anonymous but said, 'Don’t give him any more money, he’s not who you think he is.' I felt sick. Why had I not seen this before?

I went home and started to Google frantically which is when I discovered he was already on probation and there was a warrant out for his arrest – a woman had a restraining order on him. Had he breached it? I started asking questions and via mutual friends I discovered another woman he had conned. I got a number for her and we texted. She told me that while he’d never hurt her physically, he had made her life hell. I was never really sure what she meant by that and she didn’t explain but it made me very nervous.

Terrifying rage

I knew I needed to get my things back and end it straightaway. With my heart racing, I texted him to say that the car I’d been borrowing had broken down so I needed my truck back. He went mad, really angry. I tried to placate him by saying that we would talk about it over dinner and perhaps we could find a way to finally make this work?

As I travelled down to Key West for the last time, I was so nervous. I realised I had no idea who this man really was. I texted my three daughters to say that I wasn’t sure what he was capable of but I would be careful.

When I arrived at the airport, Chad was waiting for me but he was cold and distant, a completely different person. There was no hug or kiss. We made our way to the truck where he handed me the keys and told me to drop him off somewhere. I tried to leave on good terms but he wasn’t interested.

The last I heard from him was a text to ask how it was going. My response was, "Don’t you dare contact me again or I’ll call the police and that’s how my day is going."

A conman unmasked

A month later, I got a phone call from the people who owned the boat. They said Chad had offered to look after the boat for them when they inherited it – a kind of caretaker. He had conned them and taken the boat without their permission.

In fact, I discovered that he had conned several people. I'd lost around $7,000 (£5,345) in total to him but it could have been so much more. I’d had a lucky escape. I have since discovered he’s been found guilty of fraud and theft after conning another woman and been ordered to pay her back thousands of dollars. I’ll never know if she received her money.

I can see now that I should have seen so many more red flags but he was clever and convincing. Plus, I really thought we had something special. My three daughters are relieved I’m out of the relationship. They never liked Chad but couldn’t say anything to me because they thought I was in love. But they’ve warned me – only half joking – that I’m not allowed to date anyone else until they’ve met him.

I’ve written a book about my experience in the hope that it will help other women recognise how manipulative some men can be and it may help them look at their own relationships.

I’ve realised how some women, like me, are attracted to men with faults because we want to 'fix' them. But we end up being the ones who get hurt.

Now, nearly two years on, I’m ready to move on. I’m not a man-hater. I know there are good men out there and I’m willing to try dating again. But I will be a lot more careful and will know the signs to look out for – I’m a lot less trusting than I used to be.

Red Flags in Key West, a memoir by Kimberly Rae Owens is out now on Amazon.

*Name has been changed.

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