False Identity

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Speaker 2 48 hours.

Speaker 3 We take you there.

Speaker 4 We planned a life together forever.

Speaker 5 Pat and Elizabeth were high school sweethearts.

Speaker 4 We very much wanted to be married.

Speaker 6 They had two children, Ted and Chris.

Speaker 4 He's a devoted husband and certainly a devoted father.

Speaker 6 Their lives seemed picture-perfect until dad suddenly vanished.

Speaker 8 The last thing I remember is waiting for him to come home at night.

Speaker 6 Then they found his suicide note.

Speaker 4 Please tell the boys I will watch over them from heaven.

Speaker 6 His family was sure he was dead.

Speaker 10 If he was alive, he would never be able to leave my brother and I behind.

Speaker 4 Now, after 15 hard years on their own, my first thought was, could this possibly be true?

Speaker 6 A stunning discovery.

Speaker 4 She called me and said, Elizabeth, sit down.

Speaker 6 Russ Mitchell and Harold Dow investigate.

Speaker 4 I think think Pat may be alive.

Speaker 6 Dad's double life.

Speaker 6 You're leading a perfectly normal life with a good job and a wonderful family. And things seem to be going along just fine.
But then comes a problem. It hangs on.
You can't solve it.

Speaker 6 Truth is, after a while, you can't even face it. Then one day, suddenly and with no warning, you vanish.

Speaker 6 What if someone you thought you knew well, someone you depend on, someone you love, just disappears?

Speaker 6 That is precisely what happened to a devoted husband and father who became desperate for a way out, leaving those closest to him to wonder, what really happened.

Speaker 6 Russ Mitchell begins to unravel the mystery of a dad's double life, a life that was once picture-perfect.

Speaker 4 The spirit of the times was

Speaker 4 long blonde hair and Beach Boy music and the future is all yours to take and everything good is going to happen.

Speaker 13 In 1964, Elizabeth Schenck, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, began dating a boy who would change her life forever, Patrick Hennessy Welsh.

Speaker 4 Pat was the kind of person that would be characterized by anyone as a really good catch.

Speaker 13 And so Elizabeth Schenck became Elizabeth Welsh.

Speaker 13 Elizabeth, whose nickname is Peachy, and Pat had two sons.

Speaker 4 They are

Speaker 4 the kind of sons

Speaker 4 that a mother would pray for, let alone be proud of.

Speaker 16 Tell me about those early days of your marriage. How would you describe them?

Speaker 17 Oh,

Speaker 4 my characterization would be they were very, very happy.

Speaker 13 And by all appearances, the Welshes were happy.

Speaker 4 I would have to characterize him, too, as a devoted husband and certainly a devoted father. I mean, he was close with those boys.

Speaker 13 But after a few years of marriage, there were money problems.

Speaker 4 I was totally blindsided by it.

Speaker 13 Problems, which Pat had kept secret from Peachy.

Speaker 4 We had been on a vacation, and he was very distraught, and it was hard to get him to stand still to tell me

Speaker 4 what the problem was.

Speaker 13 The problem was Pat had stolen $23,000 from Ohio State University.

Speaker 4 That was out of the blue.

Speaker 13 Where he worked as a fundraiser.

Speaker 4 And out of character, as far as I was concerned. And as far as everyone that knew Pat Welsh was concerned.
He was the fair-haired boy.

Speaker 13 In 1980, Welsh was convicted of embezzlement, sentenced to 30 days in jail, and ordered to pay restitution.

Speaker 4 It had been difficult to try to explain to the boys. They had to understand that their dad had done something that wasn't right, and he was making that better.

Speaker 13 For over two years, Pat did try to make things better.

Speaker 4 In a wedding anniversary card that he gave me, he slipped a note which said

Speaker 4 things will be better. We'll be Pat and Peachy again.
Just relax and trust me. And I believe that.

Speaker 13 Until January 21st, 1983.

Speaker 4 We had made

Speaker 4 an agreement to meet up at my father's house that evening for dinner.

Speaker 4 Pat owed my father some money, and he was going to repay it that night.

Speaker 13 But during dinner, Pat called from his office to say he wasn't going to make it.

Speaker 4 And if it was all right with my father, he would repay him the money the next day. and that I should go ahead and go home.

Speaker 8 The last thing I remember is waiting for him to come home at night and and watching the snow fall and just waiting for his car.

Speaker 13 But Pat Welsh never came back.

Speaker 20 I imagine that he probably ended up in Iraq or

Speaker 8 he was

Speaker 8 doing something else.

Speaker 13 Ted Welch was only 10 years old.

Speaker 10 But he was going to be right back.

Speaker 4 He didn't appear on Friday night and Saturday morning and Sunday.

Speaker 10 Everybody had always told me that

Speaker 13 he has to be dead. Chris Welch, 23, was only seven.

Speaker 10 If he was alive, he would never

Speaker 10 be able to leave my brother and I behind.

Speaker 12 Elizabeth, can you tell me what your reaction was when you got this letter?

Speaker 16 Oh. 15 years ago.

Speaker 4 I was devastated.

Speaker 13 Five days after Pat disappeared,

Speaker 13 Elizabeth received a letter.

Speaker 4 I know you don't believe this now, but what you needed was freedom from my shadow, from my past

Speaker 4 and disgrace. The only way to give you that is through my death.

Speaker 13 Overwhelmed with debt and and humiliated by his past crime, I wish I could kiss you goodbye.

Speaker 13 Pat Welsh told his wife of 14 years, please have my body cremated and not buried, that he had gone to San Francisco to commit suicide.

Speaker 4 Please tell the boys I will watch over them from heaven, that I love them very much and have the greatest hope for them. It was bad enough that Pat suddenly was gone, but then to receive this.

Speaker 13 And despite an exhaustive search by the FBI, local police, and the Welsh family, Pat's body was never found. With two young sons and a mortgage, Pat had left Elizabeth with few options.

Speaker 4 She didn't sleep. She didn't eat.

Speaker 12 Claire Bailey is Elizabeth's sister.

Speaker 4 The anxiety that I saw in my sister's eyes, the fear that I saw in their little boy's eyes, the unnecessary

Speaker 4 and unjust guilt that my sister carried with her, thinking that there's something that she should have done to keep this from happening was probably one of the hardest things for me to deal with.

Speaker 12 A wash in Pat's bad debts.

Speaker 4 I found out that he hadn't been paying bills for a long time.

Speaker 13 And with only $250 in a savings account, I could not afford the house. Elizabeth had to move her sons into this apartment.

Speaker 4 I had to give away their dog because I couldn't afford to keep the dog.

Speaker 13 And five years later, Pat was declared dead.

Speaker 4 If it would just have been me,

Speaker 4 I don't know where I would be today. I really don't.
But because of Ted and Chris,

Speaker 4 I had no choice. I mean, there was nowhere

Speaker 4 to go but on.

Speaker 13 And that's exactly what Elizabeth Welsh did.

Speaker 8 She worked her way up really fast.

Speaker 13 Today, she is president of the Chamber of Commerce in Licking County, Ohio.

Speaker 4 She had to excel and she had to push herself in that envelope to be everything that she could be so that life would go on for her and for the boys.

Speaker 13 But 15 years after Elizabeth first read Pat's suicide note, a shocking revelation arrived in the mail.

Speaker 4 I sipped open the envelope and pulled out the form and read it

Speaker 4 and stood there in the middle of my living room and

Speaker 4 read it again.

Speaker 4 My first thought was:

Speaker 4 could this possibly be true?

Speaker 13 When we come back,

Speaker 4 I think

Speaker 4 Pat may be alive.

Speaker 4 I was the one who had to provide the explanations for what was happening.

Speaker 13 Five years after Pat Welch disappeared without a trace.

Speaker 12 As far as you were concerned, there was no reason for you to think that he was still alive.

Speaker 13 Elizabeth divorced her husband and had him declared dead.

Speaker 4 Doesn't seem like a lot to have when you think you're closing a chapter on someone's life, does it?

Speaker 13 She was then able to collect a small amount of life insurance.

Speaker 4 I couldn't replace a father in their lives so easily.

Speaker 13 And some Social Security survivor benefits for her sons.

Speaker 4 But I could try to make a life for them that meant something.

Speaker 13 Little did she know those benefits would later provide the first clue to 15 years of lies and deception.

Speaker 4 My first thought was, could this possibly be true?

Speaker 12 Elizabeth received a shocking letter in the mail.

Speaker 4 The boys' survivor benefits, partial survivor benefits that they had received,

Speaker 4 would have to be paid back within 30 days because the number holder was alive.

Speaker 4 Actually, the terminology was not deceased.

Speaker 13 According to the government, Pat Welsh was still alive.

Speaker 4 I was thinking, no, wait, Elizabeth.

Speaker 13 And they were demanding back their $56,000.

Speaker 4 Basically, I called Social Security and said, you know, what are you guys trying to do here?

Speaker 13 Sally Testa was an aide to Elizabeth's congressman at the time, John Casey.

Speaker 4 I mean, we did what we could.

Speaker 14 How could you not?

Speaker 4 With Sally's help, I called a friend I had at the FBI.

Speaker 13 Elizabeth was starting to grasp a difficult reality.

Speaker 4 She called me and said, Elizabeth, sit down.

Speaker 19 Someone named Tim Kingsbury.

Speaker 4 And I said, well, Sally, I'm sitting.

Speaker 13 Who fit Pat Welsh's description?

Speaker 4 And she said, I think this could be your husband.

Speaker 13 Was using his social security number.

Speaker 12 And you're thinking, what?

Speaker 4 Timothy Kingsbury, who's this?

Speaker 11 In the winter of 1983, Patrick Welsh left his name and his past behind and pulled into Galveston, Texas on a bus with just a few dollars in his pocket.

Speaker 11 Residents say Galveston is a friendly and forgiving city, just the kind of place you might go if you wanted to reinvent your life.

Speaker 21 He was just a tenant at my mom's house here and he worked for my mom at Schlotzki's restaurant.

Speaker 11 Kevin Doherty was just a teenager when a stranger named Tim Kingsbury moved into his mother's boarding house. What'd you think of Tim?

Speaker 21 Nicest guy I remember in my life.

Speaker 11 Kingsbury told Doherty and others that he was a student here at the Galveston branch of the University of Texas Medical School.

Speaker 11 Would it surprise you to know that we checked with the folks at the medical school and they said he was never enrolled there?

Speaker 21 Very much so because I know his books were all there and he always seemed to be studying very diligently.

Speaker 11 It was the first of many deceptions as Tim Kingsbury slowly established himself in Galveston society. In his early years, he developed a reputation as a local character, writing for a small newspaper.

Speaker 11 He wrote about learning to scuba dive, to sail, and running a marathon, complete with photos of himself.

Speaker 11 Responding to a feature on Galveston's Eligible Bachelor's, the man who had abandoned his wife and two sons wrote, quote, can you imagine my surprise to find out I was not mentioned?

Speaker 11 For a man on the run, Kingsbury didn't act like a man with much to hide.

Speaker 11 Six months after his arrival, he was hired as a part-time publicist for the prestigious Galveston Historical Foundation, referred to as GHF.

Speaker 11 He was eventually appointed president. This is a recording of his acceptance speech.

Speaker 17 GHF is where I learned and grew professionally. It's through GHF that I fell in love in every sense of the word.

Speaker 11 While working at the foundation, he met Anne Anderson, a woman from a prominent Galveston family. He moved into her waterfront home, where they lived together for 10 years.

Speaker 11 Kingsbury eventually made his way into the inner circle of Galveston society, known as as BOI. Born on the island.

Speaker 22 He just was a standout in helping the community and helping people.

Speaker 11 He became close with Ann's brother Vandy.

Speaker 23 Another beautiful sunrise on Galveston Island this morning.

Speaker 11 Part owner of the local radio station.

Speaker 22 Vandy Anderson reporting KGBC News.

Speaker 11 Kingsbury later worked for him as general manager and reporter.

Speaker 22 This was Tim Kingsbury's office. He's done what I think a radio station manager should do, and that is to get involved in the community.

Speaker 22 These are various civic groups that he worked on and just some symbols of their appreciation for what he'd done.

Speaker 11 Kingsbury made other close friends, all prominent Galvestonians.

Speaker 4 The passion that he poured into getting the schools improved in our community, you know, matched my own and I have little children.

Speaker 11 Sheila Lidstone works for the local school district.

Speaker 24 He didn't come in with a lot of flash and I'm going to be in charge. He just gradually built his way into our hearts.

Speaker 11 Dr. Brent Mazel says Kingsbury was his best friend.

Speaker 20 I only know Tim Kingsbury.

Speaker 17 Don't know Patrick Wilch.

Speaker 11 Gerald Sullivan, a businessman and cattle rancher.

Speaker 20 I can truthfully put my hand on a Bible and swear that I know of nothing bad about Tim Kingsbury.

Speaker 11 But even his friends had some suspicions along the way.

Speaker 4 I wondered when we were having the school bond election what would make a young man with no children who's not married get so involved.

Speaker 24 He never really talked about his family and I thought obviously something very onerous had happened in his life that was so horrible that there was no way he could discuss it.

Speaker 15 And again, I was one of his closest friends.

Speaker 11 But they didn't ask and Kingsbury didn't tell.

Speaker 20 In Texas, there's an old saying, you don't ask a man how many cattle he has.

Speaker 12 If he wants you to know, he'll tell you.

Speaker 11 For 13 years, he lived in Galveston, a pillar of the community.

Speaker 11 Then one day, late in the winter of 1996,

Speaker 11 everything started to unravel.

Speaker 15 We had a citizen who came to us.

Speaker 11 Mike Guarino, Calveston County District Attorney.

Speaker 18 He had seen certain things at the radio station in the office of Tim Kingsbury that looked funny.

Speaker 11 A co-worker had come across forgeries.

Speaker 18 Some partially filled out Social Security cards, a birth certificate or two.

Speaker 11 Now, just after you had seized those fraudulent documents, did you have suspicions about him?

Speaker 11 Certainly. Did you think that maybe he wasn't Tim Kingsbury?

Speaker 18 Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 11 At that point, Kingsbury confessed everything to the DA and to his friends.

Speaker 4 It's devastating to hear that someone that you talk to just just about every day has a whole other life that you didn't know about.

Speaker 4 It's an incredible feeling.

Speaker 11 And maybe just as incredible, no one seemed to hold it against him.

Speaker 4 I don't blame Patrick Welsh. I don't know Patrick Welsh.
We know Tim Kingsbury.

Speaker 24 We're not talking about a rapist, a mugger, a murderer.

Speaker 18 He wasn't that awful a person.

Speaker 20 I don't think that I've been deceived.

Speaker 12 I have many emotions.

Speaker 20 but being deceived is not one of them.

Speaker 11 What about Patrick Welsh's wife and children?

Speaker 4 I'm only in in a position to judge what he's done here, and that's been remarkable.

Speaker 22 They should have had those 15 years, they'll say.

Speaker 22 And they're right. I mean,

Speaker 22 they missed out. Kids missed out.
Family, community.

Speaker 4 I guess I really don't blame his wife for being angry.

Speaker 11 Gerald Sullivan's wife, Suzanne.

Speaker 4 But he has suffered. I mean, he's had his own hell these 15 years.

Speaker 11 Why are you so willing to forgive?

Speaker 11 I guess that's the question. You all here in this room are willing to forgive him for the deception.
He didn't hurt us.

Speaker 24 How did he hurt us?

Speaker 24 I mean, all he ever did here was good.

Speaker 24 There's no reason not to forgive him.

Speaker 11 Would you accept him back here?

Speaker 22 In a heartbeat.

Speaker 24 In a heartbeat.

Speaker 16 No question about it.

Speaker 12 He faked his own death

Speaker 11 to his wife and his children for 15 years.

Speaker 13 They thought he was dead.

Speaker 24 To do that kind of thing, to leave every single thing you ever, ever had behind, everybody you knew behind, and get on a bus penniless and just ride to the end of the line is an act either of incredible cowardice or incredible bravery born out of desperation.

Speaker 11 Which do you think it was?

Speaker 24 I think it was bravery born out of desperation.

Speaker 11 Kingsbury pleaded guilty to forgery and got four years probation along with a $2,000 fine.

Speaker 11 But word of his false identity never got out into the community, never made the newspapers, never made the local news.

Speaker 22 I think it is out of respect for Tim

Speaker 22 that people didn't gossip and didn't talk.

Speaker 24 People in the courthouse knew, people in the probation office knew, lots of people knew, but they saw no need to rub Tim's nose in the dirt.

Speaker 11 And Patrick Welsh was allowed to continue his life in Galveston as Tim Kingsbury.

Speaker 11 But because of the forgery conviction, he had to use his old Social Security number, triggering a chain of events in Ohio that would ultimately lead to his arrest.

Speaker 11 And the model citizen left Galveston in handcuffs.

Speaker 6 Coming up.

Speaker 10 It's too simple to say, why did you do it?

Speaker 6 Patrick Welch places his family.

Speaker 8 I had questions for him

Speaker 6 for the first time in 15 years.

Speaker 4 It really is like someone coming back from the dead.

Speaker 11 And Elizabeth seeks justice.

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Speaker 4 I don't have a sense of anger in this, but I do have a very strong sense of justice. Mr.

Speaker 5 Welsh, why did you fake your own death?

Speaker 4 I know

Speaker 4 that if this were any other person, Mr.

Speaker 17 Welsh, is it really to be bad? And then Patrick Welsh.

Speaker 4 Charming, articulate, handsome man.

Speaker 5 Do you have anything to say to your ex-wife and your two sons who haven't seen seen you in the last 15 years?

Speaker 4 But that person already would have been behind bars.

Speaker 13 When Elizabeth Walsh discovered her ex-husband was alive and well, she had a difficult decision to make.

Speaker 4 How far was I willing to make another exception for Pat?

Speaker 10 It's too simple to say, why did you do it?

Speaker 4 And can I turn to my sons and say, you were disposable people?

Speaker 8 I wanted to know who I was.

Speaker 4 It's okay because look at all the good he's done in Galveston.

Speaker 8 I had questions for him.

Speaker 4 This is wrong.

Speaker 12 Where did he go wrong?

Speaker 15 For the sake of her children.

Speaker 8 Where could I go right?

Speaker 13 Elizabeth pursued the man who had faked his own death and abandoned them 15 years earlier.

Speaker 4 I sent him an email to the attention of Tim Kingsbury. I know.

Speaker 4 Call me.

Speaker 13 When that didn't work, did you hear back from him?

Speaker 16 No. She went to Galveston without Pat North.
What did you see?

Speaker 4 A very comfortable lifestyle. A very visible person.

Speaker 13 With a Ford Explorer and a convertible in the driveway of his waterfront home.

Speaker 4 Certainly a better style of life than he had provided for Ted and Chris. She came home from her Galveston trip and said, you know what?

Speaker 13 Elizabeth's sister, Claire.

Speaker 4 While the boys and I ate macaroni and cheese, Pat's been drinking margaritas.

Speaker 16 Did that make you angry?

Speaker 4 It amazed me. It absolutely amazed me.

Speaker 13 Elizabeth felt she had no choice but to call the authorities and have him brought back to Ohio.

Speaker 4 It really is like someone coming back from the dead and bringing mystery with with them.

Speaker 13 On January 31st, 1998.

Speaker 23 This is state of Ohio versus Patrick Kennessey Welsh case.

Speaker 13 Almost 15 years to the day he left his home and family.

Speaker 23 A motion was filed for a reduction in bond.

Speaker 13 Patrick Welsh was arrested and charged with insurance fraud and non-support of his two sons.

Speaker 21 This is not a situation where people have been harmed, where anybody has been killed.

Speaker 13 His defense attorney, Sam Weiner, is trying to get his $300,000 bond reduced.

Speaker 21 This man is really no threat to society and certainly no threat to leave the jurisdiction.

Speaker 13 So he can be released to his girlfriend, Ann Anderson, and wait out his trial back in Galveston.

Speaker 15 Mr. Becker.

Speaker 3 When he asked to be released from bond, what he's saying is, trust me.

Speaker 13 Bob Becker is the Licking County District Attorney.

Speaker 14 I understand this is not a murder case, but I do take strong exception to Mr. Weiner's characterization of this case as one without victims.

Speaker 14 There are, in fact, real victims in this case who have suffered real harm.

Speaker 23 The motion for reduction in bond is denied.

Speaker 11 Can you clear the hallway please?

Speaker 10 When this whole thing's over, I may never see him again. I will never know that until it's over.

Speaker 14 So even though you see him now in shackles and in prison gear, at least you get to see him.

Speaker 10 That's great.

Speaker 10 I have a father for this brief moment.

Speaker 13 With Pat Walsh sitting in jail.

Speaker 4 I'm not angry, I'm not nervous.

Speaker 15 Unable to run from his problems this time.

Speaker 4 I'm here to see what he has in terms of plans for his future.

Speaker 13 Elizabeth and her sons finally had a chance to confront him face to face for the first time in 15 years.

Speaker 4 Not our future, but his future, as it still affects something that for him became a liability, and for me

Speaker 4 became the greatest assets of our kids.

Speaker 16 What do you think he wants?

Speaker 4 Out.

Speaker 4 Out of jail. Out of jail.

Speaker 13 30 minutes later.

Speaker 17 That was different.

Speaker 4 He said right off the top he was sorry. I didn't believe him.

Speaker 4 Just like pressing charges, I had to press him to think about the reality of what he's facing now and that he can't just fantasize about returning to Galveston.

Speaker 16 What was it like the moment you walked into that jail and show him?

Speaker 8 It was a lot like looking into a mirror. We mimicked each other almost.
He said, I love you. And I said, take care of yourself.
I'm going to go hide.

Speaker 4 I brought up the boys. It was clearly painful for him.

Speaker 10 I expressed to him that he really needs to show some sort of admission to his family, to

Speaker 10 my mother, to my brother,

Speaker 10 and to me, that he has indeed done us wrong.

Speaker 5 When he told you that he loved you, did you believe him?

Speaker 8 I don't know. I wanted to, but I don't...
I don't know if I can trust him.

Speaker 10 More important than words are the actions.

Speaker 10 He can say he's sorry, but he has to

Speaker 10 show me he's sorry. And he has yet to do that.

Speaker 15 Pat Welsh pleads no contest to eight felony and four misdemeanor counts of fraud and non-support.

Speaker 15 So he not only needs his family's forgiveness.

Speaker 23 Mr. Welsh, do you agree with the facts as has been stated by the prosecutor?

Speaker 10 Yes, Your Honor.

Speaker 13 He's also at the mercy of the court.

Speaker 23 Are you entering the pleas or changing your pleas freely and voluntarily, knowing what your rights are?

Speaker 17 Yes, Your Honor.

Speaker 13 Coming up.

Speaker 23 You have no conscience. Your acts were cowardly and they were criminal.

Speaker 15 Judgment Day for Patrick Welch.

Speaker 23 And for that, you will be punished.

Speaker 2 But first, you'd have to lift up a low rock in a wet place to find anybody as sorry as he is.

Speaker 15 The tide turns in Galveston.

Speaker 6 How did Patrick Welch, a father who disappeared, manage to outrun his past for so long?

Speaker 6 Maybe it's because some of the people who got to know him in his new life, alias Tim Kingsbury, simply wanted to believe the best about people. Or maybe they just didn't want to know the worst.

Speaker 6 However it happened now, after 15 years, a dad's double life is finally catching up with him. Here again is Harold Dow in Galveston, where they are changing their

Speaker 11 While Patrick Welsh sits in an Ohio jail, back in Galveston, the tide of public support has begun to turn against him.

Speaker 2 I think he's probably one of the great con men of all times.

Speaker 11 A.R. Schwartz is known to everyone here as Babe.

Speaker 2 I think embezzlers, con men, forgers, liars, cheats, and thieves ought to do a hard time when they're caught.

Speaker 11 As majority owner of the local radio station,

Speaker 11 Swartz hired Patrick Welsh, alias Tim Kingsbury, as general manager.

Speaker 2 In his application, he said he was single, said he had no children, and he gave his name and he gave a fictitious Social Security number.

Speaker 11 Schwartz, a former state senator, admits he's one of many people in Galveston who got duped by Welsh.

Speaker 2 He conned me pretty good, and I don't like it. I don't like being conned.
I don't like being that stupid.

Speaker 11 And Schwartz says the Galveston County District Attorney, Mike Guarino, was also conned.

Speaker 2 I have written the district attorney and I've told him he got conned too.

Speaker 11 Even though Guarino charged Welsh with forgery and knew that this well-known public figure was living a lie, he never announced that accusation publicly.

Speaker 11 This man goes before the court, goes before the district attorney. How come nobody in the community knows about this?

Speaker 2 I don't know. If it have been some kid that jerked four hubcaps off a car, it'd have been in the newspaper.

Speaker 11 Some people thought the district attorney should have called a press conference, should have had his picture plastered out there for the entire community to see. What's your response to that?

Speaker 18 The district attorney is not a publicist or the town crier, so to speak. He's the prosecutor, and he's got to prosecute the case.

Speaker 11 Which Guarino says he did right by the book.

Speaker 18 We really didn't handle it any differently than we would have handled, you know,

Speaker 18 a forgery case of this nature.

Speaker 11 He admits he knew about Welsh's abandoned family in Ohio. Did you know he was married with children?

Speaker 18 Yes, we did know because he told us he had walked away from a family. We had no current information on them or their whereabouts.

Speaker 11 But at the court hearing to determine Welsh's sentence, Guarino never informed the judge about Elizabeth and their two sons.

Speaker 2 Judge Carmona, the district judge, got conned. Never in his lifetime would he have given Patrick Welsh probation had he known that Patrick Welsh abandoned his wife and children.

Speaker 11 District Court Judge Frank Carmona confirmed to 48 Hours that he was not told about Welsh's family. Guarino says he never brought it up because it was not a legal issue relevant to the forgery case.

Speaker 11 Did you feel it was your responsibility to try to seek out and locate the wife, the children of Patrick Welsh?

Speaker 18 No, at the time we did not. We did not think about it.
We had notified all the agencies that we thought were proper, including the Ohio side of the equation. We thought they would seek them out.

Speaker 18 But we really didn't think about it. Hindsight's 2020, I'd probably do it today.

Speaker 2 He's not admitted publicly that he was con like the rest of us, but he should.

Speaker 11 But Schwartz is far more upset at his partner, Vandy Anderson, co-owner of the radio station and brother of Kingsbury's girlfriend.

Speaker 2 I put it all on his back because he knew every bit of it.

Speaker 11 Vandy was on the air.

Speaker 2 Vandy was on the air every day.

Speaker 11 Schwartz believes Anderson had an obligation as a news reporter to inform the public.

Speaker 2 Vandy Anderson should have come out here and said, Tim Kingsbury has been convicted of his second felon at the courthouse today.

Speaker 11 You think he should have gone on the air and said that?

Speaker 2 Absolutely. If he goes on the air and gives the news, that's the news.

Speaker 11 Because of that, Schwartz fired Anderson as news broadcaster. According to Babe, this man known as Tim Kingsbury conned you.
Conned your sister. Conned everybody.
Sure.

Speaker 11 Do you feel like you've been conned?

Speaker 18 No, not at all.

Speaker 11 Anderson's sister, Ann, remains loyal to him as well.

Speaker 22 She supports him 100%. I think they'll be together the rest of their lives.

Speaker 11 Do you think he conned your sister?

Speaker 22 No, I think we all knew that there was a past. We just didn't want to know what it was.

Speaker 11 Ann Anderson declined our request for an interview.

Speaker 2 If this guy had conned my sister, my first inclination would be to beat the hell out of her.

Speaker 22 What we know him as is a good person.

Speaker 22 If he did something years ago that was bad, he's made up for that, I think, in his own life. I hope so.
And that's how we know him.

Speaker 11 But as the story unfolds, others in Galveston aren't so forgiving.

Speaker 25 The guy belongs in orange jumpsuit. I guarantee you, two years in the general prison population will make a brand new man out of him.

Speaker 11 Doug McLeod, chairman of Moody Gardens, a top tourist attraction, worked with Kingsbury and various civic groups.

Speaker 25 This guy was, in fact, nicknamed the amazing Tim. That's understandable now because he gained this trust.
Everyone felt like this guy was the most trustworthy person in the world.

Speaker 11 McCloud believes the people of Galveston are wiser from the whole experience.

Speaker 11 If a new person came to town tomorrow and donated a lot of time to community efforts, do you think he'd still check him out?

Speaker 25 I think.

Speaker 11 I think I'll know the answer to this.

Speaker 18 Just ahead.

Speaker 23 Elizabeth Welsh wishes to make a statement.

Speaker 12 Thank you, Your Honor.

Speaker 6 The public confrontation.

Speaker 4 Every father's date for the past 15 years

Speaker 4 was stolen from the lives of your sons.

Speaker 7 What will be the punishment for Patrick Welsh's deception?

Speaker 16 You're telling me you're not angry at this man.

Speaker 2 I'm not angry with this man.

Speaker 6 Not even a little bit.

Speaker 4 I don't believe so.

Speaker 13 It's been seven months since Patrick Welsh was brought back from the dead.

Speaker 4 He has chosen his course, and I have chosen mine. And today, I feel that I have done the right thing for my sons.

Speaker 13 Judgment Day for the charges of non-support and insurance fraud.

Speaker 4 Pat maintains that he believes he did the right thing when he deserted us.

Speaker 23 Besides facing his punishment, this is the state of Ohio versus Patrick Tennessee Welsh.

Speaker 15 Pat Welsh must also face his family, including his own father.

Speaker 19 Elizabeth Welsh comes to court with a new look and new determination that what she did was right.

Speaker 23 Today's date is May 21, 1998. We're here today for the purposes of sentence.

Speaker 17 I've made it clear from the beginning that I believe a term in prison is appropriate in this case. Seems to me this is this man's third felony conviction.

Speaker 14 For that fact alone, he ought to go to prison.

Speaker 15 Welsh has pleaded no contest.

Speaker 23 This court finds that the defendant is guilty as charged.

Speaker 13 And will be sentenced by Judge Gregory Frost.

Speaker 23 I mean, now the matter is sentenced.

Speaker 7 But first.

Speaker 23 The court has been informed that Elizabeth Welsh wishes to make a statement, and also Christopher, I believe, wishes to make a statement. Ms.
Welsh?

Speaker 4 Thank you, Your Honor. Pat, you started on this sad journey by stealing money from Ohio State University, from your father, and from mine.

Speaker 4 You took our love, you took our trust, you took our innocence, our home,

Speaker 4 and any hope we had for a normal life. Every trip to Colorado, every South Padre Island vacation, every Christmas, every Easter, every 4th of July,

Speaker 4 Every Father's Day for the past 15 years

Speaker 4 was stolen from the lives of your sons. Instead of being a father that they can respect and emulate, you are a 50-year-old kept man.
And what was I to make of your last letters to me?

Speaker 4 Do you remember what you wrote?

Speaker 4 You are my light and my deepest love. You know how much I treasure life.
I treasure you and your future more. You know how much you are a part of me, so I hope you know that a part of me will live on.

Speaker 4 Know that there was no one on earth that I cherished more. But you did cherish someone more, Pat, and that person was you.
I'm sorry for you, Pat.

Speaker 23 Christopher, do you wish to make a statement?

Speaker 10 Yes.

Speaker 23 Come forward.

Speaker 10 How can you turn your back on a family that loves you? How can you, in one breath, say you love somebody and then turn your back and run? How, for 15 years, can you never call your sons and say hello?

Speaker 10 How can you look me in the eye right now? I hope you'd think about this and maybe give me some sort of reply.

Speaker 23 Finally, Mr. Welsh, is there anything you wish to say before the court pronounces sentence in this matter? Yes, Your Honor.
You may proceed.

Speaker 26 Ted and Chris, I love you deeply.

Speaker 17 I really do.

Speaker 26 The great sadness of my life is that because of what I've done,

Speaker 26 you may never know how much I love you or how much I missed you. Peachy, I'm sorry.
You did a wonderful job with the boys.

Speaker 10 I'm sorry for what I've done.

Speaker 17 And I'm ready to continue my punishment.

Speaker 23 Thank you, Mr. Welsh.

Speaker 15 And finally, with Elizabeth, Chris, and Pat's father, Richard, watching.

Speaker 23 You have no conscience. Your acts were cowardly, and they were criminal.
His sentence. And for that, you will be punished.

Speaker 23 You therefore have a total sentence to be served of four years at the Orient Correctional and Receiving Center. There is restitution to be made, and you will pay every penny of that.

Speaker 13 Four years of prison and over $92,000 in fines.

Speaker 16 Is this ever going to be over for you?

Speaker 4 It doesn't come to closure exactly, but this part of it does. The hurtful part of it that involved

Speaker 4 deception, betrayal,

Speaker 4 hardship, it's done. It's done.
Now it gets settled. The debts get paid, and we all go on.

Speaker 17 Next. I know I did bad things.
I know I did terrible things.

Speaker 15 Pat Welch tells his side of the story.

Speaker 17 I need to explain that I never stopped being a loving father.

Speaker 17 I know I did bad things. I know I did terrible things.

Speaker 17 But I tried once and for all to make something positive of my life in Galveston.

Speaker 13 Patrick Welsh has never spoken publicly about his disappearance.

Speaker 17 I need to explain that I never stopped being a loving father.

Speaker 19 Until now.

Speaker 17 I did this thing to make life better for my boys without having to live under the shadow of this criminal who was Pat Welsh.

Speaker 16 We've seen pictures of you with the boys and you look so happy.

Speaker 15 You look like the model dad.

Speaker 16 What happens to a guy? How do you go from that to doing what you did?

Speaker 17 I mean it was very

Speaker 17 very vivid in my mind when it happened. I had had told Elizabeth that I was going to pay her father back money that I didn't have.

Speaker 13 That was January 21st, 1983. the day Pat Welsh disappeared.

Speaker 17 I thought there was some way I could get that money, and when I couldn't get that money,

Speaker 17 I knew that what was going to ensue was just the disintegration of

Speaker 17 everything. And I said, this is it.
This is the moment that I have to just go kill myself.

Speaker 12 Did you really intend to kill yourself?

Speaker 17 Absolutely. Absolutely.
I went to the edge of the pier. I was a bad person to myself.
I thought they would eventually be happy to have been rid of that bad person. In the end, I couldn't face that.

Speaker 17 That at the last second, you can't say you're sorry for killing yourself.

Speaker 4 The person

Speaker 4 that I just saw on those tapes was acting.

Speaker 13 48 Hours showed Pat's interview.

Speaker 17 I did a bad thing.

Speaker 14 To Elizabeth and her sons.

Speaker 4 My interpretation was that he was acting the part of someone who was supposed to be contrite, who dearly loved his sons, and was really trying to do the right thing by them.

Speaker 16 How did you come up with the name Tim Kingsbury?

Speaker 17 Looked in a newspaper for someone who was born about that time.

Speaker 16 Really? Just looked in the newspaper, saw this name, said, that sounds good.

Speaker 16 Yeah.

Speaker 13 Why Texas?

Speaker 17 Far away.

Speaker 17 I've never known anyone from Ohio who'd ever gone to Texas. Couldn't afford to go to the East Coast or to California,

Speaker 17 Texas.

Speaker 16 You say you did this for your family.

Speaker 16 What did you think was going to happen to them?

Speaker 16 How did you think they were going to get by?

Speaker 17 I knew that my family had the resources to take care of the boys.

Speaker 17 I knew that Elizabeth was beautiful and talented and someone else would come into her life and become a new father for the boys.

Speaker 15 But that's not how things worked out.

Speaker 8 I'm lucky that I had a lot of books to read and

Speaker 8 I had Chris and my mom and Aunt Claire around.

Speaker 12 And

Speaker 16 we never did find another dad.

Speaker 15 Did you like being a husband and father?

Speaker 17 Oh, sure. Sure.
That was

Speaker 17 absolutely wonderful.

Speaker 10 Trust. There is no trust there whatsoever.
I mean, I cannot trust this man

Speaker 18 at all.

Speaker 17 And

Speaker 10 I do not trust anything he says.

Speaker 16 In those 15 years, how often did you think about the boys? Every day.

Speaker 17 Every day. Every day.
Every day.

Speaker 16 Why not just pick up the phone and call?

Speaker 20 Hi.

Speaker 16 Just wanted you to know,

Speaker 16 I'm alive.

Speaker 20 I'm here.

Speaker 16 I did this for this reason, that reason, reason, or whatever. But I'm here.
If it was bothering you so much, why couldn't you do that?

Speaker 17 I thought about picking up the phone and calling them.

Speaker 17 Those are the times when you would say, the price I'm paying is not knowing. And I'm going to pay that price today.

Speaker 12 Let me just make sure I understand this.

Speaker 16 But you thought you were punishing yourself by not picking up the phone and calling them. Exactly.

Speaker 17 I mean,

Speaker 17 I certainly wouldn't have brought them any joy.

Speaker 16 You know what they told me when I first met them?

Speaker 15 I was so happy.

Speaker 16 Okay. I had a dad.
Oh, good. My father is still alive.
So maybe if you picked up the phone, it wouldn't have been as bad as you thought.

Speaker 17 Thanks for telling me that.

Speaker 4 I keep thinking, how can he say these things and keep a straight face?

Speaker 16 Would you like to have a relationship with Ted and Chris?

Speaker 20 Absolutely.

Speaker 17 I want it desperately. I know I don't deserve it.
I know it's on their terms.

Speaker 17 But when that day comes, I hope it does come, when that day comes, I hope it's pure and simple, that when they see me, they're glad.

Speaker 12 But since Pat Walsh's sentencing, Ted and Chris say their father has not contacted them.

Speaker 10 He's obviously erased my brother and I from his lives.

Speaker 16 What do you owe the boys? What do you think you owe the boys?

Speaker 17 A game of catch.

Speaker 17 A game of catch.

Speaker 8 He can't even say he's a father.

Speaker 8 There's nothing behind those words.

Speaker 13 Despite his four-year sentence, I'll pay my debt. Pat Walsh is likely to be released in a few months.

Speaker 17 And I'll make a contribution to this world.

Speaker 13 And plans on returning to Galveston.

Speaker 12 As Tim or as Pat?

Speaker 17 As Pat. I mean,

Speaker 17 there's no charade anymore. That's my name.

Speaker 16 I got to tell you, Elizabeth has been very gracious when it comes to you.

Speaker 17 She's a better person than I am.

Speaker 17 She really is.

Speaker 17 I don't know why I would expect anything else.

Speaker 23 In 1999, Patrick Welsh was released from prison.

Speaker 17 He spent a year behind bars.

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