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Deb Proctor was at work when her phone rang from an unknown number — a call that would shatter everything she thought she knew about her husband.
An investigator delivered the devastating truth to the Oklahoma woman: The man she knew as Jeff Walton was actually Ronald Stan, a Canadian man who disappeared 37 years earlier and was presumed dead after leaving behind a wife and two children.
“After gathering my composure, I went to my immediate executive and explained this bizarre phone call,” Proctor told Fox News Digital. “My colleagues were very concerned that my life was in danger, that maybe Jeff was in witness protection, and I had just blown it to some stranger who was not real, a so-called investigator.”
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Proctor is coming forward with her story in the ABC true crime series “Betrayal: Secrets & Lies.” Inspired by the “Betrayal” podcast franchise, the series explores how people from across the country survive scandalous confessions, financial ruin and acts of violence, among other hardships.
“Deb Proctor’s story is an incredible exploration of what happens when the person closest to you is living a double life,” Andrea Gunning, host of the “Betrayal” podcast, told Fox News Digital. “What stayed with me the most while working on Deb’s story was not just the scale of Jeff’s deception, but the deeply human process of Deb rebuilding her life after the truth was exposed.”
It was 1998 when Proctor, a 41-year-old divorcee and mother of two sons, was ready to meet someone new. She decided to join a dating site, where she came across Walton, an Ohio State graduate and former football player who traveled and played golf — a passion of hers. She was intrigued.
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After a year of talking, they decided to meet in person. When Walton stepped off the plane and saw Proctor, he asked, “You will marry me, won’t you?”
Walton moved in a few months later. They married in 2000.
“I felt like this was a person that I loved very much,” Proctor said. “I could see us traveling together, creating a life together. I felt hopeful about the future.”
But a year into their marriage, Walton was struggling to find work. That’s when he told her for the first time that he was a Vietnam War veteran. According to the podcast, Walton claimed that at age 18, he served in the Special Forces when he was captured and held prisoner. For months, he was tortured before eventually escaping by following a stream.
“[As a nurse] I had some experience working with Vietnam vets and PTSD,” Proctor said. “It really tugged at my heart. He had also uprooted his life, given up his job as a project manager at a large industrial construction company, given up everything just to be with me. He had given up everything for love.”
Proctor’s seemingly happily ever after was disrupted. Walton, who was unemployed, suffered a heart attack requiring ongoing care. The couple struggled to cover his medical expenses. Proctor, who had worked at the VA years earlier, tried to convince her husband to seek help as the bills piled up. But he refused to get healthcare, insisting he was dishonorably discharged and wouldn’t be listed.
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“I was dumbfounded,” Proctor admitted. “That’s the biggest moment when I thought, ‘Something’s not right here.’ I couldn’t put my finger on it. I just kept insisting on going to the VA so he could get healthcare. We were going to go broke. It was just a 30-minute drive to the nearest facility. But he looked at me strangely and said, ‘I’m not going. I was in Special Forces. Because of what I witnessed and what I reported, my actions were illegal and unethical. They won’t have me listed anywhere.’”
“I kept saying to him, ‘You’ve served your country. There are records somewhere,’” Proctor continued. “But he said, ‘I will not get government healthcare.’ He got up and walked away.”
Confused, Proctor considered hiring a private investigator. But after realizing she couldn’t afford one, she put her feelings aside.
Shortly after Walton’s heart attack, he had a stroke. Then he began exhibiting signs of dementia. The medical bills continued mounting into the thousands. Proctor was his primary caretaker while working full time as a nurse to make ends meet. She began drinking to cope with the stress. As Walton’s memory worsened, she was able to place him in a funded outpatient care facility.
In 2014, Proctor received a phone call from a detective in Canada. Investigators were probing the cold case of Ronald Stan and were able to track him down through social media, according to the podcast.
In September 1977, a barn fire killed several pigs. Stan, then 32, disappeared. Although human remains were never found, Stan was declared legally dead in 1986. However, the case was reopened in 2014. Using modern investigative technology, the Ontario Provincial Police discovered that Stan was alive and living in a rural part of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma under a new name, “Jeff Walton.” He later admitted the truth to police.
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“I thought to myself, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve just spilled my guts, and now I’m in danger, he’s in danger,’” Proctor said about the phone call. “I felt like I was in somebody’s movie. I thought, ‘Who am I? Who was I married to this entire time?’ I was outside of my consciousness.”
Proctor immediately went to the Cherokee Nation Marshals Service. After an investigator made several phone calls, she confirmed that every detail was true. Stan had faked his death in a fire, abandoning his wife and two children.
Proctor stayed with a friend and immediately filed for divorce.
“I did love him,” she admitted. “But it was all an illusion. He was not the man I thought I married. Nothing was real.”
Proctor said that Walton, now identified as Stan, made numerous calls to her and repeatedly tried to text her. She said that in one voicemail, Stan told her, “If you want to play hardball, then come on.” He also tried contacting one of her sons and emailed several of her friends and colleagues.
“I had nothing else to say to him,” Proctor said. “But I was frightened. I remember walking out of my home and into the woods, where there was a worn-down pathway with a small seating area. I also noticed lots of cigarette butts. I don’t know. I just thought he was coming back to harm us. What if he was preparing to burn our home down because I knew about him burning down his place in Canada?”
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She also wondered whether he was planning another escape.
According to the podcast, the statute of limitations for arson had expired in Canada. It also noted that too much time had passed for Stan to face identity fraud charges in the U.S.
In the series, Proctor said that Stan never apologized. The calls stopped, and she never heard from him again. In 2019, Proctor said his son reached out to her to say that his father had died.
Today, Proctor supports victims of domestic violence in her community. She also remarried a longtime friend and fellow golf enthusiast.
“I never intended to do this again,” she said with a laugh. “But the gentleman I married, Richard, is absolutely the sweetest, kindest, most loving person I’ve ever known in my life. It’s a love that I’ve never experienced before. It’s genuine.”
If there’s one message Proctor hopes audiences take away, it’s this: Don’t ignore that nagging feeling.
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“Pathological liars, they’re a dime a dozen,” she said. “They walk among us. Some people fall for them more than others, but it can happen to any one of us. If something doesn’t feel right, dig out the truth.”