A man has shocked many people with his unbelievable act after he disappeared only to be found in a most unlikely place.
Richard Hoagland was arrested for identity fraud in July this year
Richard Hoagland, a man who disappeared from his wife and kids 23-years ago, has been found living in an unbelievable setting.
The man was found living with a new family 1,000 miles away after being tracked down on ancestry.com.
According to The Sun UK, Richard Hoagland, a 63-year-old, vanished from his home in Indianapolis, USA, in February 1993.
His wife Linda and their two sons, Matthew and Douglas spent years waiting and praying for him to turn up safe and sound.
But after a decade passed, they eventually gave up hope of ever seeing him alive again, with authorities declaring him legally dead in 2003.
However, in July this year, Linda was left stunned after receiving a shocking phone call from cops informing her Hoagland had been found and arrested for identity fraud.
Hoagland was living under the assumed name of dead fisherman Terry Symansky (pictured)
As it turned out, her long lost hubby had moved to Florida where he had started a new life under the assumed name of dead fisherman Terry Jude Symansky.
Symansky, whose father Hoagland had once rented a flat from perished in a freak accident in 1991.
When his dad, Edward, passed away in 1994, Hoagland took on his son’s identity. He remarried and started a new family, living a quiet life in the town of Zephyrhills where he obtained a pilot’s license.
His cover was only blown when relatives of the real Terry Symansky began researching their family tree on ancestry.com.
A nephew of the deceased fisherman was shocked to see records showing his uncle had married in 1995 – four years after his tragic death.
The family alerted cops who swooped to arrest Hoagland – who is now facing a string of fraud charges.
And his new wife was left in pieces after police informed her of the charges levelled against her husband.
After hearing the news, shocked Mary Hickman discovered a briefcase in the home they shared containing evidence of his real identity, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Hoagland left his wife Linda and his two sons Matthew and Douglas
In a turn of events like something from a Hollywood spy movie, she also found keys to a secret storage lock-up and the deed to a property he had bought in Louisiana the previous year.
Since his arrest, his previous wife Linda has spoken to journalists to describe the fateful day her husband disappeared.
Speaking on ABC’s 20/20, she said she last spoke to him after receiving a panicked phone call saying he needed to go the hospital.
She revealed: “I said ‘Well, why don’t you just wait, and I’ll go with you?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t have time to wait’.”
But after checking local hospitals and finding no trace, he was reported missing – having left his passport and all his belongings at home.
Linda said the family lost their house and cars after Hoagland vanished, and even claims she was interrogated by cops who suspected she had something to do with his untimely disappearance.
“He devastated us. He left us with nothing, absolutely nothing. I was very broken,” she revealed.
Police in Pasco County police branded Hoagland a “selfish coward” for his lifetime of deceit.
Sheriff Chris Nocco said: “This is a person who has lived his life destroying others.”