Deb Proctor was at work when her phone rang from an unknown number – a call that would destroy everything she thought she knew about her husband.
An investigator told the Oklahoma woman the devastating truth: 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 direct supervisor and explained this bizarre call,” Proctor told Fox News Digital.
“My colleagues were very concerned that my life was in danger, that Jeff might be in witness protection, and that I had just told a stranger who wasn’t real, a so-called investigator.”
Proctor’s story will appear 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 leads a double life,” Andrea Gunning, host of the “Betrayal” podcast, told Fox News Digital.
“What I remember most about working on Deb’s story was not just the extent of Jeff’s deception, but the deeply human process in which Deb rebuilt her life after the truth came to light.”
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 met Walton, an Ohio State graduate and former football player who traveled and played golf – a passion of hers. She was intrigued.
After a year of talking, they decided to meet in person. When Walton got off the plane and saw Proctor, he asked, “You want to marry me, don’t you?”
Walton moved in a few months later. They married in 2000.
“I felt like this was a person I loved very much,” Proctor said. “I saw us traveling together and building a life together. I felt hopeful about the future.”
But a year after their wedding, Walton struggled to find work. That’s when he first told her he was a Vietnam War veteran. According to the podcast, Walton claimed he was serving in the Special Forces at the age of 18 when he was captured and held captive. He was tortured for months before finally escaping by following a stream.
“[As a nurse] I had some experience working with Vietnam veterans and PTSD,” Proctor said. “It really touched me. 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 that required ongoing care.
The couple struggled to cover his medical costs. Proctor, who had worked at the VA years earlier, tried to convince her husband to get help as the bills piled up. But he refused health care, insisting he was dishonorably discharged and should not be on the list.
“I was stunned,” Proctor admitted. “That’s the biggest moment where I thought, ‘Something’s not right here.’ I couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept pushing to go to the VA so he could get health care. We would go bankrupt. It was only a 30 minute drive to the nearest branch. But he looked at me strangely and said, ‘I’m not going. I was in the Special Forces. Because of what I saw and what I reported, my actions were illegal and unethical. They don’t want to put me on the list anywhere.’”
“I kept telling him, ‘You served your country. There’s records somewhere,'” Proctor continued. “But he said, ‘I don’t get health care from the government.’ 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 suffered a stroke. Then he started showing signs of dementia. Medical bills continued to run into the thousands.
Proctor was his primary caregiver while he worked full-time as a nurse to make ends meet. She started drinking to cope with the stress. When Walton’s memory deteriorated, she was able to place him in a funded outpatient clinic.
In 2014, Proctor received a call from a detective in Canada. Investigators investigated Ronald Stan’s cold case and were able to track him down through social media, the podcast said.
In September 1977, several pigs died in a stable fire. Stan, then 32, disappeared. Although no human remains were ever found, Stan was declared legally dead in 1986.
However, the case was reopened in 2014. Using modern investigative technology, 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 the police.
“I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, I just spilled my guts, and now I’m in danger, he’s in danger,’” Proctor said of the phone call.
“I felt like I was in someone’s movie. I thought, ‘Who am I? Who was I married to this whole time?’ I was unconscious.”
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 and abandoned his wife and two children.
Proctor was staying with a friend and immediately filed for divorce.
“I really loved him,” she admitted. “But it was all an illusion. He wasn’t the man I thought I was married to. Nothing was real.”
Proctor said Walton, now identified as Stan, called her numerous times and tried to text her repeatedly. She said Stan told her in a voicemail, “If you want to play hard, come on.” He also tried to contact one of her sons and emailed some of her friends and colleagues.
“I had nothing else to say to him,” Proctor said. “But I was scared. I remember leaving my house and walking into the woods, where there was a worn path with a small sitting area. I also saw a lot of cigarette butts. I don’t know. I just thought he was coming back to harm us. What if he was preparing to burn down our house because I knew he had burned down his house in Canada?”
She also wondered if he was planning another escape.
According to the podcast, the statute of limitations for arson in Canada had expired. It also noted that too much time had passed before Stan was charged in the US with identity fraud.
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 contacted her to say 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, laughing. “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 I’ve never experienced before. It’s genuine.”
If there’s one message Proctor hopes audiences will take away, it’s this: don’t ignore that nagging feeling.
“Pathological liars, they’re a dime a dozen,” she said. “They walk among us. Some people fall for it more than others, but it can happen to any of us. If something doesn’t feel right, seek out the truth.”
