A Web of deceit

More victims come forward after the report aired on Dateline
No prosecution: That was where things stood when Dateline first broadcast this story in July.  By then, the woman who’d admitted her real name was Amy— not Christy— had seemingly disappeared. She’d checked out of her hotel and had disconnected her cell phone.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. When our report aired some viewers recognized her and contacted Dateline with new information. More people came forward to say they too were scammed by the woman at the center of our story. Mike and Chantelle Early say last April “Amy Cumbee” promised them a baby and that they sent her nearly $1,000 dollars.

Chantal Early, prospective adoptive mother: She knew what to say to us to draw us in. And make us feel like we were gonna have a little girl.

The Earlys say they drove all the way from Iowa to Nashville because Amy told them she was about to give birth. Then, they say, she cut them off.

Mike Early: It was a devastating car ride back with an empty car seat.

Chantal Early: And I still (sobbing) I still held on. I still had that little glimmer of hope. I think that was the hardest thing was. Watching that show, and seeing all the other couples having the same hope. You know, that baby was everybody’s baby.

These two men from Amy’s past say they were victims of a different sort—that Amy stole their hearts and then their money.  

Victoria Corderi, Dateline correspondent: What did you think when you saw what she was doing?

Jimmy Hodge, Amy's ex-husband: It’s like “Not again. What are you doing? When is enough enough?”

Jimmy Hodge says he and Amy were married in 1998, and just like the ex-husband we meet earlier, he says Amy fleeced him then fled.

Hodge: She left me and took off, and just took everything, I mean everything.  The house was cleaned out.  She took my dog. 

Nathan Offut says he’s an ex-boyfriend who also was taken for a financial ride.

Nathan Offut, Amy's ex-boyfriend: The stories and stuff are the same, just different little lies in it.

Caught pulling another con
So where was Amy when our report aired? Apparently pulling another con. This time, she’d convinced a domestic violence shelter to put her up in an apartment by claiming that she and her girlfriend were sisters who’d been abused by their father and needed a place to hide.  Imagine the shelter director’s shock when she watched our story and learned the truth.

She says she immediately called the Nashville police.

Police arrested Amy on an outstanding warrant for a probation violation. She'd pleaded guilty to running out on a hotel bill using yet another fake name, Marissa Foltz.  

Her seeming accomplice talks to Dateline
But what about the real Christy—Amy’s girlfriend?  Our hidden cameras had seen the two women go on a shopping spree together with money that was meant for rent and food.

Well, she was not arrested.  And in fact, the real Christy—who appeared to be in on the scheme—agreed to an interview  with Dateline.  She claims she’s another one of Amy’s victims.

While she admits she lied to the domestic violence shelter about being abused, says she knew nothing about Amy’s dealing with the Colemans.

Christy Tidwell: She said her family was sending her money.  And churches was giving her money.  I never knew about anything else.

Christy says she has bipolar disorder, and that Amy convinced her to stop taking her medication and to hand over her disability checks. What’s more, she says she believed that baby would be hers too.

Tidwell: She said we could raise it together, it’d be ours.

She says it wasn’t until she saw our story that she realized what her friend had done, using her name.

Tidwell: It just blew my mind.  I didn’t know what to think.

Corderi: Were you ever involved in an adoption scam?

Tidwell: No, ma’am.  And I can put my hand on the Bible, I couldn’t hurt nobody like that.

In a final twist, Christy has joined the other couples we met in wanting to see this woman punished.  She is cooperating with the Nashville DA’s office to put together a case of identity theft.

Assistant District Attorney (in court): Did you ever give Amy Cumbee permission to use your name in a pregnancy scam with Miss Coleman?

Christy Tidwell: No, ma’am.  I will swear on anything.  I did not.

Amy waived her right to appear at a preliminary hearing in July. Lori Coleman was there to testify. 

Lori Coleman: It was hard reliving everything ‘cause I’m at the point now to where I’m angry instead of just heartbroken. 

Then earlier this year, Amy pleaded guilty to identity theft. She got a suspended sentence of 2 years, and after spending nearly 10 months in jail she’ll be released to a halfway house in May.

What happened to the baby?
But one big question remains: What happened to the baby? Or perhaps, was there ever a baby?  The math just doesn’t add up. When we met amy she said she was 7 months pregnant. Then six months later she was in the domestic violence shelter, still claiming to be pregnant.

Her room there was full of this baby gear that the shelter had helped her collect from local charities.

Corderi: Now you were with her every day for more than a year and she never gave birth to a baby?

Tidwell: No.

The men who knew her say Amy repeatedly said she was pregnant, then claimed to miscarry, and soon would announce she was pregnant again.

Corderi: How often did she tell you she was pregnant?

Hodge: I got it so many times I couldn’t count.

Jimmy Hodge says he even caught her strapping on padding before a baby shower in her honor.

Hodge: I came home and I walk into the bathroom and she’s there with a pillow on her stomach wrapping an ace bandage around it.  I’m like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’

The Colemans now believe that baby they’d wanted so badly never really existed.

Lori Coleman: And, looking back, when I touched her stomach as much as I touched it, her stomach was very soft. I wanted to believe she was pregnant because I was desperate for a child.   

Still, happy endings
Fortunately, many of the couples who say they were burned by Amy have been able to fulfill their long delayed dreams of parenthood.

The Mantooths brought home a son they names Joshua just a month after they were stung. 

And after all the anguish they’ve been through, the Colemans too have seen their dream come true. In September, they adopted Kingston, a baby boy they say makes their family complete.

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