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Brenda Heist dropped her kids off at school in February of 2002. That was the last time anyone in her family saw or heard from her until this week when she turned herself into police in Key Largo, Florida.
Heist disappeared in Pennsylvania and was declared dead in 2010, giving her estranged husband an insurance settlement.
The truth is pretty unusual as well.
Heist said she was going through a divorce and had been turned down for housing assistance. She told cops she was sitting on a park bench crying when she was approached by several homeless men.
They told her they were headed to Florida and she decided to tag along.
The woman survived by panhandling and scavaging through the trash while sleeping under bridges.
Heist has apologized for the effect on her children now ages 19 and 23.
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