While at work, Deb Proctor received a call from an unfamiliar number that would unravel everything she believed about her husband.
An investigator revealed shocking news to the Oklahoma resident: the man she knew as Jeff Walton was actually Ronald Stan, a Canadian who vanished 37 years ago, leaving behind a wife and two children, and was thought to be dead.
“After regaining my composure, I went to my immediate executive and explained this bizarre phone call,” Proctor shared with 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.”
Proctor is sharing her story in the ABC true crime series “Betrayal: Secrets & Lies.”
Inspired by the “Betrayal” podcast franchise, the series delves into how individuals across the nation endure scandalous confessions, financial collapse, and violent acts, among other challenges.
“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.”
In 1998, Proctor, a 41-year-old divorcee and mother of two sons, was ready to meet someone new. She joined a dating site and came across Walton, an Ohio State graduate and former football player who shared her passion for travel and golf. Intrigued, she decided to pursue the connection.
After a year of conversation, they arranged to meet in person. Upon seeing Proctor, Walton asked, “You will marry me, won’t you?”
Walton moved in a few months later, and 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 first told her he was a Vietnam War veteran. According to the podcast, Walton claimed that at 18, he served in the Special Forces, was captured and held prisoner, and eventually escaped 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.”
Their seemingly happy life was disrupted when Walton, who was unemployed, suffered a heart attack requiring ongoing care.
The couple struggled with medical expenses. Proctor, having worked at the VA previously, tried to persuade her husband to seek assistance as the bills mounted. However, he refused, insisting he was dishonorably discharged and wouldn’t be listed.
“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. However, realizing she couldn’t afford one, she set her concerns aside.
Shortly after Walton’s heart attack, he suffered a stroke and began showing signs of dementia. The medical bills continued to escalate.
Proctor, working full-time as a nurse, became his primary caretaker, and the stress led her to start drinking. She eventually placed him in a funded outpatient care facility as his memory deteriorated.
In 2014, Proctor received a call from a Canadian detective. Investigators were revisiting Ronald Stan’s cold case and tracked him down through social media, according to the podcast.
In September 1977, a barn fire killed several pigs, and Stan, then 32, vanished. Though no human remains were found, he was declared legally dead in 1986.
The case was reopened in 2014. Using modern investigative techniques, the Ontario Provincial Police found Stan alive, living under the alias “Jeff Walton” in a rural part of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. He later confessed to police.
“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 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 several phone calls by an investigator, she confirmed that every detail was true. Stan had faked his death, leaving behind his wife and two children.
Proctor stayed with a friend and promptly 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 Walton, now identified as Stan, repeatedly called and texted her. In one voicemail, he threatened, “If you want to play hardball, then come on.” He also tried contacting her son and emailed several 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?”
She also wondered if he was planning another escape.
According to the podcast, the statute of limitations for arson had expired in Canada, and too much time had passed for Stan to face identity fraud charges in the US.
In the series, Proctor stated that Stan never apologized. The calls ceased, and she never heard from him again. In 2019, Proctor said his son reached out to inform her that his father had died.
Today, Proctor supports victims of domestic violence in her community and has remarried a longtime friend who shares her love for golf.
“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.
“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.”
