Phoebe Judge

Go to Shopify.com slash criminal.

That's Shopify.com slash criminal.

Karen kept expecting to hear something from Gil, like a summons to appear in court to negotiate custody for Aaron and Amy.

After four years, she and Vinny decided it was safe to tell their families where they were.

They went to visit Vinny's parents in Florida.

They'd both been diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

Karen and Vinny hadn't been able to be around for their surgeries while they were in hiding.

Did you ever say to Vinny, I'm so sorry I got you into this?

Or do you think he knew what he was signing up for?

He knew Gil.

In 1994, Karen's mother had news for her.

She'd heard from Gil's stepdaughter that Gil was in prison somewhere in New York.

Karen later learned Gil had been convicted of criminal possession of a weapon.

He was sentenced to two to six years in prison, but he'd gotten parole.

She didn't know where he went after that.

In 2005, Karen had been away from California and living under her fake name for over 15 years.

She'd started writing, and she'd published two novels—

Her daughters were grown up.

One had graduated college, and the other had enlisted in the Navy.

She and Vinny started talking about moving back to Los Angeles.