Khaberni - Vanessa O'Rourke's ex-husband, one of the most wanted American women for justice and suspected of hiding in Australia, recently revealed that she contacted him unexpectedly during her escape.
Michael Gulinello said that O'Rourke reached out to him in 2020 after years of no contact, asking him to send a document proving their divorce because she wanted to return to the United States, but he refused because she was already wanted by the authorities.
37-year-old O'Rourke faces charges of fraud after it was alleged that she claimed to have a deadly brain cancer between 2015 and 2016, collecting over $100,000 in donations through fundraising campaigns and the "GoFundMe" site, under the pretext of needing experimental treatment in Australia.
According to U.S. authorities, O'Rourke used the funds she collected to finance trips and luxury vacations in Australia instead of receiving treatment. In 2018, she was charged with 15 counts of electronic fraud, before the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently added her to the list of most important wanted individuals.
Gulinello explained that his ex-wife was a "pathological liar," noting that he discovered many lies during their marriage, including financial issues and student loans exceeding $100,000 that still haunt him to this day.
He added that he began to doubt her health claims when she talked about having a pituitary gland tumor without providing any medical documents to substantiate it, although she insisted she needed to travel to Australia for life-saving examinations and treatments.
The authorities say that O'Rourke traveled to Australia in 2016 and engaged in recreational activities without receiving any medical treatment, then returned to the United States to collect more donations before traveling again to Australia.
She was also charged there with impersonating a neurosurgeon and obtaining a job in the healthcare sector using a forged resume, before later facing several charges of fraud and forgery.
Despite her criminal past, she was released from Australian immigration detention during her case review, and she is believed to still be residing in Australia to this date, while U.S. authorities continue to search for her and invite anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the nearest U.S. diplomatic mission.
