End Of An 18-Year Illusion

By STEVE LOPEZ

It was supposed to be a routine visit to Dad's place in Framingham, Mass., back in 1979. But the weekend visitation for two daughters of divorce ended up lasting 18 1/2 years when Dad told the girls, then 5 and 2, that Mom had died in a car crash and they were moving to Florida to begin a new life. And that they did. Sources say Dad had a knack for charming wealthy women, and he lived a life of luxury in Palm Beach, where he called himself William Martin and variously passed himself off as a doctor, a Harvard-educated lawyer and a government agent. It worked just fine in the tony resort, where nobody gets too nosy about anyone else's millions. In fact, nobody asked much about any aspect of Martin's past. Not until April 16, when police came knocking.

Martin's real name is Stephen Fagan, and on the day of his arrest on the abduction warrant, his daughters, now 23 and 21, had two shockers dropped in their lap. First, Dad had a new name and was behind bars, charged with kidnapping them. And second, their mother was alive.

"They had no idea" about their past, says Lynn Rooney, the Middlesex County, Mass., assistant D.A. who broke the news to the young women. "It was difficult for them, and it was difficult for me," Rooney said.

Fagan was arraigned in Cambridge the same day the girls' mother, Barbara Kurth, held a press conference to make an emotional plea for a reunion with her daughters. "Not a day has gone by that I have not thought about whether they were safe and happy," said Kurth, who is remarried and has no other children. Police began their investigation last September when an anonymous tipster reported Fagan's whereabouts. Kurth has been a raw nerve ever since. "My only desire has been to know how my daughters were doing and whether a reunion might take place between us."

The daughters declined comment but appeared in court with their father. Kurth condemned Fagan for living an "incredible charade." At the time of the divorce, he had accused her of being an alcoholic and an unfit mother (her lawyer denies both charges). She accused him of involvement in unspecified fraud, and she got custody.

Sources say Fagan's next wife was a widow who received a large settlement after her husband was hit by a car. Chris Larmoyeux, a Palm Beach lawyer, said Fagan was a devoted father, a well-liked neighbor, a director of the Palm Beach Opera company and a generous man with his money. "When you look at how he's raised his daughters and how they turned out, he's done an extraordinary job," Larmoyeux says.

As parental-abduction cases go, this is a wild one. But it ultimately has something in common with most others. In the end, there are no winners.

--By Steve Lopez