A married couple accused of living for years under the names of two dead children allegedly said they were going into witness protection and abruptly left their home state about 40 years ago.
Prosecutors said US defence contractor Walter Glenn Primrose and his wife Gwynn Darle Morrison abandoned their Texas home years ago and remerged with new names in Hawaii.
The pair have been held without bail following their arrest earlier this week, however little explanation has emerged as to why they shed their past and whether the criminal case against them is more serious than identity theft.
Assistant US Attorney Wayne Myers successfully sought to have Mr Primrose detained because his "life has been a fraud for the last several decades".
In 1987, Mr Primrose took on the identity of Bobby Edward Fort, an infant who died in 1967 in Burnet, Texas.
Ms Morrison took the identity of Julie Lyn Montague, who died in 1968 at the same hospital as Bobby Fort.
Mr Primrose and Ms Morrison, both born in 1955, were more than a decade older than the birth dates listed on their new IDs.
They remarried under their assumed names in 1988, according to court records.
Mr Primrose served for more than 20 years in the US Coast Guard, where he earned a secret-level security clearance. After retiring in 2016, he used the secret clearance for his defence job.
Polaroids found in the couple's Hawaiian home show the couple allegedly wearing the uniforms of former Russian spy agency the KGB, Mr Myers said.
An expert determined the snapshots were taken in the 1980s.
The search also allegedly yielded an invisible ink kit, documents with coded language and maps showing military bases.
When the couple were left in a room together, they were recorded saying "things consistent with espionage", Mr Myers said.
"We think the defendant is obviously quite adept at impersonating other people, obtaining government ID documents, fraud, avoiding detection.
"He may — we're not saying for sure — but he may have some troubling foreign connections. And, if he does, he might be able to use those to enlist help."
Inside the house, investigators also discovered correspondence in which an associate believed Mr Primrose had joined the CIA or become a terrorist, Mr Myers said.
When the pair left Texas in the early 1980s and claimed they were protected witnesses, they handed over the keys to their Nacogdoches house and told family members to take anything they wanted.
The house was later foreclosed on.
"The defendant and his wife reportedly told yet other associates that they needed to change their names because of legal and financial reasons," Mr Myers said.
"And that, going forward, they can be contacted using their new [surnames], Fort and Montague."
Ms Morrison used her real name to open a post office box, where she told family to contact her.
When her father died, her family couldn't reach her and enlisted local law enforcement to track her down.
"Even [Mr Primrose's] family cannot find him when they need to," Mr Myers said.
Mr Primrose's lawyer, Craig Jerome, said the government only provided "speculation and innuendo" that the couple was involved in something more nefarious than "purely white-collar, non-violent offences".
"If it wasn't for the speculation that the government's injected into these proceedings without providing any real evidence … he would certainly be released," Mr Jerome said.
Ms Morrison faces a bail hearing on Tuesday. Her lawyer, Megan Kau, said earlier this week that the pair had lived law-abiding lives, regardless of their names.
Ms Kau said Ms Morrison "wants everyone to know she's not a spy", adding the charges were "government overreaching".
They each face up to 17 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Prosecutors feared Mr Primrose, a former avionics electrical technician in the Coast Guard, would flee and be able to communicate secretly if freed.
The judge said he based his detention order on the alleged fraud "over multiple occasions spanning a long period of time".
ABC/AP
