An Illinois woman found drowned had been scammed out of $1.5M and ominously warned that she "would end up dead," according to a report.
Laura Kowal had reportedly decided to start dating again after the death of her longtime husband. She decided to online date because she thought it was safer, her daughter Kelly Gowe told CBS News.
Kowal had a nearly two-year online relationship with a Swedish businessman named Frank Borg, or at least that is who she thought she was dating.
A federal investigator messaged Gowe on Aug. 7, 2020, warning that her mom was feared to be the victim "in a fraud scam."
Kowal disappeared a short time later.
Gowe says she had an uneasy feeling and searched her mother's home. She found an undated note addressed to her.
It said: "I've been living a double life this past year. It has left me broke and broken. Yes, it involves Frank, the man I met through online dating. I tried to stop this, many times, but I knew I would end up dead."
The note gave access to her mother's emails, which detailed her relationship and how she was tricked into sending more than $1.5 million to a phony company.
Kowal's body was found floating in the Mississippi River two days later. Police ruled she had died from drowning. The family is not convinced it was suicide.
"It's the criminals behind those emails. It's Frank Borg," Gowe said. "He killed my mom."
"Frank's" emails were sent from Ghana. His dating photos were stolen from a doctor in Chile.
Gowe thinks her mother was threatened and felt trapped by the scammer.
She has dedicated herself to telling her mother's stories to warn other women about the dangers of online dating scams.
