When your husband is a con man

Chris? Michael? William? James?  This Barber was a man with almost as many identities as wives.

Keith Morrison, correspondent:  How many women has he married?

Luvonda Donnellan, business partner: So far we can find six or evidence of six. But there’s most likely possibly more.

After two months of snooping, Bob and Lavanda Donnellan found enough dirt to bury their business partner. Quite frankly, they were outraged by what they discovered. 

Bob Donnellan:  I was furious that someone like this with no conscience would just leave women in the wake and move on to the next one and not lose a minute’s sleep.

The Donnellans had tried to warn the woman they assumed to be his latest victim — his current wife, Joyce Reynolds Barber.  

Reynolds: I would not believe them. I just would not believe them.

Morrison: Did you find yourself defending him?

Reynolds: Yes.

And then, Joyce got a telephone call, one that would finally make her face reality.  The woman on the line said she was Barber’s sister: she had known this man all his life.  And he had loved and left a legion of unsuspecting women.

Pam, Barber's sister:  I believe there were 12 or 13 wives.

Pam (who didn’t want her last name used) told Joyce her brother wasn’t who he said he was—he wasn’t a talented pediatric surgeon on sabbatical, but a sweet-talking serial conman.

Joyce Reynolds, Barber's current wife: All through it she kept saying this just does not sound like the man I married. This just does not ring right. 

They spoke for two hours. Joyce wrote these detailed notes to keep track of her husband’s past. His ex’s included another Joyce, two Donnas, and a Diana.  He seemed to have a thing for particular names.

Reynolds:  It wasn’t until that conversation when I realized that everything everybody was telling me was true.

And the truth was, simply, unbearable.

So, to her, what she did then seemed like the only solution.

Reynolds: I was very tired. I was drained. And I went to bed.  But before I went to sleep I took 60 pills. All I wanted was to go to sleep. (Crying)

Joyce may have slept forever if her sister hadn’t found her and called 911.  And by the time she woke up in the hospital, her husband was behind bars. Thanks in part to the good detective work of this former business partner.

Bob Donnellan: He liked about who he was. He lied about this name, date of birth and social security on his marriage license. That’s how we got him arrested.

He was arrested by New Jersey police for using false information to get a marriage license.  He wasn’t “James Micheal Barber,” born in “1945” as he claimed to be on this application to marry Joyce. And he wasn’t even divorced from his last wife — Donna Layne Roberts as he wrote on this document.

So who was he?  He was 53-year-old William Michael Barber of Dexter, Missouri was the middle son of three. War hero?  No. He was an army deserter, a convicted criminal with a rap sheet dating back 35 years for forgery and fraud who did time in California, Louisiana and Missouri.   

What should happen to him? His first wife, Donna Foster.

Morrison: Supposing now that you’re the judge and you get to decide what happens.

Donna Foster: Michael would be underneath the jail. They’d never see daylight again.

Morrison: Is it possible for him to live an honest life?

Diana: That question doesn’t even need to be asked. The answer is no.

Diana Barber is still owed $50,000 in back child support.

Diana: He did take a lot of my pride. A lot of my trust in people. And it took me a few years to build that character back.  I still wouldn’t. This sounds funny: I have been asked, “Do I regret any of this?” I have my son. I’d go through every ounce of shame and hurt for my son.   (crying)

Donna Layne Roberts, the woman Barber deserted for Joyce, is still haunted by this message he left on her home answering machine.

Barber's message on machine:  Okay I’m tired of your game too.
Uh, you do whatever you think you need to do.
But I’ll guarantee you one thing
If you get too much involved in whatever I’m doing, you will be the one to regret it. Alright?

Donna Roberts: I’m still worried that he’s going to come after me. I don’t think that fear is ever going to be out of back of my mind.

Barber in court
It was September when William Barber finally appeared in a court of law, not to face his past or the long parade of broke and jilted wives, or the damage in his wake. Marriage laws, said a prosecutor, make those crimes— if there are any— hard to pursue.  No, he stood before the judge to answer for one particular lie.

And Joyce was there as he spoke to the judge.

Joyce fought down rising tides of anxiety for one last chance to look at him, to see if the love was still there... and he didn’t even make eye contact.

Instead, he looked straight ahead and pled guilty to giving false information on a marriage license.  Joyce sobbed when he admitted he lied to her about his identity.

And then, here in court, with a straight face, he revealed something new — something no one had heard: He told the judge he had a college education from the University of Missouri, graduating in 1972.

But until May of ‘72 he was behind bars. In fact, Barber never went to University of Missouri. "Dateline" checked with the school for a record of his matriculation.  Barber’s sister, Pam says he never went to college at all.

Pam: I guess i’ve always heard you get three strikes and you’re out. well, he’s had five or six strikes. And he always gets away with it.

Pam says he even stole from own family. She’s been a victim of his scams too. But even so, she told us, she felt compelled to apologize to his ex-wives.

Pam: I want people to know that we are very sorry.

Neither Barber, nor his attorney wanted to comment on all these allegations.  In court, he still wore his wedding ring and claims he lied to Joyce to get away from his past. 

Reynolds: It’s hard to believe that I lived four and a half years in nothing but lies. Nothing was real—the man I married wasn’t even real.

What’s real are the bills Joyce is busy sorting through. She estimates she’s $60,000 in the hole— which is nothing, of course, compared to the hole in her heart.

Reynolds: My head knows this stuff is real and what’s happening is really happening. It’s over— you know, my heart is so broken.

Earlier this week, William Barber was sentenced to three years in prison for using false information to obtain a marriage license. Joyce is seeking an annulment of their marriage.

MORE FROM DATELINE

Dateline Section Front

The Night Mary Jane Disappeared The Friday the 13th Mystery Mystery at Lost Dog Road Slideshow: Photos in the Bob Duke case When The Smoke Clears   Sneak peek: When The Smoke Clears Slideshow: The Christie Fleming murder Transcript: Dan Brown and Secrets Of The Lost Symbol Through The Pouring Rain In Plain Sight: Jaycee Dugard Dateline Section Front   Add Dateline headlines to your news reader: