Brianna Stewart

Brianna Stewart is the final name US woman Treva Throneberry (born 1969) used when she took the role of a teenage victim of sexual or satanic ritual abuse. She spent several years wandering around USA in foster homes and colleges. As of 2003, she still maintained that she "is" Brianna Stewart.

Childhood

Treva Joyce Throneberry was born May 18 1969 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Her family later moved to Electra. Her uncle molested her and her sisters, though later Treva told the police it was her father.

Throneberry left Electra for Wichita Falls in December 1985 when she was 15 years old, enrolled in the local high school and cut contact with her family. She began to tell stories about how she had been abducted and raped by Satanists. A year later she was in a local mental hospital for five months and refused to speak with her family when they visited. Later she was sent to Lena Pope Home for troubled girls in Fort Worth, Texas. She kept a distance from her family, sending only a letter now and then. She graduated from Arlington Heights High School in 1987 and moved to Arlington, Texas. Eventually she quit her job as a janitor and began to wander around the USA.

Years around the country

For most of the 1990s, Throneberry wandered around the country using various names and identities. She said she was a teenager with an abusive background, lived in homeless shelters and foster homes and enrolled in local high schools. She said that her Satanist father had raped her and killed her mother or sometimes accused her foster parents of abuse for which police could not find any evidence. All cases were dismissed.

In 1996 Throneberry appeared in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She said that her name was "Stephanie Danielle Lewis" and that she was 16 and was fleeing her Satanist parents with the help of the religious underground. After 18 days of investigation, police contacted a girl she had known in Texas and found out who she really was. She was arrested, charged with giving false information and sentenced to nine days in jail. After her release she disappeared again and continued her wandering.

Brianna Stewart emerges

In 1998 she lived in Vancouver, Washington as 16-year-old Brianna Stewart, attended Evergreen High School, and lived in various foster homes. She found a boyfriend and told him about her alleged abuse. First she claimed that she originated from Birmingham, Alabama and later from Daphne. Sympathetic benefactors gave her money and shelter but she eventually abused their hospitality by claims of abuse. In hindsight, many of the foster homes said they began to suspect that she was not a teenager. One dentist noticed that Stewart no longer had wisdom teeth.

Stewart graduated from Evergreen High School with the class of 2000 and enrolled in Clark College. She said that she planned to become a lawyer and children's advocate.

In January 2001 she tried to get an official birth certificate so she could obtain a social security number. When her fingerprints were checked, her original identity was revealed, leading to the arrest in Altoona.

Arrest and criminal case

In March 22 2001 Throneberry was arrested in for theft, fraud and perjury for trying to obtain legal documents with false identity. She had defrauded the state for foster care and college tuition worth $4670. She could not raise bail of $20,000. Other charges around the country also increased the load.

Throneberry continued to insist that she was Brianna Stewart and refused to acknowledge her parents. Authorities proved her original identity with fingerprints and DNA testing. Psychologists and lawyers began to study her, trying to find out if she was a con artist or delusional.

Her trial started in November 2001 in Vancouver. State prosecutors charged that Throneberry was a con artist who had intentionally taken advantage of the social security system for personal gain. Throneberry fired her court-appointed lawyer and decided to defend herself in court. She was not successful and received 3 years and 2 months for fraud and perjury and was sent to the Washington Correction Center for Women. The judge recommended that she receive psychotherapy in prison.

Aftermath

Throneberry was released on June 18 2003 after two years. As of 2003, she continued to maintain that she is Brianna Stewart and tried to appeal her fraud conviction.

Her story was used in the 13th season of "Law & Order" for an episode called "Shangri-La", and again on Season 8 in an episode called "Pretend".

External links

* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/treva_throneberry/index.html Crime Library article about Brianna Stewart/Treva Throneberry]