An Illinois woman, Laura Kowal, was found dead hundreds of miles away from her home after being scammed out of $1.5 million by someone she met on a dating app. The 57-year-old widow had entered a nearly two-year online relationship with a man she believed to be a Swedish businessman named “Frank Borg” on Match.com after losing her husband to cancer.
Kowal’s daughter, Kelly Gowe, received a distressing message from a federal investigator in August 2020, warning her that her mother was likely the victim of a fraud scam. Shortly after, Kowal disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a handwritten note addressed to her daughter. In the note, she confessed to living a double life for the past year, involving financial ruin and manipulation by the scammer known as “Frank.”
The note also contained instructions on accessing Kowal’s emails, which detailed how she was coerced into sending over $1.5 million to a fictitious company called Goose Investments. Just two days after the federal warning, Kowal’s body was discovered in the Mississippi River, with the cause of death determined to be drowning.
Although authorities ruled Kowal’s death as accidental, her family remains unconvinced. Gowe expressed skepticism about the investigation, stating that while she would accept a finding of suicide for closure, she believes there has been limited effort to explore other possibilities. The family suspects foul play in Kowal’s tragic demise.
