Illinois man: Wayne Wright may have stolen my identity

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A southern Illinois man says Wayne Wright may have stolen his identity years ago.

Kurtis Emshousen lives in Edwardsville, Illnois about 60 miles from the home of Wayne Wright, a suspect in the murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers. Emshousen says he has never met Wright. But according to a July 2015 search warrant of Wayne Wright’s storage unit in Festus, Missouri, detectives found two Missouri driver’s licenses with Emshousen’s name on them.

WINK News talked to Emshousen Wednesday, who said he just learned about the licenses and is trying to figure out how Wright got his information. Emshousen said he never lived in Missouri, but he did have his identity stolen in 1996. He first discovered it when he got a bill from his power company at the time.

“I had moved from Wyoming to Illinois and opened up an account with a local power company and received a bill from them, a previous bill with an address in St. Louis that I had never heard of before…At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was identity theft or error in their records.”

He said months later he got a bill from a credit card company for nearly $1,500 for a charge to an auto repair shop. But Emshousen said he never opened up a card with that company.

He was able to clear both and never heard anymore until this summer.

“[I] Never heard another thing for 18, 19 years and then this summer I received a a letter from the State Attorney’s office in St. Clair county, Illinois saying I owed some money for court costs for a warrant, a failure to appear warrant that I had in my name. Which I had no idea that existed. I contacted the investigator…Again, someone had used my identification when they were pulled over by the police for speeding. That person did not show up to court. The State Attorney’s office issued a warrant for my arrest.”

Emshousen said the ticket turned out to be from the late 90’s as well. Then Tuesday he got a call saying two driver’s licenses were found in a murder suspect’s storage unit. Emshousen said he could not believe it.

“What an incredibly involved set of circumstances…I had no idea or even fathom this could potentially turn into something where my name would be wrapped into something like this.”

Even more bizarre Emshousen just learned his name was linked to a missing person’s case in Missouri in 1996. The sheriff’s deputy report states they were looking for Wayne Wright, who was a person of interest in the case of Ronnie Bolin. When the deputy got to Wright’s address two men were there, one of them identified himself as Kurtis Emshouson. Emshouson said he was not at Wright’s house that day in 1996 and has idea who the person was that used his name.