Amnesia Victim

Interesting story, Edgar. Thanks for posting it.

really?

I thought amnesia could last a long long time, like years.

Hey, you look familar. Do I know you?

Two and a half weeks after a young woman walked into a Houston medical clinic saying she did not know who she was or where she lived, the mystery of her identity was solved when police got a tip about a car that had been parked next to a nearby bookstore and never moved.

But now, a month after officials found Janene Luttrell Nicewonger at an after-hours medical clinic with unexplained bruises on her head and no memory of how they got there, a deeper mystery has surfaced: Does she really suffer from amnesia, which investigators say they have no reason to doubt, or did she concoct an elaborate escape from a troubled life, as her first husband contends?

Police insist they believe the 33-year-old Arizona native, who early on the morning of May 3 arrived at St. Luke’s Medical Clinic at 6363 San Felipe with head injuries that could have stemmed from an assault or accident. They say the doctors who have treated her agree. Her estranged second husband described her as a “wonderful woman” who would never pull a stunt such as faking the loss of her memory.

“This is not something she would do, even out of jest,” said Henry Lamkin, who said he has not seen her since they split up in October. “If she says it happened, it really happened. There is no way this is a false anything. She would never go to these lengths.”

Others are skeptical. Her first husband, Brian Nicewonger, says her amnesia is hard to accept because of past behavior.

“I think she’s scamming,” he said from his home in South Carolina, where he is a single father to their three children. “I told (police) I knew she didn’t have amnesia. Janene is a habitual liar. She’s so good at lying she can convince herself and can convince other people. I don’t believe it, not for a second.”

Neither does her mother.

“You can’t believe anything she says,” Diana Luttrell said, adding her daughter has led a nomadic life since leaving their home in Vernon, Ariz., 14 years ago. “This has happened over and over. We had written her off, so to speak, because you don’t know anything is true with her.”

Janene Nicewonger remains in an undisclosed location in Houston. She will not talk to the media or anyone associated with her past, police said. Her parents were en route to Houston on Wednesday, hoping to meet with her.

Luttrell said neither she nor her husband, Kenneth, were contacted by police and were unaware of their daughter’s predicament until called by a Chronicle reporter.

Luttrell said she and her husband first sought help for their daughter when she was about 14. A neurologist could not find anything wrong and suggested mental health counseling to combat what Luttrell described as “bizarre but not bad” behavior.

Luttrell said over the years she has begun to think her daughter may suffer from multiple personalities, with one constant being an inability to tell the truth.

“I think she has a lot of mental issues,” Luttrell said. “Sometimes she doesn’t even know she’s lying.”

Police cite real injuries
Police say they spent a lot of time investigating her story, speaking to friends, family and former co-workers, and could find no motive for fabricating amnesia.

“In this scenario, she certainly had some real-life injuries that didn’t appear to be self-inflicted,” said homicide investigator C.P. “Abbey” Abbondandolo of the Houston Police Department. “I think the medical staff that looked at her would verify that as well. … She wasn’t looking for notoriety. She wasn’t looking for money. She had an automobile, credit cards and a cell phone. She wasn’t trying to scam anybody out of any money.”

Brian Nicewonger said she owes him more than $7,000 in back child support and has plenty of reason to wipe the slate clean.

“To me, this is all hoodoo,” he said. “She’s just trying to escape her past. She’s an abandoning-type person.”

Janene Nicewonger’s family said she has lived in a number of cities since running off with Brian Nicewonger when she was 19. He was 32. He said she did not work consistently and left for good when their youngest child was still in diapers.

She and Lamkin were together for several years after that, living in Washington and Virginia. When they separated, family members said, she stayed for a while with a grandmother in Albuquerque before deciding to move to Houston.

Lamkin paints a different picture of her. He said she is friendly, artistic and good-hearted.

“She’s one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet … just an amazing woman,” he said.

Abbondandolo said people should give Janene Nicewonger the benefit of the doubt. Even if it turns out she doesn’t have the classic form of amnesia, it’s possible that mental illness could be making her believe she does, though there is no evidence of that yet, he said.

“I would hate to think as a society that we have become so cynical that in a person’s hour of need we look at it with such a disbelieving eye,” he said.

I understand this happens more times than we realize - folks running away (just disappearing) from a current situation that they don't like.

Regarding the mothers statement that she feels her dtr may have multiple personality disorder.

From the cases I've read, it seems the one constant of MPD is severe sexual abuse as a child.

If she does have MPD, it could be that the personality present now truly doesn't know where or who she is. It seems various personalities come out to handle particular situations.

I think it is too soon to judge her one way or another.

I'm not judging, just putting forth various possibilities.

I did not intend that as a contentious statement, just an observation.