How woman who faked being a 9/11 survivor was finally exposed
A woman cruelly conned the world into believing she survived 9/11 before her web of deceit was eventually exposed.
Alicia Esteve Head - who also went by the name Tania Head - span a labyrinth of lies in wake of the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001.
She publicly spoke about the 'death and destruction' she claimed to have witnessed firsthand, alleged that her husband died in the chaos and that she suffered severe injuries - but it was all a lie.
Head claimed that she was one of the thousands of people who made it out of the Twin Towers alive during the terrorist attack that killed 2,977 people.
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The 53-year-old vividly described how she had been in a meeting on the 78th floor of the South Tower when the first plane hit, while her fiancé Dave was working in the other building on the 100th floor.
She alleged that she suffered severe burns as she supposedly had to crawl to safety - and en route, she claimed that a dying man had asked her to take his wedding ring to return to his wife.
According to Head, she was saved by a Good Samaritan who helped put out the flames consuming her clothing before they then assisted her down the stairs.
She alleged that she woke up six days later in a burns unit and was informed her fiancé didn't make it out alive - before she then became actively involved in the World Trade Center Survivors' Network.
In a message previously submitted to the organisation dedicated to helping those impacted, Head claimed: "I looked around and it was like a horror movie. People were mounted on top of each other, the smell of burned skin, and people’s insides, I was gagging. I kept thinking about my fiancé and about our wedding. I wanted to wear that white dress and swear my love for him."
Her tragic tale caught the attention of the world and she soon became a vocal advocate for 9/11 survivor. Head even later became president of the support group.
At a memorial event in 2006, she told those gathered there: "What I witnessed there I will never forget. It was a lot of death and destruction, but I also saw hope."
However, there were a host of inconsistencies in Head's story, including the fact that her alleged injuries didn't exactly match her version of events.
But somehow, she managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes until The New York Times decided to dig deeper into her elaborate claims in 2007.
It was discovered that on the day that the planes careered into the World Trade Center with the intention of causing mass destruction, Head was actually in Barcelona, Spain, rather than New York.
'She didn't have to lie'
The publication also revealed that although Dave was a real victim of 9/11, his family and friends had never heard of Head or their alleged relationship.
The company she claimed to have been working for in the South Tower insisted they had no record of her employment, while she also never provided a name for the widow she claimed to have returned the ring to.
It then emerged that Head - who was from a wealthy family - actually hailed from Spain, had a 'privileged' upbringing in Mallorca and had been enrolled at the Esade Business School in September 2001.
In a 2008 Channel 4 documentary titled The 9/11 Faker, a survivor named Carrie Coen Sullivan said of Head's deception: "I’m very torn. She did a lot of good for our network. It’s hard to discredit it all. But she didn’t have to lie.
"She could have done those things without needing to lie."
Head was removed as president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network, while similar organisations she was also affiliated with also renounced any connection to her.
In response to the bombshell exposé, Head told The New York Times in 2007: "I have done nothing illegal."
She went underground after the scandal came to light, although Spanish newspaper El Pais previously reported that she was still registered as living in Barcelona. However, this has not been verified.
A new documentary airing this weekend that delves into the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks includes previously unseen footage of the atrocity.
9/11 The Unseen Footage will air on Saturday 29Th August at 9pm on Channel 5, and be available to stream on 5.
Olivia Burke