A man who was missing for 20 years and was declared dead has returned home to Manhattan. But instead of a happy reunion with his wife and three kids, the man's wife, who believes her husband abandoned her, is out for blood.
Kwame Seku, 65, said he worked at Verizon for twenty years when he disappeared in 1992, caught amnesia and moved to San Diego, the New York Daily News reported.
Seku's family in New York did not know where he was. A judge declared Seku dead in 2000, and his wife, Leslie Bright, has been collecting widow benefits from Verizon ever since. However, now that he's back, Seku claims he is entitled to the Verizon benefits, the Daily News reported.
Seku, whose real name is apparently Winston Bright, told a Manhattan Surrogate's Court judge he had a DNA test done to prove he is the man who was previously declared dead.
"My name is no longer Winston Bright," Seku wrote in a letter to the judge. "It is Kwame Seku. And I am the same person."
Leslie Bright does not believe her husband's story, saying her husband abandoned his children and left them without money. One of her sons, Eric, is incarcerated and another son was arrested for drugs.
"We had it rough," Bright told the Daily News. "We had no money."
Seku's family also lost their home in Stuyvesant Town and had to move into public housing.
"I will go at him for back child support, cat support, everything!" Bright told the Daily News. "If he wants a fight, I'll give him a fight!"
For Bright, the reason for her husband's disappearance in 1992 is still a mystery.
"He kissed me on the cheek, called me at lunchtime like he always did and again when he was on his way home. He never made it," Bright told the Daily News.
The former Winston Bright picked his new name out of a magazine because he liked the sound of it, the Daily News reported. During his time in California, Seku went to school, earned his master's degree and became a teacher.
"I don't care if she believes it or not," Seku told the Daily News.
Seku said life was not easy for him either.
"Making your life without ID is a tough job, and I did it for years. I can't waste time entertaining her," Seku told the Daily News.