Man Says Fear of Own Rage Led to Faking Death

Air Force Sgt. James (Doug) Pou testified Monday that he decided to fake his death and desert in 1987 from fear that he would become like his alcoholic and abusive father and beat his two sons.

Pou pleaded guilty Monday to desertion and bigamy, telling a military judge he was ready to end his double life as it crumbled around him.

He said he experienced bouts of rage and beat his young sons. Pou said he would be overcome with guilt the morning after.

“After I would beat the boys, I would make them go through the same things my father made me go through. . . . I would make them stand still (while I beat them),” Pou said.

On May 12, 1987, he decided to “save” his sons by faking his death on a bridge that spans the Rio Grande near Albuquerque. Air Force officials were convinced that Pou was hit by a car while riding a bicycle, and his body thrown in the river.

Although a body was never recovered, the Air Force declared Pou dead 10 days later.

Pou left a wife and two sons behind and headed by bus to San Diego, where four months later he married Monica Marie Joyce of Chula Vista.

Pou, who used the alias Christopher Keith Riggs, was arrested in San Diego on June 10, five years after his disappearance in New Mexico.

He was reported to Air Force officials by Joyce, who also had two sons by Pou. He had also abandoned Joyce and their two young sons, ages 2 and 1. She found out about Pou’s secret life in 1988.

Testifying at a court-martial at March Air Force Base, Pou and his three sisters told terrifying tales of an abusive father who often beat them for no apparent reason when they were growing up in Ohio.

Pou, 32, also said he was raped by his father when he was a young boy.

“I did not feel safe in my own bed,” Pou testified. “I have memory of being pulled from the top bunk by my father. I’m clutching the top rail. . . . he pulls me out and slams me to the ground.”

Pou’s attorney, Paul Nestor, attempted to persuade an Air Force judge that an emotionally troubled Pou deserted both wives and his four sons because he feared that he would become an abusive parent like his father. A defense psychiatrist testified that Pou felt he was “saving” his sons by leaving them behind.

Pou said he knew in his last days of freedom in June that he was under surveillance and close to being arrested. By then, his second wife had discovered his real identity and that he had impregnated a neighbor.

“I was ready for this to happen,” Pou testified at his court-martial. “I was scared, but I was ready. It was difficult living the way I did.”

In a plea bargain, Pou admitted bigamy and desertion, and the government agreed to drop a count of larceny that was based on his first wife’s collection of $500,000 in insurance money after he was pronounced dead.

The agreement called for Pou to be sentenced to three years in prison and to be given a dishonorable Air Force discharge. He could have been sentenced to five years.

Judge Willard Pope ordered further evidence and testimony to be presented before deciding whether he would accept the plea bargain.

Pou recounted for the judge the morning of May 12, 1987, when he set out for his daily bicycle ride at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.

“When I crossed the bridge (over the Rio Grande) I jumped off my bicycle and crashed and fell on the ground,” he said. “I took off my shoes, jumped from the bridge and worked my way in the water upstream until I reached a sparse wooded area where I got out.”

He said he made his way to a bus station, used $60 to take a bus to San Diego and learned from newspapers about a massive search for him.

“What was your intent?” Pope asked.

“I really hadn’t given it any thought at that time. But I did have an intent later to go away,” Pou responded. “I can only describe it as an instinct. I relied a lot on instinct and kept a very low profile.”