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Cheryl Love believed she knew everything about her husband Bobby. He was a devoted father, a church deacon, and a hardworking provider who juggled multiple jobs to support their family. After nearly 40 years together, it seemed like they had perfected the formula for a strong marriage. Until Cheryl discovered one secret from Bobby’s past she had never even imagined. And when the truth finally reached her, it shattered her world completely. What’s more, it came from the most unlikely source.
The Morning Everything Changed
On an ordinary morning in January 2015, Cheryl was making tea in their Brooklyn apartment when she heard knocking at the door. She opened it expecting to see police checking on their troubled neighbor, but instead, twelve officers rushed past her. Some wore jackets marked “FBI.” They headed straight to the bedroom, where Bobby still lay in bed. Cheryl heard them ask Bobby his name, then demand his real name. His quiet response changed everything she thought she knew.
A Wife’s Desperate Questions
As officers handcuffed Bobby, Cheryl tried frantically to enter the bedroom, but an officer blocked her path, saying, “You don’t know who this man is.” Confused and terrified, she screamed at her husband, asking if he’d killed someone. Through tears, Bobby finally revealed the truth: “This goes way back, Cheryl. Back before I met you. Way back to North Carolina.” After four decades of marriage and raising four children together, Cheryl discovered her husband had been living a lie.
The Boy Named Walter Miller
Bobby Love’s real name was Walter Miller. He grew up poor in North Carolina during the 1960s, one of eight children raised by a single mother. His life took a wrong turn at age fourteen when he attended a Sam Cooke concert. After pushing to the front row, Walter became frustrated when the singer walked offstage after just two songs. He shouted an insult at the performer, which led to his arrest for disorderly conduct. This seemingly minor incident set him on a dangerous path.
A Downward Spiral Begins
After his arrest, Walter’s mother struggled to control him. He began stealing purses from unlocked cars and government checks from mailboxes. His crimes grew bolder until he was caught stealing from his school’s band room. Authorities sent him to Morrison Training School, a harsh juvenile detention center. Walter hated everything about the place—the terrible food, violent kids, and frequent beatings. Every night, he heard a freight train whistle in the distance and dreamed of escape. One night, he finally ran.
First Taste of Freedom
Walter followed the train tracks all the way to Washington, D.C., where his brother lived. For a while, life seemed promising. He enrolled in high school, attended classes, and played basketball. Things were going smoothly until his old habits resurfaced. Walter fell in with teenagers who were robbing banks in North Carolina, where security was weaker. They succeeded several times, spending their stolen money on the strip at 14th and T, acting like gangsters. Walter enjoyed having money, but the thrill wouldn’t last.
The Heist That Ended Everything
During one robbery, a bank manager triggered a silent alarm while Walter and his accomplices stuffed bags with cash. Police were waiting in the parking lot when they emerged. Walter tried to escape, ducking between cars, but officers shot him in the buttocks. The bullet went straight through his body. He woke up in a hospital bed with holes in both sides of his coat. His life as a free teenager was over. The judge sentenced nineteen-year-old Walter Miller to twenty-five to thirty years in prison.
Life Behind Bars
Walter was sent to Central Prison, a maximum-security facility with gun towers surrounding the complex. Initially, he held hope for appeals and a new trial, but every attempt hit a dead end. When his mother died during his imprisonment, Walter was devastated. She had spent her life praying he’d turn around, but never saw it happen. Determined to honor her memory, Walter became a model inmate with a spotless record. His excellent behavior earned him a transfer to a minimum-security facility down the hill.
The Perfect Prisoner
The minimum-security camp offered more freedom than Central Prison. Inmates could walk the yard and make phone calls. Walter even hosted his own radio show, recording episodes every Wednesday that aired on a local college station. He felt relaxed and content, with no plans to escape. Life was bearable, and he was adjusting to his reality. But everything changed when someone shouted an insult at the prison captain one morning. The captain claimed he recognized Walter’s voice, even though Walter was working in the kitchen at the time.
Targeted by the Captain
After the false accusation, the prison captain began targeting Walter relentlessly. He wrote him up for stealing newspapers, faking illness, and countless other phony violations. The negative reports piled up until Walter was one mark away from being sent back to maximum security. Then they assigned him to road detail—the worst job in prison. Crews left before sunrise to clean trash from highways around Raleigh. People threw food at them, and winter was approaching. Walter started planning his escape.
The Escape Plan Takes Shape
Walter carefully saved money and memorized the bus route for road details. He noticed the bus always stopped at a specific intersection near a wooded area—a distance he could cover quickly. Most importantly, he observed that the guard working on Tuesdays never searched prisoners boarding the bus. One Monday night while watching a Colts game, Walter made his decision. He cleaned out his locker, leaving no phone numbers or addresses authorities could use to track him. He wore civilian clothes beneath his prison uniform to bed.
Running Toward Freedom
Walter didn’t sleep that night, watching the guards’ flashlights during three-hour head counts. At sunrise, he saw the careless guard stationed at the gate. On the bus, he sat in the back row near the emergency exit. As they slowed at the wooded area, Walter swung open the door and ran. He heard alarms blaring but didn’t look back. Peeling off his green prison clothes, he ran through neighborhoods, asking directions to the Greyhound station. A stranger bought him a one-way ticket to New York.
Bobby Love Is Born
As Walter slumped in his bus seat, leaving Raleigh, the girl beside him made small talk and asked his name. He thought for a moment and replied, “Bobby Love.” With those words, Walter Miller ceased to exist. Arriving in New York in late November 1977, Bobby faced the challenge of building a life from nothing. He had only one hundred dollars, one outfit, and a fabricated identity. After two weeks in a cheap hotel, surviving on hot dogs, his money ran out, and he slept on trains.
Building a False Identity
Bobby needed official documents to exist in society. He walked into a Social Security office, told a story about losing everything, and received a card on the spot. He obtained a birth certificate, scratched out the original name, and typed “Bobby Love” on it. After making copies until it looked authentic, he found someone at a funeral home to stamp it. A DMV worker pretended not to notice the irregularities, and Bobby got his driver’s license. With these papers, he secured a cafeteria job at Baptist Medical Center.
Meeting Cheryl
At the hospital cafeteria, Bobby met Cheryl—innocent, soft-spoken, and the complete opposite of him. He was attracted to her goodness and never wanted someone who drank, smoked, or had a troubled past like his own. Bobby told Cheryl he’d grown up in the South and came to New York for a fresh start, which was both true. But he never mentioned Walter Miller. He convinced himself that Walter had died on that Greyhound bus, and Bobby Love was now a completely new man.
A Life of Deception
Bobby and Cheryl married in 1985 and raised four children together. His family in North Carolina urged him to tell Cheryl the truth, but Bobby refused. He knew Cheryl was righteous—the type of woman who’d search for the owner of a dropped dollar rather than pocket it. Bobby feared she wouldn’t call the police on him, but she’d pressure him to turn himself in. So he maintained the lie. Bobby became a church deacon, and every Sunday their pastor preached about forgetting the past and moving forward.
The Distance Cheryl Felt
Despite their love, Cheryl always sensed something missing. Bobby avoided photographs and seemed paranoid that people were watching. Beyond that, there was little affection—few hugs, minimal cuddling, and poor communication. During arguments, Cheryl would pour her heart out while Bobby sat scowling silently. She wondered if he truly wanted to be there, though he provided well and spent time with their children. By Christmas 2014, Cheryl was on her knees in church, begging God to change her husband’s heart. She’d reached her breaking point.
The Fatal Mistake at a Funeral
After 40 years of successfully hiding as Bobby Love, Walter made one crucial error. He attended his brother’s funeral in North Carolina, and his assumed name appeared in the ceremony program. A cousin recognized the name and realized Bobby Love was actually the fugitive Walter Miller, whom the family had called “Buddy.” The cousin contacted the FBI with an anonymous tip in exchange for a reward. After nearly four decades of freedom, Walter Miller’s double life was about to unravel completely.
The World Discovers the Truth
Bobby’s arrest made headlines throughout New York City. Cheryl felt humiliated as people at church whispered, asking if she’d known all along. But she hadn’t known anything—not after forty years of marriage and four children. She felt stupid and wanted to hide. When she arrived at work the next morning, coworkers gathered silently at the front desk. Cheryl broke the tension herself, asking for hugs and support. She was embarrassed, but mostly hurt that Bobby had deceived her for so long.
Choosing Forgiveness Over Anger
During her first prison visit, Bobby broke down crying, certain that Cheryl would leave him. Instead, she told him, “I married you for better or for worse. And right now this is the worst.” Cheryl never hated Bobby—even in her darkest moments, she wanted to comfort him. That’s when she knew her love was real. She immediately began fighting for his freedom, writing letters to the governor and President Obama. After one year in prison, the parole board showed mercy and released Bobby. The day after his release, Cheryl asked him directly: “Are we the Loves? Or are we the Millers?” Bobby responded firmly: “We Love. We Love.”