Ester Reed seems to have to perfect combination of EQ and IQ. Combine the two and remove a guilty conscience, and you have a dangerous mix. You have a person who will do great harm to others and not think twice about the wave of damage that comes after her.

Read moreWhat is so fascinating about Ester Reed, when you watch her speak, is that she lacks the arrogance you would expect to see. People with her abilities are usually quite confident, most often arrogant and usually love to show off.

One could argue that Ester isn’t arrogant in this interview, because we see her after her arrest, but when you look at Ester’s photos, and you look at how she dressed, what cars she drove and her friends, you get a strong indication Ester was not an arrogant or showy person by any means.

Was it her lack of arrogance and her simple demeanor that put people at ease? Is her humility what caused people to trust her? I can’t help but wonder if this played into her success. It is clear to me that Ester’s demeanor breaks the mold for the typical behavior and actions of most con artists. Few con artists are as “mousey” and quiet as she comes across.

I feel quite strongly, if I were to sit in a room with Ester and introduce her to people, she would have an uncanny ability to pick out the trusting people. When I look at the people 48 Hours interviewed, who had befriended Ester, each of the people were generally trusting of others, except her one boyfriend in Chicago. He was quite intelligent and I suspect his intelligence drew Ester in. Ester has a radar for picking out the right people for her needs. I suspect she can read people like a book and knows who to hone into to get what she wants.

Not only can Ester read people well, she can manipulate her own behaviors to get other people to like her. Walt Wilkins, on 48 Hours said, ‘She’s a master of manipulation. And she can socially engineer anyone into liking her.'”

Yet when I watched Ester talk about herself, I get the distinct feeling she truly does loathe herself. Ester Reed’s English teacher, Jim Therriault, said it best when he said, Ester was, “Somebody she didn’t want to be. Someone she didn’t like. Someone I think she would have done anything to escape from if she could have.”

Ester expressed disgust for herself, but in a strange twist, she truly enjoyed being questioned if she was telling the truth. She loves that power play and delighted in the fact she can “sell ice to Eskimos” should she choose. Ester has a love/hate relationship with herself that is hard to grasp.

None of Ester’s friends, however, talked about her stealing from them. I found that interesting. Yet she had no problem stealing from her own family, and worse walking away from them completely. She obviously has attachment issues. Most people have a very difficult time breaking bonds, even bonds that were formed for only months, but Ester lacks this as well.

It’s scary because what will cause Ester to stop these behaviors? I guess it will come down to the price of life on the run is no longer worth it for her. If she doesn’t reach that pinnacle, there will likely be no stopping her because a conscience hasn’t worked so far nor has normal bonding in relationships.

Ester said, “For some reason, new people are not as frightening as people I know. Like people I get used to, they start to get a look on their face, or maybe she’s treating me a little differently now. So new places, for some reason, were safer for me.” I believe when Ester says this–this is the truth for her. When she lies and deceives, she is constantly wary someone will pick up on her schemes. It becomes exhausting, so new faces give her a sense of peace.

Ester is truly an interesting person on many levels. I’ll be curious to watch what she does with her life. She’d be best to give Frank Abagnale a call, and learn some wise lessons for him. Life on the run as a criminal was lonely and isolating according to him, and the price he paid in the end likely wasn’t worth the rewards he got — all under an assumed name. It’s much more fun to be your authentic self, because while Ester ran from herself, the only thing she truly changed was her name. The rest of her behaviors and actions were genuinely Ester, and can be used for the good as equally as the bad.

Vicky Ward over at the Huffington Post wrote about Ester Reed last year. It is a long, yet interesting article.