Barb Windemere is a resident of New York City and known con artist. She claimed to be the foster mother of an Erica Windemere, who was allegedly ill with ALS and had been raped numerous times by drug gangs. She arranged for the publication of Through the Darkness with Christine Wilkes, which was attributed to Erica. The profits of the book were supposedly going to her health care expenses, because she had no source of income.