Tania Head had one of the most heroic stories on America's darkest day of 9-11, yet her story was just that - a story. Now, years after she was exposed as a fraud and liar, INSIDE EDITION speaks with a filmmaker who got to know Head very well.
Of all the heroic stories of 9/11 survivors, Tania Head's truly stood out.
Head describe the nightmare on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center by saying "I remember the warmth of the explosion, then I passed out."
She said she survived as the Towers collapsed around her while her beloved fiancé was killed in the attack that changed America.
Her story touched the world. She even gave tours of Ground Zero to Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
But as it turned out, her entire story was a lie. She's from Barcelona and she wasn't even in the United States on 9/11.
Documentary filmmaker Angelo Guglielmo now tells the story of Tania Head in The Woman Who Wasn't There, airing Tuesday on Investigation Discovery. He's also co-authored a companion book with Robin Gaby Fisher.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent asked Guglielmo, "Why did her story resonate so?"
"We all wanted to believe at that point, that somebody could rise from the ashes and go on to do these great things," said Guglielmo.
The filmmaker got to know Head well and even shot a series of interviews with her before her deception was revealed in a 2006 New York Times article.
INSIDE EDITION confronted Head outside her New York City apartment in 2006, but she refused to answer any questions.
After that, Head disappeared. But last September, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the filmmaker saw the faker on the street in New York City and he filmed her as she angrily waved him away.
Guglielmo told INSIDE EDITION, "Not one word of apology, not one word of acknowledgement, not one word of contrition. I went up to her and I said, 'How could you come to New York after the tenth anniversary? How dare you?' "
The woman who wasn't there acted like her lie about 9/11 never happened.
