Matthew Keirans gave his child a stolen surname. For over three decades, he lived, worked, borrowed money, and built an entire family under a name that was never his. And when the man whose name he had taken finally came looking for it back, Keirans picked up the phone and called the police on him.

It worked. For 428 days.

How It Started

The theft traces back to the late 1980s, when Keirans and William Woods worked together at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At some point during that time, Keirans took Woods' identity and began building a parallel life under his name. To make it stick, he used Ancestry.com to obtain a copy of Woods' birth certificate, then used that document alongside a driver's license to open bank accounts, apply for loans, acquire property titles and deeds, and secure employment.

Over the following decades, Keirans climbed professionally. He built a career in information technology and eventually reached a senior administrator role at a hospital system managed by the University of Iowa. He had a wife. He had a child. That child carried Woods' surname. None of it was real.

In the years before he was caught, Keirans took out more than $200,000 in loans in Wisconsin, all under the stolen identity.

When the Real William Woods Came Forward

In 2019, Woods attempted to reclaim what was his. He went to authorities and explained that someone had been living under his name for years. What happened next is what Chief Judge C.J. Williams would later call "unique, unusual and egregious."

Keirans convinced police that Woods was the imposter. Woods was arrested, charged with identity theft and false impersonation, and jailed. A judge later ruled him not competent to stand trial. He was transferred to a state mental hospital, where he spent 147 days and was forcibly medicated.

Woods told reporters after the case concluded: "I was sent to jail for nothing. For being myself."

The Insult That Broke the Case

Detective Ian Mallory of the University of Iowa Police Department initially did not believe Woods. He was skeptical of the claim, as investigators before him had been. But in early 2023, when Mallory came under Keirans' scrutiny, Keirans made a mistake. He insulted Mallory's abilities as a police officer.

That insult is what made Mallory look harder. He kept investigating. He pursued DNA testing. The results confirmed what Woods had been saying all along. He was exactly who he said he was. The case against him collapsed, and the case against Keirans began.

The Outcome

Keirans pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and making false statements. At sentencing, Chief Judge C.J. Williams said Keirans had "weaponized the criminal justice system" to achieve his goals and described his conduct as "callous." Keirans was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit later upheld that sentence after Keirans challenged it.

Woods is now back in Albuquerque, working as a landscaper. He has said he plans to seek compensation for his wrongful incarceration.