By David Mccormack and Katie Davies PUBLISHED: 10:49 EST, 4 May 2013 | UPDATED: 14:18 EST, 4 May 2013 The runaway mom who went missing for 11 years before walking into a police station last week had set up a new life as a Florida cleaner and never spoke about the family she left behind. It emerged this week that Brenda Heist, who was eventually presumed dead by her husband and two children after suddenly going missing from their Pennsylvania home, was actually building a new life for herself on the other side of the country. Her new friends have spoken of their shock at discovering who she actually was and lifted the lid on her runaway life which was far less tragic than she has made out.
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Brenda Heist turned herself in at a Florida police station last Friday after being missing for 11 years
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Her husband and two children were heartbroken to discover she had been secretly living without them and said they wanted nothing to do with her
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Brenda who said she left Lititz, Pennsylvania to live as a homeless person actually worked as a cleaner and lived with new friends
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They were shocked to discover her real identity and said she never revealed there was a family she left behind
She said she joined  a group of homeless people that she met in a park who were hitch-hiking to @placeholder.