Girlfriend of Alleged Bigamist Says She Still Loves Him

Dec. 15, 2005 — -- The girlfriend of a man arrested this week on a state bigamy charge says he's "the kind of person who could sweep any woman off their feet," and that she still loves him.

Barbara Hembree, 54, learned about Charles Edward Hicks's other marriages after her sister saw an episode of the "Dr. Phil" talk show that featured two women who had discoveredthey were married to Hicks at the same time.

Linda Hembree recognized Hicks, 61, as the man who had just proposed to her sister Barbara.

"With the first picture, I thought 'that kind of looks like Ed,'" Linda Hembree told "Good Morning America" today. "Then with the second photo, I thought, 'oh my god, that guy is dating my sister.'"

When Barbara Hembree got her sister's call, Hicks was sitting right next to her. When he left the house to go the store, she turned on the TV and was shocked to hear two other women talk about being married to her boyfriend. When he returned, she confronted him.

"He didn't want to talk about it," Barbara Hembree said.

Barbara Hembree and Hicks had been dating for eight months. He had recently proposed to her but she "wasn't ready to get married," she said. Still, she was crazy about him and describes him as "very caring, very polite, very educated."

"He was the kind of person who could sweep any woman off her feet," she said.

Apparently, Hicks planned to sweep more women off their feet. Just two weeks ago, he had six personal ads on dating Web sites, where he described himself as "a man in love with love."

Linda Hembree called the police, and they arrested Hicks at her sister's house. Barbara Hembree did not tell him the police were on the way.

"If he had known what was going to happen, he would have run," Barbara Hembree said.

But Hicks "didn't even put up a fuss," she said.

"He looked at me like he had a sigh of relief that it was over," she added.

Hicks is now in a North Carolina jail, fighting extradition to Virginia, where he faces a bigamy charge for his two marriages there.

"I don't feel very good about it," Linda Hembree said. "When I met him he was such a nice person."

Barbara Hembree said she hasn't decided if she will have any more contact him, describing the events as "very traumatic."

"I still love him," Barbara Hembree said, "I do."