Then he headed to the Jefferson Kiwanis Youth Soccer Club. He placed the letter and the check in an envelope, drove to the Steubenville post office, and mailed it.

“I’m so sorry that I’m putting you through this.” “Our family only has a chance if I’m not around to bring us down any further,” he wrote. He wrote that he was “crying like a baby” as he thought about how much he loved her and their three daughters. A former chief operating officer at Louis Berkman Investment, he gave her careful financial instructions that would enable her to avoid responsibility for his losses and keep her credit intact: She was to deposit the enclosed check for $4,000 move her funds into a new checking account decline to pay the money he owed the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas disregard his credit-card debt (it was in his name alone) file her tax returns and sign up for Social Security survivor benefits. Stevens, 52, left the casino and wrote a five-page letter to Stacy. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.