Well-known Montreal couple face life imprisonment in Nebraska drug case

   Husband and wife Ken Hechtman, 49, and Wendy Kraus-Heitmann, 42, (aka Wendy Hechtman) best known as longtime Montreal freelance journalists, face life imprisonment after police raided their Omaha Nebraska home on Oct. 30, 2017 and charged them with producing the drug Fentanyl.
  Court proceedings are expected to begin in early June as Prosecutor Kim Bunjer tells Coolopolis that the deadline to file discovery is June 4 and the defendants have until July 5 to file pre-trial motions.
   The duo moved from Montreal to Nebraska in February 2016.
   Kraus-Heitmann lived in Montreal for over a decade after coming to study at Concordia.
   She bore four children with two different fathers in Montreal before marrying Hechtman. Two are now adults while the younger two under 10 years of age.
   Hechtman, who also has US citizenship, attended Colombia where a writer described him in 1989 as a "publicity hound who disrupted the peace and quiet for no reason," and was "a thief and peril to his classmates."
   The same writer noted that he was also seen as "the smartest student in the university" who "could do unbelievable physical stunts."
  He received considerable attention after being kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2001 when researching an article he wanted to write for the Montreal Mirror about the Taliban.
  Kraus-Heitmann is well-known as chatty, bubbly and interested in Montreal affairs. She helped Coolopolis on occasion before returning to Nebraska due to lack of employment opportunities in Montreal.
   She was enthusiastic following her return, finding a pair of well-paying jobs and a large home for $800 per month near her parents. 
   Hechtman took a stonework and masonry course in Nebraska.
   The status of their legal case remains unclear at this moment, although some Montreal friends have expressed an interest in setting up a fund to help their legal defence.
   Neither has been active on social media since their arrests and an attempt to contact Wendy through Facebook bore no reply.

Colter Keffer, 23, and Abby Rowell, 28, both of Nebraska, were arrested as well.

Wendy's last tweet before her arrest