In February 1961, Michel moved to Corpus Christi. She was working as a waitress in a night club when she met Frank O'Neil Scott. Scott was a former Marine sergeant who had served in the Korean War, before enlisting in the Army. Although they were both legally married to other people, they married on July 22, 1961. Scott deserted the Army in February 1962, and Michel and Scott began engaging in various schemes. She and Scott were arrested in El Paso, Texas, in December 1962 and charged in federal court with driving a stolen car over state lines. According to newspaper reports, she and Scott had stolen a 1957 Mercury demonstration model in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and driven it to Houston. They then embarked on a six-month trip around the southern and eastern United States after stealing Michel's ex-husband's car, a Ford convertible, and used three credit cards they found in the glove compartment to run up $3,700 in bills (). Scott was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison while Michel was sentenced to 13 months at the Federal Women's Institution in Alderson, West Virginia. After her release, Michel disappeared.
