"In late March a strange sort of web log appeared. Purporting to tell the daily trials and travails of a young woman 'Isabella' fleeing her influential family to avoid an arranged marriage, the virtual diary has attracted quite a bit of attention and its veracity has been the subject of sometimes acrimonious debate. But is it for real? It would appear so according to one source, a New York attorney with a reputation for representing children suing their parents who has taken an interest in the digital flight risk."

The Agonist has also corroborated the story with two other independent sources.

""At first I was convinced it was one of the Hilton sisters, probably Paris. That turned out to be a dead end. That lead me to the belief that she was Liesel Pritzker. There it turned out that I wasn't that far off." Thinking at first that he had uncovered something of a family secret involving the former Harrison Ford, Air Force One co-star, the attorney made some phone calls. "It seemed to fit. She is the right age, hadn't been much in the public eye lately and no one I could run down seemed to have seen her in March. The conflict with her family fit the bill pretty well. Add to that the fact that she acted under a screen name, 'Liesel Matthews' and had access to some sizeable assets and it seemed the perfect piece of the puzzle." The Pritzker cousin, Liesel, sued her family in late 2002 alleging that the Pritzker clan was squandering her share of a 15 billion dollar estate to benefit other heirs. It was a surprising move coming from a historically tight knit family and that seemed to click with Isabella's own story. "Even that didn't pan out. I found out it wasn't Liesel, but that the Pritzker case had in fact provided the inspiration for another heiress who either knew or knew of Liesel. "

Speculation about Isabella has been significant and a former agent from Simon and Schuster is sniffing around looking for a book deal.

Perhaps it is fiction, the agent says, but he still feels that 'Isabella' is a good writer and the story, regardless of its veracity, deserves telling. Isabella is also seeking legal counsel.

"Apparently, Isabella had read a December, 2002 article in Forbes on Liesel which provided her the inspiration to take a stand against her own family." And that, it seems, led the would be digital heroine to an attorney friend for advice. Three months later she was on a plane. "I finally ran down a friend of her's who had referred her to other counsel. It seems she had come to him looking for help and advice. When he couldn't help her he referred her to someone who could. Even that lawyer bowed out and referred her to someone offshore when she wanted to start publishing. Not that I blame him. It is a bit hard to deal with a client who may well admit to committing a felony or two online." If so it would appear that Isabella's blog is part of a larger strategy to pressure her family. "Oh she's changed quite some number of details about herself. At home she had far more to worry about than just the arranged marriage she cites in her diary."

But potential legal counsel isn't forthcoming.

So who is the attorney representing Isabella now? "I'm not going to repeat that for print. Suffice it to say he's very good." When reached for comment, however, Isabella's latest potential attorney was of little help in narrowing down the mystery. "If she is my client, I would hardly admit it to the media."

But she is very hard to find and won't dedicate much time talking to anyone:

She's not likely to give up much herself either. "Either she or someone helping her is rather clever. She's very careful about leaving traces of herself behind," according to a network security expert who asked to remain anonymous. "In addition to the encrypted email, some of the techniques she's using to get to her blog are pretty advanced. She seems to know what she's doing, or to have someone who knows what they are doing helping her. It is pretty clear that she's sent emails from more than one country. More than that I can't say."

More details to follow. Until then read about her, here.