Betrayal Weekly - Introducing: Betrayal Weekly

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

The Betrayal community is growing. From the producers that brought you the critically acclaimed Betrayal limited run series, a new always-on docuseries will hit the feed every week.   Our lives are all built on an invisible force: trust. But sometimes, the people we trust the most can turn out to be complete strangers. Every week, Betrayal Weekly will share first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind.  Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds.  If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at [e-mail] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the, cat just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Ellen's, correct? I doctored the test once. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern.

Two more men who'd been through the same thing. The lesbian. Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues,

Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lori Siegel, and this is mostly human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman.

I think society is going to decide that creators of of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. An in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to Mostly Human on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hi, it's Andrea Gunning. Thanks for tuning into our first three seasons of betrayal. These stories have inspired so many of you to share your own experiences with us.

We knew we had to find a way to bring more of your stories to the podcast feed. And now we are. Every Thursday, we'll be releasing new extraordinary episodes. These are firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. And these are stories you've never heard before. And I'm like, what? No, this isn't real. What's going on?

Who are you really? I said, I can't believe what I'm listening to. I was like, where is the baby? What's happening? From unbelievable romantic betrayals, the love that was so real for me was always just a game for him. To betrayals in your own family.

When I think about my dad, oh, well, he is a sociopath. He is a criminal. Financial betrayals. So this is like the beginning of it. This is not even the part where he stills millions of dollars, right? Even life or death deceptions. She's practicing how she's going to cry when the police calls her after they kill me. The people we trust the most.

He was caring and loving and genuine with his wife and his child and his patience. The people we least expect. And he was a psychopath. These are cautionary tales, stories of romance, families. and business gone horribly wrong. But there are also survival stories. Stories of resilience after losing the thing we all depend on. Trust.

My story was true. Even if his wasn't, mine was. Now here's a sneak peek of our first episode. This is Stephanie's story. Her marriage came crashing down in an instant when she discovered the sinister truth about her husband. A dark secret, he had hidden for 22 years.

We got married in 1998. It was a second marriage for both of us. I came with four boys. He had a boy and a girl. Our kids were already friends and were thrilled about us being together. Stephanie and her husband, I'm going to call him Greg,

lived together in a tiny Midwestern town. It's the kind of town where everybody knows everybody. It's like a small town that you would see on a movie or a sitcom. I didn't want my husband to go to the grocery store with me. It just would take so long if he went with because we knew every person at the store

and everyone would have to stop and visit with him. Their big, blended family was well known in town. Picture a modern-day Brady Bunch. At least that's the feeling I got from a photo she shared with me. It's Stephanie, her sons, and Greg's kids, all six of them, standing side by side on the beach smiling. Their family takes up the whole three by five photo across. Their arm and arm having the best beach vacation. It's really sweet.

He was the absolute ideal husband. He was my best friend. He did housework. He cooked. He played with the kids. And when the kids were little, we were. would go in and volunteer at their elementary school and help with their reading groups, which was super fun and like, what their dad does that? I mean, back in those days, he was the only

dad who volunteered. And the kids all loved him. There's another photo of Stephanie and her husband in front of a waterfall in a forest with his arms wrapped around her. The sun lights her face and she looks relaxed and blissful. He was very kind, very generous, very interested in hearing what I had to say. He very much lifted me up. He made me feel seen, and he made me feel like I was smart and competent. They had great chemistry. They made great partners, not just in marriage, but in business. I just ended up working at my husband's optometry practice because, you know, is a small practice, just him. He always had three employees and one quit. And I was kind of in between jobs, so it's like, oh, could you just fill in? Stephanie did a lot more than just fill in.

She started managing her husband's optometry practice, pushing insurance claims through and making the business more profitable than ever. They had a clear vision for their future. We certainly were not rich, but we were very comfortable. We had our own resort in our backyard. We had a large in-ground pool, hot tub, basketball court. I have this great photo of Greg on his giant pool lounger. watching the Masters Golf Tournament on our outdoor big screen TV. We had just begun a plan of getting the house absolutely perfect and maintenance free for when we retired.

Of course, there were hard moments, bumps along the way. In a 22-year marriage, that's par for the course. At one point, he admitted that he hadn't been paying the taxes at his business. and there was a possibility we could lose the business, our house, he could go to jail. That's a pretty big bump. It's like, I've invested everything. I've put my life and my kids' lives in this man's hands. So that was tough, but we worked through it.

They agreed to a payment plan with the IRS and moved forward as a team, back on track for a happy retirement. As the kids got older, Stephanie and her husband adjusted well. to the empty nest. When the kids were grown, things were almost even better. We would leave the office and walk hand in hand down the street to the local cafe and go to lunch together. And sit and talk and laugh through the whole lunch, not sit and scroll on our phones like other couples. And then we would go back and work for the afternoon. And then we would go home together and make different.

or watch our favorite game shows and play a board game. Even during the 2020 pandemic, Stephanie and her husband got along. So, you know, during COVID, I'd hop on a Zoom call with like six or seven girlfriends, and we're pretty much all empty nesters. So we're all just stuck in the house alone with our husbands. And my friends have good marriages, and still there was a lot of, like, I don't know how much longer I can take this. I'm really bored. And I'm going, oh gosh, you guys, I feel bad because you know what? We're having a blast over here. We're trying new recipes. We've got this whole game thing going on.

We're doing all these puzzles. We're having so much fun. When COVID restrictions lifted, the couple took the opportunity to spend even more time together and enjoy a warmer climate. Kind of on a whim, we were like, hey, things are opening up. We didn't get to go on our winter vacation to our time sharing Cancun. Let's go down there. So we had gone down the first week of April and had a fabulous time as we always do. But on this little COVID getaway, she could tell that something was off with Greg. She first noticed it when they were lounging by the pool.

One of the things that really struck me as weird on that trip was that we, had kind of sat in this same spot a couple days, and there was someone else sitting a couple chairs down from us, another husband and wife. And the guy made me really uncomfortable. You know how some guys just look at you weird? You know, when you're hanging out in your bathing suit, whatever. And that guy just kind of made me uncomfortable. And I told Greg that. I said, you know, that guy is just kind of creeping me out. Can we sit somewhere else? And he said no. That was totally out of character for him.

He was always so accommodating to me and never wanted me to feel uncomfortable. I mean, does it matter if we sit over on the other side of the gorgeous infinity pool looking out at the ocean? So yeah, it just struck me as a little weird. It was weird, but Stephanie didn't think much of it. That night, the couple indulged in a long romantic dinner. This was always part of their vacation.

A few dinners where they could really treat themselves. Many, many courses and lots of different drinks and wine and all of that. The next morning, Stephanie was in a fog. I was very out of it. Like, it was really hard to wake up. I had this feeling. It was almost like I was at the bottom of. the lake and I could just see light way up ahead but it was so hard to try to get

there and then I would just feel so awful like very cotton mouth very dehydrated headache miserable waking up shouldn't feel like that but Greg was there to help take care of her last night you had a lot to drink and we were out in the sun a lot I'm sure you're dehydrated let's get you some water let's get you some coffee, let's try to stay out of the sun a little bit today. You know, very comforting, very kind. But Greg wasn't the man he was pretending to be. I had that feeling.

I was like, I got to check all his stuff while he's gone. I saw his laptop was sitting there by his recliner. I picked it up and I took it over to the kitchen counter. And that was where I was sitting. and I literally just lifted it up, and it was there. The pages were open. He readily confessed to all of it. No tears, no remorse, no regret, no care whatsoever.

He talked to me like he was telling me, I went to the store and got a gallon of milk. He said, I have those pictures of those other women because I trade. Like kids trade Pokemon cards. I would trade your image. Be sure to listen in on July 25th

to hear all of Stephanie's story and subscribe to the betrayal feed where you'll hear news stories every Thursday. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point, where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, They take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that, trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a whole. hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones.

It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alesspian. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or we're you get your podcasts. I'm Lori Siegel, and this is Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility

to the products we put out in the world. An in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to Mostly Human on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.