Betrayal - S1: Bonus Ep 5 – Students

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

After Betrayal Season 1 was released many of Spencer’s former students reached out to the show. Jennifer and Andrea speak with a two students to understand how the arrest and their interactions with Spencer have affected them. We hear from former student Paul as he grapples with the fact that his former mentor was not the man he thought. Amber recounts a few instances that left her feeling unsettled.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hey guys, it's Andrea Gunning and if you haven't heard yet, a lot has been happening with the trial. First, we'll be back with season two of the trial starting May 18th. We even have a sneak peek at the end of this episode. Second, a trial season one is being turned into a documentary. More details on when and where it will launch, so stay tuned on the feed for updates. Hundreds of betrayal listeners have reached out to Petriopa.com over the past year to share personal stories about their own betrayals. Others have written about knowing Spencer personally.

Some of the hardest letters to read have been from Spencer's former students. It's been surprising that so many months after we launched Patriol, we are still receiving messages from graduates that encountered him during his 20 plus years as a high school teacher. We heard from many women over the last year who wanted to share their experiences with Spencer, but also heard from male students who were deeply affected, like Paul. Paul, it's so nice to meet you.

It's nice to meet you as well. Yeah, thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Of course, it was definitely enlightening to hear more about what happened. Well, I'm curious as a former student, you know, you knew this person pretty well. Yeah, I mean, I knew Spencer extremely well, you know, he was like a mentor to me, even beyond high school. And you know, here are the arrests. First of all, just a lot of disbelief didn't really believe it. Is this true? And then the arrest comes and it's like, okay,

I still am like, is it really? Could this really be true? Like I just don't fully believe it. And so really he's guilty. And then you come out the podcast and I jump right on. Like I have to figure out and hear for myself, what did he really do? Did he really do these things? People are saying. Right. That's one of the questions that I get. Why do you need to know? But you do when

you know somebody or you think you know somebody and then they turn out totally different. Don't you want to find those answers? Especially how well I knew him after high school. I met up with him past graduation. I helped him with his newer students and went back to the school to kind of help teach him and teach some of the new students and take care of the lab. So I was very close with him and I could throw him a friend of mine. So just hearing it was just such a shock and just really hurtful.

I still look at it to this day and try to half myself how did I not see any of it. What was your experience of him as a teacher? Yeah, he was one of my favorite teachers. I spent any free time I had with him in his room. I worked on the video yearbook forum. I was on the morning, so supporting that as well. I'm a lot of extra time outside of the normal school day was spent in that lab working with him on different videos and that yearbook. So I was extremely close to him during the school year and had nothing but great things to say about him.

What made him a good mentor to you? My original goal out of high school, I was going into video production. And he was really helping me understand what's the real world's like, where I can go look for jobs, how I can get into that field, and just be in a stounding board for, hey, you know, here's what I'm thinking about, which way should I go, and just helping me that drive and motivation. Because I really, you know, at the high school, I really didn't know where I wanted to go in life.

And he really kind of framed that for me. He portrayed a family man, happy marriage. He had great kids, you know, things that I look for and I wanted myself. So, I, you know, I kind of attached to that. Did he always feel like a friend or did that come later? I would say, you's say after graduation, when I really felt like that closer friendship started to bond because it was no longer a student teacher relationship. It was two men working together,

bettering each other, going to see his band play and thought on the software. Did you ever come to the wine bar? I did. I was at the wine cart when you were just a cart. And then, you know, the wine bar and really enjoying seeing that success of a dream come to life. So when you were listening to the podcast,

was it hard for you? It was definitely difficult. You know, I would be lying if I didn't say, there were some tears just listening that he really did these things and that these women were coming out about it. The one episode where I hear his voice, I was just like, I really just want to call him

and just say, why? Like, why are you that kind of person? You know, I had trust in you and I looked up to you and you really did these things that I just unimaginable. I have hung myself in the shoes because I have a five-year-old daughter. I can't imagine what these students have gone through, let alone these other females that he's interacted with and who knows how many were out there. I mean it really had a home with me too being a father and having a daughter. I'm sitting here and I'm just really sorry that you had to go through that. You know teachers are supposed to be our mentors. So I'm really sorry that that happened to you as well. I'm more sorry that it happened to you.

I mean, I remember when he got married to you. Really? You know, I was in his life then and he seemed so happy. And if I had ever known he was going to do some like, I would have saved you from going through all of this. I don't know how you're doing it. You're extremely brave and just an amazing person to look up to to be able to, you know, go through this and unravel all of this lies and and then talk to people about it. You know, that's, that's the biggest reason I wanted to be a part of this is I once other females out there that may be dealing with something that isn't right to know that there's people

here to help you and they come out and step forward and you know make a voice for yourself, don't be scared and don't be bullied and to keep in quiet you know and that's really that's where that's where it comes to my heart like we need more people to speak up and talk about these experiences and make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else as best we can. That's right. I mean, that's the whole point. If you were to run into him on the street, would you say anything to him or would

you keep walking? That's a funny question. I think if I was by myself and I saw him, I would definitely want to confront him and just stop him and just say, why? I think that's the last piece of closure I don't have is just talking directly to him. I'm not going to get an answer I want. Right. But for some reason in my mind, I just want to be able to just unload my feelings and make him understand how I feel.

Now, if I was with my family, I would probably have to look the other way. I don't want my five-year-old daughter anywhere in the facility. Yeah, you know, that last episode where I was able to speak with him the last time. It was just kind of brief because I thought I wanted to talk to him. I thought I wanted these answers, but then I realized that he's not capable. Now, and you can hear it in his voice. He truly doesn't think he's done something wrong at this point. He really believes his lies. He won't understand anything I say. I won't get the closure I truly want, but I will get enough closure of just getting words out

and walking away from him and never singing again, but at least get those last words because it still bothers me. Thank you so much, Paul. I really appreciate your time and being willing to speak to me and Jen. I'm an open book with this at this point because I just, I want to help any other victims

that could be out there for anything. Anyone that's going to do something like this, I hope they listen and I definitely hope this helps them feel comfortable coming forward. Well, hold on to your tails because it gets better than that. I mean, not better, like, more impressive than a talking dog, exactly. But if you apply now at Crocodoodles.com, you could adopt me or any other breed we offer with just a few easy steps. Whether you find a match immediately or by your time looking for just the right family member, we're worth the wait.

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now. I shouldn't lie around via Uda, we're terribly popular. Crocododles.com and apply for the perfect edition to your family now. I shouldn't lie around while you're with terribly popular. Crocododles is making families whole. One pup at a time. You're ready for a comeback. And with Purdue Global, you can do more than take classes. You can take charge of your story, of your career, of your life. Earn a degree you can be proud of and get an education employers respect.

It's time, your time, not just to go back to school, but to come back and move forward with Purdue Global, Purdue's online university for working adults. Start your comeback at PurdueGlobal.edu. Casey's Shane was murdered in the middle of an August night, shot point blank while idling in his Dodge pickup truck in North Indianapolis. There was no physical evidence, no known motive, and no one coming forward with information. Except one woman who swears to this day, she saw Leon Detroit Benson pull the trigger.

Leon Benson was sentenced to 60 years in prison, all because one person swore they saw something. But what if she was wrong? And what if we could prove it? From Wondery and Campside Media, comes season three of the hit podcast suspect, co-hosted by me, Matt Cher, alongside Attorney Laura Bazelon. This is a story of a botched police investigation,

the dangers of shaky eyewitness testimony, and a community of feared law enforcement, with good reason. Listen to suspect, five shots in the dark, early and ad-free on Wundery Plus. Find Wundery Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts. Amber, another graduate of Kell High School, listened to Patrile and wrote in to share her experiences with Spencer. So Amber, tell me, when did you graduate, Cal? 2012 in May. And did you have Spencer as a teacher? I did. I believe I had reclases with him one sophomore junior and senior year, but not my freshman. Up until senior year, I didn't have any sort of vibes or wonderings, but when I was approaching graduation, which was in 2012, is when there were a couple of incidences that were questionable.

He did call me into his closed door office for some random reason, not anything specific to talk to me about. He wanted to show me something cool on a camera, and it was a handheld camera with a flip-out screen. So when you're showing that to someone, you're kind of, you know, shoulder to shoulder with them. And he had turned the lights out and closed the door. So we could see better. So I just remember when he did that, his body was like touching the other side of my body,

and you know, him leaning over and showing me this thing with all the lights off. My heart started racing and I was like whoa this is pretty close, it's pretty dark. And I'm not even focusing on what he's showing me. I'm more wondering why you know he's feeling so comfortable being this close to me. Someone had interrupted actually. Someone had tapped his door and kind of pushed it open. It was another student and I was kind of like thank you for opening the door. I'm out of here. When it happened it felt like an

outlier. It was so borderline of it being something passable because what other teacher would have the opportunity to turn the lights off to show someone something like that Video production had that sort of pass, you know, it was very borderline Well, and part of that is because if who he was you know, he was this beloved teacher So those borderline things were kind of blown off I think because It was like oh no way to be co-chairant. He would never, I feel like, people just trusted him, you know? Exactly. I think also when you have someone who's trustworthy, who can kind of bend the rules and be

cool, you don't want to ruin that, you know, obviously that would be him ruining it himself, but you almost just don't want to believe that he would do that because it's, you know, it was such a special class and it didn't deserve to be tainted and abused by his authority. I'm really sorry you had that experience in his office. Was there anything else that you experienced that made you say this feels off? There were three other times. Two while I was in school, one of the times, senior year, during graduation, I had just gone to new camera, like handheld, digital camera, and of course I was running around taking pictures

with students and teachers. And I had someone take a picture of him and I. And he put his hand around my waist and pulled me like up to his body. And I'm super sensitive to touch. So when this thing happened, I'm very aware of it. And I remember wondering, like, oh, is this how he acts when people graduate in turn 18? Like, he feels that he can make a touch like that.

That was the last time I had seen him. And then, a year later in 2013 in June, he sent me a Facebook message. The first message that he sends me is, I miss my amy, which is this made up nickname based off of my name, with a bunch of exclamation points. He's never called it to me before and him saying, I miss you and then using this made up nickname. I was just really confused and again, it's just like, is this just how he talks to grad students? Like he just suddenly switches to this like flirty person that uses nicknames and then we were crocking a little bit about what I was studying in school and then again he just

switches back and goes, you know, I just knew how special you were. I always knew just how special you were. The last message he sent me was, hey babe, what's up? That's just not something that is appropriate at all. Is there anything that you want to share that's important for people to hear? I feel like the takeaway from this could be that we should have more of these conversations and students should have more confidence and more people that they feel safe confiding in when it comes to sexual harassment or anything insinuating sexual conduct that is inappropriate in any way. I think that's a really good message and thank you so much for your time Amber.

I can't thank you enough. And thanks to you guys, our betrayal community, and get ready. We'll be back with season two of betrayal starting May 18th. It's about a new betrayal that rarely ever is spoken about, but we'll confront it head on. Here's a sneak peek. My husband and I were opening a business. His first job was that very next day. One of the clients had asked if they could bend mo him. So he'd called me that morning, September 29th, 2021. He was like, I need you to set up my business Venmo.

And I was like, all right, use your name and password for whatever email is connected to your Venmo. So he sent me the login for his iCloud. And as I'm signing in, he frantically calls me back. He was like, oh, don't worry about it. We'll do it together when we get home. Like, I'm sorry. I it's gonna be too much.

Like, don't do it. I knew by the tenor of his voice that he was trying to hide something. I thought maybe he bought something that he didn't want me to know about. There was nothing in his photos. And then I scrolled down, and that's when I saw a hidden folder,

and I opened it. You know when you open your photos, it's going to show you like a whole bunch of them at once. I slammed to my computer shut. What the hell did I just see? That's season 2 of Betrayal. Hi, my name is Cooper and I'm a mini-golden doodle from Crocodoodles. Now I know what you're thinking, talking dogs? Well, hold on to your tails because it gets better than that.

I mean, not better, like, more impressive than a talking dog exactly. But if you apply now at Crocodoodles.com, you can adopt me or any other breed we offer with just a few easy steps. Each puppy is raised by a network of families that deliver exceptional doodles anywhere in the United States. Crocodoodles is making families whole. One pup at a time. Let's face it, no one likes summer shaving a razor burn. This summer, make your skin care routine less hactic and try laser hair removal with one free treatment at my Lonelaser Hair Removal.

Visit any of our five Raleigh Durham locations for a free consultation to go over your exact needs and hair free goals with a laser hair removal expert. Put Stunningly Smooth skin front and center. Call 833-No-Raser or visit NeverShaveAgain.com to book your free treatment and consultation. That's nevershaveagain.com. Looking to level up your vacation plans, travel on trend with Apple Vacations and find the best deals on vacation packages

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