Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Big Twist in Married Teacher's Student Sex Scandal Case

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Christina Formella appeared in DuPage County Court this week for a status hearing. Formella, a former special education teacher and soccer coach in Illinois, faces more than 50 charges related to allegations she groomed and sexually assaulted a male student. Prosecutors told the judge they're still combing through terabytes of digital evidence in the case. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the latest in the case with TikToker Abby Blabby in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Stay Informed, Stay Safe – Check Public Records with TruthFinder now at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Abby Blabby https://www.tiktok.com/@abbylynn0715?_t=ZP-90ZnKiKXuOt&_r=1 Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. How do you feel knowing she was sneaking this child into your home? The Illinois high school teacher, accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a student, is back in court. Is reality sinking in for Christina Formella? She turned around and she kind of looked at the judge. Like, to me, she just, she almost looked scared. I look at the latest in the case.

what happened inside and outside of the courtroom. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Christina Formella was back in court this week as her criminal case slowly makes its way toward trial. In case you forgot, Christina Formella is that 30-year-old teacher and soccer coach from Downers Grove, Illinois, who was arrested and charged earlier this year with having sex with a former student. in her classroom. Now, following Formella's arrest, police said that the victim in this case told them that they had only had sex in her classroom once in 2023. But the grand jury later indicted Formella on 52 additional charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal

sexual assault. Those charges came after additional investigation. And prosecutors said a closer look at Formella's phone revealed more than one instance of sex between the boy and Formella. In fact, State Attorney Robert Bellin said that Formella and the victim had sex approximately 50 times both at school and Formella's home, and at least 45 of those instances occurred at the school. Now, Berlin said that the sexual abuse by Formella began in January 2023 and continued through August or September of last year. Berlin issued a statement in June writing the new allegations against Ms. Formella, including the allegations of groomed and that the abuse lasted nearly two years are beyond disturbing. I thank the victim in this case

for having the courage to come forward during what I imagine is an extremely difficult time for him. Now, when I first told you about this case back in March, we had obtained documents that recounted what Formella told investigators. They claimed she said people always try to get her in trouble because she's good looking. Christina Formella, she's an attractive woman, but that line didn't work on the cops. Formella was arrested and charged right before St. Patrick's Day with three felonies of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Police said Formella had accused the teen victim of stalking her and blamed him for a so-called memoir in her phone. The following month, the prosecutor says the victim was interviewed again and revealed more details that led to more investigation. Now we're learning that Snapchat might be involved in this case.

The social media app allows users to send photos and videos. videos. And Christina Formella and her husband, Michael, sold their Downers Grove home for nearly $600,000 last month. The legal bills are likely very steep in this case, and Formella has a very good lawyer. Now, we'll look back on the evidence we know about here in a bit, along with the body worn camera footage from Formella's arrest, but here's one section. Hey, how you doing? Officer Gusmer with Downers Grove. Do you have your license on you? Yeah, I'm nice play. I'm sure you're confused. I'll spend it into you. You're Christina?

Yeah. Yes. Okay, Christina, do me favor. Can you step out of the car for me? I know you're confused. I'll explain everything to you. You don't have anything on you. You can grab whatever you need.

Whatever I need? Yeah, whatever you need. If your phone, your purse, go and grab it. Is she going somewhere or? Yeah, we're going to explain everything to you guys. Go ahead and grab out. We're not going anywhere right now. Of course, of course, yeah.

I don't understand what's going on here. I get it, yeah. You can go grab your things. Can he come with me? Yes, yes. You stay there for right now, sir to stay there, but yes, you can't. But come on back here. Should I shut the car off? Oh, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. It goes off. Okay. Sorry, back over here. So, we do have an investigation going on. We have to talk to you about it at the police department, okay? So we're going to say everything to you there. It's not my investigation. I don't know the full details. But you have to bring you there, though, okay?

So I do have to put you in handcuffs and bring it to the police department. Just a down-and-troughs. Yes, unfortunately, yes. I'm, like, willing to go with you. I get it, yeah. Unfortunately, we have to do it that way. It's doing a favor. We just take this off.

This case is really every parent's worst nightmare. Trust me, a teacher accused of taking advantage of a student for sex, our partner, truthfinder.com. It's a really powerful public record search service. We use it to do research on stories here all of the time at law and crime. Talk about a useful research. source. You plug in a name and you get an address and other information, including criminal history. And let me just say, this can give you some peace of mind. I've looked up Christina Formella

and her criminal case shows up under her maiden name. Now, TruthFinder is one of the largest public record search services out there. And with a paid subscription service, you get access to unlimited reports of almost anyone. And that includes looking up registered sex offenders in your area too. You might even be shocked to look yourself up and see what's out there. So stay informed. Stay safe and check public records with TruthFinder now at www.truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix. So to discuss this most recent court appearance by Christina Formella, I want to bring in TikToker Abby Blabby. Please follow her on her TikTok account. She has been following this case from the very beginning like I have. So Abby, I know that you go to all of these court appearances.

Tell me, what happened this time? Not a lot this time. It was continued to January 8, 2006, obviously. At 9.30 in the morning, basically the prosecutor said that they still have a lot of stuff to go through. She said that they've gone through the bulk of it, but there's still a lot. And the judge said, well, if I said it for January 8th, do you think that's going to be enough time? and the prosecutor said that she does. So it'll be interesting to see what happens at that one.

Now, she was saying that they still have a lot to go through. And a lot of what they're going through and people don't realize it are these cell phone messages and things of that nature, right? Doesn't a lot of that stuff take them forever when you're talking about different apps used to talk on and all of that stuff? Yeah. And actually before the judge called Christina's name, I happened to walk outside of the courtroom because I needed to use the restroom, to be honest. And I saw the prosecutor standing there outside of the door with the defense team and they were talking, discussing things. I heard the word Snapchat and I heard them say there's six terabytes of data to go through, which is a ton. Yeah, six terabytes. I mean, that's a lot. When you think of like a hard drive, you know, you can have. have a hard drive. I just happen to have one here sitting on my desk, right? And I think it's like a two terabyte hard drive. So just think of like one of these things. This is a two terabyte hard drive. Think of three of these full of data. That's what you're talking about to get to six

terabytes full. An absolute ton. Because, you know, I think they subpoenaed records going all the way back to when the victim was 14 years old when they would have met. So, you know, it's all of her stuff, all of his stuff. So there's a ton of data there to go through. What was the mood like? I mean, we know how things are at a trial between prosecutors and defense teams. I mean, did it seem like there was a lot of tension between the prosecution and the defense or did it seem like they were just having a cordial conversation? It seemed very cordial. But, you know, it was really weird because I didn't see Christina at all before the judge called her name. And I was kind of like, where is she? Because she's court ordered that she has to come to all of these

hearings. I kept looking around the room and, you know, in the back where they always sit, where the formalas, the Keotuses. I didn't see Christina or Michael. And I'm like, what is going on? Where is she at? And then the judge called her name and up she walked. So I think she was running late. So both sides of her family were there. Both her husband, Michael's side of the family. Yeah. And then her mother, her parents, they were there? They come to all of them.

And the victim's family was there as well. Oh, wow. Was it all of them there or just his parents? Just the family. Just the family. Very interesting. And they go to all of these? Every single one, yeah.

But it was really weird because I thought that she wasn't even there. and then she walked up. They were at the stand or at the judge's desk for maybe two minutes, and then it was done. And I will say this is the first time when she turned around and started walking back, she just looked different to me. This is the first time I think that she has looked exhausted and defeated. Really?

Yeah, I mean, usually she has kind of like this deer in the headlights kind of look on her face where she's just very like, she just looks. straight or down or whatever, but she turned around and she kind of looked at the judge. Like, to me, she just, she almost looked scared and actually said something to a reporter that was sitting next to me. I was like, do you think that she looks kind of different this time? Like, she looks like it's finally hitting her and she agreed. Because you had said before that she and Michael were kind of giddy, laughing, things like in the courtroom. And so none of that this time.

None of it. I mean, she genuinely looked, defeated, exhausted, scared. And then afterwards, the prosecutor, the defense attorneys, Christina, and Michael all went into some conference room. That's not far away from the courtroom. I obviously don't know what they were talking about, but usually, you know, Christina meets with her attorney right after and the families leave, but they were all there. So you're telling me that Michael Formella, Christina Formella, the prosecution and the defense all went into a conference room together. Yes. And honestly, it makes me wonder if they were saying something along the lines of, look, we have an absolute mound of evidence against you. And there's obviously a lot more to go through. So they might find even more and be able to bring forth new. charges. So I wonder if they're telling her, hey, look, we could spend hours and hours and

hours going through the rest of the stuff and you could pay your attorney, you know, thousands and thousands and thousands, or this is what we could do. Like, it makes me wonder if they've talked about a plea. That would be weird to me for Michael Formella, unless I guess Christina Formello wanted him to go with her to go in there like that. That seems very odd to me. It's odd to me, too. Yeah. Very odd. Did you hear the words plea come up in the hallway at all? I did. Now, I don't know who said it. It was a woman. So I would assume the prosecutor, but the junior attorney was out there, too. And she's a female. So it could have been her. But it sounded like the prosecutor to me. Now, I don't know what she was saying. I just heard that word stood out to me, plea. I still think, though, they would have an obligation to investigate further. I mean, we don't know this is one one teenage boy we're talking about here that she's accused of having a relationship with.

We don't know what else they're finding in this six terabytes. I'm not implying that there's anything else there. But as you said, right, but you never know. You never know. And they did add more charges after her initial arrest. You know, when they first arrested her and they went through the. phone and then they they continue to investigate and they came back after the case went to grand jury with a whole slew of new charges 52 more bringing the total to 55 so I wonder if

after they go through all this if that number is going to go up even higher yeah six terabytes that takes a long time to go through because the investigators will have to go through it prosecutors obviously will have to as well what was Michael Formella's mood like So I only saw him for a second. After it was done, and Christina was walking back from the judge's desk, she immediately walked out of the courtroom and then Michael stood up and he walked right after her. So I didn't see his face or anything, so I honestly couldn't tell you. But he was right there, but he was right there with her.

But obviously from your vantage point and your read on the room, obviously it looks serious. This is a very serious case. Yes. And very much, though. I mean, no, this can't be fun for anybody involved. The victim is a kid. It's a teenager. So certainly not fun for him.

His parents are coming to court for all of these hearings. Yikes. Yeah. You're right. You know, they've got to be just absolutely angry, given the allegations. I'm sure. So the next hearing, you said, is set for January. And the prosecutor.

led the judge to believe her just said on the record today, they believe they can get through that six terabytes by that time. Yep. So I will definitely be going to that hearing as well because I want to know if they're going to say, hey, we found this, this, and this. And we're going to charge her with this, this, this and this. You know, I'm really interested to see what's going to happen at that hearing. I would assume that whatever they have, unless they're still going through it,

that they've turned over to her defense attorney in discovery because that had been discussed before, that they were handing over the evidence they had collected. Yeah, it was weird. When they were all talking outside of the courtroom, I did hear the prosecutor say, are you going to run it? And then you're going to need a 6 terabyte hard drive. So I don't know if they've handed everything over yet. I mean, I don't know how all that works. if the prosecutor reviews everything first and then hands it over, or if they do it in bits and pieces? They may have just dumped the phones and these accounts or whatever.

Maybe they've gotten stuff back from these social media account holders or these social media platforms, rather. And they've gotten it on hard drives and they've said to them, you're going to need a 6 terabyte hard drive because that's what we have. But that's more than likely, just in my covering cases before, maybe the defense doesn't have it and maybe they've gotten more stuff from another account you said you heard the word Snapchat and the defense then would hand them a hard drive and then the prosecution would copy everything over to that hard drive and provide it back to them that with the discovery so I've seen that happen in other cases too well it sounds like something is definitely cooking what we don't know because we're not privy to it but Abby I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and tell us about the very latest. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks for coming on. This case is moving slowly, but surely, and we'll see what happens in January. If not sooner, maybe they'll move that date up. We'll just have to wait and see. Earlier, I told you that we'd look back at some of the evidence that prosecutors claim they've gathered against Christina Formella. Those include text messages. Police said the boy wrote to Formella in one, I love you so, so much, Mama.

Formella wrote back from an unknown number. I love you so much, baby, even though this morning was short, it was perfect. The teen messaged back, I know baby, it was perfect, so perfect. The unknown number then texted, I love having sex with you. The teen responded, I know, baby, I love it so much, it feels so good, it's so passionate, it's so intimate, it's so perfect. The officer wrote in a court document that Formella denied having sex with the student, but in the same breath, said the relationship was wrong and she couldn't stop.

it because she cared too much about him. The petition for detention stated, when confronted with the text messages found on the student's phone, she claimed that one day the student had grabbed her phone unattended and had entered her passcode, which she allegedly knew because he had seen her type it into her phone one day and had sent the message to his phone, had then deleted the message from her phone and had saved it to his phone as blackmail. According to defendant, she had no idea these text messages even existed. So according to police, Formella claimed the student created the text messages that I read to you earlier. Police also said they found a memoir, updated the morning of her arrest in the notes in Formella's phone about the student and that she claimed it was an outlet for her

anxiety brought on by this student. An officer said Formella wrote, I'm not upset. I'm not mad. I'm not any of that. I've just lost interest. I went back and screenshot it every single time that I said we should break up until after the wedding and after you graduated. And every single effing time you came back and convinced me it would be fine. I initiated every single breakup. Only for you to end things saying you couldn't get over it. You ruined us. I warned you, we should have never started dating a long, long, long, long effing time ago. And you gaslit me and convinced me it was fine every single time because that's who you are. We will never ever be together again. I'm not a second choice. I'm the best thing you'll ever have, even with all of my mistakes. You once again

waited and strung me along until it was convenient for you. It broke me last time. This time, it changed me. I'm not sad. I'm effing mad that I let a 16 year old F word with me like that. And I made a promise to myself that I never will let any guy F word with me like that again. Now, police said there was also a section in Formella's notes entitled Manifestations that read, The Teen is going to reach out to me soon and try to fix things between us in the meantime. I'm going to live my best life knowing he's not the person I thought he was and that he is beneath me. Police said they found another note in Formella's phone from November 2024 that read, The teen and I will connect again soon in a positive way.

We will both get the closure we need in order to move on in a healthy way. we will be able to be a part of each other's lives forever. We will be in each other's lives forever. We will be able to love each other while also living our own lives. Here was Formella after being questioned by the cops and taken to jail. I'm sure you don't want a tissue or something? I'm feeling I'm going to throw up. A bag?

No, it's cool. All right. Sean, can you grab a bag out of there? Hey, can you get, like, a bag just in case she gets nauseous? Yeah. I don't know. Do we have any of those emissos bags, like laying around the fly? I figure she's something better than nothing.

So Christina Formella, for the record, has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. I reached out to a spokesperson for her about the meeting in the conference room. At the time of this recording, I had not yet heard back. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.