Love Trapped - Behind the Scenes in San Francisco | BONUS

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

In Episode 11, Stephani reported on the ground in San Francisco, covering Mike and Laura’s domestic violence restraining order renewal hearings. Ultimately, the DVRO was dismissed because Laura didn’t show up in court.   In this bonus episode, you’ll hear behind the scenes tape of Stephani’s reporting trips.   For exclusive content, follow us on Instagram @glasspodcasts. If you would like to reach out to the Loved Trapped team or have a similar story to share, email us at [e-mail]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app.

Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotopje is presented by CBS. There was no anything inside those eyes. They turned black. It scared the hell out of me. Evil, wake up. I'm the one that saw the murder take place by Krivac and DePippo. Anthony DePippo showed no signs of remorse,

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Our podcast is called, Hey Jonas. We're here, since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It was the same thing with Slow Hands. Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it?

You know, or taste so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Can superstars even exist the way they used to? 2016 was sort of that last era of monoculture where we still consume things in community. Everybody wanted to be Beyonce at that point. I don't think we'll ever see another beyond.

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Back with a bonus episode. I want to play you some behind-the-scenes tape from my two reporting trips to San Francisco. The first one is from the night of the continuance. After Laura filed an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation with the court. And Mike was told his hearing would be continued in two weeks. Spirits were low. People who had been following the case felt defeated. And so did Mike.

The evening of the continuance, I met up with journalist Megan Fox to hear how the rest of her day unfolded. Start recording if you're ready. Yep. All right. It was around 8.30 p.m. Megan and I sound exhausted because we were. The first question I have for you is, What was your reaction to what happened today?

It was awful. I couldn't process it until after I did some exit interviews with Omar and Clayton. I couldn't process it for a while. I'm not even sure I still have. I'm not even sure that I have. But there was a moment when Omar and Mike walked out of the courtroom, and I could see that they were both crying. That was hard.

Really hard. My heart just fell to the floor. And after I heard what happened, I went to Danielle, who was sobbing, and I hugged her, and she fell on my shoulders and sobbed. And that was awful, but there was something inside of me that was keeping me from having any emotion whatsoever. All I said to her was, we're not going anywhere. We're not leaving you. And we'll be here.

And she was just sobbing. And it was awful. We now know that after the alleged life-threatening circumstances that caused Laura to miss the hearing, she showed up at a horse competition that very same week, where she was show-jumping and winning ribbons. The online community banded together on live streams. They launched a fundraiser to help Mike with the expenses of having to come back to court again in two weeks. It was insane.

Like I said, I didn't intend for it to be a fundraising stream. I just wanted to tell them what happened. I wanted to have a better stream than yesterday because the Wi-Fi went down, the power went out. It was a nightmare. My computer died. It was just a shit show. And I wanted to have a smooth stream and just tell them what happened and prepare them. for a fact that there would be a fundraising stream.

Because I'd already called Dave, I'm like, we've got to do this. I didn't think we would raise any money today. I mean, I was going to direct them to the fundraiser, and I'd tell them, if you have it, give it, he's going to need it. They started donating to the GoFundMe so fast and furious that in the first hour of the stream, it was like $4,000 was raised.

in an hour. And that's when it started to hit me that, oh, my God, we thought we weren't going to be able to raise $3,500 for the court reporter. We just passed $4,000 in one hour. The community is just going nuts. And it kept going. By the time I was done with two hours of streaming, they were at $10,000, $10,000 more dollars.

Why do you think that that, what happened to do? sparked that with everyone. Nobody's giving up here. This is not what she thinks it is. She didn't stop anybody. Two weeks later, I went back to San Francisco for the continued hearing. Like I said in episode 11, it felt like deja vu. The continuance threw a wrench into things for everyone, most of all for Mike and his wife

Danielle, but also for the court system. Space is limited, and that time could have gone to someone who would have actually actually shown up. Even Mike's attorney, Omar Serato, had a family vacation planned that had to be rescheduled due to the continuance. Here's Omar. So I had a vacation planned. And so I come home and I tell my wife that, yeah, it got continued. And hey, so bad news. Bad news. And then she's like, what? What? And you could imagine how that conversation went. She was very supportive. She was angry. She was really sad. She has some choice words for Laura. But she understood the mission.

And she's like, if I'm going to miss my vacation, you better just fucking finish this. It costs us $3,300 for the cancellation fee or whatever. It's like, well, just gone to the wind, huh? I guess. And I just prompt, look, look, we will go on a better vacation. I promise. Somehow we're going to make this right. We're going to make it.

I will make it up to you. This example might sound small, but it just proves the ripple effect of Laura's actions. On my second reporting trip to San Francisco, the energy was markedly different. I was in the courtroom with everyone when the domestic violence restraining order against Mike was dismissed. I left the courthouse that day with Mike's attorneys Omar Serato and Rachel Juarez. We called a Waymo, one of those self-driving cars. It's my first Waymo. It's like a celebration waymo. You can hear the energy and relief in Rachel's voice.

We all piled in and debrief. briefed the DVRO dismissal. Tell me how it was. It went as well as it possibly could have gone. It was literally best case scenario. Yes, in every respect. Oh, I should start the right. Yeah, the fact that we didn't have to say anything was exactly what we were hoping for.

And my fear was, and I was starting to get nervous, like, hey, it's like almost 9.30. We're still not in the courtroom. And I was telling Rachel, hey, they might be having like another in-camera thing. I'm having flashbacks. I'm telling Mike, don't get your hopes up. Be prepared for everything because when they called us in

and let everybody in and they basically started just conducting it as if they're going to start a trial, I started to feel better about it. And then they make note of the time, it is 9.30. We're scheduled for 9 o'clock.

I don't see Laura Owens here in the lobby or even here on Zoom. Therefore, I'm going to dismiss the case. But before that, she cracked a joke with the court reporter. Oh, I guess this is going to be a quick matter. She did, yes. That was when I felt much better.

I took a sigh of relief. Yeah, and this really was as gratifying as it would have been to, you know, present her with all the evidence that Laura was at a horse show and she's done all these other things to other courts before like this. Any additional evidence that got presented just creates more possibility for chaos, which is, I think, what Laura thrives on. So the fact that the judge kept it so simple, She was ordered to be here.

She did not appear. I told her the consequences. It's dismissed. It's really the best result, I think, in terms of trying to minimize the work and chaos going forward. What are her options after this? Appeal. She can appeal. I don't think she has a good appeal, but she can appeal.

She can also, she can seek another restraining order. She has lots of options to make sure this doesn't end. Do you think she will continue on with that knowing that there's the criminal case going on in Arizona? Yes. Because if that was a deterrent, she was. There was no hesitation. Yeah, we could not, yes. She would have never brought this if that was going to be a deterrent.

Yeah. The only thing Laura seems to have any fear of is testifying in person. Yeah. And being subject to cross-examination, which is not smart because in many ways, submitting a written declaration is more potential. potentially dangerous than having in-person testimony. But she does not seem to be fully aware of, I guess, the consequences of submitting a written declaration that's a lie. What grounds would she even have to file a new one?

Well, that, I have no, JFC. Yeah, yeah. She would say that Mike is behind the JFC account. She would say that Mike walked by her house, but she can't prove it. Or she could just say she wants one for all the stuff that's already happened. I mean, she won't win that way, but she can say whatever she wants. Right. Yeah, and so I really think she'll go the appellate route, frankly.

And then only if that, I think she wants to maximize how long this goes, how involved she can be. So I think she'll pursue the appellate route. and then after that doesn't work, I think we'll see another restraining order saying like Mike's stalking me. I think that's what's going to happen. If that happens, good luck. I can't seem even granting it temporary. Not if she falls in this county.

Yeah, I mean, it would have to be in Arizona, but they know about her up there too. That's true. Anything else that you guys want to say about today, how you're feeling? Did anybody else think it was crazy that it was raining all morning, and then the moment we walked out of the courtroom, there was sun? Yes. Yeah.

We saw the son come out. That's exactly how a film. Yeah. No, I think it's really, seeing Mike and his family there, it really reminds you that this has been his life. It's been so debilitating in so many ways over the last however many years for him. Seeing him so relieved and seeing his family so relieved,

I think was worth everything that's been put into it because he didn't deserve this. The other thing is, like, we've experienced it, like two weeks ago when we were back here. and we thought that we had a mutual dismissal. Oh, yeah. That whole thing. And they were celebrating and Mike is in tears.

And everybody was in tears. And then I'm sitting there. My phone was buzzing in my pocket. I'm like, what is this? Oh, Laura is asking for remote links or whatever. But she said she was going to be there to whatever. And then I got another one saying she asked for a link for David Jengress. That's right.

And I'm like, what is going on? And then I email Laura, hey, I thought we had an agreement. Is that still the case? And then she says, No, we don't have an agreement. Just like that. I'm like, just the devastation in that moment. Mike wasn't devastated in that moment.

He wasn't. I was pissed. Yeah. I was genuinely pissed. We were up until like 2 a.m. that night. I went back to working on my cross. People were putting together the trial notebooks. You know, people were documenting stuff.

That whole night was just this weird blur. You can only imagine how it feels for Mike. This is not nothing to him. You know, this has been his life. And the emotional roller coaster for us, just because we're invested legally and also because Mike has become a friend, you know, who we care about. The emotional rollercoaster for us and you and the people that have been following this is so much that even two weeks, the last minute back and forth, it's not like a regular trial where you're still kind of like, oh my gosh, I was ready, now I'm not. That's a lot of adrenaline. This is like devastation and then elation and then, you know, it's circling through those emotions so quickly.

it takes a toll on it. That's 100% the truth. Like, you have trials and they get continued and you know, whatever, I guess we'll do it in a month. Yeah.

But there's never like an audience or like this ground swell of support for somebody. That just adds in a variable that I did not account for because just seeing the devastation I could handle it, I was pissed.

Right. But then seeing everybody else being pissed, it just further sinks you into this place. It's like when you ask me, what do you feel? I feel nothing. Yeah. I was not going to acknowledge

any negative. I can't get to. low, it's, look, we'll be back in two weeks. That was the only thing to say. So, time to celebrate now? Yes. Yes. Let's go celebrate. Now I feel all of the things. Right. Yep. Let's go celebrate and we're going to toast to Judge Gold, I think. Yes. Tost to Judge Gold. Thank you so much for listening. Stay tuned for new episodes and bonus content on the love trapped feed. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence.

Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free I-Heart Radio app. Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda-Kotpy is presented by CVS. There was no anything inside those eyes.

They turned black. It scared the hell out of it. me. Evil, wake up. I'm the one that saw the murder take place by Crevec and DePippo. Anthony DePippo

showed no signs of remorse appearing unfazed after being sentenced to the maximum. I said, I'm not guilty. I'll take it to the grave. Listen to the devil's quarry in the Bone Valley feed on the IHeart Radio app.

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, listen up. The Jonas Brothers here. Our podcast is called Hey, Jonas. We've here, since everyone has a podcast, we want it to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far.

And now our good friend, Niallhorn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It's the same thing with Slow Hands. Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it? You know, or taste so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe.

Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey, Jonas, on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Can superstars even exist the way they used to? 2016 was sort of that last era of monoculture where we still consumed things in community. Everybody wanted to be Beyonce at that point. I don't think we'll ever see another beyond. What does it mean to be black and eat in America? You will never make me feel bad for being a black girl,

for being a black American girl, ever. From music to food to the conversations shaping black culture right now, therapy for black girls is bringing it all to the mic. Listen to therapy for black girls on the IHeart Radio ad. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.