Love Trapped - Worlds Collide | EP 9

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Mike Marraccini discovers he’s not alone. Laura Owens’ alleged misconduct has gone viral, because of a former Bachelor contestant named Clayton Echard. In this episode, Mike, Greg, and Clayton team up with the internet detectives to try to prove the truth.   For exclusive content, follow us on Instagram @glasspodcasts. If you would like to reach out to the Loved Trapped team, email us at [e-mail]. See 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 ones. 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 Maranini. 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. Hey, it's Nora Jones, and my podcast playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point.

Yeah, I was definitely the phantom in that. That's so funny. Share each day with me each night, each morning. Listen to Nora Jones is playing along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When Mike Maruccini ended his year and a half long entanglement with Laura Owens, he wanted to be done with her. I deleted everything on my phone. I didn't want to read her name. I didn't want to see her face.

I just wanted to forget about that chapter in my life because it was a really hard time for me. But years later, Mike would find out that his experience with Laura was the beginning of a pattern, one that thousands of people online had become obsessed with. Maybe most invested of all was Dave Neal. It was almost like Laura had this dam

that she was holding up with her own hands. The leaks were coming out and she was very much like a cartoon, just doing her bed, duct-taping this thing shut, and then this laptop came out of nowhere. Mike Maruccini's laptop. It had been gathering dust in storage for almost five years. When I think of Mike's laptop, I just think of it like sitting alone in a giant room in a museum with just a spotlight sitting on it.

Mike had no idea that all the information he'd deleted could be recovered and that the memories he'd tried so hard to forget would soon become critical. evidence. They found thousands of pages of documents, but more telling was just to show how damaging Laura was to Mike. They unearthed things he had forgotten actually happened. I'm Stephanie Young, and this is love trapped. In the last episode, you heard about Laura's year-and-a-half-long relationship with Mike Maricini. Laura planned a trip to Iceland. According to Mike, it was part of the radio show he'd been developing with Laura. The trip was paid for. It was lined up with like things to do the entire

time we were in Iceland. So from start to finish, there was an event every single day of something to do to report back on at the end of the trip for the podcast. Today, he wonders who actually footed the bill for their trip to Iceland. After recording multiple episodes of the radio show with Laura, he asked her when he could expect to see compensation. I brought up that we were just working for free, and I had spent like 50 plus hours on these podcasts, being part of the edits, being part of the research, and that I wasn't going to do any more work for free. After he set this boundary, he says Laura sent him some money directly. I was paid one time, and I think it was like $1,600 from Laura. I never got paid through a station.

The radio contract Mike had been waiting for never came to fruition. After that, he walked away. But looking back, almost 10 years later, he wishes he'd never gotten on that plane to Iceland. From what he remembers, the flight there was miserable. We're like maybe two hours in the flight and she's hysterically crying. Hysterically crying. This is probably like at midnight, people around us are all turning around looking at us. and she's like lifting off my headphones and saying, please talk to me.

Laura has a very different version of what happened on their Iceland trip. She told her story five years later in a now infamous TEDx talk. He said that he didn't want to end our relationship, but I couldn't understand why he didn't want to when he treated me like he hated me. He said that I brought it out of him, that it was my fault, that he'd never been violent before he met me, that I was responsible for his transformation from the, All-American boy to American Psycho.

Anyone can start a TEDx chapter. The one Laura applied to speak at was something called Ted X. Mercer Island, HS Women. H.S. seems to stand for high school. The chapter Laura spoke at was organized by three high school sophomores, based in Seattle. On their website, the organizers say their goal was to empower women in the Seattle area. We don't know how Laura found. this specific group or how she became a speaker there, especially because Laura doesn't appear to have any ties to Seattle. But once her TEDx talk was published, Laura seemed to think she was making

a name for herself. She included the link to her TEDx talk in her email signature. She also sent the link to Greg Woodnick, the lawyer who was representing Greg Gillespie at the time. This was her proof of her status as a public figure. Here's Woodnick. Not only was there a link to her TED talk, which she was telling us about. But further down, there was this curious Italian last name in one of the links also attached to the name Laura Owens. That curious Italian last name was Maruccini. Woodnick's team tracked Mike down and found him listed on a court docket for a restraining order case Laura had filed against him. Shortly after, Woodnick got in touch with Mike. But Mike didn't want anything to do with Laura Owens.

Here's what he remembers from that first phone call with Woodnick. He was like, by the way, she's got a TED talk about you. Did you know that? And I said, about me? Just she's like, say my name in it. And it's like, I think you should watch it. So, Mike went on YouTube and typed in Laura Owen's TED talk. That was the only time I had watched like the first 30 seconds of it.

To this day, Mike can't bring himself to watch the whole thing. It's absolutely crazy to watch. knowing it's about me. Yeah, it's crazy. Say the least. Even though Laura doesn't name him, Mike says he immediately recognized Laura's story is about him. When I watched, I was in such shock

because I know that she's referencing me the entire time and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put that together. All the views of those people that probably believed her and were against me for the longest period of time, it's a lot to take in. I had to turn it off, though, because it just, I mean, it was all such a complete lies, and I just couldn't take any more of it.

In the TEDx talk, Laura presents a selfie she's taken in a hospital bed. Her face looks bruised. She claims this photo is proof of the physical abuse she'd experienced with Mike, in the months after their Iceland trip. Here's where I was when I actually posted it. In the hospital, after my abuser and I had a particularly rough night. But here's the thing. Mike had seen this photo before, or at least one that looked very similar.

And when I say very similar, I mean, it looks like the exact same photo. Laura sent it to him four months before their trip to Iceland. And with the photo, she texted him saying she was at the hospital in preparation for an abortion she had scheduled the following day. This is what she sent him with her text read by a voice actor. I'm at the ER. My doctor wants them to get my fluids up so we can try to do the procedure tomorrow. Can you be back tonight at my place for sure?

Looking bomb A.F. on narcotics. Even though Mike hadn't seen the TEDx talk, he was painfully aware of the allegations Laura made against him. That's because, on June 9th, 2018, Laura filed a temporary restraining order against Mike Maruccini. She had these two bulldole attorneys that were elite attorneys, like extremely good. And these two people took it personal with me.

They thought that I was beating the crap out of Laura. According to her court records, it looks like Laura used a San Francisco-based legal clinic that specializes in free legal services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. I'm not naming this clinic because I don't think they did. anything wrong. Clinics like this exist for a reason. It's their job to believe their clients, even if they don't have any proof of the abuse. These kind of free legal services for survivors, they can save lives. And importantly, we know that falsified allegations of sexual abuse

only account for about 5% of all claims. In June 2018, Mike had to give his sworn deposition to Laura's attorneys. At the time, he just started dating someone new, Danielle. I'm Danielle Maricini, and I am Mike Maricini's wife. From the very start of their relationship, Mike was open about what he was going through with Laura Owens. I feel like most of it was told, at least the first month. I knew that she had accused him of domestic violence, and I did drive him to his deposition. On the way to the deposition, Danielle remembers how nervous Mike was. He was incredibly anxious.

They'd only been dating for a few months. When Mike got back in the car, he was just defeated. The deposition was much more intense than he'd expected. Mike thought he was just going there to tell the truth. I do remember him just saying how they can find lies, even though he's not actually. lying to frame him as this, like, violent guy. For example, Laura's attorneys asked him if he liked guns. He was confused and said no.

Then they brought up an old social media photo where Mike is holding a rifle. He says the picture was taken while he and friends had been shooting clay pigeons at a firing range. But Laura's attorneys used it to paint a picture of Mike as a violent guy who wasn't being honest about his relationship to guns. It was post the deposition where my attorney is like, if you go to court, there's a high likelihood that they're going to press for a five-year restraining order or a permanent restraining order if they find valid evidence. Now, there was no valid evidence at the time, but she was throwing everything at the wall. I feel like I'm fighting a ghost. I don't have evidence to support that I didn't beat her up. I don't know how I fight this.

Danielle took it all in. I definitely felt hesitant at first. I think as most women would. But ultimately, it just was this feeling that didn't track. Like the things that she was accusing him of from the very short amount of time that I had known him just didn't make sense. And I thought, if this man did these egregious things, why would he be telling me about them? She decided to proceed with caution. But her friends were alarmed.

My friends did have the obligatory, hey Danielle, those are really scary accusations. Once a domestic violence perpetrator, always a domestic violence perpetrator. And rightfully so, did my friends warn me about that. But Danielle saw Mike as gentle, the kind of guy who repeatedly went out of his way to be there for her. Early on in their relationship... My dad passed away a little less than two months of knowing each other. Mike just said, I'm coming. Mike made a five-hour journey to be by her side.

And he was there a few months later when Danielle received terrible news about her mom. She passed away like two months after my dad. I just remember crumpling to the floor and Mike was there. It just told me everything. that I had needed to know about him very early on. This is why she believed Mike, when he told her Laura's allegations were false. I'm so thankful that she gave me a chance

and she stuck by me because we're now married with two little ones. Danielle's been there with Mike through his entire legal battle with Laura Owens. After the deposition, Mike learned what he was up against, a domestic violence restraining order. I thought it was essentially like a civil restraining order, but since we were in our relationship, it was considered domestic violence. That was not really explained to me clearly when it was happening. The DVRO, Laura's attorneys proposed, would expire or renew after two years.

And there was a mutual stipulation. Neither of them could come within 300 feet of the other. That was appealing to Mike, because he had no desire to see her or speak with her anyways. So he signed it, not fully understanding what he'd just done. He sent it to his attorney and wrote in the email, quote, this was so difficult for me to sign knowing I never laid a hand on this woman. And this will be on my record for life. When I agreed to the two-year restraining order, my attorney's like, let's just hope that she moves on with her life. Let's hope she finds love. I was like, amen, sister. So that's what I thought I was signing up for. Like a two-year, it goes,

away. In retrospect, Mike wishes he fought the DVRO harder. But at the time, he believed his lawyer when she said this would be resolved in two years. After signing the DVRO, Mike and his wife Danielle tried to move on with their lives. But that document would impact them in ways they didn't expect. I noticed that when I would go through the process of getting a new job, I would make it to the final. and they were like, hey, here's your verbal offer pending background check. The first time I was like, oh, wow, whatever, nothing's going to show up. And then I didn't get the job. I didn't realize until I pulled a background check on myself,

that it shows up that I have a domestic violence restraining order and it's active. I would say that was the biggest piece of how it really affected my relationship is being able to support and provide for my family because we ended up getting pregnant, real pregnancy. in 2020. The DVRO had turned into an albatross, hanging over both of them. Then, in July of 2020, Danielle heard a knock at the front door. I was probably four or five months pregnant when the attorney came to our door.

And she was like, is Michael Maruccini here? And I was like, who are you? I'm not telling you yes or no. Why are you here at my house? Mike came to the door and stepped outside with the attorney. It turns out the two years were up. And he comes back in and he was just like, she's renewing. And I was like, no.

So it really blindsided us. I just remember erupting into tears. By September of 2020, Mike was back in court with Laura Owens. Mike went in person and Laura Jones. joined on the phone. I had seen her once in years. I moved away. And I thought, I was this even possible?

How could somebody renew when you got him violated it? Laura said she had proof that Mike violated the DVRO. She produced a screenshot of one of Mike's Instagram stories. He says his account was private, and he had Laura blocked. But somehow, she had a picture he'd posted of a smoothie he ordered at Barry's boot camp. Laura said that Berries is less than 300 feet from her apartment. But Mike had a rebuttal. Berries is a franchise.

He wasn't at the one next to her apartment. I said, this is inaccurate. I was 30 miles away. I was in a completely different city. This is my gym log with my smoothie order. In the end, it didn't matter if Mike had actually violated the DVRO or not. Because Laura was telling the judge, she had reasonable apprehension of future abuse.

In her renewal, Laura said without a restraining order, I would never feel safe again. With that, the court renewed the domestic violence restraining order. This time, it would stay in place for the next five years. I sat there and I said to the judge at the very end, I was like, please make this a civil restraining order because this affects my livelihood of getting jobs. my wife is pregnant, I'm expecting a child here soon.

I would really appreciate this could be moved to like a civil restraining order. And they essentially told me, no, she's still fierce for her life. Danielle was devastated. This renewal came with shocking realizations. We realized that she was never going to let him out of her grip and that the justice system will most likely never side with him. Later on in this series, I travel to San Francisco

because at the end of 2025, Mike's DVRO was set to expire or renew once again. But before that happened, Mike was in for a surprise. He was about to discover the nightmare he'd lived through with Laura Owens was part of a viral story. And thousands of people online wanted to hear from him At some point, I saw M.M. And I was like, are they talking about me?

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man.

A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone, I'm Ago Wadam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, 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.

In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test once. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected.

They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Gregalespian and Michael Marincini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news. that Ameriopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversational. with some of my favorite musicians.

Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Lave, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolf, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Cara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more.

Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Share each day with me. So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to Playing Along on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Up to this point, we've been telling the story of each individual case, Clayton Eckerd,

Greg Gillespie, and Mike Maricini. But in the spring of 2024, in the lead-up to Clayton's trial, their worlds collided. The three of them teamed up with the internet detectives like Dave Neal and Schnitzel Ninja. So we're going to pick up where we left off and tell the story of how they all came together to support each other and try to get justice. In 2022, Greg Gillespie heard about Mike Maruccini's experience. Greg sent him a friend request. Here's Mike. When I'm sitting there like, I do not want this back on my radar.

That's the last thing I want. You tried a friend requests me. And I had just gone through deleting everybody because Laura was watching me on social media. So I had, I think probably like a thousand plus people on just purgatory of my social media. And I never accepted his friend request. Greg's friend request went unanswered for over a year until December 2023. I was doing New Year's resolutions with my wife. wife who was sitting on the couch, and she was asking me, if there's something you could change over the last year, what would you have done differently?

The answer came to Mike immediately. I should have reached out and I should have accepted Greg Gillespie's friend request, just knowing that I've gone through the same experience and just been somebody to talk with. I told her that was by far my biggest regret. And why don't you change that? Here's Mike's wife, Danielle. And so he pulled it up and he accepted it. So we sit on the couch for probably the next 30 minutes, crafting this message together. For years, Mike thought he'd been the only one.

Now, he was writing to someone who'd been through the same ringer with Laura. So I sent him a message apologizing. Like, hey, I'm so sorry for what you've gone through. I know what it's like to deal with this person and they're consistent chaos. I'm just really, really sorry that I wasn't there for you. And he responded very quickly and said, like, hey, Mike, I really appreciate it.

If you ever want to set up a call to chat sometime, more than happy to. Mike thought they were a club of two. That's when Greg broke the news. He goes, you haven't heard. Dot, dot, dot. There was another guy. Same trap, same tactics.

And I was like, wait, there's another guy? And our eyes just popped out of our heads. And then he sends like an article. And Mike and I were like, what the fuck? It turns out the other guy was kind of famous. I was like, who's Clayton? I don't know who Clayton is. Mike had never watched The Bachelor.

So, he typed Clayton's name into Google. It pops up immediately. And it's like Reddit articles. There was an entire subreddit about Clayton and Laura. He started reading. At some point, I saw M.M. And I was like, are they talking about me? That night, Mike and Danielle already had a date planned.

Mike's mom was babysitting. so Mike and Danielle sat at a sushi restaurant and started scrolling. They had a lot of catching up to do. It was overwhelming to see the same pattern playing out a third time. And because of Clayton's fame, every small detail was public. And my wife breaks down at the restaurant, starts crying, because she had doubted me at times when she had thought to herself, like, though I don't believe that you ever hit her or did things like that,

But like, I'm sorry for ever even doubting you. We were at the bar. I'm sure the sushi chefs were like, what is going on with these two? They haven't talked all night. We're both on their phone and now they're crying. Mike thought his relationship with Laura was a traumatic one-off event. But now, court documents from his case were being shared online, analyzed by YouTubers and content creators.

Thousands of strangers had become incredibly invested in trying to prove Laura's lies. like the woman who goes by the username Schnitzel Ninja. I found out about Mike Maricini early on in the coverage of the case and his court documents had been obtained from the San Francisco courthouse. And I went through those. And the story just did not make sense to me. If Mike went through something similar to what Clayton was going through, he could be the key to finally exposing Laura's pattern.

To find out there was this other person who actually, dated her for a year and a half, my mind was blown. But first, someone needed to reach out and see if Mike would be willing to talk. So I sent him a fairly lengthy message just explaining who I was, why I was reaching out, that I was sorry he had been through what he had been through, and wondering if he was willing or interested in talking. And I wanted to give him more information about the case. If he hadn't heard yet, that was the other thing. Did he even know about Clayton? I didn't even know for sure at the time if he knew about Greg Gillespie.

I reached out to him to see if he wanted to have a conversation with me, not expecting that he would, but it turned out he did. She wanted to be transparent about who she was. So she messaged from her personal account instead of her anonymous username. I was thinking about the fact that Mike had been through this himself. He was a real person who had been through this experience. So I wanted to put that personal touch on my reaching out to him. So it wasn't just a random person behind a screen or behind a phone.

The next time I looked at my phone, I saw a message from him, and I couldn't believe it. They started messaging. Making contact with Mike was a turning point for Schnitzel Ninja. I started feeling more compelled to be involved. involved when I found out about Mike Maricini. It's my opinion that she was lying about everything she claimed he did to her. Schnitzel Ninja had seen the TEDx talk, and she didn't believe Laura's story. If this were someone I cared about, I would hope that if someone had the time or the resources,

whatever they had to give to help, I would hope that they would help. and I had time and I made time. So Mike was really the case that kind of drew me in further. Meanwhile, Mike was playing catch-up, reading everything he could find about Clayton and Laura's case. He couldn't believe it. And soon after he found out, Mike decided to DM Clayton. It's like, hey, I don't even know if you're going to see this.

You got a lot of followers. I'm going to probably go into the message abyss. but I just want to say how sorry I am that you're dealing with this individual. I've dealt with her. And I'm so sorry. If you ever want to talk, I'm more than happy to chat.

And within two minutes, he responds. And I remember it starts off. He goes, I know exactly where you are. And he wants to set up a phone call. So Mike and Clayton hopped on the phone. It was surreal at first to obviously find out that there's now another individual that went through this. But my story really paled in comparison to Mike because Mike actually dated Laura, which was mind-blowing when I found that

out. And to know that he had been going through this for six plus years, I mean, this is an ongoing battle he was facing. And the great thing, as I found out very quickly, was he had incredible support from his wife that was helping him through this troubling time. But ultimately, he wanted to reach out and let me know that I wasn't alone. And the beautiful thing was, is that his story was going to help me out so much. I did ask him a question of if he had saved anything from that time with Laura, whether he had any photos or text or anything of the matter. When Mike connected with him, Clayton was preparing for his family court trial with Laura, the same one you heard about in episode seven.

I told them, like, hey, I don't really have anything. Mike spent years trying to put enough space between himself and the chaos Laura created. I deleted every photo with this person. I want nothing to do with this individual. I deleted all of my text messages from my phone. I have nothing to be able to offer you guys. I can just be there as like support. In the lead up to Clayton's family court trial,

he and his lawyers were looking for verifiable evidence of Laura's pattern. So Clayton pushed Mike to take a second look. I'll never forget I was talking with Clayton, and he said, like, do you have like a laptop or anything? Like sometimes ICloud will store this information for you. So I go and I look at my storage unit and I'm like, oh, I still have this thing. It's completely dead. Mike didn't even have a charger for his old laptop.

His wife Danielle had to track one down on Facebook Marketplace. I have no idea if there's anything on it, so I'm just cracking this thing open for fun. Somehow, Dave Neal heard about Mike's laptop, and he heard it might have some messages from Laura Owens on it. Here's Dave Neal. When I think of Mike's laptop, I just think of it like sitting alone in a giant room in a museum with just a spotlight sitting on it. Dave got in touch with Mike. And he's like, listen, I'm afraid to open it. My iCloud might delete things.

I don't know what's in there. But he was like, I think I have text messages from Laura. And boy, he had no idea what was in that laptop. When they finally powered it on? It's got everything. Absolutely everything. Every message that has ever been sent to and from, every photo, every single item.

Immediately, Dave Neal jumped into help. First priority was making sure everything on that laptop was backed up. Second, if any of Mike's evidence was ever going to be used in court, it would need to be authenticated by a computer forensics expert, which would run about $3,500. Dave had been covering Laura's story for about a year. He knew how Laura operated when confronted with proof. He couldn't just present an email from her.

She'd say it was made up. Someone hacked in, dog ate my homework. She's made every claim to get out of everything. So we said we need to hire someone who's a professional that goes into court and tells other people this is real. You already know what Dave's about to do next. So we do a fundraiser. Before I hit publish on the live stream, before we went live, we already hit the $3,500 bucks. With the fund secured, Mike got in the car and drove about an hour.

away to meet the forensic expert. Here's Mike. I felt like I was holding like a newborn baby. I was like gripping it so tight. It's just like, please do not drop this. Do not get in a car accident. Because I had to drive it like an hour to this individual to authenticate it. When the report came back, the data was verified.

The text messages Mike had from Laura were genuine and unaltered. We got the report back. It was legitimately like 2,500. pages, and there's just absolutely no way she can deny that this exists. That was the first moment where I really just felt like people believed in me and wanted to see my innocence be shown and, like, the truth to come out, because I had been fighting her for so long. In helping Clayton's defense, Mike was finding validation he didn't know he needed.

He was grateful for the community who believed and supported him. I'll never forget that moment. It was really, really powerful for me. I'm so thankful for the community for what they did. So many of the discoveries you've heard about in the last few episodes were all coming together in the two months before Clayton's trial. Content creators Dave Neal and Megan Fox discovering the Fiverr logo on the ultrasound,

the altered HCG test, Chase J. Jones, and now Mike's laptop. All of the evidence seemingly, came out at the same time. It was almost like Laura had this, this dam that she was holding up with her own hands. The leaks were coming out and she was very much like a cartoon, just doing her about duct taping this thing shut. And then this laptop came out of nowhere. Dave was talking about the case almost every day on his podcast and YouTube channel. We always say sunlight's the greatest disinfectant. Everybody get all the information you have,

bring it to light. You might have something that looks stupid. Bring it up. Let the public see, there's 10,000 people watching this, someone's going to see something you don't see. That's exactly what happened. As the internet sleuths poured through documents, they found another man, a fourth man. All they had was a first name, Matt, but journalist Megan Fox tracked him down. I find people a lot. I can find people. Finding him was one of the toughest things that I've done as a journalist. It turns out, Matt and Laura met about two years before she met Mike Maricini. So I basically got on Instagram and I sent everybody connected to him a message asking him to contact me because of this story that was happening. He got back to Megan, or rather, had his lawyer get back to Megan.

Matt said he didn't want anything to do with Laura Owens. But in Laura's deposition with Greg Woodnick, she volunteered the information that there was a foreman. man. How many men have you told that you were pregnant by them? A total of four. Okay. I want to go through them. Mike Marrachini? Correct. How many times did you tell Mike Maraschini you were pregnant by him? Uh, twice. Greg Gillespie? Once. Clayton Eckerd? Once. Who's the fourth man? Um, his name was Matt. You recall what year this was? Uh, 2014, 2015. How did that pregnant? end? That ended with a miscarriage. How far long were you allegedly? I was maybe six weeks.

Was there ever a suggestion from Matt that the pregnancy was fabricated? Yes. Matt suggested your pregnancy was fabricated? Yes. Four men have alleged that you have claimed to be pregnant by them and that it was a lie. Correct? Correct. We've reached out to Matt for comment and didn't receive a reply. There's been a lot of online speculation about him. From what I've heard, Matt wants to stay far away from this story, which I completely understand. So out of respect for his choice, we're not going into any further details about him.

A week before Clayton's family court trial, the witness list was published. As you know, Greg Gillespie and Mike Mary, Guccini were on the list. Even though Mike was subpoenaed, he still worried about what Laura would do if he showed up. He hadn't seen Laura in over five years, but she still had an active domestic violence restraining order against him. Here's Mike's wife, Danielle. He goes, what if I get arrested, Daniel? When Mike and Danielle arrived at Clayton's trial, you'll remember Laura's attorney called 911 and tried to report that Mike was violating his restraining order. My nervous level went through the He's on the phone with 911, rattling off my details of what I'm wearing, my height, what

color my shirt is, what color my shoes are, so then I'm fully rattled. Clayton's lawyer Woodnick tried to reassure Mike and Danielle. I just remember Woodnick being like, we've got you. Don't worry. You have a subpoena. They cannot do anything. This is a courthouse. You have a right to be here.

Woodnick was right. Mike and Danielle took a seat in the back. His heart was racing. After everything he'd been through with Laura, the last place he wanted to be, was in the same room as her. I just really am scared of her, more than she's scared of me. Danielle held his hand as Laura entered the courtroom. To see the man who is my protector, not just of me, but of my daughters now, just crows. just crumble and fear to this person is such an infuriating feeling. And when she walked in, my husband was just a shaking mess. My wife probably scared at her the entire 30 minutes.

She was up there, but I never made eye contact and I never laughed during her ridiculous comments. Mike didn't know if they would have time to call him to the stand, because the trial was timed. But if they did, he was ready. I originally went to the Jew 10th hearing with full intention to testify. In the end, there wasn't time in the trial to hear Mike's testimony.

But when he and Danielle reflect on what happened at the trial, when I saw Laura get cross-examining get completely crushed, it made my mood much better because they just caught her in so many different lies. When she had the, balls to say that actually she had gone to a different Planned Parenthood that they didn't subpoena. That was probably one of the more memorable moments sitting in there.

Even though they didn't have time to call Mike in the trial, his presence there made a difference to Clayton. It was really great to have their supports in the courtroom. And for me also just to have a strong individual like Mike in my corner that validated everything that I'd been through and was also willing to fight alongside me, that's why it was so important for me to have him there. Mike and Danielle remember exactly where they were when they read the judge's ruling in Clayton's family court case. I felt like finally a piece of this empire that she had built had been dismantled.

I was like, this judge is not having it. Laura thought there was no repercussions. So that's why she thought she could just keep lying and getting away with it. And now she's paying the price. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. They said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone?

I'm Ego Ward. Next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you. which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected.

They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on Fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to a love-trapped podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation with some of my favorite musicians. Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Leveh, Mavis Staples,

Remy Wolf, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Cara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Share each day with me each night. Each morning

Say you love me So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to Playing Along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're going to pick up where we left off at the end of Clayton's family court trial. After the judge's stern ruling,

you might think that Laura would self-reflect. Instead, she responded with indignation. She began a campaign against the family court judge who'd ruled against her, Judge Mata. It all started with a medium blog post. The day after Judge Mata's ruling, Laura published this on her medium account. It's titled, When Judges Play Doctor, ignoring 99.9% medical certainty for 0.1% doubt. We're having a voice actor read an excerpt from it. On June 18th, the court ruled that a pregnant woman cannot be considered pregnant unless a judge

agrees she is. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently, in a twist of medical and judicial logic, it is now up to the courts, not doctors, to diagnose pregnancy. Despite medical evidence and a 99.9% certainty from an OBGYN who has delivered more than 22,000 babies that I was pregnant, Judge Mata chose to believe the 0.1% chance that my multiple positive pregnancy tests were due to something other than pregnancy. To add insult to injury, she has referred me to the Maricopa County Attorney for prosecution. Yes, you also read that correctly. Laura's blog post goes on to quote Judge Mata's ruling, citing passages and describing

why the judge got it wrong. When I found out I was pregnant, I was lost and I didn't know what to do. My depression worsened, making it nearly impossible to think clearly or make decisions. In the ruling, the judge wrote, The court finds failure to seek in-person care for a high-risk pregnancy to be both unreasonable and uncreditable. This cold assessment ignored the severe depression I was grappling with, which made every moment of my pregnancy an emotional battlefield. In all honesty, the medical care choices I made weren't what I would have chosen an ideal circumstances.

If this had been an expected pregnancy, I would have definitely sought proper care. But the circumstances were far from ideal. and the way Clayton treated me was terrible, leading to a restraining order being granted against him. The judge's opinion on what a reasonable person would have done doesn't take this into account, nor does it recognize the immense pressure I was under. Judge Mata then claimed that I have a pattern of similar,

if not identical behavior, and referred the case to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for Review. Really? This was the first and only paternity case I have filed, The legal issues involving two of my exes were entirely different. Yes, I was pregnant by both and had abortions, but the legal matters were unrelated to paternity. A few weeks after the ruling came down, Laura and her attorney filed to have Judge Motta removed from their case. They alleged that the judge was biased and prejudiced against Laura, and therefore unable to preside over the case.

I asked Clayton's lawyer Greg Woodnick about Laura's claim. Judge Mata issued a very thoughtful, very detailed, multi-page ruling. After that ruling came out, there was a filing by Ms. Owens suggesting there was some sort of impropriety on the court level by the court. And that motion ended up getting addressed not by the trial court judge, but by the head of the Maricopa County Superior Court Family Law Division. And that judge disagreed with the filing by Ms. Owens completely. That didn't stop Laura from taking it a step further. On November 11, 2024, she officially filed her appeal with the Arizona Court of Appeals. Briefs were filed by Laura.

We filed responsive briefs. I think they filed some sort of reply to that, which they would be allowed to do at the appellate level. And then the court of appeals ruled on it denying all of Laura's request for relief. The decision from the Arizona Court of Appeals stated, Owen's position on appeal is unreasonable. Laura wasn't happy with that, so she filed a motion for reconsideration asking the Court of Appeals again to reconsider their ruling, and again, they affirmed their denial.

So the Court of Appeals essentially rejected the argument twice. They also ordered attorney's fees. Laura had already been knocked down twice, but she was still at it. Keep in mind, this was after Laura had been referred to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. But Laura had a right, as does any litigant, to ask that the Court of Appeals decisions be reviewed by a higher court. So, that's what she did. Essentially, she asked the Arizona Supreme Court to consider it, and the Arizona Supreme Court declined to consider it and also ordered attorneys face. Multiple judges had now ruled against Laura.

Each time, her bill increased. She had an attorney's fees award in the trial court, the court of appeals, and ultimately the Arizona report. That total came out to around $196,000. And at the time I'm recording this, Laura hasn't paid that balance. I don't think she ever intended on paying it anyway. And the reason I say that is I think there was a video recording of her and her attorney where they announced on a, YouTube video that they produced that she had no intention of ever paying it. Here's the YouTube video when Nick is referencing.

You'll hear Laura's attorney first. By the way, you can tell me if I'm not allowed to say this, but people are asking, when are you going to pay Clayton? Are you going to pay Clayton? I hope that you never pay Clayton. People think he's going to put you in jail. We don't do that in America. If you have millions of dollars stashed away, he can go look for it. If you don't, he ain't getting nothing. You could file bankruptcy, or you you could just not. But either way, there's no legal requirement for you to post a bond.

All that means is he can go after you and collect. But if you don't have the money to be collected. I don't. Yeah, well, then guess what? You get blood from a stone or you don't. So we're not going to post a bond for anything. You're not going to jail for non-payment. That is not an option.

And Clayton can just F off and do whatever he's doing. I still wish the guy well-ish. I mean, I'd want him to get some therapy and figure out like, why am I such a dick? In the middle of the appeal process, Laura's attorney, David Jingris, started posting YouTube videos. Some of them feature Laura. You heard clips from these in episode two. I'm going to take a detour into these videos for a moment. Let's start with this one from January 2025.

I am David. You are... Laura. You are Laura. And we are the dynamic duo of disaster here to bring you a little bit of a post-holiday treat, shall we say. You won't be surprised to learn that these videos have since been taken off YouTube, but things posted on the internet have a way of sticking around. This specific one was posted on X. Okay, so we're reporting. Hello, everyone. It's douche canoe and pregnancy faker. Yeah. We have just, I think you're supposed to look at the camera. See, I'm not a professional. You are.

David Jingris joined Laura's case right before the trial with Clayton. According to Jingris, they didn't know each other before that. She reached out to him cold. Within less than a year, they began posting videos like these on David Jingris's YouTube channel. I feel like you and I are sort of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and Dave Neal's, Darth Vader, or, you know, other people are job of the hut. I'm not going to say who. In total, they posted about five videos together on YouTube. Jingris posted another 20 or so with just Tim on the mic. In this video from December 2024, he addresses why he's doing these in the first place. The YouTube comment section, it's a really mixed bag of people saying, why are you doing this?

Why are you, you know, throwing more fuel or oxygen on the fire? Are you really helping Laura's interests? Are you putting Laura's interest first? And, you know, people, I understand the criticism, but at the same time, you know, there is no playbook. It's a bizarre situation that we're in. I can't tell whose idea it was to make these videos. They were posted on Jingris' YouTube channel, but Laura's clearly an active participant. You obviously approve whatever I post, and I'm doing this for you. I think I'm doing it for you. Some of the things they say are downright surreal.

I was dating a guy from my high school, who was my friend in high school, and I dated him through pretty much the end of senior year. Is that somebody that we know about, or we can keep his... name out of this? I think he's known as victim zero, although we never slept together. Well, that doesn't stop you from getting pregnant, as we know. Oh, that's true. That's true. Bum-bum, rim shot.

You're absolutely right. In this one from December 13, 2024, Jingris is wearing a Santa suit, complete with a beard. Behind him is a bag of coal with a list of names on it. The first names on the list, Dave and Megan, Presumably content creators, Dave Neal, and Megan Fox. I mean, look, Laura, it's Christmas time. I've got a naughty list here of people that will be getting lumps of coal. I love your naughty list.

I know. I had to do it. The video is titled Bachelor Paternity Scandal. Laura confesses all to Santa. Did you ever see that movie Fatal Attraction, Glenn Close? That might have been before your time. I didn't. So, again, I'm a lot older than you. So that movie was actually, you know, I don't forget what you're,

came out in 1989, 90, something like around that time. So you were like zero. But that movie was kind of terrifying for a lot of people, you know, because Glenn Close plays this woman who's like obsessed with Michael Douglas and she stalks him. They have one hookup and then she completely stalks him and his family. He's married. And they, they, she winds up boiling the bunny, the guy, the family bunny, they, she boils it on the stove. Did you, did you know that? No. You ever heard that phrase bunny boiler? No. No. So it comes from that movie because Glenn Close is a obsessed with Michael Douglas, and he doesn't want to have a relationship with her because he's cheating on his wife, basically, is what happened. And Glenn Close doesn't take no for an answer.

So she keeps stalking him, breaking into his house or whatever, and she broke in and stole the family bunny and boiled it in a pot on the stove. I feel like people think that you're in that ballpark. Okay. So let's try to talk about why you're not. Here's another clip from the Santa video. We talked about the fact that filing a paternity case, if you knew that, you know, that you weren't pregnant would be the dumbest thing you could do. It wouldn't, it wouldn't work for one thing. And it would guarantee you that your lie would be exposed as quickly as possible.

And I've said before that it's like a drunk driver, a guy, you know that your shit phrase drunk. And you deliberately go to up to a cop and you say, hey, bro, can you test me? You wouldn't ever do, no person. I mean, I guess, I guess if you were mentally ill or so drunk that you forgot your name, that might make sense to you. I don't see that in you, Laura. I don't see you as being a crazy person. You're a little different. I'm a little different. Everyone's a little different. But you're smart enough, I think, to know that filing a paternity case when you know that you're not pregnant, when you know that you fake the whole thing, when you know that there is no sonogram,

when you know that there is no baby, you are literally inviting the court to test you, right? Right. You are exposing yourself to being exposed unnecessarily. The whole time, Laura is smiling and nodding along, like she and Jingris are in on the same joke. And for you to go straight to court, you're either, you're either pregnant or you're crazy. It's one or the other. If you're crazy, you know, at some point we're going to figure this out, I just, in eight months, I haven't seen it. And maybe I am, maybe I am blind. Most attorneys advise their clients to keep quiet.

In this case, Laura's attorney is actually doing most of the talking and putting it on the internet. I asked Clayton's attorney, Greg Woodnick, about these videos. It was bizarre, and colleagues would say to me, you know, what the fuck? And my response was, I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before. So if your question is, how common this is, the answer is never. I've never seen this before. I can tell you the chorus of communications I have received from attorneys in this community has been unanimous regarding how unique their presentation has been on social media. As you'll recall, after Judge Mata's ruling in the June 10th family court trial,

she referred Laura's case to the county attorney, a woman named Rachel Mitchell. In one of these videos, Laura and Jingris addressed the criminal investigation, and even joke about what might be on the horizon. You and I are on a journey together here. We're going to get there. We're going to get through hopefully Christmas, Laura, Yep, if Rachel Mitchell comes knocking, if the journey involves a stop through Rachel Mitchell territory, that's okay. You'll come out the other side.

Donald Trump has been indicted four times. He's going to the White House. You know, I mean, anyway, it's Christmas time, people. And I just think it's time to move on. You know, I hope that Rachel Mitchell doesn't give you shiny new bracelets as your Christmas present. On the next episode of Love Trapped, Laura was in for a rude awakening. She was about to find out how serious county attorney Rachel Mitchell was. In January 2025, Laura got a knock on her door.

Laura, Scottsdale Police. And it wasn't even 7 o'clock in the morning. I'm on the phone with my attorney. I'll put him on the phone right now. This is my attorney, David Jingris. My attorney, David Jingris. I don't know. You guys aren't.

It's not even seven. Do they have authority to surgery? before 7 o'clock in the morning. The police are there, Lord, to let the dudes where they're going to do. Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow Love Trapped on Apple Podcasts, the IHeart Radio app,

Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please leave us a review. A five-star rating helps others find this show. We're grateful for your support. If you would like to reach out to the Love Trapped team or have a similar story to share, email us at Lovetrapped Pod at gmail.com. That's Lovetrapped, P-O-D at gmail.com.

Love Trapped is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with IHeart Podcasts. This show was executive produced by Nancy Glass, Andrea Gunning, and Ben Federman. Written, produced, and hosted by me, Stephanie Young. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Producer on this episode is Sydney Glouin.

Additional production support from Todd Gans. Our production manager is Kristen Malkyrie. For IHeart Podcasts, Ali Perry was our executive producer. Audio editing and mastering by Anna McLean. Additional editing support by Tanner Robbins and Matt Delvecchio. Thank you to our voice actor, Leslie Talley. This podcast was developed in collaboration with Danny Passman and Leb Abramoff at Crybaby Media. The love-trapped theme is composed by Oliver.

Bairns. Music library provided by Mib Music. A special thanks to Carrie Lieberman, Will Pearson, Jessica Kreinschek, Ali Kanter, and the entire IHeart podcast team. And for more podcasts from IHeart, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, if you ever 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. Yeah. 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 podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused to fathering twins. But the pregnancy

appeared to be a 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, a lesbian, Michael Mancini. 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 Traffed podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Nora Jones, and my podcast playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny.

Share each day with me each night, each morning. Listen to Nora Jones is playing along on the IHHHRoll. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.