Rotten Mango - Dad Accused Of SA'ing Daughter Is ONLY Witness To Son's Sudden Death BUT Mom Gets Arrested Instead

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

A few months after beloved son, Grant Solomon, dies in a freak accident 3 more grave plots are bought next to his. One for his younger sister Gracie.Another for the siblings’ mother, Angie.And the ...last for the patriarch of the family, Aaron. All three whom are still, very much alive. In fact, Angie and Aaron, now divorced, are not only breathing but they’re basically just busy hating each other. Would they really want to lay next to each other for the rest of eternity? And what about Gracie, Grant’s younger sister who just entered her teenage years? She’s most likely going to grow up, start a family of her own and be laid to rest with them…right? The Freedom For Gracie instagram posts about the 3 grave plots that were purchased far too prematurely. Apparently, the culprit is none other than Aaron. The patriarch. The father. The estranged ex-husband, who by the way, isn’t new to accusations… Another glimpse at the Freedom For Gracie page provides some context: Did Aaron kill his own son Grant and is he trying to take down the rest of the family next? Police are at a loss, the public is at a loss, until five years later when the case flips on its head. Angie is the one sitting in prison facing charges of murder for hire. This is the case of the Solomon family.   Full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Batabing, baddaboo. People always say if your husband, or probably worse if your ex-husband, purchases life insurance for you, that's usually an indicator of something nefarious, a.k.a. he's probably going to try to kill you. I don't think that there is a single sign that is more blatant, more obvious than that. Well, according to Angie Solomon, there is. According to Angie, October 6th, 2020, so this is a few months after her beloved son, Grant Solomon's death. Aaron, her ex-husband, who is also the dad of Grant Solomon,
Starting point is 00:00:34 he goes to purchase three more grave plots right next to Grant Solomon. One for Gracie Solomon, their daughter, one for Angela Solomon, the mom, and a third for himself, Aaron Solomon. Why would Angie's ex-husband purchase three grave plots right next to their deceased 18-year-old son? First of all, Angie and Aaron, they hate each other. They've had a very contentious divorce. since 2013. They spent the past almost decade hating each other, and nothing indicates that any event took place, which made them reconcile. Would they really want to spend the afterlife together laying side by side for the rest of eternity, just letting the soil decompose them? And their daughter Gracie Solomon? I mean, at that point, she was 14 years old, 13 years old. Most likely she's
Starting point is 00:01:23 going to grow up, get married, start a family of her own, and want to be laid to rest with them as an old aging grandmother, right? Unless Aaron Solomon has other plans. The Freedom for Gracie Instagram posts about the grave plots that Aaron purchased. And it reads in short, Why? Why? He and Angie have been divorced for years.
Starting point is 00:01:42 All the while, he is slandering her to their community. Quote, and why in the world would a father think his daughter would need a grave plot at 13 years old? Wouldn't Gracie want to grow up, get married, and have our own future and family, and be buried next to her husband someday? He never talked about it with Angie. She could understand if he bought them for himself and shove that in her face to keep her from being buried next to her son. But for Aaron to put her and Gracie's name on, it sent chills up Angie's spine. Aaron has a motive with most everything he does.
Starting point is 00:02:11 Their friends and Angie's thought was, quote, murder, murder, self-exit. Maybe that's dramatic, but a life with Aaron is a life with fight or flight. Every fiber of their being believed Aaron had something to do with Grant's death. And now Angie and Gracie believe that they are next. What was Aaron Solomon's plan with the grave plots? Did he kill his own son, Grant Solomon? And is he trying to take down the rest of the family next? If that's the case, why is Angie Solomon the one in jail for trying to kill Aaron?
Starting point is 00:02:46 This is the case of the Solomon family. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the Georgia Mountain Food Bank, now more than ever with SNAP benefits being paused in the holidays coming up, their work to end hunger can be lifesaving. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team, and we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available about rotten mingle podcast.com. A few content disclaimers, there's allegations of DV childhood essay and incestuous abuse, so please be careful.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Today's case is very complicated. It's a situation where I do think everyone on the internet, they've got their own opinion about this case, and there's no way that you're going to change their mind. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what other pieces of evidence arise from the opposing side. Nothing matters. They're sticking to it. there have been a lot of accusations that have not been legally proven in court.
Starting point is 00:03:58 It's complicated because legally we want to protect our team and we want to protect ourselves from any sort of lawsuits, but you have to remember that just because something is not legally proven in court doesn't mean that it isn't true. It doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. But because of that, it just gets messier. There was also a defamation lawsuit against many of different parties. There were seasoned desist being sent out. So just for the purpose of that.
Starting point is 00:04:23 We're going to be pretty careful with our wording. We're going to do our absolute best just to compile and aggregate the allegations made online, the netizen opinions, and even conspiracy theories online, so that you can come to your own personal opinion about this case. Any alternate theories, opinions, accusations are put forth by either parties involved or by netizens I found online, their comments, and people that have made everything public. Like, everything is publicly available. These are not representative of our own opinions regarding this case.
Starting point is 00:04:53 And a small disclaimer here, if we show any sort of documents, if there's any annotations, highlights, question marks next to those, those have been done by whoever originally uploaded the document. So that was not done by the rotten mango team. Additionally, one other quick thing, there are lengthy, lengthy social media posts, lengthy podcasts, lengthy interviews, and an even lengthier defamation lawsuit that was filed in civil court. If there is a statement that I'm reading by, Again, these are all publicly available information, but some of them have been condensed for brevity without losing the original purpose of the exact statement. So with that being said, let's get into the recap. There's really no effective way to recap what happened in part one. So please go watch that video or those podcasts first, but I'm going to give you just a timeline refresher.
Starting point is 00:05:44 In 2013, Angie and Aaron Solomon go through an exhausting divorce. Angie accuses Aaron of trying to kill her. Aaron accuses Angie of spreading lies and trying to self-examine. it and then blame it on him and trying to defame him as well as brainwash the kids to turn them against him their own dad. Angie's own father testifies against her and that becomes a huge point of contention in the whole divorce proceedings. It is an exhaustive legal battle. Angie and Aaron continue to fight over custody after 2013 with Angie claiming and alleging along with their daughter Gracie Solomon that their father Aaron has been abusing Gracie ever since
Starting point is 00:06:21 she was a little girl, primarily essaying her during bath times. That is the primary allegation. There has been multiple open child services investigations against these allegations, and they have been closed without any significant findings. Does that mean that the abuse never happened? That's not what I'm saying. A lot of the time, CPS or D-Fax or D-CS will close investigations just because they're overworked, understaffed, or sometimes you just get a social worker who just doesn't care. And that's all you get. That's it. So it doesn't mean that these things didn't happen, but there are multiple open and shut investigations that have found, I guess, no damning evidence against Aaron Solomon. There are other big allegations placed upon Aaron Solomon, such as SA against Gracie, physical abuse against Angie, as well as potentially a human trafficking, sex trafficking ring that involves megachurch leaders, the governor of Tennessee, a senator of Tennessee, as well as Gracie being a victim of that ring.
Starting point is 00:07:21 herself. So this is all happening after the divorce. Then in 2020, a few weeks after Grant Solomon turns 18, he passes away. At this point, Gracie is 13, so Gracie is their only remaining child left. And now one version of the story of Grant's death is that now that he was 18, he wanted to get custody of Gracie and expose his dad for everything that he's done. The other version is that the truck rolled down the hill rolling him over before landing in the ditch and killing him. A year after that, 2021, Gracie, the 14-year-old remaining Solomon child, post a YouTube video exposing her dad, Aaron, and claiming that her dad has killed her older brother. Then in 2025, this year, Angie Solomon is arrested for trying to hire a hitman to take
Starting point is 00:08:06 down Aaron Solomon, her ex-husband, and it gets complicated because Aaron Solomon does have a potentially in the seven-figure range, at least a million-dollar trust fund that would go to Gracie. If he's dead. He's dead But we don't know the exact amount Yeah, we don't know the exact amount There's an incentive for both parties
Starting point is 00:08:25 To either play it up or play it down So even that's up for debate Angie Solomon likes to insinuate That there's millions of dollars on the table Aaron Solomon states that he only really received like a million dollars And most of it was already used I think the reason that it gets confusing
Starting point is 00:08:42 Is once his aunt passed away This is his aunt's inheritance She passes away He gets a trust fund and I think half of it was in land, land that he stated at least a few years ago that was not sold. So he's saying, I never sold the land. So I never realized any profits from the land. It's just there.
Starting point is 00:09:01 It's a sitting asset. I'm not liquid for that land. And then the other portion of it, he received in payments of $100,000 a month. So that makes it seem like he's receiving $100,000 a month every month for an undetermined amount of time. But it could have been two, three months. It could have been five months, right? It's up for debate. So with that recap, let's get started.
Starting point is 00:09:32 Divorces are the one thing where people consistently spend a lot of money to spend a lot more money. There is no rationality behind a divorce. It's, hello lawyer, I would like to pay you $150,000 so that I don't have to pay my partner $50,000. Or, hello, lawyer, I'm going to secretly try and commit tax fraud amongst other federal crimes just so I don't have to give money to my partner because being with my partner feels like I'm being in prison. Yes, I understand doing all of this could put me in real prison. That's completely besides the point.
Starting point is 00:10:05 That's not even what I'm talking to you about. One divorce attorney says, the craziest request I ever got was the client was asking me to get her half the shampoo bottles she left behind in the family home. She was kicked out of the house. I asked her under the sink, like where are the shampoo bottles? And she said, no, the shampoo bottles in the shower. There's two to three bottles in there. There's about half of half the bottles are full.
Starting point is 00:10:29 I want half of each remaining half. And she's trying to be petty about it, right? Yeah. Okay. So two to three bottles in the shower. They're half empty already. And then she wants half of each half. I ended up telling her that she paid me $50 just to read, receive, and respond to
Starting point is 00:10:47 this email and I will waive the $50 if she just takes that $50 to CVS and get some goddamn shampoo herself. Another says, doorknobs. It was a regular house. No sentimental. They were not special bronze doorknobs, brass doornobs. It was a regular builder grade home, regular doornobs. Yeah, they fought over it. I offered to buy them new doorknobs if they would just settle. It was bad. Obviously, some people say it's not about the shampoo. It's not about the doorknobs. It's about pure spite and winning. One post online reads, a divorce lawyer told the story of a rather well-to-do couple. They spent months and months and tens of thousands of dollars fighting over absolutely everything all the way down to a single
Starting point is 00:11:36 ceramic ashtray. I can't remember the significance of it, but I think it came from the family's husband's family side. I don't know, but even after everything that had been decided, They spent many more months, and I think they totally spent $100,000 fighting over a singular ashtray. Then after a court hearing, the wife finally won the ashtray. She promptly strode out to the white courthouse steps and smashed the ceramic ashtray, left the pieces all over for the husband on his way out to see all of it. That is crazy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:11 Wow. But it doesn't just stop there because it's not about an ashtray, right? another husband, he left his wife's prized coy fish on their doorstep of their house to die. She was so distraught, she couldn't come to court. He killed six of her fish. There's never a dull or a happy day in family court because everything has a deeper emotional reasoning. Obviously, it's not just about an ashtray. It's not just revenge.
Starting point is 00:12:34 It's not just about fish. It's about being an abusive animal killer. But you get it. Nobody really gets divorced over what they say they're getting divorced over. Like a bathtub. or Tim McGraw, the country singer. One Reddit post reads, I went to school with this girl.
Starting point is 00:12:50 She married this really rich guy in Ohio. Moves in with him in Ohio. They seem to be getting along. Six months later, out of the blue, she files for divorce. Up until that point, all I heard from her was how well it was going. Anyways, turns out, you know, our little buddy had a fetish for getting off on pee. He asked her to pee on him in the tub. At first she agreed to it because she thought it was like a one-time thing.
Starting point is 00:13:13 But he kept asking for it more and more, and she tried to decline it respectfully by saying, you know, the bathtub's too small. It's too cramped. So next day, she comes home to two dozen construction workers and heavy equipment tearing the bathroom walls in for a new bathtub. A week or so later, they finish up the bathroom with a brand new giant bathtub. She comes home to a sign left on the fridge with a note to drink up. She's got some watering to do. I don't know what she put down as the official reason for the divorce, but it's definitely. the bathtub. Some would argue. It's not the bathtub. It's what he wanted to do in the bathtub.
Starting point is 00:13:49 It's not for the bathtub. Just like how Angie Solomon and Aaron Solomon don't get divorced over Tim McGrath, the country singer. If the whole point is to make Angie look crazy in court, it is working. Whether it is true or not, it's up for debate. But Angie's dad testifies against her. But so does her long-time friend. She gives a declaration to the judge and she details a very specific situation that she's had with Angie. Do you know Tim McGrath? He's a country singer and he happens to be married to another huge country singer, Faith Hill. Is this divorce hearing or is this for what is this?
Starting point is 00:14:26 This is later, okay, so Angie is trying to appeal a lot of the judge's prior decisions of custody being placed 77% in Aaron. And Aaron is fighting it back and a lot of people are citing with Aaron, such as this alleged former friend of Angie who writes a declaration to the judge and it's like, I need to tell you about Angie. She's not who you think she is. So this is between 2013 and 2020 or 2025? Yes.
Starting point is 00:14:51 Oh, okay, okay. And then he also uses this declaration in a defamation lawsuit later in 2023. I see. The friends. Yes. Well, the friend said, you know, that Angie told her Tim McGraw was going to leave his wife Faith Hill to be with Angie.
Starting point is 00:15:09 Angie's friend writes a declaration and says, Angie claimed that Tim McGraw was singing to her at the concert, specifically, obviously, staring into her eyes and, quote, hitting on her. She was furious at Aaron because he didn't confront Tim McGrath about this. She also told me that Tim McGrath and Faith Hill were getting a divorce because he was so interested in her. Of course, the McGraths did not get a divorce, and I believe Angie made the whole thing up. Angie is potentially having a your name moment at a Tim McGraw concert. Maybe she was kidding. maybe this never happened, but in the court system, it's not looking good for Angie.
Starting point is 00:15:46 She's not getting a good look from this former friend's declaration, nor is it a good look that her dad more or less tells the judge that he would not be comfortable if Angie was inside of his house and he was falling asleep. He says he would not be comfortable if his daughter was there while he's asleep. I mean, nobody asked for that kind of example, but damn, he's giving them. He's telling the judge, I'm going to tell you about her condition because I love my daughter. However, she's a compulsive liar I cannot have a conversation with my daughter I never look forward to my daughter calling me
Starting point is 00:16:17 although I love to hear her voice and I love when she tells me about the actions of the kids I can never expect to have a conversation with her unless there's some untruth that's going to be told unless something is going to be stretched he tells the judge that Angie can never not tell a lie she has never been able to tell the truth
Starting point is 00:16:38 which again this is the same dad that she filed a order of protection against, so we don't know how accurate or how trustworthy his observations are. Meanwhile, most of Angie's doctors all state that she's perfectly capable of being a good and fit mother. They do not see her ever being a danger to her kids or living in a false reality. At least that's what's been reported thus far. Side note, even in 2021, a Nashville EMT comes forward and states that he responded to a call to the Solomon Family House years ago. He says he remembers when he got there, Nashville Police Department were already at the scene. They had gone into the house. So the EMTs were mainly
Starting point is 00:17:12 standby outside. He was familiar with Aaron Solomon. He had seen them around the neighborhood, probably on the news. He was always cordial. And it was the same energy that night. Aaron Solomon comes out very cordial, very polite with the EMTs. He's telling them perhaps even apologizing for his wife's actions, stating that
Starting point is 00:17:28 his wife is clearly mentally ill and causing all this trouble. What are they there for exactly? A domestic dispute. Oh. Now, Angie, Solomon, and the two children exit the house, and Aaron's demeanor quickly changes. According to this EMT, he became red in the face and his facial expression showed that he was very angry, very agitated, and it was very obvious that Aaron was filled with
Starting point is 00:17:49 rage. He stated that he recalled that Aaron made a few steps towards Angie, but was stopped by the Nashville Police Department. Furthermore, the EMT allegedly states that it was pretty clear to him and to all of his colleagues who the instigator of this incident was, and they're all thinking that it was Aaron. So Angie's friend and father is pointing finger at Angie, but this EMT and their colleagues are saying Aaron is the problem during those fights. But I mean, you know, a lot of people have been disputing the CMT's version of events because he only came forward a year after Grant Solomon's death.
Starting point is 00:18:23 And a lot of the coverage after and during Grant Solomon's passing in 2020 was very anti-Aren. So some people are wondering if, because this allegedly happened years ago, could he really have such a strong memory of this random couple? And is it accurate? And they're calling to the fact that a lot of eyewitness testimonies are never really accurate, not because people are trying to be deceitful. It's just humans are not that smart. We're not as smart as we think we are.
Starting point is 00:18:51 But others are arguing, no, like I've been an EMT, not me, but like others are arguing, I've been an EMT. And trust me, like, you remember certain people and they're just, like, singed into your brain. For whatever reason. I mean, sometimes it's not even like the biggest, craziest call that you get. Sometimes it's just like, I know that guy from church. and so this is going to be singed into my memory whether I like it or not. But more importantly, a lot of Angie's doctors are stating that she's perfectly well and healthy. So why doesn't the judge believe her?
Starting point is 00:19:21 According to Angie, a former court-appointed guardian for the kids say, it is my firm belief that Aaron used wealth and personal connections to win favorable decisions to the detriment of their daughter Gracie, Grant, and Angie Solomon, leaving them open to harassment, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse, and leading to the untimely death of Grant Solomon. Who is this core appointed? Yeah, okay. So this is like someone who would become the kid's guardian very temporarily while custody is getting resolved. And this particular one has remained anonymous.
Starting point is 00:19:56 But Angie has posted a letter showing that this was written to the judge. I don't know if it was written to the judge. I don't know if it was submitted. technically anyone could put letterhead and write whatever they want. I do think it's difficult because on one hand you can understand why someone is wanting to stay anonymous in a situation like this. But on the other hand, it definitely doesn't add credibility. The former GAL says that it's all because Aaron has money,
Starting point is 00:20:22 millions of dollars that he has inherited from his aunt after she passed away. Coupled with the right connections, Aaron Solomon can, some people believe in a ledge. That means he can just do anything he wants. I mean, just about. Angie believes that Aaron is part of the good old boys club at Grace Chapel and Franklin, Tennessee. This is a church. Boys Protecting Boys type of church.
Starting point is 00:20:45 Angie says all the most powerful people in the state attend this church, and they sit right next to Aaron Solomon, and it's all a boys club. Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee attends that same very church. Governor Lee was actually recently in the news for refusing to touch state reserves, a $2 billion rainy day fund for the United States. entire state of Tennessee. He refused to touch it to help cover low-income working parents who lost snap during the government shutdown. So there's that. A lot of the influential judges, including Judge Johnson, one of the judges that ruled in favor of primary custody going towards Aaron instead of
Starting point is 00:21:19 Angie, she goes to that church. Her husband, who happens to be Senator Jack Johnson, a senator from Tennessee, also goes to that church. Grace Chapel in Franklin, Tennessee is considered a mega church On a typical Sunday service, they have about 3,500 attendees at their service. And according to Angie, Aaron, the governor, the judge, the senator, they're all good buddies with the main founding pastor of the church, Steve Berger. Steve Berger is no longer a pastor at Grace Chapel. He was the founding pastor, but there was church drama because there's always church drama. I think religion is beautiful.
Starting point is 00:21:57 I think organized religion within fighting within the organization is very ugly. Steve Berger is also a little bit terrifying. He has now gone into politics, which is, you know, I think everyone can have their own opinion about what it means to be religious while also being involved in how the state is run. But Steve Berger has publicly stated that his goal is to disciple members of Congress so that what they learn is then translated into policy. No separation of church and state is his entire dream. Yeah. And it appears that there are connections with him and a. congressman who wants to get rid of the second term rule for presidents, meaning a president can only
Starting point is 00:22:37 serve two terms. So there's a lot of connections there, probably a lot of money, because it's a mega church, a lot of money, and they're actually sending out season desist. So I love a good season desist from a church. That's like one of my favorite types of season desist, because something about it, I'm like, I don't know, it just like riles me up. Maybe it's my religious trauma. But anyway. What does that have to do with Angie? Angie claims that allegedly Judge Johnson ruled in favor of Aaron. She, and this is a huge allegation, but this judge would have discussions about all of her cases with the church pastor, Steve Berger. This is what Angie is alleging. And Steve Berger is allegedly close with Aaron Solomon. So he would tell her, you know, God is with Aaron. So
Starting point is 00:23:24 maybe you should rule against Angie. That's kind of the allegation. at hand. I don't know if that's accurate. I don't know. I don't even know how the structure of a megachurch works if the founding pastor even hangs out with any of the congregation. It all feels like some bigger coordinated effort is what Angie is saying. And it is very strange. She states that people at the church never paid her any attention. Nobody cared about her. But then suddenly the night of Grant's memorial service members of the Grace Chapel Church, quote, inserted themselves into my house. and she's stating that they barged into her house and they're desperately trying to convince her
Starting point is 00:24:04 that Grant died from having abdominal injuries to his organs and that there was hemorrhaging in his stomach. She basically states more or less that they're trying to gaslight her into believing that Grant Solomon died naturally from this accident. With an Instagram post reading on the Freedom for Gracie Instagram, why did these people from Grace Chapel
Starting point is 00:24:21 keep trying so hard to gaslight Angie about what happened to her son? Why does Grace Chapel keep appearing at Angie's door or in her text messages the week of Grant's death and weeks after. They never wanted to help Grant, Gracie, or Angie in the years before. Why now? Why in this way? Because the good old boys club protect the good old boys club.
Starting point is 00:24:40 Some people argue, or it could just be a megachurch. And typically with megachurches, I used to go to church back in the day. And the one thing about megachurches and why people are kind of interested in going to them is there's not as much of a community built around it. So it's not everybody knows everybody's business. And so it could very well be that nobody. really talked to Angie until they found out someone from the congregation or someone from the church they had this tragic accident happen to their son. And so now they're actively reaching out
Starting point is 00:25:07 because that's maybe what God would want them to do. I don't know, right? I don't know. There is that argument out there floating around. But the theory of the good old boys club changes in the degree of severity. There's like a light medium dark version. The light version. Some people believe good old boys club, there really is no good old boys club. That insinuates there's some sort of conspiracy, there's some sort of organized effort, and there really isn't. It's just men protecting men, typically, from allegations of abuse. It's less of a coordinated effort to make sure Aaron is found not guilty, but more so internal, misogynistic biases.
Starting point is 00:25:45 Our good friend, Aaron, from the church? He could not do such a thing. Like, not our Aaron. We've been going to church with Aaron for years. We would have known if he was doing something like that. No, our judgment is perfectly great still. There's no way. Angie, however, I always knew she was a little cuckoo. I never really even talked to her. She barely comes to church. They believe it's just coming from people who are probably very powerful in the church, and a lot of them, in netizen opinion, are not good people? However, are they really going to help Aaron in particular? It's probably just this internal bias that they have. A lot of these netizens that believe in this theory think, Aaron's not even part of the elite. I mean, it's unclear how much Aaron Solomon is worth.
Starting point is 00:26:32 According to a few transcripts, probably $1 to $2 million, which is a substantial amount, but it's not I'm going to D.C. and swaying congressman amount. It's not lobbying and taking a private jet to the tech industry to lobby something. You know, it's just, it's okay to these people. So would they really protect him? No, it's probably just a matter of,
Starting point is 00:26:56 oh, I know that guy from church. No, he's a nice guy. And Angie, she seems a little crazy. And, like, where's the evidence? I don't see any evidence. So we're going to rule in favor of him. The next level up, like the medium conspiracy, is that Aaron knows something about these very powerful people
Starting point is 00:27:12 and they are working together to make sure that he's happy so he doesn't tell anyone what he knows. Why would Aaron know anything? Will he goes to the church? Maybe he's got eyes and ears. Maybe he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Or he previously worked. as a news anchor. Perhaps he came across information on Tennessee's finest and greatest people
Starting point is 00:27:31 that would make it harder for them to get reelected, make it harder for them to make a bigger step into Washington. Now, a few things about this particular theory I will note is Aaron Solomon was not a big name in the news world. You know, he was mainly a sports anchor, not a super well-known one at that. He was not on ESPN covering the Super Bowl. He was just a local sports anchor and then a local morning news host for the local TV. It's very rare that these anchors are privy to such sensitive information
Starting point is 00:28:02 about the elite, especially when you're not at the top. I would think the nation's handful of top anchors maybe know a little too much and that might be it. I mean, these are incredible positions, incredible opportunities. I'm not discounting anything about his career trajectory,
Starting point is 00:28:18 but I'm just saying I don't think that that would naturally put him in a position to gain any blackmail material or any sort of high-level information on these people. However, he could have just been at the right place, at the right time, whether it be at work or whether it be at the church. Then we have the dark theory, the most intense theory, the severity of the allegations of this one being incredibly high if true. At one point, Angie claims that these guys all run a sex trafficking ring in Tennessee, that they're all involved, stating that Aaron trafficked his own
Starting point is 00:28:52 daughter Gracie to these people. On the Freedom for Gracie website, on the Angie's About Me page, it reads, over the next decade, Angie would go on to battle not only her ex-husband, but a corrupt court system, a cult-like private school, and a church with connections to the highest offices in the country. I don't know if any of these allegations are true. And also, two things could be true and three things could be true at once. So I don't know how connected all of these different facts are, but here's where it does get weird. According to Grant's girlfriend at the time, Hannah, and a lot of his other friends, Grant had set up a meeting with the founding pastor Steve Berger, the main pastor, to talk about how his dad Aaron had been abusive
Starting point is 00:29:35 towards him. Really? Yes. This is pretty confirmed by like their parties. Yeah. I understand some people's skepticism against Angie. I understand some people's skepticism, not against Gracey because I think that ultimately, whichever way you spin it, whichever way if Aaron is bad, or if Angie is bad, or both of them are bad, ultimately, Grant and Gracie are the victims in this story. Regardless, right, some people do have skepticism towards what Angie is also alleging with Gracie, because some people are saying that she could be manipulating Gracie or brainwashing Gracie or making Gracie say these things. Some people point to Gracie's YouTube video saying that she doesn't look comfortable. Some people say these don't sound like
Starting point is 00:30:18 words that a 14-year-old uses. The fact that she's reading off of a paper, her body language, she's glancing off camera at times. People are all using that to try and say that Angie is brainwashed and Gracie into saying these things. So regardless, I think when it comes from a third party who really has nothing to gain from saying anything, it's interesting. Now, Grant's girlfriend at the time, Hannah, she has cooperated that Grant never really
Starting point is 00:30:45 talked much about his dad. but when he did, he just never really seemed to want to go to his dad's place. If you remember, there was one time he was crying in the car because he just didn't like the idea of going to his dad's house. So he didn't. And he was always oddly very protective of Hannah around his own dad, which he thought was interesting. But she states that Grant had an appointment with Steve Berger
Starting point is 00:31:07 and was going to tell him about the abuse that his dad was inflicting. Steve Berger says no such thing ever happened. Indeed, Grant did set up a meeting. with him, but it was just to talk about how he can get closer to God. Steve Berger apparently states in a video, a sermon video, you just never get a ninth grader making an appointment with you to talk about Jesus as a crusty old gray-haired preacher. But Grant did, and he sat in my office for well over an hour.
Starting point is 00:31:33 He just wanted to know how he could draw closer to Christ. And it stands out to me. This was after his passing? Yeah. I mean, clearly even Steve thought it was weird that this ninth grader was like, I just want to talk to you about how to get closer to God. So a lot of netizens are saying, yeah, maybe it's weird because that's never what happened.
Starting point is 00:31:54 Steve thought it was weird. Netizens think it's weird. They all think it's part of some bigger cover-up because Gracie and her video claims that she told the school, she told the church, nobody did anything about it. Also, the church and the school, I'm going to be very careful with my wording here. They're not legally affiliated.
Starting point is 00:32:13 They are two different legal, entities. What school? The school she goes to? Yeah, so Grant and Gracie go to a Christian private school, Grace Christian Academy, and the church is called Grace Chapel Church, or Grace Chapel, right? They're legally two different entities.
Starting point is 00:32:29 They have two separate governing bodies for both organizations. It's like if... What's the connection, though, besides the name? Are they run by... It seems like they're connected. It seems like if Nike were to come up with a drinks brand and call it Nike Coffee, but they created a new LLC, a new corporation
Starting point is 00:32:52 for Nike Coffee, and they've got a different board of directors for Nike Coffee. But, I mean, legally speaking, I guess they're two different entities, but like technically, you know. The affiliation is very strong. Right, right, right. Yeah. Right, okay. So Gracie is saying that the church and the school, they never did anything about it.
Starting point is 00:33:13 Grant's girlfriend at the time is saying that Grant probably told Steve about it and Steve didn't do anything. So what's going on? What are they hiding? Why would the church not just go to the police? Why would they not investigate? Why would they not do anything? Because it's a church. Aren't they supposed to stand against stuff like this?
Starting point is 00:33:29 Yeah. But also the police? Hello? Yeah. Now, Grace Chapel Church eventually releases their own statement against these allegations that reads in part. Recently, a 14-year-old girl posted a video on social media platforms about alleged abuse that she had experienced in her family. We just can't imagine how difficult it must be for that young woman to be caught in the middle of a custody battle with her parents, while also dealing
Starting point is 00:33:53 with the tragic death of her brother. Since the original video, a variety of websites, blogs, articles, and social media posts have spread information maligning Grace Chapel, Grace Christian Academy, and our founding pastor, Steve Berger. The church notes, to clarify the three parties, the church, the academy, and Steve Berger's ministry are, quote, are all separate legal organizations with separate oversight and missions. Which, again, if you have to word it like that, it just means that there must be some level of entanglement, perhaps even just socially,
Starting point is 00:34:25 because the wording is very precise, that there are three separate legal organizations with separate oversight. But the church continues with their clarification by stating, considering the number of false accusations being made, we felt it would be important to clarify a few things so that our church family could understand Grace Chapel's involvement and how to pray for this situation. There were never any allegations by anyone
Starting point is 00:34:47 that any abuse took place at Grace Chapel or that it involved any Grace Chapel volunteers or employees. The allegations of abuse in 2018 was between a divorced couple regarding their own child and had nothing to do with Grace Chapel. There has been false reporting that Steve Berger, when he was serving as Grace Chapel senior pastor, had been informed about the abuse
Starting point is 00:35:06 during a meeting that took place on May 7, 2018, and did not report it to the proper authorities following that meeting. The claim that somehow Steve Berger knew of the abuse and didn't report it is categorically false. In fact, the alleged abuse had already been reported to the sheriff's office on May 4th, 2018, three days before the meeting with Stephen even took place. Grace Chapel has and will continue to make sure that any allegations of abuse are reported to the proper authorities. All of our staff and volunteers go through child safety training as well as background checks.
Starting point is 00:35:36 Please join us in continuing to pray for this family. And if you have any questions, please reach out to us, Grace Chapel. Not really doing themselves any favors, the church also goes on to clarify something very weird, stating, in a recent article, there was also an issue that one of the family members who attends Grace Chapel is not a member of the church. It's important to note that Grace Chapel has a specific process for membership, and this individual, Aaron Solomon, has not gone through the process and is therefore not a member. But the church does go on to clarify that member or not, everyone is welcome. Membership is not a requirement for participation and fellowship within their church community. I will say that's a very strange thing
Starting point is 00:36:14 to make distinctively clear for everybody considering there's pretty strong connections that Aaron at least attended the church with a high frequency on most Sundays even taking pictures of himself at the church and then sending them to Gracie. Two Sundays in a row he texts pictures of himself at the church
Starting point is 00:36:29 writing to her at church thinking of you, love you, miss you, heart. Then the next Sunday, a picture of the church and an accompanying message. Pastor Steve mentioned Grant for the third Sunday in a row and preached about heaven today. Hope you can watch it.
Starting point is 00:36:43 Because, you know, it's a mega church. They like to upload their sermons onto YouTube and stuff. I don't know if the church is involved. I don't know if the church is not involved. I also think that I have way too much religious trauma to even come to an appropriate conclusion without being tainted by my own anecdotal evidence and personal opinions, right?
Starting point is 00:37:03 But I do think that the responses are just a little weird. I've met a lot of religious people. I've met a lot of people of faith. And regardless of the fact that of anything, really, I don't think any of them would respond to such a sensitive topic and allegation in this manner. It was just weird. It was just weird.
Starting point is 00:37:23 And I think it just makes everything feel unsettling. Yeah. It feels a little heartless. Even the way that they write about Gracie feels a little bit heartless. The way that they write about the family, even if they are not involved. even if they're being dragged online, I think that there are better ways to go about it. I would imagine more of a business entity, a corporation to respond in this
Starting point is 00:37:48 apathetic, cold, legalese type of way. But anyway, that's just an opinion that has no indication of guilt or innocence. Yeah. Now, on top of that, the church has also been sending out seas and desist letters to creators. I don't think that I'll be on the receiving end of one. However, it would not be the first time. It actually just like gets me more riled up. So there's that.
Starting point is 00:38:10 Like they've been sending it to YouTube versions? Yeah. They've been sending a lot of season to assist. Really? Yeah. But it's just weird. Again, overexited legal action is not a sign of guilt. I just personally think it's weird behavior.
Starting point is 00:38:36 Also, while we're at it, though, I also think the school is weird. The school that both Grant and Gracie went to, Grace Christian Academy, they are, again, I think, closely affiliated, even though they have separate legal and governing structures between the church. Regardless, Gracie said, at that age in her life, when she was just figuring out what had happened to her and the abuse, she had nobody to talk to about the abuse. So she's talking to her friends at school telling them what's happened to her, and the school tells her to stop. there's a video recording that has been posted on Freedom for Gracie where it's school stuff telling Gracie and Angie
Starting point is 00:39:09 that a lot of the kids have been impacted by Gracie talking about what happened to her. Like a secret recorded audio? Which side note, Gracie says, again, nobody would listen to her, the police won't listen to her, child services won't listen to her, the church won't listen to her, so like who is she supposed to talk to about it? And she has so much trauma, so she's talking to her friends about it. I mean, who else? And the school administrators are heard saying,
Starting point is 00:39:31 even if she's dealing with adult things. I've had three parents over the weekend, and they're telling Angie, call and said, my child came to me and asked, what is sexual abuse? So where's this coming from? So a lot of the kids are being affected
Starting point is 00:39:45 by what she's going through and what she's telling people. I get it. I think it could be startling for some parents, but also it could be a great time to teach her a 13, 14 year old kid about abuse and what to do if you witness abuse or if your friend tells you about abuse,
Starting point is 00:40:01 or if you become a victim of abuse, or I don't know, teach your kids not to abuse. The school, though, the tone they use makes it seem more like it's upsetting the parents, it's upsetting the kids, they're not ready to have this conversation, so let's not talk about it. The school administration then goes on to worry out loud about this becoming the talk of the school,
Starting point is 00:40:21 saying, for her sake, it isn't just about sixth grade for her. This is, you know what I mean? These are her peers all the way up. So I don't want something that's going to be detrimental, tell to her that's going to um she's not thinking about the future she's thinking of right now but i'm thinking about the future and how this is going to follow her and her peers and then i also have to think about what other students who are now having to deal with this and not just from a school perspective but as a mom who's raised daughters i'm looking at gracie's next six years not just right now and the
Starting point is 00:40:51 things that are said and the opinions that are formed and all of this is going to affect her freshman year her junior year so they're all just worried about her so they heard at this point the school, all these adults and all these, you know, people heard what happened to Grace because that's what she's telling everyone. And their concern is that's going to affect her future. That's going to affect everybody else's school life. Yes, so I was able to dig really deep into some local, like, forums. I think it's confusing and conflicting.
Starting point is 00:41:23 Interestingly enough, more people on a local scale in Tennessee seem to be more on Aaron's side. Hmm. Okay. Tell me more. Now, Angie states that he waged a local campaign against her, spreading lies about her. Okay. And so that's why she had to take it public on social media to get the truth out there.
Starting point is 00:41:44 But then other people locally are arguing that the teacher probably said it like this because the teacher doesn't believe the abuse happened and the teacher believes that Angie is brainwashing the daughter. So this is the teacher's way of saying, your brainwashed. washing your daughter and now you don't even understand the implications like this is her life now it's not just like a conversation she's having like this is going to impact her i don't i guess yes yeah i guess the feeling is like i feel very conflicted because i feel like we don't know the full picture right what truly happened we obviously don't want to spread lies or
Starting point is 00:42:20 whatever but how what make them believe that angie is lying i guess it's just so frustrating because the police are not investigating, but how do you know if this didn't, 100% sure that this didn't happen? Do we know this? We don't know this, right? We don't know this. So, I don't know. I also think, I also think maybe being a police officer in this case, being a social worker, being the judge in this case is trickier. These are trickier things where there are massive implications to whether you close an investigation or how you rule in the court system because there are lifelong things like custody being held by one person or one person having supervised visitation. Like there are lots of implications. I think it's weird that a lot
Starting point is 00:43:12 of these third parties like the school are being the judge, the judge and the jury. If it were me, I don't think that that would be how I handle it. It's just, okay, well, this is what's happening. and maybe it is a good time to talk to everybody about what to do if your friend is talking to you about abuse or how to speak up after you feel like you have been a victim of abuse, how to not abuse people, like how to see the signs of abuse. I feel like that would be a great time to try and- You're clearly focusing on the wrong thing. Like, what do you mean?
Starting point is 00:43:42 Like, they're freaking out. Like, shit happens. Like, there's bad things happen all day. Like, you need to teach anyways. So I think it's, you know, I think there are heavier implications. for specific roles and they need to try and give some sort of verdict like the police they need to have some sort of verdict in terms of closing a case or not same with social workers same with a judge but when you're just at a school i don't know why you have to decide that maybe
Starting point is 00:44:09 angie is lying so maybe i should handle it this way furthering angie's point there are videos of aaron coming to school to pick up gracey from school and she gracey has clearly told the administrators that her dad is abusing her, that she is terrified to go with her dad. And the tricky part is the judge has stated that she is to be placed in her dad's custody. So her dad's picking her up from school and the headmaster is just telling Gracie that these allegations are old news and she's got to get in the car with her dad. It just gets so bad that the headmaster of the school puts out a video statement saying, please come to us so that we can give you the truth. I always say that we're not going to believe everything that your kids tell us about you. So please don't believe
Starting point is 00:44:50 everything that your kids say about us. What is going on? That seems to be kind of the way that they do things. I don't know. I don't know. I guess it's just weird. Again, there's no implication of guilt here through my wording. I'm just saying that in my personal opinion, it's just a very weird situation.
Starting point is 00:45:13 But when it comes to allegations that Angie has brought against Aaron, there isn't as much concrete detailed evidence to the. the allegations, as maybe a judge would want. It doesn't mean that these things didn't happen, but just the nature of a lot of assaults, the nature of being essayed by someone, allegedly by someone that is your guardian. The whole point is to not leave evidence. The whole point is to not get caught. So we don't really have much concrete evidence, but we do have heavily disputed pictures. Remember we talked about the bruising on Gracie's upper thigh? Angie claims that it was from abuse. Aaron claims it was from a swimsuit. It's not clear. There's also another
Starting point is 00:45:54 picture that Angie shows as evidence of Gracie's eyes. Her eyebags are super swollen. She has dark circles. Angie claims that this is after Gracie was with her dad for an extended period of time. She would come back and this was clearly a sign of abuse. Now, it looks like she's having some sort of, I feel like my eyes have looked like this before. It's like some sort of really bad allergic reaction. She did have eye surgery previously. I'm not sure what it was for, but there are mentions in a court transcript of Gracie having eye surgery and then moving into the primary bedroom with her parents for a while. So I don't know if this is from the eye surgery. I don't know if she's always had issues with her eyes. So there's just been all of these heavily disputed
Starting point is 00:46:36 pictures. So it's not even, um, everything is disputed is what I'm trying to say. So it's very hard to definitively say anything. But one thing that seems less disputed is Grant Solomon's death. Most netizens think it's very suspicious. One citizen writes, I mean, this makes no sense. Whoever is covering up this murder is an idiot. Everyone sees it, yet the justice system has done nothing. Aaron Solomon should be rotting in a jail cell for first degree murder. Another comment meets, Angie was railroaded in her case and she had to jump through all these hoops to even just be able to see her children. The courts made her out to be a mad woman, completely crazy and unfit. which is maybe why Angie felt compelled to take matters into her own hands
Starting point is 00:47:17 by trying to hire a hitman who happened to be an undercover agent. 5.30 p.m. Friday night, Aaron gets a phone call. It's not a number he recognizes, but he picks it up. Hello? It's the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Are you home? No. Well, I've got a man at your door right now. Aaron says he already knows it's probably to do with Angie. He's explaining to the investigator that He's actually out of town, ironically, for a wedding, a celebration of love. Aaron says the investigators pretty bluntly just tell him, well, since you're out of town, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, we arrested your ex-wife.
Starting point is 00:47:55 She tried to hire someone to kill you, and she's being booked right now. Aaron says in that moment, he just quote, I was in disbelief. I was in shock. I was like, you've got to be kidding me. This is not real. This is not happening to me. And since the divorce grants death and the subsequent social media discourse,
Starting point is 00:48:13 Aaron has decided briefly to sue Angie and her friends. Angie's friends? Who are they? Yes, who are also helping her allegedly run social media accounts that are, you know, Freedom for Grace Eve's website, her Instagram. Some of them are posting on their personal pages, but for defamation. Aaron's attorney argues in this defamation lawsuit that the defendants, Angie and her friends are only concerned with destroying plaintiff and generating outrage on social media
Starting point is 00:48:41 in an effort to raise money and sell products. While they have tried to paint themselves as noble defenders of free speech in reality, this is a campaign of malicious bullying, cyber-stalking, generating clicks, and spreading lies. So there are three camps of people. One who believe that Aaron is an abusive killer, and he found a way to make Angie seem crazy so that no one in the justice system believes her and he's getting away with not even just essaying his own daughter, but for killing his son who was trying to save his sister.
Starting point is 00:49:08 I'm sorry, what happened to the defamation lawsuit? so he decided that he was not going to go through with it he withdrew his defamation lawsuit and i think the main reason is this was like a i forget how many pages that lawsuit was it was a lot of pages and there was so many exhibits it was hundreds of pages the whole point of a defamation lawsuit is to argue that you have lost a lot of money there was no way to prove that he lost money and also the fact that he hired an attorney to put together this very heavy documentation that's going to cost a lot of money defamation lawyers they don't do anything pro bono typically and they don't just like write a whole lawsuit and file it for free so I think it just would not have it would have just burned money so again or he could have known that he's lying about being defamed right I don't know right you could spin it either way but just let's say benefit of the doubt it could be just the money wasn't making sense it could be also the fact that he knows that he knows that. that Angie maybe doesn't have money.
Starting point is 00:50:13 So it's like, okay, you're spending all of this money. Angie doesn't have money to give, even if you win. And if she's got nothing to lose, she could just make another account and keep posting about you. And then you got to go through another, you know, it's... I see, I see. That makes sense. Or it could be the fact that he knows, allegedly, some things Angie claims could be true,
Starting point is 00:50:34 could be the allegation, right? You know, everyone wants to see it a specific way, so you could see it all the ways. Now, you have the first camp of people who believe that Aaron is evil. Then you have the second camp of people that believe that Aaron isn't particularly a great person, but Angie also seems to be very problematic. They believe that she's coming up with stories, whether she believes it or not is unclear, but she's convincing her kids of these stories and turning them against their dad. Then you have the third camp of people.
Starting point is 00:51:01 They believe both of them suck and both of them are abusive, probably in their own ways. They think that Aaron is suspicious, especially in connection. with Grant's passing, but they also believe that Angie is strange in the way that she's going about everything. So the three are, to put it simply, Erin is bad, Angie is bad, and both of them are bad. This is part three of the Solomon family series. Stay tuned for the final part, part four, because we do get a few more answers and we get a few more updates on the timeline of how things are progressing, but stay tuned, let me know your thoughts, and I'll see you in the next one.

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