Something Was Wrong - S26 Ep18: Chapter 3: Every Lie Has a Point to It

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

*Content Warning: friendship betrayal, suicidal ideation, false reporting, fraud, stalking, psychological and physical violence, and childhood sexual abuse. Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources   SWW Sticker Shop!: https://brokencyclemedia.com/sticker-shop SWW S26 Theme Song & Artwork: The S26 cover art is by the Amazing Sara Stewart instagram.com/okaynotgreat/  Follow Something Was Wrong: Website: somethingwaswrong.com  IG: instagram.com/somethingwaswrongpodcast TikTok: tiktok.com/@somethingwaswrongpodcast  Follow Tiffany Reese: Website: tiffanyreese.me  IG: instagram.com/lookieboo *Sources: -Philophobia: Or the Fear of Falling in Love. Directed by Tyler Cole, written by Aaron Burt, produced by Aaron Burt, Tina Carbone, Tyler Cole, and Thomas Hennessy, Tunnel Light Pictures, 2019. IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7003976/.-Rosin, Hanna. “Hello, My Name Is Stephen Glass, and I'm Sorry.” The New Republic, Nov 11, 2014: Newrepublic.com/article/120145/stephen-glass-new-republic-scandal-still-haunts-his-law-career.-Shattered Glass. Directed by Billy Ray, produced by Craig Baumgarten, Adam Merims, Gaye Hirsch, and Tove Christensen, Lions Gate Films, 2003. AFI Catalog, https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62898-SHATTERED-GLASS.

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On January 6th, 2025, Chapter 3 Survivor Aaron submitted his story to us, writing, Your current season reminds me a lot of my experiences. I've even told my friends to listen to your podcast. Little did I know one of those friends I told to listen to it, my best friend of two years, was systemically controlling my entire life with fake people and fake scenarios. I never thought I'd be part of something so insane

as what I lived through the last two years. FBI investigations, a stalker, a violent ex-husband accused of pedophilia, multiple passings of close friends, the destruction of any romantic connection I might have, a huge movie deal with Sony, just to name a few. But if I'm able to tell my story, I'd love to be on your podcast. This is still unfolding in real time.

Hope to hear from you soon, Aaron. In response to his submission, Aaron and I first met for a pre-interview on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. At that point, neither Aaron or I had a clear picture of the alleged lies he had been told, and the stories that had been twisted, and neither of us knew how many people were ultimately involved. What I did know is that I wanted to help Aaron tell his story. I spent countless hours speaking with Aaron and many of his friends both on and off the record.

Then April of this year, just as we were preparing to release season 26, events took place that made me take a step back, and I knew the investigation needed more time. A sudden influx of people who wanted to share their experience, along with some new discoveries, made it clear I needed to get to New Mexico to learn more. It was my first trip to New Mexico and it was more charming than I ever could have imagined. Honestly, the nicest people I've ever met. It's always beneficial to an investigation when I have a chance to meet survivors in person.

It gives us the chance to build a rapport in a way that working online only can sometimes make difficult. Aaron and his friends were incredibly gracious hosts, and later in the chapter I'll be sharing a lot more about what we did and what we uncovered in those three and a half days. But what is at the center and the start of all that madness are Aaron's experiences with a woman whom we're calling Martha. Aaron and Martha had been acquaintances in high school, but they reconnected in August of 2022 about two and a half years prior to his submission of the podcast.

Aaron had just moved back home to New Mexico after pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles for over a decade and a half. He had spent those years in the city of angels cultivating a strong friendship group and making lasting connections. Many of those friendships continue to this day, as you'll hear from them. However, none of those friends lived in Albuquerque. Aaron had grown up in a small town in New Mexico about 200 miles from his new home in Albuquerque.

So although he had returned to a relatively familiar landscape, his social circle had shrunk immensely. Aaron reports feeling very lonely in his new city. and as a filmmaker, actor, and artist attempting to find his professional footing, Aaron lacked colleagues to forge connections with too. He felt largely isolated, which was in deep contrast to his busy former life in Los Angeles, and this made the transition even harder. So when Martha reached out about his social media announcement regarding returning to New Mexico,

Aaron was looking forward to their coffee plans. However, those plans quickly turned into a trauma dumping session for his former schoolmate. Aaron learned a good deal about Martha in that first meeting, which is standard for an initial conversation over coffee. What wasn't normal was what Martha was willing to share with Erin. She shared extremely intimate details about her life and alleged accusations about her ex-husband, whom we're calling Jim. These intimate details manufactured an immediate trust between them. This coffee chat would be the beginning of what would become one of Aaron's closest friendships at the time. That's why when he began to suspect he was living in a fabricated reality,

one Martha had allegedly built weaponizing real personas and fake business contracts, his whole world began to crumble. When we first touched base with Aaron August of 2025, less than a year after his initial discovery, we knew we wanted to help him. What we didn't know was just how long and winding the road to truth would be. We also had no concept of just how many. We also had no concept of just how many people would want to lend their voice and describe their experiences with Martha. That's why you'll be hearing from several of Aaron's friends firsthand throughout Chapter 3. Others we've connected with through this process were willing to offer their testimony but didn't want their voices to be heard on the podcast.

I'm grateful to everyone who participated and supported Aaron through this process, both on and off the record. I'm Tiffany Reese, and this is Something Was Wrong. Hi, I'm Tyler. I met Aaron at work. We were delivering together and I needed a place to live. And so I asked him if I could live on his couch and I lived on his couch for like four years after that. This was in Los Angeles. I was doing film as well. So I was directing primarily at this point. I'd act previously. That was one reason that Aaron and I connected so well. I wanted me to read a script that he wrote and I didn't want to because I thought that if I didn't like it,

He would kick me off the couch and I'd have to find someone else to sleep on her couch. This was like a week into me living there. I was trying to find a novel to read and I posted on Facebook and saying, I was looking for a novel to read. And Aaron commented on it and saying, read the script that's next to the couch. And so my goal was, I was like, I'll read 10 pages. And then I can tell him I started it and I don't have to go any further than that.

And he was at work at the time. I wasn't working that night. And I just remember reading the script and falling in love with it and just read the entire thing. And so when he came back from work, I was like, let's make this. That was static. We were pitching it for a long time. I went through a lot of different visions with different producers, and ultimately never got made. We ended up working on other projects trying to get this project made.

And that's kind of what started everything. We worked together on film for 10 years or so. We did a lot of different short films that we made with no money. We just got a camera, and it was just us too. We would light it all and film it all and he would write it. I would direct it. I would edit it. We did a couple of different short films that we put into some festivals trying to use that as clout to get the feature made.

We also made some music videos and little spec commercials. And then we made our first feature film. It's called Philophobia or the Fear of Falling in Love. That one we made on our own. So we didn't get financing. We figured, all right, let's find a movie that we can make with nothing. I'd left his couch, got an apartment. I moved back on his couch for another couple of years.

and maxed out credit cards and sold everything I owned. We did Indiegogo as well, and we got a lot of help, and we made our first feature film. And that was the only one that we ended up making is very special. What was Aaron like to work with? Aaron's great always to work with. He's just fun on set. I think set is where he really thrives mostly. That's where he always wants to be.

So it sounds like you had a mix of professional and personal relationship? Yeah, my best friend. I really trust him and I really like his writing and so it was fun. We collaborate really well together and our vision is really similar and he also was such a cinephile and I grew up not watching a ton of movies but really loving certain movies. He taught me so much about film and film history and different directors and cinematography showing me all of his favorite ones but also showing me like the story of film and all this history on film. So I could become as knowledgeable as possible and we're making things, we are on the same page with everything and we can talk about what we like and what we don't like as we're watching things. Our relationship is so interesting in that way that we do work really well together and that's great. But also, I can trust him with anything and he knows that and he feels the same way, I think. He is super kind and empathetic. He always believes in the good of people and will always go out of his way to help someone. I'm Alana and I met Aaron about 15 years ago on a film set.

I was acting in the film and he was producing it, although at the time I thought he was just an extra because we were doing a party scene and they needed people to stand in as extras. And so while I did this party scene, he just, you know, was kind of in the background. We met there, but we didn't really interact too much on the set. Maybe a year later, I think we matched on a dating app.

And I was like, hey, I know who that is. So we started chatting then, and then we dated for a few months. We had fun. We both lived in L.A. for those first, like, 10 years. Years later, I moved to Phoenix, and then he moved to Albuquerque a few years after that. We've hung out on and off for a whole. 15 years if I ever have to go to Albuquerque for acting work. I'll stay with him. He's very respectful, very nice, sweet guy. He's very genuine, wears his heart on his sleeve. My name is Rob. I know Aaron,

we met many years ago at acting school. We were kind of fast friends. I don't know how he felt about me, but I liked him immediately. After school ended, we ended up living together. I was 24 when we started living together right off Santa Monica Boulevard. My girlfriend eventually moved in with all three of us were really close. I ended up getting married to her. So he was my last kind of roommate that I ever had. We are really good friends and we've stayed in contact. We worked together on a short film that he wrote. I don't remember even what my credit was, but I helped very basically. I didn't do much. We've always connected on our sense of humor, our love of movies. We've been friends for years and years and years. He was in my

wedding as well. I would say one of my best friends. He's very trusting. He's got a great sense of humor. He's very kind. He cares deeply about things that are right and wrong. We both kind of connected with the fact that he was kind of an overweight kid as a teenager and so was I. We both kind of carry that a little bit. I think I am a very empathetic person and I think Aaron is also that way. And sometimes that leads me down a path of helping too much for a person that maybe isn't looking to do me harm, but they don't always get that empathy from everyone. And so they can latch on to it and ask a little bit too much.

The idea of boundaries can sometimes be an issue because, at least speaking for myself, I do remember what it was like to not feel as confident as I wanted to be and what it was like to carry that around, the ways in which people might have picked on me or taken advantage of me. I don't like to see that happening to other people. And I think knowing him pretty well, there is. maybe some, at least, and like again, I speak for myself, some people-pleasing nature in there. So that rejection is hard also because you don't want to hurt anybody.

But sometimes the lack of proper boundary setting can lead to more hurt. Hello, my name's Aaron. I was born in Sacramento, California. When I turned eight, my parents decided to relocate to a small town in New Mexico. and there in New Mexico, I changed dramatically personality-wise because I was a very outgoing kid in California. But when I moved to New Mexico, I felt very alone, like an outsider. I was bullied.

I mean, they would call me L.A. boy or whatever, or California boy. And I was like, is that something that's negative? I didn't really understand that. But with that kind of bullying and feeling more and more alone, I leaned into film and watching movies because they felt like they were my friends. They never let me down. Also with that, I really ate my feelings. Then I became bullied for that. And I struggled with weight loss for a while. I moved to California for college. I was in an acting program. The first year, I remained the same weight. And then over summer, the second year I came back and I lost all the weight. And it was a strange

transition for me because that first year of college, I became the funny guy. And then when I came back, I was whatever, you want to call it handsome. I did have friends, actually, a lot of friends at that point, even though I've only been there for a couple years. My girlfriends who were just friends, all of a sudden were attracted to me, all the guys who were like the cool quote unquote guys who didn't give me a second thought. They all now wanted to be my friend. It was a very strange time. and I didn't know how to bleed the two together, like being this new person and being the funny guy. And so I kind of just muted myself. I continued to have friendships with all my college friends, and a lot of them I'm still friends with today.

At one point, I meet a guy named Tyler, and we become fast friends. We just become film obsessed. He was an actor at the time, and we just really wanted to make a movie. So we pitched a movie idea on like a GoFundMe kind of thing. We raised a decent amount of money, but not enough for the movie that we wanted to make. So we had to like pivot and I wrote a script previously to that one that we pivoted to because it seemed a little bit more budget friendly. We made that for very little money.

We got it on Amazon Prime and it's still on there until this day. And although it didn't come out exactly how we intended, we are very proud of it. That was like going to be our pitch baby. I had five other scripts that I was just going to start pitching after that got released on Amazon. Our movie came out two months before the pandemic. It was like November, December. So we had those two months of Christmas where we couldn't pitch anything. And then the following was just pandemic time.

So needless to say, our window of opportunity was gone. It was a bummer. We had this momentum and it just deflated. Through that time period, Tyler pivoted. He taught himself to tattoo, become a tattoo artist, and he's doing pretty well. And I struggled. I didn't really know what the next move was. I started becoming very disenchanted with L.A.

I just wanted to go and experience something new. So I went on a road trip for a month and a half, and I just traveled to a bunch of different places. The first three stops, I felt so much lighter and so much more like myself, like I felt confident in myself and I felt like I was more in my own skin. It started to connect to me that I don't think L.A. is serving me. I thought a lot about what made the most sense. I knew that Albuquerque was kind of booming in the film industry. My parents still lived in the small town in New Mexico that's like three hours away from

Albuquerque. And so it made the most sense to just go to Albuquerque. So I packed everything up. I say goodbye to all these friends that I've had for many, many years, and I moved to Albuquerque. I'd like to thank Merritt Beauty for sponsoring today's episode. Fall is always a busy season in our house. And between kids, work, and everything else, I don't have a ton of time to spend getting ready. That's one of the reasons that I love Merit. Their products make it so easy to feel polished without a complicated makeup routine. One of my absolute favorite products by them is the minimalist. It's a foundation and concealer in one, so I can quickly get the coverage I want without having to layer a bunch of products. I also really love their mascara. A few minutes, a little makeup,

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and their products are designed to leave your skin feeling deeply moisturized, soft, and glowing. Go to Oseaamalibu.com and get 10% off your first order with code S-WW. That's O-S-E-A-Malibu.com, code S-W. Thank you so much. I posed something on my social media that I was moving to Albuquerque and two days before I even moved here I get a message from she who will be called Martha being like hey we need to meet up in Albuquerque because I'm there too so I was like okay sure

this is a person that I met in high school I dated a girl and she dated that girl's brother the four of us would just by proximity be hanging out at the same time. It's not like we were like, hey, what are you doing? Let's all four hang out. It was kind of just like, hey, you're here, we're here. Do you guys want to watch a movie together? Because we're about to watch this movie. I never, like, hung out with her alone, ever. I didn't really know her very well. She wasn't a person that particularly stood out to me. She seemed very sweet, very kind, a bit shy. And that's pretty much what I knew about her.

Facebook should reach out or social media she would comment. on something, she donated to my GoFundMe campaign for my film. The thing about living in L.A., there's this kind of running joke. Everyone kind of just sustains a certain age, even though you're obviously aging. A lot of people don't get married. A lot of people don't have kids. A lot of people are just going after their dreams. And that was most of my friends.

When I moved to Albuquerque, it was such a huge transition. Being the age that I am, which I'm going to omit, And so I got here and I didn't really know how to make friends. I tried my best. The first week I moved here, I got a text message from Martha. She wanted me up for coffee. And I was like, cool, I have no friends. So I met up with her.

It was interesting because she came into the coffee shop and my gut sank for a hot minute. Something felt off. There was just like a weird energy with her. her and it made me uncomfortable. I didn't know what it was. And I immediately stopped that. And I was like, oh, you're just being an asshole. You're judging someone because she's kind of awkward. I was like, don't be a jerk. She's a sweet person. She said, I sold my house and I was able to pay off my parents' house, which I later found out wasn't true. She planted that Mother Teresa kind of seed right away how great she is, you know, and how people perceive her to be great. She says that she just went

through a divorce because she found out that her ex-husband, Jim, is a pedophile. In the first two minutes, I think she mentioned that Jim was being investigated by the FBI. I was just like, whoa, what? That is a lot to take in, you know, on a first hangout. I'm all about like people being transparent and comfortable, but it was definitely a bit shocking. I was very, very, overwhelmed by that conversation. I also assumed that she was married, but then right at the get-go, she starts talking about Jim and her getting a divorce. I started talking about being on dating apps and wanting to date, and I was doing a very like a roundabout way of saying, I'm not interested in you like that if you are trying to be interested in me. Did you feel like

she was attracted to you? I couldn't tell. She wasn't being particularly flirtatious or suggestive. It's one of those things where you're trying to feel someone out and you don't really know what their intentions are. What do you recall about how you guys left things? So I remember her saying I'm thinking about moving to San Francisco because I have a friend out there and I think I'm going to get a job out there. I think I need to leave Albuquerque. I was like, all right, cool. Nice meeting you. So I didn't really think much.

It was just nice to like have him in contact for a day. she went to California for a minute. She reached out to me at one point and said, I'm back if you ever want to grab coffee again or something like that. Aaron was still longing for friends in his new town, but work was also picking up at that time. He started to pour his energy and efforts into auditioning. A few months into living in Albuquerque,

Aaron felt like he was starting to thrive. He had signed with an agent who was helping him land more auditions. With more opportunities coming his way, he felt optimistic. Yet he still lacked a social circle, which made it especially hard to record his auditions. Since COVID had happened,

more auditions were now being submitted via video recordings instead of in-person. At in-person auditions, casting directors often fill the role of a reader. A reader reads the lines in the script that are used in the scene opposite of the role the actor is auditioning for.

The reader helps the auditioning actor time their line delivery and pacing. Aaron had had to find someone to fill that role of reader, and because he was still lacking a social circle in New Mexico, Martha volunteered to become his reader. They began spending more time together through that process. I got an agent that year, two months in to being out here, and I started getting a lot of auditions. I'd probably have two auditions a week at that stage. I could probably get away with one audition, doing it by myself, and then I'd have an audition that I needed a reader.

I need someone to press play and like read the other lines. I reached out to Martha and I was like, hey, I'm not sure if you live nearby. And she was like, I live nearby the coffee place that we went to. And I was like, oh, are you free? I really need someone to help me with this audition. She came over. And so she started helping me out with auditions, essentially. Sometimes she was like, hey, I can come help you on my lunch.

And I was like, are you sure? She's like, no, no, no, it's fine. I have time. Sometimes it was really quick. So it would be like 15 minutes and that's it. Other times it would be 30 minutes. And then the time that we would hang out post would be like 30 minutes after I did an audition. I started feeling bad because I kept asking her to help me.

And she was like, no, no, I really don't mind. I don't have anything to do. And I live really close. So I would be like, hey, I owe you dinner because you've been helping me out with auditions. We would go out and grab a bite to eat or I'd cook or something. And that didn't happen very often. I felt like maybe she could have had an inkling of how. having feelings for me. If you have a problem with me, tell me. If you have feelings for me, tell me.

You know, I can only do as much as I can with the information I'm given. I was just trying to make it clear that I was not interested and I assumed the same on her end. Were you worried that asking her to run lines and then taking her out to dinner, she might think it's a date. And if so, like, did you do anything to try and make that clear? I would always talk about being on the dating apps. I would always suggest, hey, you should get on the dating apps. I made it very clear that I was not interested in her like that. Were you dating a lot during this period of your life when you're newly in New Mexico?

Are you more focused on auditions? When I came to Albuquerque, I was kind of hoping for a more authentic down-to-earth connection. So I was really excited about it, honestly. I'm very open to connecting with someone on a deep level, but I am very focused on my career at the same time. My last two relationships were pre-COVID and during COVID. They are both beautiful people. I have nothing negative to say about them. So your last relationship ended about a year before you got to New Mexico. Yeah.

How often do you think you were actually going out on dates each month, would you say? Maybe one or two a month. I did start to see someone around December of that first year. We just got back from a date and there was a Christmas tree on my doorstop. And the girl was like, who left you a Christmas tree? I was like, oh, it's this very sweet but just a friend person. And she was like, this girl likes you. And I was like, no, no, no, no.

It's not like I tell her about you. I'm very clear that it's not that way. and the girl I was seeing was like, I don't know. And you would share about that with Martha as your friendship developed? 100%. I was very transparent with everyone. If I went on a date, I would just say I am trying to date. You know, I'm interested in dating.

But if I started seeing someone a couple times, I definitely brought it up to Martha. How did things continue to develop with the auditions? It was very steady for a whole year. And then there was a huge strike that happened. happened, which slowed everything down. So you were doing a lot of auditions in 2022, into 2023, until the strike? Yes. Erin and Martha became friends over those months.

But Aaron says they still weren't close friends. In March of 2023, Martha called Aaron in distress. She reported a horrible experience with her ex-husband, Jim. Martha said that she and Jim had met for dinner, and the events had allegedly turned ugly. This was the first time Martha would tell him. Erin, she had experienced suicidal ideation, and that Aaron had been a source of comfort for her. Aaron reports that after becoming a safe place for her amidst this incident, he felt he was getting closer to Martha. In retrospect, he wonders if that was her goal.

March of 2023 is when Martha met with Jim. Can you walk us through that incident and what you recall about what took place? She calls me crying and I say, what's going on? and she said, can I come over or whatever? I'm like, sure. She said that her and Jim went to a restaurant to talk. I remember her saying he initiated it and then he didn't want to come, but he finally showed up, and he was just super rude to her. He yelled at her in the middle of the restaurant, stormed out, and left her with the bill and all the food.

And now she's just like really emotional. And I just talked to her and tried to calm her down. I don't think she told me this that night, but later she told me that she was suicide. that night and that I saved her life. I think my feelings was like, oh man, I wasn't expecting this amount of emotional support. But at the same time, I didn't really mind too much because I don't have anyone out here. I was alone, except for the moments that I would hang out with her. I would go out all the time by myself. I was in a very social place, but it was just hard to meet people out here. And so she was so easy to fall back into a connection with someone because I had no one else.

As Aaron and Martha continued to build a rapport, they bonded over shared interests. We were chatting about true crime and we were fascinated with podcasts that talk about serial killers or whatever. And she was like, yeah, I'm obsessed with the Manson family. I chimed in with what I'm more fascinated by is pathological liars. Have you ever seen the movie Shattered Glass? And she said, no. And I was like, oh, we should watch it right now. So we watch Shattered Glass.

It's a true story about a writer at the New Republic who basically cooks up all this stories. And not just that, but he's a constant liar to everyone around him and eventually he gets caught. We started getting really close after that night of watching the movie. Around April of 2023, you start dating someone. Can you talk to us a bit about that? Yeah, so the only real people that I knew besides Martha. They were a couple, and they would invite me. They live a little bit of a ways.

Through them, I met a girl named Danny, and we started to hit it off. I actually introduced Danny and Martha to each other. This is my really good friend, platonic friend, Martha, and here is the girl that I'm interested in, Danny. Danny at this point, she starts being a little more aggressive with the possibility. of being in a relationship. How long had you and Danny been dating when she wanted to be exclusive? I think probably about two months.

I really did like her, and I did see potential with us, but I wasn't quite there with confirming us in a relationship. I did foresee us becoming in a relationship. At some point, she kind of gave me an ultimatum, and we ended things, and then I re-downloaded the dating app,

And then Danny and I reached out to each other and we met up. And I was like, I would like to just continue how we're doing. And she was like, no, we have to be in a relationship if we're going to move forward. And I was like, I'm just not there. And so we would end it again. She was like, can we meet up? And then we meet up again. I think we do it one more time.

I don't know why. But I feel like we did it four times. But around the third time, I did go on a date, quote unquote, but it didn't feel like a date. It just felt like two people meeting us. and seeing if there was a connection. Come Fourth of July, I go and hang out with that group, and Danny's there. We're having a great time. I thought it'd be awkward.

She's been drinking a little bit. I'm like, I gave you right home, so I took her home. And she said, you want to come up for a beer? I was like, sure. And then we get up there, and she's like, were you dating other people while we were dating? And I was like, no. She's like, that's weird because I saw you on a website out here. There's a thing called, are we dating the same person?

I was like, okay, I don't know what that is, but that didn't happen. I did meet up with someone like two weeks ago, but I wouldn't even consider it a date. She's like, no, no, this happened like before I brought up the ultimatum. I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. Not that it really matters because we weren't official or whatever, but looking back on it now, knowing what I know, I'm 99.9% positive that it's Martha that put me on that. She literally just met her. And she was like, how can I sabotage Aaron and Danny?

What was the claim about you on the are we dating the same guy Facebook page? I don't know exactly what it said because Danny never told me. But my assumption is, is like, hey, I'm chatting with this guy, or I just went on a date with this guy. What's the deal? Danny said he was on there and then like an hour later was gone. In the summer of 2023, Aaron's social circle continued to grow. It was then that he met Zach. Around this time period, I'm doing a lot of background stuff because I don't have a job yet.

I didn't really want to do background, but it was like a way to meet people and be on set. I was also just trying to get integrated into the film industry out here. I just finished a movie. I was doing stand-in work for this independent film. I remember walking in and trying to keep to myself to like kind of feel out of the room. And this guy approaches me and he's like, hey, that's a cool other jacket. He became my friend Zach and Zach's amazing, super kind, just a very social person. He just really engages with everyone.

We became fast friends. He lived in a place that was like four hours away. And his parents lived two hours away. And so he was driving home to his parents' house every night after set. And I was like, dude, I got a place you can crash. I have an extra bed. Come stay at my place. So we became very close, very quickly.

And it was a blessing because it was like maybe I can start not relying on Martha to do all the auditions. I have another person that can help me out. As Aaron's relationship with Martha continued to develop, he began to introduce her to more of his friends. At that time, Zach was still staying on Aaron's couch. Around this time, Tyler also met Martha. Did he talk to you about Martha? Yeah, I was actually friends enough. with her as well.

Here's Tyler. I would visit him sometimes, and I ended up going on like a little tattoo tour, so I was traveling for a while. One of the stops was in Albuquerque, and so I stayed with Aaron during that time. I met her a couple times just from whenever I was out there, and then also we would watch movies together. All three of us would be in a text thread together or FaceTiming during the movie. And what was your relationship like with Martha?

It was interesting because she, seemed very sweet and unassuming and kind. And she was there for Aaron. And so that was something I really liked because I know he didn't have a lot of friends there yet at that time. Because he just moved out there. And so I was happy that he had a friend out there. It sounds like she befriended you in addition to Aaron. What would she, like, reach out to talk to you about?

I actually went through my text. There was something she said one time that I thought was interesting because we didn't really talk except for movie nights. But as I was growing through, I was like, I have way more texts you're not expected to have. She would reach out sometimes in a friendly way that didn't seem harmful or weird or anything. So the example I have is she was like, oh, tell Aaron that you think I'm cooler than him or something like that. And I was like, absolutely not. One time that she asked me how I handle grief. She was like, how do you handle grief in certain situations?

I've just lost a lot of people in my life over the last couple months. And I'm like trying to figure out how to deal with that. And she went into a whole story mode of three different people that had either recently died or were like in the hospital or something. I don't think that any of these people exist. But at the time, I had a long conversation with her. I'm assuming that there was a chance with this story and probably the webs that she was already spinning at this point. My guess is that she was trying to find a way to befriend me because of how close I am to Aaron. did you ever pick up on a red flag or a vibe?

No. She just seemed really sweet and kind of like harmless, would you say? Mm-hmm. Yeah, and she would always talk about like, oh, I'm trying to be stronger. She's like really sweet, but also seemingly fragile and down on herself so that other people would be like, oh, no, what are you talking about? You're the sweetest person, which I think is what her goal was with that too. Hi, my name is Maria, and I know Aaron because my sister was actually closer with him in high school,

so I just knew of him at that time. But when I moved back here to Albuquerque, August 2020, I believe is when I moved. I connected with him, I think, in August 2023, because you're both like, hey, we've been here for a year. My impression of Aaron in high school, because my sister was friends with him, I was just a very, kind, sweet, artistic guy, a pretty positive person. I would describe Erin as like a creative, someone who's been trying to find his place in the world. When did you first meet Martha then?

Did you know her from high school as well? Well, I knew her in elementary school, because her little sister and I were very, very good friends. How did Martha first start integrating more into your life? When I first moved to Albuquerque, I let her know or somehow I was like, hey, I live in Albuquerque now. And so I met up with her and she brought pizza over to my house and we caught up a little bit. It was a little bit unusual because I didn't talk to her in years and years. And right away she told me all of these horrible things that happened in her life.

It was all about her ex-husband. He was like a pedophile and he had these relationships with these young girls. girls. What did you make of it at the time? Did you believe her? I mean, yeah, at the time I did. I didn't assume not to, you know. I was just like, wow, that's intense. And then she never really talked to me for like a whole year. She kind of disappeared. And then Martha came back into the picture when I became friends with Aaron and he invited me to hang out with him and her and watch a movie. He was like, I think you guys know each other from the old days. I haven't seen her in a year and I was kind of excited. I would describe Martha as someone who comes across as like a martyr, someone who's

always putting others first. She was always someone who would have a good referral for you, or you would think that she was like someone who would always be helpful. But then there's this weird other energy. I think she has a lot of anxiety and self-esteem issues that I've noticed in different ways. How did she contextualize her relationship with Erin to you? She did let me know kind of early on that, you know, at first it was like, I was just hanging out with them, both this friends, and I really thought they were both fun people. So I was like, yay, I was excited. After I became friends with Aaron, I feel like she could have saw me as a threat, because then all of a sudden, she was wanting to do things with me all the time and wanting to

get closer and closer and closer to me. I have a lot of views in hindsight that I didn't quite understand before. I just was like, oh, that's kind of weird or that's kind of interesting. From that point on, she started to become my friend again. And were you single at the time? Yes. Were you and Aaron like just friends? Was there ever anything beyond platonic with you two? We actually did meet on Bumble, and I was like, this guy looks familiar. And then I realized he was connected with some friends, but we knew we weren't really a romantic match, so we were just hanging out more as friends. As Aaron and Martha became more integrated into each other's lives, Aaron was introduced to Martha's friend Brian. The first time Aaron met Brian, it was a brief

in-person encounter. Martha told Aaron that he was engaged to a woman named Catherine, who he did not meet in person. Martha also told Aaron not to mention Catherine to Brian. From my understanding, Martha's really good friend, Brian, he works in California, but his parents live in a small town near here. So he would come into town a lot, and he would always stay at Martha's place. She was renting this big house from a family that was kind enough to let her rent it for a very low price because she was transitioning from selling her house. and moving back here from California for her brief moment out there. I had met Brian once, and it was really quick. My air conditioner was out, and they couldn't come fix it.

It was, like, really hot, and he happened to have a AC unit that he loaned to me. Brian, from what I know, was engaged to a woman named Catherine in July. Martha is in California for a wedding. and it's a mutual friend of Brian and Catherine, so Brian and Catherine are there. I suddenly get a text message from someone I don't know. And it's like, don't be alarmed, Aaron, but this is Catherine. Martha's at this wedding, and she has been so depressed and so emotional. She's mentioned you and one other person several times, so I reached out to you and that other

person because you guys seem like you're her close friends. I just want you to know that the way she speaks about you makes her so happy, but she is very depressed and I'm really worried about her. Like, I think she's suicidal. I was in a place of, well, I'm trying to do my best as be a friend to her as I can. I'll keep an eye on her, I guess. You know, I didn't really know how to respond to that. Then starts a two month of Catherine and I texting each other.

At some point, Catherine really pushes this narrative that I'm good for Martha and I should be in a relationship with Martha. She does it like once, then time passes. She doesn't bring it up again. And she does it again. Time passes. She just will not stop bringing that up. And I told her on those other occasions, I am not interested romantically in any capacity. I do not have any romantic feelings or even the idea of it blossoming into something.

I have zero interest in Martha romantically. So please don't bring this up again. And then when she does it again, I do the exact same thing. When that last week happens, I even told I was like Martha, Catherine keeps bringing you up and it's driving me nuts. And Martha's like, just block her. Eventually, yeah, I say, Catherine, if you mention me and Martha, one more time, I'm going to block you. And she did. And I said, well, goodbye, Catherine.

By the summer of 2023, Aaron's relationship with Martha had been slowly developing for nearly a year. However, it began to deepen at an exponential rate when Martha snagged Aaron a professional opportunity. The opportunity was a gallery showing of Aaron's paintings, which was a dream come true for Aaron. What really solidified our friendship was she got me my first art show. She introduced me to this gallery owner. I felt kind of indebted at that point. The art show was late August. I posted something about it on Instagram

that I have an art show coming up. I have a friend named Shannon. Shannon went on this girl's trip to Mexico, and she met this girl randomly who also lives in Albuquerque. Her name's Chris. And she was like, hey, my friend just moved to Albuquerque and he's an art show going up.

And she's like, oh, I have a lot of friends that are integrated in the art. out in Albuquerque. Chris and I decide to meet up. From my perspective, again, it's very platonic. I would assume it's platonic on Chris's end as well. And then she's like, hey, you should come to my birthday. I am like soaking up any kind of new connections that I can have out here.

I know that it sounds like I'm hanging out with a lot of people, but it's not, I'm not at all. These are like very sparse moments. So I went to the birthday party who hung out, and then I went home. This is around the time that Martha and are hanging out more regularly. We'll watch movies probably twice a week at this point. I go home after this birthday party and Martha says, So I found out that Jim has seen someone already. I was like, oh, are you okay?

And she was like, no, but do you want to see her? And I was like, sure. She pulls up her Facebook and it's Chris. And I was like, what? I just had to pause for a minute. I was like, there's no way. And she saw my expression. She's like, what, what? And I was like, oh my God, Martha, this is insanity. There's no way that this is real. And she's like, why? What are you talking about? I'm like, that's the girl that I just went to her birthday for. She, like, falls on the floor, kind of like scream crying. I kind of backed into the kitchen.

And I said, Martha, this is a very strange reaction. Like, I know you're upset, but. But this is extreme. She didn't react that way when she was telling me that she found out that Jim has seen someone. She reacted that way when I told her I had just hung out with that person. She's like, I'm sorry, Erin, I'm sorry. It's just, this is crazy. I can't believe you hug out with her and all this stuff.

And I was just like, I mean, I don't have to hang out with her. It was such a weird conflict of interest, and I just didn't understand. Like she was upset that you were friends with her ex's new girlfriend. Yes. The relationship with Chris and you going to her birthday party from your perspective was platonic. Very platonic. I don't really even know this person at all. Like all we did was talk.

She was like, Shannon told me that you need connections out here for your art and film. That's literally what we talked about on our hangout. And then she was like, I'm going to bring people to your art show. And I was like, thanks. It's really nice of you. So after finding out this, I said, Martha, I will try to do some. digging and find out if this is true because she said she found out through one of Jim's co-workers. And I feel bad now because it was kind of nefarious on my end, but I was trying to

figure out what was going on if this was a real thing. I didn't do it like this blatantly. I did it a little bit less on the nose, but I was just like, hey, Chris, I know you mentioned that you were seeing multiple guys, right? And she said, yeah. And I was like, who would you say is like number one you're connected to? And she's like, the one that's the longest is this. And then she said, but the one that I had the most fun with is this. And then there's this other guy that I'm kind of curious and there was this. And she described each of them and what their jobs were. And I was like, oh, okay, that's cool.

Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out because, you know, it's hard to meet people out here and all that stuff. And none of those men were Jim? Yeah, and I brought that up to her. And she was like, no, this girl named Jules who works at the brewery says, like, she's always there on these days and they leave together. That's what Martha said when you follow. up? Yeah. Every lie has a point to it. The Chris one was so strange to me, but now it really makes a lot of sense when I'm retelling it. Because at that moment in time, I'd just gotten over Danny, and I was introduced to this person. She was afraid that this was a new Danny, even though

that's not what was happening. But in her head, she was thinking, oh, Aaron's going to connect with this person. I got to stop it. And then that becomes a huge, weird situation at my art show. because obviously Chris is coming to my art show. At that point, I didn't have a steady job. I was just hoping to sell a couple pieces and maybe get like a name out here in the art community. The art show went, it was great, like a bunch of people came. I sold three pieces, I want to say.

It's crazy because that was like the happiest moment of me in Albuquerque. So Chris shows up and she's very just sweet and normal. The next day, I hear from Martha and she says, Aaron, Chris was so weird to me the whole night. She kept staring at me and giving me evil eyes. And then she told Jim that I was being creepy. Jim drove to the art show, apparently. She's like, I leave the art show. And she's like, I went to Horse and Angels Tavern.

and Jim followed me there with another friend and waited for me to come out after I had a drink or two. I come out and he won't let me get in my car and he's like screaming and yelling at me how awful I am and how awful I made Chris feel. I was like, what is this guy's deal? You guys are divorced.

I was like, I'm so sorry you went through that. I have no idea about any of this because I'm out with my dad and my best friend Tyler that came out to visit me. But this is what Martha's telling you happen. Yeah, the next day. And I basically didn't talk to her for a month. Not because of that, but because I was filming all the time.

Did you talk to Chris about it? No, because I just felt so weird. I didn't want to be in anybody's business or any drama. So I just didn't say anything. And Chris and I weren't close enough to, like, have that conversation, in my opinion. And Chris and I never really hung out after the art show because I started feeling like Chris is like a negative. entity for Martha. And I later asked Chris if she ever hung out with Jim and she was like,

who? I don't even know that brewery exists. I was like, yeah, that's about right. I think Martha was creating a wall between Chris and I just in case there was some form of attraction. I wasn't interested in Chris at all. That could have been a friendship that grew. But anytime I would get close with someone there would become some form of barrier. She was so good at it crafty. It was different tactics for different people. So there was no like consistent tactic where I'd be like, ah, I know this.

This reminds me of that person. Next time on something was wrong. There was periods I would hear about him every day because it was such turmoil going on with the allegations against him. I wake up to my phone, like blowing up. and I have four miss calls and text messages that said Jim found out where I lived. I became extremely concerned for her safety. I forced her to get security cameras.

And then apparently Jim came over and like stole them all. So that really ramped up more things. Thank you to each and every survivor and guest for sharing their experiences with us. Something Was Wrong is a Broken Cycle Media production, created, hosted, and executively produced. by me, Tiffany Reese. Special thank you and shout out to my co-producer, Amy B. Chesler, who also hosts our sister podcast, What Came Next, which you should absolutely check out if you haven't already. Thank you to our social media maven, Lauren Barkman of luxury media, and our glorious graphic

artist, Sarah Stewart. Thank you to our amazing audio team, our head audio engineer, Becca High, with additional editing support by Stephen Wack. Thank you to our behind-the-scenes part. are lawyers, accountants, agents, cybersecurity, delivery workers, and anyone who contributes to the work we do, thank you. Last but certainly not least, thank you for listening. If you want to help support the work we do, you can purchase a sticker from our shop at brokencyclemedia.com

or become a community contributor on Apple Podcasts. Other ways you can help support the show are by leaving us a review or sharing the show with your loved ones. Or, hey, even those you don't love. they might need it most. Until next time, stay safe, friends.