Something Was Wrong - S26 Ep19: Kindness Before the Storm

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

*Content Warning: friendship betrayal, false reporting, fraud, stalking, sexual assault, drug-facilitated sexual assault, 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

If you love Something Was Wrong and you'd like to help support the show, become a community contributor on Apple Podcasts, or purchase a sticker from our shop at brokencyclemedia.com. Thank you so much. Something Was Wrong is intended for mature audiences and includes topics that can be upsetting, so please listen with care. Some names have been changed for safety or anonymity purposes.

Opinions expressed by the guests of the show are their own and don't necessarily represent the views of Broken Cycle Media. sources and resources can be found in the episode notes this podcast in any linked materials or opinion should not be misconstrued as a substitution for legal or medical advice if you're a survivor looking for resources please visit something was wrong.com slash resources thank you so much last time on something was wrong the first week I moved here I got a text message from Martha so I met up with her She says that she just went through a divorce because she found out that her ex-husband, Jim, is a pedophile. I felt like maybe she could have had an inkling of having feelings for me. I was just trying to make it clear that I was not interested. 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. 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. What really solidified our friendship was she got me my first art show. She introduced me to this gallery owner. She's like, Jim drove to the art show. 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. There was several instances where she would call me randomly and be like, oh, I just ran into Jim and he was verbally assaulting me. That happened spaced out, but a lot over this period of time. Despite the chaos involving Jim and Martha, as fall set in and the holiday season neared, Aaron continued to ride the success of his art show. In September, he booked several acting gigs and felt positive about his future. Then came October.

September, I'm filming three projects that I booked, including a commercial for Visit Albuquerque. They paid us basically to do fun things. in Albuquerque and film it. It was like the peak of what I was hoping Albuquerque would be. When you're on a movie set, everyone's like, for the most part, jovial and excited and happy,

and it feels like this camaraderie and you're making something together. And I did that the whole month of September, and it felt so amazing. I was on such a high from the art show and the filming and everything. And then October hit, and it was like nothing.

I had no prospects. I had no job. I had no girlfriend. I had no friends besides Martha again. To go from being around people 24-7 in a very loving way to go to nothingness, it like hits you really hard. So October, I was really depressed. As life settled and Aaron returned to a more isolated day-to-day existence, Martha reported

the investigation into Jim was heightening. She began reaching out to Aaron and asking for his company. If Aaron was with her, chances of Jim showing up seemed to be slimmer. It's around October, fall of 2023, that she tells you that there's more potential FBI investigations into Jim. Yes. Do you recall her telling you how she learned that information? One random day, she's like, Aaron, look, look. She pulls up her phone.

It's the ring camera on her old house. She's like, the FBI came to investigate, and there was a bunch of dudes. with badges and vests, show me the video. So it was very convincing, whatever it was. And I was like, wow, that's crazy. So he's actually being investigated. She's like, yeah, he wasn't home, though. Because they, like, sold the house,

but it was not fully transitioned yet, or something like that. He was still there. I don't remember exactly when she showed me that video. But I know that in October, things were ramping up with an investigation on him. That's when Martha changes her story a little bit to be like, well,

he's starting to be investigated for child molestation stuff. This is at the time where Martha and I get really, really close. She says that she really wants to hang out with me, go do something fun in Santa Fe, because it's the anniversary of her and Jim's marriage, and she just wanted to have a fun day and not think about it. So I was there for her, and we hung out. And that started the series of us doing things.

Before we were just like audition and watch a movie, and now it's like we're actually going to start doing things. And I want to be very clear at this moment in time, I think that was a very vulnerable time for me that Martha pounced on. And that's when we started doing those day trips, you know, like fun stupid stuff here and there, once a week maybe. I believe it's around this time that Martha tells you that her friends have introduced her to a handsome doctor.

What do you recall about that? She said that she's getting text messages from this guy. He was a doctor. I was like, hell yeah. Go for it. They went on a date. After the day, she came over, and she was like, look at his text messages that he's sending me.

And they were like all hateful messages, like all this crowd about her being ugly. And he's like an amazing doctor. She doesn't even deserve him and all this stuff. And I was like, wow, what a jerk. Well, you dodged a bullet. it, I guess, huh? She's like, yeah. Do you think now in hindsight that it was some sort of mechanism for her?

Oh, yeah. It's weird retelling this. I'm putting like weird little motives behind each lie. As I'm telling you right now, I'm like, oh, that's why she did that. Oh, that's why she did this. Did Martha share anything with you about Jim and their history? Aaron actually talked about this all the time. Here's Tyler. There was periods I would hear about him every day.

because it was such turmoil going on with the allegations against him. When I was there in town one time, she showed me an email. She was like, wait till you see this email that he sent me. I forgot exactly what she said. She was like, I was trying to get something back from him, or like I needed a letter for something. I just wanted him to send it to me. And then look what he wrote back.

And he called her a cunt like 50 times or something in this email. It was a lot, being like you're an ugly, fat bitch. Nobody would ever want to be with you. I can't believe that you're still alive. And he just went out a tyrant. And then she responded back, really polite. And was like, look at how good I am compared to this guy. Obviously, that's not a real email.

At the time, I was like, that's so cool that you were able to keep a level head and be able to respond like that. A lot of people wouldn't be able to read something like that and respond so kind and, like, direct. She was like, I'm working on being more directed with him and not allowing this behavior. I heard about Jim all the time. But also I heard about him from,

her. Did you go to Catherine and Brian's wedding with Martha? October was the month of their wedding. I blocked her and I was like, Martha, is it so cool if I come? And she was like, yeah, Catherine apologized. She feels really bad, but it's not going to be an issue because you're my plus one and it's going to be fine. So we were shooting to go. That's when Martha tells me, oh, Catherine called off the wedding and Brian's devastated and he's going to on his honeymoon with their mutual friend. How does that progress? Do you talk to Catherine again?

So she does text me from a new number at some point. Aaron received a text from Catherine on October 21st, 2023. The message was sent to both Aaron and Martha in a group chat. Catherine wrote, I was getting married today. Martha replied, Oh, sweet friend, I have been thinking about you all day. be gentle with yourself. We are all just humans trying to do the best we can every day.

Love you. I'm at a friend's birthday party, but call if you need and I can step out. Aaron replied, agreed, go easy on yourself. For whatever reason, timing wasn't right. Doesn't mean it won't happen. There wasn't a response again in the thread until November 6th, 2023, when Catherine wrote, I'm sorry, I'll leave you both alone.

I sacrifice so much for others like my career. It's time for self-care. Brian comes back from his non-honeymoon, and they try to work it out because Catherine feels terrible. And so they reconnect. At some point, they do just their own wedding. They just go to, like, the courthouse and get married by themselves. Around the time of their canceled wedding,

the escalating FBI investigation and Jim's alleged increasing harassment, Martha told Aaron that her friend David had been diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, David was losing this battle. Martha told Aaron she had become a support person for David, who was a very close friend of hers, and that she regularly visited him where he lived nearly 220 miles away. She brings up a friend named David who's dying of cancer. I never met David.

He lives in Los Cruz. and she would drive to Las Cruces and go to his appointments with him. They would go on hikes together because she just wanted to be there for him because he's going through a lot. Martha was never dating him. David apparently had these feelings for her. So on her birthday, David does this big thing at the restaurant where he like expresses his love for her and she doesn't feel the same way and he gets really upset and leaves.

I continue to hear about this guy. At some point, he does die of cancer, but I think he dies at a very specific time. As Aaron shared, timing seems to be the essence in nearly all of Martha's stories. Speaking of timing, Aaron reports that the first time Martha spoke of her romantic feelings towards him was about one week after her birthday dinner, the same dinner at which David had allegedly expressed his feelings for Martha. Like a week after her birthday, she does finally confide

that she has feelings for me. I'm like, I'm so sorry I don't feel that way in any capacity, nor do I see that changing ever. I think that we should probably not hang out if that's the situation because I don't want you to be hurting or feel uncomfortable

that I don't feel the same way. If you have feelings for me, that's going to make things very complicated. and she's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I love the way things are going. I understand that you don't like me like that. I want to keep our friendship going. This is my cross to bear.

She would always say that. I'll deal with it and it'll be fine. We can still be friends and still have our connection as is. And I was like, are you sure? Because I'm going to be talking about other women that I'm interested in. And if that's going to be a problem, I don't want to hurt your feelings. And she's like, no, no, no, it's all. me, please, I want you to feel comfortable talking to me about anyone, and this is just a thing

that I had to get off my chest, and now I can move on. Here's Maria. She started sharing so much with me all the time, so I was trying to be a good friend and being confident. She was like, I have a confession to make. I'm in love with Erin. I think we started hanging out maybe September, and then she shared that in November or December. I was like, oh, does he know that?

You know, I just kind of talked to her about it. How does he feel? I didn't mention too much to Aaron. I think I did mention at one point because he brought it up that Martha had told him that she had a big crush on him. And then I was like, oh, well, how do you feel? He's like, well, I've only had completely platonic feelings for her. So, you know, I just let her know that was that. Over time, I was less than Aaron's friend, and I was seemingly more of her friend.

and I had all of her secrets. I just distanced myself a little bit more from Erin because it was really awkward for me. She would tell me about actually Aaron's coming around. He said that we're soulmates. He said just give him some time.

She was painting a picture like, we actually held hands last night. But I never heard any of it from Aaron because I talked to him less about his personal life, you know, because I didn't want to get in the middle of it so much. And did that continue to ask? escalate in terms of how the relationship was being portrayed to you? Oh yeah, I kept escalating.

But then you would tell me stories. Erin had another girl and she would share a picture of the girl with me. You're like, I don't have a chance. She's so much prettier, blah, blah, blah. Weird things like that. I'd like to thank our sponsors for making today's episode possible. Changing your relationship with nicotine is a big deal. And I think people deserve practical support, not just,

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off. Exclusions apply. As 2023 came to an end and the holidays were in full swing, neither Aaron nor Martha were seriously dating anyone. They both planned to return to their small hometown to celebrate with their respective families. They decided to make the trek together since the drive was a couple of hours and they both needed a place to stay. We both have family in the same small town. My grandma, which is one of the reasons why I moved out here to Albuquerque. My grandma has dementia and my parents are taking care of her. My brother lives in Minnesota and he has five kids. He can't just drop everything coming out to help if there's a situation. It made sense that I came to Albuquerque because my family was three hours away and

if there was an emergency, I could be there from my parents to help out with my grandma. And at this point in time, my mom didn't really love us staying at the house because my grandma would like wake up in the middle of night and open doors and try to leave the house. So they had to like put a locking mechanism on the door and everything. And my brother decided not to come that year. And I was like, well, where am I going to stay? I had no job at the moment. And Martha was like, well, you just stay at the hotel. I get this hotel every time. I go down there. They have like my room. I was like, okay, cool. Yeah. Is there two queens? And she said, yeah, yeah, yeah, which doesn't really make sense anymore if she was staying there by herself to have two queens, but that's her regular room, apparently.

We get there, and she comes out from the check-in, and she said, oh, Aaron, there's an issue, like, they don't have my regular room, so there's only this one room with a king bed. And I was like, okay, we'll do a pillow wall, you know, and we literally did that. I did a pillow wall. And so we stayed three nights, I think. And the last night, there was a moment where she reached around and started to like cuddle me. All I did was just move away extremely quickly. The next morning she brought up, she's like, hey, I feel like I might have tried to cuddle you last night.

I'm so sorry. I think I was just half awake and thinking I was like in bed with gym. It was just like a weird moment. And I think my reaction looking back was too chill. And I was like, ah, it's okay, you know, whatever, not a big deal. I just rolled away from you. Looking back, I should have had a much firmer response in that situation. But that was the moment that I think things really changed.

And I think her brain started spinning ideas of how can I get this to happen? I wasn't connecting any of the dots yet. When you spend so much time with someone and all you, know of them is this mother Teresa figure who delivers burritos to the homeless and then she also worked at a soup kitchen she helped this old neighbor with his garbage every Wednesday even though she didn't live by him so the only really like troubling thing was the idea that she expressed romantic feelings and I said I'm not interested going into 2024 January and February is really when there's a huge shift. The last three months, I was kind of depressed because financial purposes

and creative purposes, there was a strike. I think I was just kind of like, what do I do now? What's the next move? I just got a job and it didn't start until January. As far as like Martha and I's friendship apart from her expressing her feelings and I told her no, I felt okay about everything. January or maybe early February, she reached out to all. my friends and got them to write notes of positive memories that they have of me. And it was a very sweet gesture. It was Alex and Martha doing this for me. It was presented to me like, this is what we did. Martha did the legwork. Alex also got me some gifts with it. So it was like a dual thing almost. I was really grateful for her for doing that, but I was more focused on

the kind words. Here's Rob. I do remember being slightly concerned for him. If you're not careful in this day and age, I think you can isolate yourself. I'd check in and see how he was doing. He's like, I'm doing okay, but I could tell maybe he wasn't doing all that great. When do you recall Aaron first talking with you about Martha? She didn't talk to me about her. I suddenly got a message from her on Facebook, which I almost never check.

It says hi, Rob. This is Martha, and I'm a friend of Aaron's. I was a childhood friend of his, and now we have reconnected in Albuquerque. I know you are a super important friend in his life, so I wanted to reach out to you. I'm putting together a little motivation jar for Aaron. I think it may help him refine his passion slash drive with tangible reminders from friends who admire and believe in him. My thought was that he could pull them out and read them whenever he needs or want. wants a little lift. If you're willing, would you please message me one to three

compliments or motivators for Aaron, things you love about him, admire about him, et cetera? Please write your name at the bottom and I'll put it out and pop it in a jar. Please don't tell him I'm hoping to make this a surprise gift. So I got that message. I didn't even know. I got a text message almost at the same time saying basically the same thing. From a number I didn't know because I didn't know her and I looked at it and then I saw that I had a message on Facebook. I didn't say anything to Aaron. It's supposed to be a surprise.

Why would I ask about this girl unless she had reached out to me first? So I didn't say anything at first. I said, this sounds really nice. I'd be happy to do that. I don't know who you are, but I looked on her Facebook page, and she was friends with Aaron. And there was no reason for me to believe what she was doing was disingenuous.

Your antenna goes up when somebody just reaches out to you and asks for such a personal thing. But I don't remember having any issue with it. So I wrote a few things that might motivate him or make him feel good so he could get to writing and whatever he needed. I might have asked her a few clarifying questions. And we went back and forth a little bit. But I remember feeling like this was a thing that somebody was trying to do for him that was nice. And so I went ahead and did it. it. After it was done, I think I did two things. One is, before I sent it, I just couldn't help myself. And I said, hey, I don't mean to be rude, but Aaron never mentioned you. I'm going to be honest, this just sounds like something a girlfriend would do. Are you two dating? And she said, no, she's just a dear friend. And I said, okay, great. And I sent it off. And then once she presented him with the jar, I reached out to him and said, Martha reached out.

to me. What is the deal? Are you two in some kind of relationship? Is everything good? It occurred to me that maybe she had feelings for him, but it wasn't reciprocated, or I probably would have heard about her previously. I just wanted to let him know. I didn't know her, but I was like, this is a really nice thing that a person would do for you. I mean, if you have any inclination that you could want a relationship. And he was like, no, we are just friends. And then she sent me a text. She said that he was having a hard time. She made tacos for him or something and left them at his apartment.

They're like individually wrapped, almost meal-prepped tacos with like cute little notes on them. Far be it for me to say what people's relationships are, I just said, that's really nice of you to do. That was the extent of it. As far as I was told from him, everything was good until it wasn't. She was definitely integrating herself into my circle. After she presented this jar of positive, happy thoughts from everyone, I got some people like, Richelette, like, oh, who's this person? She's so sweet and kind.

And I was like, I know. It was such a thoughtful thing to do when I was feeling kind of alone and down creatively. They were like, so what's the deal? I was like, no, no. just a friend. And they're like, okay, cool. Well, she sounds very sweet and nice. And I was like, yes, she is. She is very much so that. By November of 2023, Aaron's friend Zach and his fiance Ashley had moved to Albuquerque. Zach eventually introduced his fiance, Ashley, to Martha and Aaron, and the four got along well. Ashley was a bit more introverted than Martha, but the two

women both had backgrounds in psychology and found plenty in common. They exchanged numbers and began forming a friendship independent of Zach and Aaron. Ashley soon began asking Zach if Aaron and Martha were dating. Zach kiboshed the idea, but Ashley seemed pretty persistent about their romantic potential. In retrospect, Aaron recognizes that Martha constructed a similar romantic narrative with as many people in his world as possible. Zach and his fiancé Ashley moved to Albuquerque. they get a place that's pretty close to me,

and they just start inviting me over. I'd gotten so accustomed to hanging out with Martha and watching movies. I was like, hey, is it cool, Martha joins? And they're like, yeah, of course, more than Marrier. So Martha and I go over there, and Ashley and Martha become fast friends, just like how Zach and I did. We would have game nights and movie nights, all the four of us. I would always bring up the idea of someone that I might be interested,

So that it was very clear that this is not a double date situation. This is just four friends hanging out and two happen to be engaged. And I'd bring up like I'm on the dating nap and all the stuff and I'm looking forward to this or that or whatever with someone else. It was just fun and chill and Ashley and Martha were getting along and it was good to have Zach back because I missed him. We couldn't hang out all the time because, you know, we all had different schedules. But for the most part, we would at least hang out like once a week, I feel like. But she was definitely getting closer to Zach and Ashley, mainly Ashley. At the beginning of 2024, Aaron continued to introduce Martha to his friends.

Aaron was excited to introduce Martha to one of his closest friends, Alex. Alex's first impression of Martha was that she was angelic, timid, sweet, and altruistic. One of Alex's earliest memories of Martha was that she suggested putting scarves on all the statues around town. so if a passerby was cold, they could take it. She was constantly doing things like that, according to Alex. At the beginning of 2024, Alex began staying at Aaron's place. Around that time, his financial situation had become dire. He owed hundreds of dollars to repair his car

and had not been paid a lot of commission at his job that he had been promised. To help him out, Martha gave him several hundred dollars to help with his car repairs. Eventually, Martha would even admit to Alex that, she had funded a few friends' purchases of Aaron's paintings. She said she did so secretly so that Aaron could feel more pride in his work. She begged Alex to not share the information with Aaron. Martha also told Aaron that she had taken on a supplemental gig that had paid her $1,000 a day, so it wasn't a huge burden to fund these things.

Alex was single, and so was his friend Christina. Aaron, Alex, Christina, and Christina's friend all decided they wanted to forge a friend's group, like that and the TV show Friends. The four of them started spending more time together, which also helped lift Aaron's spirits and expanded his social life. Eventually, Alex would have a conversation with Aaron about Martha and even encouraged him to try dating her. He thought Aaron dating Martha, despite her not being his regular type,

could be a good thing. But Aaron insisted she was meant to be a friend. Alex was in a bit of a pinch situation. Alex started crashing at my place late January, and he was there for like two months, I think. You'd sleep in the living room. Alex's friend, Christina, and me and Martha, we would just hang out occasionally. Christina showed interest in me. I thought I was attractive, and she was like, we should hang out sometime.

And I told Martha this, because why wouldn't I? Once she found out that Christina might be interested, that's when things took a turn. she said me and Christina are becoming closer friends and she's very intense. She texts me way too much all day, every day, and she thinks we're like besties. And then at some point she was like, Christina is really crazy. She's going to quit her job. And then she quit her job. And then she was at a new place and the new boss is being creepy towards her.

And then she started getting really mean to Martha. Martha, she started to show me text messages from her being really mean. And I was like, that's so messed up. And that's where I was like, okay, well, I'm done with this person. So I blocked her contact and blocked her on social media. In February of 2024, Martha continued to ammesh herself in Aaron's friend group

by planning a birthday trip for him. Here's Tyler. Martha texted me. She said, I want to do something really special for Aaron's birthday. and I don't know what it is, but I just know that he would love to see you and that he misses you so much. And I thought it would be really special if you could come out and I would fly you out as my gift to him. And she had a lot of credit card points. So she used credit card points to do that.

She was coming across really generous and sweet. Had Aaron ever mentioned to you any awkwardness around feeling like she had feelings for him and it wasn't reciprocated? Yeah, we had talked about that early on, like when they first were hanging out, I think. She had expressed that she was interested romantically in him and that he told her that he wasn't. And then he told her, like, I'm just not ever going to feel that way about you, but you are a really close friend to me. And I would love to maintain that friendship if you're comfortable with that. But if you're not, then that's the end of that. Essentially, she was like, what do you want to do for your birthday?

And I was like, what I used to do in L.A. was rent a cabin in the mountains in Big Bear with all my friends. Whoever can come, come. And so I invited a few people that I knew out here, and we booked a cabin. That was going to happen the following weekend. We had Lord Huron tickets, who's, like, one of my favorite artists, and I have never seen him live. She was like, I have an actual surprise for you. And then all of a sudden, in walks in Tyler, and she, like, purchased his plane ticket and went and picked him up. It was really cool.

It was just a lot of kindness before the storm. We all went to the concert together, and Tyler couldn't stay long. He only stayed like a day or two, and he flew back. Then we went to the cabin in Santa Fe. It wasn't a cabin. I don't know why I'm saying cabin, but it was like a big house up in the mountains. Alex was there and invited Jeddus and Alicia and a few other people. It wasn't like a couple's trip, you know.

It was like we're just all hanging out. It was a really fun time. But at some point, Ashley started making suggestions about like, you don't really need to look for a girl when you already have a perfect girl in front of you. We were all in the hot tub at this point, and I just remember being like, no, I'm good. And was Martha there when Ashley said that? I don't think she was listening to the situation. But I feel like she definitely said it like in proximity to her.

And it really just rubbed me the wrong way. And so I just got out of the hot tub and went to bed. I felt bad the next day. And I just felt like Martha was trying to push this as like a romantic trip or something. at this point, Ashley is hearing a different narrative than what Zach is hearing. They're having disagreements on the situation because I'm very transparent and I tell everyone that Martha is just my friend. And there was one night at my bar where Zach and Ashley were there with a bunch of friends and I guess there was a girl that found me attractive and she went up to

Ashley and was like, hey, I noticed you guys talking to the bargeant. Do you guys know him? and they were like, yeah. She's like, can you put in like a good word for me or something like that? And Ashley quickly was like, he's taken. And Zach was like, what? And he mentioned that to me that night. And so the next day I was like, hey, Martha, what the hell is the deal with Ashley getting the idea that we're in a relationship or something? She's like, I never said that.

I was like, okay, well, can you make it very clear to Ashley that we're not? And she's like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so sorry. I'd like to thank our sponsors for making today's episode possible. Chime is changing the way people bank. Unlike traditional banks that can pile on fees, chime offers no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance fees. You can get 5% cash back with Chime card in a category you choose,

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rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Wayfair, every style, every home. As Aaron attempted to conserve his deepening friendship with Martha, yet still maintain other close friendships, the balance was difficult to maintain, especially as Martha's reports of alleged harassment by her ex-husband Jim continued to escalate over time. Jim and Jim's friend would run into Martha randomly, wherever she would go.

I was always at work when these situations would occur, and she would reach out to me. There was one time where Jim's friend approached her, yelling at her, calling her every name, and she was with a guy who defended her and, like, punched him. And then there was like the whole police report. She showed me a photo of them altogether. Not Jim and Jim's friend, but like the group that she was with that night,

she pointed out the guy who punched him. I was like, man, I want to buy that guy a drink. She claimed that she never really thought Jim would ever get violent towards her, but she was always worried that Jim's friend would do something violent towards her. That's when one night things dramatically changed. So we were hanging out. She goes home and I pass out. And then 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. So I dart out of bed. I happen to own a couple, like, knives. I have a scuba knife and like this machete I would take camping. So I was like, Alex, and I like toss the machete on his bed. I'm like, dude, I may need you. Martha's in trouble. She's freaking out.

I'm going over there right now to check it out. I will call you if I need you. And he's like, what is happening? I was like, I'm in the same boat as you. What is happening? So I drive over there and I'm calling and she's not answering. And I'm parked outside. She calls me back and she says, hey, everything's fine.

I'm just a little shooking up. Jim found out where I lived. She said, I pulled up to the house and I didn't see his car. It's raining that night. I get out and I start walking to the door. He is now out of his car and he's walking towards me in the rain. And she's like, Jim, what are you doing? And he said, checkmate gets in his car and drives away.

Obviously, it's a terrifying story, right? But I also was like, what? Is he like a Bond villain? Who says that? Checkmate. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. So whenever I would tell anyone that story, even when I believed it to be true, I would like laugh at that part.

I'm like, this guy's a joke. Once this situation happened, it really escalated our connection because I became extremely concerned for her safety. So I forced her to get security cameras. I would go over there after work and just do a drive-by. I became a bit obsessive about the cameras because she linked it to my phone as well. And they kept going out all the time. And I was like, why these keep going out? And then apparently Jim came over and like stole them all.

So that really ramped up more things. And there was times where he came over and would bang on the windows with his friends. They would go drink and then he would come over and bang on their windows and door and like scream at her and call her names. They would hop the fence and like go in the backyard. And these were all weird moments that happened over the course over two months. I was just like, how do I stop this guy? I'm going to go confront him. and she said, no, that'll exacerbate things.

Because he was claiming that she was stalking him. I think at one point he got a restraining order on her, and she did a reverse restraining order. If I approached him and said, dude, back off, that would give him more ammunition to be like, she's even sending friends over to my work to stop me. She infiltrated my coworker, buddy. We were working one night.

I didn't hear from her. Me and my co-bartender, we were walking out, and he was like, hey, man, I wasn't going to say anything, but I feel like it's important to tell you. Martha's been texting me tonight, and Jim, like, went over and did some crazy shit. So I ran to my car, and I drove there, and I was like, all right, I guess you're standing in my house tonight. It started to just become exhausting. It was fueled by anger at first, and then I remember just really hoping that she got a boyfriend Were you ever encouraging her to go to the police? She said, we have a restraining order.

That's great. We got the restraining order. Report them. But because she's crafty, she created Jim's friend, who's now the aggressor. And Jim stayed across the street. It's just funny. Like, whatever narrative that needed to work for the situation would be created. Are you talking about this with any of your friends at the time?

I would talk about Jim stalking her. I probably mentioned how it's stressing me out. Over his time living with Aaron, Alex witnessed a lot of Aaron's stress over Jim. He saw Aaron vigilantly protect Martha amidst alleged threat after threat. Alex heard many stories about Jim's alleged pedophilia and the FBI investigation. As time went on, the stakes seemed to rise in terms of Jim's alleged threats and Martha's feared. Aaron's protective nature only grew as well. It started, like, really messing me up.

I was always on edge, and I started drinking more than I normally do, and not taking care of myself. It was definitely started getting really dark really quickly. I started having her crash her every so often because I couldn't sleep, because I was so worried. Plus, she wanted to crash her, I think, sometimes, too. You know, I'd do, like, the pillow fort thing. because Alex is in my living room, there's not really anywhere else to crash.

I thought about sleeping on the floor or something, but we'd just be watching TV and eventually get tired. She would occasionally try to cuddle me. I remember one time she tried to cuddle me and I jetted her off. And she got up and started crying, screaming at me, and then left. And then I felt so guilty and mean, even though I'm like, why do I feel guilty about not wanting to be touched by someone I don't want to be touched by. There was one night where we were drinking and I crashed. I woke up with her on top of me. If she did have underwear, it was slid over.

She was fully riding me. The second I woke up and realized what was happening, I just felt shame. It was such a weird feeling because I immediately was like, what did I do? I did something wrong. I did something terrible. And I closed my eyes while it was happening. Whenever she was done, I just rolled over away from her. I have a king-sized bed. I was like all the way, like almost falling off. Anytime she would crash her, I slept all the way to the left side.

But this situation happened three times in like a month span. To your recollection, it was like you literally fall asleep to a movie and then you wake up to that happening. Yep. And the other two times we would be on the couch and I'd end up in my bed somehow. And you don't remember going to the bed. Never. There's no recollection of me going into bed. There's a possibility that she was slipping me something. I had bruises sometimes. There was other times where I would always end up in my bed whenever we would crash in the living room and I didn't know how I got there. It was three times that I recall when this occurred. But there was times where maybe something happened when I was asleep those times.

I don't know. But I would wake up with bruises and I always thought that was kind of strange. Or like a sore back, like I got punched in the back. There was one night where I was making drinks and I jacked at my arm just by shaking, which, again, I kind of look back and I feel like it's from possibly her dragging me. I don't think she could completely lift me into my bed, but there was, I think, her moving me to a location. I got this clear ice maker. It's kind of hard to, like, pull the ice out. I remember after my arm getting jacked up, she had to pull the ice out, and she was really weird about it. She kept seeing like,

oh my gosh, this is so hard to do. You're so much stronger than me. Looking back, I'm like, is she trying to show that she's such a meat? character. I know that sounds kind of paranoid, but it's just a thought that I had to post all this. To be clear, you didn't suspect that she was potentially using drugs to facilitate this until much later. Yeah, I did not. I had a conversation with her the next day of that first one, and I said that can never happen again. And she's like, okay, I understand. You're right. And then I think we even did one of our weird walks in the park where I always tell her that's not what I want. I didn't talk about it the second time. And then the third time, I woke up and I was just so upset. And I said,

I don't care how much we drink. That can never happen again. It's the opposite of what I ever want from you. I don't know how it occurs, but it's got to stop. And she agreed. Do you recall if you said to her, like, I woke up and this was happening? No. I felt like it was my fault for some reason. After that third time and we had that long conversation, to me it felt like we're good. Because I don't think we had that conversation ever again. I'm so sorry that that happened. I know one of the things that can be really confusing for all survivors of sexual assault, specifically male survivors, they could still have some of the same sexual responses that would be typical in a consent. exchange, but the consent isn't there because of our body's natural responses to stimuli. It can be extremely confusing to sexual assault victims when they feel that potentially their body responding to the assault a certain way could be sending the sign of consent or

they feel guilty because they feel like that was somehow a sign of consent when that's not the case. Thank you so much for explaining all that. I was shocked that when I woke up and I felt so gross and shameful, that it continued to sustain. It was very weird for me. You know, there's a part of me that thinks maybe she was mixing several things into things. Was there anyone in your life that you shared this with at the time?

No, because I was embarrassed and felt shame. I didn't mention any of the essay stuff. I even struggled to call it that. I think it's important for the listeners to remember that in addition to trying to navigate and process these sexual assaults and potential drug-facilitated sexual assaults, you're also dealing with all this gym stuff and all of the threats. Everything that's going on in your life is really starting to drive you towards her.

I'm so exhausted at this point. Not taking care of myself. I'm constantly stressed out. I was drinking way too much, and I just was not in a good headspace, and my logic was just super out of it, too. And I said, I can't keep doing this. You need to reach out to other friends.

I can't have you stay over here. I need my own space. She would do that really guilt, trippy thing, like break down. And that's fine, that's fine. I understand. It would hurt really badly. I felt like I was turning away my sister in a time of need. So it was super difficult to do that.

But I knew that I had to because if it continued down the road, I was going to die. While Aaron continued to do his nightly safety rounds, send daily texts, and constantly worry about Martha's safety, Martha's generosity continued as well. Aaron originally saw Martha's giving nature as kindness. In retrospect, Aaron shared that he wondered if she was using gifts as social currency. In early 2024, directly after Aaron's alleged sexual assaults by Martha, she bought him a large present. She would do things that made you feel indebted. She always put stuff at my front door.

I always like, stop doing that, Martha. Like, you don't have to do that. She's like, it's just a little thing. It's not a big deal. She still had her wedding ring and she was like, I'm debating on selling it. I was like, I'm surprised you haven't sold it already. This guy's a monster. He's literally a stalking, vile human who is also a pedophile.

I was like, you should get rid of that thing. This one time she gave me a laptop and I said, no, there's no way I'm accepting that. She said, I sold the ring and you were a big factor of that. So this is my gift for pushing me to do that. She said, sit on it for a couple days and then let me know. I think, and I accepted it, which I regret. Also at this time, in March, the FBI investigation was ramping up. I think it's a sister and brother-in-law had claims about their daughter coming forward

and saying that Jim molested her. I was like, this guy is so sick. I was just wanting to run into this guy, and I didn't even know what I would do. there was a couple instances where she saw his car outside. I was starting to do nightly patrols while we were hanging out. She would continue to watch whatever we were watching, and I would go walk the parking lot three times a night. Because I was like, if we catch him,

he's not abiding by the restrained order, and he can go to jail, which is what was my hope. So I would do that, like, every night. The rising drama relating to Jim and Martha continued for Aaron. In April of 2024, Aaron was reconnected to Martha's friend Brian. Brian had reached out to Aaron via text as his own life seemingly imploded. Aaron recognizes the texts were sent to him at a deeply interesting time as well. He had received them while Martha was allegedly out of town in Los Cruces, visiting David,

her friend who had cancer. Aaron's time was almost entirely consumed by relationships he had formed through Martha. Brian has at some point, right before this, found Catherine was cheating on him through a Zoom thing, and he like walked in on her being sexual with a camera to some guy in Hawaii, because she would frequently go out there. Now that Catherine and Brian are starting to separate and go through a divorce, he reaches out to me, and he starts being like, hey, Aaron, it's Brian. I know we've met a couple times.

I just found out all the stuff. And I, of course, I heard from Martha about it as well before he texted me. He's like, I'm sure you heard, you know, I'm going through this thing. I need to get your perspective. There's this girl named Hannah that I used to date, but I didn't think she was as attractive as Catherine. And so I chose Catherine over her. He was like, Hannah was the one that was my best friend.

You think there's a possibility that we should reconnect? Is it okay? Like, am I doing a bad thing? and I said, if you and Catherine are splitting up and she cheated on you, I think it's well within your right to start thinking about Hannah. But I also want to stress, don't move quickly. Like, you should heal and process your emotions. At one point amidst the thread about his own failed marriage,

Brian texted Aaron, quote, people in arranged marriages end up with deep committed lifetime loves more often than in our society, which has the highest divorce and breakup rates because of relationships built on sparks that fade, end quote. Brian then went on to write, I want Martha to be with a man who wakes up in the morning next to that beautiful woman and can't wait to spend another day with her,

in which Aaron replied, I mean, I'm like that but without the romantic aspect. I love hanging out with her. Brian responded, I think you could have it all with her is what I'm saying. I see it clearly with you. you too, man. Years down the road, total happiness. But I also don't want to push you. You've got to

do it your way. There was even one point where he's like, I also have like this crush on Martha. I think I'm going to send her a letter. What do you think about that? I was like, I'm not sure that she feels that way, but who knows? Maybe putting your words on paper could change things. supposedly sent her a package with a letter confessing his feelings to her. Because of course, every man in her life is in love with her in her world. So even though you met Brian in real life, you didn't really discuss these personal issues that were happening over text and things the same way in person.

Yeah, and plus Martha was there kind of controlling the conversation. Brian came out one time and before I met up with them, She was like, don't bring up Catherine because he's really hurting and he doesn't want to talk about it. I'd also like to a degree, these are private conversations that Brian and I had. So I didn't know what degree Martha knew about Hannah and I didn't want to bring it up in front of her if he didn't share that stuff with her. If Brian and I went off and did our own thing, that'd be a different story, but we never did. And did Brian ask you not to share it with other people? I don't remember if he did or not.

It felt like he was being very vulnerable with me, though. Even if he didn't, I'm not a person who likes to gossip. I think she knew that too at this point. She knew so much about me and how I operated. She could probably anticipate how I'd respond to a certain situation. As their worlds continued to overlap more and more, Aaron had to continue to establish more boundaries with Martha. He also had to remind her more than once

that their connection was a platonic one. In May of 2024, Martha had flowers delivered to Aaron's mom on Mother's Day. Aaron found the gesture to be invasive and unnerving. May 24, my mom text me. She was like, oh, your friend Martha put flowers at our doorstep. It's a small town, so it's not that crazy to find out where people live, but it really weirded me out.

I told Martha, don't ever do anything like that again. I appreciate the gesture. It was coming from a good place, but it weirds me out. She apologized, and she's like, okay,

I won't do stuff like that again. I was like, cool, but it was like her trying to win over my parents or something. And at this point, my parents thought she was amazing because she got me the art show.

In my mom's mind, she was like, you have to thank Martha for everything that's happening to you out there. I was like, yeah, you don't know what else is happening, but yeah, Martha's amazing, but also I don't like her sending you flowers. How did Martha try to justify it to you, if at all? She was just like, I just wanted to do something kind. Since we're so close, it just felt like a normal thing to do. I was like, it's not normal. It felt really weird to me. It made me very uncomfortable.

She's like, I'm really sorry. It won't happen again. I was like, cool. By mid-May of 2024, Aaron was spending a great deal of his energy caring for Martha and her circle. Whether it was being a safety resource for Martha or a shoulder for Brian to lean on, Aaron admits he was being worn thin by the emotional demands. Around this time, Martha told Aaron that she met a man named Michael. It felt like relatively perfect timing for Martha to be distracted. She tells me that he, Facebook requested her. He starts to text her a lot.

And I'm like, hell yeah. Sounds like a nice guy. Go for it. She's like, I'm not interested in him, but he's really nice. I was like, maybe something will blossom. Anytime that she met a guy, I'd always push her to go for it. And then she would be like, no, I don't know, Aaron. Like, he's not really my thing or he's kind of weird.

She kind of said that Michael was a little weird, a little obsessive. One day, she was like, Michael wrote me a couple songs, and she sent them to me. I'm just like a film and music nerd. I click on one of them. I'm like, that sounds like a Super Mario video game. I never pinned it. But then the second one I listened to, it was clearly a Siguross song.

This is definitely not Michael's doing. She was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you caught that. I actually liked that band. I don't know how I didn't catch that. And I was like, it's one of their more popular songs, too. So I don't know what's going on. I was like, Michael's a liar. And so she confronted him and he apologized and said, I'm sorry, I just wanted to impress you or something.

And I was like, this guy's kind of weird, dude. I don't know, but please go after him. You really needed a break from her at this point. And the responsibility feeling? I did, yeah. It was pretty extreme. Next time on something was wrong. So eventually she decided to move out.

She was looking at three apartment complexes, and mine was actually doing a special deal. So she did move it in mine. Now I'm starting to get hit up by the CFO and the CEO of the company. And they're like, we love the scripts. We're trying to get a pitch package together to pitch it to Sony. He kicked me with, you're not going to believe all this shit. He was getting interest from this production company for his script. I spent almost $1,000 on different things for this movie that didn't exist.

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. Chessler, who also hosts our sister podcast What Came Next, which you should absolutely check out if you. 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 partners, our 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 brokencyclomedia.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.