Something Was Wrong - S26 Ep8: Chapter 2: The Lore

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

*Content Warning: friendship betrayal, fraud, stalking, factitious disorder, staged pregnancy, pregnancy loss, miscarriage, mature themes, false reporting, sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence. 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 Chapter 2 trailer *Content Warning: friendship betrayal, fraud, stalking, factitious disorder, faked pregnancy, pregnancy loss, miscarriage, mature themesFree + 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

In Chapter 2, survivors Daniel and Summer share about their most unique college experience, their relationship with their former friend Allison. When Summer and Daniel began college, it was an opportunity to expand their education, learn about themselves, and forge lasting friendships. The duo connected over shared interests, values, and sense of humor. When Daniel and Summer met Allison at school, she seemed charismatic, empathetic, and deeply invested in helping others. But over time, troubling cracks began to appear, and stories stopped adding up. Troubling life events seemed to happen to

Allison all of the time, especially when assignments were due. Each new revelation and discovery pulled those she had drawn closer, even deeper, into a cycle of concern and confusion. As their friend group began connecting and comparing experiences, they uncovered allegations far stranger than ordinary deception. And over time, what initially appeared to be shocking yet isolated incidents began to reveal a much longer pattern. Though this story is being told without real names for anonymity purposes, the events that took place are told through firsthand interviews,

digital evidence, text messages, photographs, and years of preserved receipts. This is a story about friendship betrayal, manufactured victimhood, obsession, fraud, and the devastating consequences that unfold when trust is weaponized. I'm Tiffany Reese, and this is something was wrong.

Hi, my name's Summer, and I met Daniel, my freshman year at college. He was one of the first friends I made, and we've been friends ever since. I love making friends and getting friends. getting to know new people. I love hearing anyone from a different walk of life. Being at the school was great for me

because it was states away from my home and I got to meet so many people and I still to the say have friends across the country that I love. Daniel and I went to a private university. My first two weeks at the school, I spent trying to look into other colleges I could transfer to because the code of conduct

was shocking to me, especially from someone that didn't have that many rules growing up at home. So it was definitely a culture shock for me, having a curfew and a dress code. Even going to the gym, I remember getting dress coded one time for wearing a tank top that showed half an inch of my belly. And they made me wear a jacket to work out. I tried to be the best I could morally. But I think for me, when a rule didn't make sense, I didn't feel the need to follow it. Not that I did anything terrible, but just going out on the weekends and staying out past curfew.

And I did definitely lie about curfew when I was on campus. But by the time I was off campus, I was definitely living more how I saw fit and just living a lifestyle that fit my moral compass rather than the schools. I really just only went to class and certain events on campus that I had signed up for. And other than that, I was kind of just a free bird. So that was good for me. Other people felt the same way where once they got off campus, there is a lot more freedom to live the way that you want to live. Did it feel like most of the people who went to school there disliked? the code of conduct and went there despite it? Or was it something that people felt like added to their

experience? It depends on who you ask. I think a lot of people that went there did sign the contract and have no problem with it. It's a lot of people that maybe were homeschooled or grew up in the church had no problem following these rules. For me personally and my friends, we didn't love it, but we accepted it. But for me, being on campus, it was a great experience. I had an awesome time. It was definitely difficult following the rules sometimes. If you did get caught somehow doing something against contract, it could be a big deal. But that's only if someone were to rat you out. So none of the people I hung out with were like that or wanted to throw anyone under the bus. I'd love to hear a little bit more about you and Daniel's friendship. How did you meet and how would you describe him as a person?

I found my roommate that summer before going into school. And she was saying that she wanted to move to the top floor because she thought they had the big windows. So I thought that sounded great. I had no idea that that floor was for the scholarly kids. So when I got there, I was a little disappointed with everyone I had met. Not that anyone was rude or anything, but no one seemed especially outgoing or like they wanted to make friends. I had a friend from home that had moved two floors below me. So I went to her floor just to check it out one day and see her dorm. And I ended up meeting all of my best friends, people that I'm still friends with now, Daniel included. And I was shocked at the difference. I ended up spending most of my time on that floor. I became such a big part of their community. I even got their

floor t-shirt and went to all of their floor events. I met Daniel probably that same day and we went to bowling for my one friend's birthday. And ever since then, we've been friends. I love him to death. He's definitely someone that is cautious. He's always wanting to do the right thing and make sure that he doesn't get in trouble, not that he's a troublemaker, but I can be a little more rebellious. Sometimes I try to get him involved in whatever plan I had going on. For my 21st birthday, I wanted to go out and get drinks. And while that's okay legally outside of campus at the school, even though I would be of age, they still would have a problem with that. Because when you go to the school, you sign the Code of Conduct saying that you will not drink at all on campus or off

campus, no matter what age you are. And that goes for the professors, too. I ended up working at the school later and had to follow the same guidelines, if not more, because they were very strict on what you can and can't do as a student and a faculty member. For my 21st birthday, he was older than me, so he was already 21. And I wanted to go out for drinks just at this Mexican restaurant. He was so nervous to be caught. I'm not sure if he ordered a drink or not. He always wants to make sure that people see him in a good light, which isn't hard. But he's definitely overly cautious and someone that can analyze things and see things for what they are. He's also very sympathetic and understanding. I think he has a really good heart and he cares about other people. And I think that's why

Allison gravitated towards him to begin with because she saw that and took advantage of it. Hi, my name is Daniel. The story starts back in 2019 during my freshman year of college. Growing up, I went to a super small school. Something that I liked about this school is that it was a large university. And also, it was about 12 hours away from home. So I just kind of wanted to try something new and put myself outside of my comfort zone. Also, my brother happened to live in the area. I definitely was scared and nervous, but I also was excited.

How would you describe the culture of your college, the environment? Our school was a Christian conservative environment, although not everybody that went there. fall into that category. The school had a lot of fun things to do. They had a really good student activities program, so there was always things to do on the weekend, ways to meet people, which was nice. They just had some strict policies with curfew and stuff.

I don't really agree that we should be back in our dorms by 10 or whatever the time was. I just felt kind of silly, but honestly, it didn't really bother me at the time too much, but in hindsight, I kind of wish I had a little bit more freedom in that way. We would have an assigned dorm group where we kind of just lived life with them for the whole year and we would meet up with them once a week and just kind of talk about whatever we wanted to, hang out, do fun things.

We had leaders for those groups and the leaders sometimes would form their own clique. It was just ironic because they were supposed to be the ones driving community, but they were all kind of separated. Then you have your cliques of just your majors. You just had your nursing people here, your business people there, your communications people there, which is, I'm sure, the same in a lot of schools. Because you have so many classes together with the same people.

If you are in the same sort of area's study, that makes sense. Exactly. And that's how Summer and I are close because we had a lot of the same classes. I first met Summer a few days into when I arrived at school. She was a very kind person. We got along really well. And then later on, we found out that we had the same major. So we ended up having a lot of classes together. and we just grew our friendship from that.

Summer is a very energetic person. She's super spontaneous. She's always trying to come up with new fun things to do. I'd also say she's super inclusive to everybody around her. She definitely makes everybody feel seen. We get on about the same things, and we click very well. She's a very personable person,

and I'm naturally drawn towards people like that. I would say I'm a little bit shy at first, but once I feel comfortable around getting to know people, I usually open up. I just enjoy doing life with people and trying new experiences. I've had the pleasure of getting to know you guys a little bit over these last few years that we've been working together. And I will say you guys are both really fun to work with, which I know sounds a little bit strange under the context of what we're working on together. But you both just have such a great sense of humor. And I can imagine that that was something you connected on as friends early on.

Yeah, I would say both of us have very sarcastic senses of you. humor. So we definitely bounce off of each other well in that regard. Our senses of humor are definitely the driving force in our friendship, at least in the beginning. She's just a very down-to-earth person, which I am too. I'm a little bit more reserved and she's a little bit more outgoing. It sounds like you got a yin-yang thing going on a little bit. Yes, exactly. I was definitely more a real follower to the point of I'd be a bit paranoid about what the people in her hall might be thinking or the leadership trying to always be on the good side. And she definitely is a little bit more rebellious. She definitely pushed me in that way a lot because that's just her personality,

and I think that kind of helped me become a little bit more outgoing. I met Allison before her summer did. It was the fall of 2021, so that would have been my junior year. I had a class with her. For our smaller classes, it was about 15 to 20 students, and then our larger ones would be 50, whatever for that major. But I had a lot of the smaller classes, which were 300 and 400 level. That's when they get smaller. That's the classes that I shared with Allison. If we ran into each other at school, we might say hi.

But we didn't really have a connection at that point yet. When you first met Allison, what are your first impressions of her? What stood out to you about her initially in those first few interactions? She was definitely a Christian conservative girl, how she presented herself to the the world. A super pure, holier-than-thou type is how she would talk with people around us and our professors. I would say Allison definitely came off as a genuine person, empathetic as well. She just seems like the most normal, average girl next door. She blended in very well with the kind of girls in our school. When you first meet her, she always asks you questions and makes you feel

comfortable. She was super positive, encouraging. She seemed like she cared a lot for other people. She was a very likable person. She's a super smart girl. And so that's why I paired up with her in a lot of my classes. She did do a good job in her academics. One of our professors made a joke about us being like the power duo in our class because we always did some of the best presentation work. I'm a super organized person. I like to do well. And she had that same. mindset. Because she did so well in school, it seemed like, oh, she has it together. She presents herself well. She's a pretty girl. She's wearing nice clothes. She's acting the part. And so I think she just puts a really good face on. I'd like to thank Superpower for sponsoring today's episode.

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unlock their new health intelligence. Head over to superpower.com and use code SWW for $20 off your $199 Superpower membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask you how you heard about superpower. Tell them something was wrong sent you to support the show. Thank you. A big thank you to today's sponsor, Vinted. Are there clothes in your closet you keep saying you're going to wear but then you never do? Perhaps you're running out of closet space or just wanting to refresh your wardrobe without spending a ton of money or feeling guilty about clothes sitting unworn. Vinted is a secondhand app that makes it easy for everyday sellers, people like you and me, to sell pre-loved fashion and earn some extra money. shopping secondhand, but I don't always have time to go pick through a thrift store. So I love how

easy Vinted makes it to list and shop for clothes. And also there's no selling fees so you get to keep everything you earn. Listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. Once an item sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. Ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money, download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn. And for a limited time, enjoy free shipping in the U.S. on Vinted. Thank you so much. The first semester I met Allison, I definitely saw her as a peer. Not quite a friend yet. We didn't get as close until the next semester, but nothing really strikes me as off or odd about her during that first semester. Something about Allison is she will just drop bombs on you at the most

random times. Just come into class with your coffee and your laptop ready to go and she's like, yeah, I'm just dressed because I'm just thinking about my miscarriage from last semester. She told me that she the previous year had a miscarriage with twins. And she said she was assaulted. At that point, I was there comforting her. But by December, in a class of 20 people, she sent this in a group chat with the entire class. And it said, when your professor knows you a little bit too well. and it was a screenshot of Professor Locke and Allison's DMs. And Professor Locke sent her a photo of a raccoon holding a little Debbie Christmas cake. And it said, I really need to eat healthier, but me at two.

Professor Locke said, oh, gee, but this is you. I thought it was definitely weird to be sending memes to each other, and it looked like they had obviously been sending more than just that one. While the professors at our school do a really good job at pouring into their students, and are there for them and some even get like lunch together or this or that, I think it's just a little strange to be sending DMs on Instagram. In that spring semester, we had two different classes together. We had a journalism class and another class I can't think of.

But during that class, she sort of had this one-sided feud with the professor. She would confide in me a lot because we sat together in that class and she would always be complaining about the professor with things that didn't really quite make sense to me. like she would be complaining about assignments and complaining about her personality. Some of it I agreed with, but some of it just seemed to be blown out of proportion. It sounds like some of her concerns felt valid and some of it felt like she just didn't like her. Exactly.

At the end of the semester, we were texting each other about our projects. You sort of build a camaraderie with your peers. Allison was complaining for weeks about this final on how she didn't want to do it and how it was stupid. and it was an extremely easy final, in my opinion. We just had to make a website with all of our projects of the semester and then present it. Allison is a very good public speaker. Whenever she does presentations, she does very well, and she doesn't seem nervous at all. So for me, that didn't really make sense as to why she was not wanting to do this.

Allison told me that she thought the final was originally on the 3rd of May because that's what the syllabus said. But that's when the final grades were due, not when the actual... The final was itself. So I told Allison, I said, the final is tomorrow at a.m. Not on the third. And Allison said, I know that. But a few weeks ago, I didn't know that.

So I told my family I'd be able to come home to see my grandma at the hospital, which is why I'm going to have to be on teams. She said that her grandma was sick and in the hospital. She couldn't be there for the final because she had to go to the hospital. She said that Professor Bolt denied her request to do the presentation online. and she was saying that she was going to be in the hospital room waiting and that Professor Bolt was just the worst person for not being accepting. She kept texting me during the final that she didn't want to present in front of 500 people

in the waiting room. And I said, I understand I wouldn't want to do that in the waiting room either. At this point, I already was suspecting that she was fivbing about this. So I was just sort of playing along because I wanted to have her give me more information. She said, I'm with my family waiting to find out if my nana is even going to make it out of the surgery. This is bullshit. And I replied, I know it is. And she said, I'm calling her and telling her straight up that I'm not going to present this.

I'll take to zero. I don't care. I'm not putting some stupid-ass presentation above being with my family during this hard time. I said, I'm sorry she's been so inconsiderate to you all semester, but it's up to you how you can respond. How did you take the final last class? She said via teams because I was approved to do so in that class. I think Professor Bolt knew she was already lying to her throughout this whole semester and she wasn't going to let Allison get away with the lies.

She said, the chair of department approved my request to send in a recorded video of me presenting. But Professor Bolt denied that. Even if I get a zero, I'd still pass a class with a high seat. I'm not dealing with her anymore. It's not feasible for me to present this life. It's also extremely disrespectful to the other hundreds of people here who are with their loved ones during this hard time.

If she can't understand that, then she has a lot of fucking. up problems. I emailed her and told her I would take the zero because it's so disrespectful to my family and everyone else in here for me to be presenting while other family members are literally dying. And I said, 100%. Keep me updated. I'll be praying for your family during this hard time. She said, thank you. Professor Bull has been so unprofessional this entire semester. I forwarded the email to the department chair to let him know she denied my request after he approved it. I said, Allison, I would just take this time to focus on your grandma. Because this was during our final. texting all of this while other people are presenting and I'm in class on my laptop typing away.

And I'm thinking, if you have all the energy and mental space to be texting me all of this, you have three minutes of your time. Like, girl, just hop on teams at this point. Exactly. I said, Alison, Professor Bolt is a nice lady. She's just a super tough professor. It's also her first semester here, so she might not be aware of all the rules. Although it can be frustrating.

I would just contact her in the board later when you have time to address your concerns privately. Alison replied, you can let her know that I am not on team. because my grandma is coming out of surgery around 10.20. They had some complications right now, and it's a waiting game because they don't know when or if she's even going to wake up. So right now we're in the room with her. And I replied about 30 minutes later. I'm sorry, I just saw this.

We are still going through the presentations. I don't even know if we're going to finish in time. Allison said, well, can you please let her know? My grandma has not woken up yet. I want to give her my full attention because this is breaking my heart more than anything. And I said, okay, well, we're still in the middle of presentations right now. Allison said, just to let you know, after class, you can show her my text about my grandma so she knows. I said, okay, well, I guess I'll let her know about your grandma.

And she goes, oh, okay, what does she say? And I replied, Professor Bolt said, oh, no, that's terrible, and that she'd pray. Allison said, thank you. I'm going to email her right now and see if there's anything I can do to present another way, even if I have to present to her in person tomorrow. Today has been so hard and it kills me that I might have to leave tonight to come back. But regardless, I'm going to be back by next weekend. which at that point the semester had ended.

She said, I'm going to send her another follow-up email and tell her that I am in no way asking for pity or trying to manipulate you until letting me have another chance. And I replied, I definitely would not use the word manipulative. Maybe say take advantage of my circumstance. And she goes, oh, that sounds good. And then she replied, thank you, Daniel, for helping and listening to me. I know it's been a rough few days for us all. And I said, no problem, Allison, take the rest of the day and try to relax.

You deserve it. And she said, thank you. and then the next day, April 29th at 8.50 a.m., she texted me, oh, well, she said I can't make it up. So I guess I'll just have my grade drop. She just emailed me back. She told me, I have medical issues of my own, but I still have to abide by God's rules. So with that, you will have to accept the zero. And I said, oh, well, at least we're done with the class. And then she sent me a screenshot of the grade, which was zero out of 200 points. And the note that Professor Bolt said was, Project credited was forfeited by the student for missing the final exam.

And I said, I'm so sorry, Alison. I know that's frustrating beyond words. And she replied, honestly, it doesn't faze me. I made my choice and she made hers. I passed the class either way, so to be honest, I don't care. I did what was best for me. And then, about a week later, on May 8th, 2022, she texted me. Because of stupid freaking bolt, giving me a zero out of 200, my grade dropped,

and my GPA dropped from a 3.4 to a 3.1. I've emailed the dean about this. And then the next day, she texted me, guess who's presenting her portfolio tomorrow for a chance at a 200 out of a 200? And she sent me an email from Professor Bolt that said, hi, Allison, your case has been reviewed and a decision has been rendered. You have been given another chance to present your final exam social media portfolio here in person in front of a live audience just as it would have been on April 28th.

Please let me know what time works best for you. And I said, that's great news. Good luck tomorrow. She said thank you. On May 11th, 2022, she texted me. By this point, I already went back to my hometown, which was several states away. And she texted me, do you have any of our messages from the day of the exam or did you delete them?

And I replied, I just got a new phone a couple of days ago and I haven't updated my I cloud yet. I don't have my other phone right now and I'm out of town headed to my grandparents. Why? And she replied, shit. Can you please call me right now? It's very important. I said, I'm with people in a car right now, but what's up? And she said, hold up.

I have to send you a video. because it's too much to read on text. And then she said, actually, I'll just send you a voice memo. Allison's voice memo stated, quote, remember how I went home on the 28th to be there for my grandma's surgery? So, you know, I couldn't do live on teams with the presentation because my grandma had just gotten out of surgery and, you know, I was at the hospital with her. Well, I just got done with my presentation with and the dean wanted to speak with me and they had like pulled up this thing that said that I logged in at 803 a.m. on my laptop to take the final exam. Well, then throughout the day

between 10.26 a.m. and 4.10 p.m., my laptop kept pinging different places on campus, saying that I was in different places on campus with my laptop. I was not in the state, but it was saying that my laptop was on campus, which was not true because my laptop was with me. So I'm trying to figure out if there's any way that anybody I talked to that day has the messages between me where I'm talking about being at the hospital with my grandma, I look to see if I had any with you, but I don't think I have our messages anymore. I need to find something. I don't have any pictures or snapchats from that day because I was in the hospital. I wasn't taking pictures on Snapchat. I wasn't even on Snapchat that day. I can't find anything like pictures-wise to state that I was

out of town. So I need to find some way to prove that I was not there because I was not there. First of all, I wouldn't be stupid enough to go on campus that day that I'm supposed to be out of state, and I told him that. But if I don't find a way to prove this and the IT guy runs it again and it shows that my computer, for some reason, is still on campus, they can either kick me out of the school or they can fail me. So I have no idea what to do. I'm freaking out. End quote. After sending that voice memo, Allison then sent Daniel a screenshot of the on-campus logins that the university had sent to her. I did have the messages saved and I sent them to her. And she said, thank you. And I said, no problem. That's crazy, though. Can you explain that more? And she said,

they didn't explain it to me. But in my opinion, I think it's because Professor Bolt was already suspicious of her lying. And she went to whoever was in charge to have them look up to see if she was actually on campus or not. She replied on May 11th. So I emailed the dean, my messages with you, but I blurred out your name. He was very nice about it. Several weeks went by. School was out. We followed each other on Instagram and things like that. And we would send the occasional meme or whatever. That was like the extent of our relationship. We didn't hang out.

We weren't going off doing things together. I definitely was annoyed because I didn't view her as a friend per se. Of course, we got along and everything and I'm going to try to be there for people that need help, but it just seemed like an excessive amount with how much she was venting to me. During this time, while I was still annoyed at her, she's a very likable person. And we didn't have a closer relationship until the following semester. and I think I didn't really see the warning signs at that point. When was the first time that Allison told you she was pregnant?

I saw on her social media that she was pregnant, and then she sent me the flyer for the gender reveal party. Right after our classes ended, right when I thought I had a break from her, and she started texting me again. On June 2nd, she sent me the flyer, the invitation. It says, Allison and Jake kindly request your presence to celebrate this moment with the people they love.

Will the baby be Rowan Flynn or Waverly Aspen? Saturday, July 16th, 2020 at 4 p.m. RSC by July 10th. I think it's sort of strange to send that to somebody that you're not friends with, which I think kind of shows that either one, she's just wanting attention from everyone or two, she doesn't really have a close circle of friends that would fill up her parting. This is where I definitely started seeing the red flags

because she told me that she was sexually assaulted, and it didn't quite make sense for me that she was having a gender reveal party with her rapist that says, we kindly request your presence. And she had said at times that Jake's mom was really supportive and involved, too. Yes, I have a screenshot about that. She said,

I'm going to go meet with Waverly's grandparents to go baby shopping before they head back. I said, I cannot make it, but congratulations, Allison. And she said, thank you. She knew I lived states away. And then we didn't talk for that entire summer. But I definitely followed her pregnancy journey online because she posts about 10 times a day. So you get to see every little thing.

She was just one of those girls that post everything online anyways. So I wouldn't say it was excessive. It wasn't like somebody that doesn't post on social media, bombarding their social media with this. It's just how she posted normally. It's just now her content, what it was about was now, oh, baby clothes. whatever. I feel like the reason she posted so much on social media was because it world builds and makes it seem more real to not only her, but also the people in her life. If she had said she was pregnant in June and I didn't see her until August and she wasn't posting anything, it would be an

easier lie to crack. But because I was seeing so much content over the summer, in your mind, you just start to believe everything that you're seeing and it reinforces that Allison's pregnant. And it reinforces your bias towards that being the truth. right? Exactly. Because you're not just hearing it one time, you're inadvertently being given this information time and time again. Brainwashing propaganda from Allison. Did it strike you as odd that she was being so open with the pregnancy given the school's code of conduct?

Yes, I would say. And not only that, but also just because of how the child was conceived, because she said it was from assault. And she had told you that she had been pregnant with twins before, and then. that she had miscarried? Yes. Had she told you about any other pregnancies at that point? She had not. I'd like to thank Quit with Jones for sponsoring today's episode.

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Jones Mints are a nicotine replacement therapy that is FDA approved to help you quit smoking and vaping, available for those 18 and older. When do you recall first talking with Summer about Allison? Summer didn't meet Allison until the fall of 2022. They had a journalism class together, and then all three of us had a class together. I had known Allison for about a year at that point. I had three classes with her that semester on the first day of class with all three of us, Summer, Allison and I.

I remember going to summer and saying, hey, like, please sit by me in class because I cannot sit with this girl. And the reason was because the professor partnered up for. the entire semester. So you had the whole semester working with that person, and I definitely didn't want to work with her again just because I knew how she operated. And I obviously was Summer's friend, so I thought, why would we not want to partner up together? Summer didn't really know at that point how Allison was. And then I kind of gave her the lore of what I knew of Allison from the semester I had beforehand and just about the situation with her grandma and how she acts towards people.

Daniel and I had a lot of similar classes because we had the same major. I was in a class with him, and that's when I also met Allison. My first day of class with Daniel and Allison was August 22nd, 2022 on Monday. That day, I didn't actually meet her one-on-one, but I was aware of who she was because of Daniel. We had a few minutes before class actually started just to talk to each other and figure out seating and things like that for the semester. And Daniel came up to me and said, would you like to be my partner for the semester? Because I really don't want this girl, Allison, to ask me. And I had no idea who Allison was at the time, but he was very adamant that he did not

want to be working with her. I said, of course, because Daniel is my friend, and I'd love to work with him. He's always a great partner to work with. That was an easy, no-brainer. I didn't know exactly who the girl was, but we had our class icebreakers and got to know each other a little more. I just remember she looked pretty much like everyone else in the class, very normal average looking. I wasn't sure why Daniel didn't want to be partners with her, but he mentioned a little bit about how he had been partners or in a group project with her for another class, and she was not someone that he wanted to work with again. The next day was August 23rd, 2022. That was a Tuesday, and that's when I would have my first Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday class. So the way that classes worked, we had Monday,

Wednesday, Friday classes and then Tuesday Thursday classes. I'm driving to the parking lot of where our classes were. And since it was the first Tuesday class of the semester, there was no parking at all. It was like going through hell trying to find a parking space. And I got there probably a half hour at least early to try to find parking. I ended up being a half hour late. I was so embarrassed that I was going to be showing up so late. I walked inside. I sat in the hallway right outside the classroom and I did not go in. And after that, I had my journalism class, which was right across the hall. So I showed up early since I was already there. Thank goodness. Right away, another girl walks in and it's just us to at first and she comes over and introduces herself to me. She was bright,

she was bubbly, she had a little bit of a southern accent and I thought she was really cute and Sweet. When she introduced herself to me officially, it didn't really click that that was the girl Daniel was talking about to avoid. I'm very bad with faces. I was also so caught up and parking and everything. Even if I did put two and two together, I still think I would have reacted the same way. I was thinking Daniel's probably just overreacting. Maybe she just wasn't a great partner. Maybe she was just a little untimely. We were getting to know each other. No one else had come in yet. and maybe people were starting to, but we were still talking one-on-one, and she was just telling me about herself.

She asked to follow me on Instagram, and I pulled up her Instagram and saw that she followed me, but I didn't follow her back. It's funny because I actually went in our DMs later on and saw that April 26th of 2021, she had DM'd me this, hey, girl, you want to work for my MLM? Which I never responded to. I remember her following me, actually.

I just didn't know who she was. She had well over 10,000 followers. She didn't have that many likes on her pictures, and it looked like all of her followers were fake, so I didn't really want to follow her back at the time. But later when I actually met her in my journalism class on the first day, I did follow her back. Still, this is before class started. I had told her that I was so late to class that I didn't even go in. And that class was with Professor Bolt.

I had never had Professor Bolt before. I think she was a new teacher. It might have been her second. semester teaching. And she said, oh, well, thank God. I had that professor before, and she's horrible. And she's just going on and on about why this professor is so awful and cruel and mean. From what she was saying, I was relieved that I didn't go to class on the first day. I'm trusting Allison blindly that what she's saying is true. So I ended up dropping that class from my schedule and picking up a different one with a professor that I have had before. In a way, I was thankful that

she was there to warn me. Later on, it's hard to say if that was a good choice or not. I'm sure that professor was just as good as any other one I've had. The class was about an hour long, and we are leaving class, and she's wearing this pretty floral dress, and we go into the hallway. And one of the first things she says when we get in the hallway is, I'm due in January. And I go, oh, you're pregnant? And she goes, yeah, you couldn't tell. I'm a little oblivious, especially when meeting new people. It's hard for me to remember faces, as I said. But I look down and sure enough, she's looks very, very pregnant. So she's five, six months pregnant maybe? Right, which is interesting because she definitely looked way more pregnant than she should have been. Her bumps seem like she was

almost ready to go or something? Right. Can I text you the picture? Yeah. Because just for context for you, that's the picture of what she looked like and what she was wearing that day. This is literally that day. Yes, that is that day. She looks very pregnant. Very pregnant. Yes. How common was it for your classmates to be pregnant at your school? Not very common at all. The first thing I did when she told me with that was I looked down at her hand to see if she had a wedding ring because typically at this university I went to, it was very uncommon to be pregnant on campus unless you were already married. Where I was going to school, it was very common to hear ring by spring. So people would get engaged in the spring and then be married by the fall. But I just remember her saying that the baby will be here

by the next year. At the time, I had this very strange feeling. There was no indication that she was faking this, and there was nothing in my mind saying that it was a fake baby. I didn't have that kind of intuition, but I remember in the hallway her telling me about how she would bring the baby on campus in a stroller to meet everyone. And when she said that, I remember thinking,

that's never going to happen. And I could not tell you why. To this day, I have no idea what it was in me that was saying that. I just remember feeling so strongly that whether she comes on campus with a stroller or not, I'm never going to meet the baby. And did she tell you anything about the baby's father in that initial conversation? Yes. Keep in mind, this is my first day officially meeting her. And I haven't told her really anything about myself other than the most basic surface level things. We're in the hallway talking.

And she's telling me about the baby. And I guess she could probably understand my curiosity of who's the baby's father. And that's when she explained to me that she was a victim of rape. She named him, and I remember her saying, Jake, her rapist, was not in the picture because he had sexually assaulted her, and that's why she was pregnant. And she was also telling me that same day that she was going to court against him. She had told me that she had the court dates were coming up. At the time, I thought, wow, good for you. Did it feel like a lot with her sharing so much to you in the hallway? It definitely felt like a lot, but the thing is, I don't know what it is about me. I kind of sometimes attract people like this.

I remember thinking, wow, she's had such a hard life, but also in the back of my head thinking, why does she feel so comfortable? Obviously, it's their trauma, but it does affect you in some way. I do remember feeling very heavy for her. But when she was telling me all this, I did definitely question a little bit why she was opening up so quickly. At the time I thought maybe she just really needed a friend, and I was very okay to be a friend to her, but also in the back of my mind, I remember thinking, don't tell her any important information that you wouldn't want to be shared, because she didn't seem like a trustworthy person in that sense. She seemed like she had no problem telling other people's stories. So I knew not to tell her any private information of my own, but I was happy to listen to her. Before we stopped talking, Allison gave me her phone number, and I I texted her, and I wasn't necessarily expecting to hear from her anytime soon. I think the class ended maybe at 1115.

She said hi at 1153 a.m. And immediately sent me two very pregnant pictures of her in front of a mirror in the school bathroom in the same outfit that she was wearing that day. I responded and said, oh, M.G, you're adorable. Love it. And she said, thank you. I'm due in January, but I might be having her in October. Right now, my doctor wants to induce me October 3rd because I'm

I'm high risk. We're hoping to wait closer to mid-December, but we don't know yet. And I said, oh, wow, so how many months would that be if you have her in October? She said, if I get induced October 3rd, I'll be at 27 weeks, which is seven months, I think. So it's still early, but the survival rate is 98%. She did her research. Then she said, and it's what safest for her and me. She has already flipped herself head down and the placenta hasn't moved. So with her being like that, she's stretching the umbilical cord, and then if she continues to stay head down while she's growing. The placenta could detach, so the plan right now is to have her October 3rd, but starting this week, I have weekly appointments to monitor her growth. If she flips herself back to the normal

position, we can wait closer to December. And I said, oh, okay, I'll be praying for you and the baby, and I'm sure God's looking out for the both of you. She said, it's scary, but I also want what's safest for her. I said, yeah, for sure. Are you going back home to have the baby? She lived in a different state, but it wasn't too far from where we went to school. She said, originally I wanted to. But where I'm from, the closest NICU is one and a half hours away. The hospital here has a NICU, and it's a good one. I love my doctors, and I feel safest having her here, so I can at least be here and try to finish school, too. And I said, that's great.

And it's good this will be your last year. Seems like that works out pretty well. She was talking to me about how she would finish school and do winter classes so she could be done by December. She said, while the situation and circumstances aren't ideal, and never how I would have planned it, The good thing is that it's working out in a way that I can have her and still graduate in May. And if I end up not graduating in May, that's okay too. I saw all this medical talk and this information that her doctor told her straight up that I didn't think any of it was a lie.

I did think it was strange. I've never had a baby and I didn't have anyone close to me that was pregnant or having a baby anytime soon. Same day, 206 p.m. She says, God has a plan and I get to have a sweet little girl. In my last 3D ultrasound, she looks like me, which is exciting for me. She sent me the picture of the baby, and it's sepia-colored. I thought it was a lasagna.

She was so happy and bubbly and positive about the situation that I was almost inspired by her, thinking, wow, if she can have this baby and make it into this positive thing, that's amazing. And that was so encouraging for me. I thought, wow, she's really confident in who she is, and especially, the fact that she was pregnant and going to classes with no ring, I thought that was really, really brave of her, especially in a place where she could potentially be judged by people that aren't so accepting of people that don't follow the code of conduct. Also, I thought it was weird because the picture she sent me almost looks like it was edited. It's also very blurry. In the actual

ultrasound, it says Allison and her last name, and it has her birth date, and then it says Women's Health Center right underneath. It says 0803, 2022. So August 3rd, 2022. And when you save it to your camera roll and you look at the information when you slide up, it says July 18, 2022 at 1 p.m. I wish I knew that you could do that back then. When did you connect the dots that the girl that Daniel was saying he didn't want to be partnered with was Allison? I probably figured it out some point during that, but it didn't really mean much to me. I thought I'm sure he's right in some capacity that she's probably not someone that's easy to work with, just because she is going through so much. But it didn't make me think any less of her as a person. I've had friends that I've worked

with in group projects that I'll never work with again. I'm thinking maybe she's just bad at group projects, and she's going through a lot. August 27th, 2022 at 11.50 a.m. She said, what are you doing tonight? I said, I have an engagement party tonight. I don't know if I'm doing anything after. And in my head, I remember thinking, I don't know if I'm ready to hang out with her yet. I don't know her well enough. I feel like maybe in a few weeks from now, sure, or even next week, but it was still the first week of classes at this point. And I barely knew her. I wasn't really ready to give her too much time yet. She said, ah, dang, I was going to see if you wanted to go to the block party. Our school was having a block party that night.

I texted back at 1.28 p.m. and said, aw, that sounds like fun. I doubt I'd be back in time with a sad face. And she said, all good. She texted me happy birthday at 7.52 a.m. when we had class together that day in a few hours from then. So I said, thank you, Allison, with two hearts, at 11 a.m. And then we probably had class at 1115, I want to say. I remember being in the back of the classroom with Daniel and we're talking.

And all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I see Allison staring at me with her phone up. So I kind of glanced over, but I ignore it and go back to what I was doing. Then after class, I look on Snapchat and see that she had taken a picture of me, zoomed in all the way because she was sitting on the opposite side of the room, and said, happy birthday and then just tagged my Snapchat username and put it on her Snapchat story. And it's just the funniest picture because I'm just looking into the side, not even knowing she's taking the picture.

I officially met her August 23rd. So it was the next week of classes, and she does that. And I was thinking, that's really weird. And I screenshotted it, not because I thought it was a cute picture or anything, but because I thought it was so funny. And I sent it to my roommate saying, guys, look at this. Please don't take candid photos and post them of people without their consent. She could have said, hey, Summer, smile, and I would have looked over.

But she didn't tell anyone what she was doing. That night for my birthday, I went out to this Mexican restaurant, and then me and my friends went to karaoke night. It was super fun. I wasn't even really drunk. We were just out really late. We had class early the next morning. I just decided. I was already planning on skipping class the day after my birthday. Was this your 21st birthday? It was, yes, in the morning at 11.1 a.m. I think class might have started at 1115. I text Allison and I said, hey, pretty girl, I won't be in class today. Can you just let me know if there's any work we have to do? And she said, yes, exclamation point. Are you hung over? I wasn't really hungover. I really didn't. drink that much, but I was just tired. It was a long night. So I just said, yeah. And she said, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I remember my post-20-first hangover, but I was pregnant at the time and didn't know. Now I'm like, oh, this is her second pregnancy. I had no idea. I said, ha, ha, ha, oh, M.G, no way. She said, yep, with twins. I said, oh my gosh, really? And she said, yep, I apparently got pregnant September 11, 2021, and I turned 21. I got drunk and was hung over

that whole weekend and found out November 18th, I was pregnant with twin girls. I miscarried November 24th, the night before Thanksgiving. I said, wow, I'm so sorry with a heart. She said, it's okay, I'm healing, but when I get out of class, I will bring you a Gatorade and chicken noodle soup. It helps with hangovers. I said, good, I'm glad. And you are an angel with the heart hands. And she sent some happy emojis. Then 4.44 p.m. she said, what's your apartment number? Because we had figured out a few days earlier that we had lived in the same apartment complex. It wasn't her going out of the way to bring me soup. I kind of wanted a gatorated soup.

It sounded good. So she said, what's your apartment number? I said my apartment number, and she said, okay, I had three roommates, and one of them was home at that time, Tia. So Allison comes over probably a few minutes after she asked me my apartment number. She knocks at the door, and she has this little pug with her. I didn't even know she had a dog. She comes inside.

I've known her a little more than a week. and she's holding a can of progressive soup, no Gatorade, and a bag with two pills in them. And I don't know what they are. And she goes, these pills help with my pregnancy nausea, but they'll be good for your hangover. I am not taking them.

I threw them out. But just the way that she didn't even have the pill bottle, I did eat the soup. But anyways, she came, she had her bump out. She kind of was lingering a bit, but she had the dog. I love dogs, but this dog was just really jumpy. all over me, and it was kind of annoying. I was tired.

I just didn't want to deal with it, so I tried to get her out sooner than later. I was talking to Tia, my roommate, and she was like, that was really weird. I'm pretty sure after that she was like, is she really pregnant? I was like, yeah, you saw it. And then I remember later that night,

my other roommate came home a little bit after, and she's my best friend. I love her. She missed the interaction with Allison, but she knew everything about her. I had told her everything because we tell each other everything. That night, she goes,

do you really think she's pregnant or do you think it's fake? I remember laughing. I was thinking, what do you mean? Is it fake? She has a bump. I've shown you pictures. And she goes, yeah, but I wonder if you lifted her shirt up. Like, is there actually a bump there?

But I remember that conversation so clearly and it became so real later thinking about it. Did you ever get a sense of like what it was that triggered that emotion in her? Yeah. Later, I remember talking with Ava and she was telling me how in high school she knew this girl that faked being pregnant. I think her reason was to try to get her boyfriend to stay with her. They were maybe breaking up or something and it was just her attempt to get him back. So I guess that was something that sent off alarm bells in her head. So this is a very real thing that people do that I had no idea about.

At that point, it wasn't something I necessarily felt like that was true or really even wanted to explore more. It was more just something that I held on to. It kind of brought me back to when I first met her and I was thinking how I'm never going to meet this baby. I was thinking maybe it could be fake, but it wasn't something that I felt confident to run with going forward. I was just going to resume being friends with her. She did tell me maybe a week or so later that she's still very close with Jake's mom. And Jake's mom was helping her through the pregnancy and buying her gifts and things for the baby.

It was a little strange to me that she was so close to Jake's mom. I didn't question it too much. I thought maybe his mom is just an amazing person and nothing like her son, but it was definitely a red flag going off in the back of my head. Why is she so close with his mom if she's winning a court case against him? But with the origin story of how she got pregnant, it was a little bit all over the place, and I never fully understood what happened exactly.

And I also remember this was probably the first or second week that I had known her. The place that she was working when I first met her, It was this country club, and she was saying that she needed to go to the hospital to check on her baby and that her boss was giving her a hard time because she was trying to take off for that and also for the court date against her alleged abuser. I remember thinking, that is so wrong, why is her boss not being lenient with her knowing what she's going through? It actually did raise some alarm bells in my head.

I remember thinking, why on earth would her boss not be okay with her going to the hospital to check on her baby? Now looking back, it's clear that she did not wear the fake belly to her job after school and that her boss probably had no idea about the pregnancy. It sounds like a lot of these stories and things that she's telling you even from early on really put her in this vulnerable position and it seems like she was trying to garner your sympathies. Right. How much did you communicate? We didn't communicate a lot.

She had me on Snapchat. I think she would snap me occasionally. She also didn't post a lot about her pregnancy publicly. So there were no public posts on her Instagram regarding the pregnancy, which I didn't find strange. I thought it made sense because of the stigma of being at a religious institution. She probably doesn't want to have this look and make people think less of her, which I understood.

But I was on her private Snapchat and I think her private Instagram, close friend's story. and I remember that she had posted a lot about her pregnancy on those, which I thought checked out at the time. But when I did see her, she would tell me her updates and fill me in on these crazy things that would happen. It seemed like every time I'd see her in person, she had a new chaotic update for me, whether it was she went to court, she won the court case,

Jake's mom was involved or was doing something to be involved, or she was having issues with her employer, or she was having issues with schoolwork and professors not being accepting, whatever it was. This girl cannot catch a break. She has to be so unlucky for all of these things to be falling on her at once. And with such a very minimal support system, her family is back in a different state.

And from what I knew about her, as outgoing and friendly as she was, she didn't seem to have that many friends. I almost felt like she was trying to make me her new best friend because maybe she just lost one. I remember having friends like this in high school where they always had a new best friend and they needed someone to be their number one person and any time they'd get in a fight and lose a friendship,

they would immediately go to the next person. So in my head I was thinking maybe she just has bad luck with friends as well and she's moving on to me to fill that role. Next time on something was wrong. We were in our journalism class together and we were watching some video. All of a sudden, I see Allison get up and leave the classroom. So I turn to Riley and I go,

Do you know why she's leaving? And she goes, yeah, Allison's water just broke. She's going to the hospital. And I'm like, what? She's not even supposed to be induced until October. Her due date isn't until January. She texted me September 21st at 5.56 a.m. and it was just a photo of a baby in an incubator.

We noticed that the wristband was so obviously photoshopped. The fonts didn't match. It was all kind of blurry, but the details with her name and age and stuff were very sharp and dark. He goes, I have to say something, but you're going to think I'm crazy. And I go say it. And he goes, what if the baby's not real? 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 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 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.