The Binge Cases: Denise Didn't Come Home - Baby Broker | 1. You Cannot Tell Anyone

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

In 2018, Tara Lee matches Teresa and Mike Matheny of Atlanta with a pregnant woman in Detroit who is due in just two weeks. But hours before the couple drives to Detroit to adopt their son, they make a horrifying discovery.  Binge all episodes of Baby Broker, ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access.  The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. A Sony Music Entertainment & Perfect Cadence production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey Spotify, this is Javi. My biggest passion is music, and it's not just sounds and instruments. It's more than that to me. It's a world full of harmonies with chillers. From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Listen to all episodes of BabyBroker ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.

The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. For many people, having a baby is the most profound and transformative event in their life. But imagine if, right as that dream of becoming a parent was about to come true, someone ripped it away from you, and there was nothing you could do about it. There are places we expect to find criminals, at seedy bus stations, in dark alleys, and in neighborhoods with gangs. But we're outraged when they infiltrate places that are supposed to be safe, like schools, hospitals, and places of worship.

I've written about a lot of major crime cases, but this vile scheme really surprised me. And I believe the criminal at the cold heart of it knew that no one would expect it, or even imagine it, and that's part of what made it possible. In this story, there's no gun, no knife, no zip ties, but there's a large and dangerous web where you wouldn't expect to find one. I'll show you who spun it and how, and find out why so many couples got caught in it. Because this crime couldn't have happened to nicer people. to nicer people. Last October, I flew to Atlanta to meet one of the couples who got caught in this web of lies, Teresa and Mike Matheny.

It was a warm and sunny Saturday morning, but the remnants of Hurricane Helene were still visible on the streets. Downed trees, standing water, caution signs. We met at a loading dock behind a warehouse that was converted into a recording studio. Teresa has brown hair, a generous smile, and gave me a big hug. She apologized for being nervous and chalked it up to being type A. Mike, on the other hand, is laid back and unflappable, type B, I guess.

I apologized for mispronouncing their last name. And it's Matheny. Okay, got it. Anything's better than Matheny. Yeah. That's how we identified telemarketers. Or people asking if we want to sell our house. Yeah. Teresa and Mike, where does this story begin for you?

God, I'm choking up. I don't know why I'm so emotional about this. Oh, shoot. Sorry, give me a minute. This just brings up a lot. I'm sorry. Teresa reached for a lot. I'm sorry. Teresa reached for a tissue. We started trying right after we got married to have a baby, and it didn't happen. And so I went to the fertility doctor, and we went through two rounds, and I emotionally could not do it. The second one was brutal. When IVF didn't work, they changed course. So we started the adoption journey. The way that this process works with the adoption.

So we created a book on Shutterfly with just very basic information about us. You know, pictures of the house that we live in and our dogs and Teresa works for a university. At the time I was a recruiter, Mike helps people find jobs, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But we were with them for 18 months and we never got, you know, a match or even our profile presented.

Why is it taking so long? Why will nobody choose us? Like, what's wrong with us? The reason was supply and demand. There are no precise figures, but it's estimated that over a million US couples are waiting to adopt a baby each year, all vying for fewer than 20,000 babies.

That lopsided ratio means most couples will never realize their dream. Their nursery will sit empty. No good night moon. No first steps. No spontaneous hugs. Desperate for a match, the Mathenies switched agencies. Then the new one told them about a social worker named Tara Lee. Tara Lee ran an adoption company in Detroit called Always Hope.

Listen, like she's rough around the edges. She cusses like a sailor. She's covered in tattoos. She's very passionate. She's scatterbrained. She's amazing, does a lot for the birth moms. And so we're like, oh oh wow, this woman is incredible. Days later, Tara Lee presented Mike and Teresa's profile book

to an expectant mom in Detroit. You know, we're so excited. That weekend, the Mathenies flew to the Georgia coast to attend a friend's wedding at an exclusive island estate. We'll just say these are not our people. Yes, yes, yes. And get to throw on a shirt and tie and pretend like we belong there, you know what I mean? Yeah. They checked into a Best Western.

The next morning, September 27th, Mike stepped out to get a coffee and a rental car. Teresa was packing up when her phone rang. This is the call that started it all. She was like, the birth parents chose you. I'm like, oh my gosh, I've got to call Mike. You've got to get back to the room. You're not going to believe this. That like what we're matched.

And he's like, what? Tara Lee had matched them in fewer than two weeks. The birth mom, Stephanie, was pregnant with a boy. We'll call him baby S. So we were told that she was due on October 11th. Two weeks to the day from when we had this phone call. We're looking at each other going like, oh my God, this is happening. Like, this is amazing.

Tarrant said, I need $8,000 for birth mom expenses and a separate $5,000 payment for doula and counseling services. She was like, I'll send you guys a contract, and you guys can get me the money, you know. Just, okay, where do I send it? Did it surprise you at all that after two years of trying and not being matched, that all of a sudden, working with always hope, you've got a match? Yes, because that never happens. They weren't about to question how she did it though. They just figured Tara Lee had the mightest touch.

They'd been trying to adopt for two years when, suddenly, it was like Tara Lee had pressed the fast-forward button on a VCR and sped up their lives in a surreal blur. It felt like magic. Teresa and Mike spiffed up a nursery, bought baby clothes, and installed a car seat. But behind the scenes, something terrible was happening that would soon take center stage. A different kind of drama was about to play out.

a different kind of drama was about to play out. So Friday, we had dinner with my mother at Ippolitos. We're driving back from dinner, and that is when everything sort of flipped upside down. Teresa was in the backseat when she got a very strange email from an adoption company she and Mike worked with a while back. And it said, has anyone here worked with Tara Lee in Always Hope? And it was very simple like that. I just kind of went, huh. I did respond to the email and said, actually, we are working with Tara Lee through our agency

and we have a match. We're leaving tomorrow for Michigan. Our baby is gonna be born next week. When they got home, Teresa hurried down to their furnished basement and sent the woman a text. "'Hey, what's going on?' The woman replied. Do not call Tara Lee. Do not speak with anyone.

Someone will be in contact with you soon. I tried to call her again. She refused to answer. I blew her phone up. At this point, I'm like starting to get my anxiety. I'm going, what is going on? Something is wrong. And so it occurred to me, you know,

we were signed with Talia and Tanya because they would be representing us and our birth mom. Talia Getting and Tanya Corrado were lawyers in Detroit who handled adoptions. This is the part that really haunts me the most about it all. And so I called Tanya and I said, I just got this email. What is going on?

She goes, oh my God. And I'm sobbing. She said, Teresa, you cannot tell anyone this. You cannot tell anyone. Tara is under investigation with the FBI. And I screamed. I screamed like I could hear it in my ears. Have you ever heard her scream like that before?

No. From Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence, this is Baby Broker. I'm Peter McDonald. This is episode one. You cannot tell anyone. I am always looking for ways to switch up my style without breaking the bank. And that's why I love Quince.

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Americans United for Separation of Church and State has been on the front lines defending your freedom to live and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Most folks don't see how church-state separation affects our daily lives until that freedom is gone. The separation between church and state covers many core freedoms like civil rights for LGBTQIA plus people, women, and racial-slash-religious minorities,

or reproductive justice and freedom. But those rights are not a given. Every day, Americans United works at the state and federal level to make sure these freedoms and more are protected for every American to enjoy and benefit from. They can't do this alone, though. Join Americans United for separation of church and state and growing the movement. Because church-state separation protects everyone. Freedom without favor and equality without exception. Learn more and get involved at au.org slash curious. I'm a parent, but I haven't adopted anyone. So when I delved into the world of adoptions last year,

I had a lot of questions. As it turns out, most people who want to adopt don't know how the process works either, which is why they hire an expert to guide them. And that person or agency wields a lot of influence and power. They're almost always a good Samaritan, though. But I wouldn't be telling you this story if that was true in this case. She knew that they would do anything for the hope of having a child.

It didn't feel like we were given a choice. She could tell such outrageous lies. I believe everything she says. Her personality was sort of like, I'm a foul-mouthed, tattooed woman, but I'm doing adoptions and you wouldn't expect that. There's so many babies coming out of this agency. I did not realize until the criminal complaint was filed,

the extent of it across the country. You know, there's no playbook for this type of fraud. I think that when you've been bamboozled, you want to know what happened. She can tell a wicked story. The news that the FBI was investigating Tara Lee absolutely shattered the Mathenies' dream of becoming parents. And they had a million questions.

In the years since, they've, in a sense, rewound the tape of the disorienting few weeks that led up to it. Were there signs that things were off? Clues that Tara Lee was not a good Samaritan? The Mathenies now say there were. The day they found out they'd matched with Stephanie, they were sitting side by side on their bed at a Best Western in Brunswick, Georgia. Tara Lee was on speaker, rattling off bits and pieces about Stephanie's pregnancy. And the Mathenies, hopeful, trusting, vulnerable, thought their dream of parenthood was coming true.

So we were told that she was due on October 11th. Which was two weeks to the day from when we had this phone call. So we were literally thinking like, oh my god, we're going to have to go home after this wedding and literally pack our stuff and go to Michigan. Then Tara Lee told them that Stephanie, the birth mother, was waiting on another line. She was like, can I patch her it? Teresa said, of course. So Stephanie came on and said hello. She was in her early 40s and had been taking care of others her whole life.

First her younger siblings, then two children from her first marriage who were now older. Then her husband went to prison for a drug-related offense, and they divorced. And now, she lived with her boyfriend and was raising their four-year-old son on the boyfriend's limited income. They decided to put their baby up for adoption because they thought he'd have a better life.

But it was a very hard decision. Tara asked, do you choose them to parent your child? And she said yes. The Mathenies told me the call was tense. They didn't want to say the wrong thing and make Stephanie second guess her decision. As in any private adoption, Stephanie had the right to change her mind even a few days after the final adoption agreements were signed. And that would be days after her son was born. They said Stephanie also seemed cautious, though.

But not because they were strangers making a life-changing decision together. It was more like Tara Lee seemed to be controlling what Stephanie said, as if Stephanie had been coached or prepped to seal the deal. After we got off that phone call, she was like, okay, so I'm going to put you and myself and your birth mom into like a group chat. And she was like, the reason why I do that is so in case things get awkward, I can kind of step in and kind of smooth things out. She literally said, like, I'm just here in case things get weird. So Tara Lee created the text chain. step in and kind of smooth things out. She literally said, like, I'm just here in case things get weird.

So Tara Lee created the text chain. Mike sent Tara Lee $13,000. And Teresa and Mike flew home to Atlanta with a mission. We're scrambling. We don't know how long we need to be in Michigan. I don't know where we need to even stay. We were told that we would be there probably two weeks. He would most likely go into the NICU for a little bit. And then that's where I'm like,

I think it was like Monday where I started to, wait a second, she never sent us the contract. You know, still not seen a contract. I'm trying to get Tara on the phone. I can't get her on the phone. Mike kept calling and texting Tara Lee, but she wouldn't answer or reply. They'd given her $13,000.

The boy they were adopting would be born in a week, and they had no contract. Why the hell wouldn't Tara Lee answer her phone? Which was when Mike and Teresa got a surprising email from Tara Lee. her phone. Which was when Mike and Teresa got a surprising email from Tara Lee. She'd left the country. This episode is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Ever captured a great night video only for it to be ruined by that one noisy talker? With audio erase on the new Samsung

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ride to work. Mark went the extra mile on his repairs with a loan from Brokers Lamina at 1-800-NEW-CREDIT. It's easy to apply over the phone or online at Lamina.ca. Load up to $1,500 and get funds in an hour with no documents or credit checks and pay back over three to seven months. Prop up your purchase and apply for a loan now at lamina.ca. Terri Lee's email said she'd gone to Ghana with one of her daughters carrying suitcases of school supplies for Ghanaian children.

Mike and Teresa's contract would have to wait. But, Terri Lee added, please know that your birth parents are being taken care of. I have staff. I'll be back in communication later. Well, and then we're freaking out because we're like, wait a second, this baby's supposed to be born in less than two weeks. The Mathenies told me they didn't understand why Tara Lee didn't tell them she was going to Ghana while they were on that first call. Hoping for some answers, they sent Stephanie a message in the group text. I mean, just some like, how are you doing? How are you feeling?

But she wouldn't answer. That made me wonder if it was normal for an adoption agency to monitor communication between the birth mother and adoptive parents. It seemed fishy. So I called up Rob Kirsch. Rob is a respected adoption attorney who handles adoptions in six states, including Michigan. I asked Rob if it was okay or normal for a birth mom to communicate directly with the parents adopting her baby. Yeah, I mean, generally that's what happens is they've been communicating their whole pregnancy or the whole time that they've been matched together.

I just got off the phone with an expectant mom in Michigan. The adoptive parents are from Georgia. They're coming to visit her next month and they're gonna go to a prenatal appointment with her. So they can be there and have that relationship. And you and the agency aren't gonna sort of shadow them and be there that whole time? No. No. A lot of times the birth mom will let us know

that she's on her way to the hospital or the adoptive parents will say, hey, we just heard from the birth mom and she's in labor now. So that's when we learn about it because really the communication has more been direct between the adoptive parents and the birth mom. Yeah.

You know, we're certainly not the intermediary. The Mathenies said they didn't realize it was abnormal for Tara Lee to monitor their communication with Stephanie. But Tara Lee had made it seem like a necessity. She goes to Ghana, she comes back. with Stephanie, but Tara Lee had made it seem like a necessity. She goes to Ghana, she comes back. It was once she got back and we knew that she was back. That's when I started reaching out to her.

I would text her and be like, Hey, how are you? I heard you're you're back from Ghana. And she'd be like, yeah, I'm back. Yeah. How was your trip? Great. We'd exchange pleasantries and go back and forth. And the minute that I asked anything regarding Es's birth mom, medical, anything of substance,

she went dark. She wouldn't respond. It was such a mind fuck. Pardon my language. So you were struggling to get just basic information. Basic information. Tara Lee's scattered communication style drove Teresa nuts.

She was rearranging their lives to be ready for the baby. She also needed to know when to take maternity leave. So Teresa put on her best face and called Tara Lee to finally pin down some dates and details. And I was like, oh my gosh, we have to leave, you know, in a week and a half. Like, and she goes, you don't need to leave in a week. The baby's not due till the end of the month. So suddenly it went from the 11th of October to the end of October.

This is like where it all started to get weird, where I started to kind of raise an eyebrow. Getting the due date wrong by almost three weeks was a huge error. Except Tara Lee played it off with a shrug. Whoops! Teresa and Mike were exasperated. But they weren't about to rock the boat, not with a baby in it. And Tara Lee had an explanation for the error. She said the reason the date was wrong was that Stephanie hadn't received any prenatal care until much later in the pregnancy. No prenatal care?

I asked Rob Kirsch, the adoption attorney, if that was normal. He said it was very unusual. In almost every adoption he's handled, the birth mother's insurance or Medicaid covered the cost. So I asked Mike and Teresa why they thought Stephanie hadn't gotten any care. One of sort of the MO for Tara, So I asked Mike and Teresa why they thought Stephanie hadn't gotten any care. One of sort of the MO for Tara, which comes up over and over again, is, you know, she used to always go back to, you know, her, her, you know how these girls are.

Talking about women at the methadone clinic, women on drugs, you know how these girls are. And what do you, what did you think she meant by that? That they basically don't do as they're supposed to do, like, you know, go to their doctor's appointments. They don't take her phone calls. They don't basically do what she tells them to do. Is kind of what I thought she meant by that. That was like saying Stephanie's lack of care was her own fault. I'm also in recovery.

So myself, I've been sober for a long time. I find it kind of offensive. It's like, you know how those people are, you know? It's like, no, tell me, how are they? The Mathenies and other clients of Tara Lee, who I eventually spoke with, told me that many of the birth mothers did have substance use disorders, drug addictions. Part of Tara Lee's business model was to seek out pregnant women in vulnerable situations to give up their babies.

She'd pass her business card out at methadone clinics and prisons. But Tara Lee had a gritty authenticity that her clients liked, at least initially. And she seemed to genuinely care about helping the birth mothers. But one thing stuck out. I won't get into the weeds here, but Mike, who works in finance, was puzzled by why Tara Lee wanted $8,000 for Stephanie's expenses. Stephanie's rent, utilities, cell phone, groceries, and transportation amounted to less than $2,000 per month.

She was due in two weeks. And by law, they could only support her for six weeks after birth. That was a total of two months, or $4,000. But Tara Lee wanted twice that much. That was a big cushion. But she said she'd return whatever wasn't used. So Mike and Teresa didn't say anything. They trusted Tara Lee knew what she was doing.

She'd done it so many times, but they'd never adopted. What did they know? Stephanie wasn't due until the end of October. They had three more weeks. At the Mathenies' home in Atlanta, Halloween decorations were coming out, leaves were turning, and the nights were growing colder. Every day of those three weeks, Teresa and Mike passed by their son's nursery. So we had a little white jenny-land crib and the walls were kind of like a mint green,

gender neutral. Then had a little, you know, chair with an ottoman and stuffed animals. The nursery had been sitting ready for almost two years. But those last few weeks of October seemed to take forever. I would go in that nursery and sit and wait, you know, just waiting. The waiting was really, really hard. It was really hard. It was the hardest part. Despite Terri Lee's dysfunction and idiosyncrasies, she was going to change their lives. dysfunction and idiosyncrasies, she was going to change their lives. For years, the Mathenies had watched as other couples started families with apparent ease. The Mathenies had tried to avoid the creeping worry that their nursery might remain empty,

that at some sad point in the future, they'd have to take it down. But matching with Stephanie had changed everything. They imagined, now, rocking their son in the nursery, reading to him, changing his diapers, putting him to bed, rushing into his room at 4 a.m. if he cried, cried for them. They were going to be parents. Teresa took maternity leave from her work as a lab tech in the Animal Sciences Department at Georgia State. Mike, a loan officer, would work part-time from the road. They were so excited that days ahead of time, they laid out everything they wanted to take to Detroit.

What are you packing for this trip? Golf clubs. Did you really? What are you packing for this trip? Golf clubs. Did you really? Yeah. My husband forgot that we were bringing another human home with us. And that we were going to be in Michigan in October. So first of all, he brought his golf clubs, put them in the floorboard in the back.

We have stroller, car seat. So in addition to this, it was very important to me that I wanted him to be on breast milk. And so my cousin at the time had a baby and so she was pumping for me. And so we had an entire cooler full of breast milk iced down. Friday, October 19th, 2018. It was the Mathenies' last night in Atlanta before sleepless nights and bottles of breast milk. To celebrate, they went out for a big Italian dinner with Mike's mom.

Then driving home, as Mike said, everything flipped upside down. Teresa was in the back seat when she got a strange email from an adoption company they'd worked with. She didn't think anything of it. the back seat when she got a strange email from an adoption company they'd worked with. She didn't think anything of it, but when she read it aloud to Mike, he said it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He knew something was off. Ever since they'd first connected with Tara Lee, Mike had been suppressing his true feelings

about her. When Teresa was talking about Tara, our first conversation with her, God, I hope she hears this. I hate her voice. Okay, her voice was like nails on a chalkboard for me. And from the very beginning, I had like this spidey sense that like something was not right with her. Teresa hurried down to the basement where the nursery was, exchanged some alarming text messages, and then called adoption attorney Tanya Corrado in Detroit.

She said, Teresa, you cannot tell anyone this. This you cannot tell anyone. Tara is under investigation with the FBI. And I screamed. I screamed like I could hear it in my ears. Oh my god. I fell to the floor. I started having a panic attack.

Mike ran downstairs and found Teresa on her knees, sobbing. Then my thought is like, who was that woman that we talked to on the phone that claimed to be our birth mom? Who was she? You know? What is going on? I'm like, is there a baby? It was almost like finding out that my mom died. That was my reaction, you know? It felt like a death. Mike, for the first time in our relationship and marriage, I don't think he quite knew what to do, except he just took control of the conversation

and started talking to Tanya. And, you know, I just remember Mike saying, where is our money? I remember him saying, like, you know, I just remember Mike saying, where is our money? I remember him saying, like, you know, at the end of the conversation, what should we do? What should we do? And Tanya saying, get in your car and drive up here. Just get in your car. We didn't know what to believe, what was true.

When morning came, the Mathenies packed their car with everything their baby could possibly need, plus golf clubs, and took the 75 North to Detroit, hoping beyond hope that whatever Tara Lee did, Stephanie was who she said she was, and Baby S would become their son. It was somewhere around Cincinnati, Ohio, at 70 miles per hour, that Teresa suddenly panicked. In all the chaos to get information from Tara Lee, she realized that they never received any proof of Stephanie's pregnancy.

No photos of her. No ultrasound of the baby. No proof of life. And that was agonizing enough. But there was something else. They weren't the only couple Tara Lee collected money from and matched with Stephanie and her son. There was another set of parents who thought

the baby boy would be theirs. Next time on Baby Broker, we'll meet the other couple. This is where it gets even more wild. And we're just staring at each other, like there's no way this is real. And you feel like she's trying to get you to give an answer right there in the driveway. Exactly, she was.

Oh, absolutely. This season on Baby Broker. She looks up and she says, do you want to adopt another baby? And I remember at that moment thinking this is like a machine for her. I get answers from someone who saw inside Tara Lee's scam and built an army against her. By the third night, we had nine families. After a month, we had 20 families.

And then a little bit after that, we were up to 100 families. And we all became investigators. A local investigative reporter goes sniffing into Tara Lee's business. Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to issue an arrest warrant for Tara Lee after seeing one of our recent stories. And now Lee could be locked up because of our video. I mean, I've covered horrible crimes.

I've covered public corruption. I've covered a lot of awful things. And this is still in its own category. And the FBI tells me how they pursued Tara Lee. She's taking adoptive parents to the point that they're remodeling their houses to create nurseries. People are raising money through church fundraisers. She knew that they would do anything for the hope of having a child. Subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the first of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on Apple Podcasts or GetTheBinge.com to learn more.

Baby Broker is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and perfect cadence. It was hosted and reported by me, Peter McDonald. I'm the executive producer along with Catherine St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch of Sony Music Entertainment. Steven George recorded the narration at the Invisible Studios West Hollywood. We used music from Audio Network and a few tracks from Epidemic Sound. News clips are courtesy of WXYZ7 in Detroit, Michigan. Our production managers are Tamika Balance-Kalosny

and Sammy Allison. Our lawyers are Allison Sherry and Kathleen Farley. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasek, and Jamie Myers.