Unseen - The Cyberstalking Killer Family | The Disturbing Case of Christine Belford | UNSEEN

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

“Mommy, I want to come home” -- It’s March 20, 2011, and a disturbing video entitled “Don’t hurt me mommy” is uploaded to YouTube, showing young mother Christine Belford with her 3 children in the street, being secretly filmed. 4 years earlier, in September of 2007, Christine frantically called the Newcastle police department, telling them her 3 daughters had been kidnapped. What had started in 2007 was a plan of revenge against Christine and her daughters that would end up escalating for over 8 years, ultimately becoming known as one of America’s worst cases of cyberstalking. External Footage from: "Web of Lies: Web of Spies" (Blast! Films), "Evil Kin: A Mother's Fight" (Sirens Media), "WHYY", "WITN Channel 22", "ABC NEWS", "delawareonline.com", "Associated Press", "Firefighter Dispatch". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a disturbing video on YouTube, posted on March 20th, 2011. The title is, Don't Hurt Me, Mommy. The owner of the account was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. Now, pay attention to the woman in the video. Her name is Christine Belford. The person filming wants you to think she's mistreating her children, but when you read the comments, the amount of outrage tells you there's more to the story. And in 2007, Christine's three children will disappear.

This is David Matusowitz, Christine's ex-husband. On August 26, 2007, Christine lets David take the kids after he promised them a fun trip to Disney World. Two weeks later, the children are missing, and David is nowhere to be found. What follows is an 18-months international manhunt, as David, his mother Lenore, his father Thomas, and his sister Amy, will orchestrate the worst case of cyber-stalking the state has ever seen. The first people in the entire country convicted of cyber-sostalking, resulting in death. J-8-8-5, I'm in the courthouse,

we've got shots fired here. 10-4-J-8-5. First and foremost, this was not a random act of violence. We're in the courthouse. In the top lobby. I don't know what the status is yet. Shots have been fired inside a Wilmington Delaware courthouse. In the lobby, I got two additional something down.

Witnesses say a man shot and killed two women. Our next two-four-knit-shot. Shooter's down. We are now getting word that the gunman may be dead. be dead. The FBI is on site, the Secret Service, a shooting occurred at about 8 o'clock this morning. On February 11, 2013, an unidentified man opens fire inside a Wilmington courthouse, fatally shooting two women before taking his own life.

The investigation is still preliminary at this time. Processing the entire scene. We have tactical teams searching every floor of that courthouse. The gunman's vehicle, a white SUV, is found parked across the street. Inside, police find a red notebook in which is written a hit list of future targets. One of the names, Timothy Hitchings, Christine Belford's lawyer. Obviously, I was intended to be killed that day. We didn't know who might still be at large looking for me.

CCTV footage shows two men exiting the vehicle before one of them calmly crosses the street and enters the courthouse alone. At 12.10 p.m., police released a statement to the press, saying the gunman was related to one of the victims. One victim was reportedly the shooter's estranged wife. David Matusowitz shot and killed Belford inside the Newcastle County Courthouse. The truth, however, is far more disturbing. Detective Shriner, who was called to the scene on February 11th,

describes in an interview exactly what he found. I heard all my police radio about a shooting at the courthouse. Obviously, I immediately responded. I saw two individuals on the ground. There was another individual on the ground just outside the rotating door. When he walks across the lobby, he recognizes one of the people deceased. I said to myself, oh my, and I knew what this was about. Detective Shriner is the only person on site to be familiar with the case of Christine Belford and David Matusowitz.

Right away, he assumes he knows who the shooter is, but Detective Shriner is wrong. September 9th, 2007, six years before the shooting, at around 9 p.m., Detective Jeff Shriner of the missing persons unit receives a call from a distressed mother, claiming that her three daughters had have been kidnapped. The woman on the phone is Christine Belford, and the man who she claims abducted her children is her ex-husband, David Matusowitz, along with his mother, Lenore Matusowitz. Christine explains that David took the girls

on a two-week trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but never returned. At first, Shriner doesn't think it's a kidnapping, just another case of parents fighting over custody. I didn't initially look at it as something strange. Parents, they're not concerned about getting the children home. They want to get as much time with the children as they can.

But when Shriner tries to contact David, he's nowhere to be found. His suspicions increase when Christine shows him the custody papers. It states that David made various allegations claiming Christine is an unfit mother, and that he should have full custody. He started off by saying I was bipolar and trying to have me committed so he could have the kids. As the investigation begins, Shiner first looks at credit card records. It shows David's last transaction was made on August 26th. The day that they left for Florida,

It just told us he was taken off. It's your worst fear come true. It's not ever good when it's a stranger, but when it's your parent, I have a very hard time believing that a parent will do that. Right away, Detective Shriner sends out a missing persons report. But no one knows just what David and his mother have in store. More than 2,000 miles south in Hidalgo, Texas, Christine's three daughters, Laura, Lee, and Karen, are sitting in the back of a Winnebago.

David and Lenore are up front. After driving on Interstate Highway 2, David taking it. makes a nearest exit and turns on International Boulevard toward the Mexican border. In less than one mile, U.S. jurisdiction will end. As he reaches a customs booth, the agent grabs their passports and asks how many people are inside the RV. As David answers, he shows no signs of being worried. Neither does Lenore.

The agent can hear the girls talking and playing in the back. He looks at the passports, one at a time. Then, hands them back to David and opens a gate. and Lenore have now successfully crossed international lines. What authorities don't know is, David started planning his crime as early as last year. In December 2006, he made arrangements to get fake IDs for himself, his mom, and all three girls. David crossed the Mexican border on August 28th and left no trace behind. Now, with a two-week head start, they could be anywhere. Investigators searched David's house. They find ties to a New Zealand bank account and to Canada.

Shriner has also discovered that David sold the Vision Center for $650,000. What's worse? David has taken a line of credit for $249,000, under Christine's name, for which he forged her signature. I'm sitting here in Delaware trying to figure out where they could have gone, what they could be doing, searching on the Internet, doing whatever I could. She was very strong through all of this. I don't know how she did it. It was all with Grace, even though she hadn't slept the night before.

kind of slept the night before she would go out there and try to do right by those kids. November 2007, Christine's daughters have been missing for two months. Thomas Matusowitz and his daughter, Amy Gonzalez, denied knowing anything about where David and Lenore went. Strangely enough, both Thomas and Amy moved to Edkouch, Texas, less than 20 miles from the Mexican border. All those things didn't add up at all. At that point, I assumed that the whole family was involved.

The search goes international. Every news outlet talks about the kidnapping of three girls by a Delaware optometrist. This is video of Dr. David Matusowitz. In August 2007, police allege he left the country with his three daughters. U.S. Marshals get a hit. They find that David is hiding in Cerro Azul, just one hour outside of Panama City. They mobilize a team, but David vanishes before they can move in on his house. Soon after, the FBI gets a hit on David's passport,

crossing over to Costa Rica, and then, nothing. For the next 16 months, the chase grows cold. March 2009, Christine is losing hope. She hasn't seen the girls in 18 months. Karen, the youngest, will be turning four soon. She had just turned two when her mother last saw her. Christine's eldest daughter, Katie, describes in an interview a glimpse into what Christine went through. It was hard.

We would get tips saying that they were here, we're there. So my mom would get on a plane, and then it would just be, no, they're not there. My mom started to feel worse and worse about everything. It was getting to a point where I didn't know if we'd ever find these children. At that time, the FBI gets a break. After tapping Amy's cell phone, they trace one call to South America to the small town of Katarina, Nicaragua. We did put an all-point's bulletin out to be on the lookout for a 33-foot RV with Delaware tags on it.

It's not a very common vehicle in Nicaragua. March 13, 2009, a police officer in Nicaragua pulls over a car for a routine traffic stop. The driver of the car is David, and with him, his daughter, Laura. David has been going around town selling his daughter's belongings for money. after he spent the entire $1 million he planned for his kidnapping. As David hands the officer his driver's license, the officer ignores it, and instead asks David to step out of the vehicle. David is immediately put under arrest, and Laura is taken to the police station.

Less than an hour later, Lenore and the two youngest girls are located in the RV, a few miles away. That same night, Christine jumps on the first plane to Nicaragua. It was exciting to hear that they had been found, but it was almost unreal because they'd been gone for so long. How do you believe something like that? Although she's thrilled when she's reunited with them, Christine is shocked to hear what David has been telling them about her.

Laura, the eldest who is now six, says she was told her mom had ended her life. One of the most spiteful things you can say to a child is your mother didn't love you enough to stay in this world. And it also indicates to a child who's been kidnapped, She's not coming. Help is not on the way. David pleads guilty to one count of international parental kidnapping and one count of bank fraud.

He is sentenced to four years in prison, followed by five years on probation. Lenore pleads guilty to endangerment of a child and is sentenced to 18 months in jail. It was a relief to know that they were away, but my mom knew that while they were in jail, she had to terminate their rights before they got out again. Although David and his mother Lenore are behind bars, and the children are now safe, the nightmare that lasted 19 months was only the opening act to the terror the Matusowitz have in store for Christine. On December 22, a letter is sent by David from prison to Amy's house.

It reads, I'm done playing Mr. Nice Guy. No one understood what kind of monster they were dealing with. March 2009, four years before the courthouse shooting, the return of Christine's three daughters makes the front page of the newsjournors. showing a picture of Christine with Laura and Karen. When my sisters first came back, they were actually super skinny. They had cavities in their teeth. Karen had pink eye and both eyes.

They just didn't look like themselves. For a while, life is almost back to normal. With David behind bars, Christine can finally breathe a sigh of relief. At that time, a woman reaches out to Christine after she heard about the kidnapping. Cindy Bender added my mom on full. Facebook and sent her a message saying, like, hi, I'd been following the story, and I just wanted to reach out and, you know, make sure you guys are okay.

She said she dated David Matusowitz in the past and understands what Christine's going through. She becomes an unlikely friend offering a safe space for Christine to open up. My mom shared information with Cindy about the girls' schools and their grades and what sports they were playing, she would update her with pictures of the girls. I remember speaking with Christine about this, basically telling her, I don't trust her, and we need to watch who we're talking to. December 2009, less than one month into David's sentence, a mysterious webpage begins to circulate.

Its title, A Grandmother's Impossible Choice, the content is a fabrication of the Matusowitz. It details in 20 years, 99 paragraphs allegations against Christine, claiming that she sexually abuses her daughter Laura. All about abuse, molestation, it's an abomination. If you knew Christine, you would never have an ounce of doubt. What a great mother she was. I was shocked when I first heard the allegations, why would they do this? After everything else they've done, why say something like this?

Never did they make those allegations once before they kidnapped them. It's just like they just keep trying, they just throw out some one of the walls who it sticks. I've got to stay on track, so I just keep fighting and put one foot in front of the other. But how can this website get posted when Lenore Matusowitz is sitting in a jail cell with no access to the internet? Amy Gonzalez In a letter sent from prison to Amy's house, David gives clear directives to his sister for a variety of plots to spread the story. Amy begins mailing printouts of the website, sending it anonymously to Christine's friends and neighbor. to the schools of her children, even to her church.

Christine Belford was a Sunday school teacher. She resigned her position teaching first graders about Jesus because she felt that she could put them in danger just by being there. Their goal out of all this was to make my mom look as bad as they possibly could. And they wanted to show her that they were still in control of everything. I think the campaign against my mom really started to take a toll on her, She did a very good job of hiding it from us and making at least my sisters think that everything was okay. I feel like it's like I'm always dodging a bullet. I'm tired. I'm tired. What am I going to do? It's never going to stop. He's never going to stop.

Christine struggles to shield her daughters from the Matusowitz's reign of terror. Her eldest daughter Katie is now 16, and Laura has turned eight. Katie helps as best she can to support her. her mom in protecting the three girls. But the moment Christine has been dreading for 18 months is finally here. September 16th, 2010, Lenore Matusowitz is released from prison. Christine has a restraining order against the entire Matusowitz family, and yet... Chris frequently felt like she was being watched. She said, I don't know if I'm just paranoid. March 20th, 2011. A friend of Christine sends her a video circulating online. The video shows close Christine being stalked as someone is filming her with her children.

The person is watching from inside of a car, just down the street from her house. This video is then sort of repackaged, posted on YouTube, and weaponized. The title of the video is Don't Hurt Me, Mommy. The editing selects moments where Christine holds her daughter by the arm, as any parent would do to keep her children off the streets. Only now, with this title, Christine is meant to look abusive. I think any mom would get their kid out of the street. I think the child abuse would have been if she would have left her out in the street.

They worked on Christine mentally to try to break her, to strip her of hope, to maybe say, okay, take the children. The children is my main nervous. If I wasn't here, what would happen to them? Would they go to David? Would they be in foster care? But there's been times where I'm like, should I just give up the fight? And I'm like, I can't. I can't. I've come too far.

Love and there's children, and I have been through so much, and may have been through so much. They need me. December 2011, Lenore and Thomas drive over 2,000 miles and come knocking at Christine's door, unannounced. The children are home, but Christine isn't there. My sisters were terrified when they realized that Thomas was at our house. I tried to take them into the bedroom, but they were still scared. Thankfully, Gerald is there. He confronts Tom and Lenore, and is able to send them to him.

them off. But the damage is done. When she hears what happened, Christine no longer feels safe in her own home. We got cameras put on the outside of our house. We got three German Shepherds. She had bats in her room, and she also had knives next to her bed. I was scared all the time. She's completely tormented by this. And you know what she does? She tries to sell her house. She knows, they know, where she lives. And what happens? Hi, Chris. Hope all is well your way. Anything new going on? Emo when you can give the girls a hug for me. Talk soon. Cindy. Sorry about the delay. The kids are doing well. Happy in school. Nothing recent with David's family since they were around beginning of December. Houses for sale

and I've had several people in to see it. What Christine doesn't know is Cindy is also chatting online with Amy, David's sister. Hi girl, wanted you to know I heard from the girls. They seem to be doing well and they're excited about Halloween. They promised me pictures of them in costume. So if I get them, I'll send them along so you can copy them to show Dave. Like Dave said, he'll live through me, L.O.L. Cindy.

Please let me know you got this and remember they didn't come from me. Shh. Cindy, someone Christine trusts and appreciates is going behind her back to the very people she's terrified of. It turns out that Cindy has never stopped loving David, and the two have maintained a sexual relationship virtually via email. Now that David is in prison, Cindy relays information about the girls to him through Amy.

Because of Cindy's email exchange, the Matusuits are now aware that Christine is planning to move. They arrange to get pictures taken around the property of each entry, each window, each camera installed. David will be released in four months, and they're planning a home invasion. Christine has no idea, but she can feel something is wrong. Chris did tell people that she thought that they were going to kill her.

In a letter to her attorney, Christine writes, David has nothing to lose at this point. He has lost everything. It may allow me to survive, to suffer. I may survive long enough to watch the girls be harmed. I may even go missing. Christine is expecting the worst. She trains her daughter Katie for an emergency escape through the master bedroom window. If any of the Matusowitz come knocking, Christine would hold them off downstairs.

While Katie is to gather the three girls, run up the stairs, and lead them out the window, where a rope ladder awaits. When we knew David was getting ready to get out of jail, my mom was getting super anxious. She always wanted us in the house, or if we were out, she wanted to know exactly where we were, who we were with. April 13th, 2012, David is released from federal prison. As he is placed on a five-year probation, he goes to live with his family on Ed Couch. Soon after, he writes to Amy the following email.

Prepare yourself to be managing four children by this time in 2013. As Christine is getting her kids ready for school, she keeps a happy face, making sure the girls don't get worried. But Katie knows exactly what's troubling her mom. I was kind of nervous that morning because I knew that she had court. A simple child support hearing.

That's all it was intended to be. I knew that David was going to be a court. where my mom was very stressed out. She tried to not show it to us, but you could tell. I asked her, do you want me to go to court with you, Chris? I'll go. I'll take the day off work. But Christine declines, as she is already planning to go with her friend Beth. At approximately 755 a.m.,

Christine pulls into the parking lot of the Newcastle County Courthouse and walks up to meet her friend at the entrance. Inside, the front's lobby is filled with security guards, employees, and civilians. After passing first through the rotating door, Christine walks to the metal detectors, followed closely by her friend Beth. Before she can recognize his face, a man takes out a gun, points it at her chest, and pulls the trigger. I was at my grandma's house. I was actually looking at my phone and someone had posted that there was a shooting at the courthouse.

My phone rang twice and it was someone from Christian. hospital. Are you Gerald Purcell? Do you know Christine? And he told me that she had died. It felt like a huge part of my heart was gone. Katie was crying. She said, um, they did it. They did it. They killed my mommy. They killed my mommy. Christine was shot and killed. Her friend, Beth Mulford was also killed. Two security guards were also wounded in an exchange of gunfire. The shooter was struck as he attempted to exit the building. He then turned the gun on himself. Detective Shriner, who was called to the scene, discovers Christine on the floor of the lobby. He's convinced the shooter is David, but Shriner is wrong. Once I observed the body, the next reaction I had was, oh my God,

it's not David. The shooter is actually David's father, Thomas Matusowitz. Where's David Securing him became the top priority, because shooting Christine in the courthouse was not the end of their plan. I was crying and, like, confused, but my first thought was to go get my sisters. Right away, police try to locate the three daughters, Laura, Lee, and Karen. At Striner knows David, or any other member of the Matusowitz clan will go after them next. State troopers raced their schools, hoping to find them in time. All three girls are to be put in protective custody. Moments after the attack, David is spotted inside the building and put under arrest.

He denies knowing anything of what his father did. Yet, when he's told of his death, David doesn't show any emotion. The girls are found and brought to a safe house, awaiting transfer to an undisclosed location. I got to go into a room where my sisters were. I didn't know that that would be the last time that I would see them. Lenore and Amy are brought in for questioning. Both obviously deny having any knowledge of Thomas's plan. Apart from the white SUV in the courthouse parking garage,

the FBI searches the house and ed couch and collects thousands of pieces of evidence. The Matusowitz may have succeeded in eliminating their target, but their plan is far from over. Even with Thomas dead, David arrested, and with Christine gone, Amy and Lenore are left behind to carry out the last phase of their plan. There was only one way to stop them, and that was to put them away forever. February 13th, just 48 hours after the shooting, Amy Gonzalez sends out a petition for custody of the kids.

She's sending a petition to a courthouse that hasn't even been reopened yet after the killing. February 21st, 10 days after the shooting, Lenora Matusowitz appears on a podcast episode series where she defends her husband Tom. Her attempt to salvage the situation as well as to clear her name comes off most disturbing. He would never hurt his family. The meningioma, the tumor, changed him. Tom wasn't behaving normally for the longest time. He told me he wouldn't bring his guns.

Tom didn't plan any of this. He was planning a Ruben sandwich party. We already have the fresh corned beef and the sauerkraub. And my husband loves to eat. He was an adoring husband, father, grandfather, uncle, son-in-law, brother-in-law. But the worst part comes when she reiterates the allegations of abuse against Christine. Shameless and vile, she attacks the woman who can no longer defend herself. And she does so by speaking on Laura's behalf.

And then she said, I have to do things to mommy. It's a big secret. If I ever tell mommy's going to be in trouble, I don't want my mommy to go to jail. She said that mommy taught them all about the G-spot when they were in the bathtub. August 18th, 2013, prosecutors bring their indictments in front of a grand jury. Right away, Lenore and Amy are arrested. No comments. June 11, 2015, the trial begins.

The first ever case of cyber-stalking resulting in murder. The evidence against the Matusowitz is overwhelming. Over 600 items collected by the FBI. Multiple handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, pictures of Christine's house, with security cameras circled. Emails uncovered proving the Matusowitz were using third parties to get information, like Cindy Bender and Courtney Emerson, another one of David's mistresses. All of which led to the inescapable conclusion that they were prepared to commit an act

of violence against Christine Belford. The most disturbing of all might be a printed version of the serenity prayer. Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off. But with all the evidence brought up against them, David, Lenore, and Amy are stoic. Their defense, Christine was an abusive mother, and they did what they had to to protect David's three daughters. When Katie takes the stand, she defends her mother with all her heart, describing how she was terrified, and pleads to the judge, The Matusowitz will never stop until they have my sisters. Katie is now 20 years old.

She hasn't seen Laura or any of her sisters in two years. She's worried the Matusowitz will convince the jury that her mother was abusive and that they will succeed. Katie is horrified at the thought that they could get the girls back. The Matusuits are relentless. They were methodical, highly organized, and, And ruthless, there is only one thing that could bring them down. The one person they never expected could testify against them. The Matusiewiczs has create a story that only Laura can rebut.

On June 22nd, Laura, who is now 13 years old, takes the stand. Her testimony is given behind closed doors for her own safety, but one sentence from Laura's mouth is shared with the press. None of it is true. She was never abused. Everything the Matusowitz has said is a lie. She was the one at the very end who restored her mother's reputation in a way that nobody else could. That's a lot for a 12-year-old girl to bear. The Matusowitz stood silent and the lies fell apart right in front of the jury.

This trial represented an extension of Christine Belford's fight. It represented the bravery and courage of her children who came into this courtroom. and testified on her behalf. David Matusowitz, his mother Lenore, and his sister Amy, are all found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. They will never get out of prison again. It's a victory for three young girls and Christine. I think my mom had to fight for my sisters continuously and be strong for them

because she wanted them to have the life that they deserve to live. Christine left behind a legacy that will never be broken, of four beautiful daughters. Four girls who are strong now. We're stronger because of everything that we went through. Through them, Christine's memory lives on, and she becomes stronger than ever. The Matusowitz may have taken her life, but they will never take away her spirit. We don't have this false reality of everything being great.

We know how the real world works, and we know the dangers of everything. My mom never gave up, and she was strong. and she fought till the very end. The children is my mate nervous, so I just keep fighting and put one foot in front of the other. I don't really have very many friends, but friends I do have, I'm very loyal to, so even losing one is a heavy blow for me.

This man was the last person to see 19-year-old Lee Porter before she disappeared. He claims he's a worried friend, and he goes on TV to plead for her safe.