Speaker 1: This podcast discusses sexual assault. Please take care while listening.
Speaker 1: On December thirtieth, twenty twelve, Spencer Heron and Jennifer Faison
Speaker 1: were married. Let us pray, God of all love and mercy,
Speaker 1: make this a sacred place, Holly, by your presence and
Speaker 1: by the love that we celebrate today, help us to
Speaker 1: find and this couple's love and laughter, the love and
Speaker 1: laughter you share for us. Amen, Jennifer. Ever since I
Speaker 1: saw you walk into that hotel lobby last year, I've
Speaker 1: known what I'm supposed to do with the rest of
Speaker 1: my life. I feel beyond honor to know you, to
Speaker 1: love you, and to accept the most privilege of all
Speaker 1: things being your husband. Nearly six years later, on August sixteenth,
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, Heron was indicted on five counts of sexual
Speaker 1: assault by a teacher on school property in Cobb County, Georgia.
Speaker 1: You will never have to question my love of her
Speaker 1: devotion to you, because there's nothing else that I want
Speaker 1: to spend my time doing except showing you those things.
Speaker 1: I am so in love with you. Nearly nine months later,
Speaker 1: on April eighth, twenty nineteen, Spencer was indicted for sexually
Speaker 1: assaulting the same student in a hotel in Turkee County, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Spencer told the victim to stay down in an effort
Speaker 1: to hide her while driving her from Kel High School
Speaker 1: to a hotel. Having witnessed the covenant that you have
Speaker 1: made today and celebrated the love that you share, it
Speaker 1: is my privilege to pronounce you husband and wife. You
Speaker 1: may kiss. I'm Andrea Gunning and this is a trayal
Speaker 1: Episode two. The aftermath. The judge set a fifty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars cash bond, so we couldn't get him out
Speaker 1: if we tried, couldn't put the house up or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Fifty five thousand dollars is a lot of money,
Speaker 1: so he stayed in jail. It was almost like a wake,
Speaker 1: almost like someone had died, because people just kept coming over.
Speaker 1: In the days after the news broke, Jennifer and Spencer's
Speaker 1: friend group were in disbelief and rallied around her. Her
Speaker 1: friend Danielle was one of the first people Jennifer reached
Speaker 1: out to, and upon hearing the news, Danielle drove straight
Speaker 1: to Jennifer's house. What the look? I couldn't wrap my
Speaker 1: head around there being any truth to it all. I
Speaker 1: could do, would just be there for her and let
Speaker 1: her know that she had a huge community who was
Speaker 1: not going to let her down. Jen's neighbor Jail knew Spence,
Speaker 1: and she just couldn't process it, like no, no, no, no, nope.
Speaker 1: It was like her calling me and speaking to me
Speaker 1: in Mandarin because just like, I don't know what you're
Speaker 1: saying to me right now. Spencer's mugshot was all over
Speaker 1: the news, not just in Acworth, but nationally and internationally.
Speaker 1: There was no hiding it. Jennifer had to deal with
Speaker 1: the shame of what her husband had done. The victim
Speaker 1: told investigators that during the summer of twenty sixteen, Spencer
Speaker 1: met with her at school several times for a non
Speaker 1: existent school club meeting. She said that he would text
Speaker 1: her and tell her when he would be at the
Speaker 1: school and where to find him. That would give her
Speaker 1: a reason to be at Kell High School. Spencer began
Speaker 1: groping the victim on several different occasions, and his behavior
Speaker 1: continued into the fall semester. Law enforcement also learned that
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, Spencer started having sexual relations with the
Speaker 1: student inside the school on multiple occasions. She was a
Speaker 1: sophomore She provided some devastating tales that were contained in
Speaker 1: the criminal warrant as a warning. Some of them are
Speaker 1: difficult to hear. For example, when she began crying because
Speaker 1: it hurt, Spencer told her to be quiet. Also, he
Speaker 1: insisted that he not used protection because he was quote
Speaker 1: unquote fixed. You know, it was sickening to know that
Speaker 1: the accusation was coming from someone the same age as
Speaker 1: his youngest. That was really difficult for us. How do
Speaker 1: you wrap your head around that? And there were plenty
Speaker 1: of people who couldn't channel. Choose Lauren pose and talk
Speaker 1: to one of his former students to night she's live
Speaker 1: outside the Cobb County jail, was what she learned. People
Speaker 1: we spoke with our skeptical of the charges because you
Speaker 1: don't always know what's the truth is. Two former students
Speaker 1: who did not want to go on camera told me
Speaker 1: Heron was a great coach and teacher. The other student
Speaker 1: added Heron was a professional and kindhearted. She told me
Speaker 1: she does not believe the allegations are true, but Jennifer
Speaker 1: knew they were true. Spencer had admitted it. Now she
Speaker 1: was confronted with something else. Two days after Spencer's arrest,
Speaker 1: Jennifer uncovered a dark secret life. Her husband had been
Speaker 1: living a trove of her husband's lovers, sex partners, and
Speaker 1: prostitutes that dated back to the beginning of their marriage
Speaker 1: and beyond. He kept everything, photos, videos, emails, and tex
Speaker 1: exchanges between him and at least fifty other women littered
Speaker 1: his computer. She had gotten into his email to reset
Speaker 1: the password for his Facebook, and that's when she was
Speaker 1: able to shut down his social media. She was just
Speaker 1: looking to protect him, protect him, protect the family. But
Speaker 1: once she logged into his email, it was over and
Speaker 1: there's just no going back. I don't think that anybody
Speaker 1: expected for her to find what she found. I call
Speaker 1: it his trophy case. It was an entire catalog of
Speaker 1: emails and correspondence with women years and years and years.
Speaker 1: I mean, he saved everything. He saved the rejection emails,
Speaker 1: he saved every photo, He backed up the photos that
Speaker 1: he got from his Facebook. He was not who we
Speaker 1: thought he was. She told us that she was going
Speaker 1: to file for divorce. Spence was literally living a double life.
Speaker 1: On one hand, he's living as the perfect, doting, loving husband,
Speaker 1: great father, teacher of the year, Air Force band. He
Speaker 1: was even an Eagle scout. Jennifer's sister, Chrissie, was a
Speaker 1: voice of reason and probably understood Jennifer better than anyone.
Speaker 1: She had discovered all of the other women and the emails,
Speaker 1: and I think she was obsessed about that because it
Speaker 1: was easier than actually being sad about it. She only
Speaker 1: showed me one thing because I just don't want to
Speaker 1: see I didn't need to see it, but I think
Speaker 1: she had to because it was Spencer. You still don't
Speaker 1: believe it. Jennifer and Spence got married on December thirtieth,
Speaker 1: twenty twelve. She found photos of fourteen different women, many
Speaker 1: of them nude, within the first year of their marriage.
Speaker 1: There were two that I knew. One is someone who
Speaker 1: became friends of ours through the wine bar. Her and
Speaker 1: her husband would come in pretty regularly the wine bar.
Speaker 1: It was a big part of Jennifer and Spence's life.
Speaker 1: It had been a dream of Jennifer's to own one.
Speaker 1: Spencer and I talked about opening a coffee shop when
Speaker 1: we first moved here, because Worth has this small town
Speaker 1: feel and it's got this great main street. It somehow
Speaker 1: evolved into a wine bar, which we opened and had
Speaker 1: for two years. This was a place where the neighborhood
Speaker 1: really came together. All we had to do was open
Speaker 1: up the doors, and the neighborhood just came in and
Speaker 1: they introduced themselves and they hung out and we all
Speaker 1: just became friends and this really great community. Having that
Speaker 1: wine bar was a way to play hostess to the neighborhood,
Speaker 1: and it turns out it was also a sexual playground
Speaker 1: for Spencer, who found new prospects, seduced women, and even
Speaker 1: had sex here. I think we just have this great bar,
Speaker 1: and Spence was basically using it as his I have
Speaker 1: seen messages where he says, Wow, that blow job you
Speaker 1: gave me in the bathroom last night was amazing, or
Speaker 1: photos of somebody in the bathroom taking a picture of
Speaker 1: herself and sending it to him. He used to put
Speaker 1: a sign on the door apparently that said back in
Speaker 1: five minutes or back in ten minutes, and then would
Speaker 1: have sex in there. Jennifer's mother, Gail just couldn't wrap
Speaker 1: her head around the audacity. It's like in my business too.
Speaker 1: I mean, is there no place sacred? Unbelievable? It's absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 1: But there were dozens and he met them in all
Speaker 1: kinds of ways. Jennifer discovered evidence of a year long
Speaker 1: affair with a woman from his running club, and then
Speaker 1: another one was in the military with him. They were
Speaker 1: all very different from who Jennifer is. It's a person.
Speaker 1: Spencer juggled multiple conquests at the same time. The affairs
Speaker 1: he was having with the women overlapped, and he stayed
Speaker 1: in touch with them through sordid text exchanges. It's fair
Speaker 1: to assume that people behave differently with secret lovers during affairs,
Speaker 1: and they might with their own spouses, but reading his
Speaker 1: text was like reading a novel. He was a fictional character.
Speaker 1: The messages showed that Spencer had secret fetishes. Just a warning.
Speaker 1: The texts are explicit, and maybe the most alarming part
Speaker 1: is realizing that your own partner wrote them, and that's
Speaker 1: what jen faced when she discovered these text messages. Note
Speaker 1: all of the following were sent to adult women. Will
Speaker 1: you actually punch me this time? I'm not fucking around.
Speaker 1: I need you to hurt me. That's the point, the
Speaker 1: entire point. Was he into pain or was it the rush?
Speaker 1: Jennifer had no idea because she had no clue that
Speaker 1: he liked to be hit. Spencer also liked his lovers
Speaker 1: to refer to him as Daddy. Send Daddy a picture
Speaker 1: was a frequent request in his fantasy life. Jennifer noticed
Speaker 1: he seemed to enjoy a playful and sometimes not so playful,
Speaker 1: dominating persona. There were other texts where Spencer was in
Speaker 1: touch with former students. Here he keeps trying to persuade
Speaker 1: one of them to get together. I remember you being
Speaker 1: in class. You're always so much fun and so squeet.
Speaker 1: I hope you could tell that I was always super
Speaker 1: fond of you. We have a cool connection, your gorgeous fact.
Speaker 1: We need to hang out. I can't wait. I did you. Eventually,
Speaker 1: the young woman asks how are you and your wife? Though? Okay,
Speaker 1: I guess you know how relationships are. Can you see
Speaker 1: how I might have a crush on you? You know
Speaker 1: how relationships are? He barely acknowledges the question and brings
Speaker 1: it back to the conversation he really wanted to have.
Speaker 1: In another exchange, he mentions with holding sex from Jennifer
Speaker 1: when I know that we're going to meet. I don't
Speaker 1: like depriving myself, so I avoid sex with her if
Speaker 1: it even comes up, And to another he references tension
Speaker 1: at home for more excitement. By the way, Jen and
Speaker 1: I are fighting right now, so I am in an
Speaker 1: even freakier and more amped up mood to test the waters.
Speaker 1: And then there was this I am a single man
Speaker 1: for the next six days. If you want to hook up,
Speaker 1: I'm still very interested. That's a tech spencer sent when
Speaker 1: Jennifer was traveling for work. But the person Jennifer saw
Speaker 1: when she returned with someone happy to see her. He'll
Speaker 1: be jumping up, you know, saying hi, wife, welcome home.
Speaker 1: It's almost like an outer body experience, because you can't
Speaker 1: prepare yourself for something like that, especially when it's the
Speaker 1: last thing you expect to happen. Jennifer needed to get
Speaker 1: away from it all, so she went to stay with
Speaker 1: her sister in La. During the time that she stayed
Speaker 1: with me, she went from angry to really, really fat.
Speaker 1: She started thinking it was because of her that she
Speaker 1: wasn't enough. And I didn't cry when she was here,
Speaker 1: but as soon as she left, I cried, I think
Speaker 1: for two days straight because she hated herself. You know,
Speaker 1: Like we did have plans to go and meet some friends,
Speaker 1: but she didn't want to go because she didn't want
Speaker 1: people to think she was a loser, and a loser
Speaker 1: turned into ugly, A loser turned into a She's none
Speaker 1: of those things her self esteem. I mean, the saddest
Speaker 1: part is the effect it had. No matter how many
Speaker 1: times you say that it wasn't her fault, she couldn't
Speaker 1: hear it. It was so sad just to watch someone
Speaker 1: who was so beautiful and vibrant and confident and smart
Speaker 1: turn into someone so small or thought that they were
Speaker 1: so small and unlovable. Christie remembered something from a past
Speaker 1: conversation she had with Spencer at a dinner party. I
Speaker 1: had asked Spence and his friend. I said, you know,
Speaker 1: do you guys ever get nervous with the young girls
Speaker 1: these days? And Spencer had this look on his face
Speaker 1: because he was being thoughtful about it. And Spence said, well,
Speaker 1: I never meet any of my students alone, and if
Speaker 1: I do, I always have the door open. But there
Speaker 1: was a pause there that made me think. It didn't
Speaker 1: make me pause because I thought he had done something,
Speaker 1: but it made me pause because I thought he wasn't
Speaker 1: saying something he wanted to say. And I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: That was the first time that I thought Saint Spence
Speaker 1: Spence never made bail, and although all of his friends
Speaker 1: and family knew that he was incarcerated for sexual assault
Speaker 1: with a student, he was determined to stay in touch
Speaker 1: and make amends however he could. Jennifer mentioned that he
Speaker 1: wanted to write me an email if he wants us
Speaker 1: all to love him. He has this need for everyone
Speaker 1: to love him. He wants to send emails and talk
Speaker 1: about how he's found God and all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: And I was like, don't bother, It's never going to happen.
Speaker 1: He's insane. Nothing he says is true. Jennifer returned home
Speaker 1: to Actworth to pick up the pieces. The next casualty
Speaker 1: of Spencer's crimes. Jennifer's day to day life, Spencer's income,
Speaker 1: all that household money was lost. On top of that,
Speaker 1: her work was suffering from a lack of sleep and
Speaker 1: horrible stress. She had spent a lifetime building a reputation
Speaker 1: as a dependable and highly skilled producer. The coworkers could
Speaker 1: see that she was distracted. Finally, there would be the
Speaker 1: cost of a divorce attorney, and eventually she had to
Speaker 1: sell her home. The house that jen and Spends bought
Speaker 1: together represented much more than their marriage Jen's sister understood
Speaker 1: it symbolized something greater stability. Growing up after my parents divorced,
Speaker 1: we moved around a lot when we were younger. My sister,
Speaker 1: Jennifer John and I my brother John. We were all
Speaker 1: very close, but we also were always going into different
Speaker 1: schools twelve different schools before eighth grade. It was kind
Speaker 1: of just needing to survive. For Jennifer, she always wanted
Speaker 1: a home. She wanted to stay in one place. She
Speaker 1: wanted a house. She wanted the white picket fence because
Speaker 1: we didn't have that. You can't hide from the reality
Speaker 1: when those bills are due. Here, I have a mortgage
Speaker 1: on a home we just bought together. As hard as
Speaker 1: I tried, I can't make ends meet. Jennifer was broke
Speaker 1: and practically homeless. Her friends offered up their basement apartment
Speaker 1: rent free, and she accepted. It was humiliating, like she
Speaker 1: was starting over all over. And then there was Spens.
Speaker 1: She was done with him. He was behind bars, but
Speaker 1: he had nothing. Even after everything that he had done
Speaker 1: to her. She couldn't live with the thought of him
Speaker 1: not having toothpaste or deodorant. She was not that kind
Speaker 1: of person. He's still a human being, and he at
Speaker 1: the time as my husband. I'd put money in his
Speaker 1: commissary account, but it was never a lot. It was
Speaker 1: like maybe twenty dollars here and there. As Spence's sentencing
Speaker 1: date got closer, he appealed to his friends and family,
Speaker 1: which included Jen's close social circle, asking them to write
Speaker 1: letters on his behalf. He asked Jennifer to pass a
Speaker 1: message onto the group. Here's an excerpt from the letter.
Speaker 1: Dear Villagers, I'm a man who comes to you with
Speaker 1: a humble heart and zero pride for all of the
Speaker 1: obvious reasons. I am not asking for your forgiveness because
Speaker 1: I'm not there yet and I don't deserve that anyway.
Speaker 1: I am asking for your help. However, why am I
Speaker 1: doing this. It's because I am fighting for my life.
Speaker 1: It's because I've clearly never been in such a place
Speaker 1: of need. But I am now. What I did to
Speaker 1: Jennifer and how I treated our marriage is something that
Speaker 1: I cannot only never fix, but also something I cannot
Speaker 1: ever apologize enough for doing. I will never be able
Speaker 1: to give back to her the things that I have taken.
Speaker 1: My only hope is that she moves on from this
Speaker 1: life bomb that I dropped on her as soon as
Speaker 1: she possibly can. I am coming to you because, despite
Speaker 1: how horrible I was to Jennifer, I hope and pray
Speaker 1: that you don't see me as the person the media
Speaker 1: and my charges are making me out to be. I
Speaker 1: hope that the Spencer you know or new is not
Speaker 1: that person that has been described. For my upcoming arraignment hearing,
Speaker 1: I'm asking people who know me to consider writing a
Speaker 1: character reference letter to be given to my judge and
Speaker 1: the DA. Obviously, I'm wanting to get out of jail
Speaker 1: as soon as possible. You all know, of course, that
Speaker 1: the three kids are all in college, and I am
Speaker 1: desperate to get out so that I can support them
Speaker 1: in every way emotionally, spiritually, parentally, and financially. What it
Speaker 1: will do for my case, I believe will be so
Speaker 1: very important. I wish you all the very best, and
Speaker 1: thank you for being such an incredible friend to Jennifer.
Speaker 1: Much love, Thanks Spencer. He brings up the kids. That
Speaker 1: is when my blood started to boil. That is his
Speaker 1: first thing that he tried, using those kids, he says,
Speaker 1: I hope you remember the person that you know and
Speaker 1: not the one that the media is making me out
Speaker 1: to be. Well, he is the person the media is
Speaker 1: making him out to be. It's all true. Several people
Speaker 1: did write letters of support for Spencer, but none of
Speaker 1: them were the Villagers. Sentencing day came without much warning.
Speaker 1: I had planned to go and sit in the back.
Speaker 1: Jill planned to go with me and says she would
Speaker 1: hold my hand. But I wanted to go, not as
Speaker 1: support for him, but just to witness everything and hear
Speaker 1: it for myself. Unfortunately, the court date came up all
Speaker 1: of a sudden and there wasn't any preparation for it.
Speaker 1: Spencer pled guilty to five counts of sexual assault by
Speaker 1: a teacher. For each count, he was sentenced to twenty years,
Speaker 1: with five years to be served in confinement, serving them concurrently,
Speaker 1: he was going to state prison. I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: the evidence was stacked way way against him. As soon
Speaker 1: as it was over, he called me. He said he
Speaker 1: asked to say something to the victim's parents parents, and
Speaker 1: the mom said, we don't want to hear anything you
Speaker 1: have to say. You know. He went into all of
Speaker 1: this thinking, I am an eagle scout, I'm in the
Speaker 1: Air Force reserves, I'm a school teacher. I was Teacher
Speaker 1: of the Year. I'm a great dad. Look at these
Speaker 1: people that are speaking on my behalf. And it didn't work.
Speaker 1: He couldn't talk his way out of it. This time,
Speaker 1: there was one very small consolation. Spencer could be sentenced
Speaker 1: under the first Offender Statute. The intent of the law
Speaker 1: was to give first time offenders a chance to learn
Speaker 1: from their mistake and move on with their lives out
Speaker 1: the burden of a conviction. The benefit is that after
Speaker 1: the twenty years everything will be wiped off his record,
Speaker 1: so he will not be considered a felon anymore. He
Speaker 1: can vote again, and the slatest white clean for him.
Speaker 1: Having that title of first defender was like, you know,
Speaker 1: a notch on his belt, I think. But remember how
Speaker 1: he took the student into a hotel that was not
Speaker 1: in Cobb County but in Cherokee County, a different jurisdiction.
Speaker 1: Spencer was indicted for that charge several months later. On
Speaker 1: July fifth, twenty nineteen, after he'd been sent to prison,
Speaker 1: they woke him up in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: to transport him from Wilcox Prison back up to Cherokee
Speaker 1: County to have a hearing for that case. He was
Speaker 1: really disappointed because he didn't think that they were going
Speaker 1: to move forward with that, so just by picking a
Speaker 1: hotel that happened to be in another county, he got
Speaker 1: another twenty years sentence for Cherokee County's District Attorney, Spencer
Speaker 1: Hearn wasn't a first time offender. He was now a
Speaker 1: repeat offender. He would no longer qualify for first offender status.
Speaker 1: Cherokee County gave him the same sentence, also to run concurrently.
Speaker 1: Upon release, Spencer Hearn will have to register as a
Speaker 1: sex offender. Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Brody Jr. As
Speaker 1: a sexual predator. That is a scarlet letter for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. It'll limit the types of jobs
Speaker 1: he can have, to limit the places that they can live.
Speaker 1: They'll have to report everywhere they go. Anytime they cross
Speaker 1: state lines, they have to report that they're sexual predator
Speaker 1: in that particular state. It really limits them as far
Speaker 1: as their future is concerned, and rightfully so, because we
Speaker 1: know are a predator and they have to be controlled.
Speaker 1: The court proceedings, the apology letters from Spencer, they were
Speaker 1: all distractions. Most days after the arrest, Jennifer was alone
Speaker 1: with her thoughts. She was simmering in the sadness, fury,
Speaker 1: and trauma of this massive betrayal. How did she get here?
Speaker 1: A successful, confident, secure woman, Everything was now just fighting
Speaker 1: to get through every day. None of this had anything
Speaker 1: to do with her. She had not done anything wrong
Speaker 1: at all, and this horrible thing happened to her. Jen
Speaker 1: needed to put all the pieces together. She needed to
Speaker 1: make sense of it all. Jennifer was tormented by the
Speaker 1: Spence she didn't know, by the women that were involved
Speaker 1: with him, especially the high school student. But she didn't
Speaker 1: want to sit at home with her trauma buried under
Speaker 1: the covers, hiding from the world, so she decided to
Speaker 1: confront it, to go out and meet the other people
Speaker 1: who had been impacted by Spence instead of hiding. She
Speaker 1: wanted to know everything about who she married and what
Speaker 1: he had done. For the past eleven years, Jennifer had
Speaker 1: been living in a sea of lies. Now she wanted
Speaker 1: the truth that would be the start of her healing.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Betrayal, Jennifer meets with Spencer's
Speaker 1: most vulnerable victim, his former student. The young woman in
Speaker 1: her twenties now is breaking her silence. I'm shaking Yeah
Speaker 1: you too. If you'd like to reach out to the
Speaker 1: Betrayal team, email us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: That's Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. Betrayal is a
Speaker 1: production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Facon, hosted and produced by
Speaker 1: me Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Carry Hartman, also
Speaker 1: produced by Ben Fetterman. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry
Speaker 1: and Jessica Krinchik. Special thanks to voice actor Todd Gans.
Speaker 1: Sound editing and mixing done by Mott DeVecchio. Betrayal's theme
Speaker 1: was composed by Oliver Bain's music library provided by my
Speaker 1: Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.