1 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Never ever did I see that coming. Ever, I truly 2 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: thought I was going in to help someone else. And 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: then I'm the in question, what do you mean? I'm 4 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,080 Speaker 1: his wife, This isn't a crime. We weren't a crime. 5 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning. And this is Betrayal, a show about 6 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 2: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that 7 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 2: change everything. 8 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: Hindsight's a powerful thing, and we share the stories so 9 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: that hopefully somebody will see it. The light bulb might 10 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: go off. 11 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 2: That's Brandy Dredge. Her story is unlike anything we've ever 12 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 2: heard before, and she's never found anyone with the same experience. 13 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 2: It's about a betrayal that only came into focus with hindsight, 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: and it's the story of a surprising legal intervention that 15 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 2: forced Brandy to reconsider her entire life. As you're listening, 16 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 2: you may think you know where the story is going, 17 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 2: but everything here is a little more complicated than it seems. 18 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 2: So let's start at the beginning. When she was growing 19 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 2: up in the eighties in Missouri, you know, a lot of. 20 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: Home cooked mails, a lot of plan in the neighborhood 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: until the street lights came on and then you had 22 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: to come home. 23 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: Growing up, her parents struggled to make ends meet. 24 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: My dad was a hunter. I mean, you grew up 25 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: rural country, so you went out and got the deer 26 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: and the rabbits and the squirrel and that's what filled 27 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: our freezer as far as meat. 28 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: As a treat, her parents would take her and her 29 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 2: brother to Dairy Queen, but to afford it. 30 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: We had to go out and collect night crawlers, the 31 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: worms from the ground. So we'd go out and we'd 32 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: collect night crawlers and then you'd fill him up in 33 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,679 Speaker 1: the folder's can. Mom would drive us to the bait 34 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: shop and then you'd watch them get weigh out, and 35 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,519 Speaker 1: then that determined how much money you were gonna get. 36 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: So it was always good if you could get like 37 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: twenty dollars, because then that meant we would be able 38 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: to get blizzards. 39 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 2: She grew up in a culture where wives served their husbands, 40 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 2: and that was the dynamic she observed in her own household. 41 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: My dad, by the time he got home, he you know, 42 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 1: expected his mills to be there. When his tea glass 43 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: would be empty, you know, you just tap the tea 44 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 1: glass on the counter, and then that meant I need 45 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: more tea and then she would go fill up the tea. 46 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 2: She absorbed important lessons from her parents' relationship. The biggest 47 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 2: one was that her purpose in life was to make 48 00:02:57,680 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 2: a man happy. 49 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: Just all the performance based love. That isn't really love, 50 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: but it is what I felt that you were supposed 51 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: to do. 52 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 2: Most of Brandy's childhood was spent playing outside with the 53 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 2: neighborhood kids, playing house or recreating TV shows like The 54 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 2: Dating Game. 55 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: And we'd have the boys get on the one side 56 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: of the house is beyond the other corner and kind 57 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: of ask them questions. 58 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,639 Speaker 2: In high school, she joined the cheerleading squad. It made 59 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 2: her feel like somebody and like she was part of something. 60 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 2: Brandy had a lot of time to herself because her 61 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 2: dad worked double shifts and her mom was busy managing 62 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 2: the household. 63 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: Some of us were more rebellious than others and did 64 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: the sneaking around behind her parents' backs. 65 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 2: Brandy would sneak out with her high school boyfriends. 66 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: I seemed to kind of gravitate towards that bad boy image. 67 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 2: In her sophomore year, she met a boy who wasn't 68 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 2: like the rest. 69 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: He was not a bad boy at all. Man just 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: really treated me like I was gold and special. I 71 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: never felt like he wanted just a body. I felt like, Wow, 72 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: he really cared about me as a person. 73 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 2: When he left and went off to college, Brandy still 74 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 2: had another two years of high school. 75 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: And then one day I was getting ready to go 76 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: to a cheerleading game and he had called and said 77 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: that he wanted to break up with me and Ma 78 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: and I was devastated, so devastated because I, yeah, I 79 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: kind of thought that he's the one. But my friends 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: were there to pick me up for the game, and 81 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: they were like trying to cheer me up. You know, 82 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: it's okay, We're going to go to this party afterwards 83 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: at this apartment. 84 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 2: She agreed to go with her friends, even though on 85 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 2: the inside she was crushed about the breakup. She felt abandoned. 86 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 2: The party was at an apartment where two high schoolers 87 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: were living with an older guy. 88 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: I would hear about this apartment because some boys at 89 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,280 Speaker 1: our school had lived with this man, and these boys 90 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: had kind of rebelled from their parents and so they 91 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: were living with him. So I would hear these rumors 92 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: about this apartment, but up until this point I had 93 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: never been there. 94 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: The rumors were about a good looking older guy who 95 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 2: lived there, and she was curious, but. 96 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: It was kind of almost like the celebrity. 97 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 2: When she got there, she met Gary Richard, a man 98 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 2: so infamous he had two first names. 99 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: When he walked in, I mean he was stunning. Yeah, 100 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: black hair and it's like hung to his dolline, and 101 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: he was muscular and had these blue eyes that ah 102 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: very physically fit everything. When I saw him, like that 103 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: was it. I just wanted to keep knowing more about him, 104 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:08,039 Speaker 1: and I wanted to interact with him. 105 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 2: The sting of her breakup was still so fresh, but 106 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 2: all of a sudden, the prospect of this older guy 107 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 2: made her forget the pain for a minute. She was 108 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 2: instantly intrigued. Her eyes followed him. 109 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: And I could see from where I was setting in 110 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: the living room he was in the bathroom and he 111 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: was starting to shave his face, and so I went 112 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: down there and was like, I want to shave your face. 113 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 2: It was forward, flirtatious even, but Brandy was reeling from 114 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 2: the rejection of the first guy who treated her well, 115 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 2: the one she thought she would spend the rest of 116 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 2: her life with. Now Gary Richard was making her feel 117 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 2: seen and wanted. 118 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: That attraction was just something I couldn't fight against. I 119 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: guess I didn't want to fight against it. I mean 120 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: I just wanted him no matter what. Age didn't even 121 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: come into the equation. I knew he was older, but 122 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: I didn't know what that age was. 123 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 2: She was sixteen, and she found out later Gary Richard 124 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 2: was twenty four. At the time, the age difference didn't 125 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:26,559 Speaker 2: even cross her mind. 126 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: I mean, he just looked like he hung the moon 127 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: he was hmm. 128 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 2: But whether she thought about it in the moment or not, 129 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 2: his age was a part of Gary Richard's appeal. 130 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: When you come across somebody that seems like they've had 131 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: all these life experiences, you feel like, Wow, I haven't 132 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: did anything. I haven't even made it out of my hometown. 133 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 2: He worked as a model for local businesses and bridle shows. 134 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 2: He had multiple jobs and a car for sixteen year 135 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 2: old brand He was the epitome of cool. After the 136 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 2: night they met, she and Gary Richard became an item. 137 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't like a conversation of Hey, would you like 138 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: to go out? Would you like to be my girlfriend? 139 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: We were just together. I would lie to my parents 140 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: a lot about where I was going and I would 141 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: end up saying the night with him. 142 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 2: When she was with him, she felt like a grown up. 143 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: He DJ'ed at a club in town. He would get 144 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: me in and so I'd set up in the little 145 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: DJ booth and then he'd bring me these butterscotch drinks 146 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: from the bar and we would dance, and huh, we 147 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: had so much fun dancing. 148 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 2: He always seemed in control, like he knew what to 149 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 2: do next and how to make it happen. 150 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: I mean, he had this way about him, the way 151 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: he would talk to people. He had this charm, like 152 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: he could make people do whatever he wanted them to do. 153 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: The other thing about him was he always seemed like 154 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,199 Speaker 1: he had wealth, Like he just carried hisself in a 155 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: way where money never seemed to be an object for 156 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: him and for me, as sixteen, coming from my home 157 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: where we're eating the deer and the squirrel out of 158 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: the freezer, I felt like I had struck gold. 159 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 2: One night, Brandy's parents found out she'd been sneaking out 160 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 2: and lying about where she was, so she came clean 161 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 2: about Gary Richard. 162 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: I'm declaring, you know that I love him, and at 163 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: this point, you know, we had only been together just 164 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: a few months, but you know, professing my love for him, 165 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,319 Speaker 1: you know, and you're not going to be able to 166 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: keep me from him, and all these things. 167 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 2: Her parents disapproved, but they didn't try to stop the relationship. 168 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 2: What Brandy didn't tell them were the rumors she'd heard 169 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 2: about her new boyfriend. 170 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: He had gotten locked up, He didn't graduate from high school, 171 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: got his ged in prison, had ended up being in 172 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: prison a couple different times for just different things. 173 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 2: He told Brandy that he had spent a few months 174 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 2: in prison, but it was on a trumped up theft charge, 175 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 2: and in the same breath, he explained he had a 176 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 2: hard life. 177 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: His mom had abandoned him as a child, and his 178 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: siblings and their grandmother raised him. 179 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 2: She felt for him most of all. She felt like 180 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 2: she could fix him. 181 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: And then four months after meeting him, I got pregnantje. 182 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 2: And Gary bought a pregnancy test to confirm it, and 183 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 2: it was positive. The whole time, he stayed calm and collected. 184 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: He just so confidently, like he always does, just knew 185 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: what to do. He just always had a plan. 186 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 2: His plan was to start a life together and build 187 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 2: a family. That's what Brandy Wan wanted to. 188 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: I knew as long as I had him, I would 189 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: be okay. Like I have you, I love you. This 190 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: will be our family, and we're gonna be okay. As 191 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: long as I have him, my life's gonna be good, 192 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: no matter what. 193 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 2: Next. Brandy had to tell her parents. She wrote them 194 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,079 Speaker 2: a note and left it on her nightstand. 195 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: I was scared because I thought they would disown me. 196 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:31,719 Speaker 1: You know, my dad was scary. Of course, they were upset, 197 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: but it wasn't the reaction that I had expected. 198 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 2: Her dad offered to get her on his insurance plan 199 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 2: and help her through the pregnancy in exchange for staying 200 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 2: at home, but Brandy wanted to be with Gary Richard. 201 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: I wanted to move in with Gary Richard. I just 202 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: wanted this perfect little family. We'll all be together, and 203 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: that was all I wanted anyways, was just to be 204 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: with him. So I did. But I still promised my 205 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: dad I would finish high school and then I would graduate. 206 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 2: Brandy started her senior year while she was pregnant with 207 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 2: her son. 208 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: The summer before my senior year, I turned in my 209 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: cheerleading uniforms and then I turned seventeen. 210 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 2: After that, she moved in with him at his apartment. 211 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: And then a few months later, when I was eight 212 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: months pregnant, I heard a knock at the door, and 213 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: so I went to the door and there were two 214 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: detectives standing there. They asked me if Gary Richard was home. 215 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 2: They were investigating Gary Richard for theft. Not knowing what 216 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 2: to do, Randy let them in where they collected evidence 217 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 2: and thanked her for her cooperation. 218 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: You see that stuff on the movies, but to have 219 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: that happening right before your eyes, it's just shocking. And 220 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: Gary Richard comes home and he's not scared like I am. 221 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,439 Speaker 1: He's just calm and confident. 222 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 2: He denied he'd stolen anything, and Brandy didn't hear from 223 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 2: the police again about the theft, so she assumed they 224 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 2: closed the case and life moved on in a big way. 225 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 2: A few weeks later, their son was born. 226 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: Holding him, it just incredible. It's that kind of love 227 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: that you can't I can't. It's hard to describe. It's 228 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: like my heart's setting on outside of my body and 229 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: I'm holding it. 230 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, she made her son a promise. 231 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: What I did know then, you know, even at that 232 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: young age, was that I was going to be the 233 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: best mom I could be for him, that I was 234 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: always going to be there for him, and that I 235 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: just wanted him to be safe. 236 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,199 Speaker 2: Sitting in that hospital room holding her new baby, Brandy 237 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:06,440 Speaker 2: was blissfully unaware of the chaos that would follow them. 238 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 2: A few days after they got home from the hospital, 239 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 2: Gary Richard was charged with theft. He told Brandy he 240 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 2: was innocent, but he was already on probation, so his 241 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 2: lawyer wanted to show the judge that Gary Richard was 242 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 2: now a family man. They all went to the courthouse together, 243 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 2: where he entered a not guilty plea. 244 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: The attorney then proceeds to say, if we had got 245 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: married before the court date, it would really help kind 246 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: of show the judge, you know that he's this change man, 247 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: new baby, new wife, can hopefully help lessen any sentence 248 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: or anything. That was the plan. The plan was we 249 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: were going to get married before he would go in 250 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: front of the judge. So the wedding planning began. 251 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 2: She started calling around to churches in their area. 252 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: And when I had called one of the churches, the preacher' 253 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: anybody that's under the age of eighteen. 254 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 2: Randy was baffled. Before this moment, she hadn't given any 255 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 2: thought to their age difference. 256 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: That didn't make any sense to me because I'm thinking, Okay, 257 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: you know, you're just being kind of closed minded. And 258 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: she didn't want to get married at your church anyway. 259 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: I didn't realize in our state, to get married under 260 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, you had to have parental consent. 261 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 2: So she went to her parents. 262 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: I begged my parents to sign. I used all stops 263 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: when I'm banging a complete and you know that this 264 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: is the right thing to do for my family. So 265 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 1: then finally my mom gave in. She went up there 266 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: and signed the marriage license, and we got married. 267 00:15:48,400 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 2: Randy was seventeen. After Brandy had her son, she and 268 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 2: Gary Richard got married. They hadn't planned on it, but 269 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 2: on his attorney's advice, they decided it would be the 270 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 2: best thing for the family. Brandy also worked hard to 271 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 2: graduate high school. She wanted to make sure she had 272 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 2: a degree and could make money to provide for her family. 273 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 2: She didn't want to become another statistic about teenage pregnancy. 274 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:38,160 Speaker 2: She wanted to defy the odds. 275 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: It just kind of felt like this challenge of yeah, 276 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: I'm going to show you that that's not going to be. 277 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 2: Me but despite her efforts to start a new life together, 278 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 2: Gary Richards's old habits followed them. He ended up taking 279 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 2: a plea deal on the theft charge. When it came 280 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 2: to sentencing, their plan to get married and show that 281 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 2: Gary Richard was a family man one favor with the judge. 282 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: The ploy worked and it did give him a supervised probation, 283 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:09,959 Speaker 1: which is what we had wanted. We didn't want him 284 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 1: to go to prison, so that was a win. And 285 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: the attorney did his job, you know, he kept him 286 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,880 Speaker 1: from going back to prison. It's like, okay, this time, 287 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,719 Speaker 1: we're done. Now my family's done with all this and 288 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 1: we can move forward. 289 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 2: But as time went on, Brandy noticed that Gary Richard 290 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 2: was still hanging out with teenagers. 291 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: And it's like, I'm at home and what are you doing, 292 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 1: you know, hanging out with them. Oh well, you know 293 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: so and so, and they wanted to hang out after work. 294 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: When some of those kids were younger than myself at 295 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: the time. It was never people his own age, I 296 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: guess I'll say it like that, very few people were 297 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 1: his own age. I think you kind of believe what 298 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: you you want to believe, you know, when you're looking 299 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: at somebody through the rose colored glasses. Red flags are invisible. 300 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 2: For Brandy, their relationship had become bigger than the two 301 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 2: of them. Now it was about their son and what 302 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,440 Speaker 2: was best for him. Four years into their marriage, they 303 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 2: had saved enough money to move out of the apartment 304 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 2: where they met and buy a house together. 305 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: I was just shy of twenty two and started working 306 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 1: at the local hospital. That I was excited about because 307 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 1: that kind of felt like a big girl job. 308 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 2: Gary Richards seemed to be growing up too. Their new 309 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 2: home became a place for them to host family celebrations 310 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 2: and start traditions of their own. 311 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,919 Speaker 1: We used to host Halloween parties, We hosted New Year's party. 312 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: He DJ'ed our parties. You know that they made the 313 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: best funnest garage house parties. Everybody loved our parties and 314 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: loved decorating. You know. My mom and sister would come 315 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: over and help that. I mean, it was just the 316 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:56,880 Speaker 1: whole production. 317 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 2: Gary Richard even organized Halloween hay rides for all the 318 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 2: kids in the neighborhood. 319 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: He would hook up the little trailer thing and we 320 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: would do the bell the hey and have the hot 321 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: chocolate and drive the kids around the neighborhood that was 322 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 1: cool and everybody loved it. 323 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 2: And he really showed up as a father to their son, 324 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 2: like volunteering as a little league coach and teaching him 325 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 2: how to ride a bike. 326 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: I remember watching him run up the road, you know, 327 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: like when they do that where they hold the back 328 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,719 Speaker 1: of the seat, or one time he built him a 329 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: bunk bed. My son had always wanted that, and so 330 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: that was yeah when I saw that, like him being 331 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: this dad that almost seemed picturesque, the dad liked that 332 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 1: would be on the TV. All I ever wanted was 333 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: my family to look like that. 334 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 2: In those first few years their marriage felt strong. 335 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:54,399 Speaker 1: He would say like, you're the only one for me, 336 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: and he would tell me how much he loved my family. 337 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: You know that it felt like the family he never had. 338 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: You know, That's why I stayed. That's why I loved him. 339 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: That's why because it was my family. No matter how 340 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 1: it looked or what else happened, you stay because that's 341 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: your person and you just do life with them. 342 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 2: The main struggle in their marriage was around money. The 343 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 2: couple was constantly under financial stress. When they had first 344 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 2: started dating, he'd made it seem like he had money 345 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 2: but she quickly discovered that wasn't really the case. 346 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: Okay, he doesn't have the kind of money he's making 347 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: it out to seem. 348 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 2: Their bills and loans were piling up. 349 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: Everything's robed Peter to pay Paul, and then he would 350 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: jump jobs, and there wasn't that consistent income always. So 351 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 1: then it was like me trying to kind of figure out, Okay, 352 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:54,119 Speaker 1: how are we going to pay this one this disconnect notice, 353 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:57,879 Speaker 1: and so then I'm trying to research and find the ways, 354 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: you know, always kind of to survive. 355 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 2: As their marriage progressed, Gary Richards started putting Brandy down, insulting. 356 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: Her the snide little comments. You know, you make fun 357 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: of my voice, you make fun of my stretch marks, 358 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: you know, the different little jabs here and there that 359 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: I accepted it as that's just who he is. You 360 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,400 Speaker 1: either love him or you hate him. That's just who 361 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: he is. You know, like he's he's gonna make jokes 362 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: about me. This is the sacrifice that we make for 363 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: the family. This is the sacrifice that you make as 364 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: his person. 365 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 2: This wasn't the same guy she met when she was 366 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 2: sixteen who made her feel like the center of his world. 367 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 2: Brandy was always trying to get that version of him back. 368 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 2: One day, nine years into their marriage, they were taking 369 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 2: their son and his friend, I'll to celebrate The kids 370 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 2: had gotten straight a's in the fourth grade. As the 371 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 2: family van was backing out of the driveway, they were interrupted. 372 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: There was two sheriff cars blocking hard drive. And you know, 373 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: so I look at him obviously, you know, like what 374 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: are they? You know, but you got kids in the 375 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: car looking at you, so you know, it's like some 376 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: of our communication was more like just looking at each other, 377 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,439 Speaker 1: you know, saying stuff without saying stuff because you're trying 378 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: to now not want to scare these kids. 379 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 2: Gary Richard got out of the car to speak with 380 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 2: the police while Brandy stayed with the kids. 381 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: And then he walked back towards the car, and then 382 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,880 Speaker 1: I got out and he told me that they were 383 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,199 Speaker 1: serving him a restraining order and that there was some 384 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: allegations made against him and they wanted him to go 385 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: to the station because they needed to ask him some questions. 386 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 2: Gary Richard told Brandy he had no idea what this 387 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,400 Speaker 2: was about, but he was willing to cooperate. He loved 388 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 2: Brandy and the kids, and headed to the police station. 389 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: He called from the gel later and told me the 390 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: teenager had accused him of touching her inappropriately and had 391 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: told her mom. Her mom went to file the restraining 392 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,680 Speaker 1: order against him, and then that's what started this investigation. 393 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 2: The allegations came from a fifteen year old girl. Gary 394 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 2: Richard denied it. He told Brandy it was a misunderstanding. 395 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: He told me that he didn't know why she said it. 396 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: He said that maybe she thinks I'm cute, Maybe she 397 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: made up a story about me to look cool in 398 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 1: front of her friends. 399 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 2: She believed him, even though she had a gut feeling 400 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 2: that something was wrong. 401 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: It's not normal. None of this is normal. 402 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 2: Then Thanksgiving ruled around. They had planned to spend the 403 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 2: holiday with Brandy's Anne. 404 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 1: And he acted very different. He didn't want to come, 405 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: he didn't want to go. 406 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 2: That night, Gary Richard called Brandy and told her he 407 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 2: was camping out for Black Friday deals. So Brandy was 408 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 2: home alone with the house to herself. 409 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: And some that I can only describe is just this 410 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: divine kind of guidance. I started to replant all the 411 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: ways he didn't seem like hisself. 412 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 2: Brandy's intuition told her to check his laptop. 413 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: I was able to get into his computer, and when 414 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: it pops up, there are communications with teenage girls, and 415 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,679 Speaker 1: there's photos of people. 416 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 2: She was seeing evidence with her own eyes. Suddenly, the 417 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 2: allegation from the fifteen year old girl no longer seemed 418 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 2: like a misunderstanding. 419 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: I can no longer believe. So at the time, I thought, Okay, 420 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 1: I'm going to print out these papers because if I 421 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: have this, he can't deny it. So I printed all 422 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: those things out and knew that at that point, Okay, 423 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: now my exit plan is going to begin of how 424 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: to get him out of our lives. 425 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 2: She hid the printed pages in a cabinet. Then she 426 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 2: gathered up all his belongings, packed them into her car, 427 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 2: and drove to his workplace. 428 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: And pulled up outside the door. And then I unloaded 429 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 1: his stuff, and then I called him and told him 430 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: it was starting to rain and he might want to 431 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: get his stuff. And so for me, powerful moment, because 432 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: usually he would have been able to talk me out 433 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 1: of that, and he didn't. He didn't at all. And 434 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: I told him he wasn't coming back to our house. 435 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: You know, I was firm in it. I was powerful, 436 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: and you know, it felt like for one of the 437 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,160 Speaker 1: first times, you know, like I'm actually in control. 438 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 2: And she finally had the proof. She had the pictures 439 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 2: of what he was doing online, but when it came 440 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,360 Speaker 2: time for her to bring that evidence to the police, 441 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,479 Speaker 2: she went to grab the pages and found that they 442 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 2: were missing. 443 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: I don't know where the papers went. He had came 444 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: back into the house and slit the water bed and 445 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: those papers were gone. 446 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 2: While she was out, Gary Richard went to the house, 447 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 2: found the photos she'd hidden, and destroyed her bed. She 448 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 2: needed to figure out her next move. Even with him 449 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,199 Speaker 2: out of the house, she no longer felt safe. 450 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,719 Speaker 1: I come out of work one day, my tires flat. 451 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 1: Later I would find out he flattened the tire. 452 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 2: Another time, she was driving through a busy intersection when 453 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 2: her car seized up and died in the middle of 454 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 2: the road. 455 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: Only to find out that he had put metal shavings 456 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: into the oil, which then caused the engine to cease up. Yeah, 457 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,880 Speaker 1: cast our car to break in. We could have been 458 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: severely injured. 459 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 2: Her son was in the car with her that day. 460 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 2: They could have been killed. It proved that Gary Richard 461 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 2: would do anything to hurt Brandy. The final straw was 462 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 2: a night when Gary Richard came over and threatened to 463 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 2: hurt himself in front of Brandy. 464 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,199 Speaker 1: That night escalated so quickly. Thank god, my son was 465 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 1: with Sleeps and he slept with fans, and I'm very 466 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: thankful because he never ever hurt. 467 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 2: That night, he had a box cutter in his hand. 468 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: Then he would slice his wrist. And you know, now 469 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:21,679 Speaker 1: he's going to be back in control, and I'm going 470 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: to watch him do this because I'm the reason he's 471 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: doing it. 472 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 2: She was afraid for her life. He took her phone 473 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 2: and he wouldn't let her leave the house. 474 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: At one point, you know, I tried to get away. 475 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,119 Speaker 1: I don't know where I was trying to run to, 476 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,199 Speaker 1: but I crouched down like at the corner of the 477 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: couch and like he doesn't coming into me when I 478 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: could fill his breath, nuzzling in my face, like with 479 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: his scratchy hairs. 480 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 2: He was mad, and she told herself that if she 481 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,679 Speaker 2: made it through the night, she'd go to the police 482 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:56,639 Speaker 2: station in the morning. 483 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: And so the next day I did exactly what I say. 484 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 1: I went to the police station. They asked me if 485 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: I wanted to press charges against him for domestic assault 486 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: and I said yes, so I gave him a statement 487 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: and then they had me get a restraining order. 488 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 2: Because of the domestic violence charges, they were able to 489 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 2: arrest Gary Richard again, and this time his bail was 490 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 2: much higher. After his arrest, the police reached back out 491 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 2: to Brandy. The investigation into the fifteen year old girl's 492 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 2: allegation was still ongoing. The police wanted to talk to 493 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 2: Brandy about it. 494 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: So he asked if I would come give a statement 495 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: to help, and so I said absolutely so if I 496 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: could help them, but again, never thinking anything else other 497 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: than I'm just going in there to help. At this point, 498 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: I believe her, and I'm going to go in and 499 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: I'm going to do all I can to help. So 500 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: I go in there. He tells me to start from 501 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 1: the beginning, asked me when I met him, and we 502 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: go through all of that, and then he tells me that, 503 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: including the teen who initially had came forward, there were 504 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: five girls who were willing to testify that he had 505 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: victimized them in some way. 506 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 2: Four more girls were willing to testify the Gary Richard 507 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 2: had sexually assaulted them while they were underage, but the 508 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 2: police were struggling with the case. Because they didn't have 509 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 2: any physical evidence to support their allegations. Without those photos 510 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 2: and online chats that had gone missing, Randy couldn't offer 511 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 2: them much. 512 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: I leave and I didn't get very far from the station, 513 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: and my phone rings and he said, you know, can 514 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: you come back. You forgot to find your statement, Okay, yep, 515 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: And so I went back. When I go back in there, 516 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: he tells me that they spoke to the prosecutor and 517 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: that they're going to charge him, but not for what 518 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: I thought. 519 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 2: She thought the police would be charging him for assaulting 520 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 2: the five underage girls, but she was wrong. 521 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: And he said they're going to charge him for you. 522 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: I went white. And then he said something that's still 523 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: to this day will forever sick with me. He said, 524 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 1: I have something that they don't. I have evidence of 525 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: the crime. I have a son. 526 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 2: After nine years of marriage, Randy went to the police 527 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 2: to file domestic violence charges against her husband. At the time, 528 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 2: he was already the suspect of another investigation. Five girls 529 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 2: accused him of sexually assaulting them. Gary Richard was the five. 530 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 2: There was no physical evidence, and the cops hoped Brandy 531 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 2: could help their case by providing a statement. She agreed. 532 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 2: Shortly after, the cops called Brandy back in they would 533 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 2: be charging Gary Richard with two counts of statutory rape, 534 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,719 Speaker 2: one count for one of the five girls and another 535 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 2: for the statutory rape of Brandy. When she heard this, 536 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 2: she was in shock. The officer's words didn't make sense 537 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 2: to her. 538 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: Clearly, what he did to other people was wrong. I 539 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: just couldn't see it for me. I thought, I'm not them, 540 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: you know, like he's my son's father. 541 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 2: But the police were very direct with Brandy. 542 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: Then he told me that they were charging him for 543 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: me because I had evidence of the crime. I have 544 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: a son it's DNA, and that with the other girls, 545 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: it was their word against him. 546 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 2: She wanted Gary Richard to go to prison for what 547 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 2: he'd done to the other girls and for the domestic 548 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 2: violence against her, but a statutory rape charge in her 549 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 2: case didn't make sense to her. She tried to reason 550 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 2: with the detectives and they said. 551 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: That I could take it up with the prosecutor. But 552 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: with child sex crimes like statutory rape, the state can't 553 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: choose to prosecute without me because they don't need the 554 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: victim's consent, and they have up to twenty years from 555 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: your eighteenth birthday to do so. 556 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 2: Brandy left the station with her heart pounding in her ears. 557 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 2: All she could think about was her son and. 558 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: Those words just crime, victim evidence son, crime victim evidence, son. 559 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,959 Speaker 1: And then it felt like as a mom, you're seeing 560 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,800 Speaker 1: my son shouldn't be here, like you were saying, my 561 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,960 Speaker 1: son's a crime, and you know he's not evidence, he's 562 00:32:59,000 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: my son. 563 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 2: She said. It was the most destabilizing moment she's ever experienced. 564 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 1: This is my life that they're planned with, You know, 565 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: this is my life. It's not a game. 566 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 2: Brandy's whole world was built around her role as a mother, 567 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 2: a wife, so for the origin of those roles to 568 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 2: be deemed a crime completely shattered her sense of reality. 569 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,560 Speaker 1: It just felt like, man, you just erased like my 570 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: whole life and that it was all wrong. 571 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,000 Speaker 2: It reduced her identity to a simple story, a crime, 572 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 2: something that was done to her by him. She'd lost 573 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 2: control of the narrative of her life. Brandy called the 574 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 2: prosecutor to ask why she and her son had to 575 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 2: be at the center of Gary Richards's case. The prosecutor 576 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 2: explained that her son's DNA evidence was the only way 577 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 2: to guarantee a conviction against Gary Richard. If Brandy wasn't 578 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 2: willing to give her son's DNA voluntarily, they could get 579 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 2: a warrant for it. By the end of the call, 580 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 2: Brandy had agreed to work with the police. 581 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: They were going to send a sheriff out to do 582 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: the swab, and I said I didn't want to do 583 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: it at my house, so I had arranged to meet 584 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: them at my brother and sister in law, and so 585 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: we did. 586 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 2: Her son was nine at the time. Randy felt like 587 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,800 Speaker 2: he was too young to hear the facts of the case. 588 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: I told my son that his dad was sick at 589 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: the jail and that they just needed to swab him 590 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:33,279 Speaker 1: to make sure that he wasn't sick too. 591 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,920 Speaker 2: After they processed the evidence, they were able to get 592 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 2: two counts of statutory rape, one with me sixteen when 593 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 2: he was twenty four. In the end, that second charge 594 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 2: wasn't for the fifteen year old's case, the one that 595 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 2: started the investigation into Gary Richard. It was for one 596 00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 2: of the other girls, a fourteen year old who said 597 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,319 Speaker 2: Gary Richard groomed and sexually assaul her when he was 598 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:08,320 Speaker 2: twenty six. That meant it happened two years into Brandy's marriage. 599 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,359 Speaker 2: The K's brought shock after shock. The local news got 600 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 2: a hold of the story, making it even worse for Brandy. 601 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,799 Speaker 1: Our local news did a broadcast when he was going 602 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:24,919 Speaker 1: to court and they even said he would be going 603 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: to court today for charges on statutory rape with the 604 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: sixteen year old whom he later married. 605 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 2: Facing the two counts and the DNA evidence, Gary Richard 606 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:38,759 Speaker 2: took a plea deal with. 607 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 1: The DNA evidence. That was kind of the plea, if 608 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: you do that, we'll roll the two up into one 609 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: and then give you the seven year For the two counts. 610 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 2: He was sentenced to seven years and had to register 611 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 2: as a sex offender. As for the domestic violence charge, 612 00:35:55,520 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 2: he got fifteen days. Brandy's divorce was expedited. It happened 613 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 2: at the same time as his criminal proceedings. 614 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: Our divorce hearing was right the day before he was 615 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,040 Speaker 1: scheduled to be sentenced. 616 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,240 Speaker 2: That was the first time Brandy had seen him since 617 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 2: the charges, and when he walked into the courtroom, she 618 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 2: felt a pang of guilt. She understood that he was 619 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,840 Speaker 2: her abusive ex husband and that he was a predator 620 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 2: who had sexually assaulted teenage girls. But when it came 621 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,360 Speaker 2: to her own experience of statutory rape. 622 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: My mind just could not go there. And I think 623 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 1: in some ways, yeah, it's probably your you know, trauma 624 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: and your body trying to just protect you know, you're 625 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,920 Speaker 1: trying to rationalize a lot of bad things. And I 626 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,400 Speaker 1: think part of that is the survival mechan you know, 627 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:48,320 Speaker 1: it is survival. 628 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 2: The tipping point for Brandy came later when she received 629 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 2: a letter Gary Richards sent her from prison. 630 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,359 Speaker 1: So then I got this letter from him, and in 631 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: it was a five page letter, but the first page 632 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: he said that there isn't a man that doesn't look 633 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: at a teenage girl and want to have sex with her. 634 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: And then it starts clicking that like if you think 635 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,240 Speaker 1: all people think this, this is not right, and it's 636 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: like no, no, no letters, and I'm not accepting the 637 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,560 Speaker 1: calls from you know, the prison, and just I'm done. 638 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:29,919 Speaker 1: I'm done. There's no contact, and there's you know, never 639 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:30,880 Speaker 1: been Since. 640 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:36,319 Speaker 2: Then, with Gary Richard in prison, she became the sole 641 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 2: provider for her household. 642 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: At this point, you got to really buckle up your bootstraps. 643 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 2: She trained to get a better job at the hospital 644 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,720 Speaker 2: where she worked, and relied on her community for support. 645 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: But once he went away, just amazing things unfolded, as 646 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,920 Speaker 1: far as like the kindness of people. My sister and 647 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,799 Speaker 1: brother in law found a place that we could fix 648 00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:04,280 Speaker 1: up up. It was a little, tiny, half bedroom house 649 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:08,240 Speaker 1: and we turned it into three and we all worked 650 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:09,719 Speaker 1: on that. It was a labor of love. 651 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,200 Speaker 2: Even though he was in prison, she struggled to escape 652 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 2: Gary Richard. His voice was still in her head, telling 653 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,920 Speaker 2: her that this was all her fault. 654 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: I was listening to a Brenee Brown. She was saying, 655 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: guilt is I did something bad? And shame is I 656 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:40,400 Speaker 1: am bad? And man? When I heard that, I was like, ah, yeah, 657 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: it is shame. Psychological abuse particularly is so hard to overcome. 658 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:56,760 Speaker 1: You don't realize it's happening. You don't realize how slowly 659 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:02,600 Speaker 1: pieces of yourself are fading out, and you're losing pieces 660 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 1: little by little until there's not really a you left. 661 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,400 Speaker 2: She needed more emotional support, so she started going to 662 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 2: a women's group better church. 663 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 1: The ladies that I thought had these perfect lives because 664 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 1: of what they're wearing or just you think they have 665 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: it all together. And when they would open up and 666 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,359 Speaker 1: share about the common threads that run through us all 667 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: the ways they feel insecure, the way they feel like 668 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: not enough. Just hearing that come out of their mouths 669 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 1: that was so eye opening and freeing at the same time, like, Wow, 670 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: we're just human beings trying to figure this out. 671 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 2: It took years of meetings and conversations like this for 672 00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,319 Speaker 2: Brandy to fully understand and accept what she had gone through. 673 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:02,839 Speaker 2: She had to go back to when she first met 674 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:03,600 Speaker 2: Gary Richard. 675 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,719 Speaker 1: Now looking back, even from the very beginning, the fact 676 00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: that kids from my high school lived with him, that 677 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,680 Speaker 1: very first thing, you know what I mean, It's not normal. 678 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 2: She now sees this from an adult lens as unhealthy 679 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 2: and inappropriate. She became grateful for the prosecutor and police 680 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,720 Speaker 2: officers who decided to include her in the charges. 681 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,080 Speaker 1: Now I applaud them because I think they one hundred 682 00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:33,560 Speaker 1: percent did the right thing, because that took him off 683 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: the street, that protected other girls, And I am so 684 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: thankful that they could see what I couldn't. 685 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,120 Speaker 2: And she's become an advocate. She works on raising the 686 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,879 Speaker 2: minimum age required for marriage. 687 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: I'm part of a national coalition to end child marriage 688 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,319 Speaker 1: as a survivor Ally, I'm actually getting ready to go 689 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,799 Speaker 1: speak at jeff City at our capital for the ending 690 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,040 Speaker 1: the child marriagecause they're getting ready put that on the bill. 691 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,839 Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go next week and give testimony. 692 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:04,920 Speaker 2: Looking back on her decision to get married at seventeen, 693 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,560 Speaker 2: she sees how that legitimized their relationship and made her 694 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:14,160 Speaker 2: legitimize it too. Gary Richard's attorney suggested that if they 695 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 2: got married, the judge might go easier on him. To Brandy, 696 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:20,800 Speaker 2: that looks different today. 697 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,640 Speaker 1: I can see the manipulation now, even when the attorney 698 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,839 Speaker 1: suggested getting married I can see grooming. That is a 699 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,320 Speaker 1: form of forced marriage that I would have never seen 700 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 1: until literally, now that I've been doing this work, it's 701 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,600 Speaker 1: like ah, kind of light bulb moment of you know, 702 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: I can see the manipulation. 703 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five, Missouri changed the state laws to 704 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,880 Speaker 2: require all parties to be over eighteen, regardless of parental consent. 705 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: So had that law been on the books at the time, 706 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:54,760 Speaker 1: my marriage would have never been able to happen. 707 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,879 Speaker 2: She started using new words when talking about her experience. 708 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 1: It took me a long time, first of all, to 709 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:05,320 Speaker 1: say that I'm child marriage, sex crimeate, domestic violence survivor, 710 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,279 Speaker 1: like to even say those words took a long time 711 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: because I felt like I didn't have the right to 712 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,880 Speaker 1: call myself that. When I'm going to go speak next week, 713 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: I'll say that I married my rapist. Hindsight's a powerful thing. 714 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,560 Speaker 2: Brandy wanted to reclaim her story and tell it publicly, 715 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,120 Speaker 2: so she started reaching out to publishers to find a 716 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:29,680 Speaker 2: way to write a book about her life. 717 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: And then I just thought, you know what, Life's too short. 718 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,720 Speaker 1: This is an investment I want to make into myself. 719 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:39,200 Speaker 2: She found the perfect copy editor for the job. 720 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,160 Speaker 1: And then I ended up working with gender Coldbaba. She 721 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,800 Speaker 1: agreed to copy edit, and she said, we'll go chapter 722 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:48,279 Speaker 1: by chapter because if we don't, you'll quit, you know, 723 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,879 Speaker 1: just because it's going to get real. And she was right. 724 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:52,440 Speaker 1: Best advice ever. 725 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 2: She connected with. She Writes Press, an independent publisher that 726 00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 2: focuses on women's stories. Her book was published in fall 727 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four and it's titled Girl Uncoded. This is 728 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:07,080 Speaker 2: the last passage from her book. 729 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,600 Speaker 1: I was no longer ashamed of my life, my home, 730 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: or the choices I had made. I saw the happy 731 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: ending from the beginning. I saw how the DNA of 732 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,120 Speaker 1: my son was the indisputable evidence to hold Gary Richard 733 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,840 Speaker 1: accountable for his actions and bring justice to all the 734 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,719 Speaker 1: survivors of his crimes, including me. I leaned into the 735 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:32,000 Speaker 1: pool of sunlight on the windowsill, closed my eyes as 736 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:35,320 Speaker 1: a smile splashed across my face and flooded my body 737 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:39,960 Speaker 1: with joyful thoughts of being free. I'm proud of it, 738 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:40,799 Speaker 1: proud of me. 739 00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 2: We end every weekly episode with the same question, why 740 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,080 Speaker 2: do you want to share your story? 741 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:55,759 Speaker 1: It's to help somebody see what I couldn't. To help 742 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: somebody see sooner, to be able to change their circumstances. 743 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:05,440 Speaker 1: If this can help one person see abuse in a 744 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: different way, see manipulation in a different way, grooming in 745 00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:14,760 Speaker 1: a different way. To help somebody see what I could 746 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:20,759 Speaker 1: not see, what has taken me so long to see. 747 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:21,759 Speaker 1: That's why. 748 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:27,799 Speaker 2: On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly. 749 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:34,000 Speaker 3: He would tell some of them that he was there 750 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:36,359 Speaker 3: sold me and that they were twin flames and they 751 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 3: had a deeper connection. And then I realized, Wow, he 752 00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 3: is not a mentor. He's pretty much a monster. I 753 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,480 Speaker 3: probably should shut the studio down immediately. 754 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,200 Speaker 2: Before we end the episode. I have some exciting news. 755 00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,839 Speaker 2: Betrayal will be doing our first ever live show as 756 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 2: part of the Virgin Voyages True Crime Cruise, we'll be 757 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:07,759 Speaker 2: answering listener questions and discussing them live on stage with 758 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 2: Stacy and Tyler from Betrayal season three, as well as 759 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 2: Caroline from season four. So if you have a question 760 00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:17,439 Speaker 2: for us, please email us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot 761 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,319 Speaker 2: com with the subject line listener question And if you 762 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:23,719 Speaker 2: want to join us on the Caribbean cruise, there are 763 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:28,480 Speaker 2: still spots available. Search Virgin Voyages dot com slash true crime. 764 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:32,880 Speaker 2: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal 765 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:36,320 Speaker 2: team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email 766 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:40,600 Speaker 2: us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod 767 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,960 Speaker 2: at gmail dot com, or follow us on Instagram at 768 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:48,400 Speaker 2: Betrayal Pod. To access our newsletter, view additional content, and 769 00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,160 Speaker 2: connect with the Betrayal community, join our substack at Betrayal 770 00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:55,359 Speaker 2: dot substack dot com. If you love the show. One 771 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:57,560 Speaker 2: way to support it is by subscribing to our show 772 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:00,880 Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. 773 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,000 Speaker 2: Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank 774 00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:07,360 Speaker 2: you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production 775 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,000 Speaker 2: of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in 776 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 2: partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced by 777 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,040 Speaker 2: Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me 778 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:22,720 Speaker 2: Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced 779 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:27,520 Speaker 2: by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Caitlin Golden, Olivia Hewitt, 780 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:32,400 Speaker 2: and Kristin Melcurie. Casting support from Curry Richmond. Our iHeart 781 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 2: team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crincheck. Audio editing by 782 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:40,360 Speaker 2: Matt Doavecchio, Mixing and mastering on this episode by Dave Saya. 783 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,400 Speaker 2: Additional audio editing by Tanner Robbins. Portrayals theme composed by 784 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 2: Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my Music and For 785 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:54,320 Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 786 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:56,040 Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts,