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Speaker 1: It's not like he was cheating on me, because I

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Speaker 1: don't think you can call it cheating when what you

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Speaker 1: do is prey on women, when you are a hunter

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Speaker 1: trying to find more victims.

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Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about

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Speaker 2: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that

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Speaker 2: change everything. Heather Rovett is the middle child in a

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Speaker 2: tight knit family.

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Speaker 1: I have an older brother and a younger sister. We

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Speaker 1: were all very close in age.

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Speaker 2: She loved growing up in Toronto, Canada. Her childhood was

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Speaker 2: filled with all the best.

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Speaker 1: Things, joy and fun and love and adventure and kindness.

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Speaker 2: Her parents had a great marriage.

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Speaker 1: My parents met in high school and were high school sweethearts,

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Speaker 1: and he would look at my mom with such adoration.

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Speaker 2: They also taught her the value of building a meaningful career.

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Speaker 1: My mom was a child psychologist neuroscientist. She's very, very smart,

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Speaker 1: and my father was a lawyer who specialized primarily in

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Speaker 1: labor law.

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Speaker 2: Through high school and university, Heather dated and fell in

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Speaker 2: love a few times.

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Speaker 1: I've always been able to flirt with guys and there's

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Speaker 1: been interest, but it wasn't my main focus to have

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Speaker 1: a boyfriend or seek male attention.

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Speaker 2: After graduating from university, Heather carved her own path.

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Speaker 1: I became a real estate salesperson and then two years

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Speaker 1: later I upgraded to broker.

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Speaker 2: The career came easily to Heather.

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Speaker 1: I can see how you can transform a space or

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Speaker 1: how you can make it your home. I just had

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Speaker 1: this tenacity and energy.

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Speaker 2: Over the next ten years, Heather gained recognition in Toronto's

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Speaker 2: real estate scene. By her late thirties, she had built

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Speaker 2: a career she loved.

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Speaker 1: I loved working and it paid off, and then it

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Speaker 1: allowed me to do cool things too, like go on trips.

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Speaker 2: She also made a good amount of money. She decided

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Speaker 2: to renovate her condo in Toronto and she invested some

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Speaker 2: of her funds with a financial advisor.

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Speaker 1: I would meet with him quarterly and he would show

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Speaker 1: me paperwork of how my money was doing, and I

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Speaker 1: thought it was great. And when push came to shove

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to sell and get my money back,

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Speaker 1: he basically disappeared.

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Speaker 2: She'd been scammed.

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Speaker 1: He got arrested and there was about five of their people.

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Speaker 1: He did this too. The sad thing is, even though

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Speaker 1: he was found guilty and ordered to pay the restitution.

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Speaker 1: I never saw a penny.

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Speaker 2: She lost one hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars. The

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Speaker 2: scam was damaging, not only financially, but also to her

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Speaker 2: sense of trust in other people. But with time, Heather

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Speaker 2: accepted the loss and was able to rebuild. She was

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Speaker 2: in her mid forties and single. She managed to pull

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Speaker 2: together the funds to finish renovating her condo.

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Speaker 1: And I transformed that condo into a beautiful space. And

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Speaker 1: then one day I noticed, you know, there were just

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Speaker 1: some things that weren't quite right.

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Speaker 2: Heather noticed an issue with the cabinets, so she called

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Speaker 2: the company who had installed them. They agreed to send

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Speaker 2: someone out to take a look.

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Speaker 1: He was like, no problem, we have a new service guy.

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Speaker 1: He's great. I'm going to give him your contact info

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Speaker 1: and he'll be in touch and probably a week later.

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Speaker 1: On a Monday morning in July, I woke up to

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Speaker 1: a text message, this is Jace, and I was hoping

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Speaker 1: I could come by today to fix the outstanding work.

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Speaker 1: An hour later, there was a knock at my door

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Speaker 1: and I was greeted by this very ruggedly cute guy.

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Speaker 1: I was a little befuddled. I found myself a little

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Speaker 1: tongue tied and was like, oh wow, sure, come on in.

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Speaker 2: Jace got to work fixing the cabinets in her kitchen,

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Speaker 2: and afterwards I asked.

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Speaker 1: Him if he could help me hang a couple towel

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Speaker 1: bars up in the bathrooms, and he happily obliged. We

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Speaker 1: were about three quarters of the way through hanging the

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Speaker 1: second one and his phone was ringing and he was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I'm so behind schedule. I gotta go.

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Speaker 1: He goes, do you have this? I'm like, I got it,

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Speaker 1: don't worry. But she didn't have it, and I kind

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Speaker 1: of made more of a mess of it. Was on

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Speaker 1: an angle, and I noticed on my kitchen island was

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Speaker 1: his measuring tape. So I called him and said, you

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Speaker 1: left your measuring tape here, and by the way, I've

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Speaker 1: made a mess of this towel bar. And he laughed

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Speaker 1: and he said, you know what, I'm literally ten minutes away.

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Speaker 1: Why don't I swing back over and we'll fix it.

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Speaker 1: And he comes in and within two minutes it's fixed.

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Speaker 2: Heather offered to treat Jase to lunch to thank him

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Speaker 2: for going out of his way, and he agreed.

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Speaker 1: Over lunch, we started talking and I did share with

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Speaker 1: him about, you know, the stress of the renovation and

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Speaker 1: the guy who stole my money.

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Speaker 2: Jase was sympathetic. He was also going through his own

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Speaker 2: legal battle.

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Speaker 1: I learned a little bit more about him. He had

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Speaker 1: a child, and he was going through family court, and

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Speaker 1: he had his own software engineering business, but he was

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Speaker 1: winding that down because of the divorce. I was like,

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Speaker 1: this is so great. This guy just is so easy,

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Speaker 1: easy to talk to.

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Speaker 2: Jace used to be a software engineer, but after a

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Speaker 2: difficult separation, he decided to take a break from office work.

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Speaker 2: He wanted a job working with his hands, which is

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Speaker 2: how he got into carpentry. At the end of their lunch,

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Speaker 2: Jace insisted on paying.

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Speaker 1: I walked him back to his truck and he said,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you need any more help around the condo.

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Speaker 1: I know he didn't get everything done, message me call

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Speaker 1: me anytime. I'm like, okay.

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Speaker 2: On our walk home, she couldn't stop smiling.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, was I just flirting?

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Speaker 2: Like that guy was really cute. Later that evening, she

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Speaker 2: decided to try and tackle some other projects herself.

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Speaker 1: I went to look for what I like to call

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Speaker 1: my single girl toolbox, which is a hammer, a leveler,

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Speaker 1: and the one screwdriver. And I couldn't find my screwdriver anywhere,

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Speaker 1: so she texted Jace. I just said, hey, you didn't

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Speaker 1: happen to see a green screwdriver? And he wrote back

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Speaker 1: He's like, well, what can I say? I found myself

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Speaker 1: later in the day in possession of your screwdriver and

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Speaker 1: I didn't know what to do with it, if I

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Speaker 1: should be honest or just return it.

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Speaker 2: He told her that he was holding her screwdriver hostage.

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Speaker 2: She thought it was cute funny even.

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Speaker 1: That led to about two weeks of really flirtatious banter

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Speaker 1: over text, and I thought it was really fun. Every

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Speaker 1: time I got a text from him. It was like

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Speaker 1: like an endorphin hic.

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Speaker 2: They started texting every day. Jase wasn't shy about his

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Speaker 2: attraction to her.

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Speaker 1: I remember he sent this one message and he said,

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Speaker 1: just please tell me you know how sexy you are, Heather.

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Speaker 1: I'm like what, And I jokingly said, well, you should

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Speaker 1: see me when I'm really cleaned up.

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Speaker 3: I mean you met me.

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Speaker 1: I was like just rolled out of bed, lol, and

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Speaker 1: he said no, it's not that. He goes like, it's

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Speaker 1: your mind like to know how freaking sexy that is

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Speaker 1: to me. And I was like, wow, this is so refreshing,

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Speaker 1: Like this guy isn't just about how I look. He

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Speaker 1: liked my mind, like this is awesome. So there was

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Speaker 1: this tension that was definitely building and this flirtation.

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Speaker 2: Finally, after two weeks of flirting, Jason asked her out

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Speaker 2: on a proper date.

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Speaker 1: He showed up on a motorcycle, which I thought was

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Speaker 1: really sexy. We walked to a cute little Italian restaurant

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Speaker 1: around the corner from my house.

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Speaker 2: It was a great date and Heather learned more about him.

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Speaker 1: He shared with me how his mom had died when

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Speaker 1: he was a teenager, and he talked a bit more

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Speaker 1: about the custody battle and I asked him and I'm like,

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Speaker 1: that's pretty heavy stuff, like how do you deal with

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Speaker 1: that much loss and that much pain? And he said,

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Speaker 1: I put it all in boxes.

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Speaker 2: He was being really vulnerable with her, and she was

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Speaker 2: impressed with how he was able to deal with everything

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Speaker 2: he had gone through. She found it really attractive.

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Speaker 1: The date ended and we walked back to my place

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Speaker 1: and we're both sort of shuffling in the doorway and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, in my mind going is he going to

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Speaker 1: kiss me? And I was like, fuck it, I'm just

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Speaker 1: going to go for it. So I leaned in to

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Speaker 1: kiss him. I was like, hey, thanks By, that was

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Speaker 1: really fun. And next thing I know, he's pushed me

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Speaker 1: up against the wall and we start making out. And

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Speaker 1: this kiss was like a kiss I've never experienced before.

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Speaker 2: It was passionate and intense. Jace left her in the doorway, stunned.

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Speaker 3: I went to.

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Speaker 1: Sleep that night with the biggest smile on my face.

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Speaker 1: When I woke up the next morning, there was already

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Speaker 1: a text message from him saying, good morning, Heather. It's

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Speaker 1: a beautiful day and I hope you're spoiling like something

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Speaker 1: cheesy but lovely, and I was like wow.

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Speaker 2: The next night, Jace came over to her place.

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Speaker 1: And he brought a bottle of wine. In my mind,

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking, this is like, really, your second date with

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Speaker 1: this guy? You don't know him, you know, should you

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Speaker 1: do the whole like three date rule or is it

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Speaker 1: a three week rule or a three month rule or

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Speaker 1: I don't know. And all of a sudden, whatever self

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Speaker 1: imposed rules I had were just out the window.

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Speaker 2: They couldn't wait to see each other again. It was

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Speaker 2: the start of a summer romance.

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Speaker 1: A couple weeks later, he took me out and bought

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Speaker 1: me a motorcycle helmet, and we that summer went everywhere

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Speaker 1: on the motorcycle. It was so fun. We had such

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Speaker 1: a good time. I loved every minute of it. I

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Speaker 1: don't think I slept a whole night for at least

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Speaker 1: three months, because I just was so excited having this

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Speaker 1: gorgeous human being lying beside me. I was like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, am I dreaming? This is crazy?

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Speaker 2: And soon enough we.

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Speaker 1: Were saying I love you. He said it first.

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Speaker 2: Heather introduced Jace to her family in September.

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Speaker 1: He met my mom and she really liked him. My birthday,

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Speaker 1: which is in October, he met my sister and her boyfriend,

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Speaker 1: and then a couple weeks later he met my dad.

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Speaker 2: It was harder for her to meet Jace's family because

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Speaker 2: a lot of them still lived in Italy.

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Speaker 1: He was born in Italy, and both his Italian grandfathers

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Speaker 1: fought in World War Two for the Allies.

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Speaker 2: He came from a fascinating background.

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Speaker 1: When my friends started meeting him, they all thought he

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Speaker 1: was pretty great, and I was just so happy. Life

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Speaker 1: was pretty electric, even like the simple activities going grocery

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Speaker 1: shopping became fun because I wasn't doing it alone anymore,

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Speaker 1: and I felt that my future was limitless and we

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Speaker 1: were just going to live the best life ever.

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Speaker 2: Heather Rovett had a meet cute with a man who

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Speaker 2: fixed her kitchen cabinets. His name was Jace Peretti. Heather

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Speaker 2: and Jace fell hard and fast, and a whirlwind summer

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Speaker 2: romance turned into a solid relationship.

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Speaker 1: My second birthday with him, he said, check your email

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Speaker 1: and I said okay, And I looked at my email

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Speaker 1: and there were Airic Canada tickets from Toronto to Rome.

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Speaker 3: And I looked at him.

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Speaker 1: I was like, we're going to Italy. And he said

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Speaker 1: we're going to Italy and I was like, wow, Wow,

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Speaker 1: I can't believe we're going to go.

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Speaker 2: During this time, Jace was dealing with a lot of stress.

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Speaker 2: He went in more time with his young son, but

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Speaker 2: he and his ex were constantly in and out of

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Speaker 2: family court.

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Speaker 1: It was really hard for him. He had been the

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Speaker 1: primary parent because he was working from home, so he

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00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,640
Speaker 1: went from spending all this time with his kid to

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Speaker 1: now only seeing him two times a week for supervised visits.

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Speaker 2: When Heather asked Jace about the custody arrangement.

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Speaker 1: He explained because he had both a Canadian and an

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Speaker 1: Italian passport. Her lawyer put the idea into her mind

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Speaker 1: and the court that Jace had the capability of kidnapping

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Speaker 1: their son and taking him to Italy.

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Speaker 2: She felt for jas he wasn't that guy. He loved

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Speaker 2: his son.

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00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,920
Speaker 1: He would go to the town she was living in

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Speaker 1: and he would take him out for dinner, and then

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00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,079
Speaker 1: he would take him home and tuck him in and

240
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:00,840
Speaker 1: say good night to him, read them stories.

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Speaker 2: Heather and Jace had been together for two years. They

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Speaker 2: were living together in Toronto, but she had never met

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Speaker 2: his son. With this custody arrangement, it put their relationship

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Speaker 2: in a holding pattern.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, not meeting his son and the family court was

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00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,600
Speaker 1: the albatross around our relationship's neck. It was the only

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00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,720
Speaker 1: thing we would fight about. I just couldn't understand that

248
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,600
Speaker 1: the family court was taking so long. I was like,

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Speaker 1: this is so unfair.

250
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,200
Speaker 2: Heather was trying to help Jace regain some agency in

251
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,480
Speaker 2: the situation. She tried to help him in any way

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Speaker 2: she could.

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Speaker 1: I was like, you need a lawyer. So I had

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Speaker 1: arranged a meeting for him with another very well known

255
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Speaker 1: Toronto family lawyer, and she said, the trials just around

256
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,280
Speaker 1: the corner and things will get settled. Let's hold off

257
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Speaker 1: on introducing Heather for now.

258
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,880
Speaker 2: It was frustrating, but Heather didn't want to do anything

259
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,480
Speaker 2: that would compromise Jason's custody of his son. She agreed

260
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,000
Speaker 2: it was best to wait until everything was settled to

261
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 2: bring his son into their lives. In the meantime, she

262
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 2: wanted to set up their home so when the time came,

263
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:17,760
Speaker 2: they would be prepared to welcome him.

264
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Speaker 1: I turned the guest room into a little boy's room,

265
00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,000
Speaker 1: and I had toys for him and books for him

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00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,680
Speaker 1: and games for him. And I spent two weeks online

267
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 1: trying to find like the perfect duvet cover for his

268
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 1: bedroom because I was so obsessed with making everything amazing

269
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Speaker 1: for him, and I couldn't wait for him to come

270
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Speaker 1: and start having sleepovers at our house.

271
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Speaker 2: But every time she got her hopes.

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Speaker 1: Up, something would happen, and it just kept being pushed back.

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Speaker 1: And then I remember in early February, he came home

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Speaker 1: and he was a little upset, and he said, you're

275
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,680
Speaker 1: never going to believe it. Heather, but the trial has

276
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,800
Speaker 1: been set and it's one. We're in Italy.

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Speaker 2: Jays had to be at the trial. There was no

278
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:04,240
Speaker 2: way around it.

279
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:10,480
Speaker 1: I said, wow, okay, well, obviously we're not going to Italy,

280
00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:12,880
Speaker 1: like we've been waiting for this now for two and

281
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Speaker 1: a half years. Like, we'll just postpone the trip. I'll

282
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:17,680
Speaker 1: cancel the hotels and whatnot.

283
00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,520
Speaker 2: They canceled their trip to Italy. When the day of

284
00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 2: the trial came, he came home and he said, yeah,

285
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,600
Speaker 2: things are good. We have a two week adjournment and

286
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,520
Speaker 2: then we're going back and she has to provide me

287
00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,480
Speaker 2: with a full repayment schedule for the house and the

288
00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,200
Speaker 2: line of credit that she shut me out of. And

289
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:44,640
Speaker 2: most importantly, instead of having two supervised visits a week,

290
00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,320
Speaker 2: they were going to start phasing into unsupervised and then

291
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,360
Speaker 2: one night's sleepover on the weekend.

292
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Speaker 1: And I was like, this is so great. I was like, yes,

293
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,120
Speaker 1: thank you, finally, finally, finally.

294
00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,240
Speaker 2: It was good news, but terrible timing.

295
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,560
Speaker 1: And then in that two week window, COVID happened and

296
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,960
Speaker 1: the whole world got locked down, which meant no family court.

297
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,760
Speaker 2: It was March twenty twenty and Toronto went into lockdown. Soon,

298
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,920
Speaker 2: Heather and Jason began looking at houses to rent outside

299
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:16,359
Speaker 2: the city.

300
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,919
Speaker 1: I wanted space and solitude. I found this house for

301
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,320
Speaker 1: rent and it was perfect, and it was on five

302
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:30,240
Speaker 1: acres of property. It had this beautiful family room with

303
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:32,720
Speaker 1: a vaulted ceiling and a wood burning fireplace.

304
00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,080
Speaker 2: They signed the lease together and moved to Aurora, Ontario.

305
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,719
Speaker 2: It was exactly the refuge they hoped it would be.

306
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:45,160
Speaker 1: That winter, we had fires almost every day. I love

307
00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,640
Speaker 1: that house. I remember one day, a couple weeks after

308
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,440
Speaker 1: we moved in, we were standing on the back deck

309
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:56,639
Speaker 1: and there's wild turkeys and often you'd see deer and bunnies.

310
00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,240
Speaker 1: And he said this would be the best place to

311
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,280
Speaker 1: have a backyard, and I was like, yes, it would.

312
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,240
Speaker 2: They started daydreaming about throwing a big celebration at the

313
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:13,080
Speaker 2: house once COVID restrictions lifted. During the lockdown, Heather and

314
00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,359
Speaker 2: Jace had to find new ways to connect with friends

315
00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,600
Speaker 2: and family. Heather called her mom often.

316
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,960
Speaker 1: My mom probably back in April, called and she was like, Heath,

317
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,480
Speaker 1: have you seen my bracelet or have you seen this necklace?

318
00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:30,080
Speaker 1: And I'm like no, And I'd get off the phone

319
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Speaker 1: and I'd look at Jace and I'm like, I think

320
00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,879
Speaker 1: my mom's starting to like forget things, you know, she

321
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: seems to be misplacing all her stuff. It was just

322
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,240
Speaker 1: like one thing after the other with her, Like my

323
00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:43,680
Speaker 1: grandmother died of dementia.

324
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,679
Speaker 2: Dementia ran in Heather's family, but there wasn't much they

325
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,600
Speaker 2: could do from Afar. Plus, the pandemic had destabilized both

326
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,120
Speaker 2: Heather and Jays financially. He had just started a new

327
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,440
Speaker 2: remote job back in software development.

328
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,680
Speaker 1: He'd gotten this job for Oracle, but even when we

329
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,119
Speaker 1: moved to Aurora and we had to pay the first

330
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,760
Speaker 1: and last month's rent and a security deposit, I ended

331
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,840
Speaker 1: up paying for all of it because he didn't have

332
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,760
Speaker 1: anything saved. How can this be like you're getting Oracle

333
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 1: paychecks when push came to shove, he just never seemed

334
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:20,560
Speaker 1: to have money.

335
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 2: Between his custody battle and COVID, Jace had depleted his savings,

336
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 2: but what was in his bank account didn't matter to Heather.

337
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,359
Speaker 2: She could support the both of them. The bigger issue

338
00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,960
Speaker 2: for her was that she still hadn't met Jase's son.

339
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,679
Speaker 1: I had set up the room for his son in

340
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,760
Speaker 1: the house, and he still kept going two times a

341
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:45,840
Speaker 1: week on his supervised visits to see his son. I'm

342
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,600
Speaker 1: starting to really resent the situation.

343
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,480
Speaker 2: At the end of twenty twenty, Heather bought a furniture

344
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,560
Speaker 2: and a core business and moved the inventory into their.

345
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,840
Speaker 1: Home, and when we moved to Aurora, Jay started getting

346
00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,520
Speaker 1: really into building furniture. I was like, well, that's a

347
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,320
Speaker 1: no brainer. I can sell all that inventory and make

348
00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: my investment back tenfold, and we can sell all this furniture.

349
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 2: Jace was working more and more at Oracle. He was

350
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,639
Speaker 2: coming home late, and when he was home he was

351
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,360
Speaker 2: exhausted from working long hours. He never seemed to have

352
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:24,439
Speaker 2: energy for Heather or for their new furniture business. The

353
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,080
Speaker 2: couple started getting in fights more often.

354
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:33,480
Speaker 1: By June of twenty twenty one, I was getting frustrated

355
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 1: with my life with him because I felt like the

356
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,560
Speaker 1: world's opening up and here we are, and he seems

357
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 1: to always be working and he never wants to do anything,

358
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:49,439
Speaker 1: and I just felt very isolated. She wasn't happy, so

359
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 1: I was like, fuck it, and I said something like,

360
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,399
Speaker 1: you know, if you're not into this relationship, just tell me.

361
00:20:56,040 --> 00:21:03,120
Speaker 1: And then that turned into a pretty escalated, heated argument,

362
00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:10,800
Speaker 1: and he left, and I felt really bad and said,

363
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:12,360
Speaker 1: do you know, I think I'm going to go down

364
00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 1: to the city for a couple of days just to

365
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 1: give us a bit of space.

366
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 2: Heather wanted to actually talk with him. Something was going on,

367
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,920
Speaker 2: but he wasn't giving her anything. After a few days apart,

368
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 2: Heather headed back to their house.

369
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,360
Speaker 1: And I call him and he said, oh, hey, I'm

370
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 1: just about to go tea off. I'm like, what, you're

371
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 1: in golfing and he goes, I'm not quite ready to

372
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:37,320
Speaker 1: forgive you yet.

373
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,920
Speaker 2: Forgive her for what she hadn't done anything, but Jays

374
00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:46,520
Speaker 2: hung up the phone.

375
00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,240
Speaker 1: He finally gets home from golfing and he goes by

376
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 1: the way, I washed the sheets, the DVA cover still

377
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,120
Speaker 1: in the dryer. I was just crying, like, I don't

378
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,160
Speaker 1: understand what's going on. The more I cried, the more

379
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 1: he was actually getting kind of angry stranded. I started going,

380
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 1: this just doesn't seem normal. But I just kept saying,

381
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,760
Speaker 1: you know what, we'll get through it. We love each

382
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: other and we'll get through this. But August twenty twenty

383
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: one was such a brutal month because he just stopped

384
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:22,199
Speaker 1: coming home. He was claiming he was sleeping in the

385
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 1: car or sleeping at the office, and he would randomly

386
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,120
Speaker 1: stop by the house to like pick something up.

387
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 2: Heather had uprooted her life to be with Jase. She'd

388
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 2: supported him financially for years. She decorated a bedroom for

389
00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,199
Speaker 2: his son to stay in, but all of a sudden,

390
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 2: a switch had flipped. Jayce had discarded her. Heather didn't

391
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 2: know what to do.

392
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,560
Speaker 1: I've gone through the whole month of August alone, living

393
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:53,560
Speaker 1: in this big house by myself, and just hurting so badly.

394
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:59,160
Speaker 1: Every effort I made to mend us, he just spat

395
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 1: veno and back and it was a really scary time.

396
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,880
Speaker 2: Then one afternoon, Heather was doing work on her laptop.

397
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 2: When signing into one of her accounts, a screen popped

398
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,359
Speaker 2: up with all of her saved passwords, including the login

399
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 2: for Jace's email. Heather wondered if his email account might

400
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 2: hold some of the answers she couldn't get from jas himself,

401
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,160
Speaker 2: so she typed in his password.

402
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, I'm in his email.

403
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 2: She started scrolling through his inbox, expecting to find work

404
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 2: emails and messages from friends, but instead.

405
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: It's bumble match, bad news like He's on every dating app.

406
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 2: I'm like, what The emails revealed dozens of relationships Jace

407
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,479
Speaker 2: was having with other women. Heather couldn't believe what she

408
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 2: was seeing. She kept scrolling.

409
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: That began me going down hours of rabbit holes and

410
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 1: emails and greenshots. Then I got further and I started

411
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,560
Speaker 1: seeing Kijigi ads.

412
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 2: Kijigi is like the Canadian version of Craigslist. People post

413
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:16,359
Speaker 2: items for sale. Heather's all emails confirming sales Jace made

414
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 2: through the site.

415
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 1: It was a Kidjigi ad for Tiffany bracelet, Tiffany ring

416
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 1: and click on it. I'm like, oh my god, what

417
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: the fuck that's my mom's stuff.

418
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,440
Speaker 2: For months, Jace was growing more and more distant. Everything

419
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 2: Heather did to try and reconnect only pushed him further away.

420
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 2: One day, Heather accidentally logged into Jesse's email and discovered

421
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 2: he was using multiple dating apps. Heather was horrified the

422
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,919
Speaker 2: man who she'd built a life with for the last

423
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 2: three years had dozens of other relationships. As she scrolled

424
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,359
Speaker 2: through his inbox, she saw something else that made her

425
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,959
Speaker 2: stomach drop. Jas was selling jewelry online, and Heather recognized

426
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 2: the pieces.

427
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:38,160
Speaker 1: The first one I opened was for this tiffany necklace.

428
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 1: It was a white gold circle with diamonds and a

429
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,680
Speaker 1: simple chain. I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's my mom's necklace,

430
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: you know. I got pictures of her wearing it.

431
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 2: Looking through the rest of Jase's jewelry sales only confirmed

432
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 2: what she feared. He had been stealing her mom's jewelry

433
00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 2: for years and selling it online.

434
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 3: I was just horrified that he could do that.

435
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 2: And horrified by how long he had been doing it for.

436
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 3: It wasn't like he just did it all at one

437
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 3: foul swoop.

438
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,639
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a break and enter where you're just

439
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,160
Speaker 1: like throwing everything in a bag and getting out of there.

440
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 2: The dates of the jewelry sales told an eerie story.

441
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 2: Jace had been stealing it piece by piece. He would

442
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 2: steal a necklace when they went over to her parents'

443
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 2: house for dinner, and then the next time it would

444
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 2: be ear rings. Because he did this so slowly and insidiously,

445
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,400
Speaker 2: it took Heather's mom months to even notice, and.

446
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be until she eventually like opened the entire

447
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: safe box that she saw it was all empty. All

448
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: the bags and boxes were there.

449
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 2: Heather sat in front of her laptop, seething. She wanted

450
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 2: an explanation.

451
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:56,919
Speaker 3: I called him. He didn't answer.

452
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 2: She knew he would twist this, try to explain his

453
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 2: way out of it. She would need proof of everything

454
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,920
Speaker 2: she was seeing, so she got to work.

455
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: I just took screenshot after screenshot, and I just sat

456
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:11,399
Speaker 1: there for hours.

457
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 2: As she took screenshots of everything, the full extent of

458
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 2: his deception became clear. Jace had another life since the beginning.

459
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 1: And when I went back and went through the email,

460
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,880
Speaker 1: I'm seeing email after email of like you're a match,

461
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: You're a match, going back our entire relationship.

462
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 2: Then she came across an email that changed everything. It

463
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 2: was about his family court proceedings. Heather clicked on the attachment.

464
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 2: Her eyes locked on a line at the top of

465
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 2: the page name of respondent Jason Porter. It was a

466
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 2: completely different name. The document made no mention of Jace PERETTI.

467
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 1: My stomach went up in my throat, and my throat

468
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,880
Speaker 1: went in my stomach, and I felt cold and hot

469
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:01,879
Speaker 1: at the same time.

470
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 2: So she googled Jason Porter.

471
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 1: I was just shocked. At the very end of twenty eleven,

472
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: there was a warrant out for his.

473
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 3: Arrest, and all the news.

474
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: Outlets were picking it up here in Ontario and they

475
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: dubbed him the online Romeo because he had been meeting

476
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: women and stealing from them.

477
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: This cannot be my Jase.

478
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 1: This is not my life, This is not the man

479
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 1: I love.

480
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,119
Speaker 3: It's like, how is How did I not see this?

481
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 2: Back in twenty twelve, Jace pled guilty to multiple fraud

482
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 2: charges and was sentenced to thirty months in federal prison.

483
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 2: He was released in twenty fourteen. After getting out of prison,

484
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 2: he changed his legal name from Jason Porter to Jace Parotti.

485
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 2: By the time he met Heather a few years later,

486
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 2: he was going by a variation of that name, Jace Perett.

487
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 2: Heather was sick. This was so much darker than she imagined.

488
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 2: Jayce wasn't just lying to cover up the fact that

489
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 2: he was cheating. He was lying about who he was.

490
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: It's not like he was cheating on me, because I

491
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 1: don't think you can call it cheating when what you

492
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: do is prey on women, when you are a hunter

493
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: on these dating apps trying to find more victims.

494
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 2: It was getting dark out then the phone rang I was.

495
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 3: Like, holy shit, it's him.

496
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: It was probably going on like eight thirty nine o'clock

497
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: at this point on a Friday night of a lot.

498
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 1: It was Labor Day weekend here in Canada. She picked up,

499
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to be calm, cool and like, I

500
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 1: do not want to let him know that I'm onto him.

501
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 1: And I just remember this so well. I could hear

502
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: crickets in the background.

503
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 2: Jase told her that he was in the city for

504
00:29:58,360 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 2: the night.

505
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 3: He's like, Oh, I just got back to the offices.

506
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 3: We just finished up.

507
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, wow, that's really late. That's so weird though,

508
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: because you know, I grew up in Toronto. I've never

509
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,520
Speaker 1: heard crickets, never heard crickets.

510
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 2: Heather tried to hide her suspicion, but it was hard.

511
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 1: And I said, I feel like I don't even know

512
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,479
Speaker 1: who you are anymore, Jace, And it was like, what

513
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: do you mean. I was like, I've gone from spending

514
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 1: every weekend with you to now, like the past month,

515
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 1: it's nine o'clock on a Friday night and I have

516
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 1: no idea what you're doing this weekend, Like we're supposed

517
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: to be working on our relationship, and I just feel

518
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 1: like I don't even know who you are.

519
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:35,520
Speaker 3: Anymore.

520
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 2: He recommended that they talk over dinner on Sunday, and

521
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 2: Heather agreed.

522
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: And within minutes of getting off the phone, I refreshed

523
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: and I was logged out of all the different accounts

524
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: that I had been in, and I was like, uh oh.

525
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 2: Jas must have heard the suspicion in Heather's voice. He

526
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 2: knew he'd been caught. Heather called her friend Kristen, who

527
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 2: rushed out to Aurora to help her figure out what

528
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 2: to do.

529
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: She's now sitting on the couch reading through all the

530
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 1: screenshots and she's like, this is his job. I think

531
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 1: he's getting women to send him money.

532
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,240
Speaker 2: Heather's friend was right. He had never been a software

533
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 2: engineer for Oracle. His full time job was being a

534
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 2: con artist, a romance scammer. In the course of just

535
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 2: a few hours, Heather's understanding of the man she loved

536
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 2: had been completely rearranged. She saw that everything about him

537
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 2: was a carefully constructed character. The Jase she cared so

538
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 2: deeply for did not exist anymore, and now she was

539
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 2: faced with Jason Porter, a stranger. The next day, Heather's

540
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 2: sister and brother in law encouraged her to call the police.

541
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: They sent two police officers to the house, and I

542
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 1: started telling the cops what I've discovered, and the cops

543
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: asked me if he had hurt me, and I said

544
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 1: physically and they said yes, and I was like, well no,

545
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 1: but I am scared, and I said to the cops,

546
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: can I get a restraining order? And they basically laughed

547
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 1: at me. They're like, no, we can't give you one.

548
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, okay, well that's okay. I

549
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: want to call a locksmith and change all the locks.

550
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 1: And I said I wouldn't advise you to do that, ma'am.

551
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 1: He is your co tenant and he has rights according

552
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 1: to the lease. And that's when I looked at them.

553
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 1: I was like, how can our release even be real?

554
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: Like the name on the lease is Jase Peretti. He's

555
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 1: not Jase Peretti. They just dismissed me, and then you know,

556
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,239
Speaker 1: their parting words were basically, but if he does come

557
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: back to the house and you feel scared, call nine

558
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: one one and we'll come back.

559
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 2: The police couldn't really do anything. I left Heather in shock,

560
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 2: I mean just belief, like just nauseatingly sick.

561
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 1: The reality, I guess is slowly sinking in that my

562
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: life is all a fucking live.

563
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 2: But Heather's parents had a plan been borrowing her dad's

564
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 2: car that full summer.

565
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: Jace had been driving around in my dad's Mercedes SUV

566
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: because my dad had stopped driving. There had been no

567
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,720
Speaker 1: payment and he was just freely driving around.

568
00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 2: Maybe they could have him arrested for car theft. Heather's

569
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 2: dad went to the police to explain the situation.

570
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 3: The advice that the officer had given him was send

571
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 3: him a text message and just say that you want

572
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 3: your car backed by such and such a date and time,

573
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 3: and if you don't get it back, you're going to

574
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 3: call the police and report it stolen.

575
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 2: That's what they did. Heather's dad texted Jace.

576
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,719
Speaker 1: As soon as my dad sent that, my phone's ringing

577
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:50,719
Speaker 1: and it's him. And then I'm getting text messages saying

578
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: what the hell's going on. I'll be home in twenty minutes.

579
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 2: Jace was on his way to the house at that point.

580
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 3: He must have known the jig was up.

581
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,240
Speaker 2: Heather began to panic. She was grateful that she wasn't

582
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 2: alone and that her friend Kristen was there.

583
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 1: Kristen is the one who called nine one one we're terrified.

584
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 1: It was a pretty big house and there was a

585
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,320
Speaker 1: lot of doors, and I'm running around just like double

586
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:17,720
Speaker 1: checking everything is locked.

587
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 3: We're turning off all the lights.

588
00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,360
Speaker 2: They debated whether it was safer to leave or stay

589
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:23,240
Speaker 2: locked in the house.

590
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: Christen's like, I think we should leave. I think we

591
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,000
Speaker 1: should leave. I'm like, but we're like, where are we

592
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 1: going to go?

593
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 3: I'm like, we're.

594
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: Safe because, you know, like he can't get in the.

595
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 2: Night before, despite the police's advice, Heather had changed the locks,

596
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 2: so she felt safe enough to stay.

597
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 1: And the nine to one one ladies like, don't leave.

598
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 1: The police are on their way. The next thing you know,

599
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,799
Speaker 1: we hear him coming down the driveway and he's in

600
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 1: my dad's car.

601
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,399
Speaker 3: Kristen's on the phone with nine to one one.

602
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 1: She's saying, like he's hearing scair but he's at the back,

603
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:55,839
Speaker 1: and she's like, just stay calm, just stay calm.

604
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 3: The police have been dispatched, they're on the way.

605
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 1: She's like, where the.

606
00:34:58,040 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 4: Fuck are they?

607
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:00,760
Speaker 3: I can hear my heart something.

608
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,040
Speaker 1: It came down the driveway and beside the garage is

609
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 1: a side door, and then you're in the mudroom, so

610
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,439
Speaker 1: I hear him like, put his key in there.

611
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 3: Then I hear him come to the front door, same thing.

612
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:12,800
Speaker 3: Put his key in didn't work.

613
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 2: She was relieved.

614
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,759
Speaker 1: And then the next thing, I note he's come in

615
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: through the dining room window.

616
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 2: He had broken into the house. Heather felt a surge

617
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 2: of adrenaline and she made a snap decision.

618
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 1: And I like bolt out of the bedroom screaming. I said,

619
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 1: I know who you are. I know you're Jason Porter.

620
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 1: I know you've been online dating, I know you've been

621
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:39,720
Speaker 1: in prison.

622
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 3: I know everything.

623
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 2: But Jace was unfazed.

624
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,360
Speaker 1: He's in the kitchen going to the coffee machine to

625
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,960
Speaker 1: make himself an espresso.

626
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,439
Speaker 3: And he literally looks at me and shrugs and he's like.

627
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 2: So minutes later the cops arrived.

628
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 1: I'm like freaking out. He's so calm and cool and collected.

629
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 2: One of the cops took Jason's side to talk with

630
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 2: him one on one.

631
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: And I was like, what's going on, Like why aren't

632
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: you arresting him? And they're like, he's claiming you assaulted him. Heather,

633
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 1: I couldn't even believe what I was hearing. I guess

634
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: that night we had the fight five weeks prior now,

635
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 1: he's claiming I assaulted him, and apparently there's some sort

636
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 1: of proof.

637
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 2: Heather told them that never happened.

638
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: I said, you know, this guy is a master photoshopper

639
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 1: and he can edit videos like whatever the evidence is,

640
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 1: it's not real. And they said, Jace is not going

641
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,320
Speaker 1: to press charges tonight.

642
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 3: However, he is.

643
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 1: Reinstating himself in the house and you have to give

644
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:53,800
Speaker 1: him one of the new keys.

645
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 2: Heather was incredulous. She couldn't believe the police's response.

646
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,719
Speaker 1: They said to me, if you don't feel safe, you

647
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 1: should leave. The police left and they left us in

648
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: the house together.

649
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 2: As soon as the police left, Jace jumped into action.

650
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 1: Jace goes into the office, which also had two French doors,

651
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 1: and he took an iPhone cord and wrapped it around

652
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: so I couldn't come in. And he sat there and

653
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 1: he erased the computer and then he comes out and

654
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,720
Speaker 1: he was like, I'll be back tomorrow early.

655
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 2: Heather wanted to be gone by the time he came back.

656
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:36,759
Speaker 1: I loaded up the car with as much as I could,

657
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 1: and Kristin brilliantly walked through the entire house and the

658
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:46,280
Speaker 1: entire downstairs where the showroom was and made recordings saying

659
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,640
Speaker 1: this is Heather's, this is Heather's, this is Heather, this

660
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: is the business that's Jase's.

661
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,040
Speaker 2: About a week later, Heather returned to the house for

662
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 2: the first time.

663
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 3: There were already things missing. He had taken my Dyson,

664
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 3: he took the Google speakers, he took my go program

665
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 3: like he took all the stuff.

666
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 2: During this time, Heather found out Jace had a new girlfriend.

667
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,399
Speaker 1: He was taking things that were mine and giving them

668
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:14,880
Speaker 1: to her. So the whole month I thought he was

669
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: living at the office or sleeping in his car, yet

670
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,760
Speaker 1: in fact moved in with this other woman.

671
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 2: She later learned that when she'd gone to the city

672
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,760
Speaker 2: for a few days and Jace mentioned washing the sheets,

673
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:28,840
Speaker 2: it was because his new girlfriend had been at the

674
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:34,400
Speaker 2: house and had slept in her bed. Heather's parents decided

675
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 2: to press charges for the stolen jewel rate. Jace agreed

676
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,160
Speaker 2: to turn himself in, but before he did, he showed

677
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 2: up at the Aurora house and asked Heather to let

678
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 2: him in to talk one last time.

679
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,320
Speaker 1: I sat down at the kitchen table and he's leaning

680
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: at the island, and he still said, you know, you're

681
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:54,759
Speaker 1: the best thing that ever happened to me other I

682
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: loved you. He tried to convince me he never cheated

683
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 1: on me, and this is all just a big misunderstanding.

684
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: This is just going to devastate my son.

685
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,760
Speaker 2: The son she'd never met. In that moment, Heather felt

686
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 2: split in two.

687
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,280
Speaker 1: And there's a part of me that's looking at him, going,

688
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:16,520
Speaker 1: I love this person. My heart still looks at him

689
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,880
Speaker 1: and feels love. And then there's the other side of

690
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 1: me that's like disbelief. And he's stole all your mom's

691
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 1: jewelry and he's a predator.

692
00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 2: She saw through the facade.

693
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 1: And I was like, you did all this, like you're

694
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,359
Speaker 1: still gaslighting me. You're still trying to turn this around

695
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:38,720
Speaker 1: and make it like it's my fault. And he left,

696
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:41,880
Speaker 1: and he went off and got arrested.

697
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 2: In September of twenty twenty one. He was arrested for

698
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 2: theft under five thousand dollars and possession of property obtained

699
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,400
Speaker 2: by crime. When Jason raised the computer at their house

700
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 2: in Aurora, he deleted a lot of evidence. Heather and

701
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 2: her family hired a lawyer to help them prove that

702
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 2: Jay stole far more than five thousand dollars from them.

703
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 2: Heather wanted to get out of the house she shared

704
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 2: with Jase. She began to sell off their belongings. She

705
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 2: listed the furniture she bought for Jason's son on Facebook

706
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,880
Speaker 2: marketplace and began clearing out the kid's bedroom, which had

707
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,360
Speaker 2: sat empty during their whole relationship.

708
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 1: Then I see this, like all the stuff under the bed.

709
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 3: I'm like, what's this that?

710
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,720
Speaker 1: So I pull it out and it's a plastic bag

711
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 1: just stuffed to with like papers.

712
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 2: These were court documents, and.

713
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,800
Speaker 1: I realized I'm staring at all his things from family

714
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,959
Speaker 1: court and I'm reading that he was only ever going

715
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,400
Speaker 1: to have these twice a week supervised visits.

716
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,240
Speaker 3: There was no custody battle.

717
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:52,920
Speaker 2: Jason Porter does have a son. In fact, he has

718
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,080
Speaker 2: more than one child, though Heather only ever heard about one,

719
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:00,320
Speaker 2: but his custody arrangement had been decided in February twenty nineteen,

720
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 2: a year before Heather and Jace moved in together. The

721
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 2: hope that Jason Heather would have unsupervised visits or sleepovers

722
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 2: with his son was never a reality. The central tension

723
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 2: of their relationship Heather waiting to meet his son, the

724
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 2: custody battle. It was all manufactured.

725
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 3: There was no lawyer, there was no nothing. It was

726
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 3: all a lie.

727
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: I had been deceived for over three years about this

728
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: family court situation that didn't exist. And also in that

729
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 1: bag were the birthday cards and Christmas cards I had

730
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: given his son.

731
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 2: And that wasn't all. As she continued to clean out

732
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 2: the house, Heather found more and more.

733
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 1: There were my mom's missing credit cards. There were all

734
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: these SIM cards and credit cards and a burner phone.

735
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,200
Speaker 1: I can't even believe what I'm looking at.

736
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,600
Speaker 2: Jace didn't have to post bail, and shortly after being arrested,

737
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,400
Speaker 2: he was released again.

738
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: August of Tember October of twenty twenty one, or probably

739
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:10,200
Speaker 1: three of the worst months of my life because it

740
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:11,200
Speaker 1: was just exhausting.

741
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 2: And what made it even harder was that she got

742
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 2: little to no help from the police.

743
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:19,400
Speaker 1: I realized when the police weren't going to help me,

744
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:25,120
Speaker 1: I wanted answers. I wanted somebody to hold this guy accountable.

745
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 2: She got in touch with a local journalist at Toronto

746
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:29,959
Speaker 2: Life magazine.

747
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 3: They do often some really great investigative.

748
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,120
Speaker 1: Stories, and maybe like a week later, I was sitting

749
00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:41,440
Speaker 1: down with a journalist, Jane Gerster, and she was incredible

750
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:47,600
Speaker 1: I realized if I hold on to feeling embarrassed and

751
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 1: ashamed about what he did to me, it just gives

752
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 1: him more power and more fuel.

753
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,440
Speaker 2: Heather wanted to take back her story, and she wanted

754
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 2: to stop jas. This article would be a great way

755
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,040
Speaker 2: to do that. When the piece came out.

756
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 1: Within days, I'm having people reach out to me, and

757
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,880
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, I'm connecting with more victims

758
00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:10,959
Speaker 1: of his, and I have more people just randomly reaching

759
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: out to me.

760
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,280
Speaker 2: She learned really quickly the scale of Jason Porter's con.

761
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 2: He had scammed so many women, and their stories all

762
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 2: followed the same pattern. Jace posed as the perfect boyfriend

763
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,640
Speaker 2: in order to gain access to their possessions. The story

764
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 2: being out in the open allowed them to come together.

765
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,560
Speaker 1: All the women I've connected with, they're lovely, Leslie. I

766
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:36,319
Speaker 1: talked to her yesterday. I talked to her all the time.

767
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:42,480
Speaker 1: She is such an beautiful, amazing woman. Judy, I have

768
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:45,320
Speaker 1: so much respect for her. She is such a titan

769
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: in business. And there's some that I still haven't even

770
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,879
Speaker 1: met in person, But like every now and then one

771
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 1: of them will call and I'll be like, I was

772
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 1: thinking about you.

773
00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 2: Jay's hurt a lot of people. It took three and

774
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 2: a half years for Heather to finally see her day

775
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 2: in court. Once everything was uncovered, Heather's family learned that

776
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,439
Speaker 2: Jace stole over fifty thousand dollars in value from them

777
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:12,239
Speaker 2: through stolen property. Purchase is made with Heather's credit card,

778
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 2: unpaid bills, and more. But because Jay's deleted everything off

779
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:20,400
Speaker 2: the computer, there wasn't enough evidence to prove the full

780
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:21,840
Speaker 2: extent of his crimes.

781
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:27,439
Speaker 1: In January of twenty twenty four, we finally were set

782
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,560
Speaker 1: to start the trial, and as luck would have it,

783
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 1: Jace's lawyer was sick that day, so everybody got sent

784
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:39,439
Speaker 1: home and court was going to readjourn on Wednesday and

785
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: I was going to be the first witness up. I

786
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:45,759
Speaker 1: get a phone call from the opp detective saying, don't

787
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 1: bother coming to court. Court's been adjourned. Why, well, some

788
00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: very serious allegations have been brought forward. He said, did

789
00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 1: you see flyers the other day at court? I'm like flyars, Like,

790
00:44:58,080 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 1: what are you talking about?

791
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:05,359
Speaker 2: The courthouse had been canvassed with flyers campaigning against Jace.

792
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:10,360
Speaker 1: And it's a picture of Jace and it says guilty

793
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:15,360
Speaker 1: Jace Parati, and he said, they basically implicate you for

794
00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:16,399
Speaker 1: jury tampering. Heather.

795
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 2: It looked like someone was trying to bias the jury

796
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,800
Speaker 2: against him and that could have serious consequences.

797
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: At the very bottom of the flyer, it says something like,

798
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:35,399
Speaker 1: if you have more information or would like to be interviewed,

799
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 1: contact heatherovet at Gmail or call and it was my

800
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:42,680
Speaker 1: phone number, but I'm like, oh, he actually got my

801
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,240
Speaker 1: phone number wrong by one digit.

802
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,080
Speaker 2: The police began investigating who was behind the flyers.

803
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:55,840
Speaker 1: Jace was eventually arrested or obstruction of justice, jury tampering,

804
00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,240
Speaker 1: and Detective con said to me, these are very serious allegations.

805
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: These actually hold way more weight than the theft and crime.

806
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:09,360
Speaker 2: On January twentieth, twenty twenty five, Jas pled guilty to

807
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 2: one count of theft of property over five thousand dollars

808
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 2: and one count of possession of property obtained by crime

809
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 2: over five thousand dollars.

810
00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:23,400
Speaker 3: Two months later, there was a sentencing hearing and we

811
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,399
Speaker 3: got to read our victim impact statements and I went

812
00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:29,879
Speaker 3: in person and he was there and he wouldn't look

813
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 3: at me, he wouldn't acknowledge me.

814
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 2: The judge ended up giving him more time than the

815
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:36,640
Speaker 2: prosecutors asked for.

816
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,239
Speaker 3: So he got two years last one day.

817
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:44,720
Speaker 1: She definitely made a point of referencing that it wasn't

818
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:49,399
Speaker 1: just a robbery and theft. It was calculated, done over

819
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:54,080
Speaker 1: a length of time. There was the intimacy and bringing

820
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:58,160
Speaker 1: him into my family. He really betrayed our trust. The

821
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:02,480
Speaker 1: judge ordered him into and he was led away in handcuffs.

822
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,759
Speaker 2: After her trial, Heather had to focus on healing and

823
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 2: rebuilding her life.

824
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:10,759
Speaker 1: I had two therapists. I did a lot of amdr

825
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: for the trauma. I've gotten way more into meditating and

826
00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:16,400
Speaker 1: Kundalini yoga.

827
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:18,640
Speaker 3: I know it all helps.

828
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 2: Another part of her healing has been sharing her story.

829
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 2: Heather told her story on a documentary alongside other women

830
00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 2: that were victimized by Jason Porter.

831
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:32,440
Speaker 1: By talking publicly, I felt like it gave me back

832
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: my story, like it gave me control, It gave me confidence,

833
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:37,719
Speaker 1: it gave me.

834
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:40,320
Speaker 3: The power back.

835
00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 2: She's become a face of the movement to criminalize and

836
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 2: stop serial romance gammers.

837
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:50,200
Speaker 1: And after all of this, it's still not a crime

838
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:53,840
Speaker 1: what he did to me. You know, I really hope

839
00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:57,879
Speaker 1: that times change and I just wish the system would

840
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 1: recognize the emotional abuse, especially if it's from a known felon.

841
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 2: It's helping her and she hopes her story brings awareness.

842
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:11,440
Speaker 3: My story is not unique.

843
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:18,360
Speaker 1: There is a Jason Jason in every town, city, province,

844
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 1: country around the world. One in twenty five people are

845
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:30,000
Speaker 1: a sociopath, psychopath, narcissist, whatever. If something doesn't feel right,

846
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 1: you ought to be able to speak to that person

847
00:48:34,239 --> 00:48:38,480
Speaker 1: and get a straight answer. But it's very hard when

848
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:41,960
Speaker 1: you are being conditioned, groomed, love bombed and you're not

849
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:46,279
Speaker 1: thinking straight. And I do think those little nudges of

850
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: not feeling right, it's easy to ignore them, but I

851
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: do think that's like your deepest intuition, Like that's something

852
00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:57,200
Speaker 1: in you that's saying like, uh huh, that doesn't listen, listen,

853
00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:02,120
Speaker 1: and it's a soft whisper, but I think we have

854
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 1: to listen to that.

855
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 2: We end every weekly episode with the same question, why

856
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:15,520
Speaker 2: do you want to share your story?

857
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:17,640
Speaker 3: Your podcast?

858
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:22,360
Speaker 1: I feel helps heal the internal bruises that we can't see,

859
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:27,200
Speaker 1: like you just feel this, like, oh my god, it's

860
00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 1: not just me.

861
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:29,600
Speaker 3: I'm not so alone.

862
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:33,319
Speaker 1: I'm not making up how I'm feeling like it's so validating.

863
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:38,440
Speaker 1: It's that human heart connection that's so important. When you

864
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 1: tell your story, you're taking ownership of it, and that

865
00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:43,839
Speaker 1: is so empowering.

866
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:50,640
Speaker 2: If you want to watch Heather's documentary, you can find

867
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:54,400
Speaker 2: it on Amazon Prime. It's called rom Con. Who the

868
00:49:54,680 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 2: f Is? Jason Porter On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly.

869
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:03,239
Speaker 4: She made it seem like it was a normal thing.

870
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:07,640
Speaker 4: But we'd have gold bars. A gold bar. I remember

871
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:11,120
Speaker 4: at the time it being like ten thousand dollars. It

872
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 4: was like the slow burn to like that wasn't weird

873
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 4: to me. I don't think I was even always told

874
00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 4: what I was doing. I just did whatever she asked

875
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 4: me to do.

876
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:25,640
Speaker 2: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal

877
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:28,560
Speaker 2: team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email

878
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:32,920
Speaker 2: us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod

879
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:36,759
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com, or follow us on Instagram at

880
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 2: Betrayal Pod. You can also connect with me on Instagram

881
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 2: at It's Andrea Gunning. To access our newsletter, view additional content,

882
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Speaker 2: and connect with the Betrayal community, join our substack at

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Speaker 2: Betrayal dot substack dot com. We're grateful for your support.

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00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:55,680
Speaker 2: One way to show support is by subscribing to our

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Speaker 2: show on Apple Podcasts and don't forget to rate and

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00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,960
Speaker 2: review Betrayal VI Star reviews, Go a Long Way. A

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Speaker 2: big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is

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Speaker 2: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment

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00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:12,240
Speaker 2: Group and partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive

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Speaker 2: produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced

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00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:19,880
Speaker 2: by me Andrea Gunning. This episode was written and produced

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00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,600
Speaker 2: by Olivia Hewitt and Monique Leboard, with additional production from

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Speaker 2: Ben Fetterman. Casting support from Curry Richmond. Our iHeart team

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00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:30,400
Speaker 2: is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck.

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Speaker 5: Audio editing and mixing by Matt del Vecchio. Additional audio

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00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:39,400
Speaker 5: editing by Tanner Robbins. Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains.

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00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:41,840
Speaker 5: Music library provided by my.

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Speaker 2: Music And For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.