1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: A quick note, this is episode two of a six 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: part series. If you haven't heard the prior episodes, we 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: recommend going back and starting there. It should also be 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: noted that this series explores sexualized imagery involving miners and violence. 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:20,799 Speaker 1: Please take care when listening. 6 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 2: I got a call when I was working up my 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 2: old job at a clothing store, and I see one 8 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 2: of the classmates popped up on my phone. She goes, 9 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 2: I saw you on the website. I just want to 10 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 2: let you know I'm also on this website. 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: It was New Year's Eve twenty twenty, nearly a year 12 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: after Kayla's father had knocked on her bedroom door to 13 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: show her the images he had found of her online. 14 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 2: And I remember just like walking away from the register 15 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 2: and I was just like, okay, Like, how many other 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 2: people are on there? 17 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: Kayla wasn't the only one whose phone was lighting up. 18 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 3: I got a text. I was parked in the mall 19 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 3: parking lot outside of the entrance to the movie theater 20 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 3: with my boyfriend at the time, who was about to 21 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 3: start his evening night shift. 22 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,320 Speaker 1: Cecilia was tucked in the driver's seat while rain pelted 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: the windshield. She'd planned to drop her boyfriend off at 24 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: his job at the mall near Leavitt Town, the New 25 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: York suburb where they lived. Before heading home, she. 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 3: Said, Hey, can I talk to you for a second 27 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 3: And I said, yeah, my boyfriend's going into work in 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 3: fifteen minutes. You could call me then, and she texted back, 29 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 3: he's going to want to hear this. 30 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: The text was from a former last night, someone she 31 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:05,919 Speaker 1: hadn't talked to in months. When the phone rang, Cecilia 32 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: put it on speaker. 33 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:13,519 Speaker 3: She said that her friend came across this website called 34 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 3: come on Printed Picks, in which someone was posting photos 35 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 3: of many of the girls that we had gone to 36 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 3: school with, and she said that there are pictures of 37 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 3: you on there, and I just wanted you to know, 38 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 3: And she also sent me the link to the website. 39 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 3: I opened the link immediately, with my boyfriend over my 40 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 3: shoulder looking at it with me. The first things I 41 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 3: saw when I opened that link, I remember, were photos 42 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 3: of girls that I graduated with. A lot of them 43 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 3: were just pictures from their instagrams. A lot of them 44 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 3: had lengthy captions saying their name and their age and 45 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 3: describing them in gross ways. I remember coming across mine. 46 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: The photo was a selfie. Cecilia had taken it in 47 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: the changing room of a clothing store a few months earlier. 48 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: It was exactly the same photo she'd posted to social media, 49 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: except in this one she was completely naked. 50 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 3: He described me as a ripe latina plaything. 51 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: And there were others, including one of Cecilia when she 52 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: was a lot younger. 53 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 3: I remember seeing a photo of myself as a child. 54 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 3: I was in elementary school. I had to be five 55 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 3: or sex. 56 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: In the photo, she has chubby cheeks and ringlets that 57 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: she's since grown out of. 58 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 4: Next to that. 59 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: Innocent image was an erect penis just resting there like. 60 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 3: Like it wasn't and she's away from a digital image 61 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 3: of a child's face. 62 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: She started crying, describing it as that kind of cry 63 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: where you sound like you're dying. 64 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 3: It was such a terrible feeling, and I remember looking 65 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 3: over at my boyfriend at the time, and he looked 66 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 3: back at me, and we didn't share any words, but 67 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 3: his the look his eyes. 68 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: Several young women shared a similar experience. 69 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 5: I felt gross. I felt like I needed to take 70 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 5: a shower. I felt like I wanted to cry. I 71 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 5: wanted to throw up, I wanted to scream. 72 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 6: I didn't really want to look, but I had to look. 73 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 7: It was the most horrifying thing. 74 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 5: But you just can't look away, Like a car accident, 75 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 5: but I'm the car accident. I was just like paralyzed 76 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 5: on my couch for hours because it felt so surreal. 77 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 6: And then that's when I went to my mom and 78 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 6: I was like, there's like a whole thing going on. 79 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: The news came while they were working a shift at 80 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: their retail job or sitting at home watching New Year's 81 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: Eve celebrations. Others were away at college parties and ran 82 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: home in tears. In all, more than forty young women 83 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: found themselves living some version of the story. And they 84 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,600 Speaker 1: weren't strangers. Most knew each other from MacArthur High School, 85 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: they were on the same cheerleading squad, or they lived 86 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: to feudors down from one another. So what are the 87 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: chances that they were all targets of someone? They didn't 88 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: know that this was all just a weird coincidence. Absolutely zero. 89 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 4: I'm Olivia Carvill and I'm Margie Murphy from iHeart Podcasts, 90 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 4: Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. This is Levertown. That night, Cecilia drove 91 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 4: back to her boyfriend's house and called the cops. An 92 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 4: hour later, detectives from the Nassau County Police Department were 93 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 4: knocking at the door. She hadn't been the first to 94 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 4: call them interviewed her alone, a painful process that left 95 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 4: her wrung out. 96 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 3: After the meaning that I had had that night with 97 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 3: the detectives, it became a little bit too much to 98 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 3: bear again. That was the first night of knowing, and 99 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 3: with that came a shark in betrayal and a lot 100 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 3: of heavy emotions. 101 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 4: At least four of the young women and their parents 102 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 4: called the police that New Year's Eve. They were told 103 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 4: pretty much the same thing Kayla had heard all those 104 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 4: months before. The poster was anonymous, the photos were fake 105 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 4: according to the law at the time, there was no 106 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 4: real crime, but pretty soon messages were flying between the 107 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 4: young women. 108 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 7: I reached out to a bunch of people and let 109 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 7: them know. 110 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 4: Leah, who was a sophomore in college at the time, 111 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 4: remembers two things hit her as she scrolled through the 112 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 4: sod like one the shock of seeing her face tacked 113 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 4: onto a naked body that was not hers, and two, 114 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 4: the realization of just how widespread this was. She spent 115 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 4: hours scrolling as she saw one classmate after another defiled 116 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 4: in the same way. 117 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 7: It was just a whole chain reaction of girls in 118 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 7: our community that were involved in this. 119 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 4: Unfortunately, by New Year's Day, they weren't just offering each 120 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 4: other support, they were determined to figure out who was 121 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 4: behind this. As they texted back and forth, the women 122 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 4: throughout names of potential suspects. One thought it was a 123 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 4: guy from school who'd been stalking her for months, but 124 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,319 Speaker 4: there was another name that kept coming up. It was 125 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 4: a guy most of them barely knew, but Cecilia did. 126 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 3: I first met him when I was a freshman in 127 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 3: high school. I remember he was very talkative, you know, 128 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 3: easy to talk to. 129 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 4: She described the group she used to hang out with. 130 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 3: I hate to say it, but they were the Stoners. 131 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 3: That's who I was with. We would hang out, they 132 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 3: would have these great philosophical talks about whatever it was, 133 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 3: the state of the world, you know, and I felt 134 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 3: I felt so worthy, being deemed like valuable enough to 135 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 3: kind of hang out with them and spend time with 136 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 3: them while they were doing this. I'm just the girl 137 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 3: that they, you know, let hang around. Honestly, it was 138 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 3: probably just because I was pretty. They just let me 139 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 3: hang out because I was a pretty girl and they 140 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:43,839 Speaker 3: could invite me over it. It was validating and reassuring 141 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 3: to have a kind of association that I was a 142 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,679 Speaker 3: part of, like a little group that I was a 143 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 3: part of that was mine. You know. They were all really. 144 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 4: Really nice, except for this one guy. 145 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 3: He was really sarcastic and condescending, but it was part 146 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 3: of his charm. You know, he's just an asshole. We've 147 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,960 Speaker 3: all met this guy usually in high school. He's small 148 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 3: and quick with a comeback. Nagging is basically how he 149 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 3: talks to girls. When I was a sophomore, I had 150 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 3: a lot of classes with him. I had almost all 151 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 3: of my day with him, and we were friends, so 152 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 3: we would talk until a month or two into the 153 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 3: school year he blocked me on every social media that 154 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 3: we had together and stopped talking to me in class. 155 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 3: And he reached out to me and said, I don't 156 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 3: hate you. By the way, he said, I would sooner 157 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 3: restrict you from all formats of contacting me. I'm extremely 158 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 3: attracted to you, so before that becomes an inevitable problem 159 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:54,959 Speaker 3: or upset for me, I might as well stop myself 160 00:10:54,960 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 3: from even trying. Does that explanation suffice for you, and 161 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 3: I said, I guess it does. And that was that. 162 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 4: The rest of high school was awkward between them. Some 163 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 4: weeks they were friends, he wanted to partner up in 164 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 4: class and asked her for a ride home from school. 165 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 4: Cecilia remembers looking up to him thinking he was really smart. 166 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 4: Then it was like a switch would flip and he 167 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 4: would start icing her out again. She hated it, but 168 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 4: no matter what, he'd always pop up in Cecilia's socials 169 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 4: to troll or debate her, like after she posted about 170 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,959 Speaker 4: the importance of mental health in the LGBTQ community. 171 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 3: I remember he said, I know you see a lot 172 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 3: of your ideals as common sense, but you need to 173 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 3: know you're basically a fascist, and I'm just trying to 174 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 3: advance you past the next five to ten years of 175 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 3: irrational thinking, Like he's doing me some grand favor by 176 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 3: coming into my social media and debating my ear off 177 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 3: about whether this sentence is grammatically correct or not. You know. 178 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 4: So on New Year's Eve, when Cecilia was staring at 179 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 4: those doctored photos of herself and hearing from her former 180 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 4: classmates that they suspected this old friend of hers, it 181 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 4: was extra personal. 182 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 3: It's hard to describe the kind of sinking feeling that 183 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 3: I felt in my stomach. There are things you don't 184 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 3: want to believe about your friends or people that you 185 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 3: know are close to you. 186 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 4: Some of the young women remembered getting notifications that he 187 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 4: had taken screenshots of their pictures on Snapchat, like ones 188 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 4: of them in bikinis. Then they'd see the same pictures 189 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 4: on the website, now altered to make them appein it. 190 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 4: Some recognized his handwriting on images where words like haw 191 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 4: and slat were scrawled across their faces. For Cecilia, the 192 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:14,359 Speaker 4: tell was the long, detailed fantasies posted on the tributing website. 193 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 4: She recognized the writing style. 194 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 3: I know how he types, and reading his paragraph long 195 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 3: dedications to these girls that he finds disgusting, I read 196 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 3: them in his voice, so it was enough to make 197 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 3: me not a question that it was him. 198 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: One after another, the young woman showed up to the 199 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: police station, and when asked who they thought was behind 200 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: the posts, many of them had the same answer. They 201 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: figured the police would take it from there, but the 202 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,319 Speaker 1: police told them that these suspicion weren't enough. They would 203 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 1: need hard evidence, the kind that could help them prove 204 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: in court who had written the posts and as far 205 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: as the women and their families knew, that's where the 206 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: police were leaving it. They didn't hear much, if anything, 207 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: from the detectives after giving their statements. But as the 208 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: new year turned into spring and then summer, the anonymous 209 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: poster got bolder, uploading hundreds of new photos. These young 210 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: women watched in horror as a barrage of deep faked 211 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: nude images, pictures of them as young as thirteen flooded 212 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: the tributing website. 213 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 5: Seeing these horrible things and people commenting on what we 214 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 5: look like and you know, putting our faces on screenshots 215 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 5: of foreign videos. 216 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: New accounts with names like tween Hunter were posting and 217 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: reposting increasingly graphic fakes. Some of the threads reached thirty 218 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: thousand views. Full names, addresses, phone numbers, and actual social 219 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: media handles went up next to the images. The poster 220 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: was encouraging others to reach out to the women, to 221 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: send them voice notes threatening to rape them to death. 222 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: By the spring of twenty twenty one, some of the 223 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: Levittown women were getting direct messages to their Facebook, Instagram, 224 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: and Snapchat accounts their photos beside male genitalia or covered 225 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: in semen. Others got late night calls from foreign numbers. 226 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: When they picked up, they only heard heavy breathing and moaning. 227 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: Kayla told me that she didn't want to live in fear, 228 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: but she did. She lived in fear of going outside, 229 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: in fear of men, and fear of being herself. She 230 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: had nightmares of me and hunting her. 231 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 2: But I could hear them like trying to find me, 232 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 2: and they would like say my name, and like they 233 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 2: would say the things from the website, like the milk 234 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 2: me and pea on her, like they were saying those 235 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 2: things while trying to find me. 236 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: She also dreamed that the images on the website had 237 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: come true, that she had the words rape me tattooed 238 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: on her forehead, just as she'd seen on the website. 239 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 2: I mean, I live every single day scared of man. 240 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 2: I mean not all men, but strangers, yes, all the time. 241 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 2: Because God forbid, it's someone that was on that website 242 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 2: that has just passed me on the street. You don't 243 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 2: know that, and that's scary. 244 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 3: Suddenly I'm not post seeing my face on my Instagram 245 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 3: because I don't know who's gonna find it, you know? 246 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:16,160 Speaker 3: And I directed so much guilt and uh so much 247 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 3: of his hate towards myself. 248 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: Most of the Levettown women turned their social media accounts 249 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: to private, but many deleted them all together. One dropped 250 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: out of college, another told me she lost twenty pounds 251 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: from the stress. Two confided that they had started carrying 252 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: knives everywhere they went. These are the stories we heard 253 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: from the women who agreed to talk to us. We 254 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: reached out to many others who either didn't respond or 255 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: didn't want to talk about it. 256 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 5: I felt horrible for the main victims. I mean, we 257 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 5: are all victims, but there were some people who had 258 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 5: it much worse. 259 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: Leah not have been the main target. Others found dozens 260 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: and dozens of posts with their image and likeness, but 261 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: still whoever was doing this posted Li's full name and 262 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: phone number on the site. She worried what would happen 263 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: if someone, anyone really an employer, a romantic partner, ever 264 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: googled her. 265 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 5: I was really worried about my future because I wanted to, 266 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 5: you know, like go to medical school, and I was 267 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,719 Speaker 5: worried about the safety of all of my friends, and 268 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 5: what if these pictures, you know, get lead to like 269 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 5: their family members, and they can ruin relationships. Because some 270 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 5: of them were so realistic. This could ruin many people's lives. 271 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 4: As the months went by, the women reported that the 272 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 4: harassment was escalating. Their parents were terrified, not only because 273 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 4: of what their children were going through, but because the 274 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,640 Speaker 4: police didn't seem to be doing much. Cyber harassment cases 275 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 4: are notoriously hard to prove. Gathering digital evidence can be 276 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:07,120 Speaker 4: time consuming and hard to capture, and most perpetrators cover 277 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 4: their tracks. Many of the parents created their own group 278 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 4: chats to brainstorm what to do. They were outraged that 279 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,160 Speaker 4: their daughters were still being targeted, while the person they 280 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 4: believed was responsible for all this was right there among 281 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 4: them in Levettown. If law enforcement couldn't do anything about it, 282 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 4: they were going to have to do something themselves. 283 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 1: That summer twenty twenty one, one of the Leavettown women 284 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: saw an image that almost broke her. We recorded an 285 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: interview with her, but she wasn't comfortable using her actual voice, 286 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: so the things she said in that interview will be 287 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: voiced here by someone else. 288 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 6: I've learned not to trust anybody very private with things 289 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 6: now I don't really talk to anybody that I don't 290 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 6: trust and obvious naive because that was my problem. I'm 291 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 6: too nice. 292 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,239 Speaker 1: The photo that almost broke her was a photo of 293 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: herself smiling, wearing jeans and a white tank top. Beside 294 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: that appeared to be a deep fake of a woman 295 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: in the exact same outfit, her hands tied behind her back, 296 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 1: covered in blood, with a plastic bag over her head. 297 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: The caption said her body had been found near an 298 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: abandoned construction site, that she had been raped. We're calling 299 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: her Cat because she asked not to be identified by 300 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: her real name, but the post she found listed her 301 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: real name and claimed a snuff video of her murder 302 00:20:58,160 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: was circulating on the dark. 303 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:02,200 Speaker 6: I'd had enough. 304 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 4: It had to stop. 305 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 6: I was like, Okay, this is like more serious, and 306 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 6: I need to know. I just need to know who 307 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:09,919 Speaker 6: it is. 308 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:10,439 Speaker 7: You know. 309 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: She was aware that others thought they knew who was 310 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: behind all this, but the suspect was a guy she'd 311 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 1: known since she was five. They grew up three blocks 312 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: away from each other. 313 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 6: In my head, I was almost defending him. I was like, 314 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 6: I don't think it's him, There's no way it's him. 315 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,400 Speaker 1: In high school that had a lot of classes together, 316 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:39,879 Speaker 1: including a photoshop class, and while they didn't hang out, 317 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: they were still sort of friends, like they would snapchat 318 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: occasionally outside school. 319 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 6: In high school, he got a little bit more like 320 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,159 Speaker 6: I don't really give a shit vibe about anything. He 321 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 6: was smart, so like he knew what he was talking about, 322 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,439 Speaker 6: you know, but anybody who said anything to him is 323 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 6: just like, Okay, I don't care. I'm smarter than anybody. 324 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 4: Kat talks about him in the same way Cecilia does. 325 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 4: He would troll her at times, but was also smart 326 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 4: and could be fun. He knew how to push her buttons, 327 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 4: calling her naive. He'd tell her the world was full 328 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:22,399 Speaker 4: of shitty people and sure, you want everything to be okay, 329 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 4: but it's not. She knew all this, but she didn't think, 330 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 4: or maybe didn't want to think it was him. She thought, 331 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 4: perhaps that she would be able to both clear his 332 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,159 Speaker 4: name and figure out who was doing this once and 333 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 4: for all. 334 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 6: Then that's when I went on the website. I sat 335 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 6: there for like, I had to look at things I 336 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:48,360 Speaker 6: did not want to look at. 337 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 4: From her bedroom at night, she carefully examined every post. 338 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 4: The suspected harassment made I spent. 339 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 6: Like hours going through it, and then I went to 340 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,719 Speaker 6: video of his own page where he would post himself. 341 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 4: Cat found that the person posting deep fakes of her 342 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 4: and her classmates was also posting explicit pictures of himself 343 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:11,160 Speaker 4: on the website. 344 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 6: He would post things of himself, pictures of himself, not 345 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 6: his face, like his body and his parts. 346 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 4: She found one picture where he appeared to be wearing 347 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 4: girls underwear while standing in a little girl's bedroom. 348 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 6: Let me look in the background, Let me see if 349 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,360 Speaker 6: I could see anything in the background. So I saw 350 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 6: stuffed animals and I was like, all right, let me see. 351 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,399 Speaker 4: She saw a white dresser with brown trim and a 352 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 4: stuffed toy sloth on the bed. Kat knew the guy 353 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 4: everyone suspected had younger twin sisters. 354 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,679 Speaker 6: So I went on his TikTok and I looked up 355 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 6: his sister and then I had the same exact stuffed 356 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 6: animals in the same background, and I was like, okay. 357 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 4: His sister was posting dance videos to TikTok and they 358 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 4: were filmed in the same bedroom with a white dresser 359 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 4: and brown trim. Even that stuffed toy was in the 360 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 4: same spot on the bed. 361 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 6: Oh my god, this is crazy. It really is him. 362 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: His name was Patrick Carey. He definitely wasn't a stranger. 363 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: He was nineteen years old and he had also gone 364 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: to MacArthur High. His dad, like Kayla's, was a cop. 365 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: He lived three blocks away from cat just over the 366 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: back fence from their old elementary school in Levettown. She 367 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 1: went back to the police. 368 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,879 Speaker 8: They came to me with a photo of Patrick Carrey 369 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 8: in the bedroom. 370 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: In August, Kat and her mum printed out the screenshots 371 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 1: the images on TikTok and on the website, and they 372 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: brought them to the lead detective on the case, Timothy Ingram. 373 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,160 Speaker 8: These girls they did their own investigating and they did 374 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 8: excellent work. They would make great detectives. 375 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,439 Speaker 1: But when I recently sat down with Detective Tim Ingram, 376 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: he told me that from the first day the woman 377 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: came in, the police were proactive. 378 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,199 Speaker 8: A lot of my coworkers hadn't really seen anything like this, 379 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 8: where it was to this level of you know, him 380 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 8: posting everywhere for so long, with so many. 381 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 1: Victims, He said. They immediately filed subpoenas for information connected 382 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: to users of the website, but getting an answer takes 383 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: time and Ingram said he didn't want to talk to 384 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: Patrick until he had enough evidence to arrest him. The 385 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: police did eventually find out that one of the users 386 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: on the website was posting from an ip address that 387 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 1: traced back to Patrick's family home, but even that wasn't 388 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: enough to arrest Patrick, and the police still had to 389 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: figure out what exactly to charge him with, because while 390 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: New York State had laws on the books for revenge 391 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,879 Speaker 1: porn and child sexual abuse material, the images had to 392 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: be real, and in this case, they were fake. 393 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 8: Being that it was a very new type of crime 394 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 8: where we it was a gray area per se, where 395 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 8: we weren't even sure if this met the criteria it's 396 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 8: filipenal law charge. 397 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: We attempted to speak to Patrick Carrey for the story 398 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: and he declined. But while the police may have been 399 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: closer to making an arrest for the young woman of Leavittown, 400 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: the fear didn't just go away. Kat was glad that 401 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: she helped match Patrick Carrey with the postings, but she 402 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: was still terrified, and Cecilia was struggling to cope with 403 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: the fact that the person who had done this to 404 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,479 Speaker 1: her was someone she had considered a friend. 405 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 3: It kind of touches a part of your soul and 406 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 3: just breaks it in. Hah, because you watched me kind 407 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,439 Speaker 3: of grow up. You know, you spent most of my 408 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 3: teenage years with me, So you're telling me that all 409 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 3: of that time that you spent with me, watching me 410 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:49,160 Speaker 3: kind of become the person that I am, was enjoyment 411 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 3: to you. Because you were watching me turning to rape me. 412 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,679 Speaker 3: It kind of feels like he hallowed me out of 413 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,440 Speaker 3: that made me who I am, And that is one 414 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 3: of the most horrifying things I think I've ever experienced. 415 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 3: They don't mind that he didn't respect me, you know, 416 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,439 Speaker 3: or see me as a friend. I mind that he 417 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 3: didn't even see me as a person, you know, And that. 418 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 4: Sense of horror it wasn't limited to Cecilia and Kayla 419 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 4: and the other women in Levittown, because powered by this 420 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 4: one website, that sort of harassment is hugely scalable. As 421 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 4: Detective Ingram started looking into the site, he saw that 422 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 4: the more than forty women in Levittown and their alleged tormentor, 423 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 4: which is a small part of a much bigger ecosystem 424 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 4: of men exploiting women in an interactive global arena. 425 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 8: Somewhere in Scotland, somewhere in Russia. They were everywhere. 426 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 4: Hundreds, maybe thousands of women and girls all around the 427 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 4: world were on the site. Olivia and I started to 428 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 4: get interested in what or who was behind this global 429 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 4: clearinghouse of non consensual pornographic images. Turns out we weren't 430 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 4: the only ones. Next time on Leavettown. 431 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 9: You have certain police officers there that will wait for 432 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 9: calls to come in and then now go and respond 433 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 9: to those courts. I like to identify myself as a hunter. 434 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 9: I'm the person that will go and hunt people. If 435 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 9: you're given pray, you want to go and get it. 436 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: This series is reported and hosted by Margie Murphy and 437 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 1: me Olivia Carvell. Produced by Kaleidoscope, Led by Julia Nutter, 438 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: Edited by Nidda tuluis Simnani, Producing by Dara luck Potts. 439 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: Executive produced by Kate Osborne. Original composition and mixing by 440 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: Steve bone Our. Bloomberg editors are Caitlin Kenney and Jeff Grocock. 441 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: Additional reporting by Samanthus Stewart. Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's executive 442 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: producer and head of Podcasting. Kristin Powers is our senior 443 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: executive editor from iHeart. Our executive producers are Tyler Klang 444 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: and Nicki Etoor. Levettown is a production of Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope 445 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: and iHeart Podcasts. If you liked this show, give us 446 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:40,840 Speaker 1: a follow and tell your friends