WEBVTT - Leona | Betrayal Weekly 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.360 Hi, everyone, we have some exciting news to share. ABC 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.880 News Studios has turned Caroline Brega's story from Betrayal season 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.240 four into a docuseriies. You'll get to meet the people involved, 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.280 You'll hear from people who have never spoken before, and 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:15.760 you get to see where this story took place. We 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.200 are so proud and excited to share it with you all. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.759 Stream Betrayal Dirty Secrets now on Hulu or Hulu for 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:24.080 Disney Plus. 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:31.840 I just lost my mind. It felt like someone opened 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.640 my brain and it was spilling onto the floor. Everything 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.600 I had known to be true. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:55.120 Was just not. I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.120 a show about the people we trust the most and 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:07.640 the deceptions that change everything. For this episode, we've anonymized 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:12.959 all the names and locations. Leona grew up in the 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.960 Midwest in a town where nobody was a stranger. 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.800 The town is tiny. There's less than five thousand people here, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:22.480 so everybody knows everybody. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.680 Her family has lived there for four generations. 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.200 It's hard to go anywhere and not be running into 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:32.480 somebody that I know or knows someone in my family. 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.120 Just outside of town, the landscape gives way to huge 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:41.039 fields of corn and soybeans. It's a big farming community. 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.440 Lots of kids at Leona's school were part of a 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.960 youth organization called FFA Future Farmers of America. 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.320 During FFA week, everyone drove their tractors to school. 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.400 Growing up, Leona spent a lot of time with her 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.320 younger sister. They were close and was protective of her. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.600 She's an oldest child to her core. I am definitely 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.880 type a personality. I want everything to be perfect. I'm 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.000 a black and white person. I do not do well 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.840 with gray, so I have to follow the rules. Her 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.480 family didn't have a lot of money, and if Leona 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.600 wanted to go to the movies, grab dinner with friends, 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.640 or go on class field trips, she had to come 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:25.840 up with the money herself. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:30.120 I started working pretty much full time at sixteen, and 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.519 so I would go to school till three, get to 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.160 work at three thirty, be there till ten. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.360 After high school, Leona stayed in her hometown and lived 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.520 with her parents. She was still a teenager and was 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.760 saving up money to move out. She dreamed of moving 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.519 to a bigger city one day, but she needed more 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:50.720 financial stability. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.799 Nobody in my family has been to college, so all 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:56.880 I had known was you start working. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.960 At eighteen started working at her state's Department of Revenue. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.280 Shortly after I started that position, I got a friend 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:07.440 request on Facebook. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.160 It was from a guy she went to high school with. 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.200 His name was Aiden. They had never been close, and 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.320 she only remembered a couple of vague things about him. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.239 He was a grade above me. He was in theater, 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.000 and I remember seeing him on stage when I would 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.520 go watch the performances, but I wasn't going to see him. 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.920 She accepted his friend request. Then Eden sent her a 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.960 message asking her how she was doing. The two started 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:38.760 chatting where. 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.920 Are you living, things like that, catching up about what 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.400 life looked like for the last couple years. 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.680 Eden told her that he had joined the military and 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.720 was living a few states away. She told him about 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.080 her new job and caught him up on what was 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:58.119 happening back home. She started to look forward to Eden's messages. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.080 It was exciting because I was getting attention and it 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.040 was from someone who got out of our town, so 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.280 I was like, Okay, maybe I have some chance of 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:12.160 getting out of this tiny town. They messaged back and 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.520 forth for months, Then the holidays rolled around. 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.960 In December, he said, Hey, I'm back home. Would love 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.400 to get together and have dinner. 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:26.000 Leona agreed, and a few days later we went on 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:35.039 our first date. Leona still remembers walking into the restaurant 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:35.960 and seeing Aiden. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.720 He was in the military, so I was clean, shaven, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.120 all the things. We sat and we talked four hours, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.240 just laughing and having such a good time. I was 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:48.279 enthralled with him. 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.000 If you had seen them at the restaurant that night, 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.080 you wouldn't have believed it was their first date. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.480 We were just making jokes like we had known each 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.719 other forever, just instant connection. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.799 Leona and Aiden stayed in their booth, talking and laughing 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.320 long after they finished their meal, even after four hours 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.640 had gone by. Leona didn't want the date to end. 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.240 It was such a significant moment for me. I can 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.800 tell you exactly what booth we were sitting in. That's 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:20.960 how vivid this memory is. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.560 As soon as she left the restaurant, she told her 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:25.520 friends about the date. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.880 I'm not good at keeping secrets, so I can't at 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.200 all when something exciting happened in my life, like I 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:31.680 just have. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.840 To tell Aiden was equally as excited about her. We 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.400 went on the next date Within the next few days, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.080 they went to the movies and saw Flight with Denzel Washington. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.200 It's an action movie about a pilot who was forced 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.920 to crash land an airplane. Leona and Aidan were gripping 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:50.680 their arm rests the whole time. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.520 After we left, he was like, why in the hell 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:54.440 did you pick that movie? 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.720 They laughed about it. As Aidan drove Leona home. He 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:00.200 walked her to her front door. 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.440 It was freezing outside because it was December, and I 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.880 remember him just shivering because he was so cold, And 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.599 I remember having our first kiss on my parents porch 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:13.920 that night. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.920 Eden was changing jobs within the military and was transferred 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.800 to the reserves. He moved into a place an hour 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.880 outside of their hometown and made the drive to see 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.000 Leona whenever he had free time. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.799 He's taking me to his favorite restaurants in this town, 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.960 and we're just hanging out constantly. We're texting all the time, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:36.240 calling each other. 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:41.600 That initial spark of attraction kept growing. Pretty soon they 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:42.440 were inseparable. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.320 This is a person I want to spend all my 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.920 time with because I'm having so much fun, Like we're 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:53.160 talking about whatever, we're laughing, and I had never experienced 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.000 anything like that before. So I'm like, Okay, well, this 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.240 is obvious that this is the person I'm supposed to 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:03.600 be with. Introduced her to his family. His dad's a preacher, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.400 his mom is a nurse. I loved them. 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.720 Aiden's family loved her too. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.240 I immediately became a part of their family. I was 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.520 hanging out at their house. We were always doing stuff together. 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.880 In some ways, Aidan and Leona were very different. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.360 Aiden was a very private person and I'm the complete opposite. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:25.560 I'm an open book. 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:31.800 Aidan planned everything out carefully, while Leona was spontaneous. But 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.200 in many ways they were similar. Growing up in the 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.640 same town meant they understood each other's childhoods. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.120 We both were raised in a situation where our families 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.600 didn't have a lot of money, so the movies were 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.480 like a gift. You get one piece of candy, and 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.000 it was like a luxury. She and Aidan were just 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:55.240 barely adults, not even twenty one, but they both made 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.400 their own money and could indulge in little luxuries. These 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.920 dates fell exciting. We went to the movies. That was 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.560 our thing. We got to do that together and kind 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.520 of heal that smaller version of the both of us 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:10.920 that like, we didn't get to do that when we 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.520 were kids, but now as adults, we get to choose 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:14.040 to do that. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.880 It was December of twenty twelve. A new movie had 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.920 come out that they both wanted to see, The Hobbit, 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.920 so they grabbed their favorite snacks and settled into their seats. 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.200 Then Aiden turned to Leona and told her he had 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:30.480 a question to ask her. 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.640 He said, do you want to go steady with me? 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.120 I remember being like, absolutely, there's no question about this. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:40.079 It was so exciting. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.120 But in a few weeks, Aiden was leaving for the 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.920 East Coast, where he'd complete his next round of military training, and. 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:49.960 So we knew our time together was going to go 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.080 by quick, and so any moment we could, we would 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.280 spend time together. He ended up staying at my parents' 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:01.120 house with us during a snowstorm. We were just hanging 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.240 out in my room and I decided to tell him 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.080 that I loved him. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.640 As the snow swirled outside, Aiden told Leona that he 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.559 loved her too. The next week, the day they had 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.000 both been dreading, arrived. It was time for Aiden to 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.959 leave for the East Coast to start his new position 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.360 in the military. He would fly there from a military 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.120 base a few hours away from their hometown. Leona came 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:29.760 with him to drop him off. 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.440 And it was pouring rain. It was the kind of 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.240 rain where the car FOG's up and you don't know 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.679 which temperature to put it on to figure it out. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.000 But nothing would stop them from savoring those last hours together. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.600 We are singing at the top of our lungs or 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.320 taking pictures while we're driving, like just being in that 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.680 moment of like, we're not going to see each other 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.920 for a very long time, so we're going to just 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:54.840 be in it. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.480 When they said goodbye, they were both crying. The drive 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.840 back home without him felt so empty. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.040 I drove home on these curby ass roads while it's 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.920 raining and I'm on the phone with my best friend. 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:09.840 It's just falling because i was just so sad, just 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.079 crying because I'm like, I just dropped the person off 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:12.520 that I love. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.040 Because Aiden was switching jobs within the military, he had 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.000 to go through basic training again. 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.360 And because of that, he was not allowed to have 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.440 a cell phone for the first several weeks. We would 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.560 write handwritten letters back and forth, so very like he 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.760 is in the military, we're writing the letters. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.280 In those letters They began to dream of what they 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.200 wanted their future together to look like. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:37.800 We knew we wanted to have kids, we were going 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.880 to live on the East Coast. We're getting married before 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.160 I'm twenty one. You know. There was this very detailed plan. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.000 Their letters back and forth became a penciled in hopeful 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.440 blueprint for their life. When Leona missed Aiden, she reread 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:57.280 his letters and imagine their future together. Finally Aiden got 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.360 a phone. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.120 And so Aid had called me to like kind of 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.520 fill me in all what was going on, and then 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.440 he says, I think we should get married. 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:13.160 Leona was overjoyed. She didn't hesitate. This is how it's 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.120 supposed to be. I found my person, So why waste 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.920 any more of my time? She was ready to run 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.679 full speed towards the life they dreamed of. They decided 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.960 to get married that Christmas. That gave them just over 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:27.640 six months to plan the wedding. 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.000 All the things started happening very quickly. When we were 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.600 doing wedding planning, his mom and his sister were involved. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.319 His sister was one of my bridesmaids. I went that 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.360 next week and bought my wedding dress. 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.959 While they were apart, Aiden and Leona sent photos and 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:47.760 intimate messages back and forth on Facebook Messenger. That summer, 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.760 Aiden flew Leona out to visit him on the East Coast. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.480 Seeing each other in person, they were even more giddy 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.680 about their wedding. They talked through every detail together. Because 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:03.040 Aiden proposed over the Leona didn't have a ring yet. 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:05.520 And He's like, can you explain to me, like what 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.079 you want your ring to look like? What do you 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.000 want the band to look like? And so I'm explaining 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:11.960 this and I'm kind of leaned up against him, and 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.319 he was like, do you want it to look like this? 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.720 Aidan pulled a ring out of his pocket and he slid. 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.840 It onto my finger and I was like, oh my god, 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:24.560 it was bigger than I expected it to be, as 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.000 like a full carrot. It was better than I had 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:28.520 dreamed of. 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.000 She called her family right away and they celebrated with her. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.880 The rest of her visit was just as magical. They 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.760 watched fireworks burst through the dark sky and explored the city. 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.520 We were kind of getting a feel for what our 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.520 life was going to look like. Finally, their wedding week 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.160 arrived and Aiden traveled back home. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:57.480 The night of our rehearsal dinner, everyone, all the bridesmaids, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.640 all the grooms men. We went bowling. After words, they. 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.480 Piled into the bowling alley, ordered food and laughed, watching 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.000 their friends get competitive with each other or just. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.880 Having like the best time, enjoying each other's company, laughing, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.000 cutting up, no care in the world because tomorrow we're 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:17.160 gonna be married. 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:22.040 But then in the middle of the celebration, something disturbing happened. 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:28.440 My sister starts receiving these text messages from an unknown number. 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:31.760 Leona's little sister went pale. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.880 She was receiving pictures of someone's penis. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.440 The photos were accompanied by a slew of graphic questions. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.320 What is her opinion of the way this is shaped 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:44.880 or sized? 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.120 What do you think about this? Do you think this 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:52.880 would be pleasurable to you? Leona was horrified. Her sister 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:54.160 was only seventeen. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.040 It was just like the wind got knocked out of me, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:59.880 and I was like, oh my god, like I'm so sorry. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:00.880 I mean, she's under age. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.840 At this point, more and more messages flooded her sister's 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.920 phone incessantly. 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.040 We're bowling, and we're immediately not having fun because my 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:12.680 sister and I are having to deal with this. My 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.160 sister's like, what the hell's going on. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.600 Nobody in their friend group recognized the number, no idea 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:24.240 who it is, none whatsoever. Leona pulled Aiden aside to 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.680 tell him what was going on. He looked disturbed. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.600 Aiden was like, Oh, that's really bizarre. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.080 They were starting to think it was just spam, but 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.400 then the messages got personal. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.720 They know who I am, and they know who Aiden is. 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:45.320 The person had hacked into my Facebook account and got 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:50.359 all of these photos and these very specific details about 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:52.040 our sex life. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.960 Leona thought of all the intimate exchanges she'd had with 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.520 Aiden over the last few months. The thought of someone 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:03.120 reading the made her sick. Then the text to her 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:07.320 little sister took a turn. It started to sound like blackmail. 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:09.600 If you don't send us nudes, then we're going to 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.400 send out these pictures and release this information about your 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.200 sister and her husband's sexual relationship. 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.440 On the night before Leona and Aiden's wedding, they went 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.120 to a bowling alley with their friends. Everyone was having 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:51.600 a great time until Leona's sister started receiving disturbing text 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:55.880 messages from an unknown number. The text revealed that they 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.840 had hacked into Leona's Facebook account and accessed hundreds of 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:03.920 sexual images and text messages sent between her and Aiden, 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.720 and now they were threatening to release these photos and 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.480 texts if Leona's sister didn't comply with their demands. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.520 If you don't send us nudes, then we're going to 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.880 send out these pictures and release this information about your 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.600 sister and her husband's sexual relationship. 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.560 She made her way through the Bowling Alley to Aiden 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:25.200 and told him what happened. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.800 Aiden was like, Oh, that's really bizarre. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.320 He left his circle of friends and came over to 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.200 see the text himself. When he saw the messages, his 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:39.280 concern heightened. Aiden was a private person. Hearing that someone 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.960 accessed intimate details about their sex life clearly disturbed him. 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.560 You could immediately feel the air in the room. Just leave. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.080 Aiden told Leona's sister to ignore the messages for now. 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.760 They didn't know who they were dealing with, and they 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:57.160 needed to treat this with caution. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:59.920 We'll just ignore it. Let's just deal with this subtlely. 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.760 Time. They all stayed at the Bowling Alley until late 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:07.040 that night and tried to have fun. Leona did her 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.480 best to put it out of her mind and take 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.480 in all the joy and excitement around her, but it 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.080 was hard to ignore what happened. The next morning, Leona 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.000 woke up and it was her wedding day. 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.280 I was just so excited to like get down that 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.840 aisle and see him and be with my husband. Like 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.240 I'm ready to start our life. 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.119 Leona Aiden. Their families and friends packed into a church 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.760 in their hometown. Leona walked down the aisle and met 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.480 Aiden at the altar. When their eyes locked, she felt 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.200 the same certainty she'd felt on their first date. 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.560 I remember knowing that this was the right decision. I'm 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.879 just crying and like I'm wiping a tear off my face, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.840 And I was just so happy because he was my 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.240 best friend. He was someone I could confide in. We 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.439 had these plans where our future, and it was just 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.040 so exciting to get it started. Let's start our life. 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:05.719 Why are we waiting another second. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.520 The rest of the day was filled with dancing, speeches, 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:10.440 and wedding cake. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:12.400 Everything was joyful. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.600 She tried to stay in the moment and not let 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.040 the text from the unknown number ruin the day. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.880 I put it out of my mind. This is my day. 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.080 I'm not gonna let whatever it is interfere with that. 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.040 We got so much fun. We're all having a good time, 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.240 but there also is this like lurking chaos in the 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.640 background that you can't quite ignore. 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.760 Aiden only got a few days off for the wedding. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.760 They didn't have time for a honeymoon. In fact, two 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.840 days after they got married, he had to return to 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.399 the base. Leona had been so focused on the wedding 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.640 that she didn't account for how hard the goodbye would be. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.160 The reality hit me at that point. I'm like, oh 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.399 my god, this man that I love so much is 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.520 about to leave, and I just immediately start crying. 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.000 They said a tearful goodbye, and Aiden reported back to 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.879 his base on the East Coast. Leona stayed in their hometown. 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.800 With the wedding over, she focused her energy on helping 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.040 her sister deal with the blackmailer. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:19.600 I just remember being so concerned about it because it 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.680 was my responsibility to take care of this. She started 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.800 with the most obvious solution. I had told my sister 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.920 to just block the number, but that didn't stop it. 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:35.000 We would block the one number, and then almost immediately 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.440 it would be coming from a different phone number. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:43.600 Then to her horror. Her little sister started receiving screenshots 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.400 of Leona and Aiden's private conversations. 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.600 The person had all of these photos and these very 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.320 specific details about our sex life. 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.560 Leona felt sick. They really had hacked into her face book. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:06.840 They'd seen everything. It was an unthinkable violation. The messages 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.600 to her little sister all had the same disturbing tone. 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.280 They were cruel and emasculating towards her husband. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.919 They said, I've seen photos of Aiden and he's tiny. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.520 Can you believe that your sister is with somebody like that? 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:23.160 How embarrassing. 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.680 When ignoring the messages didn't work, Leona's sister texted one 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:29.680 of the numbers back. 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:32.320 She would say, leave me alone, stop texting me, stopped 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:34.439 doing this, and they would just still pile in. 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:39.080 Nothing she said made the sender back off. She refused 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.560 to send intimate photos of herself and tried to just 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:47.720 keep locking the numbers, but it was hard to manage. 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.840 After her sister had been dealing with this for three months, 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:52.359 Leona got. 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:57.600 A text herself. They said, your sister isn't doing this now, 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:58.680 we're escalating it. 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:08.240 After that, they sent Leona a photo, an intimate image 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.720 of herself one that she'd sent to Aiden. It was 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:17.280 clear this image was a bargaining chip, a threat. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:22.000 The messages kept coming. They were just making fun out 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.720 of our sex life. How embarrassing for you that you 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.000 have to ask your husband to do this so you 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:32.320 can be completely satisfied. This is embarrassing. 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.960 She wanted to report it, but the idea of showing 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.160 these messages to the police mortified her. The fear kept 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:43.720 her silent, so she ignored them and blocked the number 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.840 each time they sent her something new. The next month, 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.359 she went to visit Aiden at his military base. It 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.080 would be their last time seeing each other before his 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.240 upcoming deployment. He would be gone for nearly a year. 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:01.639 Before he left, they had a peaceful week together. 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.080 It was such a great time. I was hanging out 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:06.840 with the people that were going to be my support 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.359 system while he was deployed. We went to the movies 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.480 all the time. We were hanging out with his friends. 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.159 It felt like nothing could get in our way. But 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:17.960 in the meantime, we're still receiving these messages, and they're 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:18.840 getting worse. 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:24.400 Finally, Leona snapped. She texted the number back. I told 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:27.240 the person I'm like You're ruining my life. You're invading 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.640 our privacy. What I do with my husband is none 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.880 of your business. You need to get a different hobby. 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:38.560 But it became clear humiliating her and Aiden was the 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.359 hacker's full time hobby, and they had no plans of 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:43.359 dialing it back. 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.119 Whenever they would start message, it would just last for hours. 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.159 Even if you weren't responding, they would just spam you 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.200 with information or spam you with texts. And so I'm 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:56.240