Speaker 1: Stacy, would you please read this document?
Speaker 2: Okay? This is a court document affidavit of probable cause
Speaker 2: from Berks County, Pennsylvania, Honor. About Thursday, January fifth, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three, a detective received information that the defendant, Justin Rutherford,
Speaker 2: was requesting to have someone murder a juvenile.
Speaker 1: Mail detectives in Running, Pennsylvania learned that a Justin Rutherford
Speaker 1: had concocted a scheme to take the life of a
Speaker 1: teenager who was set to testify against him in a
Speaker 1: criminal case. Rutherford told his hitman to use gloves and
Speaker 1: to wear layers of clothing so no DNA would be found.
Speaker 2: Rutherford said he could be buried in the forest somewhere,
Speaker 2: or he could be burned in a barrel. This would
Speaker 2: be a good way to get rid of any evidence.
Speaker 1: Stacy, do you know Justin Rutherford, the man who was
Speaker 1: planning the murder?
Speaker 3: I do?
Speaker 2: And who is he? My husband?
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Season three of Betrayal,
Speaker 1: Episode one, storybook Romance A listener Note. Some names have
Speaker 1: been changed to protect privacy. I'm so grateful to be
Speaker 1: back for another season of Betrayal. When we started this
Speaker 1: project with Jennifer Fason's story back in twenty nineteen, we
Speaker 1: really didn't know where it would go. Thanks to you,
Speaker 1: we're back for season three, and there's even more big
Speaker 1: news if you love betrayal. This summer, our podcast will
Speaker 1: become a weekly series addressing all kinds of betrayal, from relationships,
Speaker 1: to financial deception and more. There are betrayals you won't believe,
Speaker 1: but they happened. What we've discovered is that there are
Speaker 1: people everywhere, millions actually, who are struggling with loss and
Speaker 1: shame because something that they believed in turned out to
Speaker 1: be a lie. Sometimes the lie is so egregious it's criminal.
Speaker 1: Other times it's just too painful to bear. We've also
Speaker 1: learned that hearing you aren't the only one that has
Speaker 1: been the victim of shocking deception is comforting. There is
Speaker 1: something inherently therapeutic in sharing our stories, and that brings
Speaker 1: me to Stacy Rutherford.
Speaker 2: I can talk to my best friends till I'm blue
Speaker 2: in the face, but not a single one of them
Speaker 2: have any idea what I feel like, and I hope
Speaker 2: none of them ever have to know what I feel like.
Speaker 1: Stacy heard Ashley Linton's story from season two, and they
Speaker 1: had a lot in common. Even parts of their story
Speaker 1: are similar.
Speaker 2: It was kind of one of those things that it
Speaker 2: made me finally feel like I wasn't so abnormal for
Speaker 2: feeling some of the things that I felt about the
Speaker 2: situation and about grieving my marriage and everything. It was
Speaker 2: just for the first time I felt like somebody knew
Speaker 2: what I felt like.
Speaker 1: But there are some very big differences. The stakes for
Speaker 1: Stacy and her family are not like anything we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: When she first reached out to our team, it was
Speaker 1: from her home in a small rural spot called Jared'stown,
Speaker 1: West Virginia. It's about two hours west of DC. She
Speaker 1: works in the area as an administrative support for a
Speaker 1: federal agency. She also spent many years working as a
Speaker 1: medical assistant. Her story spans three states, two husbands, two courts,
Speaker 1: four children, and twenty five years in the making.
Speaker 2: It's a lot, and not everybody can handle that because
Speaker 2: it's a wild story. It's nothing like you think you're
Speaker 2: gonna hear. I found Stacy to be such a contradiction.
Speaker 2: She's a joyful, spiritual person with a great laugh. It's
Speaker 2: fun just being around her, but that laugh can turn
Speaker 2: to tears in a matter of seconds. It's a fragile line.
Speaker 2: She's holding it together, but not by much.
Speaker 1: First, we need to look at where Stacey came from
Speaker 1: to see how she arrived here. Stacy was still a
Speaker 1: teenager when she got married and started a family. She
Speaker 1: still remembers the night she met her first husband back
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight. We'll call him John.
Speaker 2: My high school boyfriend and I broke up right after
Speaker 2: senior year. I went to a party and just we connected.
Speaker 1: John was twenty three, Stacy was eighteen.
Speaker 2: He was fresh out the military. I got pregnant pretty quick.
Speaker 2: You know. My dad will always say, I think he
Speaker 2: did the noble thing.
Speaker 1: John married after an accelerated courtship in their hometown of Decatur, Illinois,
Speaker 1: but eventually moved to West Virginia. They had two kids together,
Speaker 1: Mikayla and Tyler.
Speaker 2: Honestly, we didn't spend a lot of time together. I
Speaker 2: know that that sounds crazy, but he loved a fish.
Speaker 2: He could be out there for twelve eighteen hours a day,
Speaker 2: so usually I would just stay home with the kids.
Speaker 1: Stacey admits that the relationship was imperfect, but she was
Speaker 1: okay with that.
Speaker 2: I knew we didn't have this fireworks and passion and
Speaker 2: all this. But I was comfortable and I took a vow,
Speaker 2: and I took that seriously.
Speaker 1: They were busy young parents.
Speaker 2: He was a forklift operator, but he worked so many hours.
Speaker 2: He works like twelve to sometimes sixteen hours a day.
Speaker 1: It never occurred to her that it wouldn't last forever.
Speaker 2: Divorce was impossible to me. I was just like nu uh,
Speaker 2: you know, like we're going to be old sitting on
Speaker 2: a porch with our grandkids, because that's what my grandparents were.
Speaker 2: And my parents were like, divorce wasn't in my family
Speaker 2: like that. I'd made a post on MySpace or MySpace
Speaker 2: like thank you God for this life, and I just
Speaker 2: I'm so blessed and I have two great kids and
Speaker 2: a husband, you know. And two weeks later, he rolled
Speaker 2: over in bed and he just said I'm not happy
Speaker 2: and I haven't been for a really long time. I'm like,
Speaker 2: what the hell. I was like, shut up, and he
Speaker 2: was like no, I'm serious, and I just started streaming.
Speaker 2: Michaela was eight and she ran into the bedroom and
Speaker 2: started screaming, Daddy, don't hit her, don't hit her. She
Speaker 2: thought he was hitting me. Because I was screaming like agony.
Speaker 2: He said it was nobody, that he just wanted to
Speaker 2: be alone, that we got married too young. You know,
Speaker 2: he was never going to get married again.
Speaker 1: Stacy is no fool. She knew something was up.
Speaker 2: My sister calls me Angela Lansbar because I won't find
Speaker 2: it out. Within days, I knew he was seeing somebody.
Speaker 2: Ended up finding out it was a coworker that was August.
Speaker 2: I come home one day and I had told him
Speaker 2: I was going to move back where our family was,
Speaker 2: and then I changed my mind and I was like,
Speaker 2: I can do this, you know, we can try to
Speaker 2: work this out. He was like nope.
Speaker 1: Stacy's daughter Mikaela remembers her mom confronting the other woman,
Speaker 1: though she didn't really know what was happening at the time.
Speaker 4: One day, we were waking up for school and we
Speaker 4: did not drive to school. We went to some random
Speaker 4: lady's house and my mom gets out of the car
Speaker 4: and is throwing gravel rocks at this lady and I'm
Speaker 4: just in the backseat, like I don't know what's happening,
Speaker 4: and my dad had come out.
Speaker 2: Without a shirt on.
Speaker 1: Mikaela was too young to understand. Stacy knew exactly what
Speaker 1: was going on.
Speaker 2: It was soul crushing. I said, just tell me what
Speaker 2: it is and what I can do. And I remember
Speaker 2: he did tell me, you know, well you got big
Speaker 2: and I didn't, you know, like to look at you.
Speaker 2: Then it was like, oh, it's my fault.
Speaker 1: This moment. It fractured her. So many people know this
Speaker 1: feeling not feeling enough that haunted Stacy.
Speaker 2: I had no self worth, no self worth. I mean,
Speaker 2: I had never in my life been suicidal, and I
Speaker 2: remember I knew I wanted to be alive for my kids,
Speaker 2: but I just had this attitude of like, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to take my life because I'm a Christian and
Speaker 2: I don't you know, but if you don't wake me
Speaker 2: up in the morning, that would be okay.
Speaker 1: Stacy kept her pain hidden. Her children only saw her
Speaker 1: beauty and strength.
Speaker 5: Anything could happen to her and nothing would phaze her.
Speaker 5: She's great and I want to be her when I
Speaker 5: grow up. Mom actually worked too jobs, and so a
Speaker 5: lot of the time it would be Tyler and I
Speaker 5: at home by ourselves, and I'd be watching him. And
Speaker 5: even when I would go hang out with friends in
Speaker 5: a neighborhood down the street. He would always tag along
Speaker 5: with me.
Speaker 1: Although Mikayla is six years older than Tyler, they formed
Speaker 1: a close bond during those years.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, I loved it.
Speaker 5: I loved being around Tyler when mom was a single
Speaker 5: mom and it was just him and I a lot.
Speaker 1: Mikayla has grown up a lot since looking after Tyler.
Speaker 1: She's a master's candidate and a newlywed, but when she
Speaker 1: was a kid, she admits to being a bit of
Speaker 1: a wild child, like I was a hot mess, express
Speaker 1: Stacey says. Tyler, on the other hand, was a happy
Speaker 1: kid who adored his mom.
Speaker 2: When my first husband and I divorced, he was two.
Speaker 2: So Tyler and I have always had a huge bond,
Speaker 2: and he's always been a MoMA's boy. He loved the
Speaker 2: Kardashians and he'd be like When's Sister Wives on, And
Speaker 2: you know there was so much as SI in that
Speaker 2: house at that time, Like the poor guy had no chance,
Speaker 2: but it made him the sweetest soul. He will die
Speaker 2: if I tell you this, But like I am a
Speaker 2: bath and body works and that like my probably need
Speaker 2: a twelve step program, but I always like have it
Speaker 2: and so he would lay in bed when he was
Speaker 2: little and he'd smell my arm and he'd say, oh, mamma,
Speaker 2: you smell so beautiful.
Speaker 1: Seventeen years later, Stacy has acquired the wisdom to view
Speaker 1: the end of her first marriage with a different lens.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what I was doing. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: a young mom. I'm a young wife, not knowing how
Speaker 2: to manage money. So I completely accept that I had
Speaker 2: a hand in the devise of my marriage too.
Speaker 1: Still, the loss of her dream left Stacy wounded.
Speaker 2: I can honestly say that I've never been the same
Speaker 2: since my first marriage ended.
Speaker 1: Even after the demise of her marriage, Stacy hoped to
Speaker 1: find love and a partner to share her life with.
Speaker 1: She was cautious she had to be.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be that mom that just had
Speaker 2: random different men coming in and out of her home,
Speaker 2: and then for the kids to like lose that person.
Speaker 2: That was always my fear.
Speaker 1: The divorce was in two thousand and seven. Stacy has
Speaker 1: had a few long term relationships and some forgettable dates.
Speaker 1: Stacy's son, Tyler, recalls one boyfriend that left an impression she.
Speaker 6: Was a real bad drunk and would just scream and yell.
Speaker 6: So he wasn't too much of a good guy either.
Speaker 6: He was just good to us kids. She always kind
Speaker 6: of had bad experiences with men.
Speaker 1: And Stacy's daughter, Mikayla, harbored the fantasy of many children
Speaker 1: of divorce.
Speaker 4: I want my mom and dad back together still, So
Speaker 4: I was also like, who are you coming into my house?
Speaker 4: I was always mean to like every boyfriend she had,
Speaker 4: anytime she would tell me she was on a date,
Speaker 4: something was dying, or my toe nail was falling off
Speaker 4: and she had to come home because like fat guy.
Speaker 4: And then like there would be times if she had
Speaker 4: like a boyfriend over and they were in the living room,
Speaker 4: I would purposely interrupt and you know, be an annoyance.
Speaker 1: Then in twenty fifteen, a new man came into Stacy's life.
Speaker 3: My name is Karen, and I met Stacy when my
Speaker 3: son dated her daughter in high school, and we've been
Speaker 3: close friends ever since. I met Justin when he was
Speaker 3: doing like a round or rotations. I worked at a
Speaker 3: lab at the doctor's office and he was a student
Speaker 3: there and we just started to chat.
Speaker 1: Justin was in medical school.
Speaker 3: I knew he was single, and I'm like, I feel
Speaker 3: like you and my friend were really hit it off.
Speaker 2: He had a good sense.
Speaker 3: Of humor and she had a good sense of humor.
Speaker 3: So I'm not sure if I gave her his number
Speaker 3: or if I gave him her number, but either way,
Speaker 3: he ended up reaching out and they met up.
Speaker 2: Him and I met at All of Garden Right off
Speaker 2: the bat, we started joking. Our whole entire meal was joking,
Speaker 2: and he just kind of said to me, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a poor Med student. I don't have time for anyone.
Speaker 2: I don't have any money. I can't really take you
Speaker 2: on dates like this, you know. He actually our biggest
Speaker 2: joke was he used to coupon on our first date,
Speaker 2: and he was mortified to bring it out of his pocket.
Speaker 2: He's like, you know, I got like a bye one
Speaker 2: get one half off kind of thing going on. And
Speaker 2: he was just like, you know, so do you want
Speaker 2: to adopt a poor Med student? And I was like yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, like, why not add another kid to it?
Speaker 2: You know, I'm all for it. Our joke for years
Speaker 2: was that who once already made family? And he was
Speaker 2: like whooh me, you know, And that's kind of how
Speaker 2: our relationship started. Telling me he had no time for
Speaker 2: me and then ended up. We were together all the time.
Speaker 3: He said that she was nice, but I think that
Speaker 3: he was attracted to her sense of humor because that's
Speaker 3: what makes her really beautiful, because she's so funny.
Speaker 1: Stacy and Justin were vibing. They just loved being together.
Speaker 2: I had butterflies when driving home from our first date.
Speaker 2: I remember calling my dad and I was like, Dad,
Speaker 2: I think I just met my husband. And he was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, did you tell him that? And I
Speaker 2: was liked, no, I didn't tell him that, Like why
Speaker 2: would I tell him that. He's like, oh, thank god,
Speaker 2: because he would have run her.
Speaker 1: Dad didn't need to worry. The affection was mutual.
Speaker 3: They hit it off and I was pretty proud of
Speaker 3: myself for being a matchmaker.
Speaker 2: All the years I had dated. Between my first husband
Speaker 2: and him, it was so just ugh a cesspool. Really,
Speaker 2: people felt like they had an agenda or there was
Speaker 2: something that they wanted from me, but Justin it was
Speaker 2: just wholeheartedly. I never felt there was anything that he
Speaker 2: wanted from me. He just wanted to be with me,
Speaker 2: and for me, I was like, wow, that's the first time,
Speaker 2: you know, I've ever felt like that.
Speaker 1: When it was time for Justin to meet Stacy's kids,
Speaker 1: fifteen year old Mikaela had every intention of giving the
Speaker 1: new guy the same treatment every other man had unwelcome.
Speaker 4: They had been dating for a couple of months, and
Speaker 4: I remember I was at my dad's house when my
Speaker 4: mom was like, Justin was coming over and I was
Speaker 4: going to meet him. The whole time I'm talking shit,
Speaker 4: I'm like, Dad, f him. I already don't like him.
Speaker 4: He's probably fat and ugly. And my Dad's like, michaela
Speaker 4: be nice and I'm like, I don't care. I don't
Speaker 4: want to know you. And then when we walked in
Speaker 4: the house, it was immediately like Hi, I'm Justin and
Speaker 4: like open arms, super talkative, asking me like what I
Speaker 4: want to do when I grow up? How high school is?
Speaker 4: You know, just like blah blah blah blah blah talking
Speaker 4: to me. And I was still kind of stand offish
Speaker 4: because I'm like, can you.
Speaker 2: Take the heat.
Speaker 7: I remember the first day we met him very vividly.
Speaker 1: Actually, Tyler was about ten at the time. He was impressed.
Speaker 6: He really just seemed like such a great guy from
Speaker 6: the start. You came over, We're looking at it. Oh,
Speaker 6: mom's got a new boyfriend. Here's another asshole. And then
Speaker 6: surprisingly he was one of the first guys to ever
Speaker 6: have an interaction with me and like, I actually played
Speaker 6: football with me, so to me, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 6: he's actually a pretty good guy. That was the first
Speaker 6: time I really saw her with another man, truly happy,
Speaker 6: and Mikayla thought it too.
Speaker 4: I liked him a lot, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: I won't scare him away. Yeah, they had a good relationship.
Speaker 4: Like I thought they were good together.
Speaker 2: We started dating in March and Thanksgiving we went to
Speaker 2: Myrtle Beach with his family and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is so great. We spent a lot of time
Speaker 2: with family and friends.
Speaker 1: Time together was precious then. Medical school was all encompassing
Speaker 1: for Justin, but they made it work.
Speaker 2: I also, you know, would help him when he would
Speaker 2: study because I'm in the medical field too, so when
Speaker 2: he was studying prescription med names, we would like go
Speaker 2: back and forth as kind of like a game.
Speaker 1: Stacy didn't need to be wined and dine. She wanted
Speaker 1: kindness and connection and someone to be part of her family.
Speaker 2: It just never felt complex. We spent a lot of
Speaker 2: time with like family and friends, and if we weren't
Speaker 2: we were studying. You know, we didn't do a whole
Speaker 2: lot in our first year.
Speaker 1: Justin was also willing to be a father figure and
Speaker 1: wanted to be involved in the kids' lives.
Speaker 6: He was really nice to me and would do stuff
Speaker 6: with me. He was a big video gamer. He helped
Speaker 6: me build my first like big gaming computer, which was
Speaker 6: really cool, and he was very tech savvy.
Speaker 7: If I wanted to play games, he was a guy
Speaker 7: to play games with.
Speaker 6: So I was happy to have what I thought would
Speaker 6: be a father figure.
Speaker 7: It was like the dad and best friend in one.
Speaker 1: It was now twenty sixteen. Stacy and Justin had been
Speaker 1: together about a year, but he was on the medical
Speaker 1: track and to relocate to continue his training. Stacy and
Speaker 1: Justin's relationship was getting serious. Sometimes he'd stay at her
Speaker 1: place for several days at a time, or she'd spend
Speaker 1: the weekend at his apartment. It couldn't imagine being a part,
Speaker 1: so the couple decided that Stacy and her kids would
Speaker 1: move with him for his residency. It was the last
Speaker 1: stage of training before becoming a doctor.
Speaker 2: He was just kind of like our not really silent deal,
Speaker 2: but our deal that he was going to take care
Speaker 2: of me and I was going to take care of him.
Speaker 1: Justin matched with a hospital system in Pennsylvania, so Stacy, Mikaela,
Speaker 1: and Tyler packed up their life and moved with Justin.
Speaker 1: This was the beginning of their next chapter as a
Speaker 1: growing family. Stacy's sister Heather, it was.
Speaker 8: Like the story book Growing My sister one of more
Speaker 8: children having children.
Speaker 2: He loved her kids.
Speaker 1: And Justin wanted kids too. A year after the family
Speaker 1: moved to Pennsylvania, the couple had a baby girl together,
Speaker 1: and shortly after Stacey became pregnant again. She shared an
Speaker 1: amazing family moment with me a video where Justin opens
Speaker 1: a gender reveal envelope.
Speaker 2: Oh God, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I was about two seconds away from actual
Speaker 2: job into the ground.
Speaker 1: Their baby boy was born in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: He delivered both of our kids my ob right when
Speaker 2: the baby was about to come out, she stepped to
Speaker 2: the side and let Justin deliver the babies. I remember
Speaker 2: I made a Facebook post like after it and I said,
Speaker 2: I didn't think I could love this man anymore, but
Speaker 2: when I saw him with his babies, it made me
Speaker 2: love him in a whole different way, you know, on
Speaker 2: a different level. He was just so happy, Like you
Speaker 2: could tell, he just was so excited to be a dad.
Speaker 1: They had their love, their children, their family was complete.
Speaker 1: As they set their sights on the future, Justin received
Speaker 1: a full time job offer. It was official they were
Speaker 1: staying in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: After residency was over, he accepted a position with their
Speaker 2: family med office in Exeter, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3: My sister worked extremely hard to bring in enough money
Speaker 3: to take care of her kids and still try to
Speaker 3: give them the life that they deserved.
Speaker 2: But Justin offered her a sense.
Speaker 7: Of freedom, I mean the salary.
Speaker 1: And Stacey also had support. When the family moved to Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: Justin's godmother moved with them. Her name is Deborah and
Speaker 1: she helped Stacy with the little ones.
Speaker 6: We called her Nanny mcdee like the Nanny McPhee movie.
Speaker 7: She was a part of our family.
Speaker 4: D was living with Justin's mom since he was a baby.
Speaker 1: When his mother died tragically during his college years, Nanny
Speaker 1: continued to maintain a close relationship with him. Here's Justin's
Speaker 1: college friend, Stacy Hayden.
Speaker 9: Justin's mom got cancer and passed away and her best
Speaker 9: friend was d and she had promised to always take
Speaker 9: care of Justin. As soon as they moved to Pennsylvania,
Speaker 9: Dee was living with them in like a taking care
Speaker 9: of roles, so she was a living nanny and helped
Speaker 9: around the house.
Speaker 1: The extra set of hands made a huge difference. Dee
Speaker 1: could watch the kids while Justin and Stacey worked. Although
Speaker 1: the couple were financially comfortable, Stacy learned a lot from
Speaker 1: her first marriage. Finally, those hectic years would pay off.
Speaker 2: He made basically like what I make right now, So
Speaker 2: we lived tight during that time, and then once he
Speaker 2: ran graduated from residency, I was going to continue working
Speaker 2: for the next five years instead of being a state
Speaker 2: home mom like. He gave me that option, but I
Speaker 2: was like, no, I want to work.
Speaker 1: Stacey carried a lot of baggage from her divorce an
Speaker 1: old debt, so Justin stepped in to help get control
Speaker 1: of her financial life.
Speaker 2: He was real focused on making sure that I was
Speaker 2: out of debt and that I was in a good
Speaker 2: financial position. He paid off my student loans, He got
Speaker 2: my credit score back up to where it was actually
Speaker 2: a normal decent credit score.
Speaker 1: Justin didn't just look out for her well being, he
Speaker 1: looked out for the kids.
Speaker 5: He was more active in my life than my biological dad,
Speaker 5: and I felt closer to him Stacy's father, Rodney.
Speaker 10: I saw a good impact Justin had on Mikayla because
Speaker 10: Mikayla was not a great student in school. You know,
Speaker 10: I hope Michayla doesn't mind me favor. But the joke
Speaker 10: of the family was always saying, God, she's too. If
Speaker 10: you have told me she was going to be going
Speaker 10: for her master's degree, I would say, well, I don't
Speaker 10: know what you're smoking, but I'll take some of them.
Speaker 10: And I think Justin helped her inspired her even to
Speaker 10: go farther than even I think she thought she could go.
Speaker 5: I had two dads, like they were both great and
Speaker 5: I loved them equally. But I mean he was a
Speaker 5: great dad, like I called him dad. I didn't say stepdad.
Speaker 2: I had everything that I wanted. He took care of us.
Speaker 2: He gave us the life that you know, I always
Speaker 2: wanted my kids to have.
Speaker 1: It was the life they both wanted.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a card or something like that where he
Speaker 2: said something to the effect of thank you for giving
Speaker 2: me the family that I never thought I would.
Speaker 1: Have, andally they manned an official.
Speaker 2: Our plan was get married this year at the courthouse,
Speaker 2: and then the following year on our actual anniversary, have
Speaker 2: a big reception.
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, Justin and Stacy were married in a
Speaker 1: civil ceremony with just family and attendance. She had waited
Speaker 1: so long for this moment.
Speaker 2: I remember just saying to him, if I knew that
Speaker 2: I had to go through eight years of shitty relationships
Speaker 2: and devastation to get to you, I would do it
Speaker 2: all over again. I would tell him that all the time,
Speaker 2: I would walk through every bit of it again to
Speaker 2: find you. And you know, when I was single, I
Speaker 2: would think of like I wonder what his name's going
Speaker 2: to be, you know, and like I remember I tell
Speaker 2: it him one time, like I just love saying your
Speaker 2: name because I wondered for so long, like what your
Speaker 2: name would be.
Speaker 1: She finally knew her person and she was now missus
Speaker 1: Justin Rutherford. Life got even sweeter when they bought their
Speaker 1: five bedroom dream house, complete with a pool. The kids
Speaker 1: were in heaven. They had made it. Cynthia worked with
Speaker 1: Justin and went to his home for parties. They seem
Speaker 1: like the best American family.
Speaker 2: They had a beautiful home.
Speaker 1: They had a pool, they had the space for the
Speaker 1: kids to run around. They had a beautiful life. The
Speaker 1: Rutherford House was always a hub for social activity. Tyler
Speaker 1: and Michayla's friends spent a lot of time there. The pool,
Speaker 1: a movie theater, and all the video games. It was
Speaker 1: a big draw, and Stacy thrived playing hostess.
Speaker 8: I loved when Tyler had all of his friends over
Speaker 8: in the summertime. He never had to ask I had
Speaker 8: friends over. It was just all such and such as
Speaker 8: stand the night four of them are, and you know,
Speaker 8: here I am cooking eight pounds of.
Speaker 2: Food, you know. But we loved it.
Speaker 8: I joked that I was going to claim some of
Speaker 8: his friends on my taxes because they were there so much.
Speaker 1: Their homeline is something that I strive for.
Speaker 2: Pure happiness.
Speaker 1: For the better part of six years, That's how Stacy
Speaker 1: viewed her life too, pure happiness. That was until August tenth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, when she returned from work in the afternoon.
Speaker 2: When I first walked up to the house, I just
Speaker 2: saw a bunch of like vans and SUVs, and I
Speaker 2: thought that he had like a bunch of Tyler's hockey
Speaker 2: people over.
Speaker 1: But there were no cars she recognized. Stacy quickly learned
Speaker 1: that these were unmarked police cars. Her house was being raided.
Speaker 2: The detective came out. He was like, ma'am, calm down,
Speaker 2: Your family's okay, just come with us. I walked into
Speaker 2: the house. He was sitting at our kitchen table. The
Speaker 2: cops were on each side of him guarding him. Detective
Speaker 2: Weaver said, well, I'm sure you know why we're here,
Speaker 2: and I looked at him and I was like, no,
Speaker 2: I absolutely don't know why you're here. There was such
Speaker 2: a deep feeling of knowing this is going to be
Speaker 2: bad and our life is never going to be the same.
Speaker 1: The police then wanted to meet with Stacy privately.
Speaker 2: I went downstairs into the man cave with the detectives
Speaker 2: and Detective Weaver had kind of laid everything out on
Speaker 2: the couch. I was sick. It was a sickness that
Speaker 2: I felt as soon as I saw it.
Speaker 1: Why were the police surrounding Justin and what did they
Speaker 1: show Stacy?
Speaker 2: It was just like, what is going on here? What
Speaker 2: in the world is going on?
Speaker 1: That's next time on Betrayal. On this season of Betrayal,
Speaker 1: a family is thrown into chaos.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was going to shoot to kill if
Speaker 2: he was coming after me and my kids.
Speaker 1: A husband, doctor, and father shocks his family.
Speaker 2: There's no way that he could have done this.
Speaker 1: And his patients.
Speaker 2: It was a totally different man.
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know who that idiot was, but
Speaker 1: it clearly was not doctor Rutherford. As they learn who
Speaker 1: Justin Rutherford really is and what he is capable of.
Speaker 2: He to me is scarier than Jeffrey Dahmer. You know,
Speaker 2: the level of manipulation was like a serial killer.
Speaker 1: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal team,
Speaker 1: email us at Betrayal pod at gmail dot com. That's
Speaker 1: Betrayal pod at gmail dot com. We're grateful for your support.
Speaker 1: One way to show support is by subscribing to our
Speaker 1: show on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and
Speaker 1: review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. A
Speaker 1: big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is
Speaker 1: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason. Hosted and produced by
Speaker 1: me Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Kerry Hartman, also
Speaker 1: produced by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Kristin Melcurie and
Speaker 1: Grace Bollinger. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crincheck.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Stacy Rutherford, Tyler and the rest of
Speaker 1: Stacy and Tyler's friends and family. Audio editing and mixing
Speaker 1: by Matt Salvechio. Editing support from Nico Ruka. Betrayals theme
Speaker 1: composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by Mybe Music
Speaker 1: and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.