WEBVTT - Worlds Collide | EP 9 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.200 When Mike Marraccini ended his year and a half long 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:08.600 entanglement with Laura Owens, he wanted to be done with her. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.040 I deleted everything on my phone. I didn't want to 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.480 read her name, I didn't want to see her face. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.360 I just wanted to forget about that chapter in my 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.000 life because it was really a hard time for me. 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.640 But years later, Mike would find out that his experience 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.159 with Laura was the beginning of a pattern, one that 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.280 thousands of people online had become obsessed with. Maybe most 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.520 invested of all was Dave Neil. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.000 It was almost like Laura had this damn that she 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.800 was holding up with her own hands. The leaks were 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:42.920 coming out, and she was very much like a cartoon, 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.440 just doing her bad duct taping this thing shut. And 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:47.960 then this laptop came out of nowhere. 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.879 Mike Marraccini's laptop. It had been gathering dust and storage 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:54.640 for almost five years. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.400 When I think of Mike's laptop, I just think of 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.560 it like sitting alone in a giant room in a 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.640 museum with just a spotlight sitting on it. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.039 Mike had no idea that all the information he'd deleted 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.600 could be recovered, and that the memories he'd tried so 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.080 hard to forget would soon become critical evidence. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.560 They found thousands of pages of documents, but more telling 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:21.040 was just to show how damaging Laura was to Mike. 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.720 They unearthed things he had forgotten actually happened. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.720 I'm Stephanie Young and this is love trapped. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:34.240 There's no way. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:38.039 You'd better believe. 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:42.360 I'll be raising ho the. 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:50.640 Hells if you ever, ever, ever, ever. 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:51.640 Trastic. 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.200 In the last episode you heard about Laura's year and 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.920 a half long relationship with Mike Marriccini, Laura planned a 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.040 trip to Iceland. According to Mike, it was part of 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.960 the radio show he'd been developing with Laura. The trip 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:12.520 was paid for. 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.160 It was lined up with things to do the entire 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.840 time we were in Iceland, so from start to finish, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.320 there was an event every single day of something to 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.880 do to report back on at the end of the 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:26.960 trip for the podcast. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.160 Today, he wonders who actually footed the bill for their 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.040 trip to Iceland. After recording multiple episodes of the radio 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.799 show with Laura, he asked her when he could expect 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:39.720 to see compensation. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.120 I brought up that we were just working for free, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:49.160 and I had spent like fifty plus hours on these podcasts, 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.640 being part of the edits being part of the research, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.040 and that I wasn't going to do any more work 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:54.480 for free. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.320 After he set this boundary, he says, Laura sent him 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:00.000 some money directly. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:01.960 I was paid one time, and I think it was 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.480 like sixteen hundred dollars from Laura. I never got paid 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:07.200 through a station. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.040 The radio contract Mike had been waiting for never came 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:16.720 to fruition. After that, he walked away, But looking back 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.200 almost ten years later, he wishes he'd never gotten on 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:24.360 that plane to Iceland. From what he remembers, the flight there. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.440 Was miserable, more like maybe two hours in the flight, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.880 she's hysterically crying. Hysterically crying, and this is probably like 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.160 at midnight. People around us are all turning around looking 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:40.440 at us, and she's like lifting off my headphones and saying, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:41.200 please sock to me. 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.360 Laura has a very different version of what happened on 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.680 their Iceland trip. She told her story five years later 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:51.800 in a now infamous ted X talk. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.560 He said that he didn't want to end our relationship, 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.080 but I couldn't understand why he didn't want you when 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.440 he treated me like he hated me, said that I 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:02.400 brought it out of him, that it was my fault, 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.360 that he'd never been violent before he met me, that 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.240 I was responsible for his transformation from the all American 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:09.760 boy to American psycho. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.120 Anyone can start a TEDx chapter. The one Laura applied 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.000 to speak at was something called Tedex Mercer Island HS 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:24.680 Women HS seems to stand for high school. The chapter 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.599 Laura spoke at was organized by three high school sophomores 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:33.120 based in Seattle. On their website, the organizers say their 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.520 goal was to empower women in the Seattle area. We 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.400 don't know how Laura found this specific group or how 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.040 she became a speaker there, especially because Laura doesn't appear 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.239 to have any ties to Seattle. But once her TEDx 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.600 talk was published, Laura seemed to think she was making 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.920 a name for herself. She included the link to her 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.760 TEDx talk in her email signature. She also sent the 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.800 link to Greg Woodnick, the lawyer who was representing greg 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.479 La Lespie at the time. This was her proof of 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.880 her status as a public figure. Here's Woodnick. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.960 Not only was there a link to her ted talk 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.160 which she was telling us about, but further down there 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.320 was this curious Italian last name in one of the links, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.960 also attached to the name Laura Owens. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:24.360 That curious Italian last name was Marcini. Woodneck's team tracked 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.400 Mike down and found him listed on a court docket 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.760 for a restraining order case Laura had filed against him. 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.599 Shortly after, wouldn't It got in touch with Mike, but 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:39.200 Mike didn't want anything to do with Laura Owens. Here's 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.680 what he remembers from that first phone call with Woodnick. 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.080 He's like, by the way, she's got a ted talk 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.560 about she. Did you know that I said about me? 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.440 Does she like say my name in it? It's like, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:52.840 I think you should watch it. 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.200 So Mike went on YouTube and typed in Laura Owens 0:05:59.360 --> 0:05:59.880 ted Talk. 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:02.160 That was the only time I had watched, like the 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:03.279 first thirty seconds of it. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.880 To this day, Mike can't bring himself to watch the 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:07.360 whole thing. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:12.200 It's absolutely crazy to watch knowing it's about me. Yeah, 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.960 it's crazy, say the least. 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.080 Even though Laura doesn't name him. Mike says he immediately 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.920 recognized Laura's story is about him. 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:27.320 When I watched, I was in such shock because I 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.080 know that she's referencing me the entire time, and it 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.520 doesn't take a rocket scientist to put that together. All 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.800 the views of those people that probably believed her and 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.840 were against me for the longest period of time, it's 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.839 a lot to take in. I had to turn it 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:44.640 off though, because it just, I mean, it was all 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.040 such complete lives. I just couldn't take anymore of it. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.920 In the ted X talk, Laura presents as selfie she's 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:55.039 taken in a hospital bed. Her face looks bruised. She 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.960 claims this photo is proof of the physical abuse she'd 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.719 experienced with Mike in the months after their Iceland trip. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.479 Here's where I was when I actually posted it, in 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.440 the hospital after my abuser and I had a particularly 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:08.960 rough night. 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.480 But here's the thing. Mike had seen this photo before, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.200 or at least one that looked very similar. And when 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.640 I say very similar, I mean it looks like the 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.920 exact same photo. Laura sent it to him four months 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.400 before their trip to Iceland, and with the photo, she 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.400 texted him saying she was at the hospital in preparation 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.680 for an abortion she had scheduled the following day. This 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.040 is what she sent him, with her text read by 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:37.760 a voice actor. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.440 I'm at the er. My doctor wants them to get 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.160 my fluids up so we can try to do the 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.080 procedure tomorrow. Can you be back tonight at my place 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.640 for sure? Looking bomb af on narcotics. 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.960 Even though Mike hadn't seen the TEDx talk, he was 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.320 painfully aware of the allegations Laura against him. That's because 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.080 on June ninth, twenty eighteen, Laura filed a temporary restraining 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:08.800 order against Mike Marriccini. 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:16.200 She had these two bulldog attorneys that were elite attorneys, 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:21.080 like extremely good, and these two people took a personal 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.200 with me. They thought that I was beating the crap 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:25.160 out of Laura. 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.480 According to her court records, it looks like Laura used 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.200 as San Francisco based legal clinic that specializes in free 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:38.640 legal services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.840 I'm not naming this clinic because I don't think they 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.680 did anything wrong. Clinics like this exist for a reason. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.440 It's their job to believe their clients, even if they 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.800 don't have any proof of the abuse. These kind of 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.840 free legal services for survivors, they can save lives. And importantly, 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.560 we know that falsified. Alligations of sexual abuse only account 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:10.960 for about five percent of all claims. In June twenty eighteen, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.359 Mike had to give his sworn deposition to Laura's attorneys. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:20.600 At the time, he just started dating someone new, Danielle. 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:25.200 I'm Danielle Marraccini and I am Mike Marriccini's wife. 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.600 From the very start of their relationship, Mike was open 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.040 about what he was going through with Laura Owens. 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.440 I feel like most of it was told. At least 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:34.160 the first month. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.520 I knew that she had accused him of domestic violence, 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.160 and I did drive him to his deposition. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.600 On the way to the deposition, Danielle remembers how nervous 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:47.120 Mike was. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.719 He was incredibly anxious. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.040 They'd only been dating for a few months. When Mike 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:53.600 got back in. 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:57.119 The car, he was just defeated. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.600 The deposition was much more intense than he did expected. 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.720 Mike thought he was just going there to tell the truth. 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.960 I do remember him just saying how they can find 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:14.440 lies even though he's not actively lying, to frame him 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.560 as this like violent guy. 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.440 For example, Laura's attorneys asked him if he liked guns. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.120 He was confused and said no. Then they brought up 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.200 an old social media photo where Mike is holding a rifle. 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.240 He says the picture was taken while he and friends 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.240 had been shooting clay pigeons at a firing range, but 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.000 Laura's attorneys used it to paint a picture of Mike 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.760 as a violent guy who wasn't being honest about his 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:41.160 relationship to guns. 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.320 It was posted deposition where my attorney's like, if you 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.920 go to a court, there's a high likelihood that they're 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.760 going to press for a five year restraining order or 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.120 a permanent restraining order if they find valid evidence. Now, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.800 there was no valid evidence at the time, but she 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.679 was throwing everything at the wall. I feel like I'm 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.720 fighting a ghost. I don't have evidence, the support that 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.080 I didn't beat her up. I don't know how I 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:03.480 fight this. 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:07.560 Danielle took it all in. 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:13.560 I definitely felt hesitant at first, I think as most 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:19.800 women would, but ultimately it just was this feeling that 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:25.160 didn't track like the things that she was accusing him 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.240 of from the very short amount of time that I 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:32.800 had known him just didn't make sense. And I thought, 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.000 if this man did these egregious things, why would he 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:38.520 be telling me about them. 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.280 She decided to proceed with caution, but her friends were alarmed. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:49.240 My friends did have then obligatory Hey, Danielle, those are 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:57.040 really scary accusations. Once a domestic violence perpetrator, always a 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:03.760 domestic violence perpetrator, and rightfully so did my friends warn 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:04.680 me about that. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.439 But Danielle saw Mike as gentle, the kind of guy 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.439 who repeatedly went out of his way to be there 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.439 for her. Early on in their relationship, my. 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.199 Dad passed away a little less than two months of 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.400 knowing each other, Mike just said, I'm coming. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.840 Mike made a five hour journey to be by her side, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.520 and he was there a few months later when Danielle 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:30.200 received terrible news about her mom. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:36.640 She passed away like two months after my dad. I 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.040 just remember crumpling to the floor and Mike was there. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.840 It just told me everything that I had needed to 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.920 know about him very early on. 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.240 This is why she believed Mike when he told her 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:52.800 Laura's allegations were false. 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:55.640 I'm so thankful that she gave me a chance and 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.240 she stuck by me. Because we're now married with two 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.280 little ones. 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.000 Danielle's been there with Mike through his entire legal battle 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:11.360 with Laura Owens. After the deposition, Mike learned what he 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.439 was up against, a domestic violence restraining order. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.680 I thought it was essentially like a civil restraining order, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.480 but since we were in our relationship, it was considered 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.920 divestic files. That was not really explained to me clearly 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:26.520 when it was happening. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.280 The DVRO Laura's attorneys proposed would expire or renew after 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.760 two years, and there was a mutual stipulation neither of 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.840 them could come within three hundred feet of the other. 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.680 That was appealing to Mike because he had no desire 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.280 to see her or speak with her anyways, So he 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:51.320 signed it, not fully understanding what he'd just done. He 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.360 sent it to his attorney and wrote in the email quote, 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.440 this was so difficult for me to sign, knowing I 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.199 never laid a hand on this woman, and this will 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:01.520 be on my record for life. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.480 When I agreed to the two year restraining order, my 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.520 attorney's like, let's just hope that she moves on with 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.720 her life. Let's hope she finds love. I was like, amen, sister, 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.040 So that's what I thought I was signing up for, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.720 Like a two year it goes away in retrospect. 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.920 Mike wishes he fought the DVRO harder, but at the 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.000 time he believed his lawyer when she said this would 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:31.960 be resolved. In two years after signing the DVRO, Mike 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.720 and his wife Danielle, tried to move on with their lives, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:39.240 but that document would impact them in ways they didn't expect. 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.960 I noticed that when I would go through the process 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:45.400 of getting a new job, I would make it to 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.240 the final and they were like, hey, here's your verbal 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.800 offer pending background check. The first time, I was like, oh, well, whatever, 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.440 nothing's going to show up, and then I didn't get 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.120 the job. I didn't realize until I pulled a background 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.360 check on myself that it shows up that I have 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:05.200 a domestic violence for straining order and it's active. I 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.920 would say that was the biggest piece of how it 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.600 really affected my relationship is being able to support provide 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.480 for my family because we ended up getting pregnant real 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.000 pregnancy in twenty twenty. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.880 The DVRO had turned into an albatross hanging over both 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:27.160 of them. Then, in July of twenty twenty, Danielle her 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:28.320 a knock at the front door. 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.840 I was probably four or five months pregnant when the 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.440 attorney came to our door and she was like, is 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.400 Michael Marraccini here? And I was like, who are you? 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.720 I'm not telling you yes or no? Why are you 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:44.720 here at my house? 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.080 Mike came to the door and stepped outside with the attorney. 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.000 It turns out the two years were. 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:55.680 Up, and he comes back in and he was just like, 0:15:55.920 --> 0:16:01.720 she's renewing, and I was like no, So it really 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.800 blindsided us. I just remember erupting into tears. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.440 By September of twenty twenty, Mike was back in court 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.000 with Laura Owens. Mike went in person and Laura joined 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:15.600 on the phone. 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:19.360 I had seen her once in years I moved away, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:21.920 and I thought, I was like, how is this impossible? 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:23.800 How can somebody renew when kind violated it. 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.400 Laura said she had proof that Mike violated the DVRO. 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.440 She produced a screenshot of one of Mike's Instagram stories. 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.280 He says his account was private and he had Laura blocked, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.280 but somehow she had a picture he posted of a 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.720 smoothie he ordered at Barry's boot camp. Laura said that 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.880 Barry's is less than three hundred feet from her apartment, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.280 but Mike had a rebuttal Barry's is a franchise. He 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.080 wasn't at the one next to her apartment. 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.760 I said, this is inaccurate. I was thirty miles away. 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.640 I was in a completely different city. This is my 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.120 gym blog with me Smoothie order. 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.359 In the end, it didn't matter if Mike had actually 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:09.399 violated the DBRO or not, because Laura was telling the 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:15.200 judge she had reasonable apprehension of future abuse. In her renewal, 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.359 Laura said, without a restraining order, I would never feel 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.280 safe again. With that, the court renewed the domestic violence 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.439 restraining order. This time it would stay in place for 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.240 the next five years. 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.040 I sat there and I said to the judge. At 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.159 the very end, I was like, please make this a 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.760 civil restraining order, because this affects my livelihood of getting jobs. 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.639 My wife is pregnant, I am expecting a child here soon. 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.159 I would really appreciate this could be moved to a 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:50.119 civil restraining order. And they essentially told me now she 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:51.560 still fears for her life. 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.879 Danielle was devastated. This renewal came with shocking realizations. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.520 We realized that she was never going to let him 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:09.240 out of her grip and that the justice system will 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.280 most likely never side with him. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.520 Later on in this series, I traveled to San Francisco 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.960 because at the end of twenty twenty five, Mike's DVRO 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.520 was set to expire or renew once again. But before 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.159 that happened, Mike was in for a surprise. He was 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.359 about to discover the nightmare he'd lived through with Laura 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.720 Owens was part of a viral story and thousands of 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.840 people online wanted to hear from him. 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.520 At some point I saw mm and I was like, 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:44.359 are they talking about me? 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:58.080 Up to this point, we've been telling the story of 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:03.679 each individual case Clayton eckered Greg Gillespie and Mike Marriccini, 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.879 But in the spring of twenty twenty four, in the 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:11.440 lead up to Clayton's trial, their world's collided. The three 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.120 of them teamed up with the Internet detectives like Dave 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.520 Neil and Schnitzel Ninja. So we're going to pick up 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.920 where we left off and tell the story of how 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.600 they all came together to support each other and try 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:27.400 to get justice. In twenty twenty two, Greg Gillespie heard 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.520 about Mike Marraccini's experience. Greg sent him a friend request. 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:33.359 Here's Mike, and. 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.640 I'm sitting there like, I do not want this back 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.960 on my radar. That's the last thing I want. You 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.200 tried to friend request me, and I had just gone 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:47.880 through deleting everybody because Laura was watching me on social media, 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.480 so I had, I think, probably like a thousand plus 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:56.600 people in just purgatory of my social media and I 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:58.879 never accepted his friend request. 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.320 Greg's friend request went unanswered for over a year until 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:04.560 December twenty twenty three. 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:10.119 I was doing New Year's Resolutions with my wife, who 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.000 were sitting on the couch, and she was asking me, 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:17.040 if there's something you could change over the last year, 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:18.400 what would you have done differently. 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.560 The answer came to Mike immediately. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.560 I should have reached out and I should have accepted 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.680 Greg Gillespie's friend request, just knowing that I've gone through 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.680 the same experience and just been somebody to talk with. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.280 I told her that was by far my biggest regret, 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.960 and she said, why don't you change that. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.600 Here's Mike's wife, Danielle, and. 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.239 So he pulled it up and he accepted it. So 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.280 we saw the couch for probably the next thirty minutes 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:50.480 crafting this message together. 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.879 For years, Mike thought he'd been the only one. Now 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:59.439 he was writing to someone who'd been through the same 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:00.520 ringer with Laura. 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:05.960 So I sent him a message apologizing like, Hey, I'm 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.280 so sorry for what you've gone through. I know what 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.600 it's like to deal with this person and they're consistent chaos. 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.040 I'm just really really sorry that I wasn't there for you. 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:22.680 And he responded very quickly and said like, hey, Mike, 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.360 I really appreciate it. If you ever want to set 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:27.280 up a call to chat, sometimes more than happy to. 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.800 Mike thought they were a club of two. That's when 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:31.840 Greg broke the news. 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.720 He goes, you haven't heard dot dot dot. 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.720 There was another guy, same trap, same tactics. 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.200 And I was like, wait, there's another guy, and our 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:49.760 eyes just popped out of our heads. And then he 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:54.280 sends like an article, and Mike and I were like 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.160 what the fuck. 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.880 It turns out the other guy was kind of famous. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.679 I was like, who's Clayton. I don't know who Clayton is. 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.480 Mike had never watched The Bachelor, so he typed Clayton's 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:12.240 name into Google. 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.800 It pops up immediately and it's like Reddit articles. 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.960 There was an entire subreddit about Clayton and Laura. He 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:21.760 started reading. 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.800 At some point I saw mm and I was like, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:28.119 are they talking about me? 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:32.560 That night, Mike and Danielle already had a date planned. 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.159 Mike's mom was babysitting, so Mike and Danielle sat at 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.840 a sushi restaurant and started scrolling. They had a lot 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.080 of catching up to do. It was overwhelming to see 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.560 the same pattern playing out a third time, and because 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:50.240 of Clayton's fame, every small detail was public. 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:53.399 And my wife breaks down at the restaurant, starts crying 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:58.480 because she had doubted me at times when she had 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:02.040 thought to herself like though, I don't believe that you 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:05.800 ever hit her, did things like that, but I'm sorry 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:10.560 forever even doubting you. We were at the bar. I'm 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:12.360 sure that the sushi chefs are like, what is going 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:14.640 on with these toodays? Haven't talked all night with both 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:16.000 on their phone, and now they're crying. 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:21.040 Mike thought his relationship with Laura was a traumatic, one 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:25.720 off event, but now court documents from his case were 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:30.840