WEBVTT - Andrea 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:05.080 Andrea Smith is pretty computer savvy. I won an award 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:09.560 for computer programming in eighth grade. Okay, really computer savvy. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.560 I like to be told this is the raw data, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.280 this is the end product. I need you to produce, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.320 do it anyway you want, and then just leave me alone. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:24.479 She grew up in Queens, New York, but moved to 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.240 rural South Carolina twenty years ago. She has long gray 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.720 hair that she usually pulls back into a ponytail. She 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.120 has epilepsy and doesn't drive. She's been to stay home 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.120 mom since her son was born. He's nineteen now. He's 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.360 the kind of kid who you know, if he sees 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.760 somebody struggling, he'll help them. He'll hold doors for people. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.959 As long as he knows that he's doing the right thing. 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.840 He's absolutely prepared to He's absolutely prepared to raise all 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.120 kinds of holy hell. And I love that about him. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.040 In the early two thousand's, when he was still a toddler, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.880 she spent some of her free time putting around on 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.800 the Internet trying to reconnect with folks back home. This 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.319 was pre Facebook. She learned that one of her old 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.440 friends had a child with a diagnosis she had never 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:15.680 heard of s m A, or spinal muscular atrophy. Andrea 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.920 looked it up. Baby is born with the most severe 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.240 form of s m A, never sit up or feed themselves, 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.119 and usually die by their second birthday. It was something 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.720 I just could not stop thinking about. I'm sitting here 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.840 with a fourteen month old and I'm looking at my son. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.480 Tears came to my eyes and I was just like 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:39.120 overwhelmed with emotion, thinking, my goodness, what does this. In 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.440 January of two thousand four, she sent a message to 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.720 a support group for s m A and offered to volunteer. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.680 I've got some free time. I don't have money. I 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:53.280 I can't send you cash, but I'm available to help 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:59.800 you with whatever you need. She helped with their newsletter 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:04.240 and organized conferences. She became their insurance bulldog fighting on 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:09.919 behalf of families denied claims. Not long after she started volunteering, 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.200 in two thousand and six, a new person popped into 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.519 the parent chat group. She introduced herself as Connie de Lashmant, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.680 mom to Drake. Drake had s m A. She discussed 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.160 his treatment plan, she sent pictures of him, and then 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.600 another woman joined the group named Megan, who was mom 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.120 to Brook. There was a small subgroup of moms that 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.839 sort of had this little side chat going, and they 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:40.560 started noticing things that made them uneasy about Connie, small 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:46.240 inconsistencies about the things that Connie was saying about Drake 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:51.919 and his treatment, things that didn't make sense. And then 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.880 at some point somebody said, well, I don't you know, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.400 Megan doesn't really sound right either, And because they came 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.320 into the chat and approximately the same time, there was 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.560 like this, there was this weirdness around the both of them. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.080 Both Connie and Megan used the same turns of phrase, 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.920 and both were misspelling the same words in the same way, 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.280 like tomorrow with an A in the middle instead of 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.519 an oh. Andrea and some of the other moms decided 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.720 to become amateur detectives, five or six of us that 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.760 were sort of the Little Little Scooby or Little Scooby 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.160 Doo Adventure group. She was Velma. We were convinced that 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.680 Connie and Megan were both frauds and they were the 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.559 same person. So I have a friend who is a 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.040 computer whiz, and I wrote to him and said, is 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.000 there any way to tell if two different emails are 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.680 being generated by the same computer? And he said, yes, absolutely, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.200 you need to look and see what the I P addresses. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.720 And he explained to me how to expand the headers 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.600 on the email and look for the what they referred 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:59.000 to as the originating Internet Protocol address. Andrea was on it. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.880 It didn't take her on to realize that both Connie 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.760 and Megan had the same IP address, their emails came 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:10.040 from the same computer, and the electronic breadcrumbs led her 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:15.480 to a woman named Sarah Sarah Delashmant whose mother happens 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.800 to be named Connie. Remember two thousand six was when 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.440 Sarah was at the beginning of her friendship with Aaron 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.799 Johnson in California, when she pretended to have a sister 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:31.919 named Gabby, Gabby who had sm A make believe Gabby 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:36.119 died in January of two thousand six. Three months later, 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.520 the supposed Connie Delashman joined the s M A parent group. 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:49.760 After she got caught, Sarah was kicked out, Andrea might 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.479 have let the whole thing go had her Scooby Doo 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.520 group not made one more discovery. Sarah had worked her 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.360 way into a separate s M A nonprofit, this time 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:05.200 pretending she herself had the condition there's a charity out there, 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:10.520 cold Cole's Quilts, that makes these beautiful handmade quilts for 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.000 children with s m A or families of deceased children 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.720 with SMA, and you have to apply for the quilt. 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.960 You have to send some kind of proof of your diagnosis. 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:27.159 In the s m A community, Coal's Quilts are hallowed ground. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:32.680 Sarah had duped the charity and gotten one. We were 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:39.800 outrage at the violation of one of our most sacred groups. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.800 Cole's Quilt makers ask just one thing in return for 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.760 their labor, that you send a photo of you and 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.280 your quilt they can post on their website. Sarah did. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.479 In the picture, she's lying on her bed, just her 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.760 arms and head peeking out from under the quilt. Her 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.839 hands are bent down at the wrists, back towards her body, 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.600 like someone who doesn't have a lot of muscle control, 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.839 something you see in pictures of people who actually have 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.800 s m A. She used her real name because a 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.640 lot of times people will stitch the child's name onto 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.479 the quilt, and she didn't want somebody else's name on 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.080 her quilt. When Andreas saw the photo, that's when we 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.840 were like enough with this girl. We need to do 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.040 something about her. We need to get that quilt back. 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.480 Something to know about Andrea. She's not exactly a timid person. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.240 She once fought off a would be rapist. At nine point. 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.640 She campaign door to door for Bernie Sanders in the 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.839 reddest neighborhoods of South Carolina. She regularly takes insurance companies 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.919 to the wood shed. When she vowed to get the 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.280 quilt back, she was getting the quilt back. I had 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.400 her address, I had her phone number, I had a 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.320 picture of her house. Thank you Google Maps. I knew 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.039 everything about this girl. She was ready to go get 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.960 it herself. Instead, she called the FBI. The agent didn't 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.520 seem that interested just a quilt, you know, but said 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.840 she could call back. So Andrea did every week, to 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:12.920 the point that the agent seemed to be getting a 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.960 little annoyed. My voice was catching, I was I had 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:17.360 tears in my eyes when I said, and I said, well, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.360 you did say I can call whenever I wanted, So 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:21.280 you know, I'm sorry. I will not bother you again. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.800 Shortly afterwards, she got a message from a local police 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:29.440 officer in Highland, Illinois, Sarah's hometown. He had heard from 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:34.240 the FBI. The officer brought Sarah into the station, he 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:38.520 got the quilt and sent it back. Nobody filed charges. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.480 The value of the theft seems small, and local police 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.240 thought that she was just a board and lonely college 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:50.040 student who didn't realize the seriousness of her actions. Andrea 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.000 had grown up watching cop shows. I was sort of 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.720 raised on Hill Street Blues and Barney Miller and NYPD Blue. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.840 She knew there needed to be a record. Do some 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.960 thing wrong in your name needs to be in a 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:06.760 file somewhere, and that documentation about the stolen quilt would 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:11.800 sit buried in the Highland p D, largely forgotten until 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.840 the day fifteen years later in a courtroom when it 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:21.360 would come back into Sarah's life. I'm Laura Beale. You're 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:32.360 listening to Sympathy Pains. This is episode four Andrea. After 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.200 Sarah's surfaced in the s m A group after the 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.520 officer returned the quilt, she tried to slip back into 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.360 the organization again. That was enough for Andrea to fear 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.920 that she would never go away. She began tracking Sarah 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.880 year after year as she moved around the Internet. I 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:55.120 have a spreadsheet with all of her known elias Is. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.200 One of her posts goes back to two thousand one, 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.120 when Sarah was in high school, writing on a chatboard 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.640 that she was the mother of two children with muscular dystrophy. 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.520 Andrea found that Sarah would assume whatever identity matched the 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.079 group she was trying to slip into. If it was 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.800 a cancer group, she had acute lymphastic leukemia. If it 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.880 was a breast cancer group, she had breast cancer. She 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.559 became an experienced chameleon. If it was a group where 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.880 they were talking about fertility issues, then she was wondering 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.960 about people's experiences with Cloe mid If it was a 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.480 group where there were moms of multiple she was expecting quintuplets. 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.480 If it was talking about muscular dystrophy, then she had 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.160 s n A. There was actually a post on a 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.400 costume board where she was looking for costumes to look pregnant. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.520 As Andreas silently followed Sarah from Afar, she warned as 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.400 many nonprofits as she could. I said, watch out for 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:57.000 this girl. She's a problem. She is a scam artist. 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.600 By thousand nineteen, Sarah had been juggling multiple cons in 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:08.720 multiple places. Liz and Bethany didn't know Sarah's long history. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.440 They were more concerned about where she might go in 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.560 the future. They tried to think of a solution that 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.359 would go beyond trying to warn charities one by one. 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.959 Here's Liz and I recognized that she was really sick, 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.600 and this is a very serious scenario. That mental health 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.839 is an illness. They not only wanted to expose her, 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.560 they wanted her to get treatment. Dr Phil seemed a 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.000 way to do both. Liz sent an email to the 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:39.000 Doctor Phil producers. I asked her to read some of it. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.120 She contacted me sometimes a hundred times a day, needing 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.960 someone to listen or help with a panic attack. She 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.440 called after treatment to share how six she was, or 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.360 how she needs to be rushed to the hospital again 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.080 for blood transfusion. He seemed whenever informed Sarah had plans 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.160 with a friend or workman and scheduled she needed me 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.600 to which, of course I complied every time. Please help 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:01.719 us get Sarah that helps she needs, prevent her from 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.880 purtting others into frauding worthy charities, and the closure we 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.880 need from this unfortunate event. Days later, Liz and Brian 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.080 were at the gym when the phone rang. It was 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.160 a producer from the show, and I said, can we 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:16.760 call you back in about ten minutes and let me 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.080 get my wife, and we would definitely like to talk 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.720 to you. So the ball started and started rolling Friday morning. 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.520 By Friday afternoon, they made the decision that yes, we 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:27.840 want to do this, and we are going to try 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.400 to get Sarah to participate. Sarah's family was willing to 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.880 help convince her. Sitting at home that evening, Liz and 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:39.040 Brian thought, what are we doing? Not a month earlier 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.319 they had been taking Sarah out for a ride in 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.960 their boat. She had been in their hammock looking at 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.920 the stars, and now they were catching a Monday morning 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.880 flight to Los Angeles for a confrontation on national television. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:02.400 It was March. That day, they told their stories on 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.120 tape for the show's producers. The next day, Brian and 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:07.720 I had to go for a walk in the canyon 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:09.760 to kind of get her head clear and like dial 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.440 down some of the nerves and feelings and emotion. And 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:18.000 on that day we found out later that Sarah and 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.160 her mother went to the Santa Monica peer like tourists, 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.560 took all kinds of pictures and had a really great 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.600 day Bethany had also flown in. We knew Bethany was 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.640 staying the same hotel, and we said, hey, why don't 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:31.560 we why don't we meet before we get in the 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.760 show and talk. So we did. We all met in 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:35.720 the hot tub and one of those giant ones at 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.360 a hotel that maybe twenty people could be in. Liz 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.559 and Brian got there first and soon saw Petite Brunette 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.400 making her way across the pool deck. She was carrying 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.040 a six pack of beer, and that actually made me 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.520 feel good. I think that we were we really to 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.880 see that she was, you know, calm, and she seemed kind. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.080 It's like we found a kindred soul. So it actually 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:01.240 really felt good to find some on who had been 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.720 in a similar situation. So she had gone beyond all 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.480 the shock and horror and betrayal feelings that I was feeling, 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.400 and which is angry. She was about to get even angrier. 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.520 After a few days of filming their story and hanging 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.319 out in l A, Brian, Liz, and Bethany were backstage 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:27.400 at Dr Phil perhaps a hundred people that are just 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:32.960 either moving rocks of clothes or carrying recording equipment. It's 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:37.480 it's really busy, really busy. They knew Sarah was somewhere 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.080 in the building, but they didn't know where. She and 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.360 her mom had stayed in a different hotel. The show 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.559 staff took pains to make sure that they didn't accidentally 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.880 bump into her. After hair and makeup, they waited in 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:54.040 the green room. We could hear the other show they 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.520 were taping. I guess they taped two in the same day. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.880 I could hear them screaming in the room next to us. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.679 Liz where worried about what Dr Phil might say to her. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.760 She's like, are you gonna judge me? Is he gonna 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.640 turn this story some hours from my fault? And I 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:10.480 was terrified that he was going to lamb based me 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.160 publicly on stage and somehow make me an enabler. Liz 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.520 was on the verge of backing out. Even the producers 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.520 knew that I was a basket case and and Bethany 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.640 was not. She was really composed, and that that brought 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.800 me a level of calm that I really needed. She's like, 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.760 this is okay. She's like, You're gonna be okay. Just 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.760 tell your story. With Bethany's help, Liz got ahold of 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:39.240 herself at this point, what outcome are you hoping for 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.120 with this whole thing. I wanted to get mental health treatment, 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.120 and so this was to help her. This was absolutely 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.520 to help her. And it was almost concerning for the producers. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.360 And up to about thirty seconds before we went on 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.960 the show, they were coaching me. They were like, remember 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.800 how remember how mad she made you. It's like they 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.960 were taking a hot poker and sticking into my side 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.120 before they released me on the stage, because they knew 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.840 I was just sad and I felt bad. I remember 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.280 one of the producers trying to kind of hype me 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.320 up for it. I said, you know, I don't mean 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.400 to be offensive or disrespectful or anything. This is not 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.560 something that I want to do. I'm not here for myself. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.240 I'm not here, you know, to get any sort of 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.440 accolade or anything. I think that's the only thing that 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.440 got me on that stage. I was thinking about how 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.600 she had violated all of those women. They heard the 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.040 introduction to their stories, segments from the tape that they 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.480 had filmed on Monday, and then the booming voice of 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:45.200 Dr Phil He's like, now we have you know, Brian, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.840 Liz and Bethany. Then the curtain opens up, and we 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.840 just walked down the aisle to the stage. She shakes 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.760 your hand and introduces himself and it's the first time 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.320 you meet him and you you take your seat. Brian 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.680 held my hand. I know I was shaking. I was 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.600 will be wide as a ghost. We wanted to play 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.160 a little of the audio from this, but couldn't work 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.720 things out with a show anyway. Here's how things went down. 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.080 After their introduction, Liz and Brian walked out first. They 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.640 took their seats on stage and oversized wooden bar chairs 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.120 so high that their feet couldn't touch the ground. Liz 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.640 was wearing a dark blue dress that should bought a 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:26.840 few days before. Then Bethany joined and told her story. 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.720 The stage lights, their own bright little sons, bore down 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.160 on them. They felt the curious stairs of the audience. 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.800 It felt like an out of body experience, you know, 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.040 being there on that stage looking at this television personality 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.240 you see every once in a while, hearing his voice, 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.600 and you know, seeing cameras all around you. This was 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.560 three years in the making of me. To have a 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:53.240 one hour window to get some sort of closure, if 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.520 that was the goal, or to tell my story if 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.240 that was the goal, or to expose her, you know, 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.600 it just it felt very surreal. They methodically recounted their 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.520 experiences with a giant Sarah slide show behind them. Sarah 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:12.080 in her wig and scarf, Sarah in her wheelchair, Sarah smiling, 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.480 gripping the handlebars of her bike. We were all sitting 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.320 side by side with each other. It was me and 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.399 then Brian and Bethany, and I was in the chair 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.200 that was empty across from me. It was very obvious 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.280 that it was going to be Sarah. Dr Phil said 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:33.080 to Bethany, will know, you've never seen Sarah walk and 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.359 she said, you know, that's that's correct. She was always 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.679 in a wheelchair. And then Liz, you've only seen you know, 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.679 you've never seen Sarah with hair, and of course we 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:43.800 had not, so, you know, there was something to the 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.520 effect of, well, you know, we're going to see her 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:48.040 for the first time or something, and he said, are 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.159 you ready to see her? And then I said, I 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:56.160 don't even know who the real Sarah is. He looked 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.479 at one side of the room. A door opened, and 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.959 there's she stood in a burgundy sweater, black slacks, and 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:07.880 gold earrings. Her dark hair sleekly styled. If we had 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.280 had happened to pass her on the street while we 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.680 are yelling California, we would not have known. We would 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.480 not have recognized her for a split second. Like I 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.719 kind of looked at Brian, thinking like one of us 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:21.760 is going to say, this isn't her right, But I 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.119 was kind of waiting for that validation from Brian and Liz. 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:30.159 Absolutely soulless expression, and I will never forget that absolutely soulless. 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:35.000 Slowly staring straight ahead, she marched towards the stage, toward 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:39.160 the one empty chair on the set, her arms barely swinging. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.640 There's a long pathway. Um, if you've ever seen the show, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.760 you can usually see they kind of use this pathway 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:47.600 where they open a door and somebody comes out, you know, 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.240 kind of in between the crowd, and you could have 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.840 heard a pin drop in that whole place for about 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:57.679 thirty seconds, not a single sound as she took the 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.399 ten seconds to walk to the chair. She had the 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.560 stage makeup on, but it still just didn't look like 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.359 her Her eyes were black. What I remember most about 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.480 her were her eyes. They were honestly just black. It 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.560 was like she didn't have a color to her eyes, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.159 and she looked right through me as if there was 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.680 honestly nothing behind it. Her brow did not move at all, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.639 her eyelids were heavy, and she just stared right at me. 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.159 And I'm just looking in her, into her eyes, like 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:32.200 trying to find some of the Sarah that I knew, 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.679 and I'm looking at her just an absolute disbelief, like 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:47.080 who are you? Sarah scooted into her seat, her eyes 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.280 darted around like she wasn't sure where to look. I 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.840 was a surprise to her that she came with the 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.680 understanding knowing that Brian and Liz were going to be there, 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:57.320 but she didn't know I was going to be there. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.880 Dr Phil kind, I guess. One on his he said, 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.120 I believe you know these people, and she said I do, 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.639 And he said, do you have anything to say to them? 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.879 And that's when she said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:12.800 what I've done and it didn't mean to hurt She 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.440 didn't mean to hurt you. She kind of just looks 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:20.520 like I had this very kind of pathetic, sad puppy face, 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:22.800 I guess, and just tried to offer an apology, saying 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:24.840 she didn't mean to hurt anyone. As soon as she 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:27.480 started in with her apology, I jumped in and cut 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.240 her off because I just thought that this is not real. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.280 This is not a real apology, This is not how 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.080 this is going to go. Dr Phil was very quick 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.320 to point out that that's not a real apology. There's 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.760 not any empathy behind that statement. I said, Sarah, you 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.520 don't understand you ruined our life. I'm was the first 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:50.800 thing I said to her, with a stony expression. Sarah 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:55.040 turned to Dr Phil throughout the show should respond, offering 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:59.000 wandering explanations for what she had done. She talked about 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.359 the mental fortitude necessary to keep all her stories straight. 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.000 It was a very strange way that she phrased it. 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.400 It was something about playing hockey and wanting to hit 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.240 the puck but not being able to. And it wasn't 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.000 really too clear exactly what she was saying, But I 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:19.320 think the meaning behind that is she would be in 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.000 scenarios in situations where she wants to be able to 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.760 say something but she can't because she's been lying about 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.520 who she is. I think one of the things that 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.960 Talking Phil was trying to get with that was how 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:35.320 proud she was about all of the lies, and he 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.080 led her down this this road on the stage that 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.280 I don't think she realized she was getting led to. 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:44.080 And that's when he went to a clip showing her 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.639 being interviewed in which she's smiling talking about them. In 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.440 that clip, she said she didn't tell her first big 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:55.000 lie until she was twenty five years old. She said 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.000 that was the first time she lied about having cancer, 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.720 which would have been news to her college it's friends, 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:08.040 and she is kind of smiling back on stage at 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:13.520 Dr Phil. There was one time in particular that Sarah 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:19.120 said that I've decided, uh song to the effect I've 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:24.440 decided to tell the truth now. And I responded to her, 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:27.560 when did that happen? And I didn't mean it to 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.239 be a joke or funny, but the audience, you know, 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.800 laughed at that. The truth has only come out to 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:37.320 us for a couple of days. Bethany looked straight at Sarah, 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:41.080 steely eyed. She wouldn't make eye contact with me unless 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:44.359 I was speaking directly to her, and almost had to 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:46.320 kind of force her to look at me, and even 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:48.480 then I could tell she was looking beyond me. I 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:53.800 remember one of the claims that Sarah made was that 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:59.639 she had a hard time making friends, and Bethany was 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:04.159 very quick to say, well, that's not true, because you 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:11.680 know they became friends quickly. As he walked around the set, 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:14.959 Dr Phil looked at Sarah and asked her if she 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.800 realized when she was lying and was unable to stop it. 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.879 He framed it as an irresistible impulse versus an impulse 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:27.639 not resisted. She said she couldn't stop it, that she 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:30.480 feels an urge to lie and it just takes over 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.920 an irresistible impulse. So Dr Phil answered, you have no 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:40.880 ability to choose right and wrong. You are a total sociopath. No, 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.720 I think, I don't know, She stammered, she did know 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:48.480 right from wrong. So he said, it is a choice 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:55.600 and not an irresistible impulse. Yeah, she said quietly. He 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:59.320 said she lacked empathy for others, that she didn't realize 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:03.359 how much she had broken people like Liz and Bethany. 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.760