Speaker 1: They call it from an eight hundred number. I didn't
Speaker 1: know who it was, but I answered the phone and
Speaker 1: I heard you were getting a collect call from an
Speaker 1: Innate County jail. That wave of dread came over me.
Speaker 1: You have that decision to accept the call or not
Speaker 1: accept the call. My heart sank, my stomach went into
Speaker 1: my throat.
Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
Speaker 2: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
Speaker 2: change everything. A few months ago, we heard from a
Speaker 2: woman named Ashley. When our team first met Ashley, she
Speaker 2: was working as a correction caseworker in a prison and
Speaker 2: was pursuing her master's degree in forensic psychology.
Speaker 1: I'm very in tune with people's emotions and how people
Speaker 1: are feeling. I love people. I will go above and
Speaker 1: beyond to help somebody in need.
Speaker 2: Ashley's a sensitive person and the betrayal she experienced was
Speaker 2: so intense it nearly broke her. It's a twisted story
Speaker 2: of theft, deception, and even threats from a Mexican drug cartel.
Speaker 1: I was sitting there thinking, who did I marry? Am
Speaker 1: I sleeping next to somebody who would murder people? For
Speaker 1: a cartel.
Speaker 2: When we first spoke with her, I was surprised how
Speaker 2: flatly she describes what she went through. It was almost
Speaker 2: like she was divorced from emotion. So we asked her
Speaker 2: about that directly.
Speaker 1: If I let myself get emotional about it, I am
Speaker 1: in danger of getting back to that dark place that
Speaker 1: I don't want to find myself in. I know it's
Speaker 1: not a healthy coping mechanism, but like I disassociate from it.
Speaker 2: When Ashley was twenty six, she was working as a
Speaker 2: mental health case manager. It's her passion. Her life was
Speaker 2: on track. She was proud to be living alone in
Speaker 2: her first apartment. She even worked a second job as
Speaker 2: a swim coach to make extra money. But there was
Speaker 2: one big thing she still wanted in her life. Love.
Speaker 2: She'd had a string of bad boyfriends and was looking
Speaker 2: for someone stable, someone she could build a life with.
Speaker 1: I was using all the dating apps like Tinder, all
Speaker 1: that fun stuff.
Speaker 2: That's when a new guy started at Ashley's job, Jake.
Speaker 2: He was confident and smart. She was immediately drawn to him,
Speaker 2: not necessarily romantically, but just as a person.
Speaker 1: Jake had really loved black hair down to the middle
Speaker 1: of his back and kind of looked like somebody that
Speaker 1: was like in a band or something, not the type
Speaker 1: of guy I would date.
Speaker 2: The two shared the same work schedule and soon became
Speaker 2: fast friends. Jake even teased her about being on dating apps.
Speaker 1: I'd come into work and share my dating experiences on
Speaker 1: these apps. It started off by him kind of joking
Speaker 1: about the types of guys that I would go out
Speaker 1: on dates with, what they did as a profession, or
Speaker 1: like their screen names or whatever on the dating apps.
Speaker 2: One day, Jake came into the office with bad news.
Speaker 2: He told Ashley that over the weekend he found out
Speaker 2: that his wife, Amber was cheating on him.
Speaker 1: He wasn't going to tolerate cheating, and so he kicked
Speaker 1: her out of the house, changed all the locks, and
Speaker 1: they were going to get a divorce.
Speaker 2: Ashley was sympathetic, especially because the couple had a three
Speaker 2: year old daughter together.
Speaker 1: One day, he left from work early because he had
Speaker 1: this lawyer appointment and he was going to go file
Speaker 1: for divorce. He thought it was best to separate and
Speaker 1: raise their child together, but separate.
Speaker 2: A few weeks later, Jake asked Ashley to hang out
Speaker 2: after work. She expected something casual like beer and wings,
Speaker 2: but Jake had other plans.
Speaker 1: He showed up at my apartment and he bought me
Speaker 1: this huge bouquet of flowers and they were just gorgeous
Speaker 1: pinks and orange and just really pretty flowers.
Speaker 2: To Ashley's surprise, it was a date. When they went
Speaker 2: to dinner that night, Jake showed her a different side
Speaker 2: of him. He was a gentleman.
Speaker 1: He was such an upgrade to what I was used to.
Speaker 1: He just seemed very honest, which was a breath of
Speaker 1: fresh air to me because I came from relationships where
Speaker 1: there was a lot of lying and hiding in secrets,
Speaker 1: and he seemed to be upfront and honest about everything,
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is a nice change of pace.
Speaker 2: Jake was also thoughtful. He would walk into work in
Speaker 2: the morning with her favorite coffee in his hand. That
Speaker 2: was just the beginning of Jake's generosity.
Speaker 1: He would randomly buy me like designer purses or jewelry,
Speaker 1: just because he was just like, I saw this and
Speaker 1: I thought of you, and I thought you'd like it,
Speaker 1: so I bought it for you, which you know, I've
Speaker 1: never had someone do that for me before.
Speaker 2: It was romantic. They started having date nights every Thursday
Speaker 2: and Saturday. They were the highlights of her week. Around
Speaker 2: that same time, Jake was settling his divorce and finalizing
Speaker 2: the sale of his house.
Speaker 1: He was like, I sold the house, but I have
Speaker 1: to be out in a week. I don't have anywhere
Speaker 1: to go. And I'm like, well, you can move in
Speaker 1: with me.
Speaker 2: Even though Ashley and Jake had only been dating a
Speaker 2: few months, she didn't want someone she cared about to struggle. Plus,
Speaker 2: she saw a future with this guy, so Jake moved in.
Speaker 2: Ashley's only concern was how his three year old daughter
Speaker 2: would handle the change. She knew how much his only
Speaker 2: child meant to him.
Speaker 1: I love kids. I'm good with kids, but I don't
Speaker 1: have any children. I didn't know how that was going
Speaker 1: to work, or how he was going to explain to her.
Speaker 1: You know that, Oh, I'm living with her now.
Speaker 2: Ashley knew she wanted kids of her own one day
Speaker 2: and was willing to make room for Jake and his daughter.
Speaker 2: She offered to set up a bed for her living room,
Speaker 2: but his daughter never came to stay. His ex wife,
Speaker 2: Amber wasn't happy about Jake's new relationship.
Speaker 1: Amber did not trust me. Amber did not want me
Speaker 1: around their daughter, and he said that she was keeping
Speaker 1: her and breaking the custody order that they had.
Speaker 2: Ashley didn't want to get involved in the custody battle.
Speaker 2: Despite the stress of the divorce, living together was surprisingly easy.
Speaker 2: The couple would go to work together, come home at
Speaker 2: night to make dinner, and then snuggle on the couch
Speaker 2: to watch movies. It was simple. He made her happy.
Speaker 1: I could have the worst day ever, and he always
Speaker 1: found a way to make me laugh.
Speaker 2: After about a year together, Jake took her on a
Speaker 2: trip to visit Kentucky, where Ashley used to live. She
Speaker 2: was delighted by the gesture. She took him around to
Speaker 2: all of her old haunts and he was genuinely interested
Speaker 2: in getting to know the place, says she loved. That night,
Speaker 2: he gave her another gift.
Speaker 1: We were getting ready to go to sleep, and he
Speaker 1: slid over a box and just tapped me on the
Speaker 1: shoulder and made that little like noise. I was like,
Speaker 1: what is this and he was like, well, open it
Speaker 1: and it was a ring. And I was like, are
Speaker 1: you asking me to marry you? And he was like,
Speaker 1: well duh.
Speaker 2: Ashley admitced the proposal was underwhelming, but she didn't care.
Speaker 1: I loved him and I wanted to marry him, so
Speaker 1: the proposal and how it was done at that point
Speaker 1: didn't matter. I just wanted to move forward and start
Speaker 1: building a life with this person.
Speaker 2: Jake found an elopement package a weekend getaway at a
Speaker 2: bed and breakfast. Most of the day was a blur
Speaker 2: for Ashley, except for the vowels the couple had written
Speaker 2: for each other. She remembers that moment clearly.
Speaker 1: Mine were all about how I promised to love him
Speaker 1: and be the best wife I could be, and his
Speaker 1: were joking about how we met at work and how
Speaker 1: this friendship ended up becoming what it is today. The
Speaker 1: very last line of his vows, he used the song
Speaker 1: Africa by Toto about how it's going to take a
Speaker 1: lot to drag me away from you. At the time,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, that's sweep, But looking back now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's an interesting way to end your vows.
Speaker 2: Interesting, perhaps more like foreshadowing. After a year of dating,
Speaker 2: Ashley and Jake had tied the knot in his simple
Speaker 2: elopement ceremony. As she said in her vows, she promised
Speaker 2: to be the best wife she could be. That meant
Speaker 2: making the marriage work even in the hard times, just
Speaker 2: like her parents had.
Speaker 1: My parents were never divorced. I grew up with my
Speaker 1: parents together, and I wanted to have one and only
Speaker 1: one marriage, just like my parents.
Speaker 2: But early on the couple had a few fights, fights
Speaker 2: where she saw a new side of Jake. There's one
Speaker 2: specific night that Ashley says she'll never forget. She'd been
Speaker 2: working her second job as a swim coach that night,
Speaker 2: she stayed a half hour late to hang out with
Speaker 2: the other coaches. When she got back to the apartment
Speaker 2: and unlocked the door, sitting there glaring at.
Speaker 1: Her, and he was like, where were you? And I
Speaker 1: was like, I was talking to the coaches. We were
Speaker 1: having a good time. And he was like, that is
Speaker 1: not okay for you to be coming home half an
Speaker 1: hour late and not be notifying me of this, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm sorry, it's only a half an hour.
Speaker 2: Ashley didn't like the behavior and knew he was overreacting,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, she thought.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe that's just a way that he is trying
Speaker 1: to be protective of me and like showing me that
Speaker 1: he cares where I'm at and he's worried about me.
Speaker 2: Jake was always a bit worried about Ashley. She struggled
Speaker 2: with depression and anxiety, and Jake fixated on that.
Speaker 1: I've had bouts of depression and anxiety throughout my whole life.
Speaker 1: He kept telling me over and over and over, I
Speaker 1: need to not work, that I need to focus on
Speaker 1: getting better with my mental health. He told me that
Speaker 1: he thought I should pursue social Security disability. And how
Speaker 1: can you expect to go to work and handle all
Speaker 1: the stress when you can't handle stressors in our marriage
Speaker 1: and in our life. You take naps and you rest,
Speaker 1: and you go to therapy and work on your mental health,
Speaker 1: and I'll do everything else in life for you. It
Speaker 1: just made me become more and more dependent on him.
Speaker 2: Ashley eventually stopped working and started collecting disability. With less income,
Speaker 2: the couple moved into Ashley's mom's house to save money,
Speaker 2: but during the move, Ashley realized she couldn't find one
Speaker 2: of her most treasured possessions.
Speaker 1: My dad gave me his military cult forty five gun
Speaker 1: before he died. That was one of my dad's favorite
Speaker 1: things he had. You know, I was crying and I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know where it is.
Speaker 2: She started to worry that one of her ex boyfriends
Speaker 2: could have stolen the gun. Jake was trying to calm
Speaker 2: her down. He said if any of her exes had
Speaker 2: stolen the gun, he could get it back for her.
Speaker 2: He took a deep breath and confessed that he had connections.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what do you mean you have connections?
Speaker 1: And then he told me that for several years he
Speaker 1: has been involved with a local gang that worked for
Speaker 1: one of the Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel cartel.
Speaker 2: Her husband involved in a Mexican drug cartel. This was
Speaker 2: news to Ashley, shocking and terrifying information. Even though Ashley
Speaker 2: is now detached from what happened to her, she was
Speaker 2: certainly not so calm about it in that moment. This
Speaker 2: was a huge deal. She couldn't believe this revelation was
Speaker 2: just coming out now after they were married. She asked
Speaker 2: how exactly he was connected to the cartel. He said
Speaker 2: that his job was to be quote a problem solver.
Speaker 1: And of course I had to ask what that meant.
Speaker 1: And then he told me how he would murder people
Speaker 1: for whoever told him to. I asked him how many
Speaker 1: people he had quote taken care of, and he told
Speaker 1: me he was like at nineteen and it's not personal,
Speaker 1: it's business. I was sitting there thinking, who did I marry?
Speaker 1: Am I sleeping next to somebody who would murder people
Speaker 1: for a cartel?
Speaker 2: Ashley stayed awake that night, trying to understand what this
Speaker 2: meant for her and Jake's future. Could he really be
Speaker 2: a hit man for the cartel?
Speaker 1: Every question that I had, he had reasons for it,
Speaker 1: or he connected the dots for me that weren't making sense.
Speaker 1: He backed up a lot of stuff. He would show
Speaker 1: me emails, he'd show me text messages with conversations with people.
Speaker 2: But was even more disturbing was that he was simply
Speaker 2: unfazed by the gravity of this. Jake acted as if
Speaker 2: it were just a simple little secret.
Speaker 1: You should feel privileged that I even let you in
Speaker 1: on this part of my life. I've never told anybody
Speaker 1: else that I was involved in this stuff, and you
Speaker 1: know more about this than anybody else.
Speaker 2: Ashley was scared and felt completely trapped. Jake expressed that
Speaker 2: he was too.
Speaker 1: He explained to me how he was trying to get
Speaker 1: out and they weren't going to let him out.
Speaker 2: These guys were serious, and they weren't afraid to hurt families.
Speaker 1: Some of the stories about how people ended up missing
Speaker 1: were scary because he would explain that they will make
Speaker 1: it look like an accident, or you will just disappear
Speaker 1: and never be heard from again. By him telling me
Speaker 1: about the cartels, was that putting me in danger by
Speaker 1: knowing that information?
Speaker 2: In fact, Jake said they were both in danger. Shortly
Speaker 2: after that night, he told Ashley he broke ties with
Speaker 2: the cartel, making the two of them a target. Now
Speaker 2: they needed to go on the run and hide out.
Speaker 1: The higher ups in the cartel told him if you
Speaker 1: come back to the area, you're going to be dead.
Speaker 1: We're going to get you.
Speaker 2: The impact of the stress and terror began taking a
Speaker 2: toll on Ashley.
Speaker 1: I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping. I lost quite a
Speaker 1: bit of weight. I was not able to sleep unless
Speaker 1: I was medicated.
Speaker 2: They hit out in hotels for a few weeks. Eventually
Speaker 2: Jake demed it safe enough to return. Ashley felt safer
Speaker 2: with him than without him, so they moved back in
Speaker 2: with Ashley's family. It wasn't long until another issue surfaced.
Speaker 2: Ashley's mother and grandfather apparently had their identity stolen. Their
Speaker 2: bank accounts were being hacked.
Speaker 1: My mother would literally get a paycheck deposited on Friday
Speaker 1: and then on Saturday go to buy something and her
Speaker 1: bank account was overdrawn because someone hacked your bank account.
Speaker 2: Every few weeks, her mother and grandfather and notice a
Speaker 2: security breach. Just when it was solved, another one would arise.
Speaker 2: Both Ashley and Jake threw themselves into helping her family
Speaker 2: triage the problem.
Speaker 1: Jake was really attentive to my mom and my grandpa,
Speaker 1: always sitting down with them at the kitchen table calling
Speaker 1: the banks. That became his sole focus was helping my
Speaker 1: mom and my grandpa fix their bank accounts.
Speaker 2: It went on like this for six overwhelming months. In
Speaker 2: the back of her mind, Ashley feared that the missing
Speaker 2: money could have something to do with the cartel, but
Speaker 2: she didn't want to burden her mom with the truth
Speaker 2: about Jake, so she kept it all inside. One day,
Speaker 2: her grandpa got his bank statement and noticed something particularly concerning.
Speaker 1: Twenty thousand dollars was missing from his savings account. He
Speaker 1: called the banks, you know, they said for them to
Speaker 1: have it insured and cut and put back into his account.
Speaker 1: That he has to do a police report. So my
Speaker 1: grandpa went and did a police report, and our local
Speaker 1: police said, it looks like the money was being taken
Speaker 1: out of an ATM, so we'll pull the footage from
Speaker 1: that and see what's going on.
Speaker 2: The family didn't hear anything from the police for a
Speaker 2: few weeks until one night.
Speaker 1: Our bedroom door gets busted down. Police are pointing guns
Speaker 1: at both me and him, telling us put our hands up.
Speaker 1: They asked if his name was Jacob Levin and he
Speaker 1: said yes. They told him, like, stand up and face
Speaker 1: the wall and put your hands behind your head. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to talk to the cop and I go, what's
Speaker 1: going on? What happened? And he said, well, ma'am, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let you know, we have evidence that Jake was
Speaker 1: the one feeling the money from your grandfather's bank account.
Speaker 2: It didn't add up. Jake had been the one going
Speaker 2: out of his way to help her grandfather sort through
Speaker 2: this whole financial mess. The only explanation she could think
Speaker 2: of is that this was all happening because Jake had
Speaker 2: left the cartel in order to steal from her grandfather.
Speaker 2: He had to be desperate to come up with cash
Speaker 2: quickly and that meant she and her family could be
Speaker 2: in danger, so she pawned her valuables and paid his bail.
Speaker 2: She took him straight to a hotel where they could
Speaker 2: talk in private, and he confessed.
Speaker 1: He explained to me that he had received a message
Speaker 1: from one of these people in the cartel and they
Speaker 1: were threatening me and my mom and my grandfather, and
Speaker 1: if he didn't come up with some form a payment,
Speaker 1: they were going to harm us. They knew where we
Speaker 1: were living and they were driving past our house. So
Speaker 1: he said that he was concerned for our safety and
Speaker 1: my family's safety.
Speaker 2: He also explained what he'd kept the whole scheme a secret.
Speaker 1: He told me that he didn't want to add more
Speaker 1: stress and worry to me because I was always kind
Speaker 1: of worried and stressed out about things going on in
Speaker 1: our marriage, our finances. People in the cartel after us,
Speaker 1: and he told me he didn't want to add more
Speaker 1: to my plate.
Speaker 2: Right then, she wanted to walk out. The fear for
Speaker 2: her safety and her family's safety was overwhelming, But more
Speaker 2: powerful than fear was a deep insecurity.
Speaker 1: I was brought up with the like, never give up
Speaker 1: on something, try your hardest to make anything work attitude.
Speaker 1: I just didn't want to fail, and I thought that
Speaker 1: if I washed my hands of him in the whole marriage,
Speaker 1: I was failing.
Speaker 2: Their relationship was hanging on by a thread. Things were
Speaker 2: so tumultuous that Ashley picked up and left the hotel
Speaker 2: to spend the night at her mom's house. When she
Speaker 2: went back to the hotel the next morning, she found
Speaker 2: Jake missing, along with a few other important things.
Speaker 1: He had cleared out all of his things in the hotel,
Speaker 1: including a lot of my things that he took. Three
Speaker 1: of those things were three of my guns that I
Speaker 1: had in the hotel, and they were registered to me.
Speaker 2: The guns were gone, and so was Jake. He wasn't
Speaker 2: answering her phone calls. The hours turned into date. That's
Speaker 2: when she and her family started looking for their valuables
Speaker 2: and they found even more things missing.
Speaker 1: The weapons missing kind of prompted everybody in the house
Speaker 1: to start looking at our valuables. That is when my
Speaker 1: mother noticed that her wedding band and engagement ring set
Speaker 1: when missing, as well as my grandmother's wedding ring and
Speaker 1: engagement band. I was upset about the weapons, but the
Speaker 1: wedding ring sets from both my mom and my grandmother's
Speaker 1: was the ultimate betrayal to me. Those did mean so
Speaker 1: much to me and my family, especially because my father
Speaker 1: meant the world to me, and my dad has said
Speaker 1: it's passed and those things are things that can't be replaced,
Speaker 1: so it hurt real bad.
Speaker 2: The wedding rings were the final straw for Ashley. She
Speaker 2: knew immediately that her husband had stolen them.
Speaker 1: At that point, I knew I meant nothing to him.
Speaker 1: I could not fathom how somebody could take something that
Speaker 1: meant so much to somebody and take it to a
Speaker 1: pawn shop and pawn it for however much money he
Speaker 1: got for it. To him, it was just things. But
Speaker 1: to me and my family, those things are priceless, and at.
Speaker 3: That point I knew that I was just a thing
Speaker 3: to him.
Speaker 2: She and her family made a list of missing items
Speaker 2: and took it to the police. At that breaking point,
Speaker 2: Ashley decided to start researching her husband's legal record. She
Speaker 2: saw the recent theft charges, some small claimsport records, and
Speaker 2: then she clicked on a document about his divorce from
Speaker 2: his first wife.
Speaker 1: And one thing I noticed was the timeframe of it.
Speaker 1: Jake had told me that he filed for divorce in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. This wasn't filed until twenty twenty one. Jake
Speaker 1: had told me that he was the one that filed
Speaker 1: for divorce. This was showing that Amber was the petitioner
Speaker 1: and Jake was the respondent. So I read more and
Speaker 1: then I read that the case was dismissed.
Speaker 2: Ashley needed answers, so she decided to go to the
Speaker 2: one person who have them, Jake's ex wife Amber. A
Speaker 2: few years ago, Amber had messaged Ashley on Facebook. Instead
Speaker 2: of reading the message, Ashley had just deleted it and
Speaker 2: blocked his ex.
Speaker 1: I went back on Facebook. I unblocked her, and I
Speaker 1: asked her if she would be willing to talk to
Speaker 1: me because I have some questions about her in Jake's marriage.
Speaker 2: Amber replied a few days later, and what she said
Speaker 2: changed everything.
Speaker 1: As far as I knew, Jake and her only had
Speaker 1: one child together, and one of the first things she
Speaker 1: said to me was, you do realize that Jake has
Speaker 1: five kids.
Speaker 2: Ashley learned that her husband didn't just have one daughter
Speaker 2: like he said, He had four other small children, four
Speaker 2: children he pretended didn't exist. And Amber had a lot
Speaker 2: more to say the story. Jake had told about his
Speaker 2: ex wife cheating on him. Amber says that never happened.
Speaker 2: She had divorced him after he disappeared suddenly. Their divorce
Speaker 2: wasn't finalized until twenty twenty one, but Ashley had married
Speaker 2: Jake in twenty eighteen. Was their marriage even valid? She
Speaker 2: went to a divorce attorney to find out.
Speaker 1: The lawyer had explained to me that, well, no, according
Speaker 1: to the date on my marriage certificate and the date
Speaker 1: of Amber's dissolution of marriage, my marriage in fact was
Speaker 1: never legal to begin with. Her term was it was
Speaker 1: null and void from its inception.
Speaker 2: Everything was crashing down around Ashley when she got a
Speaker 2: phone call from the detective working on Jake's case.
Speaker 1: And he said, I have some news for you. You
Speaker 1: might want to sit down. I'm like, I just found
Speaker 1: out my marriage was never real. The man I married
Speaker 1: had a wife and five children that I didn't even
Speaker 1: know about. Some of the children stole from my family.
Speaker 1: You know what else could there be?
Speaker 2: The police explained they had just arrested Jake again and
Speaker 2: this time he was living with his new fiance and like.
Speaker 1: Excuse me fiance, and he said, yeah, Jake was living
Speaker 1: with the Wood. She had children and this woman in
Speaker 1: him had plans about a week prior to him getting
Speaker 1: arrested to fly to Las Vegas and get married.
Speaker 2: In Las Vegas, the police searched Jake's phone, where they
Speaker 2: found even more troubling details.
Speaker 1: He told this woman that he did have five children,
Speaker 1: but his five children all died in I think it
Speaker 1: was like an automobile accident, like a car crash, and
Speaker 1: I do believe that Amber was a part of that
Speaker 1: crash as well.
Speaker 2: He told his new fiance that he wanted to be
Speaker 2: a stepdad to her kids because his own had all died.
Speaker 2: Jake could have been in jail for a few days
Speaker 2: when Ashley got a call.
Speaker 1: They call it from like an eight hundred number, and
Speaker 1: I didn't know who it was, but I answered the phone.
Speaker 1: And as soon as I heard you were getting a
Speaker 1: collect call from an inmate County jail, that wave of
Speaker 1: dread came over me. My heart sank, my stomach like
Speaker 1: went into my throat. You have that decision to accept
Speaker 1: the call or not accept the call.
Speaker 2: She knew she needed to confront him about his lies.
Speaker 1: As much as I did not want to talk to him,
Speaker 1: I had to ask him questions and I know if
Speaker 1: I didn't accept that call that I wouldn't have another
Speaker 1: chance to ask him directly those questions.
Speaker 2: So she summoned all of her courage and accepted the call.
Speaker 1: And I said, you have five children. You never told
Speaker 1: me you had five children. You told me you had one.
Speaker 1: And his response was, quote, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I said, you were never divorced from Amber, and he goes,
Speaker 1: that's news to me. And I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: our marriage was not like a marriage. We were never
Speaker 1: legally married, and he again said that's news to me.
Speaker 2: Before Ashley hung up, he asked if they had a
Speaker 2: future together.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty happy with myself that. I was very firm
Speaker 1: and bold and said absolutely not. No, we do not
Speaker 1: have a future together. So that was probably the moment
Speaker 1: where the healing began. That was like the final cut
Speaker 1: of the cord.
Speaker 2: After that final phone call, Ashley began accepting the extent
Speaker 2: of his lies.
Speaker 1: I don't know who this person is. I don't know
Speaker 1: who he ever was, and quite honestly, there's nothing I
Speaker 1: can believe that he ever told me outside of the
Speaker 1: fact that here's his name and his birthday because I
Speaker 1: have his birth certificate.
Speaker 2: Was he actually a problem solver for the cartel? Or
Speaker 2: was that a lie.
Speaker 1: To Now that I'm out of the situation and completely
Speaker 1: removed and I can see the whole picture for what
Speaker 1: it is, I do not believe any of the cartel
Speaker 1: stuff was real. I believe that was like a scare
Speaker 1: tactic to just keep me worried, keep me on edge,
Speaker 1: like a diversion. Pay attention to the cartel stuff, but
Speaker 1: don't look at what I'm doing.
Speaker 2: Scare tactic is an understatement lying about being a hit
Speaker 2: man for the cartel. It's a lie that created a
Speaker 2: baseline of her in her everyday life, A lie that
Speaker 2: allowed him to justify years up to say anger and theft,
Speaker 2: A lie that made dozens of smaller lies seem more plausible.
Speaker 2: Jake Spinning County jail for nearly two years awaiting trial
Speaker 2: on charges of theft, fraud, theft of a firearm, and
Speaker 2: defamation with intent to defraud. Ashley submitted a victim impact
Speaker 2: statement to the court where she recounted the emotional and
Speaker 2: financial damage he caused her and her family. The police
Speaker 2: weren't able to recover the stolen items from Ashley's family.
Speaker 2: The Priceless Family heirlooms. Ashley doesn't know if she'll ever
Speaker 2: see them again. She's learning to make peace with that.
Speaker 1: This situation led me to realize, out of all the
Speaker 1: stuff he has taken from me and my family, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to let him take something else from me.
Speaker 1: That includes my outlook on the world, my outlook on men,
Speaker 1: like I don't hate men and think all men are
Speaker 1: liars and cheaters because of what happened to me.
Speaker 2: She's putting her life back together. She just finished her
Speaker 2: master's degree in forensic psychology and today she's a correctional
Speaker 2: caseworker in a prison. It's work that brings purpose and
Speaker 2: meaning to her life.
Speaker 1: I go to work every day and I deal with
Speaker 1: incarcerated individuals who have victims, have hurt people, and I,
Speaker 1: being a victim myself, don't let that affect how I
Speaker 1: treat any of my clients. I believe that they can
Speaker 1: find redemption. I do think that people can change, and
Speaker 1: a part of my job is to help them find
Speaker 1: that way so that they can redeem themselves and get
Speaker 1: out and find a way to live a happy, successful
Speaker 1: life that won't have them end up back in prison.
Speaker 2: Incredibly, she even believes that Jake has potential to find
Speaker 2: redemption if he just takes accountability for his crimes and
Speaker 2: the harm he caused. And there's one silver lining in
Speaker 2: this terrible situation.
Speaker 1: I never had to get a divorce because I never
Speaker 1: had a legal marriage.
Speaker 2: Ashley is focusing on moving forward, going to therapy, and
Speaker 2: putting the pieces of her life back together. We end
Speaker 2: all of our episodes with the same question, why did
Speaker 2: you want to tell your story?
Speaker 1: I want people to know that something like this can
Speaker 1: happen to other people, and hopefully somebody here's my story
Speaker 1: and either makes them take a second look in a
Speaker 1: situation that they're in, or if somebody else is in
Speaker 1: a similar situation, they don't feel alone. Because one thing
Speaker 1: that really helped me when I was going through this
Speaker 1: was hearing similar stories. It made me feel like it's
Speaker 1: not me. This happens to other people, and there is
Speaker 1: a light at the end of the tunnel, because if
Speaker 1: other people have gone through the same things I went through,
Speaker 1: then it's possible that I can also find that happiness
Speaker 1: and clarity.
Speaker 2: On the next episode of Betrayal.
Speaker 4: I remember her entering the Niki waiting room first off,
Speaker 4: with no baby, and she just had this look on
Speaker 4: her face.
Speaker 2: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
Speaker 2: team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
Speaker 2: us at Betrayal pop at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal
Speaker 2: pod at gmail dot com. Also, please be sure to
Speaker 2: follow us at Glass Podcasts on Instagram for all Betrayal content,
Speaker 2: news and updates. We're grateful for your support. One way
Speaker 2: to show support is by subscribing to our show on
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal.
Speaker 2: Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank
Speaker 2: you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
Speaker 2: of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in
Speaker 2: partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced by
Speaker 2: Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me
Speaker 2: Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced
Speaker 2: by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Kristin Melcurie and Grace Bollinger.
Speaker 2: Our ihearteam is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing
Speaker 2: and mixing by Matt del Vecchio. Trails theme composed by
Speaker 2: Oliver Baines. Music library provided by my Music. And for
Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts.