Speaker 1: She would go sit outside and smoke, and she was
Speaker 1: sitting on the phone talking to him, and I put
Speaker 1: my ear to the glass on our sliding glass door
Speaker 1: and listen. I caught conversations of them talking about if
Speaker 1: I put this car in your name, she won't get it.
Speaker 1: And at that point I was like, if you ain't
Speaker 1: for me, you're against me.
Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning. This is Betrayal, Season three, episode three,
Speaker 2: The Devil a listener. Note. Some names have been changed
Speaker 2: to protect privacy. The Rutherford family was broken. Stacy threw
Speaker 2: Justin out of the house after detective served a search
Speaker 2: warrant to collect electronic devices from their home. Stacy learned
Speaker 2: that a hitting camera had been placed in an upstairs bathroom.
Speaker 2: The device recorded thousands of images of mostly children and
Speaker 2: some adults using the bathroom and shower naked. Soon after
Speaker 2: the raid, a teenage boy confided in Stacy's daughter, Mikayla,
Speaker 2: that Justin Rutherford had sexually abused him during a sleepover.
Speaker 2: Stacy and the littles were staying at Mikayla's apartment while
Speaker 2: they got the house ready to sell so they could
Speaker 2: move back to the Virginia area. Tyler Stacy's son was
Speaker 2: already there, staying with his aunt, Heather, so that he
Speaker 2: wouldn't miss his first day at his new school. Heather
Speaker 2: received a call from Stacy that Justin may only be
Speaker 2: charged with a misdemeanor for the hitting camera. Heather was
Speaker 2: upset and was worried that there was more to this story.
Speaker 3: My sister had just called me and she's crying and
Speaker 3: she's like, this is crazy, Like how are they gonna
Speaker 3: let him go? And I'm like, I know, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: God's got this. We're going to figure this out. Like
Speaker 3: I do not believe in my heart of hearts, disman
Speaker 3: is going to walk free. And Tyler's listening to this.
Speaker 3: I got phoned and he was helping me fuld laundry
Speaker 3: and I said, man, buddy, I.
Speaker 1: Said, I don't know.
Speaker 4: We gotta do some serious pray. And he's like, why,
Speaker 4: what's up.
Speaker 5: I said, they were talking about only charging Justin with
Speaker 5: the cameras and he goes, well, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: And I said, well.
Speaker 3: That probably means that your little brother will have visitation
Speaker 3: with his father.
Speaker 5: In due time. And he just looked at me with
Speaker 5: the look I will never forget, and his eyes welled
Speaker 5: up with tears, and Tyler says he'll never see the
Speaker 5: outside of a prison when I tell them what I know.
Speaker 2: A couple hours later, Stacy received a cryptic message from
Speaker 2: her sister, Heather.
Speaker 1: We were sitting there eating dinner and I get a
Speaker 1: text message from my sister that said, I need you
Speaker 1: to video chat me. We need to talk about some things.
Speaker 1: Mikayla and I went to the bedroom and we called.
Speaker 1: I could tell Heather had been crying.
Speaker 5: I was just sick.
Speaker 2: There was an awkward silence. Tyler was quiet that.
Speaker 4: I could have never looked at my mom on the
Speaker 4: face and said it. And even I would say even
Speaker 4: a good year after that, it was like hard to
Speaker 4: look at my mom.
Speaker 2: So Heather broke the news to her sister.
Speaker 1: She said he's been doing it to Tyler too for
Speaker 1: six years.
Speaker 2: And there it was what Stacy had feared. Her husband
Speaker 2: had been abusing her son since he was ten. I
Speaker 2: went to visit with Stacy and Tyler in West Virginia.
Speaker 2: They told me what it was like in the days
Speaker 2: after Tyler disclosed his abuse. It was a shock.
Speaker 1: I remember just saying, you know, I'm so sorry, Like
Speaker 1: I just kept saying I'm so sorry because I didn't
Speaker 1: know what else.
Speaker 4: Tuesday, I could just see the go on her face
Speaker 4: looking at me. I wish she could have hit it
Speaker 4: from me. I just wanted to act like everything was normal.
Speaker 4: I don't want her to act like she could have
Speaker 4: done anything different, because she couldn't have.
Speaker 1: It was very hard in the beginning to not feel
Speaker 1: every single thing you know of like how could you
Speaker 1: let this happen to him? I still to this day
Speaker 1: feel like I failed on so many levels. The hardest
Speaker 1: thing for me is to just not feel.
Speaker 2: Like I love you. You know that it's not your fault.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Stacey felt responsible that this was all her fault, and
Speaker 2: on top of that, she continues to worry about the future.
Speaker 2: How will Tyler feel in a year or three years
Speaker 2: when he is older and has had time to process
Speaker 2: what happened to him.
Speaker 1: My greatest fear and still to this day, is that
Speaker 1: someday You're going to be mad at me and never
Speaker 1: talked to me, and I couldn't go to the rest
Speaker 1: of my life without that, Like that was always my fear,
Speaker 1: was like God, just don't let him stop talking to me,
Speaker 1: you know, because I just was like I can't lose
Speaker 1: one of my kids.
Speaker 2: Tyler was left with more than any adult, much less
Speaker 2: any teenager should have to handle. There was the weight
Speaker 2: of the secret for six years, and then there was
Speaker 2: the weight of the destruction.
Speaker 4: There was no relief, but in that specific moment, it
Speaker 4: was just that out of body feeling like everyone knows
Speaker 4: and they're just staring at you, and you feel like
Speaker 4: jumping out of your skin again. You feel like the
Speaker 4: same way you feel when it all first starts.
Speaker 2: When it all first started, well, that was a long
Speaker 2: time ago, about two years before Stacy and Justin got married.
Speaker 2: As I said, he was only ten years old then,
Speaker 2: and their wedding day.
Speaker 4: That ring on the finger. I felt like that was
Speaker 4: like sealing the fate. I was standing in that courthouse
Speaker 4: trying to hold in my tears while everyone else is
Speaker 4: trying to hold in theirs for joy mine or not joy.
Speaker 2: But Tyler opening up to his family wasn't enough. He
Speaker 2: knew he needed to take this information to the police.
Speaker 2: Justin was still a free man, and in fact, he
Speaker 2: was even checking in with Tyler in Virginia.
Speaker 4: He was trying to act like everything was normal and
Speaker 4: check in on me, ask how school was going, ask
Speaker 4: how life was going in Virginia. I guess to see
Speaker 4: if I was going to open up my mouth or
Speaker 4: say anything. I just kind of played along, played the part.
Speaker 4: I acted like everything was normal as well, just to
Speaker 4: keep him not suspicious that people were coming for him.
Speaker 2: A few days after Tyler disclosed everything to his family,
Speaker 2: he would have to endure one of the hardest days
Speaker 2: of his life. He would finally sit with law enforcement.
Speaker 4: It was an awful feeling, like a like a mountain
Speaker 4: sitting on your chest. Pretty much the whole day. My
Speaker 4: school was right next to the Sheriff's office. I could
Speaker 4: look out the window at my doom the whole eight
Speaker 4: hour day, just sitting there looking at it, knowing it's coming.
Speaker 4: It was like I almost couldn't breathe.
Speaker 2: Heather picked Tyler up and brought him to the Sheriff's
Speaker 2: office for an official forensic interview.
Speaker 4: They just put me in the room and it was
Speaker 4: mean and two detectives, and they had like a whole
Speaker 4: drawing board for me. They had me draw like layouts
Speaker 4: of our house and like real crazy stuffs.
Speaker 2: Any Sergeant Detective Mike Thick.
Speaker 6: It's difficult because a lot of boys don't want to
Speaker 6: disclose that they were sexually abused, especially when they're in
Speaker 6: their teen years, because a lot of them will disclose
Speaker 6: to me and say when he did this or that
Speaker 6: to me, he made me do that to them, But
Speaker 6: then they'll say that you know, I'm not gay.
Speaker 7: You got to realize these are kids and embarrasses them.
Speaker 4: That was probably the most uncomfortable fulk I ever had
Speaker 4: in my life was that one. Right there. They ask
Speaker 4: you some of the most vulgar questions. They need so
Speaker 4: much detail, like so specific, to the point where it
Speaker 4: doesn't even seem like how they can make any difference
Speaker 4: out of that very specific fact, like such minute details
Speaker 4: that seem like they wouldn't even make a difference. They
Speaker 4: just cut really deep with those questions.
Speaker 6: He took advantage of these kids, especially Tyler, like from
Speaker 6: a young age up.
Speaker 7: He groomed them.
Speaker 6: Tyler thought, that's my stepfather, It's someone I can go
Speaker 6: to and trust some tipes, it's people closest to you.
Speaker 4: And that was right after just admitting it had happened.
Speaker 4: So it goes from not opening my mouth for years
Speaker 4: to spilling the whole story.
Speaker 2: Out during this interview, Tyler disclosed all the painful details
Speaker 2: his family would never hear. He was smart enough to
Speaker 2: know that the detectives interviewing him were collecting evidence. This
Speaker 2: was excruciating, but it would matter.
Speaker 4: I knew my words in that conversation were going to
Speaker 4: do a lot of damage. I knew it was the
Speaker 4: main evidence they need on him.
Speaker 2: The hard truth was law enforcement didn't have a strong case.
Speaker 2: Tyler's bravery and coming forward helped corroborate the other victim story.
Speaker 2: There was a good chance without this, Justin would walk
Speaker 2: away with a misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist.
Speaker 7: I mean, they're brave and I just I mean, to me,
Speaker 7: they're heroes.
Speaker 2: Tyler didn't realize his stepdad was a predator.
Speaker 4: I just never thought he would do it to anyone else.
Speaker 4: I'd like to have friends over because it was a
Speaker 4: sense of security and protection that nothing was going to
Speaker 4: happen to me. I just thought when there was a
Speaker 4: group of US boys, everyone was safe, and.
Speaker 2: Justin took advantage of that access. The other victim reached
Speaker 2: out to Tyler and shared his experience.
Speaker 4: My friend texted me and he's like, you remember that
Speaker 4: night at your house when I had that crazy dream
Speaker 4: and how a sleepwalking and everything was all crazy. He
Speaker 4: was like, do you think that was Justin?
Speaker 2: Tyler deflected.
Speaker 4: I was just like, that's crazy. I don't know. I
Speaker 4: don't know, Just like think about it. Are you sure?
Speaker 4: Because I'm still scared?
Speaker 2: He deflected, and was scared for good reason.
Speaker 4: He could monitor everything I did on my phone. He
Speaker 4: read every word that went to another person through text.
Speaker 2: Justin had been monitoring all of Tyler's communication for years.
Speaker 2: There are apps that allow parents to see what kids
Speaker 2: are doing on their cell phones, and Justin used one.
Speaker 2: Stacy thought it was a good idea to help keep
Speaker 2: kids safe, but for Justin it went beyond safety. He
Speaker 2: used it to spy on Tyler. So he must have
Speaker 2: known the House of cards was about to fall, and
Speaker 2: he got a head start on law enforcement. Stacey had
Speaker 2: to triage her crises. She now knew for certain that
Speaker 2: Tyler and another child had been sexually abused. She was
Speaker 2: filing for divorce, selling her house, and trying to get
Speaker 2: back to Virginia where she could find more support. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: back at her house, Justin's godmother d or Nanny as
Speaker 2: everyone calls her, was living there, but Stacy didn't know
Speaker 2: where Justin was.
Speaker 1: Nanny calls me, she's like, I just got home and
Speaker 1: Justin left a letter. He's gone and everything is gone.
Speaker 6: Of his.
Speaker 1: And I was like, what what did he say? And
Speaker 1: she read me the letter and it just basically said
Speaker 1: something like I love you, Nanny. Tell the kids I
Speaker 1: love them, you know, take care of them. I gotta leave.
Speaker 1: I can't do this anymore. I'm leaving my car. I
Speaker 1: won't be back. And I was like, huh. And she
Speaker 1: wasn't like frantic, So I had a feeling that something
Speaker 1: wasn't right.
Speaker 2: Nanny lived with or near Justin since he was a child.
Speaker 2: She even lived with him and his roommates in college.
Speaker 2: She would never be so matter of fact about him disappearing.
Speaker 1: I go to the house and his side of the
Speaker 1: closet is gone. All of his stuff was gone. Anything
Speaker 1: in that house that remotely was his was gone. But
Speaker 1: his car was there. And I read the letter and
Speaker 1: she's just like, I don't know, I don't know where
Speaker 1: he's at.
Speaker 2: Stacy had no idea where he'd gone, but eventually the
Speaker 2: police would have enough for charges. Right when would they
Speaker 2: come looking for him? She would also need Justin's signature
Speaker 2: to finalize the house sale, and Stacy needed that money.
Speaker 2: It felt like Justin fled, but without an arrest warrant,
Speaker 2: he wasn't technically a fugitive. Stacy knew Justin packed up
Speaker 2: his things and moved out of the house, but was
Speaker 2: shocked when her credit card company started asking about charges overseas.
Speaker 1: He was charging things on one of my cars, and
Speaker 1: then he would pay it off immediately, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: showing a balance.
Speaker 2: The charges were from Great Britain and Amsterdam. He was
Speaker 2: in Europe. It turned out that Justin left the country
Speaker 2: on August twenty eighth. The first victim disclosed the abuse
Speaker 2: to police on August thirty first. Tyler disclosed Justin's abuse
Speaker 2: days later, so Justin bolted before either one of the
Speaker 2: boys talked. Meanwhile, law enforcement was busy with their.
Speaker 6: Investigation some individuals sleep. I didn't think he was going
Speaker 6: to leave for good. I mean his young children. I
Speaker 6: don't know what he was.
Speaker 2: Thinking, and neither did Stacy.
Speaker 1: Annie would go sit outside and smoke and she was
Speaker 1: sitting on the phone talking to him. She would have
Speaker 1: video chats with him, and I'd like put my ear
Speaker 1: to the glass on our sliding glass door and listen.
Speaker 2: Nanny Dee had become an important part of the Rutherford household.
Speaker 2: It was a tricky situation. Stacy knew that she loved
Speaker 2: the kids, but she loved Justin fiercely. The two remained
Speaker 2: close no matter what chaos ensued.
Speaker 1: And I said, you know that if you know where
Speaker 1: he's and if you took him to go there, the
Speaker 1: police can come after you. And I don't want you
Speaker 1: to get arrested. I really think that he's putting you
Speaker 1: in some dangerous situations. He's making you believe that these
Speaker 1: things are legal and okay, and Nanny, they're not. They're
Speaker 1: not okay. And she flew off the hand or oh
Speaker 1: now I'm doing a legal shit too, you and your
Speaker 1: sister and your stories, and something just snapped in me
Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, you can get the
Speaker 1: fuck out of my house too.
Speaker 2: Battle lines were drawn. Nanny didn't believe the accusations. She
Speaker 2: was supporting Justin.
Speaker 1: I caught conversations of them talking about if I put
Speaker 1: this car in your name, she won't get it. And
Speaker 1: at that point I was like, if you ain't for me,
Speaker 1: you're against me.
Speaker 2: Justin was busy enjoying Europe. Stacy was picking up the
Speaker 2: pieces with him out of the country. It's stalled the
Speaker 2: family's ability to move.
Speaker 1: It stopped the house sale. He was emailing with the
Speaker 1: underwriting people about the documents that he would supposed to
Speaker 1: sign because he told them in an email, I'm out
Speaker 1: of the country on business.
Speaker 2: It took almost two months for law enforcement to build
Speaker 2: their case.
Speaker 6: There was forends of work we had to do from
Speaker 6: the items that we seized in the home, and also
Speaker 6: Detective Weaver had to identify every person that was captured
Speaker 6: on video and each person had to be interviewed. We
Speaker 6: also received information that we had two victims out there
Speaker 6: that were being sexually abused by Justin. The one individual,
Speaker 6: I personally did a forensic interview and interviewed him and
Speaker 6: he disclosed being sexually abused by Justin. The second individual
Speaker 6: was Tyler, and he was out of state and he
Speaker 6: made a disclosure of being abused.
Speaker 2: Police were ready to issue an arrest warrant, and what
Speaker 2: Justin didn't know was that law enforcement was watching his
Speaker 2: every move.
Speaker 7: We had him on a watch list.
Speaker 2: So on October second, when Justin flew back to the
Speaker 2: United States, Sergeant Fick. Detective Weaver and their team were ready.
Speaker 4: They got word that he was boarding a.
Speaker 2: Plane justin Fluenta Dulles International, right outside Washington, d C.
Speaker 7: They were watching him and they secured him at the
Speaker 7: airport for US.
Speaker 1: And then the next morning I wake up to a
Speaker 1: message from Detective Weaver. We got him.
Speaker 2: The charges included multiple counts of invasion of privacy, rape
Speaker 2: of a child, and rape of an unconscious victim. Seeing
Speaker 2: that warrant in black and white, reading those chilling words,
Speaker 2: Stacy faced the truth about her husband. She thought she
Speaker 2: had married a wonderful life partner, but he was a sick,
Speaker 2: depraved man. Now he was in jail and she was
Speaker 2: trying to find solid ground after a devastating event. The
Speaker 2: house sale was settled. Justin's lawyer took the paperwork to
Speaker 2: the county jail and it was signed there. Stacey had
Speaker 2: four children impacted by the divorce and by Justin's crimes.
Speaker 2: They were all experiencing the loss in different ways. First,
Speaker 2: there was Stacy's eldest daughter, who was in college.
Speaker 1: Mikayla had felt she had lost her dad. I had
Speaker 1: to treat her a certain way when I talked about
Speaker 1: things I had to be sympathetic. I'm so sorry that
Speaker 1: you don't have your dad anymore. And Tyler, it was
Speaker 1: I'm going to get you justice. I want him to
Speaker 1: fry the rest of his life.
Speaker 2: All the littles knew is that Daddy had a sickness
Speaker 2: in his head, but they didn't care about that. They
Speaker 2: just missed him. Stacy allowed the two youngest to write
Speaker 2: and receive letters from Justin.
Speaker 1: He sent color pictures, and they knew once or twice
Speaker 1: a week it was going to be in the mailbox.
Speaker 1: You know, nobody would know, you know how fast they
Speaker 1: would run to the mailbox to get those every time.
Speaker 1: And it was just color pictures. What could it hurt?
Speaker 1: And that's what I told myself. So it was like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're trying to parent four different ways and
Speaker 1: do what's best for you, but still not hurt you.
Speaker 1: It was just like ever see those things where they
Speaker 1: juggle the plates and all the plates are spinning it once,
Speaker 1: That's how I felt during that time.
Speaker 2: It might be hard to digest that, but remember the
Speaker 2: little ones had lost their home, a parent, their school,
Speaker 2: everything familiar. Stacy was doing whatever she could to quell
Speaker 2: their anxiety. Justin didn't just send letters to the kids,
Speaker 2: he also sent them to Stacy. They were full of regret.
Speaker 2: Sometimes he pledged his love for her, other times he
Speaker 2: tried to cryptically explain his behavior. And then there were
Speaker 2: the letters that leverage Stacy's faith.
Speaker 1: When everything first happened. I did send him a Bible
Speaker 1: from the kids and I for Christmas the first year
Speaker 1: he was in because he was talking about faith. In
Speaker 1: one letter, he wrote, you were the best thing that
Speaker 1: ever happened to me. We had two beautiful kids, and
Speaker 1: I fucked everything up, I alone, and you didn't deserve that.
Speaker 1: God what I wouldn't.
Speaker 8: Give to be with you again.
Speaker 1: I would thank God every day if we could only
Speaker 1: have a time machine.
Speaker 2: Justin also acknowledged the deep connection they shared.
Speaker 1: We were soulmates. You were the only person on this
Speaker 1: earth who had the same thoughts as me. Every time.
Speaker 1: I feel like every time that happened, a jolt would
Speaker 1: go through my soul Proverbs thirty one eleven through twelve.
Speaker 9: Her husband trusts her judgment.
Speaker 7: He does not lack income.
Speaker 9: She brings him profit, not loss, all the days of
Speaker 9: her life. I should have been completely honest with you
Speaker 9: every day of our lives. Together. I was selfish because
Speaker 9: I was worried that you would leave me.
Speaker 2: What did that mean? Honest about what? That he was
Speaker 2: sexually abusing her son and would abuse another boy, that
Speaker 2: he was a pedophile.
Speaker 9: I wish we somehow could have solved all of this
Speaker 9: without the police, because then maybe we could still have
Speaker 9: our family. But it's with God now. I pray for
Speaker 9: you every day, just like you did for me all
Speaker 9: those years. I pray for your healing and forgiveness. I
Speaker 9: pray for God's mercy. I pray that you find happiness,
Speaker 9: even if that means losing you. I'm sorry for my flaws.
Speaker 9: I'm sorry I let the devil into our lives.
Speaker 2: It was the devil's work, if only the police hadn't
Speaker 2: been involved. Even as he laments the loss of their
Speaker 2: life together, he skirts his responsibility as Justin spent more
Speaker 2: time in jail and became more frustrated with his living conditions.
Speaker 2: He sent another letter escalating his faith based manipulations.
Speaker 1: He was kind of like condemning me for not forgiving him,
Speaker 1: coming at it like, well, I'm just worried, you know,
Speaker 1: like you want to get into heaven, but Stacey, you
Speaker 1: can't with unforgiveness. I was like, oh no, no, no, hold
Speaker 1: up with your Bible vomit. I don't need you to
Speaker 1: tell me how to get in with God, like I
Speaker 1: already know that I'm okay, So you need to worry
Speaker 1: about yourself. So he very much tried to appeal to
Speaker 1: the faith side of me.
Speaker 2: Stacy needed a safe place to grieve and plan her
Speaker 2: next steps. Her sister Heather opened her door once again
Speaker 2: and Stacy and the little ones moved in For about
Speaker 2: six months. It was crowded, but they made it work
Speaker 2: until Stacey could find a home of her own that
Speaker 2: she could afford. In April of twenty twenty two, she
Speaker 2: and the littles moved into an old farmhouse in Jared'stown,
Speaker 2: West Virginia, just down the road from her friend Karen.
Speaker 2: It wasn't the modern five bedroom place they've left in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: but they would have a roof over their heads. Nanny
Speaker 2: Dee also moved back to the Virginia area. She went
Speaker 2: to live with her sister, and she still supported Justin.
Speaker 4: I was working out and I don't know where she
Speaker 4: comes in, which is really weird to see an old
Speaker 4: lady like that in the gym who I know doesn't
Speaker 4: work out, and she walks up to me and hands
Speaker 4: me this note, and it's a note from Justin.
Speaker 2: Justin was prohibited from communicating with the victims in his case.
Speaker 4: I read it while sitting on the machine at the gym,
Speaker 4: and she's standing there right in front of me, in
Speaker 4: the middle of every thing going on, everyone watching. I
Speaker 4: get done reading it, and as soon as I lift
Speaker 4: my head, she just snatches it out of my hand.
Speaker 4: I was like, what are you doing. That's my letter.
Speaker 7: Can I have my letter?
Speaker 4: No? No, He told me that you couldn't keep it,
Speaker 4: and I was like, it's noted to me, give it
Speaker 4: to me, and she refused and then just left.
Speaker 2: Tyler wrote down everything he could remember about the letter
Speaker 2: to tell detectives. Later, we were able to find a
Speaker 2: letter that Justin wrote to him in court records. Tyler
Speaker 2: told us that it's not the same one, but its
Speaker 2: content was similar to the one Nanny showed him.
Speaker 9: T first, I would like to say that I am
Speaker 9: truly sorry. I wish there was a way I could
Speaker 9: take it all back and prove to you how sorry
Speaker 9: I am. All of the stems from the fact that
Speaker 9: I hated who I was, my body, my sexuality. I'm
Speaker 9: not making excuses, just explaining that all I ever wanted
Speaker 9: was to be normal. Your generation doesn't give a shit
Speaker 9: about normal, and I wish I was born later. I
Speaker 9: know I fucked up, and if I could take your
Speaker 9: pain away, I would. I don't deserve it from you,
Speaker 9: but I am asking for your mercy. I'm asking for
Speaker 9: me to not miss the littles whole lives and to
Speaker 9: hopefully have some sort of semi normal life with them.
Speaker 9: I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me,
Speaker 9: just asking for a small amount of grace and mercy.
Speaker 9: I would still do several years in jail for the
Speaker 9: other charges, but not their whole lives. I'm already in treatment,
Speaker 9: and I one day hope to prove to you that
Speaker 9: I am changed.
Speaker 2: What Justin was really asking Tyler to do was recant
Speaker 2: his statement to police.
Speaker 1: I immediately text Nanny and I was like, what in
Speaker 1: the world were you thinking delivering a letter to my
Speaker 1: son from him? Do you understand this is something that
Speaker 1: you could get in trouble for. He used to have
Speaker 1: no contact even through third parties. Third party being you,
Speaker 1: and her response was, well, Justin said it was okay.
Speaker 2: It was hard to know what to do with Nanny.
Speaker 2: Justin was like her child. She took Justin at his word.
Speaker 1: She is so manipulated by him that he tells her
Speaker 1: it's okay and she doesn't even question it and goes
Speaker 1: and does it. And there was a part of me
Speaker 1: that almost felt sorry for her, because I'm like, you
Speaker 1: don't even realize that you're breaking.
Speaker 7: The law here.
Speaker 2: Maybe she was ignorant, maybe she was biased. Eventually, however,
Speaker 2: it would make her dangerous. When Justin couldn't get anywhere
Speaker 2: with Tyler, he worked on Stacy. When the reality of
Speaker 2: the prison time he was facing started to sink in,
Speaker 2: he wrote another letter. Here are portions of it.
Speaker 9: Dear Stacy, I guess now you know what they're trying
Speaker 9: to offer me is thirty years. I won't be able
Speaker 9: to do that amount of time. Going to trial would
Speaker 9: be worse and would result in even more time. I
Speaker 9: have literally seen murderers get ten to twenty or seven
Speaker 9: to fifteen, so I don't understand the logic here. Mine
Speaker 9: is literally the worst offer, and I truly think it's
Speaker 9: because they want to make an example of me, and honestly,
Speaker 9: if it comes down to it. I guess I'll have
Speaker 9: to take the pain away myself. I don't want it
Speaker 9: to end that way, but I literally can't do it.
Speaker 9: Psalms one O two, Verse twenty three and twenty four.
Speaker 9: God sovereignly brought me to my knees. He cut me
Speaker 9: down in my prime. Oh don't, I prayed, Please don't
Speaker 9: let me die. God has set me straight. First off,
Speaker 9: I want you to know I already started treatment. We
Speaker 9: meet two hours per week. I could have my lawyer
Speaker 9: go back to preliminary hearings and ty could not show
Speaker 9: up or recant his statement that would drop the mandatory
Speaker 9: ten year charges.
Speaker 2: And so he had arrived at the real meeting of
Speaker 2: the letter. Tyler could recant, He could lie and say
Speaker 2: it never happened. Justin had broken the law and tried
Speaker 2: to get to Tyler. He had quoted Bible verses and
Speaker 2: leveraged his children to get to Stacy. But neither God
Speaker 2: nor guilt would work. Stacy and Tyler were after justice.
Speaker 2: We first met Tyler and Stacy back in December of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. Their story was really upsetting, and to
Speaker 2: be perfectly transparent, we were pretty hesitant to move forward.
Speaker 2: With producing it, we weren't sure where Stacy and Tyler
Speaker 2: were in their journey. Stacy was willing to share everything,
Speaker 2: good and bad. She's also an adult with a lot
Speaker 2: of experience. She's truly an amazing person. And then there's Tyler.
Speaker 2: He's young and has had unimaginable trauma no one should
Speaker 2: ever experience. He does receive therapeutic support, but this is
Speaker 2: sharing on a very public level. So we had several conversations,
Speaker 2: and Tyler advocated for himself to participate hard. He wanted
Speaker 2: a platform he was not going to hide.
Speaker 4: So I was hoping by doing this podcast that somebody
Speaker 4: like me could find it and let them know they're
Speaker 4: not alone.
Speaker 2: Tyler wants to normalize this conversation and make it less uncomfortable.
Speaker 4: Guys don't really talk about our weaknesses. We just make
Speaker 4: jokes about it, about trauma and whatnot. People make sly
Speaker 4: comments about it, ask you questions that are highly uncomfortable,
Speaker 4: but they think it's a joke just because they don't
Speaker 4: see it out there. When they hear it happen to
Speaker 4: a guy, they think, oh, that must be the only
Speaker 4: guy in the world. But it's a lot more common
Speaker 4: and there's no one that relates to you, and it's
Speaker 4: really nice to have someone to relate to.
Speaker 2: Tyler wants to be that someone for another male sexual
Speaker 2: abuse victim who feels isolated and alone.
Speaker 4: I want to help other people. There's not really any
Speaker 4: resources for men. That's really the biggest thing is being
Speaker 4: a guy, and not many talk about it. And I
Speaker 4: had to go through not really being able to relate
Speaker 4: to many people. I mean, the most I found was,
Speaker 4: like Tyler Perry, you know a few celebrities, but really
Speaker 4: there's not much to go off of. And if I
Speaker 4: can be that person that people can look up to,
Speaker 4: that would be awesome.
Speaker 2: He told us about the beginning when he was ten,
Speaker 2: and as a trigger warning, some details may be difficult
Speaker 2: to hear.
Speaker 4: For the most part, he was a good father figure.
Speaker 4: But at night is when the monster came out. I'm
Speaker 4: pretty sure I've said to you guys, and I've told
Speaker 4: my mom and anyone who questions me. Without getting too vulgar,
Speaker 4: the only way I can put it is if you
Speaker 4: can imagine it, it happened. It started about six months
Speaker 4: after he met my mom, maybe a little longer. That
Speaker 4: was before they got married. That was before they even
Speaker 4: lived together. It's one of those things, like you're so
Speaker 4: young when stuff like that happens, it's hard to kind
Speaker 4: of process something feels wrong and off, but like you
Speaker 4: don't necessarily know how to go about it, what to do,
Speaker 4: what to say, and you kind of just want to
Speaker 4: keep that to yourself. You know, you're scared it just
Speaker 4: you feel out of your own skin.
Speaker 2: Tyler was a child weighing all the trade offs of
Speaker 2: their relationship, not just for himself, but for his entire family.
Speaker 2: What if you told someone.
Speaker 4: As a kid, I wouldn't see my mom happily married
Speaker 4: and have younger siblings that I love. Without even saying anything,
Speaker 4: He knew that was on the line for me. He
Speaker 4: had definitely brought it up a few times. If it
Speaker 4: wasn't for him, we wouldn't have this nice, big house.
Speaker 4: We wouldn't be able to go to these fancy dinners.
Speaker 4: We wouldn't have a pool, which I've wanted in my
Speaker 4: whole life. They were at work, making the money, doing
Speaker 4: their jobs, and I was doing my job, keeping my
Speaker 4: mouth shut to keep the family together.
Speaker 2: There were many times that Justin gave Tyler drugs and alcohol.
Speaker 4: The first instance I remember that night vividly up until
Speaker 4: blackout point.
Speaker 2: Me.
Speaker 4: It was four locos and cinnamon moonshine. I do remember
Speaker 4: that pretty much.
Speaker 2: Tyler was way too young to be consuming alcohol, but
Speaker 2: he was happy to drink it.
Speaker 4: The numbed everything, I mean not even numbed. It blurred everything.
Speaker 4: I would just go robot mode and just kind of
Speaker 4: let it happen.
Speaker 2: For all intents and purposes. This was Tyler's father. He'd
Speaker 2: been conditioned and emotionally blackmailed since he was in fifth grade.
Speaker 2: This was his life. While Stacy slept, Justin would stay
Speaker 2: up late playing video games, eventually finding his way into
Speaker 2: Tyler's room.
Speaker 4: Every so often, I'd tell myself, Okay, it's clear he
Speaker 4: likes little boys. I'll grow to be a teenager and
Speaker 4: he won't want to do anything to me. So I'm
Speaker 4: thirteen and it's still going on. So then I go, okay,
Speaker 4: wait till I turned about sixteen, you know, a sixteen
Speaker 4: year well into puberty. I thought, as I'd become to
Speaker 4: be more of a man, he wouldn't want anything to
Speaker 4: do with me. And then here I am fifteen and
Speaker 4: a half coming close to sixteen, and here it is
Speaker 4: still going It wasn't until I got around fifteen that
Speaker 4: I started vocally saying stuff to him and like speaking
Speaker 4: up for myself or trying to. He would never hit me,
Speaker 4: but he would talk to me with like a real
Speaker 4: stern voice and almost try to scare me and make
Speaker 4: me shut up.
Speaker 2: It's infuriating to think a man would trap, manipulate, and
Speaker 2: say actually abuse a child. But Tyler wants to turn
Speaker 2: his pain into purpose, and he's thinking of other victims
Speaker 2: and how he could help them.
Speaker 4: It doesn't make you less of a man, it doesn't
Speaker 4: make you weak. And I think this podcast can do
Speaker 4: a lot of good for a lot of heartbroken young
Speaker 4: men out there, and even grown men, because I know
Speaker 4: there's plenty out there who you know, followed through with
Speaker 4: that plan of never opening up their mouth.
Speaker 2: Tyler isn't a better place now where he is able
Speaker 2: to process what happened to him. But before he could
Speaker 2: get there, things for Stacey and Tyler would take an
Speaker 2: even sinister turn. Even though Justin was behind bars, that
Speaker 2: didn't mean they were safe. On the next episode of Betrayal,
Speaker 2: Justin forms a plan to get out of prison.
Speaker 8: He knew he was looking at a very, very, very
Speaker 8: long time in jail on the sex assault charges. I
Speaker 8: want to believe somebody's like that. I think that people
Speaker 8: can get desperate.
Speaker 2: If you're a man who has experienced sexual abuse or assault,
Speaker 2: or you know someone who is seeking support, go to
Speaker 2: one in six dot org. That's the number one I
Speaker 2: n number six dot org. Find a path to a happier,
Speaker 2: healthier future. If you would like to reach out to
Speaker 2: the Betrayal team, email us at betrayalpod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: That's Betrayal pod at gmail dot com. Also, please be
Speaker 2: sure to follow us at Glass Podcasts on Instagram for
Speaker 2: all Betrayal content, news and updates. We're grateful for your support.
Speaker 2: One way to show support is by subscribing to our
Speaker 2: show on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and
Speaker 2: review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. A
Speaker 2: big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is
Speaker 2: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 2: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced
Speaker 2: by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by
Speaker 2: me Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Kerry Hartman. Also
Speaker 2: produced by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Christen Melcury and
Speaker 2: Caitlin Golden. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crincheck.
Speaker 2: Voice acting by Andrew Dobby. Special thanks to Stacy Rutherford,
Speaker 2: Tyler and the rest of Stacy and Tyler's friends and family.
Speaker 2: Audio editing and mixing by Mattsalvechio. Editing support from Nico Ruka.
Speaker 2: The Trayals theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided
Speaker 2: by Mob Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.