Speaker 1: My mom used to always joke around and say, oh,
Speaker 1: you never marry a doctor because he knows how to
Speaker 1: kill you and get away with it. She always said that,
Speaker 1: so I always had that in the back of my mind.
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. Tammy McCrary is a polite, easygoing woman. She's
Speaker 2: quick to laugh and to make herself laugh. She says
Speaker 2: that above all, her kids are her world.
Speaker 1: I have three children, and I treat all of them
Speaker 1: as though they are the only and now my grandchildren.
Speaker 1: Oh those grandkids. That's a whole nother level of love.
Speaker 2: Tammy grew up in Atlanta, where she was raised by
Speaker 2: her mother. She was an only child, just her, her mom,
Speaker 2: and her mom's sister. As a kid, Tammy dreamed of
Speaker 2: having a nuclear family of her own.
Speaker 1: Most of my friends were in a two parent home.
Speaker 1: I did not have the family structure of father and mom,
Speaker 1: so I admired that I wanted to have that for
Speaker 1: myself and for my children.
Speaker 2: In high school, Tammy started dating a guy she'd grown
Speaker 2: up with.
Speaker 1: We hadn't known each other a long time and he'd
Speaker 1: always teased me about being his wife.
Speaker 2: It was a joke at first because Tammy had other plans.
Speaker 1: I had planned to go to college, but when she
Speaker 1: was seventeen, I found out that I was expected.
Speaker 2: Tammy's college plans were put on hold and the two
Speaker 2: got married.
Speaker 1: We both attended the same church, so we had a
Speaker 1: small wedding.
Speaker 2: They loved being young parents. Looking back, she says it
Speaker 2: was easier for them than she expected. By the time
Speaker 2: they were twenty, the young couple bought a house in
Speaker 2: the suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I am an only child, he's an only child, and
Speaker 1: we both came from middle class backgrounds, so we didn't
Speaker 1: have those struggles that you would think that a young
Speaker 1: couple would have.
Speaker 2: They were stable and surrounded by community. Tammy and her
Speaker 2: husband had a second child a few years later.
Speaker 1: I had so much support from my mom, from his parents,
Speaker 1: and I had an aunt that was like a mom
Speaker 1: to meet, So I was all about kids. That was
Speaker 1: my life.
Speaker 2: When her kids started school and she had more time
Speaker 2: on her hands, things started changing for Tammy.
Speaker 1: I just got to this place where I wanted more.
Speaker 1: I wanted to do more the time that I would
Speaker 1: have been in college, you know, having that freedom. I
Speaker 1: was a mom and I was a wife, so I
Speaker 1: missed it.
Speaker 2: She wanted to grow her career, and she realized she
Speaker 2: missed out on so much in her early twenties. Maybe
Speaker 2: there was more out there for her.
Speaker 1: I remember getting all of this attention from these guys.
Speaker 1: I was like, am I really bad attractive?
Speaker 2: She was coming into her own and reevaluating what she wanted,
Speaker 2: including her marriage with her husband.
Speaker 1: He was like, I'm not dealing with this. Either you
Speaker 1: want to be married or you don't.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, she decided she didn't want to be married, so
Speaker 2: they separated and Tammy got a job as a flight attendant.
Speaker 1: Based out of Chicago.
Speaker 2: She was able to work and travel one week and
Speaker 2: be home full time with her kids the next. But
Speaker 2: in Chicago, she got into a horrible car accident.
Speaker 1: It was actually a situation where I was pronounced dead.
Speaker 1: It took me about six months to a year to
Speaker 1: recover from that car accident. After she recovered, her priorities changed.
Speaker 1: I no longer wanted to be away from my kids.
Speaker 1: That was the main thing.
Speaker 2: So she moved back to Atlanta and got a job
Speaker 2: where she could work from home and focus entirely on
Speaker 2: giving her kids stability.
Speaker 1: I pushed for them to have the best education. I
Speaker 1: never wanted them to feel a difference in their lives
Speaker 1: and the lives of their peers.
Speaker 2: Every other weekend, her kids would stay with their father,
Speaker 2: and on the weekend she had to herself.
Speaker 1: I was hanging out with my cousin, his wife, and
Speaker 1: their friends. We had our little crew, our little clique, and.
Speaker 2: Her cousin would try to set her up on dates.
Speaker 1: They were a professional, successful men, bowyers, doctors. But I
Speaker 1: wasn't interested in dating. I want to be a single mom.
Speaker 1: But my kids and I we travel, you know, we
Speaker 1: do things, and life is still good.
Speaker 2: On one of these weekends, Tammy, her cousin, and their
Speaker 2: friends decided.
Speaker 1: On a whim to go out to a nightclub. It's
Speaker 1: a pretty wild scene. I can remember some women being
Speaker 1: barely dressed. I had never been before. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just hanging with the crowd, she admits to feeling
Speaker 1: a little out of place. I may have just had
Speaker 1: on jeans and a sweater, definitely no club gear, nothing sexy.
Speaker 2: But she was still getting plenty of attention and even
Speaker 2: locked eyes with a guy across the bar, but I made.
Speaker 1: Eye contact with several people, so you know, it was
Speaker 1: nothing until he walked over to the area where we
Speaker 1: were sitting and he just started throwing money over the area.
Speaker 1: Back then, I think they called it making it rain,
Speaker 1: and so he did that, and you know, we were
Speaker 1: just laughing about it, and everyone was like, oh, drinks
Speaker 1: are on Tammy, because you know, they were picking up
Speaker 1: their money. And then he came back and he introduced himself.
Speaker 2: His name was Eric, and he told her he had
Speaker 2: just moved to Atlanta for a fresh start. They hit
Speaker 2: it off and by the end of the night, she
Speaker 2: gave him her number.
Speaker 1: So crazy, because the rule of thumb was always you
Speaker 1: never met anyone in a club.
Speaker 2: Eric called her on Monday and asked her to lunch.
Speaker 1: I didn't see the harm. I didn't see the harm
Speaker 1: in it.
Speaker 2: At the time, Tammy worked as a loan officer and
Speaker 2: Eric was looking to buy a home. It seemed like
Speaker 2: a possible opportunity for Tammy, and he just moved from Chicago,
Speaker 2: where Tammy used to live. So over lunch they swapped stories.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed his company very much. Soon he was very attentive.
Speaker 1: He was a great listener, and he definitely retained information. Well,
Speaker 1: that was an understatement. He was really smart. He went
Speaker 1: to college really early. He graduated from high school pretty early,
Speaker 1: so it was like he was a whiz kid.
Speaker 2: He said he'd been married before, but it ended abruptly.
Speaker 1: He said that he walked in on her and another man,
Speaker 1: so that was the end of the marriage.
Speaker 2: By the end of that lunch, she got the feeling
Speaker 2: that this was their first date, and they scheduled another.
Speaker 1: And so, of course, you know, my next test is
Speaker 1: to take him around people, just to see how he
Speaker 1: does or what they think about him. And he definitely
Speaker 1: passed that test as well. But she was cautious about
Speaker 1: who she brought around her kids. If I met someone,
Speaker 1: I didn't allow anyone to come to my home. We
Speaker 1: would meet out.
Speaker 2: Eric also worked remotely as an electrical engineer, so with
Speaker 2: their flexible work schedules, they went on dates during the day.
Speaker 1: There was no nine to five schedule for neither one
Speaker 1: of us, so there was a great deal of freedom.
Speaker 2: After a few months of casual dating, Tammy's life took
Speaker 2: a turn. The aunt, who was like a second mother
Speaker 2: to her, was living with Tammy at the time, and
Speaker 2: her aunt started to get sick. One night, her health
Speaker 2: declined rapidly.
Speaker 1: She was so ill I had to call paramedtings to
Speaker 1: the house.
Speaker 2: She called Eric to tell him that she was going
Speaker 2: to the hospital and that she was worried. He wanted
Speaker 2: to meet her there to be supportive and in the
Speaker 2: er together, she noticed something interesting about Eric.
Speaker 1: He began interacting with the doctors about my aunt and
Speaker 1: her condition, all these medical terms. I'm curious, like, what
Speaker 1: does he know?
Speaker 2: Eric had said he was an electrical engineer, but at
Speaker 2: the hospital he was talking as if he was a doctor,
Speaker 2: like asking to see the results of tests and pressing
Speaker 2: them to do others.
Speaker 1: At that time, I'm really like, what is going on?
Speaker 1: And that's when he tells me he went to medical school.
Speaker 1: He said he'd.
Speaker 2: Gone to med school at the University of Chicago. Another
Speaker 2: doctor in the room was familiar with the school, so
Speaker 2: the two started chatting about it. Timmy's aunt was stable
Speaker 2: enough to move out of the yr, and finally there
Speaker 2: was an opportunity to ask Eric questions about his past
Speaker 2: and medical school.
Speaker 1: Now, I want to know, why aren't you doing that?
Speaker 1: And that led to the conversation of him sharing with
Speaker 1: me his story.
Speaker 2: His story was unlike anything she'd ever heard. It was
Speaker 2: a nightmare.
Speaker 1: He explained to me that his parents, along with his
Speaker 1: two sons, were taking a trip by car and they
Speaker 1: were involved in an accident with an eighteen wheeler. He
Speaker 1: said the driver was Dui. He said one son may
Speaker 1: have died on the scene. Father died on the scene,
Speaker 1: and his mom and one son were in the hospital,
Speaker 1: but they both passed before he arrived.
Speaker 3: So I was just heartbroken. He's lost both parents, both children.
Speaker 2: She sat there, stunted. He went on to explain that
Speaker 2: the accident derailed his career. He just started working in
Speaker 2: the er when it happened, but he had to quit.
Speaker 1: It was just so devastating for him to know that
Speaker 1: on a daily basis he's saving lives, but here it
Speaker 1: is he's not able to save the lives of those
Speaker 1: that he loved the most. And so it was just
Speaker 1: too soon for him to go back into medicine. He
Speaker 1: just couldn't do it.
Speaker 2: Timmy herself had nearly died in a car accident. With
Speaker 2: Eric sitting in front of her in the hospital waiting room,
Speaker 2: holding back tears, she saw how resilient he was, just
Speaker 2: like her. He'd fought for a new life and a
Speaker 2: new career after a tragedy.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm saying, oh, yeah, I understand, I understand.
Speaker 2: Eric opened up and shared that he was a doctor
Speaker 2: but had to stop practicing after a family tragedy. He
Speaker 2: lost his parents and two young children in a car accident.
Speaker 2: These revelations and Eric's vulnerability brought he and Tammy closer.
Speaker 2: Eventually they made it official. He started coming over to
Speaker 2: her house, where he met her son. It was a
Speaker 2: big step for Tammy. They would make dinner together and
Speaker 2: watch a movie on the couch.
Speaker 1: But on one of these nights, I remember it being
Speaker 1: a Sunday evening, and he received a phone call and
Speaker 1: he wanted some privacy, so he actually came upstairs took
Speaker 1: the phone call in my bedroom, and I just remember
Speaker 1: him yelling for me. Of course, I ran upstairs to
Speaker 1: see what was going on, and he is just like
Speaker 1: an emotional rick. He is crying. I was finally able
Speaker 1: to get him to share with me what was the problem,
Speaker 1: and that's when he told me that his stepdaughter had
Speaker 1: committed suicide.
Speaker 2: Tragedy had struck his life again. It was his first
Speaker 2: wife's daughter. He helped raise her.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this man. I know,
Speaker 1: he's devastated, and I was just like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: just stay here. You don't have to go anywhere. You
Speaker 1: can just stay here with us. You definitely don't need
Speaker 1: to be alone at this time with this devastating news.
Speaker 1: You don't have anyone else. He just have us. And
Speaker 1: so I think from that moment is when things really progressed.
Speaker 2: After that, Eric started staying over most nights. He took
Speaker 2: the death hard, but he didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1: He did tell me of his plans to pay for
Speaker 1: her service, but he said that he could not bring
Speaker 1: himself to attend.
Speaker 2: He channeled his grief into their relationship. Doting on Timmy
Speaker 2: was a good distraction. He would go above and beyond
Speaker 2: to make her happy.
Speaker 1: If I said I used to love these strawberry oreos,
Speaker 1: but I haven't been able to find him. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if they make them anymore, he would pop
Speaker 1: up with those strawberry oreos and say I had to
Speaker 1: reach out to some people over in Europe, but I
Speaker 1: had them shipped and here they are. He was like
Speaker 1: that those are the type things that he would do.
Speaker 1: He even gave Timmy a nickname. I'd never had a
Speaker 1: nickname never, but he gave me the name Princess. And
Speaker 1: I tell you just the way he said it, and
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, and he treated her like one. He's
Speaker 1: buying cards, flowers, no special occasions, just because he's writing coins.
Speaker 1: Once I did introduce him to my clique of friends.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was to say the most wonderful things
Speaker 1: about me. It's like, oh wow, he really loves her that.
Speaker 2: He'd been dating for a few months when Eric said
Speaker 2: he wanted to look at engagement rings together, so he
Speaker 2: took her to a custom jeweler.
Speaker 1: He's telling the guy, you know what he wants and
Speaker 1: he's talking about was a peerless dying. He wanted it
Speaker 1: in an antique setting, and I'm like, what is this?
Speaker 3: I think it was ringing up over thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: I mean, the way he put it together, it was beautiful.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I was pretty excited.
Speaker 2: She was ready to take the next step with him,
Speaker 2: but the safety of her family and her kids were
Speaker 2: always her first priority. She didn't have the ability to
Speaker 2: meet his parents or his friends back in Chicago, so
Speaker 2: she took it upon herself to vet him. She called
Speaker 2: her friend who was a private investigator. She gave him
Speaker 2: Eric's name and birth date and asked him to run
Speaker 2: a background check.
Speaker 1: He came back and was like, oh, he's Coleen. So
Speaker 1: I felt comfortable.
Speaker 2: The findings were reassuring. The next time the topic of
Speaker 2: marriage came up, she told him that's what she wanted.
Speaker 2: So right then and there, Eric got down on one knee,
Speaker 2: but he didn't have the ring.
Speaker 1: The ring that we looked at that he was planning
Speaker 1: to get me that would have to be put on
Speaker 1: hold because of the money that he had to spend
Speaker 1: for his stepdaughter's funeral arrangements.
Speaker 2: She didn't care about the ring, especially when he was
Speaker 2: spending that money on something so important. Plus they'd both
Speaker 2: been married before. They wann't something small anyway. Eric offered
Speaker 2: to take the lead on planning their wedding and sending
Speaker 2: out the invitations.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh, wow, this is different because normally that's
Speaker 1: the behavior of the woman. But he wants to do it, okay,
Speaker 1: So I gave him a list and he created these
Speaker 1: invitations and we sent them out and then I started
Speaker 1: getting the phone call.
Speaker 3: Everyone was just saying Eric was a doctor, I said, what, Well,
Speaker 3: the invitation said doctor Eric Petite and Tammy, So of
Speaker 3: course you know, I reposed him. I said, did you
Speaker 3: put on these invitations.
Speaker 1: That you're a doctor because I never told anyone about that,
Speaker 1: which I did because I felt he was no longer
Speaker 1: practicing wasn't important. And he said, oh, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: did that. It was actually supposed to be a surprise.
Speaker 1: That was going to be my wedding gift to you.
Speaker 1: I was going to surprise he'd let you know that
Speaker 1: once we come back from our honeymoon that I'm going
Speaker 1: back into medicine.
Speaker 2: Then he pulled out a folder of documents he'd been
Speaker 2: waiting to show her, his letters of recommendation and his
Speaker 2: offer letter from a hospital.
Speaker 1: I said, and what brought this? And he says, well,
Speaker 1: there's been some time, and I have you now, and
Speaker 1: I really feel that you deserve a certain lifestyle and
Speaker 1: I want to provide you with that lifestyle. I'll be
Speaker 1: going to work and I'm just like wow, the choice
Speaker 1: felt selfless.
Speaker 2: It meant a lot to her that he wanted to
Speaker 2: provide for her family.
Speaker 1: He was like, just start looking at the top private schools,
Speaker 1: and we need to start looking for another house because
Speaker 1: I want us to be closer to the hospital. You
Speaker 1: want to look at another house, you want to get
Speaker 1: a condo, whatever you want to do, just go do it.
Speaker 1: Just start looking. And I'm just thinking, like, you know,
Speaker 1: someone just called and told me that I have that
Speaker 1: winning lottery ticket. All my numbers met.
Speaker 2: He received an advance from the new job, so after
Speaker 2: their intimate wedding ceremony, Eric paid for a honeymoon to
Speaker 2: the Bahamas. He wanted the whole family to join them,
Speaker 2: Tammy's kids and her mom. It was emotional for everyone
Speaker 2: considering what he'd been through. They were his family now.
Speaker 2: The vacation ended, but the honeymoon didn't.
Speaker 1: And so when we returned, I remember him giving me
Speaker 1: a check. It was a check for five thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: and he's like, moving forward, I'm taking care of all
Speaker 1: of the bills and everything.
Speaker 2: That week, he started his job in one of Atlanta's.
Speaker 1: Busiest yurs so that meant crazy hours. He was always working,
Speaker 1: always on call. I can still remember some nights when
Speaker 1: it was like two or three in the morning and
Speaker 1: he would receive a tics or a phone call and
Speaker 1: he would have to jump up and go to the hospital.
Speaker 2: They shared a car, so every day Tammy drove him
Speaker 2: to work and picked him up. One day, while Tammy
Speaker 2: was driving, they came upon a car crash.
Speaker 1: It looked like it had just happened. The paramedics had
Speaker 1: not arrived yet, so he jumped out to check on
Speaker 1: those that were involved and get their vitals. There was
Speaker 1: one person that seemed to have been critically injured. He
Speaker 1: got out to help, and once the paramedics arrived, he
Speaker 1: was able to give them information on each victim. I
Speaker 1: was impressed, I must say, I was like, Wow, he
Speaker 1: really knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: He could have saved those people's lives. But this responsibility
Speaker 2: came at a price. His ships in the er were grueling.
Speaker 2: When she picked him up after work, he looked spent.
Speaker 2: His scrubs were stained and wrinkled, and he would share
Speaker 2: upsetting stories about what he'd seen.
Speaker 1: I can remember once he was very disturbed because he
Speaker 1: said that there was a child that came in with
Speaker 1: an injury from the playground and he wasn't able to
Speaker 1: save the child and the child died. So of course
Speaker 1: it triggered memories of his children. The work was taking
Speaker 1: a toll on him.
Speaker 2: Emotionally changing him in more ways than one.
Speaker 1: He became somewhat arrogant. I didn't think anything about it,
Speaker 1: you know, I was just thinking back, Okay, So he's
Speaker 1: back in his zone, in his doctor's zone. So that's
Speaker 1: where all of that is coming from.
Speaker 2: On his days off, he rested and watched his favorite
Speaker 2: TV show, episode after episode of Er that was his
Speaker 2: favorite Shaw. After a few months of marriage, they had
Speaker 2: a routine. She dropped him off at work, he texted
Speaker 2: throughout the day to keep her updated on when he'd
Speaker 2: be done, and on the drive home, they debriefed. That
Speaker 2: was their thing. They did this day in and day out,
Speaker 2: week after week, until.
Speaker 1: It was on a Sunday, we went to church and
Speaker 1: came back home, spent the afternoon together, and he said
Speaker 1: he had to go in for the evening. But whenever
Speaker 1: he was away, he would always call and check in,
Speaker 1: see how things are going with myself, let me know
Speaker 1: what's going on with him. It was weird that this
Speaker 1: time I had not heard from him at all. I
Speaker 1: wasn't alarmed, and then the next morning still hadn't heard
Speaker 1: from him. And then once it started getting late into
Speaker 1: the morning, then I did start to worry. I tried
Speaker 1: to call him on both cell phones. No answer, so
Speaker 1: of course I'm thinking, well, maybe he's tied up or whatever.
Speaker 1: After a while, I said, I've never called the hospital,
Speaker 1: but I'm calling today. And when I called, they're like,
Speaker 1: there's no one here with that name. Okay, well they
Speaker 1: don't know all of the doctors, you know, And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: let me try these cell phones again. And finally someone
Speaker 1: answers the cell phone, but it's not him. There was
Speaker 1: a security guard at the hospital. When I asked for him.
Speaker 1: The guy he's like, are you talking about the guy
Speaker 1: that had this cell phone? And I'm like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm talking about. He's like, oh, yeah, well
Speaker 1: he was arrested last night or impersonating a doctor.
Speaker 2: Tammy hadn't heard from her husband and was getting concerned.
Speaker 2: Finally someone answered his cell phone. It was a security
Speaker 2: guard at the hospital who told her that Eric had
Speaker 2: been arrested last night for impersonating a doctor. And strangely,
Speaker 2: the security guard seemed to know Eric pretty well.
Speaker 1: He said, I don't know why you would do that
Speaker 1: because I had really grown to like him, so security
Speaker 1: they were familiar with him.
Speaker 2: Security knew him because Eric had been going into the
Speaker 2: hospital every day when she dropped him off. He got
Speaker 2: in using a forged ID card.
Speaker 1: He had a badge that actually belonged to a doctor,
Speaker 1: but he took that badge and put his picture on it.
Speaker 2: Every day for months, he strolled the hospital hallways and
Speaker 2: mingled with nurses and staff. He introduced himself as doctor
Speaker 2: Eric Petite. Everyone there knew who he was, or thought
Speaker 2: they did.
Speaker 1: There's one thing to say that you're a doctor, but
Speaker 1: to actually go through the act and show up on site,
Speaker 1: and then to actually walk around the hospital and interact
Speaker 1: with other doctors, that is something different.
Speaker 2: Tammy was sitting at her kitchen table hearing from a
Speaker 2: complete stranger that her husband was a stranger himself.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I just kept thinking was
Speaker 1: who is this person? Have I been with? An axe murderer,
Speaker 1: a serial rapist. I've got to find out this person's
Speaker 1: real name. So she started digging. He had a buffle
Speaker 1: bag that was in the closet. Man, I dumped everything
Speaker 1: out of that bag, and I just started going through
Speaker 1: every piece of paper that I could find because I'm
Speaker 1: looking for clues. I came across his divorce decree. It
Speaker 1: clearly states that his wife couldn't find him, didn't know
Speaker 1: where he was, and she fouled for a divorce and
Speaker 1: it was granted on the grounds of abandonment.
Speaker 2: So his marriage hadn't ended like he said, with his
Speaker 2: wife cheating on him.
Speaker 1: But one thing she found did.
Speaker 2: Corroborate his back story death certificates for his children.
Speaker 1: I myself had never laid eyes on a death certificate before,
Speaker 1: with the notary sticker and everything.
Speaker 2: What was real and what wasn't. There was so much
Speaker 2: contradictory information in these documents.
Speaker 1: I also came across some papers showing me that he
Speaker 1: was on probation, so he really wasn't supposed to be
Speaker 1: in Georgia. I came across telephone numbers he goes on
Speaker 1: the probation stuff, and I just started calling those numbers.
Speaker 1: One of the numbers just happened to be to this
Speaker 1: really nice young lady, and you know who she was,
Speaker 1: his mother. His mother was very much alive. There was
Speaker 1: no accident, and she confirmed that no, his kids are fine,
Speaker 1: and there was a stepdaughter, but of course she was
Speaker 1: fine as well.
Speaker 2: The death certificates in her hands were forged. His mother
Speaker 2: said she hadn't talked to her son in years. She
Speaker 2: was a devout Jehovah's witness, and so was the rest
Speaker 2: of his family.
Speaker 1: Eric had left the faith, so because he was no
Speaker 1: longer practicing the religion, his parents were forced or obligated
Speaker 1: to treat him as though he was dead. That's the
Speaker 1: way it was explained to me. So that's why he
Speaker 1: was disconnected from his parents.
Speaker 2: His mom provided some answers, but Tammy was still in
Speaker 2: the dark as to where he was, so she started
Speaker 2: calling local police precincts.
Speaker 1: I found out where they had taken him, and I
Speaker 1: went to visit him because I wanted to hear his version.
Speaker 1: I wanted to see what he was going to say
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: On the drive to jail, she decided she was going
Speaker 2: to play dumb and not reveal anything she knew, just
Speaker 2: to see what he would say.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to see what he was going to
Speaker 1: tell me. He still held on to the fact that
Speaker 1: he was a doctor. She went along with it as
Speaker 1: he stuck to his line with conviction. How do you
Speaker 1: as a doctor end up being in jail? How does
Speaker 1: that happen? And he tried to explain to me that
Speaker 1: he ended up getting into an altercation with someone at
Speaker 1: the hospital, which made no sense to me. I let
Speaker 1: him tell his story and I said nothing.
Speaker 2: Eric finished his story and they sat there in silence.
Speaker 2: Before Tammy got up to leave, she asked him one
Speaker 2: final question, that.
Speaker 1: To say why, and he pretended to not understand.
Speaker 2: He wasn't going to give up the act, so she
Speaker 2: had to walk away. That was the last time they
Speaker 2: ever interacted. If he wasn't going to tell her the truth,
Speaker 2: she'd have to find it herself.
Speaker 1: I was on the mission to find out who was
Speaker 1: this person.
Speaker 2: And she started by finding out if his name was
Speaker 2: even real.
Speaker 1: The only thing I could think of in my head
Speaker 1: was that, okay, if I could make contact with the
Speaker 1: media and have them post a picture of this person.
Speaker 1: I just felt like once a picture was posted, someone
Speaker 1: would come forward and say, oh, I know him.
Speaker 2: So she put him on the news. The story became
Speaker 2: a sensation in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: And I never thought that the story would get the
Speaker 1: attention that it received.
Speaker 2: All that attention did bring some answers. First, that Eric
Speaker 2: Petite was in fact his legal name.
Speaker 1: It did surprise me that he used his real name.
Speaker 1: I did later understand why my friend that had the
Speaker 1: security firm could not find any information on him because
Speaker 1: I didn't have his correct date of birth. So the
Speaker 1: age that he had given me we were the same age.
Speaker 1: I was in my late thirties, but he was actually
Speaker 1: twenty eight.
Speaker 2: Friends of theirs started coming out of the woodwork saying
Speaker 2: that Eric owed them money, just.
Speaker 1: Different people that we know, you know, asking for money.
Speaker 1: So when I'm thinking that he's making money, he's really not.
Speaker 1: And that wasn't all. When he was arrested. He was
Speaker 1: in possession of credit cards that did not belong to him.
Speaker 1: The credit cards belonged to other women. There were women
Speaker 1: that worked at the hospital that had given him their
Speaker 1: credit card because they thought he was doctor Berteite. And
Speaker 1: he may have given some story like oh I ran
Speaker 1: out the house because of an emergency and I left
Speaker 1: my wallet and then thinking that he doctor Fatez.
Speaker 2: So that's how he'd been affording their lifestyle for the
Speaker 2: past year, unborrowed money and stolen credit cards.
Speaker 1: I was devastated. I was very angry and disappointed at
Speaker 1: myself all the level of embarrassment. I was so embarrassed.
Speaker 1: When people hear stories, they always seem to think, Oh,
Speaker 1: that would never happen to me. I would have known,
Speaker 1: you know, or how could you not have known? He
Speaker 1: was a doctor? And you know, and I always ask
Speaker 1: the question, you explained to me how you would have
Speaker 1: known that he wasn't a doctor? You tell me how
Speaker 1: you would have known? Because he's at the hospital.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was at the hospital wearing scrubs with
Speaker 2: an ID car to match. He'd successfully fooled the hospital staff,
Speaker 2: even the security guards for months. But that didn't stop
Speaker 2: people in town from judging Tammy.
Speaker 1: People were harsh. Oh my gosh, some of the things
Speaker 1: that I read I could not read because of you know,
Speaker 1: the things that people were saying about how stupid I was,
Speaker 1: how dumb? How could you you know? It was bad?
Speaker 1: So I was so embarrassed. You know, I couldn't even
Speaker 1: even go to church. I could not because I was
Speaker 1: so embarrassed, so embarrassed.
Speaker 2: Over time, she realized that this wasn't her shame to carry,
Speaker 2: and slowly she started entering the world again.
Speaker 1: It took me about two to three months to just
Speaker 1: blend back into society. I eventually just stopped trying to
Speaker 1: defend myself and I just began to focus on moving forward.
Speaker 1: That's all I focused on.
Speaker 2: Charges were brought against Eric for identity fraud and credit
Speaker 2: card theft. After the sentencing hearing, reporters swarmed the courthouse.
Speaker 2: When asked for comment, Eric spoke directly to Tammy. He
Speaker 2: apologized to her.
Speaker 1: It meant nothing. It meant nothing to me. I did
Speaker 1: not show up for his sentencing.
Speaker 2: I didn't cheer, but she did care about her privacy
Speaker 2: and protecting her family from Eric.
Speaker 1: I changed my telephone numbers so that he would not
Speaker 1: be able to contact me.
Speaker 2: Looking back years later, there's only one thing that still
Speaker 2: haunts her.
Speaker 1: He would have like syringes in his pocket, and there
Speaker 1: was something in those syringes. Some type of solution. Makes
Speaker 1: me think, Like my mom used to always joke around
Speaker 1: and say, oh, you never marry a doctor because he
Speaker 1: knows how to kill you and get away with it.
Speaker 1: She always said that, so I always had that in
Speaker 1: the back of my head. But I'm just so thankful
Speaker 1: that the situation did not have a tragic end. I
Speaker 1: really am today.
Speaker 2: Tammy still lives in Atlanta, and.
Speaker 1: Well, believe it or not, I am married again. I
Speaker 1: was just excited to be with someone that that was
Speaker 1: genuine that had a really good heart, and he was real.
Speaker 2: She finds that sharing her story takes the power away
Speaker 2: from Eric and people like him.
Speaker 1: I'm not afraid to talk about how I was vulnerable
Speaker 1: and how I allowed this person in not seeing the
Speaker 1: danger and just totally letting my guard down, because I'm
Speaker 1: so caught up on the fact that all this person
Speaker 1: has lost everyone and everything and they've lost nothing. It's
Speaker 1: all a lot.
Speaker 2: The end all of our weekly episodes with the same question,
Speaker 2: why do you want to tell your story?
Speaker 1: I don't know why people feel that bay are above
Speaker 1: being deceived. Everyone has an area of weakness, so I
Speaker 1: just don't want us to think that it can never
Speaker 1: happen to me. No one is above this section. On
Speaker 1: the next episode of Betrayal, I.
Speaker 4: Can feel myself start to just float away because what
Speaker 4: I am seeing I just cannot comprehend. And while holding
Speaker 4: his phone in my left hand, I take my phone
Speaker 4: in my right and.
Speaker 1: I just start recording.
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 Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. We're grateful for your support. One
Speaker 2: way to show support is by subscribing to our show
Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal.
Speaker 1: Five star reviews go.
Speaker 2: A long way.
Speaker 1: A big thank you to all of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of
Speaker 2: Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show
Speaker 2: is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted
Speaker 2: and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced by
Speaker 2: Monique Leboard, also produced by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are
Speaker 2: Kristin Mercury and Caitlin Golden. Our iHeart team is Ali
Speaker 2: Perry and Jessica Krinchech. Audio editing and mixing by Matt
Speaker 2: del Vecchio, Additional editing support from Nico Aruka and Tanner Robbins.
Speaker 2: Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by
Speaker 2: my Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.