Transcript of The Wrong Guy | EP 4 | The Confidante New

This is an iHeartRadio podcast, Guaranteed Human.

Lisa, tell them about our new show.

We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Ioannou. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

Now in my 30s, Being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Melissa Jeltzen, host of the What Happened to Her podcast. We're kicking off the season with the Sandra Birchmore story, a case the police wrote off as a suicide in a snowstorm. Her family never bought it, and the man they suspected wore a badge.

You never know who that devil is because he's wearing a disguise. Sometimes it's a police uniform.

And you can get access to all episodes 100% ad-free with an iHeartTrue Crime Plus subscription exclusively on Apple Podcasts, available only to iHeartTrue Crime Plus subscribers. So don't wait, head to Apple Podcasts, search for iHeartTrue Crime Plus, and subscribe today.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest Ooh, I scammed them. What?

I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Scam Goddess.

I'm Hamza. And I'm Martin. And we're the hosts of Out of Character, the funniest podcast in the entire world.

The team, the Russian queen.

I like that.

It's a good way to promote ourselves.

We are 2 funny guys having fun, enjoying ourselves. And we just know how to have fun unlike anyone else.

If you guys like fun conversations, hot takes—

what else?

Not too hot, just kind of lukewarm takes to get your mind thinking a little bit. Listen to Out of Character on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last we left Adam Mejia, he was on the phone calling his mom.

I just can't believe it. I just cannot believe it. Just pray. Please, just pray.

He was being arrested for stalking Carl, Carl's boyfriend Drew, and his best friend Paul. It was a crime Adam didn't commit. And now he was being taken to jail.

When I got into the cell, I just sat there and I prayed. I'm like, God, please let the truth come out. Please just let this truth come out. Let the truth come out. I don't know how many times a day I prayed that. Bring me peace and comfort and let this truth come out. Let it be told. And now the truth is coming out.

I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal, season 6. Episode 4, The Wrong Guy.

I'm a little nervous.

What you're feeling is the normal response.

Really?

You wouldn't know.

Yeah, I do this for a living, and even when I get interviewed, I start to get—

Okay.

Let's just start with you introducing yourself.

Okay.

My name is Adam Mejia. I am 34 and from Wisconsin.

After several weeks of discussions, Adam Bahia agreed to talk with us. It wasn't an easy decision for him. He knew we would be talking about some of the hardest moments in his life. So you can understand, he was scared.

I thought I would be looked bad upon for having a past. I was like, am I gonna be made the bad guy? You know, I didn't know.

The fear makes sense. When it came to framing the bad guy, Adam was an easy choice. After all, he was a convicted felon. As you heard in episode 1, Adam had 4 DUIs, and on his last one, he was sentenced to 15 months behind bars.

Not only was I in jail, but I was in one of the worst jails in Wisconsin.

You were in there with really violent people.

I was.

Dodge Correctional Institution, where he finished out his sentence, houses gang leaders, rapists. People such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, and Chris Watts have called this place home.

I fought for my life in there, and I've never fought in my life. I was harassed. I was bullied. I heard people calling me faggot. You're going to get your ass beat, faggot. I had to fight. Am I proud of it? No. But I had to take care of myself.

Those kinds of environments, they can change a person. And as the months passed, Carl worried about how prison was changing Adam. He thought about the night of Adam's accident over and over and over again. And he worried Adam blamed him for his incarceration.

He said it quite frequently that, like, yeah, he was upset that I didn't call an Uber.

If Karl would have stopped him from getting behind the wheel the night of the accident, Adam wouldn't have been in prison. So when Karl started getting threatening texts and they appeared to come from Adam, it all felt easy to believe.

My ex is out for revenge.

For Karl, everything added up to one coherent narrative. Prison had hardened Adam, and now he was trying to make Carl suffer as he suffered. But when I spoke to Adam about being locked up, I quickly realized that wasn't the real story at all. In this episode, you're going to hear Adam's perspective. What was really going on with Adam while Carl was experiencing months of harassment To understand how Adam came to be cast as the bad guy, we have to go back to the beginning of Adam's story.

As a child, I enjoyed life. I was the kid that would play in the woods all the time with his buddies, swing on vines, catch snakes in the grass. I was, you know, hanging out with all the kids outside.

But he knew pretty early on that he was different than the kids he hung out with.

I came out at the age of 13.

He was just a kid wanting connection, and he tried to find it online.

I decided that I was going to meet my first boyfriend off of MySpace. The person made me feel loved, made me feel wanted, but he had other intentions. This boyfriend claimed he was 16 and turned out to be 24.

Adam was still only 13. As a heads up, he is about to discuss an experience of childhood sexual assault.

We went to a neighbor's house, and he put an Ambien in a shot of vodka. It was the first time I had a drop of alcohol, and I woke up next to him naked. After that incident, I just turned into a different person.

Adam tried to keep what happened to him a secret. But his mom, Michelle, could tell something was wrong.

For a period of time, he became more not caring about himself. He went through a period of cutting. And I had to kick his door in.

She said, something happened to you. You're not the same person. What happened? And I just bawled. And I told her, I was sexually assaulted. And she flipped out.

Adam's mom helped him to report the assault to police. His attacker went on to serve 5 years in prison. But the assault took a huge psychological toll. Michelle tried to be there for her son.

She took care of me. But it's the person themselves. If they are not fully taking in the help and understanding, it's not gonna benefit them. And I would say after that, my life spiraled. I would take cold medication to get high off of. Anything that would numb the pain, I would run with.

You just wanted to be checked out.

Absolutely. I was huffing gasoline at the age of 16. Thank the Lord I had my dog, 'cause the gas can fell on top of me and drenched me in gasoline, and I passed out. I woke up in a psychiatric hospital.

No interventions worked to get him on track. By 21, alcohol became his drug of choice.

I realized that I had a problem when I Turned 22 after my second OWI.

OWI stands for operating while intoxicated. In Wisconsin, it's what they call a DUI. By 2012, when Adam was in his early 20s—

I realized, oh shit, this isn't normal. I can't stop. If it's 1, it's 12. If it's 12, then I go to the bar afterwards. And then it became where I was buying booze with change. And then I realized I started developing patterns. I would hang out with this group of people. They would realize I had a problem, try to help me, and I would cut them off cold and say, fuck off.

But Carl was different. Carl accepted Adam in a way few people had.

When Carl loves, he loves. Carl would do anything. No matter what the circumstances were with dating, I know for a guaranteed fact that Carl would always be there because we did have a great friendship. We could just literally act like stupid dumbasses and scream out the window and dance in the car, and nobody judged because we both were just goofy together. We were best friends for 5 years, and then we dated for like 8 months. Sometimes friends are just not meant to be together. I feel like when we got into a relationship, it was a bad patch and toxic, and I wish that didn't happen sometimes because I feel like we would still be best friends to this day.

Adam knew that he could count on Carl. During COVID Adam had a particularly hard time. He's a nurse, and in 2020, he was treating the pandemic's most vulnerable patients, the elderly.

I was taking care of patients and watched 80 people die, and I remember there was a 105-year-old patient I had to call the family on and let them know that they couldn't come in and he was passing away. And that really affected me. I went to the liquor store on my break. And I didn't go back to work. I drank it in the parking lot, and Carl was there for me during that.

As we heard from Carl's perspective, that relationship was rocky. Carl tried to be supportive, to do anything to cheer him up. Oftentimes that involved alcohol.

And that's where it started spiraling with our relationship. We would drink together. We tried to live that happy little life of having our own place, both working, having our apartment. And at the time, Carl, I would say, was enabling my alcoholism because we would go to the bar. He knew I had a problem with alcohol. I would get fucked up, and then we'd get home and he'd yell at me for getting too fucked up.

Maybe it was his only way of trying to find connection with you.

I think that was because I loved booze. And I mean, what other way to show an alcoholic that you love them than to buy them booze?

They were living 2 different realities. Carl saw drinking as part of their social life, something they could do together. But for Adam, it was something he needed for survival.

It just messes you up when You feel like your body actually needs this alcohol to live. I would be so sick if I didn't drink. I remember praying on my knees in the kitchen of our apartment for me not to drink that day, and then I would go and drink, and then I would pray to stop feeling drunk, and I would drink a half a pint of vodka and then go to the bar and drink more. and then come home sloshed, gone. And the next day I would pray for the hangover to stop. I was a mess. Anyone that had to deal with me as I was actively drinking, I feel sorry for because I was disgusting. I was wild.

Adam knew something needed to change.

2 weeks before I moved out, I called Rogers Rehab and they put me on a waiting list. I called numerous times and I couldn't get in.

While he was waiting for an opening, Carl reached a breaking point.

Carl said he wanted to take a break. It's like, you're gonna break up with me? Really? And I was an alcoholic and I was immature and I was like, I'm moving out. Have fun. I moved out that week. I was depressed. I drank even more. And that led up to the car accident.

Can you talk about that a little bit?

I was at work. After work, I went to the bar, had a few shots. And then because the bar was so close to my old house, I went to the house. I wanted to see the dog.

Adam missed Wrigley, the dog they adopted together. He didn't realize he was walking in on a birthday party.

I didn't remember it was his birthday because I was so drunk. And then Carl opens the door and his whole family is there. And then I remembered, oh, fuck, it's his birthday. And I'm making a fool out of myself. And I know to this day The look on Carl's face, he wanted to help me. And then he shut the door on me.

Adam felt like he had to get out of there.

I went into my car, and I put my cell phone on the mount. I was driving on the back roads. And I remember my cell phone dropped, and I went to go grab my cell phone off the floor, and I was I was so drunk that I lost control a little bit, and then I was like, oh shit, I'm really drunk, I shouldn't be driving. And I went probably a minute down the road and I blacked out. I remember the impact, like the airbag hitting me. And I remember hearing the glass shattering along the concrete. I remember getting out of the car and running over to the person that I hit to see if they were OK. And the guy told me that he was OK. But I don't know how I got out of the car. I don't remember any of that.

It's a miracle that no one was seriously hurt. Both cars were totaled. The rear end of the other car was crushed. The back windshield was missing, and there was debris scattered all across the roadway. But we've had to gather all that from crash photos because for Adam, the entire incident is a blur.

I was gone. I was so gone. I literally woke up and I was in jail.

I'm Melissa Geltzman, and in my new podcast, What Happened to Her, I'm bringing you new stories and conversations every week. Stories about women whose deaths were too quickly ruled a suicide.

She was starting to get worried and get scared for her safety.

Stories of survival.

The only difference between me and her, frankly, was a little bit of luck, because by all rights, I should be dead.

Cases that everyone else called closed.

They can't convict her, right? Like, she has so much evidence.

These stories all start in the same place, with a woman failed by a system that didn't believe her, that didn't protect her, that didn't see her.

No child should ever experience that, and we were babies.

She did all of these brave things and came out and spoke about it, and he got a year.

You never know who that devil is because he's wearing a disguise. Sometimes it's a police uniform.

Listen to what happened to her, her on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Lisa, we should tell them about our new show.

Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Ioannou. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

I'm not going to get anywhere fighting.

That is wild. I learned that about you today.

Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business, and I've always got something to say. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world.

We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always Because you told us how accommodating you are.

Obviously I would do what I think I could do to, to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight.

Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Liar.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, Fraud and those who practice it. Each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debrae, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer.

Ooh, I scammed them.

What?

I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers Call your grandparents. Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you. And I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Scam Goddess.

There are thousands of podcasts that can tell you how to better yourself. Get Worse with Kyle Pru is not one of those podcasts. So if you're interested in getting thinner, going to therapy, starting peptides, setting boundaries, taking supplements, making your bed, or getting closure, then I would humbly recommend other podcasts. But if you're interested in blackmail, love bombing, cloning yourself, or getting revenge, then we've got a little something something for a dastardly individual like you. Take a listen to some of the incredible advice we've given so far. Fake a back injury. Get the spray tan. Up your alcohol consumption. Only women should be allowed to have guns.

Kill him. Kill him.

Kill him with a gun.

Listen, it's already over.

I'm all about lying if it's something that really happened. The next time a bear is running at you, you just calmly stop what you're doing, you look the bear in the eye, and you say, this isn't you.

Do not preserve Relationships, you don't need them. You only need one thing, and that's the Get Worse podcast. Listen to Get Worse with Kyle Pru on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

After his 4th drunk driving incident, Adam was arrested. His mother Michelle had the opportunity to bail Adam out while he awaited sentencing.

I could have put my house up as collateral.

But you weren't going to do it?

No.

Why not?

Because this was the 4th time, and I didn't want him to keep doing it. It's like, first, second, third. How many times is it going to take? If he didn't go through the whole process, He wasn't gonna change.

He was sentenced to serve 15 months in prison. And the places where he served time were no country clubs.

There were inmates dying from overdoses, from getting drugs. There were inmates dying from slamming their head against walls. I've seen people throw up blood, and COs said, well, clean it up. And we're like, we have no cleaning materials. We're using our sheets just to clean up blood and vomit off the floor.

Immediately, Adam was targeted for being gay. On the first night—

I stayed up 24 hours because I was afraid someone was going to come and murder me.

In the coming months, he was often sexually harassed. There was even a time when a man threw himself onto Adam naked.

I'm not going to lie, I beat the shit out of him. I didn't get charged with anything because the COs didn't care.

CO stands for correctional officer, and at times the COs could be worse than the inmates.

I ring a bell to ask for a garbage bag and the CO says, why are you gonna put yourself in it? When I was strangled from behind, nails dug into my neck, the COs watched it happen.

Adam held strong throughout the beginning of his sentence. But as the months dragged on, he was worn down.

I wanted to kill myself. I couldn't handle it anymore. Couldn't handle the harassment. I couldn't handle every second being called a faggot as I walked to the bathroom. I couldn't fight anymore. I was done. I just kept praying. I'm like, please, God, just take this away.

And then one day, after he'd already served over a year, There came a moment he'd never forget.

I was sitting on my bunk, completely depressed, and then I look out the window and there's a dove sitting on barbed wire. And it was a dark sky and it was very light. And I thought to myself, oh my gosh, that bird's going to get hurt. And then the bird just flew away. The bird didn't get harmed and he was sitting on barbed wire. And I felt like it was a message from God that it's going to be okay. Look at the bird.

He realized the rest of his time in prison didn't have to only be a time of struggle. It could also be an opportunity, a fresh start. For the first time in a long time, he was off all drugs and alcohol.

I was sober that whole time, and I was learning myself. And I feel as though if someone would have bailed me out, I would have probably gone back to it. And my mother told me, absolutely not. Hard love here, honey. Hard love. I'm not doing it. I hated her for it, I'll tell you that much. But now I love her for it. I needed that time to mature. I needed to sit, rest, and just be silent and hear my own thoughts. And I did. And then I was released 16 months later, and I'm sober.

Adam was released from prison in February of 2023. In those first few months after his release, Adam was focused on building a new life, staying sober, finding a job, establishing a routine. But in May 2023, out of the blue, he got a strange text from a mutual friend of him and Carl.

She messaged me and she was like, you need to leave Carl alone. I don't understand why the first thing you do is you get out and you start harassing Carl. And I'm like, hold on, what are you talking about?

Adam and Carl had ceased communication shortly after Adam went to jail. It had been nearly a year and a half since a word had passed between them. But this mutual friend had evidence that Adam had sent messages.

So she sent me screenshots, and the screenshots show a profile picture of me in my nursing uniform on Grindr.

And they showed texts between Adam and Carl's friend Paul. With Adam warning Paul that Carl was no good.

He's a pathological liar and a sex addict that switches up his boys on the daily. I said, I can definitely reassure you that is not me. One, I don't speak like that. And 2, Carl knows me very well. I hate Grindr. Why would I be on Grindr?

Adam assured their friend he had no interest in communicating with Carl.

I care about Carl. I wish him the best. But we're in 2 different stages of our life. And I'm trying to get my life together. I don't need this drama.

What were you thinking?

I literally was like, what the fuck is going on? Like, I was right about ready to go to bed. I stayed up half the damn night because I'm like, I just got out of prison.

Adam was being especially careful because he was on probation. He had to meet with his probation officer regularly, and if he was found to be violating any of the terms, he could be sent back to prison.

In prison, I heard so many stories about people being on PO, and it's easy to get put back in jail. I thought Carl hated me from the whole situation with the car accident and for my being drunk that whole relationship. I thought he had built up anger and he was going to come after me.

Maybe it sounded a little paranoid, but after all that he went through behind bars, Adam had PTSD. Going back there was his worst fear. Seeing this text, his mind started to spin. He worried that Carl was already trying to get his probation revoked. During a routine meeting with his probation officer, Adam's fear was validated.

She's like, do you know a Paul, a Carl, and an Andrew? And I'm like, I know a Carl. And she's like, well, he is calling and saying you're harassing him. They're all calling and saying you're harassing them.

Adam was confused. He was being accused of harassment, but these people were strangers to him. He had no idea who Andrew was, and he knew Paul in name alone.

And I told my PO that. I'm like, I never even met that man. And she's like, I know, calm down. I know you had no part of this because you have told me from day one that you think that something like this might happen. So we're gonna put it on the back burner for a little bit. If it happens again, I have to question you. I'm like, okay, cool. So a few weeks go by and I get a phone call and she's like, Honey, it's happening again.

Adam felt a wave of panic. The PO told Adam about new messages he'd supposedly sent, but they couldn't have been him. These texts were sent at times he was sound asleep or when he was in the middle of busy work shifts. Adam sent all the evidence he had.

Watch logs from my sleep, my work schedule. She believed me. It was good.

But then Adam got a new probation officer, one who didn't know him yet. Now he was receiving reports that Adam was harassing Carl, and law enforcement down in Kenosha was getting more and more convinced of Carl's version of events.

I wanted to prove I was in the clear. I had nothing to do with anything. I changed my number and I got off social media, and it was still happening. I had detectives calling me, telling me I was doing this stuff. And I said, no, I would never do anything like this, ever. They wouldn't listen. They would not listen.

He was being framed. And he didn't know where to turn for help.

How do you report it to police when police are the ones telling you, you're doing this?

Adam remembers the day he realized just how serious these accusations had become.

When I was served restraining orders from Andrew and Carl, I was fucking terrified. I got a lawyer.

Carl was taking this to court. To Adam, the possibility of returning to jail now felt closer than ever, especially once Adam saw the evidence against him. The calls and texts that he supposedly sent. Whoever was behind all this, they knew what they were doing.

It looked so legit, the conversations. I asked my mom, I'm like, do you think I really did this?

His anxiety was so severe and the messages were so convincing that he began questioning his own mind.

I started to think that it was me. That I could have possibly done this and not be aware of it. I thought maybe I could have sundowning after 4, and you start doing things that you don't know, you know? And my mom's like, no, you didn't do it. And I'm like, well, I'm starting to think maybe I'm not fully here. I thought maybe I was going crazy.

I'm Melissa Geltzman, and in my new podcast, What Happened to Her, I'm bringing you new stories and conversations every week. Stories about women whose deaths were too quickly ruled a suicide.

She was starting to get worried and get scared for her safety.

Stories of survival.

The only difference between me and her, frankly, was a little bit of luck, because by all rights, I should be dead.

Cases that everyone else called closed.

They can't convict her, right? Like, she has so much evidence.

These stories all start in the same place, with a woman failed by a system that didn't believe her, that didn't protect her, that didn't see her.

No child should ever experience that, and we were babies.

She did all of these brave things and came out and spoke about it, and he got a year.

You never know who that devil is because he's wearing a disguise. Sometimes it's a police uniform.

Listen to What Happened to Her on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you Lisa, we should tell them about our new show.

Oh my God, Lexi, we have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me.

I'm Lexi Iwanu. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

I'm not gonna get anywhere fast.

That is wild. I learned that about you today.

Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business, and I've always got something to say. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world.

We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating You are.

Obviously I would do what I think I could do to, to fight the fight, but there's only so much fight I can fight.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie to me.

Liar.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, Fraud and those who practice it. Each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debrae, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer.

Ooh, I scammed them.

What?

I could talk to you for an hour.

You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers Call your grandparents. Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you. And I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Scam Goddess.

There are thousands of podcasts that can tell you how to better yourself. Get Worse with Kyle Pru is not one of those podcasts. So if you're interested in getting thinner, going to therapy, starting peptides, setting boundaries, taking supplements, making your bed, or getting closure, then I would humbly recommend other podcasts. But if you're interested in blackmail, love bombing, cloning yourself, or getting revenge, then we've got a little something something for a dastardly individual like Take a listen to some of the incredible advice we've given so far. Fake a back injury. Get the spray tan. Up your alcohol consumption. Only women should be allowed to have guns.

Kill him.

Kill him.

Kill him with a gun.

Listen, it's already over.

I'm all about lying if it's something that really happened. The next time a bear is running at you, you just calmly stop what you're doing, you look the bear in the eye, and you say, this isn't you.

Do not preserve Relationships, you don't need them. You only need one thing, and that's the Get Worse podcast. Listen to Get Worse with Kyle Pru on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Adam's mother Michelle knew her son wasn't behind the harassment, not only because she trusted him, but because she was getting targeted too. She was getting calls from unknown numbers at all hours of the night, just like Carl and Drew were. And one evening around 11 o'clock, Michelle noticed a strange truck outside of her house.

I saw the flashing lights first. What are these flashing lights doing? I went outside. I'm like, can I help you? Oh, yeah, we got a call that we're supposed to pick up a car. And I'm like, no, I don't have a car. For you to pick up. I had no idea what was going on. There were phone calls being made to me at this time that were bizarre. But here's somebody standing in my front yard coming to pick up a vehicle at 11 o'clock at night. And I'm just like, you got to be kidding me. And then it kept getting more and more and more. And then I have locksmiths calling me. Yeah, you need to have your locks changed. Just bizarre things.

In her mind, it was so clear that Adam wasn't behind this. Why would her own son harass her? They loved each other. Meanwhile, in Kenosha, Carl Bryan was sitting at his computer, continuing to add to his spreadsheet, certain that his ex, Adam, was behind every message. But Adam and his mother had their own theory.

I honestly thought Carl was involved. Carl was the only one I knew. And I was like, why is he taking it out on me?

And then in early November 2023, Michelle received an anonymous message that made her blood run cold.

He knows what he's done, and he will pay the consequences for breaking the law. Can't wait to see it.

They were talking about her son. She was right there with Adam, terrified that he'd be sent back to jail For something he didn't do. And she was scared for her own safety.

I was not sleeping. I was afraid to go outside. I took my gun outside with me because I didn't know what was going on. And then I started having nightmares about someone standing outside my window. I was always looking, always looking after that.

She knew her son would never put her through that kind of hell. Through it all, she stayed grounded in that truth. But more and more, Adam was losing his grip on reality.

Because I had people telling me I'm doing this stuff, I thought I was losing my fucking mind. Like, what if I did do it and I just don't remember?

By this point, Adam had a new boyfriend, Josh, and Josh had a front row seat as Adam fell apart.

Josh would reassure me all the time, babe, I was with you. You didn't do any of that. And I'm like, Josh, how is it that all of these people are telling me I'm doing something and I didn't do it?

What is that like to feel that someone else is recreating reality?

I felt my skin crawl every day. I was paranoid. I would lock the door when Josh would leave. I started drinking again, which only made matters worse, you know? And then when I did drink, I'm like, did I do something when I was drunk? I had panic attacks. I lost a lot of weight. I was vomiting every day.

I was sick.

Adam was constantly looking over his shoulder.

I would be at Goodwill with Josh and hand him my card and say, I have to go. I'm freaking— I can't do this. He saw me get up with a butcher knife out of bed because I heard a noise. I was a cat on a tin roof. I heard a noise and I had a fucking knife in my hand. Like, I was losing my fucking mind. To the point where Josh was like, let's get you some help. We're gonna get you in a treatment program where you can get help with your alcoholism and also work on this.

So Adam entered an intensive outpatient program.

And those counselors were amazing. One of them's Danielle, and she was so kind, and she talked me through to reality. Like, this is reality. And this is what's in your head right now, and there's no way you could be the one doing it.

By then, Adam wasn't just trying to prove his innocence, he was trying to convince himself of the truth. But it would take something happening in court for him to finally recognize what was real.

So I had to go to court after hiring a lawyer for these restraining orders, and when I went to court Down in Kenosha, they said, oh, I'm sorry, Carl and Andrew dismissed the restraining orders.

There wasn't enough evidence connecting Adam to the harassment. You'd think Adam would be happy to hear the news. Instead, he was outraged.

I'm like, fuck no. These motherfuckers are fucking with me and my fucking mental status now.

To Adam, this was proof that Carl was inventing all of this. Just to get back at him. As much as Carl was convinced that Adam was the mastermind behind the harassment, Adam was now equally convinced that Carl was trying to destroy him.

They're trying to get me put back in prison. And then I realized I'm not going crazy.

Towards the end of 2023, things seemed to quiet down. Adam didn't hear much. But after the new year, He went to his regular probation meeting.

And I go in, I check in, and I sit down in the lobby, and I see all these police coming in. And I thought in my head, oh, fuck. What now? And I met George for the first time.

He's referring to Detective Allison George.

And she said, are you Adam? And I said, yeah. And she said, give me your phone. And I'm like, OK. And she's like, do you know why I'm here? And I'm like, I kind of have a feeling this might be regarding the Carl situation. And she says, do you mind if we go down to the station? I have a few questions for you. And I'm like, that's fine. I'll do whatever you need.

Very quickly into questioning Adam, Detective George brought up the Cubs hat. You've heard about this hat before. It's the one Carl received so many taunting texts about, the one he knew Adam had taken. Adam couldn't believe detectives were questioning him about a baseball cap.

When I moved out, I took the damn hat because I thought I looked cute in it. That's it.

He'd forgotten all about it.

I think I was packing drunk. Like, how am I supposed to remember a hat from over 2 years ago? And then Detective George says, if we find this hat in your house, you are coming into custody. And I'm like, OK. And then they left. And I'm trying to think as I'm sitting there. And I'm like, do I have this fucking hat?

You heard this earlier. He did have the hat. And when detectives searched his partner's house where he was living, they found it.

In my basement, in a frickin' storage tote on my storage rack. back in the corner in the dark. And they found this hat. And she said, well, Adam, turn around.

We are going to take you into custody. We have to take you to the Contra Costa County Jail where you will be booked and see a judge.

No way.

Yes.

I was kind of just in shock.

It was everything he had feared— losing probation, being returned to custody, to a cage. A crime was being committed against him, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

What can I do?

For detectives, it all added up. The story about the hat just made sense. Still, Detective George let Adam know the investigation was not over.

I can tell you that I'm going to be digging a lot deeper into this. And if there is someone else who is causing issues, whether it's someone else also bothering your mom, I will find them, OK?

Detectives placed him in the car for the drive to Kenosha. You've probably guessed by now that Adam is a spiritual person. And as he sat in the back of the police car, Adam steadied himself. He heard a sign.

On the way down, there was Christian music playing on the radio. And I felt like God was telling me, just calm down and be OK. Just pray. And I didn't get into the cell until, like, midnight. So when I got into the cell, I just sat there and I prayed. I'm like, God, please let this truth come out. Let the truth come out. Next thing I know, Detective George is pulling me out of the cell, and she says, we need to talk in my office. And I'm like, okay. And as we're walking down, she goes, I know it wasn't you.

You see, Detective George had told Adam she was going to dig deeper into the case, and she did. Back when she first joined the investigation, she had subpoenaed the spoofing apps used to make the fake texts and calls. They would reveal the real name and number of whoever was behind the harassment.

Unfortunately, that process takes some time.

Originally, Detective George expected the answer to support their working theory that it was Adam, which is why she moved ahead with his arrest.

It was actually the day after we arrested Mr. Mejia that I received back the results from one of the spoof companies.

And the records changed everything.

In every big case, you have a moment where it's like, holy shit. and everything falls together. And usually it is the best moment in the world. But in this case, it wasn't. After I got those subpoena records back, I grabbed Nick Morrow—

Her detective partner.

And I said, we got to do something right now because we had Adam Mejia sitting in jail for something he really didn't do and had nothing to do with. I started making phone calls. I called the district attorney's office. And I said, hey, you got the wrong guy. And I said, I am 100% sure you need to release him right now.

She herself went to the Kenosha County Jail and let him out of his cell. When she told him he was free to go—

I just started bawling. And I still get emotional talking about it. That was probably the biggest blessing she could have ever told me because there's been so much mental discombobulation in my head where I thought it was me. I thought it was Carl. I didn't know who it was. Now it's back to me, and I'm in jail, and now it's not you. We know it's not you. And I just lost my shit. I lost my shit. I'm like, what do you mean? Who is it? She's like, I cannot tell you right now, Adam. I'll let you know in 3 days when I arrest the person. She goes, but I do want to tell you. That this is the most fucked up situation she's ever been in in her career. She's like, I thought it was you. I literally thought it was you.

On the next episode of Betrayal, detectives go after the real perpetrator.

What's on that phone that you think we know about that you don't want us knowing about? What do you mean? Like, well, because, like, I don't— You know what I mean, dude. I, I don't mean to be rude, but we just told you that your phone number is being associated with a spoof thing, and it's a little bit more than just one time doing it.

If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team or want to tell us your betrayal story, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. That is betrayalpod@gmail.com, or follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod or me @itsandreagunning. To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at betrayal.substack.com. We're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and review. 5-star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeartPodcasts. The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunnick, written and produced by Kerri Hartman and Caitlin Golden. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our production manager is Kristen Melchiorri. Our associate producer is Leah Jablow. Additional support by Curry Richmond and Olivia Hewitt. Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Krejnczak. Audio editing and voice acting by Tanner Robbins. Mixing and mastering by Matt Del Vecchio. And special thanks to Carl Bryan, Adam Mejia, Matt Rolsey, and their communities.

Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by MIB Music. And for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Lisa, tell them about our new show.

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I'm Lexi Ioannou. We're 2 best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart.

And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one. Which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

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