Transcript of Baby Snatchers

Hey, guys. I'm Kate Maxx.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Join Iheartmedia chairman and CEO, Bob Pittman, for a special episode of the hit podcast, math and magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing, as he interviews the iconic and prolific Martha Stewart in front of a live audience in celebration of her 100th book.

Did you ever think you were gonna wind up writing a 100 books? Yeah.

You did?

Yeah. It's just a minor goal.

Listen to Math and Magic on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to The Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tramorky.

And I'm Holly Frey. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

Each season, we explore a new theme from poisoners

to art thieves. We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures from legal injustices to body snatching.

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.

Listen to Criminalia on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

16 plus hours unaccounted for in the hospital. We have Jared locked out of the birth confined to his car. From Christy's side, we have her text messages to Jared. We have the photoshopped images of the the 2 babies with the placard Jared sent in with her. We have the fact that Christy was escorted out of the hospital by 2 police officers who told Jared she was not allowed back on the premises without an appointment.

And we have the good old fashioned

Western Pennsylvania rumor mill.

So my sales Pennsylvania rumor mill.

So my sales guy, whose wife is a nurse at 1 of the local hospitals

And 1 of the leaders of that rumor mill was Henry.

And, she, like, called a couple of buddies that works at the hospital. She said that there was a lady there that they suspected that she was hanging around the nurseries, and they were suspecting her of wanting to steal babies. So that, like, read like wildfire. And that's when they that's when they threw her out of the hospital.

Molly heard it too. I can't confirm that that was true, but from her being kicked out of the hospital and the restraining order, I think that's what we assumed, especially since I I wanna say that my personal opinion is that she had planned to kill the 1 baby off. And then since the 1 baby was dead, excuse me, bring another baby home. So potentially, she could have stole a baby. Did she?

Thank god she didn't. But I think if she went through this whole 9 months of tricking everybody, stealing a baby wouldn't

be that far off. Even Jared's father, David, had a theory on how Christy was able to remain under the radar.

I I don't know how she checked herself in the in the hospital. We're thinking she used her maiden name. So then Jared

couldn't call over and find out what happened before any

of that kind of stuff.

In spite of all this talk, no 1 could really understand exactly what was going on.

How did this all happen? I'm like, I don't know. I said, it doesn't make sense. How do you everything in the morning, we're getting text, we're getting pictures, everything else, then all of a sudden, it just stops. You don't get anything.

There was a lot of hurt and confusion.

I think it was for me, the hardest part is you've could've had a miscarriage or whatever, but for you to give birth and then be like, oh, they died, just mind boggles me. Yeah. Like, it's it's I don't even know who thinks like that.

She was throwing a fit in the hospital, grabbing scissors and all these things, and she was detained, so they ran a search warrant on her.

All of the pieces of information just led to more questions, but Jared knew 1 thing for certain.

Like, there was a wanted sign up. If you see these this person on

A maternity ward or NICU or

And they put my name on there too. I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah. They they put my name on there.

It was like, if you see these 2 people

Jared's photograph is now I'm Tricia Lafauche. I'm a writer, director, actor, and federal criminal defense attorney. I'm going to tell you a story that's all too real about love, lies, and the lengths people will go to for attention. It's a story that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about truth, about reality, and about what happens when the 2 collide in the most unimaginable way. From audio up and just sweep press productions, this is The Unborn.

The wanted sign that Jared is referring to is actually a be on the lookout or OLO alert. And it's the first piece of concrete evidence that we have that Christie was in fact detained and escorted out of the hospital, not because of a warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket, but because she was suspected of attempting to kidnap at least 1 baby. And how I know that for sure, the title of the bolo alert reads, infant security risk. I have it here in front of me, and I'm going to read it in its entirety as well as describe it now. The BOLO alert has 3 pictures of Christie on it.

And over her picture, it reads, infant security risk. Christy Akren, with her date of birth, is not permitted on grounds unless seeking medical attention. If seen, immediately contact MWH police and security. The phone number to the police is listed as well as the fact that she drives a burgundy SUV, and the SUV's Pennsylvania license plate is listed. On the other side of the bolo is Jared's photo, and it's just 1 photo.

And over his photo, it reads infant security risk with his date of birth and then all of the same information listed under Christy's Bolo with her 3 photos. Most notably, that he is not allowed on grounds unless seeking medical attention. And that if he is seen on the grounds, the police should be contacted immediately. We spoke to a nurse who works in the hospital about an hour from where Christy gave birth. Her name is Gretchen.

I'm a Peds ICU nurse.

Not only did Gretchen see the bolo, it was hanging in her unit.

Yeah. Those were the ones that were hung up.

To be fair, the bolo does look like a wanted sign. It's an entire 8 by 11 piece of paper that contains Christy's information and her 3 photographs. And beside it is Jared's information and 1 photograph from his driver's license. Christy's photos. 1 is from her driver's license, a second from her Facebook profile, and they both look like the bubbly girl people have described her as.

The third photo, however, stands out in sharp contrast. It's her mugshot from that evening when she was detained at the hospital. Her hair is pulled into a disheveled bun. Her mask is hanging still attached to her left ear. She appears to be wearing a hospital gown and her facial expression, she looks not just expression, she looks not just sad, but lost, despondent.

Gretchen and Jared are not strangers. Their parents are friends. Jared is older than Gretchen by a couple years. And while they are not as close as Jared and Molly, Gretchen feels like she knows Jared pretty well. I asked her what it felt like to see her friend's photo hung up all over her hospital on the BOLO alert, labeling him as an infant security risk.

I felt sad for him that he was getting drug through all that, and I felt like I was screaming at people. This is not Jared. This is not him. He is not going to take any kids from this unit. And I think people looked at me like, you are crazy.

Because they're like, you don't know that. But, like, I was like, I have 110%. I would put money on it. I put my life on it that Jared was not into that facility to take a child. Was Christy?

I don't know. But I knew Jared was not coming to that facility.

Her feelings of Jared's innocence aside, Gretchen said that it was not uncommon for hospitals to share information about suspicious activity on maternity

wards. Anytime there's, like, a suspicious activity, it's passed around to each hospital. And if there's a they call them baby snatchers. If there's, like, a kid person in the area that is known to try to break into a hospital, like, there are pictures posted on everywhere we can, like, watch for these people. We're on lockdown to get in and out of the facility.

You always have to have, like, a swipe badge, and they're, like, extra cautious during those times.

As it relates to Jared and Christie, however, she heard something a little bit more specific.

Hey. There's this mom and dad that are claiming they had babies, and they didn't. And the dad's confused as to where these babies are. Like, just be cautious because that's a big sign of baby snatching.

Security and staff are not playing around when it comes to the safety on the ward.

Babies have a what's basically like an ankle monitor on. So they put this little tag on them when they're born. And the second that they get even close to a door, everything locks down. 9 times out of 10 on a unit that has kids, there's panic buttons. And now a lot of floors in general have panic buttons.

So if something happens, you can press the panic button, and it also alerts the police.

It's not just the babies whose movement is limited. It's all patients and guests who are given badge to keep them where they're supposed to be.

And that badge only gets them if they're supposed to be on the 8th floor. It only gets them to the 8th floor. They can go from the lobby to the 8th floor and back down. They can't stop on any other floors. They can't roam around the hospital, anything like that.

As much as Gretchen was put off by the BOLO because she knew Jared was not a risk, she wasn't surprised by it.

They're everywhere in a hospital. It's like, be on the lookout for this person. Be on the lookout for this person. It is beating your head. It's in your email.

It's posted everywhere. You see that and then it's like, oh gosh. I see them. You're doing whatever you can to, like, keep them right where they're at.

Gretchen knew that the hospital where Christie gave birth had its own police force in addition to hospital

security. Bigger hospitals have their own police force. I mean, they they are police officers. They carry guns. They are able to arrest you.

They are able to fine you. They are able to do whatever they need to do. Smaller hospitals oftentimes have security officers, but the hospital that she was at was a hospital with a security team inside and a police team outside.

The level of security where Christy gave birth is very high, but sometimes even the best laid plans don't always work out. It wasn't the first time this hospital had dealt with a potential baby snatcher. In fact, 8 years prior, this happened at the same hospital on the same ward.

When we heard about it, time seemed to stop.

A newborn baby kidnapped from the hospital, every minute feeling like a lifetime for his frightened family.

Somebody got my baby. Please, god. Please return my grandson. We were with police tracking down every lead.

And there when they put someone in cuffs. Right now, the search for baby Bryce.

Breaking news coverage starts right now.

A tearful and desperate plea after a newborn baby is taken right from the hospital by a stranger wearing hospital scrubs. We've been breaking into programming all afternoon.

Initial news reports said that the kidnapper was posing as the mother's sister. That was false. She was posing as a hospital nurse, complete with hospital issued scrubs.

Now police warned her to the hospital when this was reported that grandmother told me a woman posing as the mother's sister came here dressed in scrubs and somehow removed the baby from the nursery as the family was preparing to be discharged today.

Luckily, baby Bryce was found 5 hours after she was taken from the

hospital. Gabrianna Moore cried at her sentencing saying it was the biggest mistake she's ever made. She apologized to the victim's family, to the staff at McGee, and to her own family. And in the end, she was sentenced to jail time, 10 years probation, and she must register at the Megan's Law Offender for life. Take a look at the video.

Moore plead guilty to taking 3 day old Bryce Coleman from Magee Hospital in August of 2012. She admitted to posing as a nurse and walking out of the with a newborn that prosecutors say she put in a zippered bag. 5 hours later, Moore was found hiding with a baby who was not hurt. She was facing as many as 60 years in jail, but instead was sentenced to 30 to 60 months with credit for time served, which means she could be out in as little as 8 months or spend the maximum time locked up, which amounts to another 3 years. Her attorney says Moore suffers from both mental and physical health issues that prevent her from having her own child.

For weeks prior to the abduction, Rihanna told her family that she was pregnant, even posting pictures of her pregnant belly and sonograms on Facebook with the caption, oh my, I just wanna give him so much love. Sound familiar? But Brianna plead guilty and took accountability for her actions at her sentencing before the judge. Here's Brianna's statement to the court at her sentencing.

I'm so sorry. I regret my actions and accept responsibility. No mother should have to go through that heartbreak. You have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy. All I wanted was to love someone.

Unfortunately for this young lady, her story doesn't have a happy ending. Tragically, she passed away in prison while serving her sentence. She was 22 years old. We reached out to her attorney for comment and our calls were not answered. Brianna Moore obtained access to the maternity ward by purchasing hospital issued scrubs from a uniform store the day before her attempted baby napping.

The protocol of the store is that employees are required to ask for proof that a person requesting scrubs actually works at the hospital they're requesting scrubs for, but they didn't follow that protocol. We're not sure how Christy gained access to the ward, but Gretchen was able to provide some insight.

Any person coming into an ER seeking medical attention, they're gonna take you in a room. They're going to put you in a gown. They're gonna treat you. At that point, they're not there to say, you're pregnant. You're not pregnant.

I mean, we have patients all the time that you walk in the room and you're like, where did they go? They disappeared. You find them down in the cafeteria. You find them outside smoking. You find them all over creation.

Which fair, we knew that Christie went into the ER and got a hospital ID banned. She could have wandered out of the ER when no 1 was looking, but that wouldn't explain how she got access to a locked maternity ward. Until Gretchen said this.

So for her to make it somewhere else or did they take her up there? You know, did the ER say we have a pregnant woman down here? They went down, security escorted her up there. A lot of a lot of escorts in the hospital have security with them.

If Christy entered the ER presenting as visibly pregnant and told them that her water broke, it's completely possible that they took her upstairs without giving her a thorough exam. That's a real probability. They would mean 1 less hurdle for Christy to sneak on the ward, but there's so much time unaccounted for. It seems she must have spent at least some of it in the ER.

As soon as you go into an ER, they put you in a gown. And, you know, if something does happen, it's you don't have clothes on that we're trying to cut off. We can put heart monitors on you quickly. Like, a lot of them are snap. You can just pull them and they pop right open, and you can do whatever you need to do.

Was Christy erroneously escorted onto the maternity ward from the ER at the direction of hospital staff? Did she leave the ER and sneak onto the locked maternity ward? The truth is we just don't know. Either way, Christy looked pregnant visibly and would have been dressed for the part. We heard about fake sonograms and constant Facebook posts and the fact that Christy looked pregnant.

But there were a lot more tangible ways that Christy was able to convince Jared and everyone around them that she was pregnant.

Hey, guys. I'm Kate Maxx.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout?

Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Martha Stewart has been a household name for over 4 decades and still isn't done. Join Iheartmedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman for a special episode of the hit podcast, math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing as he interviews this icon in front of a live audience to celebrate her 1 hundredth book, Martha, the cookbook, 100 favorite recipes with lessons and stories from my kitchen.

Did you ever think you were gonna wind up writing a 100 books? Yeah. You did?

Yeah. It's just a minor goal.

This intimate and wide ranging conversation between covers the pivotal decisions in Martha's career, the philosophy that has guided her, and the source of so much of her creative inspiration.

They actually looked at the July issue that I had prototyped, and they said, this is fabulous. What would you do next July?

And I said, well, living

is a limitless subject matter.

Listen to math and magic on the Iheartradio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Chelsea Handler here. This week on the Dear Chelsea podcast, Riley Keogh discusses the memoir she cowrote with her mother Lisa Marie Presley. But it's also such a gift to be able to sit here and say as an adult woman, I had such a good mother.

Yes. That is a gift.

I know. You know, she certainly was not like a, I don't know what a perfect mother is.

Well, she wasn't a traditional mother.

She wasn't a traditional mother.

I am so grateful to have had her as as a mother. That kind of love.

It felt like when you were on the plane ride coming home, texting with your dad about whether or not she was alive still, there was almost an acceptance

Mhmm.

From you that that was the way it was gonna be. Mhmm. Instead of sometimes, you know, we resist and fight the reality that we're in.

I think a lot of my lifetime has been acceptance. There's been a lot of things where I've just had to like, there's nothing to do other than surrender to what's happening.

I just kept feeling, like, in

the moment, like, the only way out is through. And I just felt like I had to feel it

all and had to be present through it.

Find dear Chelsea on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The 1 thing that kinda jumps out in front of me is the at home pregnancy test. It was I think it was called at the right time. There was a 2 pack and she she wanted to do this little box to keep, like, here's the first when I would go to the hospital. Here's my bracelet. Here's the pregnancy test, which I thought was way out of whack.

I mean, why would you wanna keep something you peed on? That throws me off. But getting back to this pregnancy test, she made it a point to, hey. Come watch this turn into 2 lines.

Why would anyone want to keep something they peed on?

So I'm looking back at at it now, and I did a couple of searches of what an at home pregnancy test and what the brands are. And after the whole debacle of, hey. I'm not pregnant, I type it in on Amazon. I'm like, fake pregnancy test. Up pops the first 1 at the right time.

It's a picture of the box

and everything. It's like an April Fools prank.

It's a fake pregnancy test. It's like $17 and that flipped my whole world upside down. So I took $17. I didn't think anything I didn't even know they made fake ones.

I also Googled fake pregnancy tests, pregnancy tests that always come out positive. Not surprisingly, fake sonograms also came up in the search. And sure, they are labeled as pranks, April fools, joke pregnancy, etcetera, which I'm sure they label them that way for legal reasons. And Jared and I even discussed certain situations wherein I guess it could be funny, but certainly not in this case. They also seem to go out of their way to create a scenario where they look real, which I guess in some cases is necessary for a true gag, but here, we're not laughing.

A final side note, you can use water on them. You don't need urine. So it's possible. Hopefully, that's what Christy did. In true Christy form, she also Snapchatted her positive pregnancy test for all to see.

But she was sure to cut off the identifying factor of at the right time. When Jared wasn't working or rehabbing their

home, he brought Christy to her doctor's appointments at the hospital even though he

wasn't allowed to go in. Yeah. I saw her go into the front of the hospital, and she wasn't allowed to go in.

Yeah. I saw her go into the front of the hospital where I had picked her up from the fiasco night. She told me, hey. There's free parking over on the the side street here. I parked on the side street.

I'm making phone calls and stuff, not thinking anything of it. It was just a normal checkup.

How long was she in there?

I'd say it was probably an hour and 15 minutes.

Keep in mind that it's the peak of COVID. You're not even supposed to be in the hospital unless you're really sick. And she's pulling off an hour, hour and 15 minutes. Babies are measuring this. They weigh this.

Hey. This one's bigger than

the other

1. We gotta do this test next. Like, it was methodically thought out. Do this test next. Like, it was methodically thought

out to a t that is me not being a father. I've never been through this.

I just take it for what it is. There was a lot of Jared just taking it for what it is as it relates

to what Christy told him about her pregnancy. But is as it relates to what Christy told him about her pregnancy. But it wasn't all the time. In fact, Molly witnessed Jared questioning Christy's position that he was not allowed in the hospital.

Jared and I were on

the way to Moe's 1 day, and he had been informed by 1 of our co workers that he could go into the hospital and she called him on, the phone and it was on bluetooth on the on the car and she was mother effing him up and down that she knows he's not allowed in the the hospital, and why would why would he say that? I think she said she would do anything for him to be in that room and, like, she yelled at him for 5 minutes screaming, and Jared kept saying, like, it's okay. Like, I just thought I'd ask because someone told me that you were allowed in, and then that was it. But then she went to lunch with us, and she was completely fine after she just screamed at him for 5 to 10 minutes.

Sound eerily familiar? That's because it is. Remember when Christy and Jared first found out they were pregnant? Christy flipped out at his initial response, telling Jared she was leaving and never coming back, only to tell him hours later she wanted to go and tell their families and put it on Facebook. Again, another outburst followed by a hard pivot in emotion.

But this particular Christy outburst After

Christy

After Christy told Jared that they were having twins, she informed him that her doctor said that 1 of the twins was definitely a boy, but they were unable to determine the gender of the second baby. It was no secret to everyone who wasn't Jared that Christy was desperate for a baby girl. Christy insisted on having a gender reveal party to announce the gender of their second baby. And even though Jared thinks gender reveals are dumb, he, of course, obliged his pregnant wife.

I mean, I think it's gender reveal. Just dumb. It's a miracle. It really is. And why does that have to be turned into a party?

It should be a happy time in your life.

But Jared had a theory as to why she wanted that party.

I think it's just an excuse to put something else on social media.

And Molly had her own theories. I think

I don't know. I have so many opinions. I think it's it's just so weird looking back on it now knowing that it was fake. So like, did she was she the 1 that wrote the gender in the cards so then she got the boy and the girl like she wanted? But anyway, that's beside the point.

When we went, they cut open a cake. It was 2 layers, and they had already known that it was a boy from, I think, the blood test or, like, HCG level, something like that. I don't know for sure.

So they

already knew they were having a boy, and then the second layer was the second gender.

3, 2, 1.

And as soon as she cut into the cake, she was screaming and jumping and whatever else. So, like, we assumed it was a girl because, like, they didn't announce it. But other than that, it was pretty normal. And then they did, like, those smoke bomb things and, like, kissed and posted a picture and everything.

Interestingly, Molly was very aware that Christy wanted a boy and a girl, and Jared wasn't. You know that the way that gender reveals work is that you bring an envelope to the cake maker, and allegedly, the doctor writes on

This piece of paper.

Piece of paper, boy or girl, but the person who delivers the envelope to the cake maker doesn't look at the envelope. Correct. So so that they're also surprised, especially if it's the mother who does that. Yeah. Obviously, if it's the sister or the friend and they wanna cheat, they can, but the whole point of the reveal is that you

Everyone's surprised. Right.

So are we now in retrospect thinking that Christy wrote girl on a sheet of paper, put it in an envelope, and hand it to her friend?

Had to be. Right. You didn't have. You weren't pregnant.

So do you remember how she reacted when you cut the cake and it was pink?

Like, full of joy. Ecstatic.

Christy had her gender reveal. And in Jared's defense, it seems pretty unlikely that he would be able to guess that it was Christie who wrote girl on the paper and gave it to her friend. We contacted her friend who made the cake and she agreed to talk to us. But after multiple attempts to interview her with no response, we are left imagining that scene and how it went down. Aside from the home pregnancy test and the sonograms that Jared actually framed, there was at least 1 more piece of hard evidence that contributed to Jared's completely believing that Christy was pregnant.

She was receiving and he was paying for her doctor bills.

Throughout the pregnancy, he's getting things in the, you know, mail. Hey. A doctor's visit this day. You had a doctor's visit that day. So she was going and complained, like, going to an OBGYN and having complaints of this and complaints of that.

And so he was getting the bills in the mail. So he was like, oh, these are all her doctor visits. He's paying these bills in the mail. And in reality, she's just going there. I have, you know, I have these weird cramps this day.

I have this, that day. So she would always go and see a doctor. She would have a doctor's visit. She would go to the ER and get a bracelet, like, she was seen there.

Jared is receiving and paying for doctor visits. On 1 hand, it takes a lot of forethought to attend doctor visits you don't need just so your husband will get a bill and believe you're pregnant. On the other hand, it could be evidence that Christy really believed she was pregnant. And no matter how many times they told her she was not, she kept going back. There was another element to this time in Jared and Christy's marriage that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around.

Jared tells me there were multiple times that Christy accused him of being unfaithful to her during her pregnancy. She would send him Tinder accounts with his name on them, alleging that even though they were married, he was still on Tinder. Why worked so hard on building this lie and threaten

to blow it all up?

What the hell? Why would I do that? I mean, I got married for a reason. Took that to us part. And that I remember that would I made sure to make that part of my vows.

So I was angry. I really was. That I would be accused of this when all I did was go to work, come home, try to make our house nicer, make sure you had everything you wanted. You weren't paying for anything. I went above and beyond to make sure you were happy and had everything you needed.

Did you ever say to her these are obviously fakes?

Yes. So I was like, these are fake. I even emailed Tinder. I'm like, hey. These aren't me.

Why are they popping up? They ended up telling I got an email back. They're like, these have been taken off for you. We're sorry that this happened to you.

At the time, Jared didn't suspect Christie was behind the fake Tinder accounts because why would she do that? But thinking about it now, perhaps it wasn't about blowing up her marriage. The Tinder accounts, the allegations of infidelity could have all been smoke and mirrors, a ruse, a distraction to keep Jared focused on other things rather than, for example, asking Christy questions about information he was hearing as to who can accompany a pregnant woman into the hospital. This potential ruse isn't the only thing that Christy pulled to make sure Jared was not allowed in the hospital. Remember, her original due date was November 24, 2020, but she tested positive for COVID at that time.

The doctors pushed the birth. But as it turns out, she also was testing positive for COVID after Thanksgiving. In fact, up to and including the date of her birth, in totality, Christy tested positive for COVID for 20 days.

I never saw any proof. She tested positive around Thanksgiving, and then she also tested positive in December 12th, which shouldn't have been possible because once you get COVID, there's there's a 14 days that you can test positive

Right.

And it goes away or I don't know if it goes away, but you don't test positive anymore. Then you aren't able to get COVID for another 90 days.

When Christy tested positive for COVID near Thanksgiving, that was very close to her original due date. But Christy told Jared that the doctors pushed the date of her scheduled c section, which could have potentially screwed up her COVID cover for why Jared couldn't come in. The night Christy had Jared drop her off, she told him she had to go in and test for COVID. And if she was still testing positive, he couldn't come in. From inside the hospital, she told him she was still positive 20 days after her initial positive test.

Do you

think she had COVID?

No. I truly don't think she had COVID. I think it was to keep me out of a hospital.

This is what Jared says in hindsight. But in the moment, he didn't question it. The same way he didn't question a lot of things. We know that Jared mostly took what Christie said at face value. And if he questioned it, he got berated and let it go.

But should Jared have asked more questions? Should he have figured out that his wife was never pregnant?

Any man, if I would say you can't come to this appointment because of x, y, and z, they would be like, oh, okay.

Gretchen, for 1, clearly does not think so. She doesn't think there's a chance in the world that Jared could have figured out his wife wasn't pregnant.

Being in the medical world, we have dads that are in their forties, and we say something and they turn and look at mom, and mom's like, okay. And they're like, okay. Because they have no clue. They have no clue, you know, what a pregnancy looks like, what you have to do for a pregnancy. I mean, I'm not saying every man doesn't, but majority of young guys, especially, they have no clue.

And then you have it during COVID where, like, you can't go to doctor's appointment. It's all over, you know, the news. Like, oh, parents are giving birth by themselves because, you know, so and so is not allowed in and, like, all these different things. Like, how would he know?

Gretchen also saw Christy herself and Jess believes there would be no way to know.

I had seen her in person, and you'd be like, oh, yeah. She's pregnant. She's pregnant. She looks good for having twins, but she's pregnant. She's definitely got 2 babies in there.

You would never have known. I mean, as a medical professional, there's times I can look at a ultrasound, and I'm like,

what am I looking at?

You know? So as a male that has no medical background

During her career as a nurse, Gretchen has treated people with various psychosomatic conditions.

And we have plenty of people that come in and they're absolutely convinced that they have x, y, and z wrong with them, and they are in the ER every other day with it. And it's to the point, like, they have theirselves so convinced that they're showing signs and symptoms.

This is Gretchen sharing things she's heard vocalized in the ER when a woman is experiencing

They tell them a lot like it's not there, and those people are so convinced that it's there. They're like, you're missing it. Scan me again. You're missing it. Take more blood.

I know I'm pregnant. Take more blood. I have this pregnancy test, and there's a faint line on it. And I'm telling you I'm pregnant. And how how would my period stop if I'm not pregnant?

You have no heartbeat. You have no baby on the ultrasound. You have nothing. And then at that point, it is a full blown psych disorder. There is something that is not not right in her like, there's a chemical imbalance there that is making her 100% believe or have an ulterior motive of why she was doing that.

Hey, guys. I'm Kate Maxx.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout?

Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Martha Stewart has been a household name for over 4 decades and still isn't done. Join Iheartmedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman for a special episode of the hit podcast, math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing as he interviews this icon in front of a live audience to celebrate her 100th book, Martha, the cookbook, 100 favorite recipes with lessons and stories from my kitchen.

Did you ever think you were gonna wind up writing a 100 books? Yeah. You did?

Yeah. It's just a minor goal.

This intimate and wide ranging conversation between friends covers the pivotal decisions in Martha's career, the philosophy that has guided her, and the source of so much of her creative inspiration.

They actually looked at the July issue that I had prototyped, and they said, this is fabulous. What would you do next July?

And I said, well, living

is a limitless subject matter.

Listen to math and magic on the Iheartradio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Chelsea Handler here. This week on the Dear Chelsea podcast, Riley Keogh discusses the memoir she cowrote with her mother, Lisa Marie Presley. But it's also such a gift to be able to sit here and say as an adult woman, I had such a good mother.

Yes. That is a gift.

I know. You know, she certainly was not like a I don't know what a perfect mother is.

Well, she wasn't a traditional mother.

She wasn't a traditional mother.

I am so grateful to have had her as as a mother. That kind of love.

It felt like when you were on the plane ride coming home, texting with your dad about whether or not she was alive still, there was almost an acceptance

Mhmm.

From you that that was the way it was gonna be. Mhmm. Instead of sometimes, you know, we resist and fight the reality that we're in.

I think a lot of my lifetime has been acceptance. There's been a lot of things where I've just had to like, there's nothing to do other than surrender to what's happening.

I just kept feeling, like,

in the moment, like, the only way out is through. And I just felt like I had to feel it

all and had to be present through it.

Find Dear Chelsea on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We've spoken extensively to Jared's friends and family about Christy, to a psychiatrist and or survivor of phantom pregnancy, to help us understand the whys of it all. But what about Christie's side? We wanted to know more about Christie's relationship with her own family. Was there something there that had a part to play in office? How would you describe Christy's relationship with her mom, Sheila?

Sure. They never saw eye to eye.

She had said that she, like, went through some stuff with as in, like, with her mom.

I don't wanna say she

had bad home life when she was younger, but that's what I got.

She I she kept saying throughout, you know, our relationship with her that her and her mom had this, like, falling out. Her mom, like, just up and left randomly and then, like, came back for her wedding and, you know, wore this, like, black dress. She was all mad about it.

Other people, like Henry, for example, had stronger opinions on Christy's mom, Sheila, for better or worse. In Henry's case, worse.

Her old man, they got back together, and they tried to work things out. And then she went batshit crazy and run off the reservation and shot and killed all her farm animals, Tried to burn her house down and oh, yeah. She's certifiable, the mother is. Like, slaughtered them in front of the kids. Yeah.

It was, it was pretty crazy.

So that's Henry's opinion. But for part, he didn't feel like he knew Christy's mother, Sheila, very well. But he did know and love her grandmother. In fact, his grandmother and Christy's grandmother were pretty close friends.

It's kind of a funny story. Like, we live so close together. Our grandmothers actually grew up together and are friends. Well, after this had all come out, and my grandmother holds a grudge. You do wrong.

It's the end of the world. They used to be pretty close and would go and get lunches and stuff. They don't do that anymore.

Jared talks about the effects this whole event had on his younger siblings.

This whole thing actually had a pretty big toll on my brothers and sisters. I'm the oldest, so they they'll all kinda look up to me,

or at

least I feel they do. Maybe they don't. Maybe they're making fun of me at home right now. Who knows? But my sisters have kinda gotten real close to Christy, and they had they had a true friendship that I'd saw.

And, like, my my youngest sister, she was very close to Christie and always was texting and Snapchatting and stuff like that.

Like, she

doesn't even do that with me. Even my brother would send her pictures and stuff like that, a fish he was catching or anything like that, like stuff you send your buddies. And I didn't see that happening. I mean, it was it was so quick, but the relationship between them was so true to my siblings. I can't speak for what Christie felt about it, but they they were truly heartbroken when they found out all of this.

At the time, Jared's siblings were all in their teens, and I could feel that Jared felt responsible for placing him in that level of pain.

You can do wrong to me. Fine. But when you involve my family and and you hurt them, that really pushes it to another level.

I guess that's how your grandmother felt.

Maybe that's where I get it from.

Jared had spent so much time being excited, anticipating the arrival of his twins. Then in the blink of an eye, internalizing the heartbreaking aftermath of their death only to find out it was all a lie.

I mean, I it it's hard to say. There's no words for how I was feeling. It was mixed emotions. I was sad. I was very angry.

I felt deceived, but I felt relief. I felt so much relief that 2 2 children didn't pass on. I mean, even if they weren't mine, you you hate to hear about it. It. Children are kind of sacred.

I mean you help them grow and flourish into these people that we walk around with. And to see them be taken, it kind of drains me of how I feel. But just seeing that that there were no babies, it really the relief set in. I felt 10 times better.

And while he was still processing all of this, he had to figure out what to do next.

So I actually called 1 of my state trooper buddies to figure out what I should do. It was a Saturday night. It was 7, 7:30. There were no lawyers open. It's Saturday.

I didn't have a family lawyer. So I'm trying to figure out what do I do, and I decide I gotta go back to the rental house, and act like everything was okay.

Jared decides he is not going to tell Christy he spoke with the hospital and that he knows the truth.

I knew

I had to keep it a secret because she still had access to all the money.

What money?

All the money from the donations and the stuff that was donated because her house had just burned down a few days prior.

Next time on The Unborn.

Christie, my wife, ended up waking me up. I remember seeing smoke hovering above the bed.

And then all the shit hit the fan, and all the wheels fell off, and then everybody wanted their money back, and it turned into a little

bit of a shit show.

But I think once it got to, you know, an escalated point, she freaked out, fight or flight type thing.

Her her plan wasn't thought out. She didn't think it would go this far, and she needed some time to or an excuse to move the due date. At this point, I open my safe, I count all my firearms, and I realize one's missing.

That's next time on The Unborn. The Unborn is a production of Iheart podcasts, The unborn is a production

of Iheart podcasts, Audio Up,

and JeSuite Press Productions.

Created by Trisha LaFox and Frank Rodriguez Malle. Produced by Alden Cohen and Rachel Foley. Executive produced by Jimmy Jelinek, David Thwaites, and Jared Gustaf. Edited by Gerard Bauer and Preston Dawson. Sound design and mixing by Jeremiah Zimmerman.

Hey, guys. I'm Kate Maxx.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Join Iheartmedia chairman and CEO, Bob Pittman, for a special episode of the hit podcast, math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing, as he interviews the iconic and prolific Martha Stewart in front of a live audience in celebration of her 1 hundredth book.

Did you ever think you were gonna wind up writing a 100 books? Yeah.

You did?

Yeah. It's just a minor goal.

Listen to Math and Magic on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to The Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tramarcchi.

And I'm Holly Fry. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

Each season, we explore a new theme from poisoners to art thieves.

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures from legal injustices to body snatching.

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.

Listen to Criminalia on the Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.