October 24, 2024 • 41 mins
A doctor’s tragic backstory falls apart after his arrest. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
My mom used to always joke around and say, oh,
you never marry a doctor because he knows how to
kill you and get away with it. She always said that,
so I always had that in the back of my hand.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
change everything. Tammy McCrary is a polite, easygoing woman. She's
quick to laugh and to make herself laugh. She says
that above all, her kids are her world.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I have three children, and I treat all of them
as though they are the only and now my grandchildren,
Oh those grandkids. That's a whole other level of love.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Tammy grew up in Atlanta, where she was raised by
her mother. She was an only child, just her, her mom,
and her mom's sister. As a kid, Tammy dreamed of
having a nuclear family of her own.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Most of my friends were in a two parent home.
I did not have the family structure of father and mom,
so I admired dad. I wanted to have that for
myself and for my children.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
In high school, Tammy started dating a guy she'd grown
up with.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
We hadn't known each other a long time and he'd
always teased me about being his wife.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
It was a joke at first because Tammy had other plans.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I had planned to go to college, but when she
was seventeen, I found out that I was expected.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tammy's college plans were put on hold and the two
got married.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We both attended the same church, so we had a
small wedding.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They loved being young parents. Looking back, she says it
was easier for them than she expected. By the time
they were twenty, the young couple bought a house in
the suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I am an only child, he's an only child, and
we both change from middle class backgrounds, so we didn't
have those struggles that you would think that a young
couple would have.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
They were stable and surrounded by community. Tammy and her
husband had a second child a few years later.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I had so much support from my mom, from his parents,
and I had an aunt that was like a mom
to meet the saw. I was all about my kids.
That was my life.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
When her kids started school and she had more time
on her hands, things started changing for Tammy.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I just got to this place where I wanted more.
I wanted to do more the time that I would
have been in college, you know, having that freedom. I
was a mom and I was a wife, so I
missed it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
She wanted to grow her career, and she realized she
missed out on so much in her early twenties. Maybe
there was more out there for her.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I remember getting all of this attention from these guides.
I was like, am I really bad attractive?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was coming into her own and reevaluating what she wanted,
including her marriage with her husband.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He was like, I'm not dealing with this. Either you
want to be married or you don't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Ultimately, she decided she didn't want to be married, so
they separated and Tammy got a job as a flight
attendant based out of Chicago. She was able to work
and travel one week and be home full time with
her kids the next. But in Chicago, she got into
a horrible car accident.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It was actually a situation where I was pronounced dead.
It took me about six months to a year to
recover from that car accident. After she recovered, her priorities changed.
I no longer wanted to be away from my kids.
(04:36):
That was the main thing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So she moved back to Atlanta and got a job
where she could work from home. And focus entirely on
giving her kids stability. I pushed for them to have
the best education.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I never wanted them to feel a difference in their
lives and the lives of their peers.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Every other weekend, her kids would stay with the father,
and on the weekend she had to herself.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I was hanging out with my cousin, his wife, and
their friends. We had our little group, our little clique, and.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Her cousin would try to set her up on dates.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
They were a professional, successful men, bowyers, doctors. But I
wasn't interested in dating. I want to be a single mom.
But my kids and I we travel, you know, we
do things, and life is still good.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
On one of these weekends, Tammy, her cousin, and their
friends decided on a whim to go out to a
night club.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's a pretty wild scene. I can remember some women
being barely dressed. I had never been before. But you know,
I'm just hanging with the crowd.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
She admits to feeling a little out of place.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I may have just had on jeans and a sweater,
definitely no club gear, nothing sexy.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But she was still getting plenty of attention and even
locked eyes with a guy across the bar, but I made.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Eye contact with several people, so you know, it was
nothing until he walked over to the area where we
were sitting and he just started throwing money over the area.
Back then, I think they called it making it rain,
and so he did that, and you know, we were
just laughing about it, and everyone was like, oh, drinks
(06:33):
are on Tammy, because you know, they were picking up
their money. And then he came back and he introduced himself.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
His name was Eric, and he told her he had
just moved to Atlanta for a fresh start. They hit
it off and by the end of the night, she
gave him her number.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So crazy, because the rule of thumb was always he
never met anyone in a club.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Eric called her on Monday and asked her to lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I didn't see the harm. I didn't see the harm
in it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At the time, Tammy worked as a loan officer and
Eric was looking to buy a home. It seemed like
a possible opportunity for Tammy, and he just moved from Chicago,
where Tammy used to live. So over lunch they swapped stories.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I enjoyed his company very much. Soon he was very attentive.
He was a great listener, and he definitely retained information.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, that was an understatement. He was really smart.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
He went to college really early. He graduated from high
school pretty early, so it was like he was a
whiz kid.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
He said he'd been married before, but it ended abruptly.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
He said that he walked in on her and another man,
so that was the end of the marriage.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
By the end of that lunch, she got the feeling
that this was their first date, and they scheduled another.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And so, of course, you know, my next test is
to take him around people, just to see how he
does or what they think about him. And he definitely
passed that test as well. But she was cautious about
(08:21):
who she brought around her kids. If I met someone,
I didn't allow anyone to come to my home. We
would meet out.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Eric also worked remotely as an electrical engineer, so with
their flexible work schedules, they went on dates during the day.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
There was no nine to five schedule for neither one
of us, so there was a great deal of freedom.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
After a few months of casual dating, Tammy's life took
a turn. The aunt, who was like a second mother
to her, was living with Tammy at the time and
her aunt started to get sick. One night, her health
diaclined rapidly.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
She was so ill I had to call Paramittings to
the house.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
She called Eric to tell him that she was going
to the hospital and that she was worried. He wanted
to meet her there to be supportive and in the
er together, she noticed something interesting about Eric.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
He began interacting with the doctors about my aunt and
her condition, all these medical terms. I'm curious, like, what
does he know?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Eric had said he was an electrical engineer, but at
the hospital he was talking as if he was a doctor,
like asking to see the results of tests and pressing
them to do others.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
At that time, I'm really like, what is going on?
And that's when he tells me he went to medical school.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
He said he'd gone to med school at the University
of Chicago. Another doctor in the room was familiar with
the school, so the two started chatting about it. Tammy's
aunt was stable enough to move out of the r
and finally there was an opportunity to ask Eric questions
about his past and medical school.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now, I want to know, why aren't you doing that?
And that led to the conversation of him sharing with
me his story.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
His story was unlike anything she'd ever heard. It was
a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He explained to me that his parents, along with his
two sons, were taking a trip by car and they
were involved in an accident with an eighteen wheeler. He
said the driver was Dui. He said one son may
(10:53):
have died on the scene. Father died on the scene,
and his mom and one son were in the hospital,
but they both passed before he arrived. So I was
just heartbroken. He's lost both parents, both children.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
She sat there, stunted. He went on to explain that
the accident derailed his career. He just started working in
the er when it happened, but he had to quit.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It was just so devastating for him to know that
on a daily basis he's saving lives, but here it
is he's not able to save the lives of those
that he loved the most. And so it was just
too soon for him to go back into medicine. He
(11:55):
just couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Timmy herself had nearly died in a car accident. With
Eric sitting in front of her in the hospital waiting room,
holding back tears, she saw how resilient he was, just
like her he'd fought for a new life and a
new career after a tragedy.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Of course, I'm saying, oh, yeah, I understand, I understand.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Eric opened up and shared that he was a doctor
but had to stop practicing after a family tragedy. He
lost his parents and two young children in a car accident.
These revelations and Eric's vulnerability brought he and Tammy closer. Eventually,
they made it official. He started coming over to her house,
where he met her son. It was a big step
(13:01):
for Tammy. They would make dinner together and watch a
movie on the couch. But on one of these nights.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I remember it being a Sunday evening, and he received
a phone call and he wanted some privacy, so he
actually came upstairs took the phone call in my bedroom,
and I just remember him yelling for me. Of course,
I ran upstairs to see what was going on, and
he is just like an emotional rick. He is just crying.
(13:35):
I was finally able to get him to share with
me what was the problem, and that's when he told
me that his stepdaughter had committed suicide.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Tragedy had struck his life again. It was his first
wife's daughter. He helped raise her.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Of course, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this man. I
know he's devastated, and I was just like, well, you know,
just stay here. You don't have to go in there.
You can just stay here with us. You definitely don't
need to be alone at this time with this devastating news.
You don't have anyone else. He just have us. And
(14:16):
so I think from that moment is when things really progressed.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
After that, Eric started staying over most nights. He took
the death hard, but he didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He did tell me of his plans to pay for
her service, but he said that he could not bring
himself to attend.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
He channeled his grief into their relationship. Doting on Timmy
was a good distraction. He would go above and beyond
to make her happy.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
If I said I used to love these strawberry oreos,
but I haven't been able to find him. I don't
even know if they make them anymore, he would pop
up with those strawberry oreos and say I had to
reach out to some people over in Europe, but I
(15:05):
had them shipped and here they are. He was like
that those are the type things that he would do.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He even gave Timmy a nickname.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'd never had a nickname never, but he gave me
the name Princes and I tell you just the way
he said it, and oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And he treated her like one.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
He's buying cards, flowers, no special occasions, just because he's
writing coins. Once I did introduce him to my clique
of friends. I mean, he was to say the most
wonderful things about me. It's like, oh wow, he really
(15:56):
loves her that.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He'd been dating for a few months when Eric said
he wanted to look at engagement rings together, so he
took her to a custom jeweler.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
He's telling the guy, you know what he wants, and
he's talking about was a peerless dying. He wanted it
in an antique setting, and I was like, what is this.
I think it was ringing up over thirty thousand dollars.
I mean, the way he put it together, it was beautiful.
(16:29):
So yeah, I was pretty excited.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
She was ready to take the next step with him,
but the safety of her family and her kids were
always her first priority. She didn't have the ability to
meet his parents or his friends back in Chicago, so
she took it upon herself to vet him. She called
her friend who was a private investigator. She gave him
Eric's name and birth date and asked him to run
a background check.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He came back and was like, oh, he's Coleen. So
I felt comfortable.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
The findings were reassuring. The next time the topic of
marriage came up, she told him that's what she wanted.
So right then and there, Eric got down on one knee,
but he didn't have the ring.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
The ring that we looked at that he was planning
to get me that would have to be put on
hold because of the money that he had to spend
for his stepdaughter's funeral arrangements.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
She didn't care about the ring, especially when he was
spending that money on something so important. Plus they've both
been married before. They wann't something small. Anyway, Eric offered
to take the lead on planning their wedding and sending
out the invitations.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I'm thinking, oh, wow, this is different because normally that's
the behavior of the woman. But he wants to do it, okay,
So I gave him a list and he created these
invitations and we sent them out and then I started
getting the phone call. Everyone was just saying Eric was
(18:05):
a doctor. I said, what, well, the invitation said doctor
Eric Petite and Tammy, So of course you know. I
reposed him. I said, did you put on these invitations
that you're a doctor because I never told anyone about that,
which I did because I felt he was no longer
(18:28):
practicing wasn't important. And he said, oh, yeah, yeah I
did that. It was actually supposed to be a surprise.
That was going to be my wedding gift to you.
I was going to surprise he'd let you know that
once we come back from our honeymoon that I'm going
back into medicine.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Then he pulled out a folder of documents he'd been
waiting to show her, his letters of recommendation and his
offer letter from a hospital.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I said, and what brought this? And he says, well,
there's been some time, and I have you now, and
I really feel that you deserve a certain lifestyle and
I want to provide you with that lifestyle. I'll be
going to work and I'm just like wow.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The choice felt selfless. It meant a lot to her
that he wanted to provide for her family.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
He was like, just start looking at the top private schools,
and we need to start looking for another house because
I want us to be closer to the hospital. You
want to look at another house, you want to get
a condo, whatever you want to do, just go do it.
Just start looking. And I'm just thinking, like, you know,
(19:51):
someone just called and told me that I have that
winning lottery ticket. All of my numbers met.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He received an advance from the new job, so after
their intimate wedding ceremony, Eric paid for a honeymoon to
the Bahamas. He wanted the whole family to join them,
Tammy's kids and her mom. It was emotional for everyone
considering what he'd been through. They were his family now.
The vacation ended, but the honeymoon didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And so when we returned, I remember him giving me
a check. It was a check for five thousand dollars,
and He's like, moving forward, I'm taking care of all
of the bills and everything.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That week, he started his job in one of Atlanta's.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Busiest yurs so that meant crazy hours. He was always working,
always on call. I can still remember some nights when
it was like two or three in the morning and
he would receive a tics or a phone call and
he would have to jump up and go to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They shared a car, so every day Tammy drove him
to work and picked him up. One day, while Tammy
was driving, they came upon a car crash. It looked
like it had just happened.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
The paramedics had not arrived yet, so he jumped out
to check on those that were involved and get their vitals.
There was one person that seemed to have been critically injured.
He got out to help, and once the paramedics arrived,
(21:31):
he was able to give them information on each victim.
I was impressed, I must say, I was like, Wow,
he really knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
He could have saved those people's lives. But this responsibility
came at a price. His shifts in the er were grueling.
When she picked him up after work, he looked spent.
His scrubs were stained and wrinkled, and he would share
upsetting stories about what he'd seen.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I can remember once he was very disturbed because he
said that there was a child that came in with
an injury from the playground and he wasn't able to
save the child and the child died. So of course
(22:22):
it triggered memories of his children.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
The work was taking a toll on him, emotionally, changing
him in more ways than one.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
He became somewhat arrogant. I didn't think anything about it,
you know, I was just thinking back, okay, So he's
back in his zone, in his doctor's zone. So that's
where all of that is coming from.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
On his days off, he rested and watched his favorite
TV show, episode after episode of Er.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That was his fit Shaw.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
After a few months of marriage, they had a routine.
She dropped him off at work, he texted throughout the
day to keep her updated on when he'd be done,
and on the drive home, they debriefed. That was their thing.
They did this day in and day out, week after week, until.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
It was on a Sunday, we went to church and
came back home, spent the afternoon together, and he said
he had to go in for the evening. But whenever
he was away, he would always call and check in,
(23:40):
see how things are going with myself, let me know
what's going on with him. It was weird that this
time I had not heard from him at all. I
wasn't alarmed, and then the next morning still hadn't heard
from him. And then once it started getting late into
the morning, then I did start to worry. I tried
(24:03):
to call him on both cell phones. No answer, so
of course I'm thinking, well, maybe he's tied up or whatever.
After a while, I said, I've never called the hospital,
but I'm calling today. And when I called, they're like,
(24:24):
there's no one here with that name. Okay, well they
don't know all of the doctors, you know, And I'm like, okay,
let me try these cell phones again. And finally someone
answers the cell phone, but it's not him.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
There was a security guard at the hospital.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
When I asked for him. The guy, he's like, are
you talking about the guy that had this cell phone?
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
He's like, oh, yeah, well he was arrested last night
or impersonating a doctor.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Tammy hadn't heard from her husband and was getting concerned. Finally,
someone answered his cell phone. It was a security guard
at the hospital who told her that Eric had been
arrested last night for impersonating a doctor. And strangely, the
security guard seemed to know Eric pretty well.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
He said, I don't know why you would do that,
because I had really grown to like him. So security
they were familiar with him.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Security knew him because Eric had been going into the
hospital every day when she dropped him off. He got
in using a forged ID card.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
He had a badge that actually belonged to a doctor,
but he took that badge and put his picture on it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Every day for months, he strolled the hospital hallways and
mingled with nurses and staff. He introduced himself as doctor
Eric Petite. Everyone there knew who he was, or thought
they did.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
There's one thing to say that you're a doctor, but
to actually go through the act and show up on site,
and then to actually walk around the hospital and interact
with other doctors, that is something different.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Tammy was sitting at her kitchen table hearing from a
complete stranger that her husband was a stranger himself.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And the one thing that I just kept thinking was
who is this person? Have I been with? An axe murderer,
a serial rapist. I've got to find out this person's
real name.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So she started digging.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
He had a buffle bag that was in the closet. Man,
I dumped everything out of that bag, and I just
started going through every piece of paper that I could
find because I'm looking for clues. I came across his
(27:34):
divorce decree. It clearly states that his wife couldn't find him,
didn't know where he was, and she fouled for a
divorce and it was granted on the grounds of abandonment.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So his marriage hadn't ended like he said, with his
wife cheating on him. But one thing she found did
corroborate his back story death certificates for his children.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I myself had never laid eyes on a death certificate before,
with the notary sticker and everything, what.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Was real and what wasn't. There was so much contradictory
information in these documents.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I also came across some papers showing me that he
was on probation, so he really wasn't supposed to be
in Georgia. I came across telephone numbers he goes on
the probation stuff, and I just started calling those numbers.
(28:40):
One of the numbers just happened to be to this
really nice young lady, and you know who she was,
his mother.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
His mother was very much alive.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
There was no accident, and she confirmed that no, his
kids are fine, and there was a stepdaughter, but of
course she was fine as well.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
The death certificates in her hands were forged. His mother
said she hadn't talked to her son in years. She
was a devout Jehovah's witness, and so was the rest
of his family. Eric had left the faith.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
So because he was no longer practicing the religion, his
parents were forced or obligated to treat him as though
he was dead. That's the way it was explained to me.
So that's why he was disconnected from his parents.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
His mom provided some answers, but Tammy was still in
the dark as to where he was, so she started
calling local police precincts.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I found out where they had taken him, and I
went to visit him because I wanted to hear his version.
I wanted to see what he was going to say
to me.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
On the drive to jail, she decided she was going
to play dumb and not reveal anything she knew, just
to see what he would say.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I just wanted to see what he was going to
tell me. He still held on to the fact that
he was a doctor.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
She went along with it as he stuck to his
line with conviction.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
How do you as a doctor end up being in jail?
How does that happen? And he tried to explain to
me that he ended up getting into an altercation with
someone at the hospital, which made no sense to me.
I let him tell his story and I said nothing.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Eric finished his story and they sat there in silence.
Before Tammy got up to leave, she asked him one
final question that.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Just said why, and he pretended to not understand.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
He wasn't going to give up the act, so she
had to walk away. That was the last time they
ever interacted. If he wasn't going to tell her the truth,
she'd have to find it herself.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I was on the mission to find out who was
this person.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
And she started by finding out if his name was
even real.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
The only thing I could think of in my head
was that, okay, if I could make contact with the
media and have them post a picture of this person.
I just felt like once a picture was posted, someone
would come forward and say, oh, I know him.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
So she put him on the news. The story became
a sensation in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
And I never thought that the story would get the
attention that it received.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
All that attention did bring some answers. First, that Eric
Petite was in fact his legal name.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It did surprise me that he used his real name.
I did later understand why my friend that had the
security firm could not find any information on him because
I didn't have his correct date of birth. So the
age that he had given me we were the same age.
(33:00):
I was in my late thirties, but he was actually
twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Friends of theirs started coming out of the woodwork saying
that Eric owed them money.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Just different people that we know, you know, asking for money.
So when I'm thinking that he's making money, he's really not.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And that wasn't all.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
When he was arrested. He was in possession of credit
cards that did not belong to him. The credit cards
belonged to other women. There were women that worked at
the hospital that had given him their credit card because
they thought he was doctor Berteite. And he may have
(33:53):
given some story like, oh, I ran out the house
because of an emergency and I left my wallet and
then thinking that he doctor Fatiz.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So that's how he'd been affording their lifestyle for the
past year, unborrowed money and stolen credit cards.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
I was devastated. I was very angry and disappointed at
myself all the level of embarrassment. I was so embarrassed.
When people hear stories they always seem to think, Ah,
that would never happen to me. I would have known,
(34:36):
you know, or how could you not have known? He
was a doctor? And you know, and I always ask
the question, you explained to me how you would have
known that he wasn't a doctor? You tell me how
you would have known? Because he's at the hospital.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
I mean, he was at the hospital wearing scrubs with
an ID car to match. He'd successfully fooled the hospital
step even the security guards for months. But that didn't
stop people in town from judging Tammy.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
People were harsh. Oh my gosh, some of the things
that I read I could not read because of you know,
the things that people were saying about how stupid I was,
how dumb? How could you you know? It was bad?
So I was so embarrassed, you know, I couldn't eve
(35:36):
even go to church. I could not because I was
so embarrassed, so embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Over time, she realized that this wasn't her shame to carry,
and slowly she started entering the world again.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
It took me about two to three months to just
blend back into society. I eventually just stopped trying to
defend myself and I just began to focus on moving forward.
That's all I focused on.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Charges were brought against Eric for identity fraud and credit
card theft. After the sentencing hearing, reporters swarmed the courthouse.
When asked for comment, Eric spoke directly to Tammy. He
apologized to her.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
It meant nothing. It meant nothing to me. I did
not show up for his sentencing.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
At didn't chair, But she did care about her privacy
and protecting her family from Eric.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I changed my telephone numbers so that he would not
be able to contact me.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Looking back years later, there's only one thing that still
haunts her.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
He would have like syringes in his pocket, and there
was something in those syringes. Some type of solution. Makes
me think, Like my mom used to always joke around
and say, oh, you never marry a doctor because he
knows how to kill you and get away with it.
(37:27):
She always said that, so I always had that in
the back of my head. But I'm just so thankful
that the situation did not have a tragic end. I
really am.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Today. Tammy still lives in Atlanta, and.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Well, believe it or not, I am married again. I
was just excited to be with someone that that was genuine,
that had a really good heart, and it was real.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
She finds that sharing her story takes the power away
from Eric and people like him.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
I'm not afraid to talk about how I was vulnerable
and how I allowed this person in not seeing the
danger and just totally letting my guard down, because I'm
so caught up on the fact that all this person
(38:34):
has lost everyone and everything and they've lost nothing. It's
all alive.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
The end all of our weekly episodes with the same question,
why do you want to tell your story?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I don't know why people feel that are above being deceived.
Everyone has an area of weakness, so I just don't
want us to think that it can never happen to me.
No one is above dis section.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
On the next episode of Betrayal, I.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Can feel myself start to just float away because what
I am seeing I just cannot comprehend. And while I'm
holding his phone in my left hand, I take my
phone in my right.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And I just start recording.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod
at gmail dot 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 Betrayal.
Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank
(40:11):
you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by
Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me
Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced
by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Kristin Melcuriy and Caitlin Golden.
(40:34):
Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio
editing and mixing by mattel Vecchio, Additional editing support from
Nico Ruka and Tanner Robbins. Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains.
Music library provided by my Music and For more podcasts
from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(40:56):
you get your podcasts.
My mom used to always joke around and say, oh,
you never marry a doctor because he knows how to
kill you and get away with it. She always said that,
so I always had that in the back of my hand.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
change everything. Tammy McCrary is a polite, easygoing woman. She's
quick to laugh and to make herself laugh. She says
that above all, her kids are her world.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I have three children, and I treat all of them
as though they are the only and now my grandchildren,
Oh those grandkids. That's a whole other level of love.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Tammy grew up in Atlanta, where she was raised by
her mother. She was an only child, just her, her mom,
and her mom's sister. As a kid, Tammy dreamed of
having a nuclear family of her own.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Most of my friends were in a two parent home.
I did not have the family structure of father and mom,
so I admired dad. I wanted to have that for
myself and for my children.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
In high school, Tammy started dating a guy she'd grown
up with.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
We hadn't known each other a long time and he'd
always teased me about being his wife.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
It was a joke at first because Tammy had other plans.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I had planned to go to college, but when she
was seventeen, I found out that I was expected.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tammy's college plans were put on hold and the two
got married.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We both attended the same church, so we had a
small wedding.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They loved being young parents. Looking back, she says it
was easier for them than she expected. By the time
they were twenty, the young couple bought a house in
the suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I am an only child, he's an only child, and
we both change from middle class backgrounds, so we didn't
have those struggles that you would think that a young
couple would have.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
They were stable and surrounded by community. Tammy and her
husband had a second child a few years later.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I had so much support from my mom, from his parents,
and I had an aunt that was like a mom
to meet the saw. I was all about my kids.
That was my life.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
When her kids started school and she had more time
on her hands, things started changing for Tammy.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I just got to this place where I wanted more.
I wanted to do more the time that I would
have been in college, you know, having that freedom. I
was a mom and I was a wife, so I
missed it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
She wanted to grow her career, and she realized she
missed out on so much in her early twenties. Maybe
there was more out there for her.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I remember getting all of this attention from these guides.
I was like, am I really bad attractive?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was coming into her own and reevaluating what she wanted,
including her marriage with her husband.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He was like, I'm not dealing with this. Either you
want to be married or you don't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Ultimately, she decided she didn't want to be married, so
they separated and Tammy got a job as a flight
attendant based out of Chicago. She was able to work
and travel one week and be home full time with
her kids the next. But in Chicago, she got into
a horrible car accident.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It was actually a situation where I was pronounced dead.
It took me about six months to a year to
recover from that car accident. After she recovered, her priorities changed.
I no longer wanted to be away from my kids.
(04:36):
That was the main thing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So she moved back to Atlanta and got a job
where she could work from home. And focus entirely on
giving her kids stability. I pushed for them to have
the best education.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I never wanted them to feel a difference in their
lives and the lives of their peers.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Every other weekend, her kids would stay with the father,
and on the weekend she had to herself.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I was hanging out with my cousin, his wife, and
their friends. We had our little group, our little clique, and.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Her cousin would try to set her up on dates.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
They were a professional, successful men, bowyers, doctors. But I
wasn't interested in dating. I want to be a single mom.
But my kids and I we travel, you know, we
do things, and life is still good.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
On one of these weekends, Tammy, her cousin, and their
friends decided on a whim to go out to a
night club.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's a pretty wild scene. I can remember some women
being barely dressed. I had never been before. But you know,
I'm just hanging with the crowd.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
She admits to feeling a little out of place.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I may have just had on jeans and a sweater,
definitely no club gear, nothing sexy.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But she was still getting plenty of attention and even
locked eyes with a guy across the bar, but I made.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Eye contact with several people, so you know, it was
nothing until he walked over to the area where we
were sitting and he just started throwing money over the area.
Back then, I think they called it making it rain,
and so he did that, and you know, we were
just laughing about it, and everyone was like, oh, drinks
(06:33):
are on Tammy, because you know, they were picking up
their money. And then he came back and he introduced himself.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
His name was Eric, and he told her he had
just moved to Atlanta for a fresh start. They hit
it off and by the end of the night, she
gave him her number.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So crazy, because the rule of thumb was always he
never met anyone in a club.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Eric called her on Monday and asked her to lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I didn't see the harm. I didn't see the harm
in it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
At the time, Tammy worked as a loan officer and
Eric was looking to buy a home. It seemed like
a possible opportunity for Tammy, and he just moved from Chicago,
where Tammy used to live. So over lunch they swapped stories.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I enjoyed his company very much. Soon he was very attentive.
He was a great listener, and he definitely retained information.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, that was an understatement. He was really smart.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
He went to college really early. He graduated from high
school pretty early, so it was like he was a
whiz kid.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
He said he'd been married before, but it ended abruptly.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
He said that he walked in on her and another man,
so that was the end of the marriage.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
By the end of that lunch, she got the feeling
that this was their first date, and they scheduled another.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And so, of course, you know, my next test is
to take him around people, just to see how he
does or what they think about him. And he definitely
passed that test as well. But she was cautious about
(08:21):
who she brought around her kids. If I met someone,
I didn't allow anyone to come to my home. We
would meet out.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Eric also worked remotely as an electrical engineer, so with
their flexible work schedules, they went on dates during the day.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
There was no nine to five schedule for neither one
of us, so there was a great deal of freedom.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
After a few months of casual dating, Tammy's life took
a turn. The aunt, who was like a second mother
to her, was living with Tammy at the time and
her aunt started to get sick. One night, her health
diaclined rapidly.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
She was so ill I had to call Paramittings to
the house.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
She called Eric to tell him that she was going
to the hospital and that she was worried. He wanted
to meet her there to be supportive and in the
er together, she noticed something interesting about Eric.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
He began interacting with the doctors about my aunt and
her condition, all these medical terms. I'm curious, like, what
does he know?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Eric had said he was an electrical engineer, but at
the hospital he was talking as if he was a doctor,
like asking to see the results of tests and pressing
them to do others.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
At that time, I'm really like, what is going on?
And that's when he tells me he went to medical school.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
He said he'd gone to med school at the University
of Chicago. Another doctor in the room was familiar with
the school, so the two started chatting about it. Tammy's
aunt was stable enough to move out of the r
and finally there was an opportunity to ask Eric questions
about his past and medical school.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now, I want to know, why aren't you doing that?
And that led to the conversation of him sharing with
me his story.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
His story was unlike anything she'd ever heard. It was
a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He explained to me that his parents, along with his
two sons, were taking a trip by car and they
were involved in an accident with an eighteen wheeler. He
said the driver was Dui. He said one son may
(10:53):
have died on the scene. Father died on the scene,
and his mom and one son were in the hospital,
but they both passed before he arrived. So I was
just heartbroken. He's lost both parents, both children.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
She sat there, stunted. He went on to explain that
the accident derailed his career. He just started working in
the er when it happened, but he had to quit.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It was just so devastating for him to know that
on a daily basis he's saving lives, but here it
is he's not able to save the lives of those
that he loved the most. And so it was just
too soon for him to go back into medicine. He
(11:55):
just couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Timmy herself had nearly died in a car accident. With
Eric sitting in front of her in the hospital waiting room,
holding back tears, she saw how resilient he was, just
like her he'd fought for a new life and a
new career after a tragedy.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Of course, I'm saying, oh, yeah, I understand, I understand.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Eric opened up and shared that he was a doctor
but had to stop practicing after a family tragedy. He
lost his parents and two young children in a car accident.
These revelations and Eric's vulnerability brought he and Tammy closer. Eventually,
they made it official. He started coming over to her house,
where he met her son. It was a big step
(13:01):
for Tammy. They would make dinner together and watch a
movie on the couch. But on one of these nights.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I remember it being a Sunday evening, and he received
a phone call and he wanted some privacy, so he
actually came upstairs took the phone call in my bedroom,
and I just remember him yelling for me. Of course,
I ran upstairs to see what was going on, and
he is just like an emotional rick. He is just crying.
(13:35):
I was finally able to get him to share with
me what was the problem, and that's when he told
me that his stepdaughter had committed suicide.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Tragedy had struck his life again. It was his first
wife's daughter. He helped raise her.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Of course, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this man. I
know he's devastated, and I was just like, well, you know,
just stay here. You don't have to go in there.
You can just stay here with us. You definitely don't
need to be alone at this time with this devastating news.
You don't have anyone else. He just have us. And
(14:16):
so I think from that moment is when things really progressed.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
After that, Eric started staying over most nights. He took
the death hard, but he didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He did tell me of his plans to pay for
her service, but he said that he could not bring
himself to attend.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
He channeled his grief into their relationship. Doting on Timmy
was a good distraction. He would go above and beyond
to make her happy.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
If I said I used to love these strawberry oreos,
but I haven't been able to find him. I don't
even know if they make them anymore, he would pop
up with those strawberry oreos and say I had to
reach out to some people over in Europe, but I
(15:05):
had them shipped and here they are. He was like
that those are the type things that he would do.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He even gave Timmy a nickname.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'd never had a nickname never, but he gave me
the name Princes and I tell you just the way
he said it, and oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And he treated her like one.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
He's buying cards, flowers, no special occasions, just because he's
writing coins. Once I did introduce him to my clique
of friends. I mean, he was to say the most
wonderful things about me. It's like, oh wow, he really
(15:56):
loves her that.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He'd been dating for a few months when Eric said
he wanted to look at engagement rings together, so he
took her to a custom jeweler.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
He's telling the guy, you know what he wants, and
he's talking about was a peerless dying. He wanted it
in an antique setting, and I was like, what is this.
I think it was ringing up over thirty thousand dollars.
I mean, the way he put it together, it was beautiful.
(16:29):
So yeah, I was pretty excited.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
She was ready to take the next step with him,
but the safety of her family and her kids were
always her first priority. She didn't have the ability to
meet his parents or his friends back in Chicago, so
she took it upon herself to vet him. She called
her friend who was a private investigator. She gave him
Eric's name and birth date and asked him to run
a background check.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He came back and was like, oh, he's Coleen. So
I felt comfortable.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
The findings were reassuring. The next time the topic of
marriage came up, she told him that's what she wanted.
So right then and there, Eric got down on one knee,
but he didn't have the ring.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
The ring that we looked at that he was planning
to get me that would have to be put on
hold because of the money that he had to spend
for his stepdaughter's funeral arrangements.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
She didn't care about the ring, especially when he was
spending that money on something so important. Plus they've both
been married before. They wann't something small. Anyway, Eric offered
to take the lead on planning their wedding and sending
out the invitations.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I'm thinking, oh, wow, this is different because normally that's
the behavior of the woman. But he wants to do it, okay,
So I gave him a list and he created these
invitations and we sent them out and then I started
getting the phone call. Everyone was just saying Eric was
(18:05):
a doctor. I said, what, well, the invitation said doctor
Eric Petite and Tammy, So of course you know. I
reposed him. I said, did you put on these invitations
that you're a doctor because I never told anyone about that,
which I did because I felt he was no longer
(18:28):
practicing wasn't important. And he said, oh, yeah, yeah I
did that. It was actually supposed to be a surprise.
That was going to be my wedding gift to you.
I was going to surprise he'd let you know that
once we come back from our honeymoon that I'm going
back into medicine.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Then he pulled out a folder of documents he'd been
waiting to show her, his letters of recommendation and his
offer letter from a hospital.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I said, and what brought this? And he says, well,
there's been some time, and I have you now, and
I really feel that you deserve a certain lifestyle and
I want to provide you with that lifestyle. I'll be
going to work and I'm just like wow.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The choice felt selfless. It meant a lot to her
that he wanted to provide for her family.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
He was like, just start looking at the top private schools,
and we need to start looking for another house because
I want us to be closer to the hospital. You
want to look at another house, you want to get
a condo, whatever you want to do, just go do it.
Just start looking. And I'm just thinking, like, you know,
(19:51):
someone just called and told me that I have that
winning lottery ticket. All of my numbers met.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He received an advance from the new job, so after
their intimate wedding ceremony, Eric paid for a honeymoon to
the Bahamas. He wanted the whole family to join them,
Tammy's kids and her mom. It was emotional for everyone
considering what he'd been through. They were his family now.
The vacation ended, but the honeymoon didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And so when we returned, I remember him giving me
a check. It was a check for five thousand dollars,
and He's like, moving forward, I'm taking care of all
of the bills and everything.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That week, he started his job in one of Atlanta's.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Busiest yurs so that meant crazy hours. He was always working,
always on call. I can still remember some nights when
it was like two or three in the morning and
he would receive a tics or a phone call and
he would have to jump up and go to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They shared a car, so every day Tammy drove him
to work and picked him up. One day, while Tammy
was driving, they came upon a car crash. It looked
like it had just happened.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
The paramedics had not arrived yet, so he jumped out
to check on those that were involved and get their vitals.
There was one person that seemed to have been critically injured.
He got out to help, and once the paramedics arrived,
(21:31):
he was able to give them information on each victim.
I was impressed, I must say, I was like, Wow,
he really knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
He could have saved those people's lives. But this responsibility
came at a price. His shifts in the er were grueling.
When she picked him up after work, he looked spent.
His scrubs were stained and wrinkled, and he would share
upsetting stories about what he'd seen.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I can remember once he was very disturbed because he
said that there was a child that came in with
an injury from the playground and he wasn't able to
save the child and the child died. So of course
(22:22):
it triggered memories of his children.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
The work was taking a toll on him, emotionally, changing
him in more ways than one.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
He became somewhat arrogant. I didn't think anything about it,
you know, I was just thinking back, okay, So he's
back in his zone, in his doctor's zone. So that's
where all of that is coming from.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
On his days off, he rested and watched his favorite
TV show, episode after episode of Er.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That was his fit Shaw.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
After a few months of marriage, they had a routine.
She dropped him off at work, he texted throughout the
day to keep her updated on when he'd be done,
and on the drive home, they debriefed. That was their thing.
They did this day in and day out, week after week, until.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
It was on a Sunday, we went to church and
came back home, spent the afternoon together, and he said
he had to go in for the evening. But whenever
he was away, he would always call and check in,
(23:40):
see how things are going with myself, let me know
what's going on with him. It was weird that this
time I had not heard from him at all. I
wasn't alarmed, and then the next morning still hadn't heard
from him. And then once it started getting late into
the morning, then I did start to worry. I tried
(24:03):
to call him on both cell phones. No answer, so
of course I'm thinking, well, maybe he's tied up or whatever.
After a while, I said, I've never called the hospital,
but I'm calling today. And when I called, they're like,
(24:24):
there's no one here with that name. Okay, well they
don't know all of the doctors, you know, And I'm like, okay,
let me try these cell phones again. And finally someone
answers the cell phone, but it's not him.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
There was a security guard at the hospital.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
When I asked for him. The guy, he's like, are
you talking about the guy that had this cell phone?
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
He's like, oh, yeah, well he was arrested last night
or impersonating a doctor.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Tammy hadn't heard from her husband and was getting concerned. Finally,
someone answered his cell phone. It was a security guard
at the hospital who told her that Eric had been
arrested last night for impersonating a doctor. And strangely, the
security guard seemed to know Eric pretty well.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
He said, I don't know why you would do that,
because I had really grown to like him. So security
they were familiar with him.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Security knew him because Eric had been going into the
hospital every day when she dropped him off. He got
in using a forged ID card.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
He had a badge that actually belonged to a doctor,
but he took that badge and put his picture on it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Every day for months, he strolled the hospital hallways and
mingled with nurses and staff. He introduced himself as doctor
Eric Petite. Everyone there knew who he was, or thought
they did.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
There's one thing to say that you're a doctor, but
to actually go through the act and show up on site,
and then to actually walk around the hospital and interact
with other doctors, that is something different.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Tammy was sitting at her kitchen table hearing from a
complete stranger that her husband was a stranger himself.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And the one thing that I just kept thinking was
who is this person? Have I been with? An axe murderer,
a serial rapist. I've got to find out this person's
real name.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So she started digging.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
He had a buffle bag that was in the closet. Man,
I dumped everything out of that bag, and I just
started going through every piece of paper that I could
find because I'm looking for clues. I came across his
(27:34):
divorce decree. It clearly states that his wife couldn't find him,
didn't know where he was, and she fouled for a
divorce and it was granted on the grounds of abandonment.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So his marriage hadn't ended like he said, with his
wife cheating on him. But one thing she found did
corroborate his back story death certificates for his children.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I myself had never laid eyes on a death certificate before,
with the notary sticker and everything, what.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Was real and what wasn't. There was so much contradictory
information in these documents.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I also came across some papers showing me that he
was on probation, so he really wasn't supposed to be
in Georgia. I came across telephone numbers he goes on
the probation stuff, and I just started calling those numbers.
(28:40):
One of the numbers just happened to be to this
really nice young lady, and you know who she was,
his mother.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
His mother was very much alive.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
There was no accident, and she confirmed that no, his
kids are fine, and there was a stepdaughter, but of
course she was fine as well.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
The death certificates in her hands were forged. His mother
said she hadn't talked to her son in years. She
was a devout Jehovah's witness, and so was the rest
of his family. Eric had left the faith.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
So because he was no longer practicing the religion, his
parents were forced or obligated to treat him as though
he was dead. That's the way it was explained to me.
So that's why he was disconnected from his parents.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
His mom provided some answers, but Tammy was still in
the dark as to where he was, so she started
calling local police precincts.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I found out where they had taken him, and I
went to visit him because I wanted to hear his version.
I wanted to see what he was going to say
to me.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
On the drive to jail, she decided she was going
to play dumb and not reveal anything she knew, just
to see what he would say.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I just wanted to see what he was going to
tell me. He still held on to the fact that
he was a doctor.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
She went along with it as he stuck to his
line with conviction.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
How do you as a doctor end up being in jail?
How does that happen? And he tried to explain to
me that he ended up getting into an altercation with
someone at the hospital, which made no sense to me.
I let him tell his story and I said nothing.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Eric finished his story and they sat there in silence.
Before Tammy got up to leave, she asked him one
final question that.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Just said why, and he pretended to not understand.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
He wasn't going to give up the act, so she
had to walk away. That was the last time they
ever interacted. If he wasn't going to tell her the truth,
she'd have to find it herself.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I was on the mission to find out who was
this person.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
And she started by finding out if his name was
even real.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
The only thing I could think of in my head
was that, okay, if I could make contact with the
media and have them post a picture of this person.
I just felt like once a picture was posted, someone
would come forward and say, oh, I know him.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
So she put him on the news. The story became
a sensation in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
And I never thought that the story would get the
attention that it received.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
All that attention did bring some answers. First, that Eric
Petite was in fact his legal name.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It did surprise me that he used his real name.
I did later understand why my friend that had the
security firm could not find any information on him because
I didn't have his correct date of birth. So the
age that he had given me we were the same age.
(33:00):
I was in my late thirties, but he was actually
twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Friends of theirs started coming out of the woodwork saying
that Eric owed them money.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Just different people that we know, you know, asking for money.
So when I'm thinking that he's making money, he's really not.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And that wasn't all.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
When he was arrested. He was in possession of credit
cards that did not belong to him. The credit cards
belonged to other women. There were women that worked at
the hospital that had given him their credit card because
they thought he was doctor Berteite. And he may have
(33:53):
given some story like, oh, I ran out the house
because of an emergency and I left my wallet and
then thinking that he doctor Fatiz.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So that's how he'd been affording their lifestyle for the
past year, unborrowed money and stolen credit cards.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
I was devastated. I was very angry and disappointed at
myself all the level of embarrassment. I was so embarrassed.
When people hear stories they always seem to think, Ah,
that would never happen to me. I would have known,
(34:36):
you know, or how could you not have known? He
was a doctor? And you know, and I always ask
the question, you explained to me how you would have
known that he wasn't a doctor? You tell me how
you would have known? Because he's at the hospital.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
I mean, he was at the hospital wearing scrubs with
an ID car to match. He'd successfully fooled the hospital
step even the security guards for months. But that didn't
stop people in town from judging Tammy.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
People were harsh. Oh my gosh, some of the things
that I read I could not read because of you know,
the things that people were saying about how stupid I was,
how dumb? How could you you know? It was bad?
So I was so embarrassed, you know, I couldn't eve
(35:36):
even go to church. I could not because I was
so embarrassed, so embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Over time, she realized that this wasn't her shame to carry,
and slowly she started entering the world again.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
It took me about two to three months to just
blend back into society. I eventually just stopped trying to
defend myself and I just began to focus on moving forward.
That's all I focused on.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Charges were brought against Eric for identity fraud and credit
card theft. After the sentencing hearing, reporters swarmed the courthouse.
When asked for comment, Eric spoke directly to Tammy. He
apologized to her.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
It meant nothing. It meant nothing to me. I did
not show up for his sentencing.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
At didn't chair, But she did care about her privacy
and protecting her family from Eric.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I changed my telephone numbers so that he would not
be able to contact me.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Looking back years later, there's only one thing that still
haunts her.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
He would have like syringes in his pocket, and there
was something in those syringes. Some type of solution. Makes
me think, Like my mom used to always joke around
and say, oh, you never marry a doctor because he
knows how to kill you and get away with it.
(37:27):
She always said that, so I always had that in
the back of my head. But I'm just so thankful
that the situation did not have a tragic end. I
really am.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Today. Tammy still lives in Atlanta, and.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Well, believe it or not, I am married again. I
was just excited to be with someone that that was genuine,
that had a really good heart, and it was real.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
She finds that sharing her story takes the power away
from Eric and people like him.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
I'm not afraid to talk about how I was vulnerable
and how I allowed this person in not seeing the
danger and just totally letting my guard down, because I'm
so caught up on the fact that all this person
(38:34):
has lost everyone and everything and they've lost nothing. It's
all alive.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
The end all of our weekly episodes with the same question,
why do you want to tell your story?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I don't know why people feel that are above being deceived.
Everyone has an area of weakness, so I just don't
want us to think that it can never happen to me.
No one is above dis section.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
On the next episode of Betrayal, I.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Can feel myself start to just float away because what
I am seeing I just cannot comprehend. And while I'm
holding his phone in my left hand, I take my
phone in my right.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
And I just start recording.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod
at gmail dot 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 Betrayal.
Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank
(40:11):
you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by
Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me
Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced
by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Kristin Melcuriy and Caitlin Golden.
(40:34):
Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio
editing and mixing by mattel Vecchio, Additional editing support from
Nico Ruka and Tanner Robbins. Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains.
Music library provided by my Music and For more podcasts
from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(40:56):
you get your podcasts.
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