August 15, 2024 • 27 mins
Matt and Laura leave the hospital empty-handed. Their fight for justice begins.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I have to go down there. I have to confront her.
I have to see her, and I remember yelling at
her like, how could you do this? How could you
do this to our family?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
change everything. This is part two of Matt and Laura's story.
If you haven't heard part one, you'll want to go
back and listen to that first. Matt and Laura Tread
(00:47):
went through years of infertility treatment IVF, miscarriages, and a
high risk pregnancy to have their son, Hudson. Soon after
they knew they wanted another child, they decided to pursue adoption.
That's how they met Elizabeth Jones. Elizabeth thought the Traits
would be great adoptive parents to her unborn baby. After
(01:08):
talking daily and visiting Elizabeth in Virginia, they both agreed
that it was a perfect match for an open adoption.
The baby was due in December of twenty eighteen, and
the Trades had picked out a name for her. Noela
and Elizabeth, the birth mom, already felt like extended family.
A month before the baby was due, Elizabeth went into
(01:29):
labor early it was an emergency. Something wasn't right. Matt
and Laura rushed to the hospital. The nurses weren't able
to find a patient by the name Elizabeth Jones in
the maternity ward, but there was one in the.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Er, so we went into the hospital room and I
remember the curtain was drawn. I can just picture in
my mind, like I was there seeing the nurse moved
the curtain and there's our Elizabeth sitting there and all
of her clothes. So I was so confused. I was like, Elizabeth,
(02:08):
Oh my god, are you okay? What's happening? Why are
you in your regular clothes? And she just tried to
explain it away, you know, like, oh, we brought a
change of clothes for me in the car. Everything was
all bloody, so I had to change and I was like,
where is the baby, Like what's happening.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Elizabeth explained that her husband was on his way up
to the maternity ward with the baby.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
And I was like, I was just up there waiting.
We're all waiting. There's a whole team of doctors waiting,
and we didn't see the baby. Like I have to
go talk to the nurses and try to figure out
what's going on. So I was walking away and I
remember her calling my name, but I just kept walking.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
A horrible truth was setting in for Laura, a truth
she couldn't process. She went to the nurses station in
a daze.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And I was like, I don't understand what going on.
She's supposed to be giving birth to our daughter. Her
case manager was like, let me go talk to her.
She came back. She was like, she's saying she doesn't
even know you. She's saying she has no idea who
you are.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Laura fumbled to find her phone to show the nurse
photos of them together, photos from as recent as yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
There's even a picture of my son with his hand
on her stomach because she had told him, oh, you
want to feel your sissy kick.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's when another nurse stepped in and told Laura the truth,
the truth. Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to say.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I just remember the nurse telling me she's not pregnant.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
There was no baby. There never had been. Laura walked
right back into the exam room to confront her.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I just looked at her and I was like, how
could you lie to us like this? How could you
do this? How could you do this? To our son.
She just looked at me with these blank, dead eyes,
no emotion, no remorse, just complete blank expression on her face.
At that point, she was silent, and I was like,
(04:12):
you know what, Elizabeth, what goes around comes around, and
this is going to come back to you, like you're
going to get what you give, and I just walked out.
I just didn't even want to face her anymore. I
didn't want to look into those dead eyes.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
All the while, Matt was still upstairs with Hudson and
an empty baby carrier, waiting for an update from Laura.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
We're sitting up there and the minutes are just crawling by,
and I have no idea what's going on, and I'm
texting Laura for information and not hearing anything because she's
in the thick of all of this, and just waiting
and waiting. I remember Laura coming back up and entering
the nicky wait room with no baby, and she just
(05:04):
had this look on her face.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I remember saying, there is no baby and she was
never pregnant. I remember Matt tearing up at that point
and us all embracing as a family.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Matt couldn't leave the hospital without seeing Elizabeth for himself.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I didn't get closure. You know, I wasn't the one
down in the er like Laura was, and so I said,
I have to go down there. I have to confront her.
I have to see her. And so the three of
us went down to the er, and it just so
happened the right when we got down to the waiting room,
she started to come out the door because she was released,
(05:52):
and she saw us and looked at us and started
to kind of turn the other way. And I remember
yelling at her, how could you do this? And how
could you do this to our family? And just wanted
to follow her, you know, but she knew going back
(06:13):
into that er. We weren't able to go back there
because we weren't patience, and you know, I think she
escaped out the back door. At that point. I wanted
to chase after her even more, but my family needed me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
His family did need him. Hudson, wearing his Big Brother
T shirt, seemed confused. Nothing hurt the Traits more than
watching their son lose a piece of his innocence in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know, it's hard to talk about that because that's
six years old. At that moment, you have to explain
to him that there are people out there in the
world that are not nice, not good people that would
hurt others like this. I just I'll never forget Petson
with his question like it was a trick. Why would
someone trick us just such an innocent question?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It was an innocent question. Won that on some level
Matt and Laura had too.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
After the fact, she got interviewed by the News. She
told them that she wanted us to feel her pain.
And I think by that she meant maybe from her
own childhood, things that happened to her. You know her
people hurt people, but I don't know. She wanted us
to feel her pain. That's what she said.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's the closest the traits would ever come to an
answer about why Elizabeth deceived them. She wanted someone else
to feel the pain she felt inside. That was the
only explanation for why she took it so far.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
At any point during this whole thing, she could have
ended it. Laura tried so many times to convince her
to keep the baby, the baby would be best with her,
and she have not shown up to the hospital right.
But the fact that she chose to show up at
the hospital where she knew that we would be to
(08:09):
check herself in to tell us that she was in
the er for us to go down for that very
moment of seeing us in pain, to inflict emotional suffering
on us like that, That's the only thing that we
can think of was the end goal in that moment
(08:30):
for her, because obviously she knew at some point she
was going to get found out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The extent to which she brought it was just cruel
and in my mind, just an evil thing to do.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Almost immediately they started to think back on the last
few months and they saw it all in a new
horrible light. The woman they'd spent months building a relationship with,
expecting to have as a lifelong family member, was faking
her pregnancy. The whole time.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She physically looked pregnant. She just had that body type
where she looked like she could have been pregnant, and
I really thought she was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
She sent us videos, you know, where she'd looked up
her shirt and video what you know, look at babykick.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I actually remember her being like, yeah, feel your baby pick, like,
put your hand in my stomach. And I never did
feel a baby pick obviously.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
But what about the ulder sound photos and the stuffed
unicorn with a recording of the baby's heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I think it was probably her other kids ultrasounds, and
or the heartbeat might have been from one of her
other kids.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
As for Elizabeth's husband, they can only guess.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I think he honestly had no idea she was doing this.
She was not involving him at all.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
He traveled a lot for work, so when we were
there at their house, we never met him. I don't
think he knew that she had reached out to us.
I don't think he knew what she was doing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Did she even have a husband at all. Some parts
of the elaborate deception are still a mystery.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I don't know where she got the pictures of the blood.
I have no idea where she got those pictures.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Matt and Laura Trait were in the waiting room of
the er with their six year old, reeling from the
news that the daughter they were expecting to adopt never
existed at all. All morning, their phones were blowing up
messages from family and friends wanting updates about Noela.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I remember sending a message, you know, there is no baby,
and having to sort of explain that, but at the
same time not really wanting to talk to anybody about it,
and just other shock from everybody. We all just kind
of had this moment together. Obviously, there are situations and
(11:07):
adoption where you expect, you know, possibly the birth mother
to change your mind and you decide to keep the baby.
But this was so different. We worked so hard to
reach this moment, to finally be able to adopt, and
thought the dream was finally coming true.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Leaving the hospital that day, they got into a fender
bender in their rental car. It was one of those
absurd moments in life. I can't imagine what Matt and
Laura were thinking on hold with the insurance company while
staring in disbelief at the empty car seat. After what
felt like an eternity, they finally got back to their airbnb.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
At that point, something switched in us and we immediately
went into attack mode. We can't let someone get away
with this. You can't let someone emotionally abuse you like
that and just lay down and take it. And so
back at theirbnb, we started immediately making phone calls to
(12:12):
the sheriff's department to I mean, anybody that would listen.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And I remember the sheriff saying, well, it's not a
crime to hurt someone's feeling.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
That comment sent them over the edge, spurred them into
a level of action they didn't even know they were
capable of. This was more than a case of hurt feelings,
and they were going to prove it.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think as a lesson to Hudson, He's obviously watching
how we're reacting to all of this, and it was
so important for us to have him know that we
were going to do something about this, that it's important
in life to stand up for what's right and to
stand up for what you believe in rather than just
(12:57):
cowering in a corner and just letting it defeat you.
And in a way, I think that was cathartic because
it was a.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Way for us to take our power back because it
felt like a really powerless situation.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So they just kept making phone calls.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
I remember calling Child Protective Services to let them know
what was happening. I just felt like she was not
mentally stable and I was really concerned about her kids,
and we were calling like the district Attorney's office, just
anybody that would listen.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Really, I want to credit Laura because she was the
one who was at home. Hudson went back to school,
I went back to work, and you know, she's at
home on the phone every single day. Reaching out to police,
reaching out to the Commonwealth Attorney is kind of like
trying to see what could happen.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And finally they found someone who would listen, someone who
had more information about Elizabeth Jones.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It was discovered through one of the detectives that she
was on probation for a credit card fraud and she
actually had an ankle bracelet. The problem was every time
that we saw her, well at the time Laura visited,
in the time that we were all out there, she
was wearing big ugg boots and so it wasn't possible
to see the ankle bracelet on her. And so from
(14:20):
that point, I think charges kind of gained steam because
once it was determined that she was on probation, the
detective was able to finally do some work.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It was only because Elizabeth was on probation that the
trades had a chance to pursue criminal charges against.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Her, and it's like, Okay, we have some traction, we
have something happening here. We might have an opportunity to
be able to hold her accountable for her crimes.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Accountability was important to them. After all, Elizabeth took more
than just a few thousand dollars. She took one of
their last chances at growing their family.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I had always thought that there was another baby out
there is meant to be a part of our family.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
After everything they'd been through in their fertility journey. Elizabeth's
betrayal fundamentally changed Matt and Laura.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I never knew that people like that were even out there,
that could go to those means to hurt someone else.
So the impact that the adoption fraud had on me
personally was a just really scared me away from pursuing
any future opportunities. I was just really afraid to get
(15:31):
hurt again.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
The trades still believe in adoption. They've heard many success stories,
but they were exhausted. They couldn't keep trying. It's still
the thing that stings the most.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Maybe we weren't meant to have another child, but maybe
we were meant to help others.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And one way they're planning to help others is through
building an online community. It's called infertility noow dot com,
where they want to host resources, meeting groups, and online
courses for people going through infertility.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
We're hoping to create a community of people who are
going through infertility, and we hope to offer classes to
them and kind of give guidance and teach people all
the different options there are out there for building a family,
and also just to be a support to people who
are going through it, because we know what it's like.
Infertility is really a lonely place to.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Be against all odds. And despite what the police had
initially told them, the Trades were finally able to pursue
charges against Elizabeth and find justice.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
March third of the following year, twenty nineteen. After months
of working, we were able to get nine felony charges
of obtaining money on false pretenses. As she was on probation,
so all of the times we took her out for
dinner or meals, buying her gifts things like that, they
were able to make those charge because of her probation.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And remember those professional photos where Laura and Elizabeth are
wearing matching shirts. Those photos cost a few hundred dollars
and that expense was added to Elizabeth's felony charge.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
At first, she had put not guilty.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But before the hearing, Elizabeth changed her plate she was
going to plead guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We were going to fly out there for the trial,
and we got a call from her lawyer saying, you know,
she's going to plead guilty. You don't have to come
out now. It's okay, you don't need to come out,
and we were like, we're coming, because at the last
minute she could change her mind, and we're still in California.
We're not there to speak for ourselves. So we're going
to make the trip and we're going to be there
(17:45):
for the trial. So we flew out there again. We
faced her in court.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
At the beginning of the hearing. She ended up pleading
guilty rather than going to trial. She agreed to a
sentence of ten years, eight of which were suspended, so
she served two years in state prison, with the remaining
eight years to be added if she commits another crime
on top of that, and so we really felt like
(18:18):
it was a victory. I just remember standing out front
of the courthouse, speaking in front of the news conference
and just how amazingly empowering it was that we didn't
give up. We were able to hold her accountable and
show people out there that it's not okay to do
(18:39):
things like this to people.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Felt like we had closure to that part of our life.
We had gotten our power back, and so we felt
like we could take on the future and we could
move on.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
After seeing Elizabeth sentenced to two years for the fraud
she committed, the traits still weren't done. They knew that
they only got justice because their perpetrator happened to be
on probation. So they worked with Virginia's Deputy Attorney General
to write a new law.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It officially became Senate Bill one zero zero three that
made it a crime to lie in electronic communications during
a business transaction. So the crime is actually punishable by
up to a year in jail and a twenty five
hundred dollars fine. So it went into effect in Virginia
on July first in twenty twenty, and it was named
(19:48):
after US trades law. That sense of pride and accomplishment,
you know, like a sense of legacy. Were making a
difference in the world and helping people, and so we
were really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
They say that trades Law in Virginia is just the beginning,
one small step towards very necessary adoption reform and regulation
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You know, it's like the wild West out there. It's
a multi billion dollar industry. There are so many desperate
families as well as desperate birth mothers, and I think
the adoption industry as a whole praise on these desperate
people who don't know where else to turn to. Costs
are through the roof and there needs to be more oversight.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One of the reasons the Traits initially decided to go
public with their story was to help educate other adoptive
families about their rights. At the time they tried to
get pregnancy verification, something signed and dated by a doctor, we.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Were told that there was nothing that could be done
on our end until after the baby was born, which
we found kind of strange and very frustrating. That led
us to reaching out to try to get a hold
of someone to get pregnancy verification, and either people wouldn't
return our calls or they told us we didn't have
(21:14):
the authority to get that information from them.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Since this happened, they've learned adoptive parents do have legal
rights to pregnancy verification.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So we want to let families know you have a
right to that as an adoptive parent, and that's one
of the first things that you should do is try
to get a pregnancy verification.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They don't want anyone else to have to learn these
lessons the way they did.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
And I'd say one of the most important things is
to listen to your gut, because if I had listened
to my gut instead of giving her the butt, I'm
a doubt and just trying to see it from her side,
you know, empathetic if you feel like something is off,
just trust your intuition.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's been a few years since the adoption fraud, and
since then they've spent the time healing as a family.
Matt says that instead of letting this betrayal break them,
it's brought their family unit closer together.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
One of my biggest takeaways for this is just how
strong we are as a family and as a couple.
I mean, rates in this country are sky high, especially
divorces within the infertility community, because of the emotional toll
that it takes on couples. And I just look back
(22:34):
at how much Laura and I have been through together
and how much we support each other, and just how
strong we still are in coming through all of this together.
I couldn't have made it through without her. I'm very
grateful for her and for Hudson.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Hudson was meant to be our son and our one
and only child, and that dream of having so going
for him is something that I try to filled in
other ways. We're always meeting up with friends. He has
tons of cousins, so he spends a lot of time
with them. He's also very empathetic. He really is aware
(23:14):
of other people's feelings and how his words affect other people,
and I'm really proud of that part of him. He
is a really good person.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
On our video call with Laura and Matt, Laura had
one of Hudson's drawings up on the wall next to
her bed. Our producer Mo asked her about it.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Thank you. It says counting the ways I Love you,
and it has like his little handprint on it in
blue crayon, and each finger has something, so it says
you love me, playing games, going to school with me, family,
hugs and snuggling, and then in the center of the
little handprint is a little red heart. That's a thank you.
(23:57):
I think that helps me too, because I right not
to take for granted how lucky I am. That's a
good reminder just to like really cherish the things that
you do have.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
We end all of our weekly episodes with the same question,
why did you want to tell your story? This is
what Matt says.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
I think it's important to share our story because there
are a lot of people out there who are victims
of emotional abuse. Because that's what our story is, is
emotional abuse. And you know, as much as that affects you,
it's so important to not take it lying down, you know,
(24:42):
to try to stand up for yourself and do something
about it. Emotional abuse can be a crime, as we've
proven here, and I know a lot of your listeners
are victims of emotional abuse or familiar with that, and
just people understanding that they're not alone, that there are
lots of other people out there that are going through
something similar. You never know what someone is dealing with
(25:03):
on the inside.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And for Laura, just that feeling that you're not alone
helps so much when you're going through something like this.
Infertility is such a lonely journey, and it's important that
you surround yourself with other people that are going through
the same situation. You can learn from each other. Not
everybody wants to share their story, but for us, it's
(25:25):
really important that we do something positive with our experience
so something good can come of this.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
On the next episode of Betrayal, she's practicing how she's
going to cry when the police calls her after.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
They kill me.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
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(26:18):
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Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank
you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced by
(26:39):
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 on this episode are Kristen Melcurie,
Caitlin Golden, and Grace Bollinger. Our ihearteam is Ali Perry
and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt del
(27:02):
Vecchio and Nico Auruka. Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Bains.
Music library provided by my Music and For more podcasts
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you get your podcasts
I have to go down there. I have to confront her.
I have to see her, and I remember yelling at
her like, how could you do this? How could you
do this to our family?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
change everything. This is part two of Matt and Laura's story.
If you haven't heard part one, you'll want to go
back and listen to that first. Matt and Laura Tread
(00:47):
went through years of infertility treatment IVF, miscarriages, and a
high risk pregnancy to have their son, Hudson. Soon after
they knew they wanted another child, they decided to pursue adoption.
That's how they met Elizabeth Jones. Elizabeth thought the Traits
would be great adoptive parents to her unborn baby. After
(01:08):
talking daily and visiting Elizabeth in Virginia, they both agreed
that it was a perfect match for an open adoption.
The baby was due in December of twenty eighteen, and
the Trades had picked out a name for her. Noela
and Elizabeth, the birth mom, already felt like extended family.
A month before the baby was due, Elizabeth went into
(01:29):
labor early it was an emergency. Something wasn't right. Matt
and Laura rushed to the hospital. The nurses weren't able
to find a patient by the name Elizabeth Jones in
the maternity ward, but there was one in the.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Er, so we went into the hospital room and I
remember the curtain was drawn. I can just picture in
my mind, like I was there seeing the nurse moved
the curtain and there's our Elizabeth sitting there and all
of her clothes. So I was so confused. I was like, Elizabeth,
(02:08):
Oh my god, are you okay? What's happening? Why are
you in your regular clothes? And she just tried to
explain it away, you know, like, oh, we brought a
change of clothes for me in the car. Everything was
all bloody, so I had to change and I was like,
where is the baby, Like what's happening.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Elizabeth explained that her husband was on his way up
to the maternity ward with the baby.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
And I was like, I was just up there waiting.
We're all waiting. There's a whole team of doctors waiting,
and we didn't see the baby. Like I have to
go talk to the nurses and try to figure out
what's going on. So I was walking away and I
remember her calling my name, but I just kept walking.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
A horrible truth was setting in for Laura, a truth
she couldn't process. She went to the nurses station in
a daze.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And I was like, I don't understand what going on.
She's supposed to be giving birth to our daughter. Her
case manager was like, let me go talk to her.
She came back. She was like, she's saying she doesn't
even know you. She's saying she has no idea who
you are.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Laura fumbled to find her phone to show the nurse
photos of them together, photos from as recent as yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
There's even a picture of my son with his hand
on her stomach because she had told him, oh, you
want to feel your sissy kick.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's when another nurse stepped in and told Laura the truth,
the truth. Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to say.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I just remember the nurse telling me she's not pregnant.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
There was no baby. There never had been. Laura walked
right back into the exam room to confront her.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I just looked at her and I was like, how
could you lie to us like this? How could you
do this? How could you do this? To our son.
She just looked at me with these blank, dead eyes,
no emotion, no remorse, just complete blank expression on her face.
At that point, she was silent, and I was like,
(04:12):
you know what, Elizabeth, what goes around comes around, and
this is going to come back to you, like you're
going to get what you give, and I just walked out.
I just didn't even want to face her anymore. I
didn't want to look into those dead eyes.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
All the while, Matt was still upstairs with Hudson and
an empty baby carrier, waiting for an update from Laura.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
We're sitting up there and the minutes are just crawling by,
and I have no idea what's going on, and I'm
texting Laura for information and not hearing anything because she's
in the thick of all of this, and just waiting
and waiting. I remember Laura coming back up and entering
the nicky wait room with no baby, and she just
(05:04):
had this look on her face.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I remember saying, there is no baby and she was
never pregnant. I remember Matt tearing up at that point
and us all embracing as a family.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Matt couldn't leave the hospital without seeing Elizabeth for himself.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I didn't get closure. You know, I wasn't the one
down in the er like Laura was, and so I said,
I have to go down there. I have to confront her.
I have to see her. And so the three of
us went down to the er, and it just so
happened the right when we got down to the waiting room,
she started to come out the door because she was released,
(05:52):
and she saw us and looked at us and started
to kind of turn the other way. And I remember
yelling at her, how could you do this? And how
could you do this to our family? And just wanted
to follow her, you know, but she knew going back
(06:13):
into that er. We weren't able to go back there
because we weren't patience, and you know, I think she
escaped out the back door. At that point. I wanted
to chase after her even more, but my family needed me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
His family did need him. Hudson, wearing his Big Brother
T shirt, seemed confused. Nothing hurt the Traits more than
watching their son lose a piece of his innocence in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know, it's hard to talk about that because that's
six years old. At that moment, you have to explain
to him that there are people out there in the
world that are not nice, not good people that would
hurt others like this. I just I'll never forget Petson
with his question like it was a trick. Why would
someone trick us just such an innocent question?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It was an innocent question. Won that on some level
Matt and Laura had too.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
After the fact, she got interviewed by the News. She
told them that she wanted us to feel her pain.
And I think by that she meant maybe from her
own childhood, things that happened to her. You know her
people hurt people, but I don't know. She wanted us
to feel her pain. That's what she said.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's the closest the traits would ever come to an
answer about why Elizabeth deceived them. She wanted someone else
to feel the pain she felt inside. That was the
only explanation for why she took it so far.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
At any point during this whole thing, she could have
ended it. Laura tried so many times to convince her
to keep the baby, the baby would be best with her,
and she have not shown up to the hospital right.
But the fact that she chose to show up at
the hospital where she knew that we would be to
(08:09):
check herself in to tell us that she was in
the er for us to go down for that very
moment of seeing us in pain, to inflict emotional suffering
on us like that, That's the only thing that we
can think of was the end goal in that moment
(08:30):
for her, because obviously she knew at some point she
was going to get found out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The extent to which she brought it was just cruel
and in my mind, just an evil thing to do.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Almost immediately they started to think back on the last
few months and they saw it all in a new
horrible light. The woman they'd spent months building a relationship with,
expecting to have as a lifelong family member, was faking
her pregnancy. The whole time.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She physically looked pregnant. She just had that body type
where she looked like she could have been pregnant, and
I really thought she was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
She sent us videos, you know, where she'd looked up
her shirt and video what you know, look at babykick.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I actually remember her being like, yeah, feel your baby pick, like,
put your hand in my stomach. And I never did
feel a baby pick obviously.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
But what about the ulder sound photos and the stuffed
unicorn with a recording of the baby's heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I think it was probably her other kids ultrasounds, and
or the heartbeat might have been from one of her
other kids.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
As for Elizabeth's husband, they can only guess.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I think he honestly had no idea she was doing this.
She was not involving him at all.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
He traveled a lot for work, so when we were
there at their house, we never met him. I don't
think he knew that she had reached out to us.
I don't think he knew what she was doing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Did she even have a husband at all. Some parts
of the elaborate deception are still a mystery.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I don't know where she got the pictures of the blood.
I have no idea where she got those pictures.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Matt and Laura Trait were in the waiting room of
the er with their six year old, reeling from the
news that the daughter they were expecting to adopt never
existed at all. All morning, their phones were blowing up
messages from family and friends wanting updates about Noela.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I remember sending a message, you know, there is no baby,
and having to sort of explain that, but at the
same time not really wanting to talk to anybody about it,
and just other shock from everybody. We all just kind
of had this moment together. Obviously, there are situations and
(11:07):
adoption where you expect, you know, possibly the birth mother
to change your mind and you decide to keep the baby.
But this was so different. We worked so hard to
reach this moment, to finally be able to adopt, and
thought the dream was finally coming true.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Leaving the hospital that day, they got into a fender
bender in their rental car. It was one of those
absurd moments in life. I can't imagine what Matt and
Laura were thinking on hold with the insurance company while
staring in disbelief at the empty car seat. After what
felt like an eternity, they finally got back to their airbnb.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
At that point, something switched in us and we immediately
went into attack mode. We can't let someone get away
with this. You can't let someone emotionally abuse you like
that and just lay down and take it. And so
back at theirbnb, we started immediately making phone calls to
(12:12):
the sheriff's department to I mean, anybody that would listen.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And I remember the sheriff saying, well, it's not a
crime to hurt someone's feeling.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
That comment sent them over the edge, spurred them into
a level of action they didn't even know they were
capable of. This was more than a case of hurt feelings,
and they were going to prove it.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think as a lesson to Hudson, He's obviously watching
how we're reacting to all of this, and it was
so important for us to have him know that we
were going to do something about this, that it's important
in life to stand up for what's right and to
stand up for what you believe in rather than just
(12:57):
cowering in a corner and just letting it defeat you.
And in a way, I think that was cathartic because
it was a.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Way for us to take our power back because it
felt like a really powerless situation.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So they just kept making phone calls.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
I remember calling Child Protective Services to let them know
what was happening. I just felt like she was not
mentally stable and I was really concerned about her kids,
and we were calling like the district Attorney's office, just
anybody that would listen.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Really, I want to credit Laura because she was the
one who was at home. Hudson went back to school,
I went back to work, and you know, she's at
home on the phone every single day. Reaching out to police,
reaching out to the Commonwealth Attorney is kind of like
trying to see what could happen.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And finally they found someone who would listen, someone who
had more information about Elizabeth Jones.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It was discovered through one of the detectives that she
was on probation for a credit card fraud and she
actually had an ankle bracelet. The problem was every time
that we saw her, well at the time Laura visited,
in the time that we were all out there, she
was wearing big ugg boots and so it wasn't possible
to see the ankle bracelet on her. And so from
(14:20):
that point, I think charges kind of gained steam because
once it was determined that she was on probation, the
detective was able to finally do some work.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It was only because Elizabeth was on probation that the
trades had a chance to pursue criminal charges against.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Her, and it's like, Okay, we have some traction, we
have something happening here. We might have an opportunity to
be able to hold her accountable for her crimes.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Accountability was important to them. After all, Elizabeth took more
than just a few thousand dollars. She took one of
their last chances at growing their family.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I had always thought that there was another baby out
there is meant to be a part of our family.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
After everything they'd been through in their fertility journey. Elizabeth's
betrayal fundamentally changed Matt and Laura.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I never knew that people like that were even out there,
that could go to those means to hurt someone else.
So the impact that the adoption fraud had on me
personally was a just really scared me away from pursuing
any future opportunities. I was just really afraid to get
(15:31):
hurt again.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
The trades still believe in adoption. They've heard many success stories,
but they were exhausted. They couldn't keep trying. It's still
the thing that stings the most.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Maybe we weren't meant to have another child, but maybe
we were meant to help others.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And one way they're planning to help others is through
building an online community. It's called infertility noow dot com,
where they want to host resources, meeting groups, and online
courses for people going through infertility.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
We're hoping to create a community of people who are
going through infertility, and we hope to offer classes to
them and kind of give guidance and teach people all
the different options there are out there for building a family,
and also just to be a support to people who
are going through it, because we know what it's like.
Infertility is really a lonely place to.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Be against all odds. And despite what the police had
initially told them, the Trades were finally able to pursue
charges against Elizabeth and find justice.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
March third of the following year, twenty nineteen. After months
of working, we were able to get nine felony charges
of obtaining money on false pretenses. As she was on probation,
so all of the times we took her out for
dinner or meals, buying her gifts things like that, they
were able to make those charge because of her probation.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And remember those professional photos where Laura and Elizabeth are
wearing matching shirts. Those photos cost a few hundred dollars
and that expense was added to Elizabeth's felony charge.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
At first, she had put not guilty.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But before the hearing, Elizabeth changed her plate she was
going to plead guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We were going to fly out there for the trial,
and we got a call from her lawyer saying, you know,
she's going to plead guilty. You don't have to come
out now. It's okay, you don't need to come out,
and we were like, we're coming, because at the last
minute she could change her mind, and we're still in California.
We're not there to speak for ourselves. So we're going
to make the trip and we're going to be there
(17:45):
for the trial. So we flew out there again. We
faced her in court.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
At the beginning of the hearing. She ended up pleading
guilty rather than going to trial. She agreed to a
sentence of ten years, eight of which were suspended, so
she served two years in state prison, with the remaining
eight years to be added if she commits another crime
on top of that, and so we really felt like
(18:18):
it was a victory. I just remember standing out front
of the courthouse, speaking in front of the news conference
and just how amazingly empowering it was that we didn't
give up. We were able to hold her accountable and
show people out there that it's not okay to do
(18:39):
things like this to people.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Felt like we had closure to that part of our life.
We had gotten our power back, and so we felt
like we could take on the future and we could
move on.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
After seeing Elizabeth sentenced to two years for the fraud
she committed, the traits still weren't done. They knew that
they only got justice because their perpetrator happened to be
on probation. So they worked with Virginia's Deputy Attorney General
to write a new law.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It officially became Senate Bill one zero zero three that
made it a crime to lie in electronic communications during
a business transaction. So the crime is actually punishable by
up to a year in jail and a twenty five
hundred dollars fine. So it went into effect in Virginia
on July first in twenty twenty, and it was named
(19:48):
after US trades law. That sense of pride and accomplishment,
you know, like a sense of legacy. Were making a
difference in the world and helping people, and so we
were really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
They say that trades Law in Virginia is just the beginning,
one small step towards very necessary adoption reform and regulation
in the United States.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You know, it's like the wild West out there. It's
a multi billion dollar industry. There are so many desperate
families as well as desperate birth mothers, and I think
the adoption industry as a whole praise on these desperate
people who don't know where else to turn to. Costs
are through the roof and there needs to be more oversight.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One of the reasons the Traits initially decided to go
public with their story was to help educate other adoptive
families about their rights. At the time they tried to
get pregnancy verification, something signed and dated by a doctor, we.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Were told that there was nothing that could be done
on our end until after the baby was born, which
we found kind of strange and very frustrating. That led
us to reaching out to try to get a hold
of someone to get pregnancy verification, and either people wouldn't
return our calls or they told us we didn't have
(21:14):
the authority to get that information from them.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Since this happened, they've learned adoptive parents do have legal
rights to pregnancy verification.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So we want to let families know you have a
right to that as an adoptive parent, and that's one
of the first things that you should do is try
to get a pregnancy verification.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They don't want anyone else to have to learn these
lessons the way they did.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
And I'd say one of the most important things is
to listen to your gut, because if I had listened
to my gut instead of giving her the butt, I'm
a doubt and just trying to see it from her side,
you know, empathetic if you feel like something is off,
just trust your intuition.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's been a few years since the adoption fraud, and
since then they've spent the time healing as a family.
Matt says that instead of letting this betrayal break them,
it's brought their family unit closer together.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
One of my biggest takeaways for this is just how
strong we are as a family and as a couple.
I mean, rates in this country are sky high, especially
divorces within the infertility community, because of the emotional toll
that it takes on couples. And I just look back
(22:34):
at how much Laura and I have been through together
and how much we support each other, and just how
strong we still are in coming through all of this together.
I couldn't have made it through without her. I'm very
grateful for her and for Hudson.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Hudson was meant to be our son and our one
and only child, and that dream of having so going
for him is something that I try to filled in
other ways. We're always meeting up with friends. He has
tons of cousins, so he spends a lot of time
with them. He's also very empathetic. He really is aware
(23:14):
of other people's feelings and how his words affect other people,
and I'm really proud of that part of him. He
is a really good person.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
On our video call with Laura and Matt, Laura had
one of Hudson's drawings up on the wall next to
her bed. Our producer Mo asked her about it.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Thank you. It says counting the ways I Love you,
and it has like his little handprint on it in
blue crayon, and each finger has something, so it says
you love me, playing games, going to school with me, family,
hugs and snuggling, and then in the center of the
little handprint is a little red heart. That's a thank you.
(23:57):
I think that helps me too, because I right not
to take for granted how lucky I am. That's a
good reminder just to like really cherish the things that
you do have.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
We end all of our weekly episodes with the same question,
why did you want to tell your story? This is
what Matt says.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
I think it's important to share our story because there
are a lot of people out there who are victims
of emotional abuse. Because that's what our story is, is
emotional abuse. And you know, as much as that affects you,
it's so important to not take it lying down, you know,
(24:42):
to try to stand up for yourself and do something
about it. Emotional abuse can be a crime, as we've
proven here, and I know a lot of your listeners
are victims of emotional abuse or familiar with that, and
just people understanding that they're not alone, that there are
lots of other people out there that are going through
something similar. You never know what someone is dealing with
(25:03):
on the inside.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And for Laura, just that feeling that you're not alone
helps so much when you're going through something like this.
Infertility is such a lonely journey, and it's important that
you surround yourself with other people that are going through
the same situation. You can learn from each other. Not
everybody wants to share their story, but for us, it's
(25:25):
really important that we do something positive with our experience
so something good can come of this.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
On the next episode of Betrayal, she's practicing how she's
going to cry when the police calls her after.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
They kill me.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal
team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email
us at Betrayal pod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal
pod at gmail dot com. Also, please be sure to
follow us at Glass Podcasts on Instagram for all Betrayal content,
news and updates. We're grateful for your support. One way
(26:18):
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
you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced by
(26:39):
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 on this episode are Kristen Melcurie,
Caitlin Golden, and Grace Bollinger. Our ihearteam is Ali Perry
and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt del
(27:02):
Vecchio and Nico Auruka. 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
you get your podcasts
Host
Andrea Gunning
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