May 19, 2023 • 45 mins
Amanda Riley shares with the social world her battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system.
Over a seven-year period, her physical battles including losing her hair, and endless hospital visits are the focus of repeated posts. Thousands of dollars in donations start coming in, and people in her community step up to help.
Then, journalist Nancy Moscatiello gets an anonymous tip. Riley is lying and the investigation is on. 'Scamanda' a new podcast by Lionsgate Sound, can be found at the link below. Follow the episodes as they detail what led to Riley’s unraveling.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Lindsey Wilder - Former Church Member/Friend
- Caryn Stark - Psychologist- Trauma and Crime Expert; Twitter: @carnpsych
- Jose Martinez - Former Detective (who worked the case)
- Nancy Moscatiello - Investigative Producer, Co-Executive Producer: 'Scamanda'
- Charlie Webster - Host of ‘Scamanda;' Award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster; Creative Director at Lionsgate Sound; Twitter @charliecw
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Crime Stories with Nancy Greece, a beautiful young woman suffering, suffering,
horribly suffering with cancer.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We watch from her blog as she.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Goes completely bald and becomes weaker and weaker and weaker,
fighting the deadly disease.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Or was she?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm Nancy Grece. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us here at vaccination in Sirius xem one eleven.
Who is Amanda?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Listen?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Amanda's blogs weren't just filled with words. There were hundreds
of heart wrenching and wore intimate pictures detailing her journey
from copious vials of blood take and for testing, to
step by step photos of a hair falling out.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Amanda Riley A M A N D A R I
L E Y.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
I work on the campaign for lu cumulan Phoma Society,
and I'm also a Stage four refractory blood cancer patient.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Amanda, then twenty seven, had just given birth to her
first child. Amanda's blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Before I was pregnant, they diagnosed me with lupus. The
diagnosed has stuck for quite a while. After Carter, our
son was born, my blood counts dropped so dramatically that
it threw another flag.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's hard to imagine what it's like for Amanda, the
joy of becoming a mother rudely interrupted by some heart
wrenching news her life will never be the same again.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
After a vat of tests, I was diagnosed with hodgkinslim Filmer.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Joining me an ostar panel to make sense of what
we know right now this young woman, a brand new mom,
now diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Literally tens of thousands.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of people around the world were spill bound, drawn to
amanda story, seemingly.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Like no other, as she battles Hodgkins. Listen.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
A brand new blog popped up on a website called
blog spot. The homepage heading was simple, my story, Our journey.
A post appeared, what the heck is Hodgkins Lympoma?
Speaker 6 (02:36):
My goal with this blog is to not only keep
friends and family in the loop, but serve as a
resource to all those newly diagnosed. Doctors don't provide great
detailed information, and the Internet is not your friend when
you're diagnosed with the disease. I have Hodgkins lymphoma, and
it's been quite the journey to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The author c Riley so you're hearing more and more
about her and about her horrible battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
You're hearing the voice of Charlie Webster, who is joining
us right now. But first I'm going to go to
a special guest joining me, Karen Stark, renowned psychologist out
(03:22):
of Manhattan. You can find her at Karenstark dot com.
That's Karen with a Sea, but also cancer survivor, Karen.
If you could just try, and I've never asked you this,
to summarize your battle, what you went through battling cancer,
(03:45):
the ups and the downs and the heartbreaks and the
seemingly never ending battle that you have suffered and fought
so valiantly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
What was it like, Nancy.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
It's so hard to describe because I think about you,
you just don't imagine it happening. And I think for everybody,
the idea of cancer without having a cure really is
the most frightening thing. And then you find out that
this is happening to you and it just seems surreal.
(04:17):
You go through, you take drugs, whatever you need to do,
and for me personally, five years later, I discovered that
the cancer had returned and it was worse, and then
I needed to go through chemotherapy. And you're dealing with
your mortality. You know the fact that you love life.
You don't want to be sick, you want to be
(04:39):
healthy and have a good quality And it is the
most frightening, overwhelming situation to be in. At least it
was in my life as I battle this disease.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
As tens of thousands tune in to Amanda's blogs for
every development, suddenly they go cold.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
I was invited to attend the Look Good, Feel Better
Seminar by the American Cancer Society.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
It was so cool.
Speaker 6 (05:12):
I was among other women undergoing chemo. Best part, we
got a huge goodieback of makeup Chanelle Avon, Bobby Brown,
Clinique mac sde Later, scarves, hats, and two wigs. I
got a natural brown wig. But I will also be
a Irocan platinum bland. Why because I can? And then
(05:36):
she stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
After posting regular updates about her cancer journey, the blog
goes dark. Six months go by with no posts, no pictures, nothing,
not a word, until out of nowhere, a brand new
post appears alongside photos of Amanda and her family celebrating
in party hats, with some amazing news.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Screw you cancer, I win twelve months of testing, eight
months of chemotherapy, and today is my day of bliss.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
We won, but tragically there was a relapse. Listen.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Stephanie was extremely well connected in the country music business.
She actually knew Leanne Rhymes as steel player, and she
contacted about getting Amanda backstage to meet Leanne.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Now, Leanne Rhymes has joined Tima Amanda. Stephanie surprised me
by taking both Corey and I to the concert. We
got to meet her. I was pretty starstruck, but tried
to keep my cool. She was so nice and down
to earth. Afterwards we got to watch her perform with
the symphony. It was beautiful and pure magic. I think
(06:51):
my jaw was on the floor most of the night.
After the concert, her wonderful steel player escorted us to
her dressing room, where she so kindly as signed.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
But then out of the blue, there seems to be
a bump in the road, a fly in the ointment.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So to speak. Listen to our cut seven Charlie Webster.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Maybe a couple years into her blog, it was removed
for a time. She kind of removed herself for a time.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
The blog would be up for a long time, and
then she would shut it down, and then she would
open up the blog again with the new post, and
then she would shut it down like nobody could see it.
Speaker 8 (07:32):
And what I had heard happened is that she was
being sued for faking cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Lindsay Wilder Amanda's friend from church.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
But it was a whole mix up because there was
someone else named Amanda Riley who died from cancer.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Okay, in my world, there is no coincidence. But could
it pop possibly be that there are two beautiful young
women named Amanda Riley that are both battling deadly cancer.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's quite a coincidence. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mentioned that you were hearing the voice of Charlie Webster,
but I didn't mention that Charlie is the host of
Scamanda scam Anda Scamanda.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Time Stories with Nancy.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Grace Charlie Webster, award winning journalists and broadcaster at Lionsgate.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You can find Charlie at Charlie Webster dot com.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Is with us also special guest Nancy Moscatello, investigative producerep
of Scamanda, whose Martinez former detective who worked this case.
That should give you a big tip off about Amanda Riley.
And last, but certainly not least, Lindsey Wilder, former church
(09:16):
member who donated so much plasma to save Amanda's life,
the plasma bank cut her off for safety reasons.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You know you hear a last call like at a bar.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's what they did to Lindsay. Last call woman. No
more donating for Amanda Riley. You've maxed out. She donated
so much of her own plasma.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
The plasma Bank cut her off.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
First of all, to Charlie Webster, Scamanda, amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Start at the beginning. Everybody jump in. You feel like it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
This is not he Ti at Winsor Castle with the
new King Charles and consort Queen Camilla.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Let it go. Charlie Webster, Oh my stars.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
First of all, I can't wait to hear how you
came up with the idea of Scamander.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
But just tell me Amanda Riley's story.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
How much does she scam I understand about one hundred
and five thousand dollars.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
Yeah, and Nanda, I love the way you did that,
and thank you for kind of doing this scam It's amazing. Honestly,
it took us so much to go back and forth
on that title, whether we felt it was right. Nancy
and I had so many conversations about that.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
She did scam.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
Over one hundred thousand dollars worth of people's money, but
it was small increments of money, and this was only
what was found. I'm giving some clues away here, but
I'm sure Detective Martinez will this is only to do
with what was sent over the Why is so the
money that people gave in cash?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Oh my stars, waiting a minute, I'm drinking from the
fire hydrant.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Charlie Wester.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You've just given me so much information that once I'm
trying to take it in.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So let me understand.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So you're saying you said it was over one hundred
thousand dollars, but it was in small increments.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Twenty five dollars to one person is like two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to another person, so.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Exactly, you know, that's straight out of the Bible. Remember,
all of the rich members.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Of all the rich members of the temple were giving
huge amounts of money, and the widow came forward with
the mite, and she was the one that was blessed,
not them. So you know when you say it's a
small donation, twenty five dollars, one hundred dollars to some.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
People is more than they can afford to do.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, I'm thinking about another thing you just said, Charlie Webster,
that one hundred. I think it's one hundred and five,
five hundred and thirteen dollars. It's what we know because
it was wire like credit cards, and I'm PayPal Venmo.
So there's probably the Lord only knows how much more
out there that she's skimmed.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
First of all, did she have Hodgkins?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
No.
Speaker 9 (12:19):
One thing I want to point out is you make
such an amazing point, Nancy, because there was so many people,
as you mentioned about Lindsey, that gave their own selves,
their own emotions, their own energy, their time, services, Like
people donated food and so she could eat and her
family could eat, and it wasn't just about the money.
Speaker 10 (12:43):
But no, she didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, no, wait a minute, you just really struck a
chord hold on. Charlie Webster and Nancy Moscatello and Jose
Martinez Kieren Stark.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Of course, don't be shy, but.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Lindsey Wilder is joining us who donates so much Plasid
the woman they cut her off at the plasma bank.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I call myself a castlerole.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Christian because when you don't where I come from, when
you don't know what to do for somebody, you make
him a casserole. You make him a whole meal, the rules,
the dessert, the dinner, the salad, the flowers, the blah blah,
and you take it to them and you leave it
with them. You don't even make them come to the door.
(13:27):
You take it and you and you leave.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That's what I call being a casserole Christian.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And I stood in that kitchen many a time making
something I didn't know what else to do. I don't
think that's going to get me into heaven, but I'm
going to keep trying. Here, you were giving your plasma
to this woman. You have to tell me the whole thing.
Speaker 11 (13:48):
Absolutely. So I knew that I didn't have much to
go financially. I knew one thing I had was a
high plasma plate that counts. So I devoted myself every
week going to the Red Cross. Along with me, I
brought a magnet given to me by Amanda that said
(14:09):
A Team Amanda on it. Every single time I went
to donate. I think I did fifty four that year.
I held the magnet and I told everybody in the
room about my friend Amanda ce Riley dying from cancer.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Okay, I'm just letting that soak in. You know, it's
like a fine wine.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I've uncorked it, poured it into a glass, and now
I'm just like it's wafting in the air.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
How did you meet this woman? Oh?
Speaker 11 (14:38):
My gosh, So I was very very close with Amanda's
best friend. Her best friend brought me to the church
where I met Amanda. And when I met her, she
had already been suffering from cancer. Allegedly she had a
beanie on and underneath she had very very short hair.
I remember this moment very well now, and oh gosh,
(15:03):
I remember her being bubbly. I remember thinking how strong
she was.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, she was show because she's perfectly healthy, right.
Speaker 9 (15:11):
She was so Lindsay, wasn't She was so influential though
in the church, Nancy. She was like a celebrity in
the local church.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
What church was this?
Speaker 11 (15:20):
This was Family Community Church in Santaose, South Santose. It
was a very large church.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Oh these poor people, oh yeah, that have unwillingly been
part of this scam. So you made her, you're impressed
with her, and you decide to start giving your own plasma.
Speaker 11 (15:35):
You know, I did what I could. I really did.
Being really close with her best friend means that I
felt like I had a little bit more information than
anyone else. And at this time, her best friend and I.
Every single Tuesday, that's when the church service was that
we attended together, we would sit in her card and
(15:56):
we would pray for Amanda. We would pray that she
would see her children and graduate from high school, that
she would make it through all kinds of things, tears
all the time, just doing whatever we could.
Speaker 10 (16:09):
To do something.
Speaker 11 (16:11):
What could we do but pray for her recovery and
her children, her poor children.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And literally give your blood, sweat and tears, your plasma,
sweat and tears. Okay, I'm just thinking about that, And
to me, that's a real affront because I believe that
prayer changes things, and there are so many people, children,
(16:40):
other people suffering in the world that need not only
our prayers, but our acts, our action doing something. And
you did all of that, Lindsey Wilder, did you hear
Nancy Muscatelli joining me producer and co EP of Scamanda.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Guys, we are talking.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
To the executive co executive producer of Scamanda. It is
an eight episode limited podcast series Scamanda, available on Apple Spotify.
iHeart everywhere as it should be, and I do not
want to dissuade anyone from helping another person less fortunate
(17:29):
than we are. But this woman needs to go to
jail badly. I don't know that she can ever pay
back restitution for what she did, but it's going to
make people in the future think twice before they try
to help another person who's battling a disease.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Nancy Moscatello is joining us. Nancy, how did you get
involved with this?
Speaker 12 (17:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I got involved. I've been working in true crime and
investigative pieces for over twenty five years, and at this
point in my career, I was looking for different stories
and cases for a project I was working on, and
had reached out to different groups and organizations just saying, hey,
(18:19):
here's who I am, here's here's what I do. You know,
anyone has any leads or people they want me to
look into, just you know, let me know here, here's
my information. And yeah, that's not uncommon. You know when
you're looking for stories and stuff. And I got an anonymous,
anonymous email and they said, uh, you know there's a woman.
(18:42):
This is who she is. Here's some links to her
her blog. And you know, this person was adamant. This
person does not have cancer. I think what they're doing
is appalling, and can you help, can you do anything?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So somebody knew it was a scam and they tipped
you off.
Speaker 9 (18:59):
Yes, well, well they felt the it did, right, Yeah,
I think they did. Yeah, they got they felt that
Amanda was manipulating people. And you know what's funny and Nancy,
when Nancy Moscatello first spoke to me and we we
were I was not quite convinced. I actually questioned Nancy
(19:19):
at your time and I sat there, we did these
blogs and looking at these photo there's somebody in hospital
having chemo and years worth those blogs, and I said
to Nancy, are you are you sure? I was another
person that questioned, questioned Nancy in her I don't know,
in her kind of plight to try and bring this
(19:40):
to just it.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So you actually thought, hey, this woman really does have cancer.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And initially, okay, you got to tell me about the pictures,
tell me about the pictures Nancy Muscatello, the pictures of
this woman that were so convincing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
What are they?
Speaker 4 (19:54):
So when when I first when I first got tipped,
you have to know that Amanda was she already had
three years worth of blogs up. So she started blogging
in twenty twelve and I was tipped to it in
twenty fifteen. So there was three years of just heart
(20:16):
wrenching words, photos, proof that she was dying and that
she had Hutchinson foma. You know, there was everything from
multiple doctors, pictures of facilities, traveling back and forth to
New York emergency room, pictures, bald heads, crying tears, family gatherings,
(20:44):
like everything you would expect. I myself lost my sister
to cancer. She had two young children at the time, so.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
It was very.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Relatable to me, and what I was looking at looked
like what I had been through with my own family. So,
you know, my source with adamant I kept going back
and forth with them. We talked quite a bit, and
I knew where they were coming from, and there was
some key things that you know, I could keep in
(21:20):
the back of my mind like, Okay, I see all this,
but the facts that I'm being told are very very solid,
So how is this possible that she's dying right or
that she has cancer? So it was a lot of
back and forth, and then three years worth of blogs
gave me a lot to start working with and fact checking.
(21:43):
And I think, like you, you know many producers who
it's arger, it's tedious, but you do it. And I
broke down those first three years speaking to experts I
knew from years and years of producing, and saying, hey,
what do you think of this? How would I fact
check this? What would I do with this?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, you just brought up something really interesting I had
thought of.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I mean, I know how to try a murder case
or how to investigate a case and prove it to
a jury. But if somebody says I have Hodgkins, yeah,
and then I'm told no, they don't, how do you
start disproving that and talk about the long game, talk
about the end go. I mean already when you come
(22:26):
into it, she's been blogging and stealing from people for
three years and dragging her family along with her, and
I've got to wonder did her family.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Know the truth.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Guys, I want you to take a listen to our
cut eight from Scamander.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Listen, and there was another Amanda Riley, a seventeen year
old girl who lost her life to cancer in twenty ten,
two years before our Amanda Riley first started her blog.
To add to the confusion, a foundation was started in
the name of the deceased Amanda Riley.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
And so the idea was that, oh, it was a
mix up. Then she was back in the game Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
The cancer relapsed into my lung. The doctors were unsure
if it was a whole new cancer in and of
itself due to the ridiculously high amounts of chemo Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Wow, that is quite a coincidence, isn't it. Jose Martinez,
high profile detective who worked the case.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Jose, what was your experience in this? How did you
get pulled into it?
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Well?
Speaker 13 (23:32):
I had received a number of calls from Nancy who
introduced me to the idea of the case and what
she had been looking into.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
And like you, I sat there and thought about how
would I prove that somebody doesn't have an illness? And
so Nancy was very precious. At the time, I was
working a lot of cases and just like anything else,
(24:08):
is a squeaky wheel, you know, gets the attention. So
I entertained it for a little bit, and she provided
me with the numbers of pages and pages of blogs,
uh that were related to this Miss Riley, and so
(24:29):
I started reading into him, and just like Nancy had
been reading into him. And so then I sat back
after Gosh, I'm not sure how many months had passed
as Nancy was was calling me to put my attention
on this, but I had been reading the blogs that
she sent me, and I looked at the photos of
(24:55):
Miss Riley, and then I went to the church and
sat in church. I thought, wow, this is this is
on a large scale. I'd never been to that church
and it was just a really huge community.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay, now whoa wait, wait, I want to hear about that.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, so Nancy calls you start reading all the blogs,
three years worth of blogs, I mean, talked about the
long game again, trying to get money, getting money, And
there's no telling how much she got. We only know
of one hundred and five through wire like you know,
PayPal or Venmo or or credit card. We was somebody
jumping into just then.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
What I was going to say is when when I
contacted Hose I know it's unusual for you know, a
producer television, you know, to turn to the police, and
that just I guess what I'm trying to explain is
I was so appalled and it was so out of
hand in my opinion, that I was like, screw the story.
(25:56):
She needs to stop, like somebody needs to stop her.
And I kind of put aside mile to mcgold at
the time because I just thought, what is what she's
doing is this community is so unreal that I just
couldn't fathom letting her continue. So I thought, you know, hey,
(26:19):
I you know, local police, let me start there. They'll
take you know, this will be easy. She you know,
they'll get hold of her and she'll stop. And so,
you know, making that initial contact with Jose is out
of character for you know, a producer of television, viewser
you know, working a story, working a case, and so
but I just thought it was that important and I
(26:43):
am incredibly thankful that he he heard me.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
So, Jose, I want to go back to you going
to that church, the family community church there, and I
believe you said, San Jose, and that is when it
hit you to what a laarge scale the scam is
and I'm telling you, guys, if we know of one
hundred and five thousand she took from people, plus blood,
plus plasma, plus food, plus objects, plus leand rhymes and
(27:13):
this and that and that and this, I mean it's
a huge scam. Yeah, this woman is a one woman
wrecking crew.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So, Hose, when did it hit you?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
This is a lot bigger than what we originally thought.
Speaker 13 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:28):
So the church size interdefinitely had an effect as to
the scale of what it was going to be because
initially I knew that as soon as I opened the
door to it, I was not going to be in
the in the favor of anybody who was supporting on
Miss Riley.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Hey, you were right. Your instincts were right, because listen
to this.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
We now know that this person, Amanda Riley, had convinced
her family she had cancer and went so far is
to actually sue someone that questioned her diagnosis. Yeah, she
sued somebody for saying, you don't have cancer. You're stealing
from people in the name of being a cancer victim,
(28:17):
which you were not.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
She sued them. Jose.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
Oh yeah, And the thing is is that you know,
I when I really sat back and looked at it
and I thought, what would be the perfect crime having
an illness? You know, what's what makes it a perfect crime?
On those and and the fact that the hippologues that
protect patient confidentiality uh is a protection for her. It
(28:43):
became the core of what was to be because it
protected her from anyone questioning her. Who's going to go
to her doctor and which doctor is going to say,
you know, you know, give personal information about somebody's illness
to anybody, especially in the investigator or anybody outside of that.
Nobody is going to do that. And that's what I
(29:05):
found that, you know, nobody wants to talk, nobody wants
to be in violation of that particular law.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, I mean there's also the moral problem. There's a
moral problem, Lindsay Wilder. Not only is there hippa who
protect patient confidentiality and patient information who wants to go
up to a cancer patient and give them a hard time?
We worked in comfort them and help them. I mean,
Lindsay Wilder, how did you find out you were scammed
(29:36):
out of your own plasma?
Speaker 11 (29:37):
Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to start,
but I will tell you right away. I still believed
her for a period of time, I was under the
impression I saw this with my own eyes. I saw
her pass out. I saw her pee your pants.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Okay, can I get back to the as you say,
pee her pants part?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Okay? What yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I mean, I hope you are writing all this down quickly. Well, well,
so she had a fake fainting spell and fake Peter pants.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
Well, she did peer pants and she did faint. And
that's why she was so convincing. That's how she managed
to do something like this is to use something that
you would never imagine anybody using to be able to
manipulate someone because cancer, like Karen said earlier, touch so
many of our life. But she did Peter pants, and
she did faint, and she did do all these things.
(30:31):
I'm billing to just came for her. Nancy. Yeah, So
that's what was so convincing. It wasn't like she faded
like she did go to hospital. She did sit there
looking like she had temos. She did go to all
these different trials and hospitals and take pictures.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
But how does she pull that off? I don't get it,
first of all, with it.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
My question is how does she You go in a
hospital and you convince them to hook you up to
monitors and stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
I don't know how you would do that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I mean, when I try to write a check at
the grocery store, I get the third degree. So how
do you walk into a hospital and convince them to
just hook you up and take all these pictures?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
That's a question.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But wait, Lindsey Wilder, I want to hear about the
paying the pants part.
Speaker 11 (31:15):
Oh yeah, I remember it. So while I was actually
sitting next to her, so she started feeling very hot,
she said, and she said, I need to go get
a drink of water. She got up from next to us,
she walked to the back of the church and she
hit the floor. At that point is when she peter pants.
And I will tell you every single person in the congregation,
and I have to tell you there were one hundreds
(31:38):
started praying for her in that moment. Whatever sermon was
happening stopped entirely. The pastor got off the stage and
circled around her praying over her. And that, I kid
you not, is the first time in my life I prayed.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
And let me give you a perspective. This is the
other Nancy hit me because as someone why and reading
the blog in real time, as this is unfolding because
by now I'm I'm hooked and I'm following. Peeing her
pants and blogging about it was her go to. So
it happened in church, it happened where she worked, It
(32:16):
happened in the park with her kids for some reason.
She fainted and peede her pants and blogged about it
several times over and each time hot needed water. If
you ask me, I'm convinced that was water and not paid.
But that's me because that's what I So there's a
game with Amanda, and unless you are looking at it
(32:40):
through completely different lenses, that's how Amanda did it. So
that's and so you know she was dedicated and she
was good at it.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
How do you go at a hospital? Jose Martinez Time
Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Guys, we are talking to Charlie West, her host of Scamanda,
to Nancy Moscatela, the investigative producer co EP of Scamanda.
Whose Martinez, the detective who worked this case probably still
having nightmares about it. Lindsay Wilder, who gotten cut off
at the Plasma Bank for donating so much Plaza to
(33:32):
save this woman's life. Karen Start, renowned psychologist out of
Manhattan and cancer survivor. I mean just the thought of
this woman using cancer survivors, cancer warriors like Karen Stark,
using my friend Karen, start to get money and this
(33:57):
one hundred grand that's a tip of the iceberg. You've
got Lindsey Wilder laid out on a gurney giving plasma
to this woman. So Lindsey, I'm just trying to take
in how she faked it all.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
But what I know get J Jose.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Martinez, is how do you go to a hospital and
convince them to hook you up so you can take
pictures for your blog.
Speaker 10 (34:22):
Well, if you look at the pictures, you have to
ask yourself what am I really looking at? So when
you look at the pictures, like there's pictures of her
in a hallway or with the beanie cap on and
then a little oxygen tube that ghosts into your nose
and around your ears, But there's nothing in the hallway.
Speaker 13 (34:43):
It's empty.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
So I'm not really seeing anything that convinces me that
she's really hooked up to something. It's the appearance of it,
and that's what she's selling in those pictures, is the appearance,
the shaved head, all the things that we relate to
the illness, well especially this illness. She's she's doing the
(35:08):
checkboxes and people are believing just what they see and
then they're believing this based on the superficial picture but
not really knowing. And the whole, the whole question that
I kept getting from all the hospitals that I call
is why would somebody fake cancer? And so that on
top of just the images, nobody's questioning it. So that
(35:33):
is you know, that's again, that's part of the whole scam.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Wow, I'm just trying to take the whole thing. And
guys take a listen now.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Cut eleven from our friends of Crime online dot com.
Speaker 12 (35:43):
A former teacher and principal who courageously fought her battle
with cancer, using her blog and social media to detail
all of her ups and downs. She shared how expensive
the cancer bella could be and sought donations from anyone
who could help. She claimed to have support from major
celebrities like Lenne Rhymes. Well, well, now it seems it
was all a scam. Amanda c Riley never had cancer. Never.
(36:06):
She didn't use the money to pay for cancer treatment,
but she did use it to help pay living expenses.
Federal prosecutors and the irs claim. Riley received four hundred
and forty seven online donations totally over sixty thousand dollars
through her support Amanda Page alone. Thousands more was raised
by volunteers who organized fundraisers like chili cookoff contest, Facebook
(36:27):
challenge and auctioning off on eBay autograph guitars by LeAnn
Rimes and Alan Jackson.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Okay, whoa white a minute? Whoa wait? White white white.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
White, Charlie Webster, she got Lianne Rimes to donate guitars
Alan Jackson, Chili cookoffs.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
This is a lot. This is a lot bigger than
one hundred grand.
Speaker 9 (36:50):
Yeah, it's so much bigger. And like you said, it's
people preys. This is this is what's so fascinating about
this this podcast, commander is And the whole point we
used her, I used her blogs throughout and got an
actress to read them is is you almost become convinced
when you're listening to it, even though you know she's lying.
(37:15):
And it was so there's so many twists and turns.
I mean Nancy, who originally was through an anonymous Thaws,
was told about Amanda a long time ago, years years.
Nancy has been trying to pursue her in a personal way.
It did become personal because Amanda tried to get a
subpoena against Nancy and actually strung it out for months
(37:37):
and months, tried to discredit Nancy. Took us a chord,
she used her own. She basically also used fam to
break a family up by using her cancer. So she
actually took Oh, it's so awful her husband's daughter off
her mother by using her cancer to manipulate people Nancy.
(38:02):
I was even in touch with Amanda fairly recently, and
she thought that I was hired by Nancy to try
and get at her. And she's still not taking that
accountability and responsibility. But the thing about her is she's
so nice. It's kind of weird.
Speaker 10 (38:23):
She's so cute.
Speaker 9 (38:24):
She's like so perlite and so lovely and so empathetic,
and you kind of get drawn in. And we have
this perception that criminals are these kind of big, bad
monsters and rah scary people, but she was so kind
and lovely, and that's how she infiltrated and abused so
(38:46):
many people. And it's that kind of violation of not
just the money or the castle roles, as you said,
or the chili, cook goss, the time, the energy. But
it's that violation, is that sense of sell us on
the abuse of trust. But honestly, it's unbelievably convincing.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I'm trying to figure out who can tell me about
her family? I mean, she has children who are going
to grow up to say, yeah, my mom faked cancer
and raked in like what one, two, three hundred thousand dollars? Yeah,
I mean we only know about the credit card or
the electronic donations. We don't know about the hundreds of
(39:26):
thousands of dollars and man hours put into trying to
help her.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Charlie and Nancy. Did her family believe her?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And what were you saying about taking a daughter away
and breaking up the family?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (39:39):
If I could speak to that, So, yeah, go on.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
To one of the first things I did when you know,
learning about Amanda in the situation. During that tip, I pulled.
I looked for court cases. I looked for anything I
could to see who is Amanda Ryley?
Speaker 10 (39:53):
What is she about?
Speaker 4 (39:55):
And one of the there was two court cases, a
bankruptcy court case for her and her husband, Corey Riley,
and then custody case with Corey Riley and his one
of his ex his ex wife, Alita. So the one
of the very first things I did, as I called,
(40:16):
I reached out to Alita Burnelle Riley and just hey,
here's who I am, very vague, very like I see
court papers, I'm kind of pre interviewing. I'm looking at Amanda.
And at that point, Amanda's support system wanted her on
the Ellen Show and this show and please somebody help
(40:38):
her help this mom who's dying. So there was a
lot of attention for her to get more attention. Right,
So when I spoke with this this ex wife, she said, well,
I have nothing nice to say about those Amanda Riley
and Corey Riley, but you know, and I would never
but I would never say anything because she's dying with
(40:59):
cancer and you know that is my daughter's stepmother. And
I said, well, you know what's going on. So basically
they were in a court, a custody battle. Everything in
that custody battle, the papers filed, we late had a
hook that mister Riley's wife was dying with cancer and
(41:20):
the medical bills were so astronomical and this ex wife
was so out of control and such a horrible person
that they should have custody of this young girl.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
So basically they attacked the bio mom, yeah, and say
she shouldn't have custody because correct the stepmom, Amanda Riley's
dying of cancer.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
Yeah, well not only dying, but you know, this mom
was unfit according to Amanda and Corey, right, So there
was a lot of manipulation in that course. So this
woman was in the battle of her life to keep
her daughter and they want, you know, they took custody
away for a year and a half. And at that
point is when I came into Alida's life.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I can't believe they got her study of the daughter,
and the daughter probably believed the whole thing hook line
and sink her.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Oh where is she now? Where's the daughter?
Speaker 9 (42:14):
The daughter now is? And I think it's really important
to say this. She does really struggle, and she's a
wonderful young woman, but she does struggle from what's happened
because this was her the majority of her life. She
was manipulated by this woman under her own ruth, even
(42:34):
to the point where her and the two sons of
biological sons of Amanda and Corey were told that they
might potentially have to donate their donate plasma or their
organs because she was dying. It was it wasn't just
kind of to the outside of the community. They did
emotionally damage the children.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
And is the bio daughter back with her by a mom?
Speaker 7 (43:00):
Yes she is.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
Yeah, Oh yeah, guess.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
This is so much worse than I thought. It was
just scamming money. And then I find out about Lindsey
Wilder and she stole her plasma like a vampire. You know,
Karen Stark, I've just got to hear your take a
cancer warrior. And Karen, how long have you been battling cancer?
(43:25):
I feel like sometimes it's as long as I can remember.
Speaker 7 (43:29):
It was ten years, Nancy, it was a whole decade.
And yeah, now I'm much better. I'm fine right now.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Prank God.
Speaker 7 (43:40):
It was a long journey. And when I'm listening to
all this is a psychologist, I have to say I'm
not surprised at all because someone who is a psychopath,
who who's able to con people notoriously charming, wonderful, hard
to believe. And if you take a personality like that
(44:03):
and you add an illness that no one would ever
think somebody would.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Con them about, who would ever come up.
Speaker 7 (44:10):
With something about cancer, and so I am not the
least bit surprised that she was able to convince everybody.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
So what I.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Think, Karen, what you have been through, what you have suffered,
What you have endured over and over and over again
for ten years, Karen Stark, and this woman makes a
mockery of that, using her own children to punish them,
(44:40):
to torture them, to further her scam Guys, it is
all in Scamanda, eight episode limited podcast series that has
just dropped. New chapters drop by the week. Scamanda available
on every podcast platform, Apple, Spotify. iHeart all of them.
(45:04):
You have to hear Scamanda. You know, every day I think,
well I've heard it all, but I can truly say
that today, after hearing them out about Amanda Riley, I
feel like I've heard it all that nothing is going
to talk this woman, Scamanda. It's happening now. To everyone,
(45:26):
Thank you for being with us. Goodbye friends,
Crime Stories with Nancy Greece, a beautiful young woman suffering, suffering,
horribly suffering with cancer.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We watch from her blog as she.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Goes completely bald and becomes weaker and weaker and weaker,
fighting the deadly disease.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Or was she?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm Nancy Grece. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us here at vaccination in Sirius xem one eleven.
Who is Amanda?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Listen?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Amanda's blogs weren't just filled with words. There were hundreds
of heart wrenching and wore intimate pictures detailing her journey
from copious vials of blood take and for testing, to
step by step photos of a hair falling out.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Amanda Riley A M A N D A R I
L E Y.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
I work on the campaign for lu cumulan Phoma Society,
and I'm also a Stage four refractory blood cancer patient.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Amanda, then twenty seven, had just given birth to her
first child. Amanda's blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Before I was pregnant, they diagnosed me with lupus. The
diagnosed has stuck for quite a while. After Carter, our
son was born, my blood counts dropped so dramatically that
it threw another flag.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's hard to imagine what it's like for Amanda, the
joy of becoming a mother rudely interrupted by some heart
wrenching news her life will never be the same again.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
After a vat of tests, I was diagnosed with hodgkinslim Filmer.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Joining me an ostar panel to make sense of what
we know right now this young woman, a brand new mom,
now diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Literally tens of thousands.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of people around the world were spill bound, drawn to
amanda story, seemingly.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Like no other, as she battles Hodgkins. Listen.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
A brand new blog popped up on a website called
blog spot. The homepage heading was simple, my story, Our journey.
A post appeared, what the heck is Hodgkins Lympoma?
Speaker 6 (02:36):
My goal with this blog is to not only keep
friends and family in the loop, but serve as a
resource to all those newly diagnosed. Doctors don't provide great
detailed information, and the Internet is not your friend when
you're diagnosed with the disease. I have Hodgkins lymphoma, and
it's been quite the journey to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The author c Riley so you're hearing more and more
about her and about her horrible battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
You're hearing the voice of Charlie Webster, who is joining
us right now. But first I'm going to go to
a special guest joining me, Karen Stark, renowned psychologist out
(03:22):
of Manhattan. You can find her at Karenstark dot com.
That's Karen with a Sea, but also cancer survivor, Karen.
If you could just try, and I've never asked you this,
to summarize your battle, what you went through battling cancer,
(03:45):
the ups and the downs and the heartbreaks and the
seemingly never ending battle that you have suffered and fought
so valiantly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
What was it like, Nancy.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
It's so hard to describe because I think about you,
you just don't imagine it happening. And I think for everybody,
the idea of cancer without having a cure really is
the most frightening thing. And then you find out that
this is happening to you and it just seems surreal.
(04:17):
You go through, you take drugs, whatever you need to do,
and for me personally, five years later, I discovered that
the cancer had returned and it was worse, and then
I needed to go through chemotherapy. And you're dealing with
your mortality. You know the fact that you love life.
You don't want to be sick, you want to be
(04:39):
healthy and have a good quality And it is the
most frightening, overwhelming situation to be in. At least it
was in my life as I battle this disease.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
As tens of thousands tune in to Amanda's blogs for
every development, suddenly they go cold.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
I was invited to attend the Look Good, Feel Better
Seminar by the American Cancer Society.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
It was so cool.
Speaker 6 (05:12):
I was among other women undergoing chemo. Best part, we
got a huge goodieback of makeup Chanelle Avon, Bobby Brown,
Clinique mac sde Later, scarves, hats, and two wigs. I
got a natural brown wig. But I will also be
a Irocan platinum bland. Why because I can? And then
(05:36):
she stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
After posting regular updates about her cancer journey, the blog
goes dark. Six months go by with no posts, no pictures, nothing,
not a word, until out of nowhere, a brand new
post appears alongside photos of Amanda and her family celebrating
in party hats, with some amazing news.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Screw you cancer, I win twelve months of testing, eight
months of chemotherapy, and today is my day of bliss.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
We won, but tragically there was a relapse. Listen.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Stephanie was extremely well connected in the country music business.
She actually knew Leanne Rhymes as steel player, and she
contacted about getting Amanda backstage to meet Leanne.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Now, Leanne Rhymes has joined Tima Amanda. Stephanie surprised me
by taking both Corey and I to the concert. We
got to meet her. I was pretty starstruck, but tried
to keep my cool. She was so nice and down
to earth. Afterwards we got to watch her perform with
the symphony. It was beautiful and pure magic. I think
(06:51):
my jaw was on the floor most of the night.
After the concert, her wonderful steel player escorted us to
her dressing room, where she so kindly as signed.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
But then out of the blue, there seems to be
a bump in the road, a fly in the ointment.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So to speak. Listen to our cut seven Charlie Webster.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Maybe a couple years into her blog, it was removed
for a time. She kind of removed herself for a time.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
The blog would be up for a long time, and
then she would shut it down, and then she would
open up the blog again with the new post, and
then she would shut it down like nobody could see it.
Speaker 8 (07:32):
And what I had heard happened is that she was
being sued for faking cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Lindsay Wilder Amanda's friend from church.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
But it was a whole mix up because there was
someone else named Amanda Riley who died from cancer.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Okay, in my world, there is no coincidence. But could
it pop possibly be that there are two beautiful young
women named Amanda Riley that are both battling deadly cancer.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's quite a coincidence. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mentioned that you were hearing the voice of Charlie Webster,
but I didn't mention that Charlie is the host of
Scamanda scam Anda Scamanda.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Time Stories with Nancy.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Grace Charlie Webster, award winning journalists and broadcaster at Lionsgate.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You can find Charlie at Charlie Webster dot com.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Is with us also special guest Nancy Moscatello, investigative producerep
of Scamanda, whose Martinez former detective who worked this case.
That should give you a big tip off about Amanda Riley.
And last, but certainly not least, Lindsey Wilder, former church
(09:16):
member who donated so much plasma to save Amanda's life,
the plasma bank cut her off for safety reasons.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You know you hear a last call like at a bar.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's what they did to Lindsay. Last call woman. No
more donating for Amanda Riley. You've maxed out. She donated
so much of her own plasma.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
The plasma Bank cut her off.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
First of all, to Charlie Webster, Scamanda, amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Start at the beginning. Everybody jump in. You feel like it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
This is not he Ti at Winsor Castle with the
new King Charles and consort Queen Camilla.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Let it go. Charlie Webster, Oh my stars.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
First of all, I can't wait to hear how you
came up with the idea of Scamander.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
But just tell me Amanda Riley's story.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
How much does she scam I understand about one hundred
and five thousand dollars.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
Yeah, and Nanda, I love the way you did that,
and thank you for kind of doing this scam It's amazing. Honestly,
it took us so much to go back and forth
on that title, whether we felt it was right. Nancy
and I had so many conversations about that.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
She did scam.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
Over one hundred thousand dollars worth of people's money, but
it was small increments of money, and this was only
what was found. I'm giving some clues away here, but
I'm sure Detective Martinez will this is only to do
with what was sent over the Why is so the
money that people gave in cash?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Oh my stars, waiting a minute, I'm drinking from the
fire hydrant.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Charlie Wester.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You've just given me so much information that once I'm
trying to take it in.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So let me understand.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So you're saying you said it was over one hundred
thousand dollars, but it was in small increments.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Twenty five dollars to one person is like two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to another person, so.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Exactly, you know, that's straight out of the Bible. Remember,
all of the rich members.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Of all the rich members of the temple were giving
huge amounts of money, and the widow came forward with
the mite, and she was the one that was blessed,
not them. So you know when you say it's a
small donation, twenty five dollars, one hundred dollars to some.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
People is more than they can afford to do.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, I'm thinking about another thing you just said, Charlie Webster,
that one hundred. I think it's one hundred and five,
five hundred and thirteen dollars. It's what we know because
it was wire like credit cards, and I'm PayPal Venmo.
So there's probably the Lord only knows how much more
out there that she's skimmed.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
First of all, did she have Hodgkins?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
No.
Speaker 9 (12:19):
One thing I want to point out is you make
such an amazing point, Nancy, because there was so many people,
as you mentioned about Lindsey, that gave their own selves,
their own emotions, their own energy, their time, services, Like
people donated food and so she could eat and her
family could eat, and it wasn't just about the money.
Speaker 10 (12:43):
But no, she didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, no, wait a minute, you just really struck a
chord hold on. Charlie Webster and Nancy Moscatello and Jose
Martinez Kieren Stark.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Of course, don't be shy, but.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Lindsey Wilder is joining us who donates so much Plasid
the woman they cut her off at the plasma bank.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I call myself a castlerole.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Christian because when you don't where I come from, when
you don't know what to do for somebody, you make
him a casserole. You make him a whole meal, the rules,
the dessert, the dinner, the salad, the flowers, the blah blah,
and you take it to them and you leave it
with them. You don't even make them come to the door.
(13:27):
You take it and you and you leave.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That's what I call being a casserole Christian.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And I stood in that kitchen many a time making
something I didn't know what else to do. I don't
think that's going to get me into heaven, but I'm
going to keep trying. Here, you were giving your plasma
to this woman. You have to tell me the whole thing.
Speaker 11 (13:48):
Absolutely. So I knew that I didn't have much to
go financially. I knew one thing I had was a
high plasma plate that counts. So I devoted myself every
week going to the Red Cross. Along with me, I
brought a magnet given to me by Amanda that said
(14:09):
A Team Amanda on it. Every single time I went
to donate. I think I did fifty four that year.
I held the magnet and I told everybody in the
room about my friend Amanda ce Riley dying from cancer.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Okay, I'm just letting that soak in. You know, it's
like a fine wine.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I've uncorked it, poured it into a glass, and now
I'm just like it's wafting in the air.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
How did you meet this woman? Oh?
Speaker 11 (14:38):
My gosh, So I was very very close with Amanda's
best friend. Her best friend brought me to the church
where I met Amanda. And when I met her, she
had already been suffering from cancer. Allegedly she had a
beanie on and underneath she had very very short hair.
I remember this moment very well now, and oh gosh,
(15:03):
I remember her being bubbly. I remember thinking how strong
she was.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, she was show because she's perfectly healthy, right.
Speaker 9 (15:11):
She was so Lindsay, wasn't She was so influential though
in the church, Nancy. She was like a celebrity in
the local church.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
What church was this?
Speaker 11 (15:20):
This was Family Community Church in Santaose, South Santose. It
was a very large church.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Oh these poor people, oh yeah, that have unwillingly been
part of this scam. So you made her, you're impressed
with her, and you decide to start giving your own plasma.
Speaker 11 (15:35):
You know, I did what I could. I really did.
Being really close with her best friend means that I
felt like I had a little bit more information than
anyone else. And at this time, her best friend and I.
Every single Tuesday, that's when the church service was that
we attended together, we would sit in her card and
(15:56):
we would pray for Amanda. We would pray that she
would see her children and graduate from high school, that
she would make it through all kinds of things, tears
all the time, just doing whatever we could.
Speaker 10 (16:09):
To do something.
Speaker 11 (16:11):
What could we do but pray for her recovery and
her children, her poor children.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And literally give your blood, sweat and tears, your plasma,
sweat and tears. Okay, I'm just thinking about that, And
to me, that's a real affront because I believe that
prayer changes things, and there are so many people, children,
(16:40):
other people suffering in the world that need not only
our prayers, but our acts, our action doing something. And
you did all of that, Lindsey Wilder, did you hear
Nancy Muscatelli joining me producer and co EP of Scamanda.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Guys, we are talking.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
To the executive co executive producer of Scamanda. It is
an eight episode limited podcast series Scamanda, available on Apple Spotify.
iHeart everywhere as it should be, and I do not
want to dissuade anyone from helping another person less fortunate
(17:29):
than we are. But this woman needs to go to
jail badly. I don't know that she can ever pay
back restitution for what she did, but it's going to
make people in the future think twice before they try
to help another person who's battling a disease.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Nancy Moscatello is joining us. Nancy, how did you get
involved with this?
Speaker 12 (17:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I got involved. I've been working in true crime and
investigative pieces for over twenty five years, and at this
point in my career, I was looking for different stories
and cases for a project I was working on, and
had reached out to different groups and organizations just saying, hey,
(18:19):
here's who I am, here's here's what I do. You know,
anyone has any leads or people they want me to
look into, just you know, let me know here, here's
my information. And yeah, that's not uncommon. You know when
you're looking for stories and stuff. And I got an anonymous,
anonymous email and they said, uh, you know there's a woman.
(18:42):
This is who she is. Here's some links to her
her blog. And you know, this person was adamant. This
person does not have cancer. I think what they're doing
is appalling, and can you help, can you do anything?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So somebody knew it was a scam and they tipped
you off.
Speaker 9 (18:59):
Yes, well, well they felt the it did, right, Yeah,
I think they did. Yeah, they got they felt that
Amanda was manipulating people. And you know what's funny and Nancy,
when Nancy Moscatello first spoke to me and we we
were I was not quite convinced. I actually questioned Nancy
(19:19):
at your time and I sat there, we did these
blogs and looking at these photo there's somebody in hospital
having chemo and years worth those blogs, and I said
to Nancy, are you are you sure? I was another
person that questioned, questioned Nancy in her I don't know,
in her kind of plight to try and bring this
(19:40):
to just it.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So you actually thought, hey, this woman really does have cancer.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And initially, okay, you got to tell me about the pictures,
tell me about the pictures Nancy Muscatello, the pictures of
this woman that were so convincing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
What are they?
Speaker 4 (19:54):
So when when I first when I first got tipped,
you have to know that Amanda was she already had
three years worth of blogs up. So she started blogging
in twenty twelve and I was tipped to it in
twenty fifteen. So there was three years of just heart
(20:16):
wrenching words, photos, proof that she was dying and that
she had Hutchinson foma. You know, there was everything from
multiple doctors, pictures of facilities, traveling back and forth to
New York emergency room, pictures, bald heads, crying tears, family gatherings,
(20:44):
like everything you would expect. I myself lost my sister
to cancer. She had two young children at the time, so.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
It was very.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Relatable to me, and what I was looking at looked
like what I had been through with my own family. So,
you know, my source with adamant I kept going back
and forth with them. We talked quite a bit, and
I knew where they were coming from, and there was
some key things that you know, I could keep in
(21:20):
the back of my mind like, Okay, I see all this,
but the facts that I'm being told are very very solid,
So how is this possible that she's dying right or
that she has cancer? So it was a lot of
back and forth, and then three years worth of blogs
gave me a lot to start working with and fact checking.
(21:43):
And I think, like you, you know many producers who
it's arger, it's tedious, but you do it. And I
broke down those first three years speaking to experts I
knew from years and years of producing, and saying, hey,
what do you think of this? How would I fact
check this? What would I do with this?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, you just brought up something really interesting I had
thought of.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I mean, I know how to try a murder case
or how to investigate a case and prove it to
a jury. But if somebody says I have Hodgkins, yeah,
and then I'm told no, they don't, how do you
start disproving that and talk about the long game, talk
about the end go. I mean already when you come
(22:26):
into it, she's been blogging and stealing from people for
three years and dragging her family along with her, and
I've got to wonder did her family.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Know the truth.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Guys, I want you to take a listen to our
cut eight from Scamander.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Listen, and there was another Amanda Riley, a seventeen year
old girl who lost her life to cancer in twenty ten,
two years before our Amanda Riley first started her blog.
To add to the confusion, a foundation was started in
the name of the deceased Amanda Riley.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
And so the idea was that, oh, it was a
mix up. Then she was back in the game Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
The cancer relapsed into my lung. The doctors were unsure
if it was a whole new cancer in and of
itself due to the ridiculously high amounts of chemo Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Terminal Miracle.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Wow, that is quite a coincidence, isn't it. Jose Martinez,
high profile detective who worked the case.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Jose, what was your experience in this? How did you
get pulled into it?
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Well?
Speaker 13 (23:32):
I had received a number of calls from Nancy who
introduced me to the idea of the case and what
she had been looking into.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
And like you, I sat there and thought about how
would I prove that somebody doesn't have an illness? And
so Nancy was very precious. At the time, I was
working a lot of cases and just like anything else,
(24:08):
is a squeaky wheel, you know, gets the attention. So
I entertained it for a little bit, and she provided
me with the numbers of pages and pages of blogs,
uh that were related to this Miss Riley, and so
(24:29):
I started reading into him, and just like Nancy had
been reading into him. And so then I sat back
after Gosh, I'm not sure how many months had passed
as Nancy was was calling me to put my attention
on this, but I had been reading the blogs that
she sent me, and I looked at the photos of
(24:55):
Miss Riley, and then I went to the church and
sat in church. I thought, wow, this is this is
on a large scale. I'd never been to that church
and it was just a really huge community.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay, now whoa wait, wait, I want to hear about that.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, so Nancy calls you start reading all the blogs,
three years worth of blogs, I mean, talked about the
long game again, trying to get money, getting money, And
there's no telling how much she got. We only know
of one hundred and five through wire like you know,
PayPal or Venmo or or credit card. We was somebody
jumping into just then.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
What I was going to say is when when I
contacted Hose I know it's unusual for you know, a
producer television, you know, to turn to the police, and
that just I guess what I'm trying to explain is
I was so appalled and it was so out of
hand in my opinion, that I was like, screw the story.
(25:56):
She needs to stop, like somebody needs to stop her.
And I kind of put aside mile to mcgold at
the time because I just thought, what is what she's
doing is this community is so unreal that I just
couldn't fathom letting her continue. So I thought, you know, hey,
(26:19):
I you know, local police, let me start there. They'll
take you know, this will be easy. She you know,
they'll get hold of her and she'll stop. And so,
you know, making that initial contact with Jose is out
of character for you know, a producer of television, viewser
you know, working a story, working a case, and so
but I just thought it was that important and I
(26:43):
am incredibly thankful that he he heard me.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
So, Jose, I want to go back to you going
to that church, the family community church there, and I
believe you said, San Jose, and that is when it
hit you to what a laarge scale the scam is
and I'm telling you, guys, if we know of one
hundred and five thousand she took from people, plus blood,
plus plasma, plus food, plus objects, plus leand rhymes and
(27:13):
this and that and that and this, I mean it's
a huge scam. Yeah, this woman is a one woman
wrecking crew.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So, Hose, when did it hit you?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
This is a lot bigger than what we originally thought.
Speaker 13 (27:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:28):
So the church size interdefinitely had an effect as to
the scale of what it was going to be because
initially I knew that as soon as I opened the
door to it, I was not going to be in
the in the favor of anybody who was supporting on
Miss Riley.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Hey, you were right. Your instincts were right, because listen
to this.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
We now know that this person, Amanda Riley, had convinced
her family she had cancer and went so far is
to actually sue someone that questioned her diagnosis. Yeah, she
sued somebody for saying, you don't have cancer. You're stealing
from people in the name of being a cancer victim,
(28:17):
which you were not.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
She sued them. Jose.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
Oh yeah, And the thing is is that you know,
I when I really sat back and looked at it
and I thought, what would be the perfect crime having
an illness? You know, what's what makes it a perfect crime?
On those and and the fact that the hippologues that
protect patient confidentiality uh is a protection for her. It
(28:43):
became the core of what was to be because it
protected her from anyone questioning her. Who's going to go
to her doctor and which doctor is going to say,
you know, you know, give personal information about somebody's illness
to anybody, especially in the investigator or anybody outside of that.
Nobody is going to do that. And that's what I
(29:05):
found that, you know, nobody wants to talk, nobody wants
to be in violation of that particular law.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, I mean there's also the moral problem. There's a
moral problem, Lindsay Wilder. Not only is there hippa who
protect patient confidentiality and patient information who wants to go
up to a cancer patient and give them a hard time?
We worked in comfort them and help them. I mean,
Lindsay Wilder, how did you find out you were scammed
(29:36):
out of your own plasma?
Speaker 11 (29:37):
Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to start,
but I will tell you right away. I still believed
her for a period of time, I was under the
impression I saw this with my own eyes. I saw
her pass out. I saw her pee your pants.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Okay, can I get back to the as you say,
pee her pants part?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Okay? What yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I mean, I hope you are writing all this down quickly. Well, well,
so she had a fake fainting spell and fake Peter pants.
Speaker 9 (30:09):
Well, she did peer pants and she did faint. And
that's why she was so convincing. That's how she managed
to do something like this is to use something that
you would never imagine anybody using to be able to
manipulate someone because cancer, like Karen said earlier, touch so
many of our life. But she did Peter pants, and
she did faint, and she did do all these things.
(30:31):
I'm billing to just came for her. Nancy. Yeah, So
that's what was so convincing. It wasn't like she faded
like she did go to hospital. She did sit there
looking like she had temos. She did go to all
these different trials and hospitals and take pictures.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
But how does she pull that off? I don't get it,
first of all, with it.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
My question is how does she You go in a
hospital and you convince them to hook you up to
monitors and stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
I don't know how you would do that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I mean, when I try to write a check at
the grocery store, I get the third degree. So how
do you walk into a hospital and convince them to
just hook you up and take all these pictures?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
That's a question.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But wait, Lindsey Wilder, I want to hear about the
paying the pants part.
Speaker 11 (31:15):
Oh yeah, I remember it. So while I was actually
sitting next to her, so she started feeling very hot,
she said, and she said, I need to go get
a drink of water. She got up from next to us,
she walked to the back of the church and she
hit the floor. At that point is when she peter pants.
And I will tell you every single person in the congregation,
and I have to tell you there were one hundreds
(31:38):
started praying for her in that moment. Whatever sermon was
happening stopped entirely. The pastor got off the stage and
circled around her praying over her. And that, I kid
you not, is the first time in my life I prayed.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
And let me give you a perspective. This is the
other Nancy hit me because as someone why and reading
the blog in real time, as this is unfolding because
by now I'm I'm hooked and I'm following. Peeing her
pants and blogging about it was her go to. So
it happened in church, it happened where she worked, It
(32:16):
happened in the park with her kids for some reason.
She fainted and peede her pants and blogged about it
several times over and each time hot needed water. If
you ask me, I'm convinced that was water and not paid.
But that's me because that's what I So there's a
game with Amanda, and unless you are looking at it
(32:40):
through completely different lenses, that's how Amanda did it. So
that's and so you know she was dedicated and she
was good at it.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
How do you go at a hospital? Jose Martinez Time
Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Guys, we are talking to Charlie West, her host of Scamanda,
to Nancy Moscatela, the investigative producer co EP of Scamanda.
Whose Martinez, the detective who worked this case probably still
having nightmares about it. Lindsay Wilder, who gotten cut off
at the Plasma Bank for donating so much Plaza to
(33:32):
save this woman's life. Karen Start, renowned psychologist out of
Manhattan and cancer survivor. I mean just the thought of
this woman using cancer survivors, cancer warriors like Karen Stark,
using my friend Karen, start to get money and this
(33:57):
one hundred grand that's a tip of the iceberg. You've
got Lindsey Wilder laid out on a gurney giving plasma
to this woman. So Lindsey, I'm just trying to take
in how she faked it all.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
But what I know get J Jose.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Martinez, is how do you go to a hospital and
convince them to hook you up so you can take
pictures for your blog.
Speaker 10 (34:22):
Well, if you look at the pictures, you have to
ask yourself what am I really looking at? So when
you look at the pictures, like there's pictures of her
in a hallway or with the beanie cap on and
then a little oxygen tube that ghosts into your nose
and around your ears, But there's nothing in the hallway.
Speaker 13 (34:43):
It's empty.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
So I'm not really seeing anything that convinces me that
she's really hooked up to something. It's the appearance of it,
and that's what she's selling in those pictures, is the appearance,
the shaved head, all the things that we relate to
the illness, well especially this illness. She's she's doing the
(35:08):
checkboxes and people are believing just what they see and
then they're believing this based on the superficial picture but
not really knowing. And the whole, the whole question that
I kept getting from all the hospitals that I call
is why would somebody fake cancer? And so that on
top of just the images, nobody's questioning it. So that
(35:33):
is you know, that's again, that's part of the whole scam.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Wow, I'm just trying to take the whole thing. And
guys take a listen now.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Cut eleven from our friends of Crime online dot com.
Speaker 12 (35:43):
A former teacher and principal who courageously fought her battle
with cancer, using her blog and social media to detail
all of her ups and downs. She shared how expensive
the cancer bella could be and sought donations from anyone
who could help. She claimed to have support from major
celebrities like Lenne Rhymes. Well, well, now it seems it
was all a scam. Amanda c Riley never had cancer. Never.
(36:06):
She didn't use the money to pay for cancer treatment,
but she did use it to help pay living expenses.
Federal prosecutors and the irs claim. Riley received four hundred
and forty seven online donations totally over sixty thousand dollars
through her support Amanda Page alone. Thousands more was raised
by volunteers who organized fundraisers like chili cookoff contest, Facebook
(36:27):
challenge and auctioning off on eBay autograph guitars by LeAnn
Rimes and Alan Jackson.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Okay, whoa white a minute? Whoa wait? White white white.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
White, Charlie Webster, she got Lianne Rimes to donate guitars
Alan Jackson, Chili cookoffs.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
This is a lot. This is a lot bigger than
one hundred grand.
Speaker 9 (36:50):
Yeah, it's so much bigger. And like you said, it's
people preys. This is this is what's so fascinating about
this this podcast, commander is And the whole point we
used her, I used her blogs throughout and got an
actress to read them is is you almost become convinced
when you're listening to it, even though you know she's lying.
(37:15):
And it was so there's so many twists and turns.
I mean Nancy, who originally was through an anonymous Thaws,
was told about Amanda a long time ago, years years.
Nancy has been trying to pursue her in a personal way.
It did become personal because Amanda tried to get a
subpoena against Nancy and actually strung it out for months
(37:37):
and months, tried to discredit Nancy. Took us a chord,
she used her own. She basically also used fam to
break a family up by using her cancer. So she
actually took Oh, it's so awful her husband's daughter off
her mother by using her cancer to manipulate people Nancy.
(38:02):
I was even in touch with Amanda fairly recently, and
she thought that I was hired by Nancy to try
and get at her. And she's still not taking that
accountability and responsibility. But the thing about her is she's
so nice. It's kind of weird.
Speaker 10 (38:23):
She's so cute.
Speaker 9 (38:24):
She's like so perlite and so lovely and so empathetic,
and you kind of get drawn in. And we have
this perception that criminals are these kind of big, bad
monsters and rah scary people, but she was so kind
and lovely, and that's how she infiltrated and abused so
(38:46):
many people. And it's that kind of violation of not
just the money or the castle roles, as you said,
or the chili, cook goss, the time, the energy. But
it's that violation, is that sense of sell us on
the abuse of trust. But honestly, it's unbelievably convincing.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I'm trying to figure out who can tell me about
her family? I mean, she has children who are going
to grow up to say, yeah, my mom faked cancer
and raked in like what one, two, three hundred thousand dollars? Yeah,
I mean we only know about the credit card or
the electronic donations. We don't know about the hundreds of
(39:26):
thousands of dollars and man hours put into trying to
help her.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Charlie and Nancy. Did her family believe her?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And what were you saying about taking a daughter away
and breaking up the family?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (39:39):
If I could speak to that, So, yeah, go on.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
To one of the first things I did when you know,
learning about Amanda in the situation. During that tip, I pulled.
I looked for court cases. I looked for anything I
could to see who is Amanda Ryley?
Speaker 10 (39:53):
What is she about?
Speaker 4 (39:55):
And one of the there was two court cases, a
bankruptcy court case for her and her husband, Corey Riley,
and then custody case with Corey Riley and his one
of his ex his ex wife, Alita. So the one
of the very first things I did, as I called,
(40:16):
I reached out to Alita Burnelle Riley and just hey,
here's who I am, very vague, very like I see
court papers, I'm kind of pre interviewing. I'm looking at Amanda.
And at that point, Amanda's support system wanted her on
the Ellen Show and this show and please somebody help
(40:38):
her help this mom who's dying. So there was a
lot of attention for her to get more attention. Right,
So when I spoke with this this ex wife, she said, well,
I have nothing nice to say about those Amanda Riley
and Corey Riley, but you know, and I would never
but I would never say anything because she's dying with
(40:59):
cancer and you know that is my daughter's stepmother. And
I said, well, you know what's going on. So basically
they were in a court, a custody battle. Everything in
that custody battle, the papers filed, we late had a
hook that mister Riley's wife was dying with cancer and
(41:20):
the medical bills were so astronomical and this ex wife
was so out of control and such a horrible person
that they should have custody of this young girl.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
So basically they attacked the bio mom, yeah, and say
she shouldn't have custody because correct the stepmom, Amanda Riley's
dying of cancer.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
Yeah, well not only dying, but you know, this mom
was unfit according to Amanda and Corey, right, So there
was a lot of manipulation in that course. So this
woman was in the battle of her life to keep
her daughter and they want, you know, they took custody
away for a year and a half. And at that
point is when I came into Alida's life.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I can't believe they got her study of the daughter,
and the daughter probably believed the whole thing hook line
and sink her.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Oh where is she now? Where's the daughter?
Speaker 9 (42:14):
The daughter now is? And I think it's really important
to say this. She does really struggle, and she's a
wonderful young woman, but she does struggle from what's happened
because this was her the majority of her life. She
was manipulated by this woman under her own ruth, even
(42:34):
to the point where her and the two sons of
biological sons of Amanda and Corey were told that they
might potentially have to donate their donate plasma or their
organs because she was dying. It was it wasn't just
kind of to the outside of the community. They did
emotionally damage the children.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
And is the bio daughter back with her by a mom?
Speaker 7 (43:00):
Yes she is.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
Yeah, Oh yeah, guess.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
This is so much worse than I thought. It was
just scamming money. And then I find out about Lindsey
Wilder and she stole her plasma like a vampire. You know,
Karen Stark, I've just got to hear your take a
cancer warrior. And Karen, how long have you been battling cancer?
(43:25):
I feel like sometimes it's as long as I can remember.
Speaker 7 (43:29):
It was ten years, Nancy, it was a whole decade.
And yeah, now I'm much better. I'm fine right now.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Prank God.
Speaker 7 (43:40):
It was a long journey. And when I'm listening to
all this is a psychologist, I have to say I'm
not surprised at all because someone who is a psychopath,
who who's able to con people notoriously charming, wonderful, hard
to believe. And if you take a personality like that
(44:03):
and you add an illness that no one would ever
think somebody would.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Con them about, who would ever come up.
Speaker 7 (44:10):
With something about cancer, and so I am not the
least bit surprised that she was able to convince everybody.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
So what I.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Think, Karen, what you have been through, what you have suffered,
What you have endured over and over and over again
for ten years, Karen Stark, and this woman makes a
mockery of that, using her own children to punish them,
(44:40):
to torture them, to further her scam Guys, it is
all in Scamanda, eight episode limited podcast series that has
just dropped. New chapters drop by the week. Scamanda available
on every podcast platform, Apple, Spotify. iHeart all of them.
(45:04):
You have to hear Scamanda. You know, every day I think,
well I've heard it all, but I can truly say
that today, after hearing them out about Amanda Riley, I
feel like I've heard it all that nothing is going
to talk this woman, Scamanda. It's happening now. To everyone,
(45:26):
Thank you for being with us. Goodbye friends,
Host
Nancy Grace
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