April 22, 2024 • 53 mins
27-year-old Laura Jean Ackerson had a really tough start in life. The single mother of two worked hard to build her own small support system in Kinston, North Carolina. Her brother and best friend were the only people she really had. After Laura survived a whirlwind relationship with a charismatic but narcissistic musician, she faced a vicious custody battle with him. Grant Hayes was a glorified bar star and lazy husband and father. But by July 2011, Laura was finally slipping out of his controlling and abusive grasp. She was winning. Her abuser had lost control. The most dangerous time for a woman.
Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Erica Kelley Andrea Marshbank
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley
Case suggested by Marcia
Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/laura-ackerson
RESOURCES FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
This episode is brought to you by:
Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Erica Kelley Andrea Marshbank
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley
Case suggested by Marcia
Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/laura-ackerson
RESOURCES FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
- US National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: thehotline.org
- Canada: visit this website to find the hotline in your area
- UK Domestic Abuse Hotline: 0808 2000 247
- For resources in other countries, visit this website
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Southern Fried True crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Listener discretion is advised. Domestic
violence that ends in death is oftencalled murder and slow motion. The danger
(00:22):
builds at a pace we think wecan keep up with. I have this
under control, I can fix it. He will change, but he's the
one in control. Coercive control isthe foundation for most forms of domestic abuse.
For Laura Akerson, it seems likeher whole life was a blur,
(00:45):
a merry go round that was goingway too fast. She came from generational
trauma and she walked away from it. She didn't have good role models or
a stable support system. She hadto build one for herself. She moved
across the country and met her bestfriend, Heidi. Heidi was someone Laura
(01:07):
could count on, unlike the charismaticmusician she soon fell for. Grant Hayes
was the CD cliche of sex,drugs, and rock and roll, and
he was a classic narcissist. Forhim, control equals power. But when
(01:29):
Laura became pregnant, she thought shecould build a family with Grant. Heidi
had always known Grant was a scumbag. She despised him, but she never
wavered in her support of Laura,and Laura needed her support, especially once
she decided to finally stand up toa man like Grant. Welcome to Episode
(01:55):
two thirteen, Erasing Laura Akerson,Part one. Laura Jean Akerson lived most
of her life as a small towngirl. She was born on April thirtieth,
nineteen eighty four, to parents Rogerand Brenda, in Hastings, Michigan.
Hastings, with about seven thousand residents, is a small town in a
(02:17):
rural county in southwest Michigan. Therewere seven kids in the Hastings blended family.
Roger was father to only four ofthe siblings, including Laura's half brother,
Jason, who was three years olderthan her. She attended schools in
Lake Odessa and Ionia, other smallMichigan towns. Her family life was extremely
(02:44):
tumultuous. Brenda and Roger separated whenLaura was still a toddler. They went
through a wrenching, traumatic divorce thatdivided the family, with loyalties to each
parent on different sides. In nineteenninety, six, year old Laura and
her mother moved from Michigan to centralIowa. They lived in the tiny town
(03:05):
of Sully that had only around eighthundred residents. It has closer to nine
hundred these days. Though the townboasts three churches, you would need to
drive almost thirty minutes to the closesthospital. In two thousand and three,
nineteen year old Laura graduated from LynnvilleSully High School in Sully, Iowa.
(03:27):
She was a year behind because ofher tumultuous home life, but graduating under
those circumstances is an achievement. Somany young people get lost in the kind
of family turmoil Laura experienced. Intwo thousand and four, Laura followed her
brother Jason to North Carolina. Itwas in Youngsville, another tiny rural town
(03:49):
of almost twelve hundred residents at thetime. She stayed with Jason for six
months, then moved to Raleigh forbetter job opportunities. She had all been
disappointed to live in another tiny townwith nothing to do with almost four hundred
thousand residents at the time. Raleiis a big city, and Laura loved
(04:10):
it. She had never lived anywhereso exciting, with so much possibility and
so many opportunities. She quickly foundan apartment and got a job at an
Applebee's restaurant. That's where she mether best friend, Heidi Schumacher. Heidi
told author Diane Fanning that Laura wasa perfect fit for waiting tables. Of
course, it helped that she wassuch a pretty girl with long, dark
(04:33):
hair and a wide smile, butit was more than her looks. She
was also a sweet and cheerful girl, liked by both customers and coworkers alike.
Just a few months later, Lauraand Heidi moved on to working at
a sports bar together, and Laurahad started taking online classes at Kirkwood Community
(04:53):
College. She earned an Associates ofArt degree in two thousand and five and
thought she wanted to get her realestate license. She even took a seventy
five hour course to prepare, butshe had really liked her graphic design and
marketing courses at Kirkwood and decided tothrow her passion into developing her graphic art
skills. The real estate skills,along with her creativity, were put to
(05:17):
good use at her next job ata furniture store in Raleigh, helping customers
with decorating ideas. While there,she remained close to Heidi and Heidie's family,
who were in wake Forest, whichwas in between Raleigh and Youngsville,
where her brother Jason still lived.Along with talking to her brother Jason all
the time, Laura also stayed incontact with her father and at least one
(05:42):
of her sisters. Though it wasletters and phone calls. It was also
the beginning of Facebook, and Laurawas reaching out to old friends and other
siblings. From what I can tell, she didn't have much contact with her
mother after she moved. She doesn'tfigure at all and the rest of this
case, but this young woman seemeddetermined to build her own support system in
(06:02):
North Carolina and also hang on tosome of her family ties in the Midwest
as well. Family ties were importantto her, and she was building a
different life for herself, nothing likethe chaotic way she grew up. And
yet she was young and experienced unworldly. She had an underdeveloped sense of self
(06:26):
and so she was passive and oftenunsure of herself. She was without guile
and could be taken advantage of moreeasily than young women with more stable backgrounds.
However, although Laura was naive,she was also smart, creative,
and ambitious. She wasn't taking anyother classes during this time, but she
(06:48):
never stopped studying on her own.She scoured the internet and used the library.
She was determined to open her ownbuisin business one day, and her
hard work was paying off until aman named Grant Hayes crashed into her life
like a meteor. I'm going topause now for a short commercial break.
(07:17):
In March of two thousand and seven, twenty two year old Laura met a
twenty seven year old aspiring musician namedGrant Hayes. His full name was Grant
Rouffan Hayes the Third, and ina coincidence, he and Laura shared the
same birthday. She had been bornon April thirtieth of nineteen eighty four,
and he had been born five yearsbefore, on April thirtieth of nineteen seventy
(07:40):
nine. Grant's parents were Patsy andGrant Hayes Junior. Patsy Hayes owned and
ran her own daycare, and misterHayes was a minister, and this family
had a thing for the name Grantas Grant the Third has a sister named
Grant Tina, who goes by Tina. Though the family was from Tennessee,
they now lived in Kinston, NorthCarolina, about an hour and a half
(08:03):
from Raleigh. In nineteen ninety seven, eighteen year old Grant graduated from Kinston
High School. It was around thatsame time that Grant first began recording music
on his website. He called himselfan acoustic soul singer and he was pretty
average. He could carry a tune, but nothing special. He accumulated a
(08:26):
small following on MySpace, which waskind of like followers on Facebook, but
he was definitely small time. Thesongs that he posted on YouTube averaged about
one hundred to two hundred cliques,which I guess would have been pretty good
for a bar star in the earlytwo thousands, and he did book gigs
at bars and other venues with someconsistency. But he wanted to be a
(08:52):
famous musician. He wrote his ownsongs, and to be fair, many
people thought he had talent. Hethought his career just hadn't taken off yet.
This is his Twitter bio acoustic singer, musician, songwriter, contemporary artist.
New releases earth Wind and Fire andLittle Richard collaborations, Grant Hayes' art
(09:13):
and Grant Hayes Music. He wasa pretty decent artist. Too. By
the time of today's case, hewas doing portraits for money. When Grant
was eighteen years old, he marrieda ballet dancer named Emily. The marriage
didn't last a year. Grant wasobstinate about getting a real job to help
pay the bills, a problem henever grew out of. Emily was in
(09:37):
college and supporting them by herself.She soon got sick of it. They
separated quickly, but weren't formally divorceduntil March two thousand and five. Then
two years later, Grant met LauraAckerson. She met him while he was
playing a gig at the Blue Martiniin Raleigh in early March two thousand and
seven. Laura and Heidi saw himone night, and Laura talked to him
(10:03):
between sets. Heidi had gone intothe insurance business, moving to Charlotte,
but she stayed close to Laura.They talked all the time and had girls'
nights out as often as they could. On April thirtieth, two thousand and
seven, Heidi took Laura to anItalian restaurant for dinner. It was her
birthday, and Laura had exciting news. She had gotten married. Actually that
(10:28):
same day, Like I said,she and Grant shared a birthday, which
she thought was so special it wasfate. He was just five years older
than her. According to the bookBitter Remains by Diane Fanning, there had
been no real wedding. They wentto a Justice of the Peace in Raleigh
and just walked in and did it. But I'll come back to this more
(10:52):
later. Heidi was shocked and concerned. Grant was actually playing a gig at
the restaurant that evening. So Lauraintroduced Heidi to her new husband, and
although she recognized him from the BlueMartini and he was friendly enough, Heidie
took an immediate and intense dislike tohim. The feeling would soon be mutual.
(11:16):
He was so full of himself,obnoxious, and, as she later
told author Diane Fanning, not goodenough for Laura, not by a long
shot. Heidi wasn't wrong, Shewas smart to be worried for her kind,
loving and trusting friend. Laura hadstars in her eyes when she saw
(11:37):
Grant. Remember she was from asmall town, but Heidi wasn't. She
knew barstars and Ralei were a Diamadozen, and she didn't see anything special
in this arrogant jack off. Hehad glommed on to Laura too quickly,
and it was obvious to anyone butLaura. Just months into their marriage,
when Laura was in her second trimesterwith their first child, Grant was openly
(12:01):
cheating on her. He enjoyed callingthe other women he was sleeping with while
Laura was in the room, andhe was allergic to real jobs he refused.
He slept all day and partied allnight. When he did have a
gig, his fee barely covered hisbar tab. He brought all kinds of
people over to the house at anyhour of the night he chose and expected
(12:24):
Laura to just suck it up,even after they had a baby in the
house. And not just friends orother musicians, but groupies and worse,
drug dealers and pimps. Grant hada significant drug problem. After his marriage
to Emily failed, he went throughan intense depression and saw a psychiatrist.
(12:46):
He was prescribed inti depressants and lithium. Lithium is prescribed for bipolar disorder.
Like many people struggling with mood disorders, When he stayed on his meds and
didn't self medicate, Grant did allright, but he only did that for
a short time after his first marriagefell apart. Even got back into religion
(13:07):
for a quick minute, but thatlasted as long as his sobriety. He
just never could stay away from drugsand alcohol, mostly weed and cocaine,
but also psychedelics or hallucinogens. Hewrote a lot of his music while on
binges, and it became increasingly darkand the lyrics were disturbingly violent. Just
(13:31):
as a note, I know thataddiction is a disease. I just also
know it's not an excuse for abuse. But Laura put up with all of
it. She worked and supported them, just like Emily before her, and
she got pregnant right away. It'salso important to note that Laura very much
believed in Grant's talent and aspiring musiccareer. She used her marketing skills to
(13:56):
promote him and regularly helped her bookhis gigs. So despite the cheating and
the drugs and alcohol, Laura stayedwith Grant and her small support system tried
to be there for her. Jasongot a job close to where they lived
and started visiting almost every day untilit began to anger Grant. Jason later
(14:20):
testified about Grant and said he waspretty much ordering her that you don't need
him in your life and you don'tneed to be around him. He's a
bad influence. I'm all you need. The last time Jason stopped by their
house, he didn't get an answerwhen he knocked at the door, even
though he could hear them inside,arguing, He tried for ten minutes and
(14:43):
called her several times that day,worried. She didn't call him back until
the next day. He later testified, she let me know that I wasn't
allowed to come over there, andthat if we were to see each other,
we'd have to do it in secretbecause Grant didn't like me. Jason
stopped coming around, but even hiscalls through Grant into a rage. He
(15:05):
stopped calling Laura and waited for herto call him, which she did whenever
she could. Jason stayed in hissister's life however he could, because he
could now see she needed him morethan ever. The same thing happened with
Heidi. She and Grant hated eachother, so she wasn't welcome at the
(15:26):
Hayes home either. Like Jason,she stayed in constant touch with Laura,
very worried for her friend, particularlyafter one horrible afternoon, she had been
on the phone with Laura and heardGrant screaming at her in the background.
He said Heidie was a bad influenceand told her to hang up. Laura,
(15:48):
apologizing to Heidie and crying, hungup the phone. Heidie wasn't having
it, so she drove over totheir place. She saw Grant leaving the
parking lot, and when Laura camehim out the front door with a bloody
nose and one of her eyes swollenshut. Heidi begged her to go to
the hospital, but Laura refused.Laura was crying so hard, but kept
(16:11):
insisting everything was okay. She saidhe had never done this before and that
they would get through it. Heidistayed with her friend for a while until
Laura calmed down. She saw hera couple days later, and it was
obvious that Laura had tried to coverup her bruises with makeup. Heidi felt
(16:32):
helpless, but she couldn't force Laurato do anything. I'm going to pause
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them we sent you. Grant andLaura's first child, a son named Grant
(19:32):
Ruffin Hayes, the fourth, wasborn on May second, two thousand and
eight, almost a year to theday of their marriage. After the baby
was born, Laura became so muchmore isolated. Jason didn't meet his nephew
until he was six months old.Heidi started meeting up with Laura wherever she
could, but Grant would often findthem. One day, he pulled up
(19:55):
to a Starbucks where they were meetingand threatened to kill Laura and Heidi.
Heidi later testified he just went offand said, I have friends, I'm
powerful, my friends are powerful,and I can kill you. Don't fuck
with me after that. Heidi boughta gun and got a conceal and carry
permit and tried to talk Laura intogetting a gun too, but Laura was
(20:21):
afraid of guns and refused, soHeidi bought her a pink handled knife that
Laura carried with her always. Laurahad so much on her plate, taking
care of little Grant and working tosupport them, and she felt increasingly scared
of and disgusted by her husband.He wanted all kinds of sex that Laura
(20:41):
was uncomfortable with, and he wantedher to brag about their sex life and
his penis sas to his fans.He wanted an open marriage. The list
goes on and on. Laura wouldlater tell a psychologist that Grant had quote
used sex as a tool to hunishand mold my behavior instead of a way
(21:02):
to show affection. He also hadincredibly strange philosophical and religious ideas and frankly,
what sounds a lot like delusions ofgrandeur. His parents even staged what
they called an intervention with Laura abouttheir own son, warning her about his
sick worldview. I won't even gointo all that mess here, except that
(21:25):
they claim Grant thought he would repopulatethe world one day by having fifty kids
with fifty different women. What wasnot at all fantastical or scientologist is that
Grant Junior, Laura's father in law, said his son would pimp her out
if he needed to. Then Laurathought back to all the women hanging around
(21:47):
Grant and his felon friends. Theyjoked and called the women party Favors.
At least Laura thought it had beena joke. Now she felt sick.
Grant's parents also gave Laura Emily's phonenumber, grand sex wife. She simply
said, run, run as fastas you can. And with all this,
Laura finally seemed to come around.Grant's sister, Tina, took her
(22:12):
to file assault charges at the magistrate'soffice, and Laura looked into a shelter
and Charlotte for abused women, whichwould have been good for Laura since Heidi
lived in Charlotte, but she neverfollowed through on anything. She didn't show
up to the hearing for the assaultcharge. She had been living with Heidie's
(22:33):
family in wake Forest, but shereturned to Kinston and vowed to make her
marriage work. She is not thefirst woman in an abusive relationship to still
be in love with her abuser andwant to make it work, and it
won't be the last time she wasclose to leaving Grant either. I understand
that it's hard to hear these detailswithout being in full disbelief, but never
(22:56):
blame a victim of abuse. Onaverage, it takes a victim seven times
to leave before it is for good, and this was only Laura's first try.
Around March of two thousand and nine, Grant was becoming restless and frustrated
about his lack of success in hismusic career. He had all kinds of
(23:18):
excuses for his problems, but eventuallycomplained to a friend who was an agent
promoter type named Joseph Harden, whothought he should move to the US Virgin
Islands. Harden thought Grant's style ofmusic was perfect for the Caribbean, and
soon the selfish Grant was in paradisewith his wife and son, back homing
(23:40):
Kinston struggling now, he described hismusic as reggae folk. He settled on
the island of Saint John and withina month he had a girlfriend and had
informally changed his name to Grant Hayesspelled h a Ze. He never changed
it legally. Current and past courtdocuments still referred to him as Grant Hayes
(24:03):
with a y. As usual,he pretty much bragged about the women he
was seeing to Laura on the phone. She once again screwed up her courage
to leave him and moved in withHeide's parents, as she could not afford
a place of her own yet.She was considering going to stay with her
dad in Michigan when she discovered shewas pregnant again. She was already three
(24:26):
months along. She had probably conceivedin February before Grant took off for the
Caribbean. So Laura once again decidedto make her marriage work for the sake
of her small growing family. Shetook little Grant and followed her husband to
Saint John Island. Their second son, named Gentle Rain spelled r e I
(24:48):
g N, was born on SaintJohn, two months premature, on August
third, two thousand and nine.Nothing changed in the Hayes marriage. If
anything, Grant's drug use worsened andhis career was just as much of a
joke. His friend Joseph Harden hadcome to find that it wasn't so much
that Grant wasn't talented, as itwas that he was lazy. He wanted
(25:12):
to play his easy gigs and liveoff of a woman, but that wasn't
easy. With Laura having two babiesunder two years old to take care of,
how was she supposed to work.Harden also witnessed Grant threatening both Laura
and her children. Not only wasLaura as miserable, if not more so
(25:32):
than when she had been back homein North Carolina, Gentle had medical issues
relating to being born premature that shepreferred to take care of back home.
Most importantly, he needed surgery fora stint to be placed between his bladder
and kidney. Laura returned to Kinstonand moved into a rental property owned by
Grant's parents. It was next doorto Patsy's daycare, and she cleaned it
(25:57):
at night and exchanged for rent.But she would come to regret this agreement.
To make money, she started afreelance business called GoFish Graphic Designs.
She was finally using her skills creatinglogos and other designs for businesses. Meanwhile,
(26:17):
Grant had finally found a sugar mama, a wealthy widow seven years older
than him. That widow was thirtyseven year old Amanda Perry Smith. She
was born in April nineteen seventy twoin Texas. She had come to the
Virgin Islands after her third husband haddied. I'm not here to marriage,
shame, Amanda. She had generationaltrauma related to her mother's divorces that was
(26:41):
somewhat similar to Laura's sad early life. She married at sixteen to get away
from her family and had her firstdaughter, Shay. Her second marriage didn't
work out, so she divorced,but then struck Gold on her third.
He was rich and fourteen years olderthan her, but she insisted it was
a love match. She was heartbrokenwhen he was fatally injured in an accident
(27:06):
on a lake, but she didget a decent settlement from his estate after
a fight with his brother and grownchildren. Amanda had been vacationing on Saint
John when she decided to embrace islandlife forever and move there permanently. Her
teenage daughter, Shay, who hadlived with her sister back in Texas,
(27:26):
agreed to come and live with hermom on Saint John and finish high school
there. Back in the States,Amanda had been a cosmatologist, a real
estate agent, and an actress.She had even nabbed a few small roles
in the OC the Sopranos and theStepford Wives. In the Virgin Islands,
(27:47):
Amanda got into painting and opened anarts and crafts supply store with her daughter.
Laura was again painfully aware of thisrelationship. Grant played it off,
saying he was just using Amanda forthe money, which he was, but
he had no intention of getting offthis gravy train. In January of twenty
(28:08):
ten, he followed Amanda and Shayto New York City. Laura thought it
was for a record deal. Shehad no idea they were moving there together,
or rather that Grant was following hismeal ticket. According to the book
Bitter Remains. In February, aroundValentine's Day, Grant came home to Kinston
(28:29):
for a while and talked Laura intoletting Little Grant come to New York,
supposedly to make a baby gap ad. Heidi begged her to not let him
do this. She was afraid hewouldn't return Little Grant when the time was
up. The days turned into weeks, and Laura's fears grew. She was
afraid to make legal moves because shewasn't sure how Grant would react. She
(28:53):
just kept pleading for them both tocome home. Then in March, he
stopped paying child support. Heidi hadbeen right, he had no plans to
give up Little Grant. At theend of March, Laura filed a pro
se request for Grant to return herson. This is a lawsuit filed without
an attorney. Grant promised to sendher a plane ticket to pick up Little
(29:17):
Grant if she dropped the lawsuit.She did, and he promptly canceled the
ticket. Everything was a game tohim, anything to dodge supporting his children
or having to go to court.All the while, he had been reassuring
Laura that he was just using Amandafor her money and their relationship wasn't serious.
(29:38):
He was playing Amanda just like hewas playing Laura. Amanda had not
been planning on taking on a toddlerto raise, but guess what she was
now not only paying for everything,she was also basically a full time step
mom to a toddler. The onlything she needed was a marriage certificate,
and in April twenty ten, sheand Grant took his two year old son
(30:02):
to Vegas with them for a quickiemarriage. Grant and Amanda's marriage came to
a huge shock to Laura. Lauraobviously thought she was married to Grant.
After Grant cruelly sent her photos ofhis wedding, She said, she dug
through her papers and realized that hehad never signed their wedding certificate. As
(30:23):
in Aside, this part is strangeto me. It feels glossed over a
bit. In Diane Fanning's book,she simply wrote that they went to a
Justice of the peace. There wereno other details about the wedding. Other
media sources just say Grant and Laurawere never married. Court documents say they
were in a domestic relationship but nevermarried. So what happened? In North
(30:49):
Carolina, you need a marriage licensefrom the county Register of Deeds before the
ceremony. This is much like anywhereelse, though there is not a waiting
period after the marriage. Ceremony mustbe conducted by a magistrate or recognized officiant,
and there must be two witnesses whosigned the marriage license. The minister
or magistrate performing the ceremony must signthe marriage license and return it to the
(31:14):
Register of Deed's office within ten daysof the ceremony. Once you've been married,
you will be able to obtain copiesof your marriage certificate from the Register
of Deed's office or from North CarolinaVital Records. Sorry to bore you with
all that, but I wanted toget it straight. So Grant would have
signed the license, not the certificate. If the magistrate married them, they
(31:37):
would have filed the license right away. So her story just doesn't make sense.
And beyond that, there are simplequestions, who were the two witnesses.
Did Laura have a wedding ring ora diamond that she was so thrilled
about, Not that you need aring to be legally married, but still
none of this is mentioned in BitterRemains or anywhere else that I found.
(31:59):
I know I'm harpy on this,but it just seems really strange to me.
I don't know how he could havetricked her If they indeed went to
a Justice of the peace aka amagistrate, and Heidi said she was so
excited that day they had married onApril thirtieth, their birthdays. It was
symbolic and like fate to Laura,Heidi certainly believed they were married. I
(32:23):
guess it's possible the license was somehownever filed, But why would a magistrate
not file the license. Maybe Laurawas ashamed to admit the truth. Maybe
Grant had made some sort of promiseto her that day and told her she
should say that they were already marriedto her friends and family because he was
(32:46):
older than her and moving in withher so fast, Maybe he thought telling
everyone they were married would put herfriends in family at ease, and being
in love and trusting him, Laurawent on along with it, and as
time went on, she was tooashamed to admit the truth to anyone.
(33:06):
So when Grant did marry Amanda,Laura was shocked and hurt, but had
to somehow explain how he suddenly gotmarried. So she came up with a
story that he had never signed thecertificate, and she told Heidi he had
stopped paying child support, so shefollowed the pro se request. It's the
wording and then the legal action thatsounds like she knew they were either divorced,
(33:30):
legally separated, or never married tobegin with. Anyway, It's a
detail that really bugs me and arabbit hole I spent way too long on.
I even stopped during this recording andwatched a YouTube video on North Carolina
marriage licenses. Lord, I guesswhatever the truth is, Grant is still
(33:52):
a piece of shit who relished insending Laura the photos of his wedding to
Amanda. So there we are anda man. Enda certainly had fancy wedding
and engagement rings, even if shedid have to pay for them herself.
Following their marriage, Grant and Amandamoved from New York to an apartment in
Raleigh, North Carolina. The newlywedswanted to be closer to both of Grant's
(34:15):
sons. They had basically kidnapped littleGrant, but Laura still had physical custody
of baby Gentle. So now thefight was on. I'm going to pause
now for a short commercial break.Grant fired the first shot in the custody
(34:36):
battle when he managed to get anemergency EXPARTAI hearing with a judge. This
is a legal request for temporary custodyor changes in custody arrangements without providing prior
notice to the other parent or guardian. Ex Partey means that only one party
is involved in the initial hearing withoutthe presence of the opposing party. It
(34:58):
is usually in cases where a parentis worried their child is being abused or
neglected. Grant convinced a judge tosign the temporary order because he said Laura
was an unfit mother who posted aCraigslist ad for a free roommate implying that
she was offering sex in exchange forhousing. And he said she was having
(35:19):
trouble controlling little Grant, so that'swhy he had to come live with him
in New York. So he trickedher twice, and this is also why
he flew to Vegas for the Quakimarriage, because his attorney warned him the
judge would view his cohabitation with Amandaas harshly as any alleged Internet solicitation by
Laura. It's hard to believe thisworked, but it did. Laura was
(35:44):
horrified when police officers served her thepapers on June fifteenth, twenty ten.
They took baby Gentle out of herarms and turned him over to Grant.
He hadn't even had his surgery yet. Gentle would finally have his surgery a
few weeks later. Laura jumped intoaction and got her own hearing on June
(36:06):
twenty fifth, but she appeared unstableto a judge because she didn't have steady
work and she didn't have a permanenthome. That part pisces me off.
I feel like Grant's parents must haverefused to explain their arrangement with Laura,
because honestly, it's not like Grantor Amanda had jobs. They were just
(36:27):
blowing through her inheritance money and theywere anything but stable. They had just
moved from Saint John to New Yorkand back to Raleigh, and in the
middle of these moves running off toVegas for their wedding, taking a two
year old little boy with them,And where the hell was Tina, who
had tried to get Laura to foulcharges against her abusive brother. It's just
(36:50):
so shitty to me. I know, family stays with family, but Laura
was still the mother of their grandchildren, had once cared about her enough to
stage an intervention to get her awayfrom their own son, and now this.
Meanwhile, Laura was trying to takecare of a baby with health problems
and cleaning their daycare at night inreturn for living in one of their rentals.
(37:15):
She had apparently thought she was stillmarried or at least still in a
relationship with Grant Hayes the third witha stable home that the Hayes family owned
up until less than two months beforethis new nightmare began. It's not like
she had much time to find anew place and get work, but she
(37:37):
had even started her own graphic designbusiness while taking care of a baby by
herself. To me, on paper, she seemed to be trying a hell
of a lot harder than Grant.Grant and Laura had both made accusations to
the judge that were disturbing. OnlyLaura's were true, but she would have
to prove it to a court orderedpsychologist. At the June twenty fifth hearing,
(38:00):
they came to a custody arrangement thatGrant would have the kids during the
week and Laura would have them everyweekend. She hated it, but unfortunately
had little choice. She was aboutto start a job that was Monday through
Friday. Grant's music gigs were mainlyon the weekend. It made sense for
now, at least until she couldtalk to the psychologist. Since Grant had
(38:24):
pulled this bullshit exparte order, hehad been the one to open the can
of worms, accusing his ex ofbeing an unfit mother, So the judge
ordered Grant to pay for the psychologistand appointed a woman named doctor Ginger Callaway.
The first two payments were five thousandeach. I'm sure Amanda signed those
(38:45):
checks pretty bitterly. She had wantedher man and got him, but she
had to pay for everything, includinghis custody fight. Maybe in a way
she didn't mind because she was certainlyjealous of Laura. While on Saint John,
Grant's friends saw her as a hostile, jealous little groupie, the type
(39:06):
to pick fights with girls looking ather man. Her seemingly glamorous life with
Grant had quickly begun to tarnish,but Amanda would rather die than admit it.
They were blowing through her inheritance atan alarming rate. She had two
hundred and fifty thousand in cash andassets, but Grant lived like the money
would never run out, and hecertainly never contributed to the cash flow.
(39:31):
Typical Grant never had a real job. His gigs when he had one,
never paid much. Meanwhile, Laurawas thriving. She busted her butt to
prove to the court she was thestable parent. She had a job working
at a health food store. Shehad found an apartment and a bright airy
loft in a converted warehouse, spacewith a small room for the boys that
(39:54):
she had filled with toys and creative, cheerful decorations. Gentle still had a
crib and little Grant had a smallrace car bed. You can see their
small but happy space and sad crimescene photos. A detective commented on seeing
no evil that he could tell Laura'swhole life revolved around her children. Almost
(40:17):
everything in her apartment was for theboys, small child tables with little chairs,
art stands, race cars, andstuffed toys. The apartment was small
but safe, with security cameras andtwo keys needed, and a garage with
a remote opener required so that shedidn't have to park on the street.
(40:39):
Laura chose a warehouse loft with safetyin mind, but also full of light
and warmth. Along with her fulltime job, she had her two up
and coming graphic design businesses. Shestill had go Fish, and she had
started a new advertising agency with herfriend and business partner, Chevon Mastha.
(41:00):
This Laura was even taking classes again, this time at Pitt Community College,
working to improve their new business.She was meeting clients all the time,
signing new contracts. She and Chavenwere so excited. Laura Akerson didn't just
want a job, she wanted acareer. She wanted to be successful.
(41:22):
She was smart and creative, andshe knew she could do it. Her
confidence and self esteem grew brighter everyday. As far as her custody fight,
Heidi advised her to document everything.Laura got a diary or a day
planner to do that, and atape recorder. She kept every voicemail,
(41:42):
email and text from Grant. Shesuspected he had hacked her email, so
she created another email address that shenow used with Heidi and her lawyer.
Grant tried calling child Services on Laurafor small bruises on little Grant and gentle
the normal kind active little boys get. No charges were filed, no case
(42:02):
was opened, and Grant's voluminous emailswere another thing. Long, ranting,
hateful emails, and one he evenbrought up her painful childhood, saying you
got a raw deal when you weretheir age, and now you are trying
your damnedest to make sure your kidsget one. It was cruel. After
(42:23):
this, Laura told him to stopemailing her unless it was specifically about their
schedule. Not that it stopped him. She just stopped responding, which for
a narcissist like Grant Hayes would beworse than arguing he needed her attention.
(42:44):
I'm going to pause now for afinal commercial break. On a Saturday in
September twenty ten, Grant called Lauraat around one o'clock, trying to pick
up the boys a day early.Not only was she not going to give
up her day, she looked outher window and saw him sitting in his
(43:06):
car outside her apartment. That madeher uneasy. She refused, saying they
would meet the next day as scheduled, in the public spot that had been
agreed upon during the custody arrangement.It was a convenience store called Sheets in
the city of Wilson, which iskind of in between Kinston, where Laura
lived and Raleigh, where Grant andAmanda were. Each parent had to drive
(43:30):
an hour to Wilson, but ifthey drove straight to each other's homes,
it would be more like an hourand a half, so it seemed fair
and public was best, less chanceof arguing or scenes. If you ask
me, this was Grant's stalking her. He just shows up at her house,
calls her and asks to come inand get his boys with no advance
(43:52):
warning. The guy that emailed andtexted her all the time, it feels
like he was watching her apartment.A year passed while Laura suffered through this
abuse, missing her boys through theweek while they were with Grant. Amanda
Sea sawed between picking the nastiest fightswith her over everything to then being kind
(44:15):
enough to invite her to Thanksgiving soshe could spend it with her boys.
Laura politely declined, saying she didn'twant to risk violating the court order.
But despite all the venom from Amanda, Laura actually felt better that she was
in the home taking care of herboys. She might be a bit to
Laura, but as far as shecould tell, she was good to her
(44:36):
boys. Laura even sent her athank you note for being there for her
sons and making an effort to getalong with her, not that she got
a response, but Amanda could becivil when she wanted to. Then something
would come up and both Amanda andGrant would be hateful and threatening. Again.
Laura may not have known it,but it was probably due to money
(44:59):
stresses. Custody battles are expensive,and like I said, Grant still lived
like a king on Amanda's money.The problem was the money was dwindling down
fast, and just like Laura,Amanda also became pregnant during that first year
with Grant, another stresser. Despitenow being pregnant with Grant's child, she
(45:21):
was still jealous of Laura and ashateful as her husband. So Laura treaded
carefully. She was very formal,polite, and always positive in her communications,
while Grant and Amanda were mostly rudeand childish. By that December,
Grant and Amanda were selling off Amanda'sjewelry to make the bills, and still
(45:43):
Grant went to Hawaii, supposedly tofind work early that spring. He didn't
come home until May, when Amandathought she was going into labor. It
wound up being Braxton Hicks false labor, but now he stayed because the baby
was coming soon. In May twentyeleven, doctor Callaway was finished with her
evaluation, and it was a beastof a report. The big succinct takeaway
(46:09):
for me was that she only recommendedsome parent coaching for Laura, who we
have to remember was still young andin many ways naive. But for Grant,
she advised him to see a psychiatristfor mood disorders, which if you
remember would make sense as he hadbeen diagnosed as bipolar years before and had
(46:30):
taken lithium. She also thought helacked credibility with his accusations about Laura and
was manipulative, and she said hehad polysubstance abuse problems and needed regular drug
testing. Doctor Calloway also felt thatboth Grant and Amanda wanted to quote obliterate
(46:51):
Laura from the children's lives. Theyboth talked about moving out of state to
Nashville for Grant's career or back tothe career Ribbian. They didn't see Laura's
rights as the boy's mother at allin their big plans. Doctor Calloway included
Grant's parents in this evaluation quote.It's critical that the court be informed regarding
(47:13):
the insensitivity of Grant and Amanda andthe paternal grandparents regarding the children's deep need
from an unalterable bond with Laura.I was right about Patsy and Grant Junior
leaving Laura out in the cold.Now that Grant was with Amanda, they
didn't care about Laura's rights anymore.That whole family just wanted to erase Laura
(47:37):
from the picture entirely. But despiteall the negative disturbing things in the report
about Grant. Doctor Callaway recommended thecustody arrangement to be changed to a shared
fifty to fifty arrangement, a twothree two schedule, like Laura gets the
kids for two days, then theygo to Grant for three days, then
(47:59):
back to Laura for two, thenthe next week they would switch. Grant
would get them for two days ata time and then Laura three, which,
geez, talk about unstable. Idon't get that lady's thinking. She
seemed to recognize not just the mentalhealth issues of Grant Hayes, but his
drug abuse and his manipulative nature.She worried that he and his entire family
(48:22):
were trying to remove Laura from herchildren's lives, and yet she recommends fifty
to fifty. This is a literalquote about Grant and her report. It
is disturbing that his intense rage servesas an anchor for his disturbed thinking.
Seriously, Doc, what the fuck? Laura was disappointed by the recommendation,
(48:46):
but she had not lost hope.She was still elated about the psych evaluation.
She had a stable home and job. She had completed the required paperwork
immediately shown up on time and interactedlovingly with her sons. Her sons behaved
better in her care, and itshowed in the evaluation. She felt pretty
(49:08):
sure that Grant knew he was aboutto lose, so did her attorney.
Her mood over the next few weekswas buoyant. Amanda wound up having a
c section on June ninth, twentyeleven. The couple had a baby girl.
Laura took the kids for the weekthat Amanda had the baby, because,
(49:30):
as Diane Fanning put it, Grantcould be very reasonable and polite when
he wanted something, and he neededLaura to take the boys because Amanda was
due any day. Laura even broughtthe boys up to the hospital to meet
their new sister. She was ableto work out her schedule with Chavon,
sharing her car so Chavonne could meetwith clients while she had the boys,
(49:52):
and she offered to take the boyswhenever she could during the week to give
Amanda breaks. She obviously wanted tosee her sons, but she also always
tried to show kindness to Amanda,not that it really mattered. You would
think Amanda might have appreciated the timeto herself and her new baby, but
her attitude towards Laura stayed the same. The fight wasn't over. Laura was
(50:17):
going to get full custody of hersons, and it seems like Grant and
Amanda could feel it too. Shewouldn't stop until she had her boys.
Armed. With the psych evaluation,her new career, her home, and
of course, all of her meticulousrecord keeping. She was ready for her
next court date. Grant and Amandawere almost out of money, had no
(50:40):
serious jobs, and were about tobe evicted. Unfortunately, Grant's parents didn't
have any rental properties open for himat the time. He and his family
would be moving home with Mama andPapa Hayes. Laura and Grant had a
hearing scheduled for all August fifteenth,and her lawyer felt like she had a
(51:02):
realistic chance at getting full custody despiteCallaway's recommendation, which meant that Grant Hayes
had lost control. He was aboutto lose his home, and he was
out of money, he was aboutto lose custody of his sons, and
he had lost control of Laura,which made him a very dangerous man.
(51:31):
Southern Fried True Crime is hosted andproduced by me Erica Kelly. Part two
of Erasing Laura Akerson is coming outin a couple of days. God Willin
and the Creek Don't Rise. Today'sepisode was researched and written by me and
Andrea Marshbank. As usual, anyeditorial comments and opinions are my own.
Southern Fred's original music is by RobHarrison of Gamma Radio and the original graphic
(51:54):
art is by Colely Horner. Today'sepisode was edited and mixed by Brendan Schacksnyder,
Southern Gothic and Dereka Kelly. Thankyou to Marsha for suggesting this case.
If you have any case suggestions,please go to my website, Southernfred
True Crime dot com and click onthe listener's suggestion tab or email SFTC Research
at gmail dot com. This isthe best way for me to get those
(52:15):
little known cases. Y'all always sendme. Please remember that I do not
accept suggestions on social media private messages, but please do come join our Facebook
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(52:35):
a Southern lifestyle group. Our groupis a safe and fun corner of Facebook,
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(52:57):
much for listening, y'all. Takecare, yeah,
Southern Fried True crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Listener discretion is advised. Domestic
violence that ends in death is oftencalled murder and slow motion. The danger
(00:22):
builds at a pace we think wecan keep up with. I have this
under control, I can fix it. He will change, but he's the
one in control. Coercive control isthe foundation for most forms of domestic abuse.
For Laura Akerson, it seems likeher whole life was a blur,
(00:45):
a merry go round that was goingway too fast. She came from generational
trauma and she walked away from it. She didn't have good role models or
a stable support system. She hadto build one for herself. She moved
across the country and met her bestfriend, Heidi. Heidi was someone Laura
(01:07):
could count on, unlike the charismaticmusician she soon fell for. Grant Hayes
was the CD cliche of sex,drugs, and rock and roll, and
he was a classic narcissist. Forhim, control equals power. But when
(01:29):
Laura became pregnant, she thought shecould build a family with Grant. Heidi
had always known Grant was a scumbag. She despised him, but she never
wavered in her support of Laura,and Laura needed her support, especially once
she decided to finally stand up toa man like Grant. Welcome to Episode
(01:55):
two thirteen, Erasing Laura Akerson,Part one. Laura Jean Akerson lived most
of her life as a small towngirl. She was born on April thirtieth,
nineteen eighty four, to parents Rogerand Brenda, in Hastings, Michigan.
Hastings, with about seven thousand residents, is a small town in a
(02:17):
rural county in southwest Michigan. Therewere seven kids in the Hastings blended family.
Roger was father to only four ofthe siblings, including Laura's half brother,
Jason, who was three years olderthan her. She attended schools in
Lake Odessa and Ionia, other smallMichigan towns. Her family life was extremely
(02:44):
tumultuous. Brenda and Roger separated whenLaura was still a toddler. They went
through a wrenching, traumatic divorce thatdivided the family, with loyalties to each
parent on different sides. In nineteenninety, six, year old Laura and
her mother moved from Michigan to centralIowa. They lived in the tiny town
(03:05):
of Sully that had only around eighthundred residents. It has closer to nine
hundred these days. Though the townboasts three churches, you would need to
drive almost thirty minutes to the closesthospital. In two thousand and three,
nineteen year old Laura graduated from LynnvilleSully High School in Sully, Iowa.
(03:27):
She was a year behind because ofher tumultuous home life, but graduating under
those circumstances is an achievement. Somany young people get lost in the kind
of family turmoil Laura experienced. Intwo thousand and four, Laura followed her
brother Jason to North Carolina. Itwas in Youngsville, another tiny rural town
(03:49):
of almost twelve hundred residents at thetime. She stayed with Jason for six
months, then moved to Raleigh forbetter job opportunities. She had all been
disappointed to live in another tiny townwith nothing to do with almost four hundred
thousand residents at the time. Raleiis a big city, and Laura loved
(04:10):
it. She had never lived anywhereso exciting, with so much possibility and
so many opportunities. She quickly foundan apartment and got a job at an
Applebee's restaurant. That's where she mether best friend, Heidi Schumacher. Heidi
told author Diane Fanning that Laura wasa perfect fit for waiting tables. Of
course, it helped that she wassuch a pretty girl with long, dark
(04:33):
hair and a wide smile, butit was more than her looks. She
was also a sweet and cheerful girl, liked by both customers and coworkers alike.
Just a few months later, Lauraand Heidi moved on to working at
a sports bar together, and Laurahad started taking online classes at Kirkwood Community
(04:53):
College. She earned an Associates ofArt degree in two thousand and five and
thought she wanted to get her realestate license. She even took a seventy
five hour course to prepare, butshe had really liked her graphic design and
marketing courses at Kirkwood and decided tothrow her passion into developing her graphic art
skills. The real estate skills,along with her creativity, were put to
(05:17):
good use at her next job ata furniture store in Raleigh, helping customers
with decorating ideas. While there,she remained close to Heidi and Heidie's family,
who were in wake Forest, whichwas in between Raleigh and Youngsville,
where her brother Jason still lived.Along with talking to her brother Jason all
the time, Laura also stayed incontact with her father and at least one
(05:42):
of her sisters. Though it wasletters and phone calls. It was also
the beginning of Facebook, and Laurawas reaching out to old friends and other
siblings. From what I can tell, she didn't have much contact with her
mother after she moved. She doesn'tfigure at all and the rest of this
case, but this young woman seemeddetermined to build her own support system in
(06:02):
North Carolina and also hang on tosome of her family ties in the Midwest
as well. Family ties were importantto her, and she was building a
different life for herself, nothing likethe chaotic way she grew up. And
yet she was young and experienced unworldly. She had an underdeveloped sense of self
(06:26):
and so she was passive and oftenunsure of herself. She was without guile
and could be taken advantage of moreeasily than young women with more stable backgrounds.
However, although Laura was naive,she was also smart, creative,
and ambitious. She wasn't taking anyother classes during this time, but she
(06:48):
never stopped studying on her own.She scoured the internet and used the library.
She was determined to open her ownbuisin business one day, and her
hard work was paying off until aman named Grant Hayes crashed into her life
like a meteor. I'm going topause now for a short commercial break.
(07:17):
In March of two thousand and seven, twenty two year old Laura met a
twenty seven year old aspiring musician namedGrant Hayes. His full name was Grant
Rouffan Hayes the Third, and ina coincidence, he and Laura shared the
same birthday. She had been bornon April thirtieth of nineteen eighty four,
and he had been born five yearsbefore, on April thirtieth of nineteen seventy
(07:40):
nine. Grant's parents were Patsy andGrant Hayes Junior. Patsy Hayes owned and
ran her own daycare, and misterHayes was a minister, and this family
had a thing for the name Grantas Grant the Third has a sister named
Grant Tina, who goes by Tina. Though the family was from Tennessee,
they now lived in Kinston, NorthCarolina, about an hour and a half
(08:03):
from Raleigh. In nineteen ninety seven, eighteen year old Grant graduated from Kinston
High School. It was around thatsame time that Grant first began recording music
on his website. He called himselfan acoustic soul singer and he was pretty
average. He could carry a tune, but nothing special. He accumulated a
(08:26):
small following on MySpace, which waskind of like followers on Facebook, but
he was definitely small time. Thesongs that he posted on YouTube averaged about
one hundred to two hundred cliques,which I guess would have been pretty good
for a bar star in the earlytwo thousands, and he did book gigs
at bars and other venues with someconsistency. But he wanted to be a
(08:52):
famous musician. He wrote his ownsongs, and to be fair, many
people thought he had talent. Hethought his career just hadn't taken off yet.
This is his Twitter bio acoustic singer, musician, songwriter, contemporary artist.
New releases earth Wind and Fire andLittle Richard collaborations, Grant Hayes' art
(09:13):
and Grant Hayes Music. He wasa pretty decent artist. Too. By
the time of today's case, hewas doing portraits for money. When Grant
was eighteen years old, he marrieda ballet dancer named Emily. The marriage
didn't last a year. Grant wasobstinate about getting a real job to help
pay the bills, a problem henever grew out of. Emily was in
(09:37):
college and supporting them by herself.She soon got sick of it. They
separated quickly, but weren't formally divorceduntil March two thousand and five. Then
two years later, Grant met LauraAckerson. She met him while he was
playing a gig at the Blue Martiniin Raleigh in early March two thousand and
seven. Laura and Heidi saw himone night, and Laura talked to him
(10:03):
between sets. Heidi had gone intothe insurance business, moving to Charlotte,
but she stayed close to Laura.They talked all the time and had girls'
nights out as often as they could. On April thirtieth, two thousand and
seven, Heidi took Laura to anItalian restaurant for dinner. It was her
birthday, and Laura had exciting news. She had gotten married. Actually that
(10:28):
same day, Like I said,she and Grant shared a birthday, which
she thought was so special it wasfate. He was just five years older
than her. According to the bookBitter Remains by Diane Fanning, there had
been no real wedding. They wentto a Justice of the Peace in Raleigh
and just walked in and did it. But I'll come back to this more
(10:52):
later. Heidi was shocked and concerned. Grant was actually playing a gig at
the restaurant that evening. So Lauraintroduced Heidi to her new husband, and
although she recognized him from the BlueMartini and he was friendly enough, Heidie
took an immediate and intense dislike tohim. The feeling would soon be mutual.
(11:16):
He was so full of himself,obnoxious, and, as she later
told author Diane Fanning, not goodenough for Laura, not by a long
shot. Heidi wasn't wrong, Shewas smart to be worried for her kind,
loving and trusting friend. Laura hadstars in her eyes when she saw
(11:37):
Grant. Remember she was from asmall town, but Heidi wasn't. She
knew barstars and Ralei were a Diamadozen, and she didn't see anything special
in this arrogant jack off. Hehad glommed on to Laura too quickly,
and it was obvious to anyone butLaura. Just months into their marriage,
when Laura was in her second trimesterwith their first child, Grant was openly
(12:01):
cheating on her. He enjoyed callingthe other women he was sleeping with while
Laura was in the room, andhe was allergic to real jobs he refused.
He slept all day and partied allnight. When he did have a
gig, his fee barely covered hisbar tab. He brought all kinds of
people over to the house at anyhour of the night he chose and expected
(12:24):
Laura to just suck it up,even after they had a baby in the
house. And not just friends orother musicians, but groupies and worse,
drug dealers and pimps. Grant hada significant drug problem. After his marriage
to Emily failed, he went throughan intense depression and saw a psychiatrist.
(12:46):
He was prescribed inti depressants and lithium. Lithium is prescribed for bipolar disorder.
Like many people struggling with mood disorders, When he stayed on his meds and
didn't self medicate, Grant did allright, but he only did that for
a short time after his first marriagefell apart. Even got back into religion
(13:07):
for a quick minute, but thatlasted as long as his sobriety. He
just never could stay away from drugsand alcohol, mostly weed and cocaine,
but also psychedelics or hallucinogens. Hewrote a lot of his music while on
binges, and it became increasingly darkand the lyrics were disturbingly violent. Just
(13:31):
as a note, I know thataddiction is a disease. I just also
know it's not an excuse for abuse. But Laura put up with all of
it. She worked and supported them, just like Emily before her, and
she got pregnant right away. It'salso important to note that Laura very much
believed in Grant's talent and aspiring musiccareer. She used her marketing skills to
(13:56):
promote him and regularly helped her bookhis gigs. So despite the cheating and
the drugs and alcohol, Laura stayedwith Grant and her small support system tried
to be there for her. Jasongot a job close to where they lived
and started visiting almost every day untilit began to anger Grant. Jason later
(14:20):
testified about Grant and said he waspretty much ordering her that you don't need
him in your life and you don'tneed to be around him. He's a
bad influence. I'm all you need. The last time Jason stopped by their
house, he didn't get an answerwhen he knocked at the door, even
though he could hear them inside,arguing, He tried for ten minutes and
(14:43):
called her several times that day,worried. She didn't call him back until
the next day. He later testified, she let me know that I wasn't
allowed to come over there, andthat if we were to see each other,
we'd have to do it in secretbecause Grant didn't like me. Jason
stopped coming around, but even hiscalls through Grant into a rage. He
(15:05):
stopped calling Laura and waited for herto call him, which she did whenever
she could. Jason stayed in hissister's life however he could, because he
could now see she needed him morethan ever. The same thing happened with
Heidi. She and Grant hated eachother, so she wasn't welcome at the
(15:26):
Hayes home either. Like Jason,she stayed in constant touch with Laura,
very worried for her friend, particularlyafter one horrible afternoon, she had been
on the phone with Laura and heardGrant screaming at her in the background.
He said Heidie was a bad influenceand told her to hang up. Laura,
(15:48):
apologizing to Heidie and crying, hungup the phone. Heidie wasn't having
it, so she drove over totheir place. She saw Grant leaving the
parking lot, and when Laura camehim out the front door with a bloody
nose and one of her eyes swollenshut. Heidi begged her to go to
the hospital, but Laura refused.Laura was crying so hard, but kept
(16:11):
insisting everything was okay. She saidhe had never done this before and that
they would get through it. Heidistayed with her friend for a while until
Laura calmed down. She saw hera couple days later, and it was
obvious that Laura had tried to coverup her bruises with makeup. Heidi felt
(16:32):
helpless, but she couldn't force Laurato do anything. I'm going to pause
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they'll ask you where you heard aboutthem. Please support our show and tell
them we sent you. Grant andLaura's first child, a son named Grant
(19:32):
Ruffin Hayes, the fourth, wasborn on May second, two thousand and
eight, almost a year to theday of their marriage. After the baby
was born, Laura became so muchmore isolated. Jason didn't meet his nephew
until he was six months old.Heidi started meeting up with Laura wherever she
could, but Grant would often findthem. One day, he pulled up
(19:55):
to a Starbucks where they were meetingand threatened to kill Laura and Heidi.
Heidi later testified he just went offand said, I have friends, I'm
powerful, my friends are powerful,and I can kill you. Don't fuck
with me after that. Heidi boughta gun and got a conceal and carry
permit and tried to talk Laura intogetting a gun too, but Laura was
(20:21):
afraid of guns and refused, soHeidi bought her a pink handled knife that
Laura carried with her always. Laurahad so much on her plate, taking
care of little Grant and working tosupport them, and she felt increasingly scared
of and disgusted by her husband.He wanted all kinds of sex that Laura
(20:41):
was uncomfortable with, and he wantedher to brag about their sex life and
his penis sas to his fans.He wanted an open marriage. The list
goes on and on. Laura wouldlater tell a psychologist that Grant had quote
used sex as a tool to hunishand mold my behavior instead of a way
(21:02):
to show affection. He also hadincredibly strange philosophical and religious ideas and frankly,
what sounds a lot like delusions ofgrandeur. His parents even staged what
they called an intervention with Laura abouttheir own son, warning her about his
sick worldview. I won't even gointo all that mess here, except that
(21:25):
they claim Grant thought he would repopulatethe world one day by having fifty kids
with fifty different women. What wasnot at all fantastical or scientologist is that
Grant Junior, Laura's father in law, said his son would pimp her out
if he needed to. Then Laurathought back to all the women hanging around
(21:47):
Grant and his felon friends. Theyjoked and called the women party Favors.
At least Laura thought it had beena joke. Now she felt sick.
Grant's parents also gave Laura Emily's phonenumber, grand sex wife. She simply
said, run, run as fastas you can. And with all this,
Laura finally seemed to come around.Grant's sister, Tina, took her
(22:12):
to file assault charges at the magistrate'soffice, and Laura looked into a shelter
and Charlotte for abused women, whichwould have been good for Laura since Heidi
lived in Charlotte, but she neverfollowed through on anything. She didn't show
up to the hearing for the assaultcharge. She had been living with Heidie's
(22:33):
family in wake Forest, but shereturned to Kinston and vowed to make her
marriage work. She is not thefirst woman in an abusive relationship to still
be in love with her abuser andwant to make it work, and it
won't be the last time she wasclose to leaving Grant either. I understand
that it's hard to hear these detailswithout being in full disbelief, but never
(22:56):
blame a victim of abuse. Onaverage, it takes a victim seven times
to leave before it is for good, and this was only Laura's first try.
Around March of two thousand and nine, Grant was becoming restless and frustrated
about his lack of success in hismusic career. He had all kinds of
(23:18):
excuses for his problems, but eventuallycomplained to a friend who was an agent
promoter type named Joseph Harden, whothought he should move to the US Virgin
Islands. Harden thought Grant's style ofmusic was perfect for the Caribbean, and
soon the selfish Grant was in paradisewith his wife and son, back homing
(23:40):
Kinston struggling now, he described hismusic as reggae folk. He settled on
the island of Saint John and withina month he had a girlfriend and had
informally changed his name to Grant Hayesspelled h a Ze. He never changed
it legally. Current and past courtdocuments still referred to him as Grant Hayes
(24:03):
with a y. As usual,he pretty much bragged about the women he
was seeing to Laura on the phone. She once again screwed up her courage
to leave him and moved in withHeide's parents, as she could not afford
a place of her own yet.She was considering going to stay with her
dad in Michigan when she discovered shewas pregnant again. She was already three
(24:26):
months along. She had probably conceivedin February before Grant took off for the
Caribbean. So Laura once again decidedto make her marriage work for the sake
of her small growing family. Shetook little Grant and followed her husband to
Saint John Island. Their second son, named Gentle Rain spelled r e I
(24:48):
g N, was born on SaintJohn, two months premature, on August
third, two thousand and nine.Nothing changed in the Hayes marriage. If
anything, Grant's drug use worsened andhis career was just as much of a
joke. His friend Joseph Harden hadcome to find that it wasn't so much
that Grant wasn't talented, as itwas that he was lazy. He wanted
(25:12):
to play his easy gigs and liveoff of a woman, but that wasn't
easy. With Laura having two babiesunder two years old to take care of,
how was she supposed to work.Harden also witnessed Grant threatening both Laura
and her children. Not only wasLaura as miserable, if not more so
(25:32):
than when she had been back homein North Carolina, Gentle had medical issues
relating to being born premature that shepreferred to take care of back home.
Most importantly, he needed surgery fora stint to be placed between his bladder
and kidney. Laura returned to Kinstonand moved into a rental property owned by
Grant's parents. It was next doorto Patsy's daycare, and she cleaned it
(25:57):
at night and exchanged for rent.But she would come to regret this agreement.
To make money, she started afreelance business called GoFish Graphic Designs.
She was finally using her skills creatinglogos and other designs for businesses. Meanwhile,
(26:17):
Grant had finally found a sugar mama, a wealthy widow seven years older
than him. That widow was thirtyseven year old Amanda Perry Smith. She
was born in April nineteen seventy twoin Texas. She had come to the
Virgin Islands after her third husband haddied. I'm not here to marriage,
shame, Amanda. She had generationaltrauma related to her mother's divorces that was
(26:41):
somewhat similar to Laura's sad early life. She married at sixteen to get away
from her family and had her firstdaughter, Shay. Her second marriage didn't
work out, so she divorced,but then struck Gold on her third.
He was rich and fourteen years olderthan her, but she insisted it was
a love match. She was heartbrokenwhen he was fatally injured in an accident
(27:06):
on a lake, but she didget a decent settlement from his estate after
a fight with his brother and grownchildren. Amanda had been vacationing on Saint
John when she decided to embrace islandlife forever and move there permanently. Her
teenage daughter, Shay, who hadlived with her sister back in Texas,
(27:26):
agreed to come and live with hermom on Saint John and finish high school
there. Back in the States,Amanda had been a cosmatologist, a real
estate agent, and an actress.She had even nabbed a few small roles
in the OC the Sopranos and theStepford Wives. In the Virgin Islands,
(27:47):
Amanda got into painting and opened anarts and crafts supply store with her daughter.
Laura was again painfully aware of thisrelationship. Grant played it off,
saying he was just using Amanda forthe money, which he was, but
he had no intention of getting offthis gravy train. In January of twenty
(28:08):
ten, he followed Amanda and Shayto New York City. Laura thought it
was for a record deal. Shehad no idea they were moving there together,
or rather that Grant was following hismeal ticket. According to the book
Bitter Remains. In February, aroundValentine's Day, Grant came home to Kinston
(28:29):
for a while and talked Laura intoletting Little Grant come to New York,
supposedly to make a baby gap ad. Heidi begged her to not let him
do this. She was afraid hewouldn't return Little Grant when the time was
up. The days turned into weeks, and Laura's fears grew. She was
afraid to make legal moves because shewasn't sure how Grant would react. She
(28:53):
just kept pleading for them both tocome home. Then in March, he
stopped paying child support. Heidi hadbeen right, he had no plans to
give up Little Grant. At theend of March, Laura filed a pro
se request for Grant to return herson. This is a lawsuit filed without
an attorney. Grant promised to sendher a plane ticket to pick up Little
(29:17):
Grant if she dropped the lawsuit.She did, and he promptly canceled the
ticket. Everything was a game tohim, anything to dodge supporting his children
or having to go to court.All the while, he had been reassuring
Laura that he was just using Amandafor her money and their relationship wasn't serious.
(29:38):
He was playing Amanda just like hewas playing Laura. Amanda had not
been planning on taking on a toddlerto raise, but guess what she was
now not only paying for everything,she was also basically a full time step
mom to a toddler. The onlything she needed was a marriage certificate,
and in April twenty ten, sheand Grant took his two year old son
(30:02):
to Vegas with them for a quickiemarriage. Grant and Amanda's marriage came to
a huge shock to Laura. Lauraobviously thought she was married to Grant.
After Grant cruelly sent her photos ofhis wedding, She said, she dug
through her papers and realized that hehad never signed their wedding certificate. As
(30:23):
in Aside, this part is strangeto me. It feels glossed over a
bit. In Diane Fanning's book,she simply wrote that they went to a
Justice of the peace. There wereno other details about the wedding. Other
media sources just say Grant and Laurawere never married. Court documents say they
were in a domestic relationship but nevermarried. So what happened? In North
(30:49):
Carolina, you need a marriage licensefrom the county Register of Deeds before the
ceremony. This is much like anywhereelse, though there is not a waiting
period after the marriage. Ceremony mustbe conducted by a magistrate or recognized officiant,
and there must be two witnesses whosigned the marriage license. The minister
or magistrate performing the ceremony must signthe marriage license and return it to the
(31:14):
Register of Deed's office within ten daysof the ceremony. Once you've been married,
you will be able to obtain copiesof your marriage certificate from the Register
of Deed's office or from North CarolinaVital Records. Sorry to bore you with
all that, but I wanted toget it straight. So Grant would have
signed the license, not the certificate. If the magistrate married them, they
(31:37):
would have filed the license right away. So her story just doesn't make sense.
And beyond that, there are simplequestions, who were the two witnesses.
Did Laura have a wedding ring ora diamond that she was so thrilled
about, Not that you need aring to be legally married, but still
none of this is mentioned in BitterRemains or anywhere else that I found.
(31:59):
I know I'm harpy on this,but it just seems really strange to me.
I don't know how he could havetricked her If they indeed went to
a Justice of the peace aka amagistrate, and Heidi said she was so
excited that day they had married onApril thirtieth, their birthdays. It was
symbolic and like fate to Laura,Heidi certainly believed they were married. I
(32:23):
guess it's possible the license was somehownever filed, But why would a magistrate
not file the license. Maybe Laurawas ashamed to admit the truth. Maybe
Grant had made some sort of promiseto her that day and told her she
should say that they were already marriedto her friends and family because he was
(32:46):
older than her and moving in withher so fast, Maybe he thought telling
everyone they were married would put herfriends in family at ease, and being
in love and trusting him, Laurawent on along with it, and as
time went on, she was tooashamed to admit the truth to anyone.
(33:06):
So when Grant did marry Amanda,Laura was shocked and hurt, but had
to somehow explain how he suddenly gotmarried. So she came up with a
story that he had never signed thecertificate, and she told Heidi he had
stopped paying child support, so shefollowed the pro se request. It's the
wording and then the legal action thatsounds like she knew they were either divorced,
(33:30):
legally separated, or never married tobegin with. Anyway, It's a
detail that really bugs me and arabbit hole I spent way too long on.
I even stopped during this recording andwatched a YouTube video on North Carolina
marriage licenses. Lord, I guesswhatever the truth is, Grant is still
(33:52):
a piece of shit who relished insending Laura the photos of his wedding to
Amanda. So there we are anda man. Enda certainly had fancy wedding
and engagement rings, even if shedid have to pay for them herself.
Following their marriage, Grant and Amandamoved from New York to an apartment in
Raleigh, North Carolina. The newlywedswanted to be closer to both of Grant's
(34:15):
sons. They had basically kidnapped littleGrant, but Laura still had physical custody
of baby Gentle. So now thefight was on. I'm going to pause
now for a short commercial break.Grant fired the first shot in the custody
(34:36):
battle when he managed to get anemergency EXPARTAI hearing with a judge. This
is a legal request for temporary custodyor changes in custody arrangements without providing prior
notice to the other parent or guardian. Ex Partey means that only one party
is involved in the initial hearing withoutthe presence of the opposing party. It
(34:58):
is usually in cases where a parentis worried their child is being abused or
neglected. Grant convinced a judge tosign the temporary order because he said Laura
was an unfit mother who posted aCraigslist ad for a free roommate implying that
she was offering sex in exchange forhousing. And he said she was having
(35:19):
trouble controlling little Grant, so that'swhy he had to come live with him
in New York. So he trickedher twice, and this is also why
he flew to Vegas for the Quakimarriage, because his attorney warned him the
judge would view his cohabitation with Amandaas harshly as any alleged Internet solicitation by
Laura. It's hard to believe thisworked, but it did. Laura was
(35:44):
horrified when police officers served her thepapers on June fifteenth, twenty ten.
They took baby Gentle out of herarms and turned him over to Grant.
He hadn't even had his surgery yet. Gentle would finally have his surgery a
few weeks later. Laura jumped intoaction and got her own hearing on June
(36:06):
twenty fifth, but she appeared unstableto a judge because she didn't have steady
work and she didn't have a permanenthome. That part pisces me off.
I feel like Grant's parents must haverefused to explain their arrangement with Laura,
because honestly, it's not like Grantor Amanda had jobs. They were just
(36:27):
blowing through her inheritance money and theywere anything but stable. They had just
moved from Saint John to New Yorkand back to Raleigh, and in the
middle of these moves running off toVegas for their wedding, taking a two
year old little boy with them,And where the hell was Tina, who
had tried to get Laura to foulcharges against her abusive brother. It's just
(36:50):
so shitty to me. I know, family stays with family, but Laura
was still the mother of their grandchildren, had once cared about her enough to
stage an intervention to get her awayfrom their own son, and now this.
Meanwhile, Laura was trying to takecare of a baby with health problems
and cleaning their daycare at night inreturn for living in one of their rentals.
(37:15):
She had apparently thought she was stillmarried or at least still in a
relationship with Grant Hayes the third witha stable home that the Hayes family owned
up until less than two months beforethis new nightmare began. It's not like
she had much time to find anew place and get work, but she
(37:37):
had even started her own graphic designbusiness while taking care of a baby by
herself. To me, on paper, she seemed to be trying a hell
of a lot harder than Grant.Grant and Laura had both made accusations to
the judge that were disturbing. OnlyLaura's were true, but she would have
to prove it to a court orderedpsychologist. At the June twenty fifth hearing,
(38:00):
they came to a custody arrangement thatGrant would have the kids during the
week and Laura would have them everyweekend. She hated it, but unfortunately
had little choice. She was aboutto start a job that was Monday through
Friday. Grant's music gigs were mainlyon the weekend. It made sense for
now, at least until she couldtalk to the psychologist. Since Grant had
(38:24):
pulled this bullshit exparte order, hehad been the one to open the can
of worms, accusing his ex ofbeing an unfit mother, So the judge
ordered Grant to pay for the psychologistand appointed a woman named doctor Ginger Callaway.
The first two payments were five thousandeach. I'm sure Amanda signed those
(38:45):
checks pretty bitterly. She had wantedher man and got him, but she
had to pay for everything, includinghis custody fight. Maybe in a way
she didn't mind because she was certainlyjealous of Laura. While on Saint John,
Grant's friends saw her as a hostile, jealous little groupie, the type
(39:06):
to pick fights with girls looking ather man. Her seemingly glamorous life with
Grant had quickly begun to tarnish,but Amanda would rather die than admit it.
They were blowing through her inheritance atan alarming rate. She had two
hundred and fifty thousand in cash andassets, but Grant lived like the money
would never run out, and hecertainly never contributed to the cash flow.
(39:31):
Typical Grant never had a real job. His gigs when he had one,
never paid much. Meanwhile, Laurawas thriving. She busted her butt to
prove to the court she was thestable parent. She had a job working
at a health food store. Shehad found an apartment and a bright airy
loft in a converted warehouse, spacewith a small room for the boys that
(39:54):
she had filled with toys and creative, cheerful decorations. Gentle still had a
crib and little Grant had a smallrace car bed. You can see their
small but happy space and sad crimescene photos. A detective commented on seeing
no evil that he could tell Laura'swhole life revolved around her children. Almost
(40:17):
everything in her apartment was for theboys, small child tables with little chairs,
art stands, race cars, andstuffed toys. The apartment was small
but safe, with security cameras andtwo keys needed, and a garage with
a remote opener required so that shedidn't have to park on the street.
(40:39):
Laura chose a warehouse loft with safetyin mind, but also full of light
and warmth. Along with her fulltime job, she had her two up
and coming graphic design businesses. Shestill had go Fish, and she had
started a new advertising agency with herfriend and business partner, Chevon Mastha.
(41:00):
This Laura was even taking classes again, this time at Pitt Community College,
working to improve their new business.She was meeting clients all the time,
signing new contracts. She and Chavenwere so excited. Laura Akerson didn't just
want a job, she wanted acareer. She wanted to be successful.
(41:22):
She was smart and creative, andshe knew she could do it. Her
confidence and self esteem grew brighter everyday. As far as her custody fight,
Heidi advised her to document everything.Laura got a diary or a day
planner to do that, and atape recorder. She kept every voicemail,
(41:42):
email and text from Grant. Shesuspected he had hacked her email, so
she created another email address that shenow used with Heidi and her lawyer.
Grant tried calling child Services on Laurafor small bruises on little Grant and gentle
the normal kind active little boys get. No charges were filed, no case
(42:02):
was opened, and Grant's voluminous emailswere another thing. Long, ranting,
hateful emails, and one he evenbrought up her painful childhood, saying you
got a raw deal when you weretheir age, and now you are trying
your damnedest to make sure your kidsget one. It was cruel. After
(42:23):
this, Laura told him to stopemailing her unless it was specifically about their
schedule. Not that it stopped him. She just stopped responding, which for
a narcissist like Grant Hayes would beworse than arguing he needed her attention.
(42:44):
I'm going to pause now for afinal commercial break. On a Saturday in
September twenty ten, Grant called Lauraat around one o'clock, trying to pick
up the boys a day early.Not only was she not going to give
up her day, she looked outher window and saw him sitting in his
(43:06):
car outside her apartment. That madeher uneasy. She refused, saying they
would meet the next day as scheduled, in the public spot that had been
agreed upon during the custody arrangement.It was a convenience store called Sheets in
the city of Wilson, which iskind of in between Kinston, where Laura
lived and Raleigh, where Grant andAmanda were. Each parent had to drive
(43:30):
an hour to Wilson, but ifthey drove straight to each other's homes,
it would be more like an hourand a half, so it seemed fair
and public was best, less chanceof arguing or scenes. If you ask
me, this was Grant's stalking her. He just shows up at her house,
calls her and asks to come inand get his boys with no advance
(43:52):
warning. The guy that emailed andtexted her all the time, it feels
like he was watching her apartment.A year passed while Laura suffered through this
abuse, missing her boys through theweek while they were with Grant. Amanda
Sea sawed between picking the nastiest fightswith her over everything to then being kind
(44:15):
enough to invite her to Thanksgiving soshe could spend it with her boys.
Laura politely declined, saying she didn'twant to risk violating the court order.
But despite all the venom from Amanda, Laura actually felt better that she was
in the home taking care of herboys. She might be a bit to
Laura, but as far as shecould tell, she was good to her
(44:36):
boys. Laura even sent her athank you note for being there for her
sons and making an effort to getalong with her, not that she got
a response, but Amanda could becivil when she wanted to. Then something
would come up and both Amanda andGrant would be hateful and threatening. Again.
Laura may not have known it,but it was probably due to money
(44:59):
stresses. Custody battles are expensive,and like I said, Grant still lived
like a king on Amanda's money.The problem was the money was dwindling down
fast, and just like Laura,Amanda also became pregnant during that first year
with Grant, another stresser. Despitenow being pregnant with Grant's child, she
(45:21):
was still jealous of Laura and ashateful as her husband. So Laura treaded
carefully. She was very formal,polite, and always positive in her communications,
while Grant and Amanda were mostly rudeand childish. By that December,
Grant and Amanda were selling off Amanda'sjewelry to make the bills, and still
(45:43):
Grant went to Hawaii, supposedly tofind work early that spring. He didn't
come home until May, when Amandathought she was going into labor. It
wound up being Braxton Hicks false labor, but now he stayed because the baby
was coming soon. In May twentyeleven, doctor Callaway was finished with her
evaluation, and it was a beastof a report. The big succinct takeaway
(46:09):
for me was that she only recommendedsome parent coaching for Laura, who we
have to remember was still young andin many ways naive. But for Grant,
she advised him to see a psychiatristfor mood disorders, which if you
remember would make sense as he hadbeen diagnosed as bipolar years before and had
(46:30):
taken lithium. She also thought helacked credibility with his accusations about Laura and
was manipulative, and she said hehad polysubstance abuse problems and needed regular drug
testing. Doctor Calloway also felt thatboth Grant and Amanda wanted to quote obliterate
(46:51):
Laura from the children's lives. Theyboth talked about moving out of state to
Nashville for Grant's career or back tothe career Ribbian. They didn't see Laura's
rights as the boy's mother at allin their big plans. Doctor Calloway included
Grant's parents in this evaluation quote.It's critical that the court be informed regarding
(47:13):
the insensitivity of Grant and Amanda andthe paternal grandparents regarding the children's deep need
from an unalterable bond with Laura.I was right about Patsy and Grant Junior
leaving Laura out in the cold.Now that Grant was with Amanda, they
didn't care about Laura's rights anymore.That whole family just wanted to erase Laura
(47:37):
from the picture entirely. But despiteall the negative disturbing things in the report
about Grant. Doctor Callaway recommended thecustody arrangement to be changed to a shared
fifty to fifty arrangement, a twothree two schedule, like Laura gets the
kids for two days, then theygo to Grant for three days, then
(47:59):
back to Laura for two, thenthe next week they would switch. Grant
would get them for two days ata time and then Laura three, which,
geez, talk about unstable. Idon't get that lady's thinking. She
seemed to recognize not just the mentalhealth issues of Grant Hayes, but his
drug abuse and his manipulative nature.She worried that he and his entire family
(48:22):
were trying to remove Laura from herchildren's lives, and yet she recommends fifty
to fifty. This is a literalquote about Grant and her report. It
is disturbing that his intense rage servesas an anchor for his disturbed thinking.
Seriously, Doc, what the fuck? Laura was disappointed by the recommendation,
(48:46):
but she had not lost hope.She was still elated about the psych evaluation.
She had a stable home and job. She had completed the required paperwork
immediately shown up on time and interactedlovingly with her sons. Her sons behaved
better in her care, and itshowed in the evaluation. She felt pretty
(49:08):
sure that Grant knew he was aboutto lose, so did her attorney.
Her mood over the next few weekswas buoyant. Amanda wound up having a
c section on June ninth, twentyeleven. The couple had a baby girl.
Laura took the kids for the weekthat Amanda had the baby, because,
(49:30):
as Diane Fanning put it, Grantcould be very reasonable and polite when
he wanted something, and he neededLaura to take the boys because Amanda was
due any day. Laura even broughtthe boys up to the hospital to meet
their new sister. She was ableto work out her schedule with Chavon,
sharing her car so Chavonne could meetwith clients while she had the boys,
(49:52):
and she offered to take the boyswhenever she could during the week to give
Amanda breaks. She obviously wanted tosee her sons, but she also always
tried to show kindness to Amanda,not that it really mattered. You would
think Amanda might have appreciated the timeto herself and her new baby, but
her attitude towards Laura stayed the same. The fight wasn't over. Laura was
(50:17):
going to get full custody of hersons, and it seems like Grant and
Amanda could feel it too. Shewouldn't stop until she had her boys.
Armed. With the psych evaluation,her new career, her home, and
of course, all of her meticulousrecord keeping. She was ready for her
next court date. Grant and Amandawere almost out of money, had no
(50:40):
serious jobs, and were about tobe evicted. Unfortunately, Grant's parents didn't
have any rental properties open for himat the time. He and his family
would be moving home with Mama andPapa Hayes. Laura and Grant had a
hearing scheduled for all August fifteenth,and her lawyer felt like she had a
(51:02):
realistic chance at getting full custody despiteCallaway's recommendation, which meant that Grant Hayes
had lost control. He was aboutto lose his home, and he was
out of money, he was aboutto lose custody of his sons, and
he had lost control of Laura,which made him a very dangerous man.
(51:31):
Southern Fried True Crime is hosted andproduced by me Erica Kelly. Part two
of Erasing Laura Akerson is coming outin a couple of days. God Willin
and the Creek Don't Rise. Today'sepisode was researched and written by me and
Andrea Marshbank. As usual, anyeditorial comments and opinions are my own.
Southern Fred's original music is by RobHarrison of Gamma Radio and the original graphic
(51:54):
art is by Colely Horner. Today'sepisode was edited and mixed by Brendan Schacksnyder,
Southern Gothic and Dereka Kelly. Thankyou to Marsha for suggesting this case.
If you have any case suggestions,please go to my website, Southernfred
True Crime dot com and click onthe listener's suggestion tab or email SFTC Research
at gmail dot com. This isthe best way for me to get those
(52:15):
little known cases. Y'all always sendme. Please remember that I do not
accept suggestions on social media private messages, but please do come join our Facebook
group, Southern Fred Truecrime Fans DiscussionGroup, where we swap recipes, worship
Dolly Partner, and share memes.We do, of course discuss true crime,
not just Southern Fried, but allkinds but it is still very much
(52:35):
a Southern lifestyle group. Our groupis a safe and fun corner of Facebook,
and by God, we mean itwhen we say no shit asays allowed.
It's not just a motto, it'show we run the group. If
you enjoyed today's show, don't forgetto subscribe and please tell a friend or
rate and review. I'm also onall large platforms like iTunes, iHeart,
Spotify, Amazon, Audible, andYouTube. Until next time, thanks so
(52:57):
much for listening, y'all. Takecare, yeah,
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