S2: Bonus Ep 2 – A Stranger in the Share House

iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives

of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's

that there's a guy under that monster mask. The monsters in our political closets aren't

some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. So join me every Thursday for a

look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird

Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to Law & Order, Criminal Justice System on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts.

two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck, and vanished.

Listen to There and Gone, South Street, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts.

Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners. Please take care while listening.

I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is our second bonus episode of Season 2 of Betrayal.

Betrayal is a universal feeling. The shock and hurt that deception creates from someone

so close crosses all cultures. And we've found that the secrets and lies we've heard

in Season 2 happen everywhere. We've received emails from a mom in Northern Ireland, from

And the woman we'll introduce to you today lives in Australia. We are far apart, of course,

but our interest in protecting those who cannot protect themselves cuts through those miles

and time zones. Melanie is a Canadian expat living in Australia. Reaching her was a little

tricky. Our today is her tomorrow. But we figured it out.

I've been running. What happened with me in October 2017, I just met this guy on an app.

He lived in a different town, like eight hours away. So we had just been chatting. And then

about two months into our chatting, he made a trip to my city. And we met up for the first

time and we hung out and we had like a really lovely weekend together. I don't know, treated

me well. Like it was very early stages of dating, but like there weren't any red flags at that

juncture. So he went back to his little town. And then we just kind of started long distance

closer to her. She lived in a cosmopolitan town in South Australia called Adelaide. Housing in

that part of the country is expensive and hard to find. So even though the relationship

was still new, he ended up staying with her. Melanie was living in what's called a sharehouse.

Down under that refers to a rental house where people who may not know each other rent a house

together. It's a common living arrangement in Australia. He was looking for a place to live

Anyway, we just decided like, oh, well, we'll just move into like another sharehouse together.

Things were going well, I guess. Like he treated me really well, almost suspiciously well. Like

he just behaved like I was the greatest person he'd ever met in his life. He was always going

out of his way to do nice things for me. He would like think of me and find me little things.

He would like do my laundry when I was at work. Like, I don't know, he was just,

but they weren't exactly red flags. He didn't talk too much about his past.

from his previous marriage. He didn't have custody of his daughter, but he still saw her

fairly regularly and was having FaceTime calls with her and stuff like that pretty often.

intimacy and he had like really bad, like performance issues. I definitely was confused

by it. It made me feel like there's something wrong with me. Like he doesn't find me attractive,

but that didn't really line with how he was behaving the rest of the time. So it was just

in the conversation that he had been watching a lot of porn during the daytime. Melanie started

God, I hope so. Melanie was down the rabbit hole now and steeled herself for whatever other

I could just see the thumbnails. It was just all of these images. These are small children.

I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you

wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's

a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of

the suburbs, from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to

assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up

in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil.

They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to.

Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy.

So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys

trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene.

sparking a chain of events that would ultimately dismantle the most

powerful crime organization in American history.

It sent the message to them that we can prosecute these people.

Discover how a group of young prosecutors took on the mafia,

and with the help of law enforcement, brought down its most powerful figures.

Listen to Law & Order, Criminal Justice System on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered

by the time you get your coffee.

The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone.

So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf.

Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends.

Listen now on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Whatever your vibe, it's a Camry vibe.

I slammed the laptop shut.

You're aware that this material exists, but actually seeing it is very different.

You had spoke to someone earlier on the podcast who described it as

beyond imagination and like the seventh circle of hell or something like that.

Yeah, that's what it is.

It was like looking at a little thumbnail straight into hell basically.

I don't think I've entirely been the same person since then.

from that material was revolting.

Melanie was upset and infuriated.

so late at night.

I didn't know what to do.

I was still trying to process everything that happened.

So I had gotten into bed and I just pretended to be asleep.

And then he got into bed next to me and I just laid there in the dark,

just like praying that he wouldn't try to touch me or anything.

And thankfully he didn't.

But I just remember the feeling of laying there in the dark and he was right there.

He just didn't really have an answer for it.

I'm sorry, I forgot I had that.

I downloaded it a long time ago.

I'm not interested in those things.

You know, I'll get rid of it or I'll leave if you want me to.

And I was like, do you understand what this is?

Like, this is a very serious crime.

Melanie reached out to his family.

They didn't seem to grasp it either.

oh, what if we lose access to our granddaughter?

And his brother was like, oh, well, would you consider trying couples counseling?

Then she erased every trace of him from the house.

One day there's this person that you think you know and you're in a loving relationship with.

And the next day that person is just gone.

iHeart Radio.

I've spent almost a decade researching right wing extremism, digging into the lives of

people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters.

But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask.

I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs,

from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to assassinate

the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in

Turkey.

The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil, they're just some

weird guy.

And you can laugh.

Honestly, I think you have to.

Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat.

It's a survival strategy.

So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to

Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts.

powerless to intervene.

of events that would ultimately dismantle the most powerful crime organization in American

history.

enforcement, brought down its most powerful figures.

Listen to Law & Order, Criminal Justice System on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts.

Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the

The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing

in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf.

Subscribe today, and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends.

Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Whatever your vibe, it's a Camry vibe.

Melanie grieved the loss of the relationship she thought she had.

She also felt compelled to turn him into law enforcement.

After all, he did have a daughter.

A lawyer friend of a friend accompanied her to the police station.

And there's like constantly people reporting things there.

Like the person ahead of us in line was like reporting like a stolen bicycle.

They took us back into a separate little room.

And then I gave this incredibly detailed statement.

It took about an hour and a half.

I was still completely in a state of shock, but I think I felt

a sense of relief in the sense that like I have done what I can do with this.

I've done the right thing.

I can go to sleep at night knowing that I have reported this and it's out of my hands.

The Riverton police had gathered evidence and made the arrest quickly.

That didn't happen here.

I imagined like they're going to want to swoop in on him

and get the hard drives and get all of those things.

And that's just not really what happened.

They did arrest him, but it took two weeks.

Maybe he deleted some of it and not all.

Like I have absolutely no idea.

They, I guess, took him in and questioned him and took all of his devices.

I don't think he spent a night in jail.

He was just kind of instantly out on bail.

He was just like out in the world.

And he went straight back on Tinder and just started dating other people.

At one point, he did send me a bunch of messages on Facebook,

just apologizing and being like, I just want to explain myself to you.

And the explanations were just very unsatisfying.

You know, it's kind of like, oh, I had a difficult childhood and

I'm not really interested in this material.

I just found it and, you know, I was just messed up in the head for a while.

I don't know.

Just nonsense.

Then she wanted to be done with the whole awful experience.

But soon after, she saw online that he had a new girlfriend.

but you're never more than two degrees away from anybody.

I didn't know this woman, but we had mutual friends

and she had a job working with children.

So I ended up reaching out to this woman.

We spoke on the phone.

I was like, hey, I don't know how involved you are with this guy,

but this is the reason we broke up.

And you never know how anyone's going to take that information.

Like they might just think you're a jealous ex-girlfriend or something like that.

She believed me instantly and was horrified

and I guess had somewhat of a similar experience to me that night

because he came home from work and she just said to him,

I've spoken to Melanie.

And he was like, oh, OK, I'll get my stuff and go.

Like he just knew.

He ended up meeting up and we became incredibly good friends.

And if there was like anything good to come out of this situation,

it was me meeting this woman.

Like we're still very close friends.

One of my favorite people.

We joke about it in a weird way.

It's kind of like dating the same pedophile is a weirdly bonding experience.

His family didn't.

The police didn't.

And so he was still seeing his child in this period of time.

It's not up to me whether he sees this child or not.

I have nothing to do with that.

But I was just so stunned that nobody gave her this information

so that she could make an informed decision.

At this point, I was like, is it my job to tell her?

Do I get involved in this?

Doesn't it feel like something law enforcement or child protective services should do?

But they hadn't.

And this is where we want to say bravo and thank you to Melanie.

Because she stepped up.

She took it on for no other reason but concern for someone else's child.

I just need five minutes of your time.

I told her what had happened.

And she was understandably horrified, crying on the phone

because she was married to this man for seven years

and had a child with him and had no idea that any of this had happened.

And that was kind of like the last that I had to do with it.

Because I was like, I now need to step away from this.

it took three years for the state of Texas to bring her husband to justice.

It seemed to be similar in Adelaide.

the police said they had such a backlog of these cases

that it could be like a year, year and a half

before they even got around to searching his drives

because that's how common these crimes were.

This wasn't even priority.

It was like more than a year later that I finally followed up with them

I was like, you know, what happened?

Did he go to court?

And so the investigator told me that, yeah, he did go to court.

He pled guilty and he was given a seven month jail sentence,

but it was just a suspended sentence.

So he didn't actually serve any of the jail time.

I guess like the most baffling part of this

is that he started seeing a psychologist,

which Lloyd, that's what he should be doing.

The psychologist provided a statement as part of the court proceeding.

In her statement, she said that she felt that he did not meet

the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia

because he was attracted to all forms of depraved

and extreme acts of sexual sadism.

And the children were not necessarily the focus of that interest.

So I don't know what to make of that.

I'm not a psychologist, so I don't know how these things work.

I don't even want to try to understand what was going on in his mind,

but it surprised me because just the fact that they're like,

well, children aren't his only interest,

therefore that's somehow less bad.

She listened to her gut and didn't dismiss her feelings

of something being off with her partner.

She refused to accept excuses that made no sense,

and she went to great lengths to protect women and children

she doesn't even know.

People like Melanie don't get parades, but I'd give her a cape.

If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team,

email us at BetrayalPod at gmail.com.

That's BetrayalPOD at gmail.com.

To report a case of child sexual exploitation,

call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's cyber tip line

at 1-800-THE-LOST.

If you or someone you know is worried about their sexual thoughts and feelings

towards children, reach out to StopItNow.org.

In the United Kingdom, go to StopItNow.org.uk.

In Australia, StopItNow.org.au.

These organizations can help.

We're grateful for your support,

and one way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts.

Don't forget to rate and review Betrayal.

Five-star reviews go a long way.

A big thank you to all of our listeners.

Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts,

a division of Glass Entertainment Group

in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.

The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison.

Posted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning.

Written and produced by Carrie Hartman.

Also produced by Ben Fetterman.

Associate producer, Kristen Mulcury.

Our iHeart Team is Ali Perry and Jessica Kreincheck.

Special thanks to Melanie for sharing her story.

Audio editing and mixing by Matt Dalbecchio.

Betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Baines.

Music library provided by My Music.

And for more podcasts from iHeart,

visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.

a new podcast from Coolzone Media on iHeart Radio.

I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism,

and I've learned that there's a lot of people

you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters.

But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing,

it's that there's a guy under that monster mask.

The monsters in our political closets

aren't some unfathomable evil.

They're just some weird guy.

So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask

at the Weird Little Guys trying to destroy America.

Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene.

marked the beginning of the end.

It sent the message that we can prosecute these people.

Listen to Law & Order, Criminal Justice System

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.

There and Gone.

It's a real-life story of two people

who left a crowded Philadelphia bar,

walked to their truck, and vanished.

But which victim was the intended target and why?

Listen to There and Gone, South Street

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.