Pregnant by the Effing Bachelor | EP 10

After the family court judge made her ruling, there was a long wait to see if Laura would be criminally charged. Clayton wanted Laura to face consequences.

We also were like, are we asking for too much to get her prosecuted? The only when is her being held accountable?

He wasn't the only one who felt that way. Shortly after Clayton's trial, content creator Megan Fox launched a letter writing campaign. The goal was to try to get the attention of Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell so that her office would pursue criminal charges against Laura Owens.

All I did was put the idea out there, write a couple of templates for people if they had a problem writing, and asked them to do it. The fact that people sat down and did this, that's organic. They licked stamps, put them on envelopes and sent them in. I know that Attorney Mitchell, while she out a lot of letters, Laura.

Had offended a lot of people directly and indirectly, and this was their chance to be heard.

Here's Megan again.

I'm a big believer in writing paper letters because if you send emails, nobody reads them. But if they get faxes and paper letters that you have to dump on their desks, just like in Miracle on thirty fourth Street. They can't ignore you, and they really start to think, Wow, there's a real problem here. People cared enough to walk to the mailbox and send me a letter, and you have to be heard, and the next thing, you know, action starts happening.

It wasn't just random Reddit users writing letters to Rachel Mitchell. Some of the letters were from people who'd been personally impacted by Laura Owens, like Danielle Marriccini, Mike's wife. Here's what Danielle wrote.

I said, Dear Rachel Mitchell, my name is Danielle Marriccini, and I am writing to you not only as the wife of Michael Marriccini, but as a mother and a woman deeply affected by the ongoing trauma inflicted upon my family by Laura Michelle Owens. Michael has been the direct target of Laura Owens's manipulative and malicious behavior, and it has caused serious emotional, psychological, and reputational harm. Her actions have gone far beyond the boundaries of conflict or disagreement.

I'm Stephanie Young, and this is love trapped.

There's no way.

You better believe.

I'll be raising Holy Helps if you ever, ever, ever ever.

Trash.

After Clayton's trial, there was a groundswell of support for people who'd been victimized by Laura Owens. Mike Marriccini wrote a letter of his own to the prosecutor. It was not only a plea for them to take Laura's action seriously, but an offer to help their investigation in any way he could.

I said, listen, I have all of this information here. I would love to share this with you. She's going to try to make all of our lives hell. Please look at this information. And she responded within I would say two hours and said I'm including my investigators on this case. They'll be reaching out to you. They called me within another hour and they're like, when can we come to you.

Mike sent them evidence he had collected, including what he had on his old laptop. Within a week, the investigators flew to California to interview him.

For several hours at my house and they didn't give me any details of what they were looking into, but they said they traveled all over the US and they were taking this case very seriously.

They were looking for proof of any criminal behavior. I reached out to Rachel Mitchell's office to see if they would weigh in for this podcast. They wrote back saying that she's unable to comment given that this is an open case. But Rachel Mitchell did give a public update at a press conference in August of twenty twenty four.

I was talking to one of the investigators working on it this morning about an update, and I know they're going through it quickly. They've talked to a number of people, and as you can imagine, it's gathering information from a number of different sources, medical courts, et cetera. So they're busy working on that.

At the end of episode seven, you heard Clayton's family court trial and the judge's ruling. After that, there were months of waiting. Rachel Mitchell's office carried out their investigation. As we talked about in the last episode, Laura stayed busy by posting online telling her side of the story. Then, on the morning of January twenty ninth, twenty twenty five, twelve police officers in tactical gear showed up at the

Play search war.

The twelve cops split up, with one group going around back to the casita where Laura lived. It's a detached studio apartment behind the main house. Another group of officers went to the front door where Laura's parents lived.

And Ron Laura Blase search warrant opened the door.

Pay What you're hearing is the real audio from the officer's body cams. This wasn't the Scottsdale p ds first trip to the Owens home. Over the last few years, they've been there at least four times to conduct welfare checks on Laura. Most of those calls were triggered by anonymous tips from people concerned about the suicidal ideation she'd been posting online. On this day, the police stood at the front door, repeatedly knocking.

Police search warr.

Jan War or Ron.

Opened the door.

You can hear motion from behind the door. It's Laura's mom, Jan, but she's not opening it even for the police.

We're the police department.

Jan scott Sell Police to Detective Buckner with the Scott Sell Police Department. We have a search warn Okay, we're serving on the behalf of the Maricopa County's Attorney's office.

You need to open up the door.

In an odd turn of events, with twelve police officers on her property.

She says she's calling the policeman.

But Jan still won't open up the door.

Dan, we do not want to breach your door.

We will if we have to the door, Daan, we will ran your door where you're not.

We don't want to do that.

We don't want to damage your door.

Just pop the door and talk to us.

After two long minutes, Jan finally opened the door to speak with the group of officers waiting outside.

Hello, I are you out of the police apartment?

Okay, okay, We're not here to hurt you.

We're not here to do it.

I God, we can talk to your daughter.

The officers made their way into the main house. Almost immediately, the scene turned chaotic. Everyone was talking over one another and the confusion was palpable. The cops want eyes on everyone in the house, and they find Ron still in bed.

Regarding that, regarding Aura right entry, taking my character right now, you're good to move to the casida.

When the cops approach the casida, they find Laura standing there behind a sliding glass door.

Laura, Police, it's the police.

What it's the police department, Laura, scott Stale Police, you see my badge.

Laura cracks open the sliding glass door, but leaves the screen door in place with the.

Scott step police department. Okay, can you come out and talk with us police?

No, the county attorneys have a search warm for your property, so we need you to come out.

Okay, I'm sorry, it's not even seven in the morning.

That's fine.

I'm not comfortable having you. I don't know who you guys are. I just told you I know, but I'm not. I don't I'm not comfortable of opening my.

Screen behind her.

You can see into her casita. This body cam video is our first real look into Laura's private world. The floor is covered in clothes, even in the kitchen area and bathroom on the opposite wall. The pile of clothes is so high it reaches the bottom of the window. The drawers hang open overflowing. Honestly, every single surface is covered in stuff. The counters and bedside tables are buried

Okay, well, if we were going to handle this more escalated, we were just forced our way in.

But we're not doing that.

We're trying to handle this as low key as possible.

I was told that if the police were going to calm they would come during business hours. Can I call my attorney please, I'm not comfortable.

You can call your attorney, that's fine.

Let me call my attorney.

Great.

Is something I'm concerned about my parents?

You guys, your guns drawn right now? Nobody's pointing like I can't tell anybody you know what I do. My parents know that somebody's here.

Yes, we have officers talking with your parents right now.

I've seen this footage more than twenty times, studying it from every available body cam angle, and I want to be clear. While the officers are armed. Their guns are holstered, not drawn, but Laura is shaken. Her hands are visibly trembling.

I'm giving you an opportunity. I told you we have this search warmer, and let me have.

My my parents out here and on the phone.

Because I own I am.

I have to just listen to me.

Okay, I've been nothing but respectful to you.

No seven o'clock in the morning. Let me just call my attorney. Okay, you call my attorney.

Laura starts firing off demands, but even as she's talking, she's still refusing to actually open the door.

Open the door.

Can I just We're going to cut the screen and come in.

If you don't, you can't if.

It's screening, isn't even incredible. I'm on the phone with my attorney. I'll put him on the phone right now.

This is my.

Attorney, David Gingris, my attorney, David Gingers.

I don't know who you guys are even do you think I'm authority to search before seven o'clock in the morning.

But the police are there.

Laura, okay, fine.

I need it.

There's seven of them in here.

After hearing from her attorney, Laura opens the screen door. One of the men grabs her phone out of her hands.

Don't grab my phone and take it.

I need to speak to you. Guys have guns, you know what you guys literally know.

My dogs.

Stay inside, all right, we're.

The mom's inside.

I speak to my mom. You guys have guns.

I'll speak mom.

I'm taking to her right now. Okay, okay, we have contact with her. We are escorting her out.

The body cam continues as officers escort Laura into the main house. Meanwhile, the group of officers who were already inside the main house, we're waking up Laura's dad, Ron Owens. Ron asked why the police were there.

So Laura is a subject of an investigation by the courts. So it's regarding it's regarding that.

Okay, So it's gonna be We're gonna come in here and they'll explain it to you and they'll give you a copy of the search warrant.

Ron asks to see the search warrant and wants to know the officer's badge number.

The badge for a seconds, Yeah number, it is fourteen twenty two. Is my badge number. Okay, we're gonna I'll leave it here for you.

The officer attending to Ron stays incredibly patient and helpful. You have to remember Ron has dealt with a lot of health issues over the years, and he actually needed a hand just getting out of bed.

Let me get you your walker. Okay.

The officer hands him his robe and calmly explains exactly what's happening.

Yeah, because I guess Laura has been a little bit uncooperative, and they will. You can talk to the investigators. Okay, they'll have all the details. We're just helping them out with the service of the warrant.

As Ron gets out of bed, he looks at the officer and warns him about Laura.

She is basically suicidal. She's suicidal. She has mentioned it, don't.

You dear.

She will.

Before the officer could finish his conversation with Ron, Laura comes into the house, guided by two officers. You can see they're handling her with extreme care, using what's known as an escort grip, one hand on the wrist and the other just above the elbow to keep things controlled but steady. It doesn't look like they're using excessive force, but Laura feels otherwise, and she's not quiet about it.

Please you, you.

Were you were hurting me, they passed right by her father's bedroom.

I want to see.

Yeah, that's what I want. I want to see my father.

You are hurting me, and there's to be.

A report for what you have done. I guarantee you. I will have bruises from this. I guarantee you. I will. I'd like to see my father. Please.

No, I don't know where my mom here.

The moment Laura sees her mom, jan she frantically runs straight to her. She says the police are horrible, inappropriate. But between twenty twenty one and twenty twenty five, Laura reached out to the Scottsdale Police for help nearly twenty times. She was the one contacting them, saying she'd been the victim of harassment, press leaks, and restraining order violations. Now that the tables had turned and she was the one

I said I didn't know they were.

They still don't even know they got me.

And then Laura hits her breaking point. She turns and delivers the one line that, in many ways has come to define this entire case.

You know what, it's not even seven o'clock. I am done nothing and get pregnant by the fighting bressler.

Okay, I say I'm going to kill somebody now. Remember this video was recorded in January of twenty twenty five. Six months earlier, it had been adjudicated that Clayton the Bachelor wasn't the father of Laura's alleged twins because, according to the judge, she was never pregnant. But she's sticking with her story. Laura then hears her dad beginning to shuffle into the room and shifts her focus to him.

I need to help my father. He don't get up.

My dad is handy capping. No, he can't get up.

You don't get it.

My dad can't get up and he's open. Sit there. He can't get up his handicap. Please do not do no, he can't. He has poor dad can do with this. Fuck all of you guys, seriously, fuck you guys. He is not even said in the morning, I agree, honey.

You can hear or her mom jan comforting her, agreeing with her. Then Laura says this to the police.

Do you guys see what you've done? Do you see what you've done. I mean it really that my family is dealing with sir.

As her father walks in the room, Laura has a realization all of this is being recorded the people.

You know what.

Oh, I'm sure they already told me they had body camps. I'm sure they're gonna get thee becomes a public record with.

My father all.

In the middle of the chaos, there's an almost farcical moment. Instead of addressing the twelve tactical officers in their living room, Laura and jan start arguing with the police about which chair is best for Ron to sit in.

He can't sit in that share rollers chair, the black chair, the black chair.

You normally sit.

He'll roll in that one.

That's where he sits, so this one.

Then Laura has another realization. The police have already confiscated her mom's phone.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It does not say you guys can take my mom's It doesn't.

You can hear the panic rising in Laura's voice. She seems suddenly desperately concerned about what the officers might find on her mom's device. The police hand her a copy of the warrant, but she only glances at it.

Yes, I just did. On the person Laura Michelle Owen. Where does it say you can take my mom's phone?

Jake Freeman warrant and it said you you can take my mom's phone.

Read it, don't just look through it.

The officers aren't interested in the bickering. They're just trying to move forward and finish securing the property so they can turn it over to the investigators.

So we're serving the search more on behalf of the Maricopa County Attorney's office.

That's right, And I'm not saying where.

It's six thirty in the morning, my god, sir, So for statute, we can serve a daytime search wark between the hours of six thirty in.

The morning and ten at night.

And this is important enough.

So they are the investigators.

Our role here was just securing the property. So the investigators have all the details that they drafted the search war. Okay, we have investigation.

I have this. There's nothing that said you guys can search my mom's phone.

I did read it. Don't don't you tell me I didn't read it.

Mom, Laura, Like I said, we did not draft the search on.

It doesn't say it start my mom's phone.

I haven't one to your mom's phone, and Laura, just listen to me. Okay, just because we've set a phone aside, doesn't mean that we're searching it. Oh god, this is the most instant just because we've done that, just like because we've put you guys in here are.

Looking for sir.

I can't tell you guys this enough.

We are not searching the property. Maricopa County Attorney's Office is the one responsible for drafting this warrant and searching for evidence for their case. We have merely secured the property on their behalf.

This whole time. The investigators have been standing a few feet away, ready to get to work.

These are the County Attorney Office etectives. They have the intelligence and the information on the case.

Any questions that you have, they may or may not be at liberty to answer, based on the severity of the case or whatever they're investigating.

But they are the.

Ones that the information behind it.

I do not have any information to provide you.

Despite everything else that is happening, the Owens family is still fixed on one detail. They keep coming back to the timing, asking again, why the police came before seven in the morning, or we can serve a.

Warrant between six thirty and but I mean, you've a little bit of disco.

We're not talking about it.

When would you rather reserve it at noon where all your neighbors see the police here?

Oh?

Yeah, you would rather that at six?

Well, well, we're well within our within the law to do that, okay. So any questions that you have pertaining to the case, the County Attorney's Office detectives can answer those.

The police turn the scene over to investigators who have the cumbersome task of searching the house for evidence.

I don't think we have comms with you guys, as we need to just respond, you know, just yeah, no one, what happens?

Thank you guys, thank you, thank you for all your hope.

Combine.

This is where the body cam footage ends. Apart from law enforcement and the Owens family, no one knew this raid happened, not Clayton, his lawyer, or any of the online detectives. Three months past, where on the outside it looked like not much was happening with the investigation into Laura Owens. That was until a press conference on April twenty third, twenty twenty five. A local reporter put the Maricopa County attorney on the spot and asked her about

I mean we are still actively investigating that. What I will simply say is stay tuned.

Two weeks after that press conference, everything changed for Laura Owens, and we begin tonight with new developments and the paternity case involving a former Bachelor contestant.

Breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges.

Owens is accused of altering an ultrasound image, lying under oath, and fabricating a pregnancy video as part of her alleged scheme.

As for Ecker, the battle he's been fighting for two years is now in the hands of prosecutors.

On May sixth, twenty twenty five, the news broke that Laura Michelle Owens had been indicted on seven criminal charges.

A scott Stie woman who previously accused a former Bachelor contestant of impregnating her, is now indicted on fraud charge.

It's almost a year long investigation sparked by a Superior Court judge presiding over this paternity case involving the former Bachelor star and a woman named Laura Owens.

Grandeury indicted her on several felon accounts, including fraud, forgery, perjury, and tampering with evidence.

The County Attorney's office says Owens went to extreme lengths to manipulate Ekker.

After to your legal battle, Eckert is ready for prosecutors to take over.

Owens released a statement saying she is stunned by the charges and maintains that she was in fact pregnant but had a miscarriage. She believes she was only charged because of public pressure.

Owens has her arrangment hearing set for May twenty ninth.

The online community who'd been following this story from the beginning was freaking out. Dave Neil even went livel at a baseball game.

Unbelievable, breaking news. We just found out Laura Owens charged with fraud, seven counts. Unbelievable stuff.

Justice is served now for the first time. She's in trouble. She has seven felony counts against her.

We have a seven count indictment, seven felonies for Laura Owens.

If you didn't get the news, she's going down.

For those who'd been personally affected by Laura Owens. The news brought an intense wave of emotion. Here's Mike Marriccini.

I know exactly where I was. I was on vacation with my family. We were in a hotel room, so I remember the setting. I remember seeing my daughters both on the couch watching cart tunes, and I saw that she had been indicted. But I remember immediately texting both of the guys and giving my wife a big hug.

Here's Mike's wife, Danielle.

We were finally seen in our pain. Just the innate healing that comes from somebody telling you that they believe you, just that nothing else is powerful.

It was surreal because I felt like justice was finally prevailing.

Clayton's attorney, Greg Woodnick, also remembers the moment he heard the news.

I was in my car on the way home from my office. I got a phone call telling me she'd been indicted. I was certainly not disappointed that she was indicted. I don't wish Laura a downfall. I don't even wish her a lengthy prison sens. I've always wanted her to get help and acknowledge what she did, but her being charged was a big deal.

Clayton was walking home from the gym when he got a call from a reporter at a local news station. She's the one who told him Laura had been indicted on seven felony counts, all related to his case.

I texted the guys and they're going ballistic, and all of a sudden, I start getting more messages from other people, and then I went straight to Instagram.

Here's what Clayton posted that day.

Justice is finally served.

I am absolutely amped to share this news with you all that today, as of like I think twenty minutes ago, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has announced the indictment of Laura Michelle Owens on felony charges related to the paternity scheme. One count of fraudulent schemes a class two felony, one count of forgery a class four felony, four counts of perjury last four felony, and one kund of tampering with physical evidence a class six felony. This nightmare is over.

This wouldn't have gotten to this point if it wasn't.

For Greg Woodnick and his entire incredible team. And this is just such a weight lifted off. I'm really looking at messages coming through right now from the other guys. We are so so thankful and thank you all for your support. I have not been this happy. This is a weight of two years lifted off my shoulders. Of these guys before me years lifted off their shoulders.

It feels good.

I asked Woodnick to explain the felony charges against Laura in Arizona.

We've got six levels of felony, with the Class one and being the highest level of felony and Class six.

Being the post one against Laura is a Class two felony charging her for fraudulent schemes and artifices.

The class two felony is a very serious felony charge.

Then there were six more felony counts for forgery, perjury, and tampering with physical evidence. Charges like felony perjury are very rare.

I've dealt with some challenging issues and people that have struggles telling the truth in a courtroom, but I've never seen someone go the distance that Laura did, and I certainly have never seen a case result in this sort of felony prosecution. The reason why I believe it was prosecuted is because the behavior was so egregious. I have never seen such egregious behavior.

Laura, however, didn't see her actions as egregious, quite the opposite. The day after the indictments were handed down, she fired back with an official press release. Here is a portion of that statement, read by a voice actor.

As someone who has never been charged with a crime in my life, I am stunned by the seven felony charges announced against me by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. These allegations appear to be the result of coordinate harassment, misinformation, and public pressure in the aftermath of the paternity case I filed against former Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd. These charges appeared to be the product of intense public pressure, not

The indictments against Laura are considered nonviolent, so she wasn't arrested. Instead, she was served as summons to appear in court for her arraignment on May twenty ninth, but she chose to self surrender two days early. This was likely a strategic move to demonstrate her cooperation to the judge and secure a release without bail until her trial. Laura was officially processed on May twenty seventh, and once her mugshot went public, the online reddit community had plenty to say about it.

You know, she spent hours on her mugshot.

Look feels like she's trying to pull off a sad face, but still comes across looking smug.

Who plumps and glosses lips for a mugshot. Wts wow, seeing this is a real sign just as and accountability will hopefully be coming. Two days later, Laura had her arraignment her usual She appeared virtually.

This is an over one on the court's calendar. State of Arizona versus Owens Serra twenty twenty five zero zero six eight three one zero zero one the z Owens, would you please state your full name and date of birth, Laura Michelle Owens.

The judge had already received Laura's plea this morning.

Court will enter please if not guilty on behalf of the defendantists to all counts one through seven, noting that this is the initial appearance on each of those counts.

Then the judge set Laura's release conditions.

The defendant will be released on her own recognizance. Ma'am, what that is is your promise to attend all future court hearings. You don't need to post a bond at this time. However, if you fail to appear for any of your future court hearings absent good cause, court could issue a bench warrant for your arrest and require that you post a bond. If you are taken into custody before you can be released, court will also order that you not initiate any contact with any alleged complainant or witness.

After Laura disconnected a clock started ticking. Just because she was indicted does not mean she was convicted. That's an important distinction. And as we just heard, Laura pled not guilty. So going forward, she has a few options. Either go to trial to try to prove her innocence, or change her plea to guilty and admit to the crimes the state charged her with. Here's Clayton's attorney, Greg Woodnick.

If she chooses to go to trial, I hope Laura gets the fairest criminal trial she can get.

I hope she gets a wonderful jury of neutral.

People who want to be open minded about the evidence and apply the law appropriately. Everyone deserves a fair jury trial, and she's entitled to that in her criminal case.

Should she choose to pursue that.

Going to trial would mean dragging everything to light. The indictments only gave a few small details about each charge, like quote claiming that sonogram image was hers during sworn deposition. Which sonogram in particular, or the evidence the state had that it wasn't Laura's. No one knew, but some of the content creators, like reality Steve had guesses.

The sonogram that we know is fake, but no one's had to ask her. Laura's never done an interview with me or Dave or anybody. Laura, we found the sonogram. You stole it from YouTube, even though when you emailed it to me you said, Steve, this is my proof that I'm pregnant.

About a month later, the state released its witness list, which was sixty four names deep. If Laura goes to trial, these are the people who would be called to testify. As expected, the list features Clayton eckerd, Michael Marriccini, and Greg Gillespie. It also includes some familiar names like Laura's parents Jan Black and Ron Owens, Laura's sister Sarah, attorneys Greg Woodnick and Deandra Arena, and even content creator Dave Neil. But there were some names on there that didn't make

This is ah wow, way weirder than I thought it was gonna be okay.

They were able to go into Laura's iCloud and find stuff.

A lot of them are interviews that they have done during their investigation, a couple of them with Clayton, one with her mother.

Jan the mother of Laura Owens, trying to have a secret meeting with investigators.

Let's get into it, shall we this one?

Oh boy, get your tea, at your tea.

The investigation report is like the state showing their hand. It's all the information that would be in their case at trial. It's redacted in some places, but we learned a lot. It addresses almost everything, including some mysteries I honestly never thought i'd see an answer to. Here's journalist Megan Fox.

Oh my goodness, there's so much. There are nuggets in here that are brand new that you really you need to hear.

We're going to go through this investigation report from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. We've had a voice actor read from the report, and just for the record, it's not an AI voice. It's actually my husband, who happens to sound very official. We've also pulled in real clips of Laura herself from various court hearings. Let's start with the

Report, during a sworn deposition at the office of Greg Woodnick Clayton, Eckert's attorney, Laura Owens testified to a video clip of her father, Ron Owens in a hospital bed rubbing her pregnant belly. Owens maintained that this was her and her father by stating.

My dad's in the hospital and he touched my stomach.

However, Owen's face was not visible. The original video was located during this investigation, and it can be seen that Owen's sister, Sarah Owens Navarro, is the subject with the pregnancy.

We also learned from the same investigation report that the video, which had no sound, actually has an audio track in it. Investigators specified that Laura and her mother, jan Black can be heard talking in the background. At the June tenth trial, you'll remember that Laura Owens said she only had one ultrasound during her alleged pregnancy, which was done in California in July twenty twenty three. She admitted to altering the location, date,

But according to the investigation.

Report, Laura Owens committed perjury while testifying in Maricopa County Superior Court in front of Judge Julie Matta when she testified to a sonogram image. Owen's attorney asked, did.

You have a sonogram done in California.

Owens responded by stating, yes, I did. Owens admitted to changing the location, the date, and placing her name on the top banner. This sonogram was altered and was initially that of her sister, Sarah Owens Navarro.

Then there's the altered ultrasnd from the Halloween meme, the one she'd us to successfully secure an order of protection against Clayton.

On the twenty fifth day of October twenty twenty three, Laura Owens committed perjury while testifying in Americopa County Superior Court when she testified regarding a sonogram that was attached to an image of herself in a spoof Halloween costume package from Reddit. Owens testified that the sonogram image she has seen holding in the overall image is.

A sonogram of our son that only he had possession of.

Owen's attorney asked if this was a sonogram that she sent Eckert or if anyone else received it. Owen stated that the ultrasound was not sent to anyone else. This sonogram image was found to have been from Owen's sister, Sarah Owens Navarro's pregnancy.

As part of the investigation, Laura's mom, Jan Black, was interviewed. She asked to meet with the investigators without Laura's knowledge. Mostly Jan stands by Laura's story, but there are a few lines that raise an eyebrow.

Miss Black Owens spoke of death threats that she had received and some additional theories connecting this to the Gilgo Beach murders in New York or the Sewan Didnycombe sex trafficking case. Miss Black Owens feels this may be part of a bigger picture and agreed that the FBI may be looking into it.

Yes, you heard that correctly. Her mother believed that the criminal investigation into Laura was connected to the Gilgo Beach murders or the Shawn Comb's sex trafficking case.

Miss Black Owens asked how long this investigation would take. I said that I hoped that it wouldn't take too much longer.

These next two revelations are jaw dropping. First, remember, at the beginning of this story, Laura told Clayton she was certain he was the father because she hadn't had sex with anyone else for over a year. According to the state, that appears to have been a lie.

Laura Owens committed perjury while testifying in Maricopa County Superior Court when she testified that there was no possibility that she could be pregnant by anyone other than Clayton Eckert by stating.

There's no chance for anybody else's.

And no, I hadn't been intimate with anyone else since March of twenty twenty two.

It was determined that Owens had sexual intercourse with Honor about the fifth day of May twenty twenty three and Honor about the twenty seventh day of May twenty twenty three.

Just a reminder, the night Laura went to Clayton's apartment was May twentieth, twenty twenty three, meaning Laura had slept with another man two weeks earlier and one week later. We're not using his name for his privacy, but it seems he cooperated with investigators. Then there's the question of how Laura could have produced a positive pregnancy test. As we've said, early detection pregnancy tests measure for a hormone called hCG. It turns out hCG is something Laura bought.

During a search of Owen's eyecloud, a series of messages were noted that indicated that Owens had gone to Medspa and purchased hCG, and that she had the injections delivered to her home. These text exchanges also indicate that Owens did not want her family to know she was injecting hCG.

If Laura was injecting herself with hCG, like the state alleges, that could explain how she produced a positive pregnancy test, even if she wasn't actually pregnant. The state leaned on the mountain of evidence they collected to push through a seven count indictment against Laura Owens, and by the end of the report, there's no mistaking and their conclusion.

Laura Owens, an adult female podcast host, created a scheme to elevate her notoriety and increase her commercial value by attempting to blackmail Clayton Eckert, a television celebrity, into a romantic relationship, by fraud, trickery, and deception. To this end, Laura Owens perjured herself in court hearings and a deposition, as well as tampering with evidence, forging documents, and material misrepresentation, deceiving the courts and the victim, Clayton eckered.

You might think the criminal indictments were Laura's main focus during the summer of twenty twenty five, but she was gearing up to enter another legal battle once she seemed particularly interested in. It involved her ex boyfriend from nearly ten years prior, a man who didn't live in the same state. Her five year domestic violence restraining order against Mike Marraccini was set to expire on July tenth, twenty twenty five. This left everyone wondering would she renew it.

We were expecting it. We kept talking, preparing ourselves for the inevitable She's gonna renew but I do deeply think that we also were like, no way, does she have the balls to do it. So while we were saying one thing, I think subconsciously we felt like there's no chance. And ultimately when we got to the day of and nothing had hit the docket, we were like, we're free,

At the last minute, Laura Owens filed once again to renew her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Marriccini. This massive one hundred and one page filing centers primarily on her June twenty twenty four trial involving Clayton Eckered, specifically citing Mike's presence in the courtroom as a point of contention. She alleged that Mike being in the court for Clayton's trial, which again he'd been subpoenaed for, had violated her DVRO.

I'm incredibly frustrated. I'm angry at not just Laura for keeping this going for more than a decade, but really upset with our legal system.

What are next steps for you?

I have to go to a trial to hopefully fight this, and right now it's either going to be another five year domestic violence for training order, it's going to be a permanent domestic violence for training order. So I'm trying to limit the damage and hopefully get it overturned, but most likely it will either become one of those two items.

Is there anything else you want to share about this, maybe how it's affecting your family or you.

It's definitely affected my family. I mean the amount of time, energy, financial aspect has been wasted over the last decade fighting this person has been terrible. And I don't wish this upon anybody, and I just want to thank everybody for their support, especially over the last few years.

With this going public.

When Mike got the news about the renewal, you can hear in his voice how defeated he was. Fighting this again could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

I had been talking to certain attorneys beforehand and they were kind of rattling off pricing to me, and they're like, well, it could be anywhere from twenty five to fifty and then if you go to trial, it's another fifty to seventy five. And so I just sat and thought to myself, like, do I want to do this again?

For Mike, that would mean dipping into his life savings, money that could be used for his daughter's futures. Mike's wife Didaniel Sai that at first he didn't want to fight this again.

When he got off the phone about fighting it and the legal fees that we would incur, and he goes, I can't do this, Danielle. I can't take another financial hit like this, particularly because he is our sole provider at this point. We aren't just spending money like it doesn't matter. And he's like, I can't do it, and I said, you have to do it. We have to this time, and he was like, you're right, laying down

And then Mike got a phone call from Omar Serrato. He's a family law attorney in California and a contact creator known as the Tilted Lawyer on YouTube. For the past couple of years, Omar has been doing legal comment and terry on Laura Owens's case.

I remember I got a phone call from Omar, and I had asked him a couple of times, like would you represent me. I'm going to spend forty thousand dollars just trying to catch somebody up on this case, like it would be really beneficial if I was able to just use you. I'm pessimistic already. I'm assuming I'm going to lose, but I don't want to spend all of the money up front to lose. I'd rather have somebody that's in my corner that has like an idea of Laura in what she's tried to pull.

At first, Omar said he appreciated Mike's honesty, but that he just wasn't going to be able to do it. But a few days later, Omar changed his mind.

He's like, listen, I'll do it. Just raise a gofund me. Whatever is raised from the GoFundMe will help out dramatically, and I will do this. And on top of that, I'll add Rachel Warrez. I think she wants to be in on this as well.

Rachel Warrez is an attorney in California. She's also one of the judges on the hit TV court program Hot Bench. Like Omar, Rachel had followed the Laura Owen's case closely.

I was so happy because both of these people were informed, educated and were true family law attorneys with tons of experience in this matter. So I just felt like the cards were with me this time.

Mike finally had the legal support he needed to give him a real fighting chance.

Here's Rachel Warrez with.

Mike in particular. I really felt like he had been victimized, and I had read a lot of the text messages that came out in the Clayton case, and I really felt as though he had been a victim of abuse, that those text messages were very emotionally abusive, and this was a victim that not only hadn't received help, but had been flipped into the perpetrator somehow.

The legal was the first step for Mike to fight the DVRO, but it wasn't going to be easy.

The standard for domestic violence in California has been broadened to include things like disturbing the peace in terms of a renewal. In particular, if you have a restraining order against somebody and they've been violating it, that's grounds for a renewal, and clearly that means you still need protection. But the law in California has developed to say that if someone is not violating the restraining order, that that proves that it's working, and therefore that's another good reason

The trial for the DVRO renewal would be held in San Francisco. Ahead of their hearing, Laura had some requests for the court.

First, she filed a.

Motion to wave life testimony in favor of a written statement, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If this was.

Granted, she would avoid a cross examination at the trial. Then, citing confidential medical data and threats from the Justice for Clayton Group, she also requested the motion be sealed. The filing disclosed several diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy PTSD, traumatic brain injury, panic and generalized anxiety disorders, and anorexia nervosa. She also asked for a continuance on the hearing, meaning she wanted more time due to her medical condition and

Would be happening.

Now this is an urgent health matter, which is kind of what she said earlier. However, this just got filed yesterday. The trial is supposed to happen on Tuesday, so we won't know a ruling on this until at least Monday, if the judge even looks at it.

Now.

I haven't seen the documents yet, so I don't know what's in them, but I think this is going to go one of two ways.

Laura's not showing up.

She also didn't request travel from the state of Arizona, and we know that she has a criminal proceeding there, and anytime she leaves the state, she has to have permission from the state to do so. She never filed this travel request, so in my mind, that's saying that she never had any intention of going to this in the first place. Now, again, one of two things could happen here. The first one is that she's just considered a no show and the DVRO renewal request gets dropped

We did and we'll fear my zone.

Owe off.

It's over.

Oh, thank you, thank you.

That's so fantastic that it's over.

The judge in San Francisco told Laura she had to appear in person, but because of her felony indictments, she couldn't leave the state of Arizona without permission, and she hadn't filed that request yet. Everyone on Mike's team had been waiting, holding their breath to see if Laura would be showing up. Then this email came in saying she accepted their terms and would be appearing virtually. It meant

The case is over.

Unofficially, we are going to show up in court tomorrow morning, nine am, and we're going to tell the JUCH that the parties have reached a global resolution or owns is going to miss her renewal motion with prejudice. Both parts, paid her own costs, attorney fees, obey all federal and statele hause, and go about their merry way.

That's all we're going to do.

Mike left a few minutes later to get some rest. He still had to show up to court the next day. After he left, I asked Omar the obvious question, do you think that this is going to stick at nine am tomorrow? Meaning is it really over? I've been following this case long enough to know that Laura has a habit of saying one thing and doing another. And these emails seemed kind of suspicious. They weren't from her lawyer. She didn't actually have a lawyer in this matter. She

Hey, so I just got this email from Laura email the department saying, Hi, I am looping in doctor Green and David Jingers, who like me, will be appearing via Zoom tomorrow and also need a link.

Thank you Warmer's regards.

That's the email.

They knew Laura had plans to appear by Zoom the following morning, but they were under the impression that it was just to accept the terms and drop the domestic violence restraining order against Mike.

The email was cryptic. Why did she want.

Her doctor and her former attorney on the call if she was just going to drop the restraining order. It turns out the fight wasn't ending because Laura wasn't done with Mike Marriccini. For Mike, it felt like a power play.

This is what she gets off on, is having power, manipulating people, manipulating the situation, utilizing the justice system. This is her foreplay.

Trat, Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow Love Trapped on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and please leave us a review. A five star rating helps others find this show. We're grateful for your support. If you would like to reach out to the Love Trapped team or have a similar story to share, email us at Love Trapped Pod at gmail dot com. That's Love Trapped Pod at gmail dot com.

Love Trapped is.

A production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. This show was executive produced by Nancy Glass, Andrea Gunning and Ben Fetterman, written, produced and hosted by me Stephanie Young. Our story editor is Monique La Boord. Producer on this episode is Sidney Gladoo. Additional production support from Todd Gans. Our production manager is Kristen Melchiri. For iHeart Podcasts, Ali Perry was our executive producer.