EP 9 - Donielle, Part 1

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Speaker 35 One of my children saw his dad dressed all in black, and he said that it seemed like his dad was mad at him because he yelled at him to go back to bed.

Speaker 35 And the night before that, he had actually told my oldest child to wrap a sledgehammer that we had that had a really bright yellow handle in black electric tape and find a black raincoat for him to wear.

Speaker 35 And she was like, Okay, dad.

Speaker 37 I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything.

Speaker 33 One night in 2017, Danielle Oliver Chauvet was awoken by the FBI and state police.

Speaker 41 They were pointing guns at her, demanding to know where her husband was.

Speaker 43 That night, she learned the man she had spent 20 years with was hiding some very big secrets.

Speaker 18 This is Danielle's first time telling her story.

Speaker 45 She's been reluctant to share what she went through because, as you'll hear in part two, her husband has other victims.

Speaker 18 She wants to be respectful of their experience and suffering.

Speaker 46 But this episode isn't about her husband's crimes.

Speaker 42 It's about the 20-year marriage Danielle built with him.

Speaker 18 the ways he deceived and violated her, and the shocking betrayal that ended it all.

Speaker 45 It's also the story of being totally in the dark about your partner's double life.

Speaker 35 I used to watch lifetime shows, and I used to be that person saying, oh, she had to know something.

Speaker 35 So I totally understand why people say things like that.

Speaker 35 But until you are actually walking in those shoes and living with a person who can be completely double-faced, living a completely separate life,

Speaker 35 All I know is the life that he had with me and our kids. That's all I saw.
He was able to do everything else completely separate.

Speaker 40 Danielle grew up in a happy, tight-knit family in California.

Speaker 35 Family is very important to me. We were just override my parents, all of my siblings, and we all just get along really well.

Speaker 35 There's hardly ever any arguments within our family and when there is, it's resolved within the day.

Speaker 50 Growing up, Danielle's parents were her role models.

Speaker 33 They had a respectful and happy marriage.

Speaker 38 It was an environment that nurtured her easygoing and trusting nature.

Speaker 35 I had a really good childhood and so I didn't grow up with a lot of strife or bad things happening in my childhood where that trust was broken down.

Speaker 23 She was raised with a strong sense of faith.

Speaker 43 That's still one of her core values.

Speaker 35 I know some religions can be like really strict. You can do this, you can't do this.

Speaker 35 I wouldn't even say that mine is a religion. It's a relationship with Christ.

Speaker 45 Danielle's one of those rare people who loved high school.

Speaker 18 She was popular and she had a longtime high school boyfriend named Billy.

Speaker 35 When we were teenagers, everybody thought for sure that we were just going to be together forever. You know, we were the thing.

Speaker 52 Right before their senior year of high school, school, Billy proposed to her and she said yes.

Speaker 5 But then...

Speaker 35 I actually had to move to Hawaii because my dad was working for the military and we moved there.

Speaker 25 She ended up spending her senior year in Hawaii.

Speaker 18 Then she got accepted to college in Illinois.

Speaker 33 She was ready to start a new life there without her high school boyfriend.

Speaker 48 Giving up her first love was hard.

Speaker 55 but she wanted to prioritize her independence.

Speaker 57 Danielle thrived in college.

Speaker 54 She loved her major, which was art.

Speaker 18 And she also loved going to Bible study on campus.

Speaker 58 That's where she met Chad.

Speaker 35 He was raising his hand and answering the questions like right away. And he was answering the way I would have answered those questions, right in line with the way I believed.

Speaker 35 So I was attracted to that.

Speaker 50 Immediately, she knew Chad was special.

Speaker 35 The first time I met him, I said to my parents when I got back that I was going to marry him. So it was pretty much love at first sight.

Speaker 17 She felt comfortable around Chad.

Speaker 42 It was easy, like they'd known each other for years.

Speaker 35 We actually met at my parents' house and watched a couple movies and I made him lasagna and he changed my oil

Speaker 35 in my car.

Speaker 35 That was our first date.

Speaker 57 From the start, Danielle was serious about Chad.

Speaker 35 When I'm dating someone, I'm deciding whether or not this person is the person I want to marry. So I was looking for specific things that I wanted in a husband when I was dating him.

Speaker 55 And Chad checked all the boxes.

Speaker 35 There was lots of things. He grew up in a Christian home.
He had a good relationship with his parents.

Speaker 35 He was business-minded, like he was able to support me.

Speaker 49 Everything about him felt right.

Speaker 38 He was pursuing a degree in finance.

Speaker 18 He had dreams of starting his own business.

Speaker 57 And like her, he also wanted a big family.

Speaker 55 But most of all, she just loved being around him.

Speaker 35 I had fun with him. You know, we would laugh about lots of things.

Speaker 35 I was just attracted to the way I felt around him.

Speaker 27 While they were dating, he went above and beyond to woo her.

Speaker 35 Something about Chad, you have to know, he likes to do everything big.

Speaker 35 It always has to be the best and the grandest and the most showy.

Speaker 8 It's not who she is, but Chad said she deserved the best.

Speaker 18 And it was flattering. After about two years of dating, he made a particularly grand gesture.

Speaker 12 He bought her an expensive dress, rented a limousine, and took them to a dinner theater.

Speaker 35 And during that intermission, he excused himself. I thought he was going to use the restroom.

Speaker 35 But he actually, it turns out, had set up beforehand with the theater that he would go on stage and ask me to marry him from the stage.

Speaker 35 And then he got down on his knee and yeah, it was quite the show.

Speaker 32 She said yes.

Speaker 55 He brought her out of her comfort zone, and it felt like a fairy tale.

Speaker 35 I was 100% this is the one

Speaker 35 I'm going to spend the rest of my life with.

Speaker 49 Chad was involved in every step of the wedding planning, which Danielle loved.

Speaker 50 And he also wanted to go to pre-marriage counseling to discuss their expectations.

Speaker 35 We discussed who would be the breadwinner in the home, you know, what would be the different roles of both husband and wife, as far as who did what in the household.

Speaker 35 It was thoroughly discussed how our marriage would go before we got married. I mean, as far as you can, right?

Speaker 35 We did know that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so that was talked about.

Speaker 18 Danielle had been managing her own money in her early 20s, and although she was good at it, it was a relief to be marrying someone who had expertise in finance.

Speaker 33 It made her feel safe.

Speaker 18 And so they agreed that while she would manage the household, Chad would manage the money.

Speaker 35 And I had full trust in Chad to be able to do that too because of his business degree. He was really good at money since he went to school for it.

Speaker 35 I didn't have any, you know, worries about him taking over the finances for the family.

Speaker 1 She was happy with this arrangement.

Speaker 18 She's a do-it-yourself kind of person. It's an attitude that's well suited to raising kids and running the household.

Speaker 35 My dishwasher broke down. several years ago and I wasn't about to pay somebody because I'm going to figure out how to fix it.
I laid all the flooring in the house that I'm in right now.

Speaker 35 I didn't know how to do that, but I looked it up, just went on YouTube and figured it out.

Speaker 35 So I'm that type of person.

Speaker 18 After they got married, the couple decided to move to Chad's hometown in Illinois.

Speaker 55 To call it a small town is an understatement.

Speaker 33 The entire population could fit in one high school football stadium.

Speaker 35 Well, the town we live in,

Speaker 35 Erie, is only 1,900. It's small.

Speaker 47 Small, but perfectly suited to the life that they were building.

Speaker 62 A life that centered around family and community.

Speaker 10 Plus, Chad had grown up there, so he knew nearly everyone in town.

Speaker 39 And everyone seemed to adore him.

Speaker 27 In fact, he'd been the high school valedictorian.

Speaker 50 Once they moved back to Erie, the couple also joined Chad's church, the church he grew up in.

Speaker 35 We were really involved with that church, and his parents went to that church too, and we led a Sunday school together, the couple.

Speaker 18 their life was falling into place a happy marriage a strong foundation based on shared values a community that supported them and a church they felt welcomed by and chad was making progress in his career he began the certification process to become a financial advisor he wanted to start his own firm he did it all online

Speaker 35 like went through classes online and got his certificate online and all that.

Speaker 18 She was proud of him.

Speaker 52 And for the time being, she kept working too.

Speaker 35 I also worked for the post office for a little bit, but that was not part of our marriage plan. I didn't want to be a working mom.
I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

Speaker 35 Pretty much as soon as we got married, we started trying.

Speaker 38 But conceiving their first baby didn't happen as quickly as Danielle hoped.

Speaker 25 The months turned into a year.

Speaker 18 And during that year, Chad made a shocking confession.

Speaker 35 He came home from work and sat me down and said, I need to tell you something really important.

Speaker 35 And

Speaker 35 just said, I had an encounter with a guy in the bathroom. And I think we need to go see somebody and talk to like a counselor about it.
And so I was just like,

Speaker 35 what is going on?

Speaker 35 It just blindsided me. Like, what just happened?

Speaker 62 She asked him point blank if he was gay.

Speaker 18 He said, no, he wasn't.

Speaker 36 She wanted more details about what actually happened, who it was with, and what they did.

Speaker 35 But he never really gave a straight answer. It was just, we need to go talk to somebody, like a counselor about it.

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Speaker 8 It starts working immediately to combat grogginess, fatigue, and mental blocks.

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Speaker 17 I'm in control of my day day again.

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Speaker 18 Danielle was shaken and confused about her husband's confession to a one-time fling.

Speaker 63 But at the same time, Chad was doing everything he could to make it right.

Speaker 37 He confessed to it immediately.

Speaker 33 He wanted to get help.

Speaker 9 And most importantly, he was coming to her with sincere remorse.

Speaker 35 He was crying. I was crying.
He was saying he's sorry.

Speaker 38 Chad wanted to get help quickly.

Speaker 18 And so the next day, they did.

Speaker 35 We actually went to the pastor and asked for advice about who we should see as a marriage counselor for us.

Speaker 35 We were given a name of a Christian counselor.

Speaker 46 They had multiple sessions with the counselor, some sessions together as a couple and some separately.

Speaker 60 During a one-on-one meeting, the counselor gave Danielle some advice.

Speaker 35 He advised me, you should

Speaker 35 really think carefully about this marriage. You know, you actually have a right to end this marriage if he's being unfaithful to you.

Speaker 38 The counselor said he'd seen a situation like this before, and he wanted Danielle to know that divorce divorce was an option.

Speaker 35 I understood that. I knew that that's something that it's perfectly fine for me to file for a divorce,

Speaker 35 but I didn't want to. I wanted to make this marriage work.

Speaker 35 I didn't even want the word divorce to come up in our marriage. Like, when I made a commitment in our marriage at the wedding ceremony, my promise was a promise.
I didn't take my vows lightly

Speaker 35 in sickness and in health, or richer for poorer. I was going to walk through it with him.

Speaker 35 I wanted to help him resolve whatever it was that he was going through because I loved him and I wanted our marriage to work.

Speaker 18 This one infidelity, it felt small and manageable, especially compared to the years they'd spend together, getting to know each other, studying the Bible together, and building a life.

Speaker 37 She really trusted Chad.

Speaker 35 I felt like I could 100% trust him, even though he had done whatever he had done. I believed him 100%.

Speaker 49 They got a workbook on overcoming infidelity and even did the homework together.

Speaker 18 And they decided to lean on their faith to help them rebuild their relationship.

Speaker 41 Church became an even bigger part of their lives.

Speaker 35 He was an elder in the church. We jointly were leaders for kids' Christian camps.
We were very involved in our faith.

Speaker 27 Their marriage began looking up, especially when a year later, they welcomed their first baby, a baby girl.

Speaker 35 She was an amazing first child,

Speaker 35 super easy baby. Smiling all the time, happy, alert.

Speaker 35 It was a great, great first mom experience.

Speaker 18 Danielle was on top of the world, so filled with love for her first daughter.

Speaker 49 and her young family.

Speaker 45 It confirmed to her that she really did want to be a stay-at-home mom.

Speaker 43 She just felt whole.

Speaker 35 People that we would meet walking through a mall always stop and say, oh, you have the cutest baby. She's the cutest thing I've ever seen.
And your family is so cute.

Speaker 52 The difficulties she and Chad faced in the first year of marriage started to feel like they were in the rearview mirror.

Speaker 35 At that point, I felt totally in love with him and close to him.

Speaker 35 I felt like I had the perfect life.

Speaker 36 That baby would be the first of six.

Speaker 35 I knew that you could get pregnant even when you were still nursing and before you had your first cycle after pregnancy. Didn't think it was going to happen to me, but it did.

Speaker 57 Soon, Danielle's life became consumed by full-time childcare.

Speaker 18 As their kids got older, she started homeschooling them.

Speaker 7 And she loved every minute of it.

Speaker 35 I wouldn't have it any other way. I know a lot of people are like, wow, six kids, that's a lot.
But, you know, each one of them is unique. It has their own personality.
Each of them is just amazing.

Speaker 35 I love it. I absolutely love it.

Speaker 18 With their growing family came more financial demands.

Speaker 62 But luckily, Chad's business was taking off.

Speaker 40 They even had the ability to upgrade their house.

Speaker 35 He had been starting to look at this property that he really wanted. It was a huge house, way bigger than we needed.

Speaker 35 Enormous, huge living room, huge family room, huge dining room, huge, huge master bedroom, you know, basement that looked like a bowling alley.

Speaker 35 And so he started looking at it and dreaming about it and eventually decided that he was going to try to purchase it.

Speaker 38 Danielle didn't think it was the most practical choice, but the house made him happy.

Speaker 59 After they moved in, he tried to tell her how to run the house, but she stood her ground.

Speaker 50 She trusted him to handle the finances.

Speaker 62 So when it came to the housework, he needed to trust her.

Speaker 35 He wanted me to do things a certain way, like do laundry on a certain day, do the dishes on a certain day, or, you know, do dusting on a certain day.

Speaker 35 And I was like, no, I will do it when it needs to be done. When I see that it needs doing, I'll do it, you know?

Speaker 22 And there were a lot of things that needed dusting.

Speaker 58 Chad was a collector.

Speaker 49 It was a quirk that Danielle accepted.

Speaker 35 Precious moments figurines.

Speaker 35 And he was very much a Hallmark fan. so he had millions of Hallmark ornaments, tons of DVDs.

Speaker 35 I mean, we had two huge walls full of DVDs.

Speaker 49 They loved watching movies as a family.

Speaker 60 And after the kids went to bed, the couple would watch their favorite TV shows.

Speaker 35 Dexter and Breaking Bad.

Speaker 50 Every summer, Danielle, Chad, and their six kids would take family road trips.

Speaker 35 Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore.

Speaker 35 We hit all the tourist places in the United States. We had a lot of really fun times as family.

Speaker 18 On these trips, they'd stay in huge rental homes.

Speaker 5 Chad always wanted the best of the best for the family.

Speaker 35 And they were very nice, very nice rented houses.

Speaker 35 Some of them I was like, okay guys, don't touch anything.

Speaker 35 You know, like expensive paintings on the walls and glass decorations.

Speaker 43 One summer, about 15 years into their marriage, the family was on one of their regular road trips.

Speaker 41 And on this trip, their rental home was in a remote area.

Speaker 35 I woke up around

Speaker 35 between the morning.

Speaker 35 I know it was the middle of the night. All the kids were asleep.

Speaker 35 And I... got up to go to the bathroom or something and

Speaker 35 turned over and he was not in bed with me.

Speaker 35 I looked around the house to see if he was just up somewhere. He was not there.
I went out into the garage area. The car was gone.

Speaker 35 So I started being like,

Speaker 35 where did he go?

Speaker 35 There was no note as far as he left somewhere. He didn't leave a message on my phone.

Speaker 35 He was just gone.

Speaker 46 It was the early 2000s, so she didn't have a smartphone to look at his location. She started to worry that something terrible happened.

Speaker 35 So I started calling around to the hospital around the area.

Speaker 35 Is there any Chad Skipper admitted into this hospital? No, ma'am. Thank you.
Call the next hospital.

Speaker 62 Around 3 a.m., the phone rang.

Speaker 46 It was Chad.

Speaker 35 And he said he was at Walmart. I was like, okay, why are you at Walmart? I just thought I'd pick up some stuff.

Speaker 35 But, you know, you can kind of tell when somebody's calling from the middle of a store. You can hear the hum of everything

Speaker 35 there was no Shopping cart sounds no like cashier beeping and stuff. There was none of that

Speaker 35 It did not sound like he was in a shopping area

Speaker 35 I Hung up the phone and just was like how what is happening? I don't understand. He says he's on Walmart, but it's hours away.
That doesn't make any sense

Speaker 35 And I just sat in confusion shaking until he got home.

Speaker 43 When Chad got back, he tried to explain it away.

Speaker 35 He apologized and said, I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going. You know, everything's fine.
You're good. The kids are good.
I'm back. We're safe.

Speaker 35 He blew it over.

Speaker 18 Whenever they got in a disagreement, this is what he'd tell her.

Speaker 35 His favorite phrase was, Don't make a mountain out of a mohill. You know, you just get really emotional about things.
It's okay. You know,

Speaker 35 calm calm down.

Speaker 35 Always made me feel like I was crazy.

Speaker 63 Abandoning the family in a rental house in the middle of the night with no good explanation, it just didn't sit right with her.

Speaker 57 So Danielle called her mom.

Speaker 35 She was like, oh wow, yeah, that is really weird. I'm glad you're okay.
You know, I'm glad it all worked out, but that is really weird.

Speaker 18 Danielle was the full-time caretaker for six children under 15.

Speaker 38 She didn't have the energy to fight with her husband.

Speaker 35 I didn't confront him. That's one of my personality quirks is I don't like confrontation.

Speaker 35 I would rather just not talk about it than have a huge argument about something, which is not healthy.

Speaker 35 I think it's much healthier to communicate and work it out.

Speaker 35 But at that point, I just didn't want to deal with it.

Speaker 43 Plus, whenever she did question him, it always ended up coming back on her.

Speaker 35 On the rare occasions, when I would ask questions, I would be shut down and told I was crazy, or that is totally not how it went.

Speaker 35 You have, you know, blown this out of proportion, and you don't remember the actual facts that actually happened. This is how it actually happened.

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Speaker 18 When Danielle woke up on a family vacation to find her husband missing, he said he was picking up something for work at a Walmart in the middle of the night.

Speaker 18 She didn't quite buy the story, but she knew Chad was busier than ever, growing his financial advising firm.

Speaker 18 Around the same time, he decided to start making passive income by buying rental properties in town.

Speaker 41 It started with one small house, then two, then an apartment building in their hometown.

Speaker 22 He was so busy that he often worked from home at nights.

Speaker 18 He renovated their basement to become his home office.

Speaker 46 He even put in a king-size bed.

Speaker 35 I didn't understand why you would need a bed in your office, but he insisted on having it.

Speaker 35 And his reasons were that if he needed a nap, he could just hop into bed and take a quick nap and then get back to work.

Speaker 18 It bothered her, him staying up late like this and sleeping in his office.

Speaker 36 It also bothered her that he locked the door.

Speaker 23 He said it was a security measure because he had important financial documents in there.

Speaker 35 And in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, well, how do you work at night if you are a financial advisor?

Speaker 35 You can't meet with clients at night. So it was just very confusing to me.
And I do remember one time just crying my eyes out to him saying, I really want you to sleep with me.

Speaker 35 You know, at night, I just feel closer to you when we're sleeping together. I feel like we're more like roommates.

Speaker 60 He started coming to bed with her until she fell asleep.

Speaker 49 Then he would slip out and go back to work.

Speaker 23 She would only realize it when she woke up and found him gone.

Speaker 35 One night, I actually got up out of bed and and was knocking on his basement door and I heard no answer.

Speaker 35 And so I actually got in the car and was driving around, thinking maybe I would see his car somewhere. I never did, but

Speaker 35 it got to that point where I was like starting to look to see if I could find anything.

Speaker 38 She never found any proof that her husband was cheating or having an affair.

Speaker 32 She didn't have the energy to start a fight with him.

Speaker 33 He insisted on sleeping in the basement.

Speaker 50 Eventually, she became resigned to the fact she couldn't change his mind.

Speaker 35 At that point in our marriage, I felt very distant from him. Like I felt like there was a wall up and we never would discuss anything.

Speaker 35 If I ever wanted to talk about anything, it was always, I'm too tired, or can we talk about this tomorrow? Or let's talk about this this weekend, but nothing ever got talked about.

Speaker 18 In this period, where Chad was sleeping in the basement office and they were bickering, Danielle knew that their marriage needed to improve.

Speaker 23 So she sought sought help for herself.

Speaker 35 I actually went and saw a counselor a couple times on my own because I felt like me having these issues with our marriage was kind of my fault.

Speaker 35 I felt like there was something wrong with me not feeling close to him.

Speaker 35 But I wanted our marriage to be a really good marriage and I didn't feel that it was a good marriage.

Speaker 38 She even suggested they try counseling again as a couple.

Speaker 62 But this time, Chad resisted.

Speaker 35 He refused to go to more than one or two sessions with me. He felt like it was useless or he didn't want to tell somebody else our problems.

Speaker 23 With each passing month, Chad spent more and more time out of the house, renovating the rental properties.

Speaker 9 And some nights, tenants would call with emergencies.

Speaker 35 There would be nights where he would say, oh, I got to go. There's a sewage leak.
I have to go really quick and fix the sewage leak.

Speaker 32 Despite their rocky few years, she still trusted him.

Speaker 58 She had to.

Speaker 35 You can't have a marriage without trust.

Speaker 35 It doesn't work.

Speaker 35 You know, if one of the partners say, I'm going to go do this outside the home, you have to trust that they're actually doing what they're saying they're doing.

Speaker 35 Like, if I say, I'm going to go shopping.

Speaker 35 He has to trust that I'm actually shopping. If he says I'm going to go to, you know, fix the sewage system in his apartments, I have to trust that he's actually doing that.

Speaker 35 Otherwise, there's no relationship.

Speaker 60 Plus, the rental properties added financial security to their lives.

Speaker 52 She believed that at the end of the day, he was working so hard in order to provide for the family.

Speaker 62 She often overheard him practicing conversations he needed to have for work.

Speaker 35 He had this weird quirk where if he was going to have a conversation with somebody, he would write down the conversation that he was going to have and then memorize it. And then

Speaker 35 I would often see him like pacing and doing weird things with his hands and with his mouth.

Speaker 35 I think he was like rehearsing in his mind how the conversation would go and what he would say in response to their responses.

Speaker 41 There was one big meeting in particular Chad was preparing for.

Speaker 23 It was with an older couple that went to their church, a couple that taught Sunday school.

Speaker 47 They had known Chad for nearly his whole life and they were wealthy.

Speaker 18 Chad set up a meeting with them to pitch his financial advising services.

Speaker 35 He was trying really hard to get them to be one of his clients.

Speaker 8 In the end, they decided not to use him.

Speaker 18 He was dejected.

Speaker 2 He'd been counting on their business.

Speaker 50 After that meeting didn't go as planned, he started talking about selling his financial advising business and instead getting into the storage industry.

Speaker 35 There's a little plot of land that would be perfect for storage units. So he had said that, you know, we're going to buy this land over here, and I'm going to start building storage units.

Speaker 35 And so we need to set up this LLC.

Speaker 62 He wanted Danielle to sign paperwork to help set up the business.

Speaker 35 If we have you as the president, then it's better for taxes because you're a woman.

Speaker 58 He asked her to go to the bank with him that day to get it set up.

Speaker 41 And there, out in public, she noticed that her husband looked disheveled.

Speaker 35 He was not bathed. He didn't shave.

Speaker 35 I was surprised that he went to the bank in the state that he was in. I just thought, well, he must be so tired.

Speaker 35 He's trying to sell his financial business and he's trying to get these storage units ready and he's, you know, he's not getting much sleep. So he just must be really stressed out.

Speaker 25 Later that day, one of Danielle's kids came to her. He said that last night he'd seen something strange in the driveway of their house.

Speaker 35 One of my children said that he got up and saw his dad dressed all in black.

Speaker 35 And he said that it seemed like Chad was mad at him because he yelled at him to go back to bed.

Speaker 61 This was alarming because another one of her kids had confessed something bizarre.

Speaker 35 The night before that, he had actually told my oldest child to wrap a sledgehammer. that we had that had a really bright yellow handle in black electric tape and find a black raincoat for him.

Speaker 35 And she was like, okay, Dad.

Speaker 55 Immediately, she tried to get in touch with Chad, but he wasn't answering his phone.

Speaker 62 After they went to the bank, he'd left the house to work on a rental property.

Speaker 35 There were several rental places that he owned that he was either renovating or was currently renting.

Speaker 35 I texted him asking if he could call me as soon as possible. I was starting to feel like, okay, what's going on? I hope he's okay.
I hope he's not in an accident.

Speaker 35 He called shortly after and explained that he had accidentally fallen asleep at the rental and that he was still feeling a little disoriented, but reassured me that he was fine.

Speaker 33 If it sounds like Danielle is reading off of a piece of paper, it's because she is.

Speaker 38 She's reading from a written statement documenting this day.

Speaker 35 Nothing is as it seems. Absolutely nothing.
This is my living nightmare and what I can remember that has happened in the last few days.

Speaker 35 At 4.22 p.m., I texted him asking if he was okay. No response.
I texted again at 5.06 p.m. and his response was, yep, you.

Speaker 35 I told him I was just wondering what happened and he texted, what do you mean?

Speaker 35 And then around 5.30, he called and said he was sorry he didn't see my text and that he must have been in the basement and hadn't gotten it right away.

Speaker 62 That night, Chad didn't come home for dinner.

Speaker 38 At the time, she assumed he'd fallen asleep at the rental property again.

Speaker 62 But she couldn't leave her six small children to go check on him.

Speaker 31 So around 11 p.m.

Speaker 58 after putting the kids to bed, she went to sleep herself.

Speaker 35 Next thing I heard was banging and breaking glass and men yelling, state police, state police, hands in the air.

Speaker 35 I came out of my bedroom with no glasses on, hands in the air, wondering if they were actually police, because I can't see very far. I can only see about a foot in front of me without it being blurry.

Speaker 35 In my mind, I was thinking, well, either I'm being robbed and they're posing as state police, or something's happening and I have no idea why there's state police in my house with a gun pointing at me.

Speaker 45 It was becoming very clear very quickly, this was actually the state police and the FBI.

Speaker 38 There wasn't a mistake.

Speaker 1 They were looking for Chad and they were incredibly serious.

Speaker 35 They asked if anyone else was in the house and I said, yes, just me and the kids, assuming Chad was at the rental. My whole mouth got super dry.
I could not hardly even talk.

Speaker 35 I asked them if I could go back into the bedroom to get some water. I kept water by my bed.
And they were like, no, you can't go anywhere. You have to stay right here.

Speaker 35 I wasn't even allowed to wake up my kids, they actually went and woke up all of my kids.

Speaker 35 They were asking if there were hiding places in the house, and it threw me for a loop because I'm like,

Speaker 35 I mean, my kids hide in little places when they play hide and seek.

Speaker 23 Then the police asked her about the elderly couple that went to their church, the ones Chad wanted as clients.

Speaker 35 Why are you asking me questions about them? And where is my husband?

Speaker 49 On the next episode of Betrayal.

Speaker 35 He walled it off with cement blocks and soundproofing. The only entry and exit to that room

Speaker 35 was through a steel trap door with a lock on the outside in a closet hidden under, I think it was a dresser or something.

Speaker 35 You would only know it was there if you knew it was there.

Speaker 54 If you would like to to reach out to the betrayal team or want to tell us your betrayal story, email us at betrayalpod at gmail.com.

Speaker 45 That's betrayal, p-od at gmail.com.

Speaker 16 We're grateful for your support.

Speaker 50 One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 27 And don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five-star reviews go a long way.

Speaker 48 A big thank you to all of our listeners.

Speaker 47 Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison.

Speaker 31 Hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning.

Speaker 47 Written and produced by Monique Laborde.

Speaker 48 Also produced by Ben Fetterman.

Speaker 39 Associate producers are Kristen Mel Curie and Caitlin Golden.

Speaker 54 Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreinchek.

Speaker 47 Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio.

Speaker 47 Additional editing support from Nico Aruka. Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines.

Speaker 31 Music library provided by MIBE Music.

Speaker 34 And for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 65 Hey guys, it's Aaron Andrews from Calm Down with Erin and Carissa. So as a sideline reporter, game day is extra busy for me, but I know it can be busy for parents everywhere.

Speaker 65 You're juggling snacks, nap time, and everything else.

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You can't go wrong with the little crunchies.

Speaker 65 You just put him in a little bag or you put him in a little container and he's good to go. Make sure to pick up your little ones' favorite Gerber products at a store near you.

Speaker 65 Hey guys, this is Ashley Kennetti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Famous podcast. And I have a new favorite place to shop online.
It's called Bohm.

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If you haven't shopped there yet, you're missing out. Their fall collection, it's giving cozy.

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So go to boam.com. That is B-O-H-M-E.com.
Trust me, you're going to have a pretty full cart.

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Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.