Speaker 1: I don't know if you've checked it out yet. Ero
dot net, A R r oe dot net. It's not
just a podcast, it is a network of podcasts twenty
to choose from. One of those podcasts include why A
Authors Unplugged. Y A Authors are in touch so much
so those in Hollywood, actors, directors, and everybody else of
decision making. They're making their way to a y A
Author journey. Why then you got to check it out
y A Authors Unplugged on Ero dot net, A R
r o e dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Good morning
you too, little troublemakers?
Speaker 2: How are you? Hold on? Now? Hold on? There's only
one of us here, that's the trouble baker.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you are creating conversation out here, which
is what I love about what it is that you've
done with your podcast, because this is what it's all about.
This shows the intimacy of what a podcast is all about.
And it also shows that, hey, look what you think.
I think you know you don't, but sit down and
have the podcast in your life, you will Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, Stephanie has done such an incredible job.
I think there couldn't be a better storyteller. That's that's
put this all together. I mean, how do you put
something like this that's been dragging on for just three
years in my own life? But then you have previous
victims ranging back as far as ten. So Stephanie will
tell you she has thirty hours of recorded audio of
me just alone. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Wow, I've listened to Clayton talk a lot.
Speaker 1: So that's your way. That's your way of pretty much. Dan,
you could probably impersonat.
Speaker 4: Him, you know. I feel like at this point he
could probably just get off the call and I can
answer for him.
Speaker 2: That's very true.
Speaker 1: Well, Stephanie, what really drew you to this? Because I mean,
we all like drama, and we see so much of
it when it comes to reality TV, But when it
becomes a part of our reality, I mean, you're really
showing us something here that says, hey, awareness is keen.
But at the same time, just understand why Stephanie would
take a chance like this.
Speaker 4: Listen. I have always loved true crime and I've always
loved pop culture, so this was kind of the intersection
of both things. And when you actually dive into this
specific story, the twist and turns are so crazy that
it's like, how could I have not taken this role
to do this podcast and share Clayton side of the story.
And you know, like I mentioned, I have talked to
him for so many hours and hearing all the intricacies
and all the things that he went through has really
been eye opening. And it's not just been him like this.
I want to be clear that the story, there's not
just one victim. There's a lot of victims, and there's
people that have also dealt with this this person who
has somehow affected their lives in a different way. And
by the end of the podcast, I think you're going
to see how many people she's actually affected.
Speaker 1: Wow, Clayton, is it one of those situations where it's
like inside your heart, you knew what it was when
you picked it up, but you still picked it up.
Speaker 3: You know, it's I honestly feel this is the way
that I live, that everything happens for a reason and
what's meant for me is is meant for me to experience.
And you know, when this first occurred, you know, I
didn't understand why I was going through it. You know,
I felt that I was unfairly targeted, and that still
may be true. I don't really think anybody should be
targeted in this manner. But nonetheless, over time, I've realized
that it has become bigger than me.
Speaker 2: You know, this wasn't an isolated incident.
Speaker 3: This was something where again she's a perpetrator that has
done this to multiple individuals and they had never had
seen justice be served. They honestly, she had a stronghold
on them and was, you know, manipulating them and was
not leaving their lives. I mean, she was just wreaking
havoc over all these years. And so now we're at
a point where it looks like she may not be
able to do that anymore. So, you know, again, at first,
I wasn't really certain and understanding of why I was
going through it, but I clearly see why I have to.
Speaker 1: Now now we keep saying the word she. We're talking
about Susie Evans. Are we correct here?
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no.
Speaker 1: I you know the reason why I said that was because, okay,
because the listeners are gonna be going she she she, she, she,
and they're gonna they're gonna go to somebody and go, okay,
they must be talking about this. So let's let's let's
identify who she is.
Speaker 2: Yes, she is Laura Owens.
Speaker 3: No, no affiliation with the with the reality TV shows.
Speaker 4: I was just gonna say that the biggest question I
get when I do this podcast is was Laura a
contestant on Clayton's season of the Bachelor? And the answer
is no.
Speaker 2: She was not.
Speaker 1: Mm So then then don't you just sit back and
go what the hell happened here? I mean, it's it's
like it's like did at play out right there in
front of our eyes? And we just we just kept,
you know, just moving on because I mean, I know
what goes on behind the scenes, we just don't talk
about it that much until now.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know again, I would say, there's really no way
to know that someone is going to do something, has
the capacity to do this. I mean, I've been around
bad people, but I've never been around evil to the
degree that what Laura Owens us.
Speaker 1: Is how did you deal with this, Stephanie? Because I
know that as a journalist, it's got to move through
your fingertips, but it has to move through your heart first.
How did you repair that in order to be strong
enough to to basically even be sitting here today sharing
this conversation because you had to go through the same
emotions that Clayton did.
Speaker 4: Oh, I definitely didn't go through the same emotions Clayton
did it. He had it much worse than I did. However,
retelling the story, I can I can certainly tell you
that there are a lot of sensitive topics that are
discussed in this in this podcast, and a lot of
them are directly related to women. So that has certainly
been a hard a hard thing to do navigating this podcast.
But yeah, I would say that the emotional toll this
story takes is I've seen a lot of people cry.
I've cried with a lot of people, and I think
you're going to hear that in the podcast.
Speaker 1: And and to have that key or that needle in
the haystack, I mean, Clayton, that's one of those things
where I mean, do you do you think it's going
to change how viewers watch shows like this? Or basically,
I think they're going to embrace you more. I mean,
I just think that they're going to love you more,
they're going to follow you more. And I just feel
something here that that is a connection, because in reality,
doesn't it happen to all of us in one way
or another.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know it can.
Speaker 3: And that's where again, these other victims were not from
reality television. These are people that you know, have lived
a more quote unquote normal life or maybe watch life
out of the spotlight, and so it can happen to anybody,
and it has happened to these individuals, and so I
just happened to be the one that had been on
reality television. It was a little bit more known. And
so you know, again here we are today and and
you know, hopefully we have a trial upcoming with this individual.
She's you know, she's facing fourteen felony charges. And again,
this podcast is really going to take you right up
until that point. Wow, it'll pull you up to date
with everything that's going on. And then you know, late
July we have this trial and so the outcome is
still up in the air. You know, we only can
hope that accountability will be had, but that's of course
out of our hands now and is in the county
attorney's hands now.
Speaker 1: Now, Stephanie, I'm glad that Clayton brought that up, because
in my heart, I truly said, this is not going
to end. It's not going to end at this at
this season, there's going to be several to follow because
this is a continuation type story and it's going to
affect other people, and I just I just can't imagine
what it's going to be like inside your imagination and
drive to continue sharing what is going on.
Speaker 4: I certainly hope that we have the opportunity to continue
what's going on. Clayton mentioned that the criminal trial is
happening in July, and my hope is that we will
get to cover that trial. But I do also know
that a plea deal was offered over the past week
or so, So if the plea deal is accepted, obviously
there won't be a trial. So we're kind of in
a wait and see mode as to what's actually going
to be happening with the criminal trial.
Speaker 1: But Clayton, you already know what lawyers can be like
when it comes to that courtroom, and it's one of
those where they could sit there and say, yeah, you
can have anybody in here with this Stephanie girl, she
can't come in and because I mean, because they're going
to try to stall the story somehow, some way, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Of course they are, and they've done that all along
the way, you know, So It's one of those things
where again you just have to believe that, like, hey,
the people that are going to be in the room
are the right people in the room at the right time.
We have, you know, made great headway as far as
like getting this person to be placed in a position
where she now will face accountability I mean until proven.
Otherwise she's in the hot seat and she is she
is being charged or or has these charges over her head.
So you know, at this point we're just waiting on
time to play out. But I would say, yeah, I mean,
of course they've definitely tried to get people to be
removed from the courtroom, that anybody that might be able
to corroborate story and provide additional evidence to put lock
for a way, of course, they're doing her lawyers are
doing anything in their capability to give her the best
chance at getting off.
Speaker 1: Slap on Stephanie. That that was led me writ into
my the question that I was feeling in my soul
because I mean, he said hot seat, and I'm going, oh,
this hot seat could cool very quickly, and all it
takes is one sentence or one word and those lawyers
are going to jump on it, and all of a sudden,
peoplere cann say what happened? What happened here?
Speaker 2: It was?
Speaker 1: It was it was a sheer case here that we
that we had we had done, and then when it
cooled off, it's like, what happened?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean, hopefully that doesn't happen in this upcoming trial.
But I think one of the things with this case
that has been so interesting to me is that there's
so many eyes on it. There are so many what
we call Internet detectives that have been following along and
picking apart every single detail on Reddit, on YouTube, on
every different social media platform. So when something happens with
this case, there are a lot of eyes on it,
and people have the information pretty quickly. So we are
keeping up to date with it as best we can.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Clayton and Stephanie
coming up next the name of the podcast Love Trapped
with Clayton Eckert and Stephanie Young. Clayton, we live in
an age where and first of all, I want you
to know that in my heart, Stephanie is not an
armchair quarterback salut on this. She is an actual, honest
to god journalist. In this process of building a story.
But I mean, how many of these armchair quarterback people
came up to you and said, there's a story here, Clayton,
but we need to share my way and not necessarily
your way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I was approached before Stephanie and her
team came to me. I was approached multiple times, and
you know, there were a few times that I was like, no,
absolutely not, and there were other times where I said, yeah, sure,
I think you guys can share my story. And at
the end of the day, none of them manifested for
one reason or another. And so again, I just felt
that what was meant to be was going to occur.
And so when I met Stephanie and her team, it
just it just felt natural.
Speaker 2: It felt right.
Speaker 3: You know, they had the credibility they've they've they've they
have high level productions. So for me, it was about, hey,
let's get visibility on this because I want to I
want to go back to a point that was just
made prior. There have been points in this last three
years where this case has cooled off. And you know, right,
what's so great about this podcast is it's going to
basically build up right until the trials, so there is
no chance for it to cool off. So as long
as people follow along at this point, we are bringing
a new audience with this podcast. And that's what I'm
grateful for. Is Look, I don't need anything massive to
come from this other than I just don't want there
to be a cooling off in the final hour because
that's obviously the worst time for things to you know,
for traction to be lost. And so you know, if
we just get more visibility on this and there's the
more eyes there are, the more likely, uh that this
individual is going to face the you know, the harshest
extent of the law.
Speaker 1: When you say words like eyes right away, I am
taken into a situation where it's like I wish I
could have been a fly on the wall to watch
the eyes of you, Stephanie and your team when another
victim comes into the storyline, because in that moment, you
had to make a choice, and you had to make
that right choice in order to keep this story growing forward. Yeah,
of course.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think one of the biggest things for
me and this is that it wasn't just Clayton, And
when we find out about this story, when the story
goes public, it's because Clayton was a public figure, and
I think that was probably the biggest turning point in
this entire story, because if Clayton wouldn't have gone public,
then we wouldn't have found out about the other victims.
And because because Laura did go public with this story
and put Clayton out there saying that she was pregnant
with his twins, we wouldn't have found out about the
other victims. And since we did find out about them,
we're able to share their stories as well to create
more awareness.
Speaker 1: Clayton, you're in the middle of all this. I mean
it's like, are you writing? Are you doing so things
so that your heart can stay strong and your soul
can keep moving forward and growing forward, Because I mean
it's like there's got to be a side of you
this says God, Just drop it, Just drop it so
I can get on with my life.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I actually extended an offer multiple times to her to
drop things before she made it public. The second that
she went public and tried to publicly to fame me
and look like, my image is a large part of
what I do.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I every line of work that I work in deals
with relationships. I'm in sales, and so the public perception
of me is everything. And so the second that she
went after my public image was the second that I said, Okay,
no more, you know, mister nice guy, no more, you know,
trying to extend the olive branch, like I will fight
fire with fire in order to you know, get you
to understand that you you mess with the wrong person,
that you shouldn't have done this to me. Again, I
didn't want her to go public, but when she did,
and then we found out very quickly about the other victims,
that's and it hit me that it had to go
public all along, because they were victims that you know,
we're waiting or hoping and we're desperate for justice. And
you know, with me getting pulled into the mix, yes,
I have a bit of a following people that watched
the show and are rallying behind me. And that's what
it's all about. This support system that I've had along
the way. It's the only reason why they are the
main driver as to why we have a podcast now,
why things have pushed as far as to happen. I mean,
we had hundreds of letters being written to the county
attorney to get to pick this case up. And I
know that that was a massive driving force towards her
taking it up because she's getting hundreds of messages. She
had to address it in a hearing one day. She said, Hey, guys,
I'm getting your messages. You know, we're on top of this,
and so it's the internet sleuths, it's the audience, you know,
that's what's going and that's why accountability is right in
front of us.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Stephanie, I just can't imagine what you're
doing with the average everyday person because in reality, each
of us we see ourselves in this story. It may
not be Clayton's exact story, but something has happened in
our own on our own path that says, oh my god,
if I would have done this, if I wouldn't have
done this. Now everybody knows something that really I thought
I was going to keep as a secret.
Speaker 4: And I think that that's why this story really resonates
with a lot of people, because there are so many
sensitive topics in it, and there's a lot of topics
in this podcast that a lot of people have dealt
with on a personal level and can relate to those things,
and then having to see someone go through this at
the level that they have gone through this in this
podcast really kind of takes you back to those moments
in your own life.
Speaker 1: I got to ask you a question, Clayton. With Stephanie
knowing so much of this story, do you put her
up on the stand this coming July? I mean, because
she knows the freaking story here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, that's not my decision to make.
Speaker 3: But I would say that if the you know, lawyers
felt that she, you know, could be a very great help, which,
of course, yes, she knows more than most people. I mean,
she knows inside the mind of me as well, and
so yeah, she would absolutely be an integral part of
you know, her testimony could be could be massive.
Speaker 2: I also just don't make those rules.
Speaker 3: And so if my lawyers feel that, you know, she's
she's gonna be a great help, and then, of course, yeah,
I know that we would love to have her help out.
She's already helped out greatly just by running this podcast.
Speaker 1: Your process, Stephanie, amazes me because you really do come
across as somebody who you land the information. But there's
a side of your personality that still says, I need
to do a dummy check. I got to go back
in and look one more time, is that you? Because
that's what I feel, that's who you are. You nailed it.
Speaker 4: There's like I said, there's so many people that follow
along with this case and know every single fact. So
for me, when I put this podcast out, one of
the things that I was really stuck on was that
I have to double and triple fact check everything because
these people know the story in and out and if
I get it wrong, they are going to let me know.
So the fact checking process has been one of the
most cumbersome parts of this story.
Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about you, Clayton,
to give you some love, to find out all sides
of this story and so they can grow with you.
And the same is true about you, Steph. So I
would love to find out how both of how people
can find out about both of you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll jump on here first.
Speaker 3: Look, the easiest way is I streamline everything through Instagram.
It's my handle is my first and last name, Clayton Acker,
last name e h ar d.
Speaker 2: You go on there.
Speaker 3: I have a website that's where I put everything. So
anything that I'm doing in my life is going to
be found through my Instagram, So I keep it simple,
sank with me.
Speaker 4: Find simple. My Instagram is I'm Stephanie Young. Stephanie has
no E only end of it, which is a strange spelling,
but it ends with an eye. So I'm Stephanie Young
on Instagram. And if you want to follow along for
podcast updates, obviously follow like subscribe on any of your
podcast platforms, including the iHeartRadio app, and also follow at
Glass Podcasts for Instagram updates on the podcast as well.
Speaker 1: For the two of you, we know what the story is,
we know what the SoundBite you've got. I'm currently working
on a series where it's like I know the ending.
I want to get to the ending as quickly as possible,
but you can't. You've got to have that timing down.
How are you guys dealing with that? You know what's
going to be in this podcast, we listeners, we haven't
gotten it.
Speaker 2: Yet, Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3: I mean I can jump in a little bit there
and I'll let Stephanie take the lead on this one.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, while we know what's all in here, it's more about, Yeah,
the audience thinking they have all they know a lot
of but they don't realize all the emails there have
been so many unreleased emails that we dive into. There's
there's so many, so much psychology behind it as far
as the victims how they felt, and that has not
been released yet to the public. So there's there's still
there's a ton that goes into this. Again, I think
what people know has just scratched the surface, and Stephanie
obviously takes everybody deeper down below to see what else lies,
you know, below the water.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's also certainly interviews with people that haven't really
spoken publicly about this before, so I think you're going
to hear a different perspective from some of the interviews
as well.
Speaker 1: I took that as I'm going to see you on
season two. That's exactly what I just felt in that moment.
Speaker 4: I hope so, I sure hope.
Speaker 1: So well, please come back to this show anytime in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so.
Speaker 4: Much, Thank you so much. It was great to be here.
Speaker 1: Will you guys be brilliant today?
Speaker 2: Okay you as well. Thank you