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Every 59 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.360 week another class meeting author talking about the most shocking 60 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:06.639 and infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with. 61 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:22.520 Your host journalist and author Dan Zufanski. Good Evening, the 62 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:26.479 best selling author of Undercover of the Night, recounts Laura 63 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:31.199 Akerson's disappearance and murder in North Carolina, the discovery of 64 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:36.039 her remains in Texas, and the aftermath. On July thirteenth, 65 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:40.800 twenty eleven, Laura Jean Akerson of Kingston, North Carolina, went 66 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:43.400 to pick up her two Toddler's sons. It would be 67 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:46.840 the last time she was seen alive. Two weeks later, 68 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.879 detective searching for the missing mother made a gruesome discovery 69 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:53.800 on the shores of Oyster Creek near Richmond, Texas, the 70 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:56.840 dismembered body parts of a young woman whom they were 71 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:02.960 able to identify as lawyer Akerson. Laura's ex Grant Hayes, 72 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:05.240 the father of her two sons, and his wife, Amanda, 73 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:08.680 the mother of his newborn daughter, both pointed the finger 74 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:11.240 at each other as the one guilty of murdering Laura, 75 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:15.240 cutting upper body, and then transporting and disposing of the remains. 76 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.000 This is the hauntingly true story of a devoted mother, 77 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.879 a disturbed couple, and how these horrific events came to pass. 78 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.000 The book they were featuring this evening is Bitter Remains, 79 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:30.040 a custody battle, a gruesome crime, and the mother who 80 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.279 paid the ultimate price. With my special guest, journalist and 81 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:36.720 author Diane Fanning. Welcome back to the program, and thank 82 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:39.560 you very much for agreeing this interview. Diane Fanning. 83 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.079 Good evening, Dan, I hope you're doing well tonight. 84 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.480 I am doing very well. Thank you very much, Diane. 85 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:51.160 For those out there, just for the record, Dan Fanning 86 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:54.879 was our very very first guest, and here she is 87 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.439 once again with another soon to be true crime classic. 88 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:00.680 Thank you very much. 89 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:00.959 Dan. 90 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.519 Let's set up this a little bit by of course, 91 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:08.879 you are a person that knows about all things Texan, 92 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.319 So tell us a little bit where this area really is, 93 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:16.000 this Oyster Creek, and before we talk about North Carolina, 94 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.720 but where this is in Texas, and tell us a 95 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.759 little bit about some of the two locations before we 96 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:28.199 get into this macabre tale. 97 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:36.720 This is a location that is near Houston, Texas, and 98 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:44.319 in between Houston and Katie, Texas. The Oyster Creek runs 99 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:51.160 ultimately feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. But it's a 100 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.800 little ways in where the body parts were dumped. Is 101 00:05:56.040 --> 00:06:02.959 very rural area and not many houses along the along 102 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:13.720 the road. And Laura was living in Kinston, North Carolina. 103 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.600 Kinston is a small town about an hour and a 104 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:25.800 half at a Raleigh, and it was where grand Hayes 105 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:30.759 had been raised and Laura was in a relationship with 106 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:34.319 Grant Hayes for quite some time, and that's how she 107 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.040 ended up in the town of Kingston. 108 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:43.319 Now you talk about how the two met and and 109 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.439 a little bit of the background of Grant when you get. 110 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:48.680 We get originally into this story in the beginning of 111 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.160 the book. So Grant is a musician, and you can 112 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:56.319 tell us his race as well was important to the story. 113 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:00.920 And tell us a little bit about the how they met, 114 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.680 under what circumstances did they meet and the relationship developed, 115 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:07.839 because very very quickly they within a year they were married. 116 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:11.600 So tell us a little bit about Grant Hayes and 117 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:15.000 tell us about how they met before we talk about Laura. 118 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:22.600 Grant Hayes was a musician who performed at smaller venues 119 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:26.800 for the most part, becoming a staple on the Raleigh 120 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:31.439 music scene. And there were a lot of people who 121 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:35.759 thought he was very talented. Few disputed that when he 122 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.839 was performing he had a mountain of charisma going for him. 123 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.560 He was an African American man from Kinston, North Carolina, 124 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:50.839 now living in Raleigh. He then was able to get 125 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:57.120 work in the Virgin Islands and ultimately went there, but 126 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:03.279 in Raleigh, he was performing one night and Laura came 127 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:10.199 to see the show and hang out at the venue, 128 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:18.040 and she went backstage and met him that evening and 129 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:23.639 they just started seeing each other and discovered they had 130 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:29.079 the same birthday in common. And Laura thought that was 131 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:34.519 definitely a sign of fate, and that's how they ended 132 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:39.159 up getting together. She believed in his talent. She started 133 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:47.840 managing some of his bookings, and she then moved in 134 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:52.080 with him and they had a child named Grant Junior. 135 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:59.759 Now we could talk about right after they got married, 136 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.480 say the honeymoon was over, and tell us like what 137 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:05.639 you have in the book in terms of the kinds 138 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:09.519 of requests now that they were married, that he asked 139 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.600 of Laura as to talk to his fans, what are 140 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:16.759 the kind of requests that you have written in the book. 141 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:24.440 He wanted her to talk about sexual things with his fans. 142 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:34.360 He basically wanted her to make them want him, and 143 00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:39.600 it was kind of a strange thing. He wanted her 144 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:46.840 to Laura in the female fans and to act very 145 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:57.559 flirtatious and come honish with the males. And he even 146 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.639 wanted her to engage in sex activity if it would 147 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.720 further his career. And when she objected some of the 148 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:11.440 things he asked for, he told her, well, you're a 149 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.799 white woman with a black man. Everybody knows your trash. 150 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:22.639 Yeah. Yeah. He also at this time too, at this 151 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:28.679 point even is suffering from delusions and in the form 152 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.639 of he thinks he's a time traveler and that there's 153 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:35.120 beings and that the world will end in December thirty first, 154 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:41.039 twenty twelve. So, and he also has this idea that 155 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:43.000 he would like to be a polygamist. And this is 156 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:46.919 early on. This is why she's still pregnant. He floats 157 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.600 this polygamist idea and you say too. Within seven months 158 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:55.879 or so after the wedding, he's meeting another woman, either 159 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.360 pretending he's single or acting like you's single. Another woman 160 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:03.600 named Kristen tell us a little bit about to also 161 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.240 demonstrate some things about his personality. Laura's friend Heidi Shoemaker 162 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.120 tell us what that relationship was like and what did 163 00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:13.960 Grant think of it. 164 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.679 Grant told her that Heidi was a bad influence on 165 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:22.919 her and did not want her to have anything to 166 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.799 do with Heidi. And I think a lot of it 167 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.240 was Grant was a very controlling personality, and in typical 168 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:36.759 controlling manner, he tried to cut her off from the 169 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.559 rest of the world. He didn't want her to have 170 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.440 friends outside of his friends. He didn't want her to 171 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.480 have much to do with her brother, who was living 172 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.159 in the area. He really wanted to have her under 173 00:11:53.159 --> 00:12:01.159 his control at all times, and he made things difficult 174 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:08.279 for her. And unfortunately Laura was lacking in the self 175 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:15.039 confidence and of the past history of a functional family 176 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:20.200 to be able to push this away and to understand 177 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.360 it really had nothing to do with her. It was 178 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.039 all about Grant, and she stuck with the relationship. I mean, 179 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:30.480 she was about to have a child and she did 180 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.240 not want that child to be from a broken home 181 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:34.360 as she was. 182 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:41.200 Now. It gets to the point and other than delusions, 183 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.960 there's also hard drug use like cocaine and possibly heroin 184 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:48.399 or at least cocaine at this time, and frequent drug use, 185 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.279 and then the parties and things that are associated with 186 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.159 musicians and playing in clubs occasionally even to the point 187 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.320 whether there's an intervention in two thousand and nine by 188 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:03.200 Grant's family and he has some delusion about fifty kids 189 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.600 and all races and some kind of empire. So tell 190 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:09.480 us a little bit more about the kinds of characteristics 191 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:13.120 that she's experienced in this first year of marriage and 192 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.720 having a child, and what was he like period. 193 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:23.159 He would do some very very strange things. He had 194 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:28.080 this philosophy of life that he came up with that 195 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:39.240 was this strange amalgam of elements of scientology, elements of Christianity, 196 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:49.600 elements of alien beings taking over the government, and feeling 197 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:56.279 that they were watching him and following him and trying 198 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:00.080 to keep tabs on him. And he felt that he 199 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:03.360 was one of the special people and he had to 200 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.960 accumulate wealth and build his empire because he was going 201 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.159 to be one of the chosen ones to go to 202 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.919 this special place when the world came to an end. 203 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:20.360 And it reflected in his relationship with Laura, because he 204 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:27.279 felt that she should go along with whatever he said 205 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:34.440 should be done and whatever he believed, and if she 206 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.879 got on his nerves, he would do some of the 207 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:43.639 most bizarre things, like one night he was shooting at 208 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.960 her with the baby gun in front of a friend 209 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:50.840 and she was trying to get him to stop, and 210 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:53.960 the only way she could get him to stop was 211 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:55.519 to get out of the room. But in order to 212 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.399 do that she had to go past him. And yes, 213 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:00.840 she wasn't getting hit any place. I swore it would 214 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.519 do serious harm, but it hurts. 215 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:03.799 And. 216 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:11.120 It was cruel, and he seemed to think it was 217 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.840 all funny and no big deal. But how much of 218 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:20.320 that was influenced by drugs and how much was just 219 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:23.519 his defective personality. It's hard to tell. 220 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:29.240 Now you're chronicle in the book that Haidi and Laura's 221 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:35.039 relationship is secret because Grant disproves of it. But it 222 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:40.000 gets to the point where Heidi gets a concealed weapons 223 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:44.039 permit because they are caught together and he warns them 224 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:47.919 and tell us about this warning. How serious is this warning? 225 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.720 So that she goes and gets a concealed weapons permit 226 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.519 and then recommends that Laura gets one too. Tell us 227 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:57.200 a little bit about this. 228 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:05.440 Well, they were getting together surreptitiously, and he just happened 229 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.799 to come to the place that they had gone for 230 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:12.559 dinner and they were out in the parking lot, and 231 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.279 he chastised Laura and said, you know, you're not supposed 232 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:21.960 to be seeing her, and you know, you people ought 233 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.240 to listen to me because I know people who were 234 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:29.960 snuff out your life so fast you won't know what happened. 235 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:32.960 And I mean he threatened to kill them as they 236 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:37.360 didn't stop seeing each other, and he was pretty scary 237 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:41.879 that evening, And that is what prompted high to you 238 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:46.519 to go and get a concealed carry license, and she 239 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:49.840 wanted Laura to get one too, but Laura just didn't 240 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:52.799 like guns at all and didn't want them around, so 241 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:57.840 she bought Laura knife. Yeah. 242 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.240 Now tell us the circumstances in which, again we talked 243 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.359 about this guy's music career. Some people think he's quite talented, 244 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.319 some people not so much. There's a lot of competition 245 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.079 out there. He's not really paying the bills from this, 246 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:17.519 but there seems to be some again, some interest in 247 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.519 this guy's a singer songwriter. So tell us about this 248 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:23.640 gig that he or someone this phone call or this 249 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.640 opportunity that comes from the Caribbean Islands from Saint John, 250 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.200 from manor tell us a little bit about this and 251 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:31.640 then what happens as a result. 252 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:37.960 Well, Krant at one point was making a decent living 253 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.119 as a musician, but then he started spending so much 254 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:46.880 money on drugs that you know, it ate it all up, 255 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:49.799 and between that and his bar bills, there wasn't much 256 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.680 less to bring out. And he got a call from 257 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.440 a guy he had known a couple of years before 258 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:03.079 who was now down working in the entertainment field in 259 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.240 Saint John, and he was told that he could get 260 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:11.359 as much work as he wanted down there. There were 261 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:17.400 plenty of employment opportunities for musicians. So Grant went down there, 262 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:23.400 and at that time Laura had pretty much had it 263 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:33.599 and she was planning to leave him. And then shortly 264 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:37.519 after he left, right before she was going to leave 265 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:41.079 and head north, she found out she was pregnant for 266 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.960 the second time. And when she found that out, she 267 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.920 felt she had to go and try to make the 268 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.960 relationship with Grant work. So she went back down to 269 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:59.519 the Virgin Islands. That's where she discovered that he had 270 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:08.160 met someone named Amanda Smith, who was someone who had 271 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:14.000 a sufficient amount of money, and he convinced her that 272 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:18.400 all this was all it was was Amanda was his 273 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.279 truger mama, and she was going to help finance his 274 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:27.400 career and help him get ahead, and he was only 275 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.160 seeing her for the sake of his career and the 276 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:32.680 betterment of his family. 277 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:41.279 Now she had when they met. You put in these 278 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.039 the numbers, so we're talking about almost one hundred ninety 279 00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:48.400 thousand in cash she had for this inheritance. She had 280 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:56.000 seventy seven thousand invaluable jewelry, so a quarter million dollars 281 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:01.440 and in short order. So, so what happens with Amanda. 282 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.720 She goes back to New York. He is in he's 283 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:10.160 in the Islands. Laura discovers that there's this other woman 284 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.960 and then and has to listen to his grand scheme. 285 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.440 That listened. He's only doing it for the betterment of 286 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:21.359 his own family, just to get ahead. So you say, 287 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:25.160 Laura goes back, tell us the other procession. 288 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:31.839 Laura went back to the United States because their new baby, 289 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:37.440 Gentle was having a health problem and it was felt 290 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.400 the best thing to do is to go back to 291 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.480 the United States to get him the help he needed, 292 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.839 because he thought that he was going to need some 293 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.720 surgery and this was something he was born with. And 294 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:54.079 so she returned to the United States, and she kept 295 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:58.720 waiting for Grant to come back to but he didn't. 296 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:05.039 And then when Amanda, who he'd met in the Islands, 297 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:10.720 moved back to Manhattan, a Grant followed her and sort 298 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.640 of came knocking at her door after she bought him 299 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:22.079 an airline ticket, and they were living together in her apartment, 300 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:28.319 and Laura didn't really know what was going on. She 301 00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:34.079 knew that he was in New York and he kept 302 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:36.519 saying it was just for the good of the family, 303 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:40.640 and she wasn't really buying it anymore. But then he 304 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:46.039 wanted to see their older son, little Grant, and have 305 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.440 him up in New York for a photo shoot. Said 306 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:51.880 he was going to do some commercial work with him, 307 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.759 and he'd only be gone for ten days. Well, Laura 308 00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:59.039 didn't want to let her son, her little son go. 309 00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:08.079 She was feeling very protective and was concerned about Grant's motives, 310 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:13.279 and so she just put it off and tried to 311 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:17.039 put him off, and finally she relented and let him 312 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:21.240 go up there. Well, the ten days stretched for a 313 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.920 month into two months. Meanwhile, Grant's telling everyone up there 314 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:31.759 that Laura is busy dealing with little gentle problems and 315 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:36.039 she wants him to keep the little Grant longer. But 316 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:44.519 that was blatantly untrue, and finally Laura ended up going 317 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.400 to court on her own without an attorney and filing 318 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:57.599 to get her son back. As she did that, Grant 319 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:04.640 called Child Protectives Services on her and made up some 320 00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:12.720 stuff that wasn't true, and then he came down eventually 321 00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:20.720 with Grant, and when he did, he went to court 322 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:24.759 and got an ex party order, which means he's before 323 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:29.359 a judge without the other party, and he asks for 324 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:34.160 emergency custody the two boys. Now we already had Grant 325 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:40.440 in his possession. So when the judge granted the emergency custody, 326 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.920 poor little gentleman who hardly knew his father, was pulled 327 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.680 out of his mother's arms and taken away. 328 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.920 Incredible. Now there's a couple of people, other people that 329 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:59.880 are important in here, especially a person named Chavon Mattha. 330 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.400 And so tell us about the relationship that Laura has 331 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.279 with this other woman, because there's a different world that 332 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.559 she has where people know her a certain way. And 333 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:12.200 then her life with Grant, And we have to talk 334 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.319 about the relationship too. When you talk about she came 335 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:20.119 back and was caring for her son who had gentle 336 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:24.799 who had the kidney problem. In that Grant's parents are 337 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.319 very helpful and active in the raising of these children, 338 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:30.039 and even at that time, aren't they. 339 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:31.559 Yes. 340 00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:36.240 When she came back to the United States, she moved 341 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:41.759 into a rental property that Grant's parents owned. In the 342 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:48.440 exchange for her rent there, she cleaned up their daycare 343 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:55.000 center each night. So it's because of that, of course, 344 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:00.839 the children spent a lot of time around their grandparents 345 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.000 and and and built up a close relationship with them 346 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:04.799 at that time. 347 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.200 In this custody battle we're talking about that Amanda was 348 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:15.319 the only person really bringing in any serious money. And 349 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.839 she also had these you know, she was dedicated to 350 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:26.680 Grant as well, and had some very traditional and traditional feelings, 351 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:30.079 I mean or traditional ideas, and also some strong feelings 352 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:34.680 for Grant, and was paying what was amounting to a 353 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:37.519 pretty enormous legal bill for this custody battle, wasn't it. 354 00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:44.000 Yes, she was covering a lot of that, and and 355 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:49.640 before she's going through so much of her money, not 356 00:25:50.039 --> 00:25:54.799 just for the expenses of the custody battle. When Laura 357 00:25:55.160 --> 00:25:59.319 counter sued on the custody agreement, the court ordered a 358 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:06.960 please psychological examination of both Grant and Laura. And that 359 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:11.319 is quite an expensive thing. And she's paying for that. 360 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:16.279 She's paying for Grant to go on trips to Hawaii 361 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:24.519 and other places to look for performance opportunities. She's financing 362 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:30.839 his expeditions to New York to try to sell his 363 00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:38.799 the company made iPhones to Apple. He he did some 364 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:43.079 that apparently it's a lot of interest in which were 365 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:49.920 of rap singers, particularly ones who had been killed and 366 00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:53.759 it looked like he was on the verge of getting 367 00:26:54.160 --> 00:27:01.359 sort of dealers nose, but he had gone through whom 368 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:12.640 and Walk suddenly broke jewelry Pong and pregnant with Grant's child. 369 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:20.000 At the same time, we have Laura, who is you know, 370 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:23.480 had some very troubled times in her life, and she's 371 00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:26.000 on the upswing in her life. She is working with 372 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:30.359 She's met a friend through I believe Heidi named Oakshanna 373 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.799 who's an artist, and they have this little agreement going 374 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:35.359 on that they're going to be able to work with 375 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:39.119 each other and a man pardon made. Laura has some 376 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:43.400 art of her own that she's finally coming into her 377 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:49.759 own and and and doing her art work on. Yes, 378 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:51.599 so go ahead and tell us about the upswing in 379 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:52.079 her life. 380 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:57.319 Yeah. She started business with chavonn mathis Uh. It was 381 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:01.759 a very simple thing. They had two people they were 382 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:06.759 selling to one they were selling restaurants on the idea 383 00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:12.599 of using the paper place mats with ads on them 384 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:16.480 in their restaurant and they would get free place mats 385 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:20.799 for that, and the other side was selling businesses ad 386 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:27.599 space these placements, and so it was going really well. 387 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.960 I mean starting out any business is a little difficult. 388 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.440 She had her graphic guards business on one hand and 389 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:41.599 then this restaurant marketing business on the other and Chavon 390 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:46.119 Mathis was her partner and they were working and building 391 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:50.319 up a client tele list and having a success that 392 00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:54.039 was building every month, and things were going really well. 393 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:58.039 On her first life. She had gotten a place of rown. 394 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:04.839 She had worked a part time job until she got 395 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:09.920 the business off off off the ground, and she was 396 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:16.119 taking care of things in her personal life. And here 397 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:20.440 is a stronger person so that be the best mother 398 00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:26.640 she could be. She was very, very determined to be 399 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:32.839 her good mother and to provide everything she could for 400 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.720 her boys. She wanted them to have a better life 401 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.559