April 7, 2025 • 41 mins
A Downers Grove, Illinois, mom comes across disturbing text messages while setting up her 15-year-old son’s new iPhone using a backup from his iCloud account.
The contents prompt her to take her son straight to the police. It appears the teen is discussing a sexual encounter with a love interest—his married, 30-year-old teacher, Christina Formella.
The student informs the police that Coach Formella began sending him flirty messages on the school’s chat system after she became his tutor in the fall of 2023. He explains that their conversations shifted to text after the teacher provided him with her phone number so they could play a game together.
Records show numerous FaceTime calls between the two, with the victim stating that their relationship outside of school culminated in a rape in December.
Formella denies raping the boy or having a romantic relationship with him, asserting that she is a “good person” and that “everybody” comes after her because of her looks. She admits to developing a close relationship with the student and claims that she “cares too much about him,” but simultaneously labels him a stalker.
Formella insists she did not send the texts, arguing that her kindness towards the boy allowed him to break into her unattended phone, send the texts to himself, and then delete them from her phone to later use as blackmail.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Eric Faddis - Partner at Varner Faddis Elite Legal, Former Felony Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense and Civil Litigation Attorney; Instagram: @e_fad @varnerfaddis; TikTok: @varnerfaddis
- Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy) and Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology;" X: @TrialDoc
- Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security [leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons]; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security
- Scott Eicher - A Founding Member of the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (C.A.S.T); Historical Cellular Analysis Expert; Former FBI agent of 22 years; Former Police Officer and Homicide Detective with Norfolk,Virginia, Police Dept. Currently with Precision Cellular Analysis,Handling Criminal, Defense and Civil Case
- Anna Sonoda - Child Sex Abuse/Grooming Expert, Clinical Social Worker, Former Therapist for Convicted Sex Offenders, and Author of "Duck Duck Groom"
- Sydney Sumner - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a married special education teacher,
threatens I'll throw up busted on sex abuse with a
teen boy, now claiming wait for it, that she has
been framed because she's so good looking. Her words not mine.
(00:25):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Christina Formela is a Concordia University grad and former soccer
team star. Now she's a special ed teacher and soccer
coach at Downers Grove High School in Illinois. But for
Mela's world comes crashing down when a dark secret is
revealed at a routine traffic stop.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
A dark secret. I don't know that I would call.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Alleged sex abuse on a child a miner that is
your student.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I don't know that I.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Would call that a secret. I think more apropriately, I
would call it a felony. But caught on tape the
married special ed teacher, for Peace's sake, they were practically
still on their honeymoon.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
They'd only been married less than.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
A year, I believe, caught on bodycam threatening to throw up. Well,
after I learned about this case and investigated it myself,
I don't want to throw up too.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But let's take a look.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
A lot of people have claimed she is so called
glamorous special ed teacher.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
She's not glamorous to me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I have prosecuted so many child rape and child sex
abuse cases. She looks like she's straight from hell to me.
But you decide. Let's watch what was caught on police bodycam?
Speaker 4 (01:48):
How you doing flicer go with Donor's girl, Jeffrey license
on you? Yeah, I'm sure a cofews. I was playing
ta door Christina, okay for change.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Me faiting step on the car for me.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
I know your Cons'll explain everything to you.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
You don't have anything on you.
Speaker 7 (02:07):
You can grab whatever you need, whatever I need.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Yeah, whatever you need to get your phone, your your
first go and grab it.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Is she going somewhere?
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Yeah, we're gonna explain everything to you. Guys, go and
grab out. We're not going anywere right now.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
Of course, of course.
Speaker 8 (02:23):
I understand what's going on here.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I get it. Yeah, you can go grab your things.
Speaker 8 (02:27):
Can you come with me?
Speaker 9 (02:28):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (02:28):
Yes, you stay there for right now? Is there to
stay there?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But well yes you can uh uh straight out to
Brian Fitzgibbons, joining US Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security leading
a team of investigators every single day.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Why are they being so solicitous to her?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
She is charged with molesting a minor, a teen boy,
and I believe still lying about it, claiming it only
happened once. Uh okay, but that said, Fitzgibbons, what happened
to licensed registration? Why are they saying, I'm sure you're confused.
I'll explain everything. You're Christina. What are they on a
(03:10):
first night basis?
Speaker 7 (03:11):
So here's the deal, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (03:12):
I believe that that police officer actually did a very
excellent job with this contact with Christina.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Formella number one.
Speaker 10 (03:21):
He secured that cell phone, which is going to be
a key piece of evidence in this case, and he
got that without a fight from her. So he de
escalated the situation and secured the cell phone which is
going to be the number one appropriate piece of evidence.
Speaker 7 (03:37):
Here.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Put fitz Gibbons up. Fitz Gibbons, I actually agree with you.
I agree with you. However, I believe they're being overly
solicitous to what police say, what prosecutors say is a
child molester. Fitz Gibbons, you're not bending over backwards for
(03:57):
for Mela Christina Frommela, but as she's attractive, are you
You know it has been argued in the past by
other teachers now convicted of child.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Abuse that they were too pretty for jail. You're not
on that boat, are you?
Speaker 7 (04:10):
Certainly not? Nancy.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
What I saw there was the officer doing everything to
make sure he preserved that key piece of evidence.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
I think he knew exactly what he was doing here.
And you're right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Let's take a look at Christina Formella, special ed teacher
now charged with child sex abuse with a student, a
teen boy just married.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
By the way. Oh here, she threatens to throw up.
Speaker 11 (04:42):
Unless sure you don't want to tissue or something?
Speaker 12 (04:53):
All right, Sea, there, can.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
You get like a bag? She SuDS, she gets nauseous. Yeah,
I don't know. Do we have any of those amesis bags?
Like going around with fo I figure she was something
better than.
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Here.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Who stay with the agram?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think I'm going to hyperventilate right now watching her
hold on just a moment to Scott Iiker joining me.
He's joining us later regarding a cell phone analysis but
he was the founding member, a founding member of the
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But for this question, former police officer.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Home Side detective with Norfolk, Virginia Police Department twelve years Scott,
I thought they were being again over solicits too. Who
are going you need a tissue? Do you need a
vomit bag? But I assume you've been in the back
of a cruiser before, Scott, iiker, Well, I've.
Speaker 13 (06:09):
Been in the back of a cruiser, but not in
her position. You can see what starting to come over her.
She's started to realize what she's done and she's been caught,
and that would make me nauseous too. If I was
in her position and I can see like.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Her will put you mean, she's not sorry she did it,
she just doesn't want to go to Hillfort. I was
getting to the vomit bag they have to work in
that cruiser. I have been there when patrol men and
patrol women have to literally hose out the back seat
(06:47):
of a cruiser. There's drugs, there's vomit, there's urine, there's feces,
there's spit where they try to spit at the officers.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
The back seat is like has matt to the max.
So that's why.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I believe they're offering her a vomit bag, you know,
like the kind you get on a plane.
Speaker 13 (07:07):
Oh, I definitely agree, and I've had to clean out
my cruiser numerous times for those same reasons you talked about.
And that smell never goes away, I swear at the
back of the cruisers.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
No j never ever goes away. Cops drive with the
windows down.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It doesn't help joining me an all star panel to
make sense of what we're learning right now. But I'm
going to see that body cam one more time.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Now. You see her threatening.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
To throw up, you see her seemingly hyperventilating, crying.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Let's listen to it one more time.
Speaker 11 (07:41):
Unless you have Luricia down there, I'm sure you don't
want to tissue or something.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
All right, Sean like the bag?
Speaker 9 (07:58):
O there, pro driver.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Can you get like a bag?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
She said? She gets nauseous. Yeah, I don't know. Do
we have any of those Emesis bags? Like going around
the spot, I figure she was something better than with
the autogram.
Speaker 14 (08:29):
Eric Fattus really well, Nancy, and looking at her reaction there,
one could argue it is consistent with someone who was
just caught for something they did.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
On the other hand, when you look.
Speaker 14 (08:39):
At it, she's confused, she's hyperventilating, she's crying, she's saying
she's nauseous. All of those things could also be consistent
with someone who has been accused of something horrendous and
who didn't do it. So I'm not sure we could
really draw any firm conclusions from that video.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Faddess, she hasn't been told yet of what she is accused,
so that argument just went right down technical legal phrase
the crapper. Okay, so she's not high perventialigning because they
just told her what she's accused of.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
She hasn't been told yet, so take another swing at
the ball.
Speaker 14 (09:15):
Even if she wasn't apprized of the exact nature of
the allegations, being in the back of a cop car
is distressing, surely, and even more so if a person
did not do anything criminal there and they're you know,
sort of be fuddled about what in the world is
happening to me?
Speaker 7 (09:30):
You know, I'm not taking a.
Speaker 14 (09:31):
Personal position on the facts, but I'm just saying that
reaction has multiple interpretations.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay, even if she had been at that juncture told
why she was arrested, you still are standing by your story.
Speaker 14 (09:44):
I'm just saying, in terms of a human reaction to
a very distressing situation, that can be interpreted multiple ways,
and those expressions that we're seeing, those those outward behaviors
are consistent with someone who has been caught for doing
something horrible, and they're also can with someone who is
being accused of something she didn't do. And so I
just think at this juncture there's just those inclutions that
(10:07):
can be drawn.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Erry fattis question if you had been accused of child molestation,
because I'm not quite sure in this series of body
cam reactions where she knows she's been accused of where
she doesn't. If you've been accused of child molestation, you
wouldn't say, I've never done that in my life, that
(10:29):
did not happen. I want a lawyer, you wouldn't say that.
Speaker 14 (10:33):
Me personally, as a seasoned attorney, I absolutely would say that.
But you know, a thirty year old special education teacher
and soccer coach, perhaps that is just not front of
mind her.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
She's a twelve year old little girl in the fifth
grade that's never seen law in order. You're saying, oh,
she's just thirty years old special ed teacher. To be
a special ed teacher, you have to go to four
years of school, four years of college. Plus all sorts
of certifications. This is an educated person that's been out in.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
The workforce for years.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But you're telling me she's so naive she doesn't know
to say I didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I want a lawyer.
Speaker 14 (11:09):
The thing is that there's no playbook for how to
respond when a person is accused of something horrible. Some
people might react one way, whereas others might react a differently.
And I'm just in looking at this without some sort
of psychological evaluation, it's just hard to say exactly where
that reaction is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Okay, who is this woman? Christina Formela?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (11:31):
Christina Formela is a special education teacher and soccer coach
at Donors Grove South High School, a proud Mustang since
twenty twenty for Mela graduated from Concordia University three years
earlier as an accomplished student athlete, playing as a starter
in forty nine soccer matches during her college career. That's
where Christina meets her now husband, also a student athlete,
(11:53):
a pitcher on the baseball team for Christina's senior year.
They share the number twenty two. The happy couple tie
the not in a gorgeous summer ceremony August of twenty
twenty four.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Straight out to Crime Stories, investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sydney
tell me how the whole thing unfolded? What is she
charged with? How did the whole thing start? Is it true?
According to police, these are all just allegations. She has
not been proven guilty. She's still presumed innocent under the law.
According to police, she began flirting with a teen boy
(12:29):
one of her students, and that continued on a school app.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
That's correct.
Speaker 9 (12:35):
Nancy So, a mother of a Downer's Grove student, went
to police. When she was setting up his new iPhone,
she discovered these messages that weren't saved on his old
phone but to his iCloud account, and she discovered these
messages seemingly discussing a sexual encounter with his teacher, Christina Formela.
(12:59):
So is rushdown to the police station. He tells officers
that this started out as some innocent flirting. I say
the word innocent, but that's obviously not innocent in this situation,
but some flirting over the School Messaging Act. So the
school has their own specific messaging system and that's where
(13:21):
they started communicating. Once Christina Formla became this boy's tutor
in addition to being his soccer coach on the field.
So these messages then progressed to having her phone number
because she wanted to play an I message game with him.
So she gives out her phone.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Number Sydney, Sydney. Wait a minute, So the teacher wants
to play.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
What you know, those games in your I messages, So
on an iPhone you can start a text conversation and
play pool ball or something. So that's what she suggested
to this teen boy and gave him her phone number.
So now they're texting and also facetiming. There's records of
numerous spacetime calls in between this teen and the teacher,
(14:05):
and he said that culminated in a rape in December
of twenty twenty three during what should have been a
before school tutoring session. So they're in her classroom, she
shuts the door and there is a sexual encounter.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Okay, Sidney, I don't like what you just said.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Some you remind me of so many defendants that would
say we would.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I had one judge who was.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The greatest judge ever, oldest judge in the courthouse, and
therefore he wanted to maintain.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
His court calendar.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
He wanted to be on trial every other week to
prove he was fit. And he was fit all right, doctor,
I mean Judge Luther Alverson. But we would have plea
negotiations with me, my investigator, Ernest, the defendant and his
defense lawyer to see if the case could be worked out. FYI,
it easily went to trial. That said, the lawyer and
(15:04):
the defendant would always act like Ms. Grace, I caught
a little burglary charge. I they just caught it. Okay,
you just said she shuts the door and a child
molestation happened. Didn't you leave something out, Sydney Sumner.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
Yes, Nancy, we're calling that a rape. That's exactly what
it is. It's a statutory rape at least, and at most,
it is a sexual assault. This woman, this adult, should
never have come on to this child in any way,
shape or form, especially a teacher. This is a professional relationship.
This should be a trusted relationship. And the school said
(15:44):
it perfectly. It's broken trust over here.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
So we do have an investigation going on. We have
to talk to you about it at the police department.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Okay, so everything you there, it's not my investigation.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
I don't know the full details. Would you have to
bring you there though?
Speaker 6 (16:00):
Okay, so I get to put your handcuffs and bring
it to the police department just as yes, unfortunately.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Yes, I'm willing to go with it. I did it.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Yeah, unfortunately, we have to do it that way to
do a favor.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Just tack this off, joining me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
An all star panel to make sense of what we
are learning tonight. A According to some people, gorgeous thirty
year old special ed teacher and soccer coach busted on
alleged underage sex translation rape. If you are underage, you
cannot give consent. Also a student, a teen boy student.
(16:39):
Is it true Sidney Sumner that she also kept a
memoir of sorts a memoir detailing the sex sex with
a teen boys student?
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Fancy that is correct, though there are reports of this
note at material So these are several writing in her
notes app One section titled Manifestations is saying things out
loud in the hopes that the more you say them,
the more they will happen. And several writings in this
(17:13):
section reference to the.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Victim, me, what did you just say?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
The more you say something, the more likely it's going
to happen.
Speaker 9 (17:22):
Yes, Nancy, this is a mantra. It's called manifestation that
many young people participate in nowadays.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Okay, I've heard of manifestation. I didn't think anyone actually
thought it worked, but okay, So I want you to
hear what we've learned about her memoir that she kept
in the notes section on her iPhone. I hate to
give a tutorial to all the future felas out there,
but when you basically make it to do list and
(17:51):
recount all of your felonious activities on your iPhone, yeah,
you're gonna get busted.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
But you've got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 15 (17:59):
I'm not sad. I'm being mad that I let a
sixteen year old with me like that, and Nata promised
to myself that I will never let any guy walk
with me like that again. Ever, in the end, we
both lost. You lost the girl who would have stuck
with you through thick and thin, who would have changed
anything about herself to make you happy. And I lost
the person I was before I met you.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
What is she talking about? Wait a minute, who I
definitely need a shrink.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
But first two, Anna Sonoda joining us child sex abuse
grooming expert, clinical social worker, therapist, and author of Duck
Duck Groom.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Do you hear her?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
This is the woman, the grown married woman claiming quote,
I'm not sad, I am effing mad.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I led a sixteen year old confession f with me like.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
That, and I made a promise to myself I will
never let any guy f with me like that again.
Ever did she put a bunch of exclamations with hearts
at the bottom.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I don't know. In the end, we both lost.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
What you lost a girl who would have stuck with
you through thick and thin, who would have changed anything
about herself to make you happy. What get a divorce
and go back in time to will She was a
minor two and I lost a person I was before
I met you. What is she talking about, Anna Sinota?
Speaker 8 (19:21):
This is no girl. This is a full grown, thirty
year old woman who abused her position of power. She
groomed this young victim. And something I want to highlight
here is that predators run on gas. What does that mean?
That means you need to have grooming access and space.
(19:41):
So she groomed this boy using flattery, kindness, and highlighting
him as her selected target and she gained access in
her role as a tutor, as a coach, as a teacher,
and then what available space did she have? She had
an empty classroom before when our school started, she had
isolated time with this young victim. My question would be
(20:05):
how many others are there?
Speaker 1 (20:06):
She's acting a lot, She's got a future with this
little boy.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Okay, where does her husband fit into this scenario?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Much less the police, But I want you to hear
more of what we have learned in her own memoirs
on her own cell phone.
Speaker 15 (20:21):
Listen is going to reach out to me soon and
try to fix things between us. In the meantime, I'm
going to live my best life knowing he's not the
person I thought he was, and that he is beneath
me and I will connect again soon in a positive way.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
We will both get the.
Speaker 15 (20:36):
Closure we need in order to move on in a
healthy way. We will be able to be a part
of each other's lives forever. We will be in each
other's lives forever. We will be able to love each
other while also living our own lives.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
What a whack a doodle, We will be in each
other's lives forever. In camps, we will be in each
other's lives forever. Yes, you will when he and his
mommy show up to keep you out from getting parole.
So that's a long time in the future. That's something
for you to think about crime stories with Nancy Grace
(21:17):
Sidney Sumner. Is this her manifesting again? Victim is going
to reach out to me soon and try to fix
things between us. In the meantime, I'm going to live
my best life knowing he's not the person I thought
he was, and he is beneath me.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
He is a little boy. What is she saying?
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Yes, Nancy, So these are her manifestations. A thirty year
old teacher is manifesting wishes about a teen student.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
So not her.
Speaker 9 (21:49):
Husband, not wanting to further her career, not wanting to
become a better teacher or a better coach, or a
better wife, but she wants this teenage boy reconcile with her.
That's what's going through her mind every night.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
As I mentioned earlier, we all need to shrink right
about now.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Joining us.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists specializing in this line of
work at Panthermedigation dot com, and she is an author
as well, Criminal behavior and my favorite where law and
psychology intersect.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, thank you for being with us. What
is she talking about? Do you hear this?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
We will, in all caps, be in each other's lives forever.
We will be able to love each other while living
our own lives. We need to move forward in a
healthy way. That ship has sailed, Doctor Sherry.
Speaker 16 (22:47):
Correct, and what I see, what I'm hearing is something
that's very dark. Sexual predators need to keep their victims close,
particularly when they're victims are minor children. This is her
manifestation is I don't want to get caught, so I
need to keep him close. I need him to believe
that we're in love and we're this unique couple and
(23:10):
we're going to go forward together forever.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Guess.
Speaker 17 (23:40):
In addition to the text messages, police also find several
writings in Formula's notes app discussing her relationship with the victim,
naming him directly. Formla pens what looks like a breakup letter,
calling the victim disgusting for cheating on her. For Mela
claims the victim manipulated her into maintaining their relationship despite
her attempts to break it off. For Mela says she
(24:01):
now realizes the victim was only interested in her for sex,
and notes that she is angry that she allowed a
sixteen year old to mess with her head.
Speaker 9 (24:09):
Am I in trouble?
Speaker 16 (24:10):
Like I'm I'm so lost right now?
Speaker 9 (24:12):
I'm ok?
Speaker 12 (24:14):
You are you talking about all these topion aps right now?
You're made to fame? More investigations.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Never bring you in to the list her, And.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Once you get there, they're gonna tell you what I.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
Am.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I in trouble?
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yeah, you are.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
One of the most damning pieces of evidence the state
has is her Christina Frommela, thirty year old married special
ed teacher that starts quote flirty messages.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
That's not how I would put it.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I would call it entice, it a minor, But that said,
flirty messages over the school app. I see my children
on the school app all the time. I have personally
met every one of their teachers since they were in
pre pre pre Okay, you think this mom had.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Any idea what was happening? Htl n oh. But you
hear from Mella.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Talking as if she has somehow been quote done wrong.
As a matter of fact, her memoir that she wrote
on her notes at in her phone.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
You'd have to hear this.
Speaker 15 (25:23):
Listen, I, once again, from day to one, called your
next girlfriend. You're so predictable and disgusting, shocker. You cheated
on me with her. All I was to you was
somebody to I'm not upset, I'm not mad, I'm not
any of that. I've just lost interest. I went back
and screenshot it every single time that I said we
should break up until after the wedding and after you graduated,
(25:45):
and every single time you came back and convinced me
it would be fine. I initiated every single breakup, only
for you to end things saying you couldn't get over it.
You ruined us us.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You ruined us like they have a future, like they're
going to get married.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Simmy Summer explained to me what she wrote.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Did she actually say she wanted to quote break up
with the little boy after the wedding?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yes, she did, Nancy.
Speaker 9 (26:13):
She explained that in very good detail for prosecutors in
the future as this case goes to trial. She specifically
mentioned both this teen boy's graduation and her own wedding,
once again establishing that timeline that the rape occurred. In
December of twenty twenty three, almost a year before her wedding,
(26:36):
So she references this victim by name multiple times and
in his breakup in this breakup letter, what this reads
as with the teen boy, she also references his new
girlfriend's name, so lots of contexts to establish that this
note is about the victim.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Straight out to veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney Eric fattis
you mentioned earlier correctly that the defendant, the special ed
teacher Christina FROMMELA, claims the boy, the little boy, grabbed
her phone, put in her code, and sent himself flirty
(27:18):
and sexu related messages that he, a little boy, had
the wherewithal to think that he would frame her for
future blackmail.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Now she's already put that.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Out there, so you, the defense attorney, are stuck with it.
You can't just erase that that's out there, so you
can't now look for another defense. You're stuck with her words.
Let's just pretend that that's true that the boy thought, Hey,
a year from now, I'm going to try to blackmail
(27:52):
her and frame her. So I'm going to send her
text from her to me that I can then say,
all right, that's a flight of fancy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Eric fattus. What about her memoir?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
What about the notes on her iPhone where she talks
about how angry she is he got a new quote
girlfriend and their future. You know, she claims they only
had sex aka raped him one time, but this shows.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
They have been an item for a long time since
before her wedding.
Speaker 14 (28:24):
Nancy, the multiplicity of messages here, if authentic, is surely problematic.
You know, the defense is going to say that at
this day and age, sixteen year olds are pretty technologically savvy,
some of them are more sophisticated than others. And then
on the other hand, sometimes they do irrational, erratic, weird things,
and perhaps all of that culminated in this alleged act
(28:45):
where he tried to text him from her phone to
sort of blackmailer. That's what the defense is going to
argue when it comes to the memoir. I think the
defense is going to say that there's some murmurs about,
at least according to Formila, that references to sexual activity
in the memoirs actually relate to the husband and not
to the time.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
So what.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
What did you just say that everything is about the
teen boy except accept what she's talking about sex, and
then that's about the husband in the same paragraph.
Speaker 14 (29:21):
That is what the defense has reported. That is what
I've read and reports. In terms of what is being
referenced in these memoirs, the allegation is that this was
kind of an outlet for her anxiety. Is how she
put it, I believe, and you know, sometimes people write
stuff down and sometimes there's overlap and ideas we get conflated,
(29:42):
and perhaps that is the direction her defense will go
to try and explain what is in this memoir as
it compares to the text messages on the iCloud.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Server Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Brian Fitzgibbons joining us
Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security at USPA security dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Brian, can we believe anything?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Christina Formella says, You have the text messages back and
forth between her and the child victim, you have her memoir,
and then you have her and the ability she possesses
to put on an Oscar worthy performance.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
I want you to watch this, Brian. Can I ask
you a quest?
Speaker 9 (30:36):
Of course?
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Yeah, it sounds like I said, someone investigation obviously for
he every reason, so goad and turn it off for me.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
So right now it's being detained and there is a
type of the.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Need to talk to you at the police depart so
that your husband he can just come to the police
armer as well if he wants to wait for you there.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I'm like, I get it.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
You had a lot of questions. Yeah, everything's okay, we
just need to talk to you at the police storm.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I am, like, so scared.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's nothing that can hold a candle to what this
boy's mother felt when she saw those messages saved in
the iCloud Brian.
Speaker 10 (31:24):
Certainly, and you said it well, Nancy, that the defense
has already put out this conspiracy theory that the teen
boy was texting himself from her phone, and they're going
to have to produce evidence that supports that, all right,
data from the boy's cell phone data, other data from
her phone, from other minor witnesses that would have seen
(31:48):
or heard about this conspiracy. So I don't think we
can believe much of what she's saying right here.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Once you at the police department, you'll talk to detective
and the hostlin difference.
Speaker 16 (31:58):
Yeah, but you can't even me like.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
And I at the moment that it's an investigation that
I can really tell you right now I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Excuse me?
Speaker 16 (32:08):
Is my husband coming with Yes, Yeah, he's thinking it's
going ever down.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
We're saying time for him. We're just going down or
growth the septen minutes away.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
No, I know, but I really would prefer that my
husband's with me.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Of course, may want to rethink that about how your
husband learns his wife is charged with sex abusing a
boys student.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Back to evidenciery issues. I want you to hear.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
One more excerpt from Christina Fromela the Special Ed Teachers Memoirs.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
She wrote in her own iPhone Listen.
Speaker 15 (32:46):
I warned you we should have never started dating a long, long,
long time ago, and you gas lit me and convinced
me it was fine every single time because that's who
you are. We will never ever be together again. I'm
not a second choice. I'm the best you'll ever have,
even with all my mistakes. You once again waited and
strung me along until it was convenient for you. It
(33:06):
broke me last time. This time it changed me.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
You know, Annison Noda.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I don't know if you have encountered other child molesters
that believe they have a relationship with the child but
that's what this sounds like.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
I'm having to hold my tongue over here, Nancy. She
is working so hard to justify her own actions, which
is classic predator behavior dating. She has the audacity to
use the word dating. There is no way this is
anywhere near dating. This is grooming. This looks like flattery,
favoritism forbidden fruits. You entice a young boy with the
(33:40):
possibility of sexual contact, that doesn't mean that he was
the mastermind behind her plan. I am just shocked, but
I do want to pinpoint some exceptionally positive things about
this case. The mom in this case needs a gold medal.
She checked the self on information, followed up. She then
(34:01):
reported it to police, and the police investigated, and it
led to an arrest. That is the best case scenario. Unfortunately,
that's a rarity in these sorts of cases. But those
individuals deserve recognition for acting on that child's best behalf.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
You know, this is bringing to mind another case, Mary
Kay Laturno, who continued.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
To molest Villi Flau.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I believe at that time he was about twelve years old.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Years past and when she got out of jail, they
actually got married and had a family.
Speaker 18 (34:35):
Listen for anybody first time figure out what love is
for the first time, you know, that's all you know.
So for what I know that it was back then,
I would say that I was real love.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
That for our friends at New seven Again, villi Flau
was twelve years old when she began raping him. They
went on to have a family together. In this case,
it sounds as if for Mella believes the two have
a future together. Let me go to Scott Iiker, joining
(35:09):
as founding member FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team, former police officer,
homicide detective as well. I want to talk to you
about the defense and we heard Fattest trying to explain
it amazingly with a straight face. Scott Iiker, how or
can we prove that the boy did not send the
(35:32):
messages from her phone to himself to frame her or
to use his blackmail at some unknown future date.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Is that possible?
Speaker 7 (35:42):
It is.
Speaker 13 (35:42):
There's several different ways you can validate this information or
disprove what the defendant is saying. We've got the records
from the phone company, We've got the extraction information from
the phone, We've got the school app that you're talking about.
We also can look at in the specific part what
you mentioned, which is did he send messages from her phone?
(36:03):
We can look at where their two phones were at
the time. Was his phone in the same location as hers?
That might indicate that he sent those text messages from
her phone. But if he's somewhere else, there's no way
he could have sent those messages. So it's a lot
of different ways. We can look at this and tear
that that defensive part, and it's not really easy to
(36:25):
break into someone's phone, then go through their app and
then copy that and then send it to someone else.
Speaker 11 (36:32):
Sure you don't want to tissue or something.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Sean like the bag out there.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
We are learning that the special ed teacher turned child
molestation defendant is claiming she's too quote good looking for
jail and that she has been targeted because she so pretty.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Not the first time I've heard that argument.
Speaker 7 (37:03):
So why do you think you've got all the attention?
I don't know, I'll say it. Do you think it's
because you're pretty?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I think so? In sex seuth.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Okay, that's our friends at NBC, and you were hearing
Deborah Lefay, convicted from a listing a student, claim she
was targeted because she is quote so pretty okay Sidney Sumner.
Is that claim being made in the current case by
Christina Fromela.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yes, it is Nancy.
Speaker 9 (37:35):
So her whole defense to this is again relying on
that blackmail idea that this teenage boy broke into her
phone sent these text messages to himself to make it
look like there was a conversation between the two of them,
and she says that that happened because she cared about
him too much and she is good looking, so she
(37:58):
claims she is a good person who just maybe got
a little bit too close to a student, but she
did not rape him, and she is only being targeted
because she is so pretty Sidney.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
She is also claiming that the quote sex translation rape
only occurred one time, but according to the text messages
and her own notes in her note area of her
iPhone show that a relationship lasted for a really long
(38:30):
time and she wanted it to go on, except the
little boy got a girlfriend his own age.
Speaker 9 (38:36):
So Nancy the defendant for Mella, she is claiming that
they did not have sex in any way, shape or form.
She is claiming that that text message exchange was not
discussing something.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
That happened, but was blackmail to try and roper.
Speaker 9 (38:51):
Into having sex with him in the future. The victim
told police that the encounter in December of twenty twenty three,
that rape, is the only encounter between them. So that's
what the victim told police. But again, this victim got
caught by his mother in an embarrassing situation, so is
he telling the full truth? Because if he had any
(39:13):
kind of romantic feelings for this woman for his teacher,
he likely does not want to see her go down
the same way Billy beloved it. So it is one
hundred percent possible that this abuse was much more extensive
and ongoing than police realize.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Is she out on bond?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yes, she is two daughter, Sherry Schwartz joining US forensics psychologists.
You know, if this were reversed and the alleged abuse
or was a man and the victim was a fifteen
year old little girl, he would be under the jail.
Speaker 16 (39:49):
Why the difference, Well, the difference is because there's a
stereotype that because this is a teenage boy, that this
is their fantasy. So somehow it's not as c or
troubling a crime when it's an older woman with a
teenage boy, especially a pretty older woman.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
But this is false.
Speaker 16 (40:09):
We know that the harm is the same regardless. This
is a minor child. She had an obligation to behave
ethically and adhere to boundaries. She never should have crossed
a boundary.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You know, Lady Justice is blind for a reason. Crossing
boundaries yes, unethical yes, But as a former prosecutor of
violent felonies, it's not just crossing boundaries. It's not just
an ethical This is a crime. Lady Justice does not
(40:42):
make a note of whether the victim is a little
boy or a little girl, or whether the defendant is
a stereotypical child molester stalking a playground and a trench
code and a pair of socks, or a pretty young
special ed teacher age thirty the defendant the alleged victim fifteen.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Let's think about that.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
We stopped to remember an American hero Detective Clarence of Backcoms,
Palm Beach County Sheriffs Detective Backhroms Us Marine Corpvette twenty
six years of law enforcement, survived by wife Becky, children
Kathy Clarence, Dennis, Cammy and Kelly. American hero Detective Clarence
(41:31):
Backcrooms Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a married special education teacher,
threatens I'll throw up busted on sex abuse with a
teen boy, now claiming wait for it, that she has
been framed because she's so good looking. Her words not mine.
(00:25):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Christina Formela is a Concordia University grad and former soccer
team star. Now she's a special ed teacher and soccer
coach at Downers Grove High School in Illinois. But for
Mela's world comes crashing down when a dark secret is
revealed at a routine traffic stop.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
A dark secret. I don't know that I would call.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Alleged sex abuse on a child a miner that is
your student.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I don't know that I.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Would call that a secret. I think more apropriately, I
would call it a felony. But caught on tape the
married special ed teacher, for Peace's sake, they were practically
still on their honeymoon.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
They'd only been married less than.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
A year, I believe, caught on bodycam threatening to throw up. Well,
after I learned about this case and investigated it myself,
I don't want to throw up too.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But let's take a look.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
A lot of people have claimed she is so called
glamorous special ed teacher.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
She's not glamorous to me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I have prosecuted so many child rape and child sex
abuse cases. She looks like she's straight from hell to me.
But you decide. Let's watch what was caught on police bodycam?
Speaker 4 (01:48):
How you doing flicer go with Donor's girl, Jeffrey license
on you? Yeah, I'm sure a cofews. I was playing
ta door Christina, okay for change.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Me faiting step on the car for me.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
I know your Cons'll explain everything to you.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
You don't have anything on you.
Speaker 7 (02:07):
You can grab whatever you need, whatever I need.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Yeah, whatever you need to get your phone, your your
first go and grab it.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Is she going somewhere?
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Yeah, we're gonna explain everything to you. Guys, go and
grab out. We're not going anywere right now.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
Of course, of course.
Speaker 8 (02:23):
I understand what's going on here.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I get it. Yeah, you can go grab your things.
Speaker 8 (02:27):
Can you come with me?
Speaker 9 (02:28):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (02:28):
Yes, you stay there for right now? Is there to
stay there?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But well yes you can uh uh straight out to
Brian Fitzgibbons, joining US Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security leading
a team of investigators every single day.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Why are they being so solicitous to her?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
She is charged with molesting a minor, a teen boy,
and I believe still lying about it, claiming it only
happened once. Uh okay, but that said, Fitzgibbons, what happened
to licensed registration? Why are they saying, I'm sure you're confused.
I'll explain everything. You're Christina. What are they on a
(03:10):
first night basis?
Speaker 7 (03:11):
So here's the deal, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (03:12):
I believe that that police officer actually did a very
excellent job with this contact with Christina.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Formella number one.
Speaker 10 (03:21):
He secured that cell phone, which is going to be
a key piece of evidence in this case, and he
got that without a fight from her. So he de
escalated the situation and secured the cell phone which is
going to be the number one appropriate piece of evidence.
Speaker 7 (03:37):
Here.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Put fitz Gibbons up. Fitz Gibbons, I actually agree with you.
I agree with you. However, I believe they're being overly
solicitous to what police say, what prosecutors say is a
child molester. Fitz Gibbons, you're not bending over backwards for
(03:57):
for Mela Christina Frommela, but as she's attractive, are you
You know it has been argued in the past by
other teachers now convicted of child.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Abuse that they were too pretty for jail. You're not
on that boat, are you?
Speaker 7 (04:10):
Certainly not? Nancy.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
What I saw there was the officer doing everything to
make sure he preserved that key piece of evidence.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
I think he knew exactly what he was doing here.
And you're right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Let's take a look at Christina Formella, special ed teacher
now charged with child sex abuse with a student, a
teen boy just married.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
By the way. Oh here, she threatens to throw up.
Speaker 11 (04:42):
Unless sure you don't want to tissue or something?
Speaker 12 (04:53):
All right, Sea, there, can.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
You get like a bag? She SuDS, she gets nauseous. Yeah,
I don't know. Do we have any of those amesis bags?
Like going around with fo I figure she was something
better than.
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Here.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Who stay with the agram?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think I'm going to hyperventilate right now watching her
hold on just a moment to Scott Iiker joining me.
He's joining us later regarding a cell phone analysis but
he was the founding member, a founding member of the
FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But for this question, former police officer.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Home Side detective with Norfolk, Virginia Police Department twelve years Scott,
I thought they were being again over solicits too. Who
are going you need a tissue? Do you need a
vomit bag? But I assume you've been in the back
of a cruiser before, Scott, iiker, Well, I've.
Speaker 13 (06:09):
Been in the back of a cruiser, but not in
her position. You can see what starting to come over her.
She's started to realize what she's done and she's been caught,
and that would make me nauseous too. If I was
in her position and I can see like.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Her will put you mean, she's not sorry she did it,
she just doesn't want to go to Hillfort. I was
getting to the vomit bag they have to work in
that cruiser. I have been there when patrol men and
patrol women have to literally hose out the back seat
(06:47):
of a cruiser. There's drugs, there's vomit, there's urine, there's feces,
there's spit where they try to spit at the officers.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
The back seat is like has matt to the max.
So that's why.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I believe they're offering her a vomit bag, you know,
like the kind you get on a plane.
Speaker 13 (07:07):
Oh, I definitely agree, and I've had to clean out
my cruiser numerous times for those same reasons you talked about.
And that smell never goes away, I swear at the
back of the cruisers.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
No j never ever goes away. Cops drive with the
windows down.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It doesn't help joining me an all star panel to
make sense of what we're learning right now. But I'm
going to see that body cam one more time.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Now. You see her threatening.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
To throw up, you see her seemingly hyperventilating, crying.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Let's listen to it one more time.
Speaker 11 (07:41):
Unless you have Luricia down there, I'm sure you don't
want to tissue or something.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
All right, Sean like the bag?
Speaker 9 (07:58):
O there, pro driver.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Can you get like a bag?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
She said? She gets nauseous. Yeah, I don't know. Do
we have any of those Emesis bags? Like going around
the spot, I figure she was something better than with
the autogram.
Speaker 14 (08:29):
Eric Fattus really well, Nancy, and looking at her reaction there,
one could argue it is consistent with someone who was
just caught for something they did.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
On the other hand, when you look.
Speaker 14 (08:39):
At it, she's confused, she's hyperventilating, she's crying, she's saying
she's nauseous. All of those things could also be consistent
with someone who has been accused of something horrendous and
who didn't do it. So I'm not sure we could
really draw any firm conclusions from that video.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Faddess, she hasn't been told yet of what she is accused,
so that argument just went right down technical legal phrase
the crapper. Okay, so she's not high perventialigning because they
just told her what she's accused of.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
She hasn't been told yet, so take another swing at
the ball.
Speaker 14 (09:15):
Even if she wasn't apprized of the exact nature of
the allegations, being in the back of a cop car
is distressing, surely, and even more so if a person
did not do anything criminal there and they're you know,
sort of be fuddled about what in the world is
happening to me?
Speaker 7 (09:30):
You know, I'm not taking a.
Speaker 14 (09:31):
Personal position on the facts, but I'm just saying that
reaction has multiple interpretations.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Okay, even if she had been at that juncture told
why she was arrested, you still are standing by your story.
Speaker 14 (09:44):
I'm just saying, in terms of a human reaction to
a very distressing situation, that can be interpreted multiple ways,
and those expressions that we're seeing, those those outward behaviors
are consistent with someone who has been caught for doing
something horrible, and they're also can with someone who is
being accused of something she didn't do. And so I
just think at this juncture there's just those inclutions that
(10:07):
can be drawn.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Erry fattis question if you had been accused of child molestation,
because I'm not quite sure in this series of body
cam reactions where she knows she's been accused of where
she doesn't. If you've been accused of child molestation, you
wouldn't say, I've never done that in my life, that
(10:29):
did not happen. I want a lawyer, you wouldn't say that.
Speaker 14 (10:33):
Me personally, as a seasoned attorney, I absolutely would say that.
But you know, a thirty year old special education teacher
and soccer coach, perhaps that is just not front of
mind her.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
She's a twelve year old little girl in the fifth
grade that's never seen law in order. You're saying, oh,
she's just thirty years old special ed teacher. To be
a special ed teacher, you have to go to four
years of school, four years of college. Plus all sorts
of certifications. This is an educated person that's been out in.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
The workforce for years.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But you're telling me she's so naive she doesn't know
to say I didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I want a lawyer.
Speaker 14 (11:09):
The thing is that there's no playbook for how to
respond when a person is accused of something horrible. Some
people might react one way, whereas others might react a differently.
And I'm just in looking at this without some sort
of psychological evaluation, it's just hard to say exactly where
that reaction is coming from.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Okay, who is this woman? Christina Formela?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (11:31):
Christina Formela is a special education teacher and soccer coach
at Donors Grove South High School, a proud Mustang since
twenty twenty for Mela graduated from Concordia University three years
earlier as an accomplished student athlete, playing as a starter
in forty nine soccer matches during her college career. That's
where Christina meets her now husband, also a student athlete,
(11:53):
a pitcher on the baseball team for Christina's senior year.
They share the number twenty two. The happy couple tie
the not in a gorgeous summer ceremony August of twenty
twenty four.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Straight out to Crime Stories, investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sydney
tell me how the whole thing unfolded? What is she
charged with? How did the whole thing start? Is it true?
According to police, these are all just allegations. She has
not been proven guilty. She's still presumed innocent under the law.
According to police, she began flirting with a teen boy
(12:29):
one of her students, and that continued on a school app.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
That's correct.
Speaker 9 (12:35):
Nancy So, a mother of a Downer's Grove student, went
to police. When she was setting up his new iPhone,
she discovered these messages that weren't saved on his old
phone but to his iCloud account, and she discovered these
messages seemingly discussing a sexual encounter with his teacher, Christina Formela.
(12:59):
So is rushdown to the police station. He tells officers
that this started out as some innocent flirting. I say
the word innocent, but that's obviously not innocent in this situation,
but some flirting over the School Messaging Act. So the
school has their own specific messaging system and that's where
(13:21):
they started communicating. Once Christina Formla became this boy's tutor
in addition to being his soccer coach on the field.
So these messages then progressed to having her phone number
because she wanted to play an I message game with him.
So she gives out her phone.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Number Sydney, Sydney. Wait a minute, So the teacher wants
to play.
Speaker 9 (13:42):
What you know, those games in your I messages, So
on an iPhone you can start a text conversation and
play pool ball or something. So that's what she suggested
to this teen boy and gave him her phone number.
So now they're texting and also facetiming. There's records of
numerous spacetime calls in between this teen and the teacher,
(14:05):
and he said that culminated in a rape in December
of twenty twenty three during what should have been a
before school tutoring session. So they're in her classroom, she
shuts the door and there is a sexual encounter.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Okay, Sidney, I don't like what you just said.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Some you remind me of so many defendants that would
say we would.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I had one judge who was.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The greatest judge ever, oldest judge in the courthouse, and
therefore he wanted to maintain.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
His court calendar.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
He wanted to be on trial every other week to
prove he was fit. And he was fit all right, doctor,
I mean Judge Luther Alverson. But we would have plea
negotiations with me, my investigator, Ernest, the defendant and his
defense lawyer to see if the case could be worked out. FYI,
it easily went to trial. That said, the lawyer and
(15:04):
the defendant would always act like Ms. Grace, I caught
a little burglary charge. I they just caught it. Okay,
you just said she shuts the door and a child
molestation happened. Didn't you leave something out, Sydney Sumner.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
Yes, Nancy, we're calling that a rape. That's exactly what
it is. It's a statutory rape at least, and at most,
it is a sexual assault. This woman, this adult, should
never have come on to this child in any way,
shape or form, especially a teacher. This is a professional relationship.
This should be a trusted relationship. And the school said
(15:44):
it perfectly. It's broken trust over here.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
So we do have an investigation going on. We have
to talk to you about it at the police department.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Okay, so everything you there, it's not my investigation.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
I don't know the full details. Would you have to
bring you there though?
Speaker 6 (16:00):
Okay, so I get to put your handcuffs and bring
it to the police department just as yes, unfortunately.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Yes, I'm willing to go with it. I did it.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Yeah, unfortunately, we have to do it that way to
do a favor.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Just tack this off, joining me.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
An all star panel to make sense of what we
are learning tonight. A According to some people, gorgeous thirty
year old special ed teacher and soccer coach busted on
alleged underage sex translation rape. If you are underage, you
cannot give consent. Also a student, a teen boy student.
(16:39):
Is it true Sidney Sumner that she also kept a
memoir of sorts a memoir detailing the sex sex with
a teen boys student?
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Fancy that is correct, though there are reports of this
note at material So these are several writing in her
notes app One section titled Manifestations is saying things out
loud in the hopes that the more you say them,
the more they will happen. And several writings in this
(17:13):
section reference to the.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Victim, me, what did you just say?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
The more you say something, the more likely it's going
to happen.
Speaker 9 (17:22):
Yes, Nancy, this is a mantra. It's called manifestation that
many young people participate in nowadays.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Okay, I've heard of manifestation. I didn't think anyone actually
thought it worked, but okay, So I want you to
hear what we've learned about her memoir that she kept
in the notes section on her iPhone. I hate to
give a tutorial to all the future felas out there,
but when you basically make it to do list and
(17:51):
recount all of your felonious activities on your iPhone, yeah,
you're gonna get busted.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
But you've got to hear this. Listen.
Speaker 15 (17:59):
I'm not sad. I'm being mad that I let a
sixteen year old with me like that, and Nata promised
to myself that I will never let any guy walk
with me like that again. Ever, in the end, we
both lost. You lost the girl who would have stuck
with you through thick and thin, who would have changed
anything about herself to make you happy. And I lost
the person I was before I met you.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
What is she talking about? Wait a minute, who I
definitely need a shrink.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
But first two, Anna Sonoda joining us child sex abuse
grooming expert, clinical social worker, therapist, and author of Duck
Duck Groom.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Do you hear her?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
This is the woman, the grown married woman claiming quote,
I'm not sad, I am effing mad.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I led a sixteen year old confession f with me like.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
That, and I made a promise to myself I will
never let any guy f with me like that again.
Ever did she put a bunch of exclamations with hearts
at the bottom.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I don't know. In the end, we both lost.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
What you lost a girl who would have stuck with
you through thick and thin, who would have changed anything
about herself to make you happy. What get a divorce
and go back in time to will She was a
minor two and I lost a person I was before
I met you. What is she talking about, Anna Sinota?
Speaker 8 (19:21):
This is no girl. This is a full grown, thirty
year old woman who abused her position of power. She
groomed this young victim. And something I want to highlight
here is that predators run on gas. What does that mean?
That means you need to have grooming access and space.
(19:41):
So she groomed this boy using flattery, kindness, and highlighting
him as her selected target and she gained access in
her role as a tutor, as a coach, as a teacher,
and then what available space did she have? She had
an empty classroom before when our school started, she had
isolated time with this young victim. My question would be
(20:05):
how many others are there?
Speaker 1 (20:06):
She's acting a lot, She's got a future with this
little boy.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Okay, where does her husband fit into this scenario?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Much less the police, But I want you to hear
more of what we have learned in her own memoirs
on her own cell phone.
Speaker 15 (20:21):
Listen is going to reach out to me soon and
try to fix things between us. In the meantime, I'm
going to live my best life knowing he's not the
person I thought he was, and that he is beneath
me and I will connect again soon in a positive way.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
We will both get the.
Speaker 15 (20:36):
Closure we need in order to move on in a
healthy way. We will be able to be a part
of each other's lives forever. We will be in each
other's lives forever. We will be able to love each
other while also living our own lives.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
What a whack a doodle, We will be in each
other's lives forever. In camps, we will be in each
other's lives forever. Yes, you will when he and his
mommy show up to keep you out from getting parole.
So that's a long time in the future. That's something
for you to think about crime stories with Nancy Grace
(21:17):
Sidney Sumner. Is this her manifesting again? Victim is going
to reach out to me soon and try to fix
things between us. In the meantime, I'm going to live
my best life knowing he's not the person I thought
he was, and he is beneath me.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
He is a little boy. What is she saying?
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Yes, Nancy, So these are her manifestations. A thirty year
old teacher is manifesting wishes about a teen student.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
So not her.
Speaker 9 (21:49):
Husband, not wanting to further her career, not wanting to
become a better teacher or a better coach, or a
better wife, but she wants this teenage boy reconcile with her.
That's what's going through her mind every night.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
As I mentioned earlier, we all need to shrink right
about now.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Joining us.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists specializing in this line of
work at Panthermedigation dot com, and she is an author
as well, Criminal behavior and my favorite where law and
psychology intersect.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, thank you for being with us. What
is she talking about? Do you hear this?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
We will, in all caps, be in each other's lives forever.
We will be able to love each other while living
our own lives. We need to move forward in a
healthy way. That ship has sailed, Doctor Sherry.
Speaker 16 (22:47):
Correct, and what I see, what I'm hearing is something
that's very dark. Sexual predators need to keep their victims close,
particularly when they're victims are minor children. This is her
manifestation is I don't want to get caught, so I
need to keep him close. I need him to believe
that we're in love and we're this unique couple and
(23:10):
we're going to go forward together forever.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Guess.
Speaker 17 (23:40):
In addition to the text messages, police also find several
writings in Formula's notes app discussing her relationship with the victim,
naming him directly. Formla pens what looks like a breakup letter,
calling the victim disgusting for cheating on her. For Mela
claims the victim manipulated her into maintaining their relationship despite
her attempts to break it off. For Mela says she
(24:01):
now realizes the victim was only interested in her for sex,
and notes that she is angry that she allowed a
sixteen year old to mess with her head.
Speaker 9 (24:09):
Am I in trouble?
Speaker 16 (24:10):
Like I'm I'm so lost right now?
Speaker 9 (24:12):
I'm ok?
Speaker 12 (24:14):
You are you talking about all these topion aps right now?
You're made to fame? More investigations.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Never bring you in to the list her, And.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Once you get there, they're gonna tell you what I.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
Am.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I in trouble?
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yeah, you are.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
One of the most damning pieces of evidence the state
has is her Christina Frommela, thirty year old married special
ed teacher that starts quote flirty messages.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
That's not how I would put it.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I would call it entice, it a minor, But that said,
flirty messages over the school app. I see my children
on the school app all the time. I have personally
met every one of their teachers since they were in
pre pre pre Okay, you think this mom had.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Any idea what was happening? Htl n oh. But you
hear from Mella.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Talking as if she has somehow been quote done wrong.
As a matter of fact, her memoir that she wrote
on her notes at in her phone.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
You'd have to hear this.
Speaker 15 (25:23):
Listen, I, once again, from day to one, called your
next girlfriend. You're so predictable and disgusting, shocker. You cheated
on me with her. All I was to you was
somebody to I'm not upset, I'm not mad, I'm not
any of that. I've just lost interest. I went back
and screenshot it every single time that I said we
should break up until after the wedding and after you graduated,
(25:45):
and every single time you came back and convinced me
it would be fine. I initiated every single breakup, only
for you to end things saying you couldn't get over it.
You ruined us us.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You ruined us like they have a future, like they're
going to get married.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Simmy Summer explained to me what she wrote.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Did she actually say she wanted to quote break up
with the little boy after the wedding?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yes, she did, Nancy.
Speaker 9 (26:13):
She explained that in very good detail for prosecutors in
the future as this case goes to trial. She specifically
mentioned both this teen boy's graduation and her own wedding,
once again establishing that timeline that the rape occurred. In
December of twenty twenty three, almost a year before her wedding,
(26:36):
So she references this victim by name multiple times and
in his breakup in this breakup letter, what this reads
as with the teen boy, she also references his new
girlfriend's name, so lots of contexts to establish that this
note is about the victim.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Straight out to veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney Eric fattis
you mentioned earlier correctly that the defendant, the special ed
teacher Christina FROMMELA, claims the boy, the little boy, grabbed
her phone, put in her code, and sent himself flirty
(27:18):
and sexu related messages that he, a little boy, had
the wherewithal to think that he would frame her for
future blackmail.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Now she's already put that.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Out there, so you, the defense attorney, are stuck with it.
You can't just erase that that's out there, so you
can't now look for another defense. You're stuck with her words.
Let's just pretend that that's true that the boy thought, Hey,
a year from now, I'm going to try to blackmail
(27:52):
her and frame her. So I'm going to send her
text from her to me that I can then say,
all right, that's a flight of fancy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Eric fattus. What about her memoir?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
What about the notes on her iPhone where she talks
about how angry she is he got a new quote
girlfriend and their future. You know, she claims they only
had sex aka raped him one time, but this shows.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
They have been an item for a long time since
before her wedding.
Speaker 14 (28:24):
Nancy, the multiplicity of messages here, if authentic, is surely problematic.
You know, the defense is going to say that at
this day and age, sixteen year olds are pretty technologically savvy,
some of them are more sophisticated than others. And then
on the other hand, sometimes they do irrational, erratic, weird things,
and perhaps all of that culminated in this alleged act
(28:45):
where he tried to text him from her phone to
sort of blackmailer. That's what the defense is going to
argue when it comes to the memoir. I think the
defense is going to say that there's some murmurs about,
at least according to Formila, that references to sexual activity
in the memoirs actually relate to the husband and not
to the time.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
So what.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
What did you just say that everything is about the
teen boy except accept what she's talking about sex, and
then that's about the husband in the same paragraph.
Speaker 14 (29:21):
That is what the defense has reported. That is what
I've read and reports. In terms of what is being
referenced in these memoirs, the allegation is that this was
kind of an outlet for her anxiety. Is how she
put it, I believe, and you know, sometimes people write
stuff down and sometimes there's overlap and ideas we get conflated,
(29:42):
and perhaps that is the direction her defense will go
to try and explain what is in this memoir as
it compares to the text messages on the iCloud.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Server Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Brian Fitzgibbons joining us
Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security at USPA security dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Brian, can we believe anything?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Christina Formella says, You have the text messages back and
forth between her and the child victim, you have her memoir,
and then you have her and the ability she possesses
to put on an Oscar worthy performance.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
I want you to watch this, Brian. Can I ask
you a quest?
Speaker 9 (30:36):
Of course?
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Yeah, it sounds like I said, someone investigation obviously for
he every reason, so goad and turn it off for me.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
So right now it's being detained and there is a
type of the.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Need to talk to you at the police depart so
that your husband he can just come to the police
armer as well if he wants to wait for you there.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I'm like, I get it.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
You had a lot of questions. Yeah, everything's okay, we
just need to talk to you at the police storm.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I am, like, so scared.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's nothing that can hold a candle to what this
boy's mother felt when she saw those messages saved in
the iCloud Brian.
Speaker 10 (31:24):
Certainly, and you said it well, Nancy, that the defense
has already put out this conspiracy theory that the teen
boy was texting himself from her phone, and they're going
to have to produce evidence that supports that, all right,
data from the boy's cell phone data, other data from
her phone, from other minor witnesses that would have seen
(31:48):
or heard about this conspiracy. So I don't think we
can believe much of what she's saying right here.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Once you at the police department, you'll talk to detective
and the hostlin difference.
Speaker 16 (31:58):
Yeah, but you can't even me like.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
And I at the moment that it's an investigation that
I can really tell you right now I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
I wish I could tell you more.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Excuse me?
Speaker 16 (32:08):
Is my husband coming with Yes, Yeah, he's thinking it's
going ever down.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
We're saying time for him. We're just going down or
growth the septen minutes away.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
No, I know, but I really would prefer that my
husband's with me.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Of course, may want to rethink that about how your
husband learns his wife is charged with sex abusing a
boys student.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Back to evidenciery issues. I want you to hear.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
One more excerpt from Christina Fromela the Special Ed Teachers Memoirs.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
She wrote in her own iPhone Listen.
Speaker 15 (32:46):
I warned you we should have never started dating a long, long,
long time ago, and you gas lit me and convinced
me it was fine every single time because that's who
you are. We will never ever be together again. I'm
not a second choice. I'm the best you'll ever have,
even with all my mistakes. You once again waited and
strung me along until it was convenient for you. It
(33:06):
broke me last time. This time it changed me.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
You know, Annison Noda.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I don't know if you have encountered other child molesters
that believe they have a relationship with the child but
that's what this sounds like.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
I'm having to hold my tongue over here, Nancy. She
is working so hard to justify her own actions, which
is classic predator behavior dating. She has the audacity to
use the word dating. There is no way this is
anywhere near dating. This is grooming. This looks like flattery,
favoritism forbidden fruits. You entice a young boy with the
(33:40):
possibility of sexual contact, that doesn't mean that he was
the mastermind behind her plan. I am just shocked, but
I do want to pinpoint some exceptionally positive things about
this case. The mom in this case needs a gold medal.
She checked the self on information, followed up. She then
(34:01):
reported it to police, and the police investigated, and it
led to an arrest. That is the best case scenario. Unfortunately,
that's a rarity in these sorts of cases. But those
individuals deserve recognition for acting on that child's best behalf.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
You know, this is bringing to mind another case, Mary
Kay Laturno, who continued.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
To molest Villi Flau.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I believe at that time he was about twelve years old.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Years past and when she got out of jail, they
actually got married and had a family.
Speaker 18 (34:35):
Listen for anybody first time figure out what love is
for the first time, you know, that's all you know.
So for what I know that it was back then,
I would say that I was real love.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
That for our friends at New seven Again, villi Flau
was twelve years old when she began raping him. They
went on to have a family together. In this case,
it sounds as if for Mella believes the two have
a future together. Let me go to Scott Iiker, joining
(35:09):
as founding member FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team, former police officer,
homicide detective as well. I want to talk to you
about the defense and we heard Fattest trying to explain
it amazingly with a straight face. Scott Iiker, how or
can we prove that the boy did not send the
(35:32):
messages from her phone to himself to frame her or
to use his blackmail at some unknown future date.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Is that possible?
Speaker 7 (35:42):
It is.
Speaker 13 (35:42):
There's several different ways you can validate this information or
disprove what the defendant is saying. We've got the records
from the phone company, We've got the extraction information from
the phone, We've got the school app that you're talking about.
We also can look at in the specific part what
you mentioned, which is did he send messages from her phone?
(36:03):
We can look at where their two phones were at
the time. Was his phone in the same location as hers?
That might indicate that he sent those text messages from
her phone. But if he's somewhere else, there's no way
he could have sent those messages. So it's a lot
of different ways. We can look at this and tear
that that defensive part, and it's not really easy to
(36:25):
break into someone's phone, then go through their app and
then copy that and then send it to someone else.
Speaker 11 (36:32):
Sure you don't want to tissue or something.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Sean like the bag out there.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
We are learning that the special ed teacher turned child
molestation defendant is claiming she's too quote good looking for
jail and that she has been targeted because she so pretty.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Not the first time I've heard that argument.
Speaker 7 (37:03):
So why do you think you've got all the attention?
I don't know, I'll say it. Do you think it's
because you're pretty?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I think so? In sex seuth.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Okay, that's our friends at NBC, and you were hearing
Deborah Lefay, convicted from a listing a student, claim she
was targeted because she is quote so pretty okay Sidney Sumner.
Is that claim being made in the current case by
Christina Fromela.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yes, it is Nancy.
Speaker 9 (37:35):
So her whole defense to this is again relying on
that blackmail idea that this teenage boy broke into her
phone sent these text messages to himself to make it
look like there was a conversation between the two of them,
and she says that that happened because she cared about
him too much and she is good looking, so she
(37:58):
claims she is a good person who just maybe got
a little bit too close to a student, but she
did not rape him, and she is only being targeted
because she is so pretty Sidney.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
She is also claiming that the quote sex translation rape
only occurred one time, but according to the text messages
and her own notes in her note area of her
iPhone show that a relationship lasted for a really long
(38:30):
time and she wanted it to go on, except the
little boy got a girlfriend his own age.
Speaker 9 (38:36):
So Nancy the defendant for Mella, she is claiming that
they did not have sex in any way, shape or form.
She is claiming that that text message exchange was not
discussing something.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
That happened, but was blackmail to try and roper.
Speaker 9 (38:51):
Into having sex with him in the future. The victim
told police that the encounter in December of twenty twenty three,
that rape, is the only encounter between them. So that's
what the victim told police. But again, this victim got
caught by his mother in an embarrassing situation, so is
he telling the full truth? Because if he had any
(39:13):
kind of romantic feelings for this woman for his teacher,
he likely does not want to see her go down
the same way Billy beloved it. So it is one
hundred percent possible that this abuse was much more extensive
and ongoing than police realize.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Is she out on bond?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yes, she is two daughter, Sherry Schwartz joining US forensics psychologists.
You know, if this were reversed and the alleged abuse
or was a man and the victim was a fifteen
year old little girl, he would be under the jail.
Speaker 16 (39:49):
Why the difference, Well, the difference is because there's a
stereotype that because this is a teenage boy, that this
is their fantasy. So somehow it's not as c or
troubling a crime when it's an older woman with a
teenage boy, especially a pretty older woman.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
But this is false.
Speaker 16 (40:09):
We know that the harm is the same regardless. This
is a minor child. She had an obligation to behave
ethically and adhere to boundaries. She never should have crossed
a boundary.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You know, Lady Justice is blind for a reason. Crossing
boundaries yes, unethical yes, But as a former prosecutor of
violent felonies, it's not just crossing boundaries. It's not just
an ethical This is a crime. Lady Justice does not
(40:42):
make a note of whether the victim is a little
boy or a little girl, or whether the defendant is
a stereotypical child molester stalking a playground and a trench
code and a pair of socks, or a pretty young
special ed teacher age thirty the defendant the alleged victim fifteen.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Let's think about that.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
We stopped to remember an American hero Detective Clarence of Backcoms,
Palm Beach County Sheriffs Detective Backhroms Us Marine Corpvette twenty
six years of law enforcement, survived by wife Becky, children
Kathy Clarence, Dennis, Cammy and Kelly. American hero Detective Clarence
(41:31):
Backcrooms Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.