Beyond the Monsters

Shavon was just 11 years old when she woke up to find her mother and her mother’s ex-boyfriend dead after a murder-suicide that unfolded while she slept in the next room. She shares the trauma of discovering the scene, the warning signs she now recognizes as an adult, and how losing her mother shaped every stage of her life. 

Shavon and Chell discuss domestic violence, intimate partner homicide, childhood trauma, grie...

Angela Harger Thompson moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dreams, but soon after arriving, she was drugged, SAed, and strangled by a Hollywood producer who had offered her a job. Although she immediately reported the assault, underwent a forensic exam, and fully cooperated with law enforcement, prosecutors declined to file charges, leaving her to navigate the aftermath of SA, trauma, and a criminal justice system that offere...

Brandi Morey-Pols shares the story of her six-year-old son, Rowan, who was murdered by his biological father just days before a custody hearing that she hoped would finally bring him to safety. She recounts years of coercive control, stalking, emotional abuse, repeated warnings that went unheard, and the devastating failures of multiple systems that left Rowan unprotected despite mounting evidence and escalating concerns.

Brandi...

Marta Barreto shares her story of surviving childhood sexual abuse, sex trafficking, addiction, incarceration, and years of being blamed, disbelieved, and left without the protection she needed. She opens up about being harmed by family members beginning at nine years old, turning to methamphetamine to cope, serving in the United States Navy, losing her military career after becoming addicted to cocaine, and later being trafficked ...

Greg Kelley was a standout high school football player with a full scholarship, dreams of playing in the NFL, and what appeared to be a bright future ahead of him. At just 18 years old, everything changed when he was falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting a child, despite the absence of physical evidence. Greg shares the devastating reality of losing his freedom, spending years in a Texas maximum-security p...

Dasan "DJ" Jones was just 15 years old when he was murdered inside his own home by the man he had called dad for nearly a decade. His mother, Latrice, shares the devastating story of trying to escape an emotionally abusive marriage marked by stalking, surveillance, coercive control, and repeated failures by the courts to provide protection. In the aftermath of DJ's death, Latrice was left to navigate overwhelming grief while raisin...

Former Avalon members Michael Passons and Melissa Greene alongside country music artist Ty Herndon share the story behind their powerful re-recording of Testify to Love and the deeply personal journey that led them back to a song that now carries an entirely new meaning. Michael opens up about being removed from Avalon because he was gay, the years of silence and healing that followed, and what it meant to finally reclaim his voice...

Dawn Simmons and her daughter Katie DeRouen share the unimaginable story of losing Dawn's three children, Lindy, Christopher, and Kamryn, in a head-on crash caused by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the interstate just days before Christmas. Dawn survived the collision with life-threatening injuries, while Lindy, Christopher, and Kamryn were killed, forever changing the lives of everyone who loved them. Together, they recount...

Chloe spent years carrying the trauma of a SA she never spoke about, burying the experience for nearly five years before PTSD, flashbacks, and overwhelming anxiety forced her to confront what happened. As she worked through therapy, marriage struggles, and the lasting impact of trauma, she found herself raising her husband’s young niece, Olivia, after the child was removed from her biological parents' care. What began as a te...

JaHana Holloway spent much of her life searching for love while carrying deep wounds from childhood trauma, abandonment, SA, and years of believing her worth depended on what she could give to other people. Those experiences shaped the relationships she chose and eventually led her into a marriage marked by infidelity, manipulation, emotional abuse, gaslighting, and the devastating reality of narcissistic abuse. She shares how grow...

Attorney JoDee Neil spent years prosecuting crimes against children while carrying the truth about what she had survived herself. After hearing thousands of outcries from survivors throughout her career, she finally shared her own story and began writing Outcry Witness, a book focused on trauma, sexual violence, and the process of becoming “unfrozen” after years of silence. She opens up about working child abuse cases, ...

Summer grew up in a severe hoarder home (level 5) where rooms became inaccessible, utilities stopped working, and over 30 animals lived in extreme neglect inside the house. Behind the scenes, she was dealing with chronic bullying, isolation, domestic violence, emotional abuse, and the impossible pressure of protecting her family while trying to survive her own childhood. She opens up about what it was really like going to scho...

In this follow-up to episode 18, Sarah is joined by her stepdaughter Avery more than 20 years after Avery’s mother was murdered when she was just five months old. After spending most of their lives carrying the weight of the case, they received the call that the execution date had finally been set for the man responsible. Sarah and Avery share what it was like preparing for the execution, traveling to Texas together, and walk...

Darlene Lekowski was sexually abused by two of her older brothers beginning at just 7 years old, carrying the trauma in silence for more than five decades while building a life that looked perfect from the outside. She shares the long-term reality of sibling sexual abuse, PTSD, perfectionism, fear of abandonment, and what happens when trauma is buried instead of healed. After finally confronting one of her brothers, he responded by...

Hope’s estranged husband murdered their two young children in an act of filicide after being granted unsupervised custody, despite clear warning signs of instability, prior abuse, and escalating mental health concerns. Just before their deaths, he made suicidal and homicidal statements, was hospitalized, and still walked out of court with 50/50 custody. Hope’s story exposes the reality of how quickly systems can fail, h...

Jess Patz was 18 when she entered an abusive relationship that quickly escalated from love bombing into domestic violence, coercive control, and manipulation. The first physical assault happened during her first pregnancy, followed by years of emotional abuse, gaslighting, sexual assault, and financial control that caused her to question her own reality. She breaks down what intimate partner violence actually looks like behind clos...

Sean Tobias Ambriz joined the Army at 18 and was deployed to Afghanistan early in his military career, where he was unexpectedly assigned as a combat medic in an active war zone. With accelerated training, he was responsible for treating wounded soldiers during intense firefights, navigating Taliban ambushes, sniper fire, and life-or-death decisions in the mountains.

He describes being surrounded during combat, running toward gu...

Jori lost her fiancé to an overdose after trying to save him from a hidden addiction to pills that began before they met. Kyle came into her life on New Year’s Eve and quickly became someone she saw a future with, outgoing, magnetic, and deeply loved by everyone around him. As their relationship grew, so did the life they were building together, but behind it, he was quietly battling a pill addiction. It quickly turned into t...

Tressa was 21 years old when she attended a company party expecting a normal night with coworkers. Within minutes of taking a shot, she began to lose control of her body. She was drugged, taken out of the bar, carried to an apartment, and left alone with a man she had never met. What followed was hours of rape and violent assault that resulted in severe, permanent physical injuries and long-term medical complications that still imp...