0:00

Hi Ben, my name is Kendra and my

0:02

secret is that my partner and I lived

0:04

an entire secret life as drug addicts and

0:07

dealers. We should have ended up in prison,

0:09

but instead the chaos led to a life-changing

0:11

moment in the dead of night. No one

0:13

knows our secret past, but I'm ready to

0:15

tell you all about it. Today the secret

0:17

room presents, the lie that became true. Somehow

0:31

he was still walking and he

0:33

gets back up. He was on

0:35

foot. He was on foot, yes.

0:37

And she ran him down. Yes,

0:40

and she ran him down

0:42

and did not think twice

0:44

about it. She was crazy.

0:56

Kendra originally joined me to tell

0:59

us about the depths of a drug addiction that

1:01

no one in her current life knows about. It

1:03

was really bad. She got into a lot

1:05

of shady situations, and she and her

1:07

partner narrowly escaped death and avoided prison.

1:09

It's a riveting story, for sure. But

1:11

while she was telling it to me, another,

1:14

perhaps bigger secret emerged. And that's what I

1:16

want you to listen for today. It's a

1:18

profound secret which tested the love of her

1:20

partner. And I wonder which you think had

1:23

a greater chance of upending Kendra's entire

1:25

world. Let's entire world. It's

1:28

weird and I'm trying to keep it

1:31

all straight in my head because there

1:33

was so much that happened. I just

1:35

never really talk about it. We're

1:37

gonna go through it. All right, I'm ready.

1:40

Okay. Hi Kendra and welcome

1:42

to the Secret Room. Hi Ben, thanks

1:44

for having me. You're welcome.

1:46

I really appreciate you coming

1:48

in to share your secret,

1:50

which sounds really intense. Yeah, it

1:52

was a crazy time, so thank you

1:54

for having me. So my first

1:57

question is... How would someone that you

1:59

meet today? Describe what they

2:01

see as your life and family?

2:04

Oh boy, they would definitely describe

2:06

me as super sweet, very nice,

2:08

extremely outgoing, and my kids are

2:11

like two perfect little girls, so

2:13

kind of that little happy family,

2:16

and we do well, we've got

2:18

a nice little house, and the

2:20

kids are good, so they would

2:23

probably think we kind of got

2:25

it all going on a little

2:27

bit. Got that white picket fence

2:30

going? Got that white picket fence

2:32

going. That's great. Yeah. And what

2:35

do you do for a living?

2:37

I sell cars at one of

2:39

the world's largest dealerships. Okay, and

2:42

how about your partner? Eric. So

2:44

he's in the construction world. Your

2:47

secret is that you used to

2:49

be quite a different person, as

2:51

did Eric, living quite different lives.

2:53

Absolutely. We were completely different people.

2:56

I never thought that we would

2:58

ever be who we are today,

3:00

honestly. What kind of people were

3:03

you? Not the best of ones.

3:05

We were very heavy into the

3:07

drug world and that was our

3:10

whole life. We had a couple,

3:12

like, little oddball jobs here and

3:14

there, but... you know, when you're

3:16

chasing the drug, it's kind of

3:19

hard to keep a job. So

3:21

we were in and out of

3:23

jobs and now we both put

3:26

so much time and work into

3:28

our jobs and our career paths

3:30

and so it's very opposite of

3:33

what it used to be. Over

3:35

the course of the interview, you're

3:37

going to lift the veil on

3:39

your secret life that you used

3:42

to live. Yes, that's right. Can

3:44

you take us to where your

3:46

story starts? Yeah, so I've got

3:49

bright red hair, so I've kind

3:51

of got that fiery spirit in

3:53

me. So I've always kind of

3:55

been a little bit rebellious, I

3:58

guess, always had to kind of

4:00

push that line, but my parents

4:02

ended up splitting up getting divorced

4:05

and my three, or the three

4:07

youngest kids myself and two of

4:09

my other sisters moved over to

4:12

Montana. And so it was. That

4:14

was really hard and I took

4:16

that really hard not being around

4:18

my dad. And so I was

4:21

just extremely rebellious and pushing the

4:23

line on everything. How did you

4:25

act out? Really anything I picked

4:28

on my sisters constantly. I got

4:30

soap in the mouth a lot

4:32

as a kid. Yeah, I had

4:35

quite the mouth and then my

4:37

grandma's favorite thing to say is

4:39

that if looks could kill. mine

4:41

would have because mine was constant,

4:44

just pouty face, angry face. And

4:46

if I got told to do

4:48

something, I would do the complete

4:51

opposite. When I was in sixth

4:53

grade, I ended up getting kicked

4:55

out of school for piercing girls'

4:57

ears on the playground. And then

5:00

I had to do community service

5:02

in sixth grade also for doing

5:04

graffiti on the walls in the

5:07

bathroom. So I was. pushing it

5:09

as much as I could, school

5:11

and home. How was your attendance?

5:14

Actually, my attendance was really good.

5:16

I was always there. I had

5:18

great attendance. I actually had a

5:20

couple of teachers that really liked

5:23

me. And so they would kind

5:25

of pull me aside and be

5:27

like, Kendra, come on. Bull it

5:30

together. Come on now. And so

5:32

they really fought for me. Well,

5:34

that's great. I'm glad you had

5:37

good support. Yes. Yep. So you

5:39

were a bit of a handful.

5:41

I was. How was life at

5:43

home? My mom was amazing. I

5:46

cannot say enough good things about

5:48

her. She would have done anything

5:50

for us kids and there's five

5:53

of us total. but the two

5:55

oldest ones are quite a bit

5:57

older than us bottom three ones.

5:59

And so they were out of

6:02

the house, but my mom, she

6:04

wouldn't even date or anything when

6:06

we were still at the house

6:09

because she didn't want anything to

6:11

take her away from her kids

6:13

in her time. So she was

6:16

all about us. And she went

6:18

to school full time, worked full

6:20

time, and was a full time

6:22

single parent. So she did it

6:25

all. And despite everything she did

6:27

for you did for you, things

6:29

still went awry. I was really

6:31

angry. Yeah, I was really really

6:33

angry and I could not understand

6:36

why my dad wasn't around and

6:38

I was so angry about that

6:40

and I my grandpa on my

6:43

mom's side and her oldest brother

6:45

filled in as best they could.

6:47

They were so good to us

6:49

kids and they even went to

6:52

like the father-daughter stuff at school,

6:54

but I think sometimes you just

6:56

want your dad. you know, sure,

6:59

of course, and that was hard.

7:01

How often did you see your

7:03

dad? Not much. I think I

7:05

saw him once when he remarried

7:07

and we went on a trip

7:10

kind of cross-state and a RV

7:12

and then I think once or

7:14

twice and maybe like a six-year

7:17

span, so not a tremendous amount.

7:19

And then he And his wife moved

7:21

over here a few years ago and

7:23

they were here for about a year,

7:26

I think maybe two, and then they

7:28

moved back cross date. So we, I

7:30

have not seen them a tremendous amount.

7:32

I see. So it wasn't a

7:34

shared custody situation? You weren't?

7:36

Not at all. Seeing him every

7:38

weekend? No, not at all. Okay. Well,

7:41

it must have been very hard.

7:43

It was. Yeah. Yeah. Then you met

7:45

your partner pretty early in life, right?

7:47

I did. Yep. Yep. We were just little

7:49

babies. Can you tell me about the

7:52

first time you laid eyes on him? Oh

7:54

yeah, that was kind of a funny

7:56

one. I was actually kind of seeing

7:58

his friend that was like his best

8:00

friend at the time. And Eric walked

8:02

through the door to come see his

8:05

best friend and hang out. And I

8:07

saw him and I could have cared

8:09

less about his friend after that. I

8:12

was pretty hot. Yep, that was it.

8:14

When he first walked in that day,

8:16

he actually walked in with. a big

8:19

huge bag of weed. And so that

8:21

was another thing that kind of drew

8:23

me to him because I'm like, oh,

8:26

I'm rebellious, you know, and here he

8:28

is, like a bad boy and I

8:30

liked that. And so that's how he

8:33

kind of started talking. Had you had

8:35

weed before? Yeah, that started kind of

8:37

early, so. All right. But yeah, so

8:40

he. came in we were hanging out

8:42

and he was super introverted and so

8:44

I didn't know that he really liked

8:47

me at all but I was just

8:49

fascinated with him and I couldn't I

8:51

kept trying to talk to him but

8:54

because he's so shy he wasn't really

8:56

responding a whole bunch to me so

8:58

I didn't know if he even liked

9:01

me and then I had a friend

9:03

that said that we could get what

9:05

we called it the time bombs they

9:08

were ecstasy pills and so we went

9:10

it was myself my really good gal

9:12

friend and then Eric and his best

9:15

friend that I was kind of seeing

9:17

at the time. And we went to

9:19

go pick them up from my friend

9:22

and she ended up ripping us off.

9:24

And so she took off with the

9:26

money and gave us Cyricwill, which is

9:29

just like a sleeping pill. And I

9:31

felt so bad. I was like, oh

9:33

my goodness, I am so sorry. Like,

9:36

even if I have to panhandle, like,

9:38

I will get that money back for

9:40

you. I promise, like, here's my number.

9:43

I would never intentionally do that to

9:45

somebody. And so he texted me the

9:47

next day and asked if I wanted

9:50

to hang out and I said yes,

9:52

but I had. called my best friend

9:54

that was with me the night prior

9:57

and told her that I was nervous.

9:59

I thought he was going to have

10:01

someone there to beat me up. Oh

10:04

no. That was a pretty slow... way

10:06

to get him your number though. Yeah

10:08

it was. I did not want to

10:11

lose contact. But you went you went

10:13

to see him anyway even though you

10:15

were afraid this was a retribution situation.

10:18

I did and normally I would not

10:20

have I would have just been done

10:22

and been like nope sorry sucks to

10:25

suck you know but that's part of

10:27

the game we're in. And I did

10:29

want to pay him back. I really

10:32

did. Like I did not plan on

10:34

not paying him back. So I truly

10:36

met on getting him that money, even

10:39

if it took me a little bit.

10:41

And so he came and picked me

10:43

up and he asked if I wanted

10:45

to go swimming. And I said, sure.

10:48

And still thinking that someone was going

10:50

to be waiting there for me. Oh

10:52

my gosh, she must have been so

10:55

nervous waiting for the other shoe to

10:57

drop. I was so nervous I even

10:59

had a code with my friend that

11:02

like if you don't hear from me

11:04

by this time I need you to

11:06

come down here. So what happened? We

11:09

went swimming. That's it. That was it

11:11

and literally did not separate from then.

11:13

So that sounds like a nice first

11:16

date. It was actually it was super

11:18

nice and he was absolutely a gentleman.

11:20

just so kind and so sweet and

11:23

the crowd I had been hanging out

11:25

with prior to that was not really

11:27

that way so it was it just

11:30

got me hooked even further. So you

11:32

guys were pretty much locked at the

11:34

hip from then on? Every single day.

11:37

Yep. True love. Yep. It really was.

11:39

I mean we were really made for

11:41

each other and you're still together today.

11:44

Yep. We are with two babies. How

11:46

many years ago was that? That was

11:48

about 13 years ago, 14. So you

11:51

guys had an adventure together? We did.

11:53

Yeah, we've had quite the adventure, yes.

11:55

Did you ever get his money back

11:58

to him? No. He kind of wrote

12:00

it off after that. Little did I

12:02

know that he was actually really into

12:05

me as well. He's just, it's his

12:07

personality and the way he is. He's

12:09

just not like super open about that

12:12

stuff, whereas I am. So I had

12:14

no idea that he walked in that

12:16

room and just thought I was beautiful

12:19

and wanted to hang out with me

12:21

too. So he did not care about

12:23

the money. That was the last thing

12:26

he was thinking. Yeah, he didn't care

12:28

about the money. It's like this number

12:30

is worth way more than $100. Yep.

12:33

That is exactly what he thought. And

12:35

I didn't know that until later on.

12:37

I even asked him at one point.

12:40

I said, did you even notice me

12:42

in that room? I do you remember

12:44

me in there hardly? And he was

12:47

like, oh yeah. He goes the second

12:49

I saw you. I was very thought

12:51

you were just beautiful. Yeah, it was

12:54

super sweet. So did you guys end

12:56

up moving in together? Not right away.

12:58

We were still minors. And so we

13:01

we spent like every day together. but

13:03

we didn't live together for the first

13:05

couple years and then about three or

13:08

four months after we started dating he

13:10

was actually in a really really bad

13:12

car accident and almost lost his entire

13:15

arm like it's called a deep gloving

13:17

if you've ever heard of that before

13:19

so he was driving and crashed and

13:22

it was on Halloween and his arm

13:24

went out the window so every time

13:26

the car flipped his arm was out

13:28

so they had to. put all like

13:31

pretty much a brand new arm new

13:33

collarbone fingers all the all the things

13:35

on him so he was actually in

13:38

the hospital for a good bit and

13:40

then he had to go home and

13:42

kind of be homebound for a little

13:45

while while he recovered. He must have

13:47

been so scared. Oh yeah it was

13:49

It was really crazy and the hospital

13:52

that he initially got taken to did

13:54

not think that his arm would even

13:56

make it and so they were going

13:59

to amputate and I was so mad

14:01

at him because he was supposed to

14:03

pick me up that morning to take

14:06

me to go meet his family for

14:08

the first time and he never

14:10

showed up, didn't answer my calls,

14:12

didn't answer my text. Because

14:15

he'd been in an accident and

14:17

I didn't know. And so... He

14:19

finally calls me that evening, and I'm

14:21

like, what happened to you? Like, where

14:23

are you? What is going on? And

14:26

he goes, oh, I was just kind

14:28

of in a little accident. And I

14:30

was like, oh, OK, well, are you

14:32

all right? And he's like, yeah, I'm

14:34

fine. And I was like, OK, well,

14:37

are you like home now? And he

14:39

goes, no, I think they're going

14:41

to amputate my arm. So I

14:43

don't going home for a home

14:45

for a while. He was on a

14:47

lot of medication at that time, so

14:49

he was pretty out of it when he

14:51

was first talking to me, which is

14:53

why he was so calm about it.

14:56

A surgeon at a different hospital had

14:58

heard about him and said, nope, you're

15:00

not amputating his arm, he's too young,

15:02

transfer him over here, I'll take care

15:04

of him. And so he transferred him

15:07

over there and fixed him up and

15:09

he still got some mobility issues with

15:11

it, but you wouldn't even hardly

15:13

know unless he told you. Oh yeah,

15:15

it was crazy. It was really crazy.

15:18

He is, he was very, very

15:20

lucky. Obviously you guys move in

15:22

together. Is that after you

15:24

graduate from high school? Yeah, yep.

15:26

I tested out everything that I

15:29

possibly could to graduate early and

15:31

we were pretty heavy in the

15:33

drug world at this time. Was

15:35

your mama where you were into

15:37

drugs? Yeah, she knew she did

15:39

not know how badly I was

15:41

into it. I think she just

15:43

thought I was kind of smoking

15:46

weed later on she knew but

15:48

while I was in high school

15:50

I don't think she knew how

15:52

bad it had gotten or I

15:54

think she was just trying not

15:56

to I think she was trying to

15:58

chalk it up to teen teenagers,

16:00

being teenagers and kind of experimenting,

16:02

I don't think she really knew

16:04

how bad it was or how

16:06

bad it would get. Wow. And

16:08

so you said in your secret

16:10

to me that after you guys

16:13

moved in together, some shady people

16:15

would tend to come over to

16:17

your house. Oh yeah. Can you

16:19

tell me about who on earth

16:21

you were inviting over to your

16:23

house? It was so shady. Kendra

16:27

details what would become of

16:29

her secret life and ahead,

16:31

how a profound lie that

16:33

becomes true would change everything.

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notes. We had quite a few

18:29

people that could come over on

18:31

the regular and then we would

18:33

go to their house quite a

18:35

bit, but our house was

18:37

definitely kind of a drug

18:39

house. We had one gentleman,

18:41

so he was the brother of

18:43

the guy that I was originally

18:45

seeing when I met Eric. Eric

18:48

had been really emmeshed in

18:50

that family and close with

18:52

all the siblings, and he

18:54

was actually on the run.

18:56

and was hanging out at our

18:58

house. What was he wanted for?

19:00

My guess is probably drugs at

19:03

that point. He had so many

19:05

charges and was constantly in and

19:07

out of jail and 99% of

19:10

them was for drug and crossing

19:12

state lines where we live, we're

19:14

really close to two borders. And

19:17

so it's really easy to go

19:19

cross borders into these bigger cities

19:22

and get drugs for cheaper, bring

19:24

them back. sell them in our

19:26

little bit smaller of a community.

19:29

And so he got like trafficking

19:31

cross state lines several times.

19:33

He's hiding out of your house.

19:35

Did that make you nervous at all?

19:38

No. I didn't care as long as he

19:40

brought drugs with him. I could have

19:42

cared less. So you and Eric are

19:44

using together on the regular every day

19:46

full time. And at that point, we

19:48

were IV users. So it was really

19:50

bad because you you need more at

19:52

that point. So anything we could to

19:54

get more and if that meant having

19:56

people hang out at our house in

19:58

order to get more... and that was

20:01

fine. We were okay with that.

20:03

And so be it. Then so be

20:05

it. As long as you brought something.

20:07

You could hang out at our

20:09

house. So he's on the run. Did

20:12

the cops ever come around and pick

20:14

him up? So at one point

20:16

they did eventually get him, but... So

20:18

he had an ex-girlfriend. They were kind

20:21

of on and off and they

20:23

had a daughter together and she knew

20:25

where our house was and so she

20:27

and him had gotten into a

20:29

fight and she called the bounty hunters

20:32

and told them where our house was.

20:34

What? And yeah, she did. She

20:36

was mad at him and told him,

20:38

oh, he's at this. house right here

20:41

and gave him the directions. Well,

20:43

she gave him the wrong address. She

20:45

gave them the house across the street

20:47

from us. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

20:49

So I look out the window and

20:52

I'm like, what in the world? Why

20:54

is there a guy standing at

20:56

the end of our yard? Like, that's

20:58

really weird because we had a stop

21:01

sign like right at the end

21:03

of our yard. But they're looking at

21:05

the other house. He's standing at our

21:07

stop sign watching the house across

21:09

the street from us and which is

21:12

just this sweet little family that you

21:14

know probably had no idea what

21:16

was happening and it's nighttime but I

21:18

see him out there and of course

21:21

you know I'm fiery and so

21:23

I'm like well I'm gonna go ask

21:25

him what the heck he's doing so

21:27

I go walking out there and

21:29

I'm like hey what are you doing

21:32

in my yard what can I help

21:34

you with and he's like pretty

21:36

much brushed me off like leave me

21:39

alone I'm not talking to you. You

21:41

had no idea who they were.

21:43

I did not at the time. Just

21:45

saw these guys loitering and you saw,

21:48

thought you'd take matters in your

21:50

own hands. Yes, exactly. I'm like, why

21:52

are these people standing in my yard?

21:54

Like, I want to know, that's

21:56

my property. Why the heck are you

21:59

here? Your neighborhood watch. Neighborhood watch, exactly.

22:01

Little did they know I was

22:03

the problem. Yeah, and told me to

22:05

kick rocks pretty much. And he kind

22:08

of walked down the road a

22:10

little bit more. And I noticed that

22:12

there was some more people. And they

22:14

were kind of wandering around. They

22:16

even had a dog and stuff with

22:19

them. It was really weird, but they

22:21

had a gun. But where I

22:23

live, that's really common for people to.

22:25

Carry and so and they weren't in

22:28

any form of police uniforms I

22:30

don't think bounty hunters technically are cops

22:32

So I don't know that they have

22:34

uniforms, but they were in street

22:36

clothes And so I was still trying

22:39

to figure out what in the heck

22:41

and finally Eric goes outside and is

22:43

like hey man, can I help

22:45

you find somebody or you need some

22:48

help at all and And I can't

22:50

remember, I think he had asked

22:52

him, like, oh, we're just kind of

22:54

looking for somebody or, you know, if

22:57

you see anything weird, you know,

22:59

let me know. And Eric was like,

23:01

okay, yeah, I'll let you know. So

23:03

are you starting to get a

23:05

clue that maybe they're really looking for

23:08

your house guest? No, I was totally

23:10

oblivious to it. Eric wasn't. He

23:12

knew exactly what was going on. That's

23:15

why he went out. Yeah, when I

23:17

came back in and told him

23:19

and he saw what was happening, he

23:21

is, he is so sharp. I don't

23:24

know, he's so smart. And so

23:26

he just sees the stuff and I

23:28

was so oblivious to so much and

23:30

he would tell me after the

23:32

fact like what was going on. I'm

23:35

like, oh, you're right, that does make

23:37

sense. So he knew he caught

23:39

on pretty quick. our friend was actually

23:41

hopping out our back window and was

23:44

long gone by the time Eric

23:46

came back in the house. So Eric

23:48

told your friend that these guys were

23:50

out there and they were probably

23:52

looking for him? Yep. Wow, so he

23:55

high-tailed it out of there and got

23:57

away. Yep, he high-tailed it out

23:59

of there, which is just crazy because

24:01

they were all over the road, but

24:04

he went out in the back

24:06

window and jumped our back fence and

24:08

was gone. And please don't tell me

24:10

that anything happened to the poor

24:12

family that was in the house being

24:15

sur- I think they were maybe a

24:17

little bit traumatized because I don't

24:19

know exactly what happened once I realized

24:21

who they were and I knew I

24:24

had paraphernalia and everything in the

24:26

house. I did get a little bit

24:28

nervous once Eric kind of told me

24:30

like who they were or that

24:32

he was pretty sure who they were

24:35

and I do know that they had

24:37

dogs like sniffing underneath the cars

24:39

and they were walking the outside of

24:41

the house kind of peeking through windows

24:44

a little bit. So I don't

24:46

know if they ended up seeing anybody

24:48

like if the owners did or if

24:51

they were like who were these

24:53

weird people. you know, coming around my

24:55

house, but I do know eventually they

24:57

did leave, and I didn't see

24:59

any sort of conversation between the bounty

25:02

hunters and the owners of the house

25:04

at all. Talking about, you know,

25:06

guns being in the mix and all

25:08

these people circling the poor innocent family's

25:11

house. I know, I know. It's

25:13

so sad. So I guess that was

25:15

the end of the relationship of your

25:17

house guest with his girlfriend. No,

25:19

they ended up getting back together again

25:22

after that, probably four more times. Yeah.

25:24

So did the bounty hunters ever

25:26

catch up with your houseguess slash drug

25:28

dealer? Yeah, they did. Oh yeah, they

25:31

got him. Yeah, so he ended

25:33

up driving around with the girlfriend, like

25:35

several weeks later, and he was wearing

25:37

a wig with dreadlocks, like really

25:39

long dreadlocks, and put in a grill

25:42

with like gold teeth. So I was

25:44

trying to... He went underground. Yeah,

25:46

he was trying to be sneaky and

25:48

it was really obvious and then they

25:51

knew who she was because she'd

25:53

already been in contact and met up

25:55

with them. And so when they saw

25:57

clearly somebody disguised in a vehicle

25:59

with the person that told them that

26:02

she associates with him and is in

26:04

a relationship with him, I mean,

26:06

I think it was pretty, it wasn't

26:08

too hard for them to figure out

26:11

that that was him. Wow, so

26:13

they got him. They did. Yep. Did

26:15

he end up going to jail? to

26:17

go visit him after he got

26:20

caught and we went to go visit

26:22

him and I actually knew something was

26:24

up when we got there. really

26:26

holding on to our IDs a long

26:29

time and being kind of weird and

26:31

I was like, that's kind of

26:33

odd. But she handed him back to

26:35

us and told us we could start

26:38

our visit with him. So I

26:40

was like, oh, okay, you know, maybe

26:42

I just was overthinking it or whatever.

26:44

So we go in, we have our

26:47

visit and Eric being very observant,

26:49

kind of notice that people were clearing

26:51

out pretty quick. And he was like,

26:53

it's kind of odd. And he

26:55

even said to our friend, like, is

26:58

it just me or is it getting

27:00

kind of quiet in here? And

27:02

his friend was like, oh, great. Yeah,

27:04

no, it's kind of quiet. So we

27:07

knew something was up. And then

27:09

our visit time was over and we

27:11

go to walk out the door and

27:13

the door's locked. And we're like,

27:15

what the heck? Why is this door

27:18

locked? officer that was on the other

27:20

side. I said, hey, can you

27:22

open the store? And he said, hang

27:24

on one second. And I was like,

27:27

hey, I need to go. Like,

27:29

can you open up the door here?

27:31

And he was like, no, hang on

27:33

one second. And the next thing

27:35

I know, the cops are swarming the

27:38

outside the door. And they were telling

27:40

Eric, we're going to come in

27:42

and arrest you, don't fight us, don't

27:44

freak out, you know, don't do anything.

27:47

We're going to put you in

27:49

handcuffs. And we had no idea that

27:51

he even had a warrant out for

27:53

his arrest at that time. And

27:56

so they made a huge deal about

27:58

it and arrested him. Yeah. Wow,

28:00

no offense, but that scene is just

28:03

made for a dumb criminals reality show,

28:05

right? A hundred percent. You've got a

28:07

warrant out for your arrest, not you,

28:10

Eric, and he walks into a jail,

28:12

gives him an ID, walks into his

28:14

locked room. Yep. And of course they

28:17

arrest him right there. Oh my gosh.

28:19

What was it for? The warrant. Several

28:21

months prior to that, he had been

28:23

pulled over and got a ticket for

28:26

having no proof of insurance. And they

28:28

told him like, hey, it's not a

28:30

big deal. I'll just go in and

28:33

show your proof of insurance before this

28:35

date. And he was like, okay, because

28:37

we had insurance on the car. Well,

28:40

totally space it because we were focused

28:42

on other things. And so he never

28:44

went in to show them and they

28:47

issued a misdemeanor warrant or something like

28:49

that. He was out the very next

28:51

day. He was only there for one

28:53

night. That's a pretty rough arrest for

28:56

not having insurance. That's what I said.

28:58

Yes, it was so crazy. I'm like,

29:00

that is so minor. Of all the

29:03

things to arrest somebody for, because I

29:05

was freaking out, I was hysterical when

29:07

it was happening. And I'm like, what

29:10

are you arresting him for? Like, what's

29:12

going on? We'll come to find out.

29:14

It was so minor. It was insane.

29:17

So he literally had one day to

29:19

serve and that was it. And then

29:21

it was done. I mean, did he

29:23

have priors? Maybe that's what they were

29:26

reacting. I'm sure that was part of

29:28

it. Nothing violent. He is a very,

29:30

very soft, gentle human. You know what

29:33

I mean? He could not hurt a

29:35

fly. And people out here are really

29:37

into hunting. That's a big thing. And

29:40

he doesn't even do the hunting because

29:42

he doesn't like to kill animals. So

29:44

you bailed him out the next day?

29:47

Yeah. Well, he only had like a

29:49

day to serve for it. Anyways, I

29:51

don't remember we were in the courthouse

29:53

so many times for so much stuff

29:56

that I don't really remember I think

29:58

I paid a hundred bucks to bail

30:00

them out and then I think they

30:03

ended up just giving him some community

30:05

service or something for it. It was

30:07

very minute. It was so minimal. Well,

30:10

you got out of that scrape? Yes.

30:12

Were there other times that you got

30:14

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30:17

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30:19

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31:59

we're back? So we were driving down

32:02

the road and we had just got

32:04

a new bong at the store so

32:06

we were pretty excited about it. We

32:08

wanted to use it and what did

32:11

they say christen it or you know

32:13

whatever? So we went for a drive,

32:15

which is really silly because we had

32:18

a house we could have just stayed

32:20

at, but we decided we were going

32:22

to go for a drive around town

32:25

and we're pulling up to a stop

32:27

light and I saw a motorcycle cop

32:29

pulling up and I was like, oh,

32:32

Eric, put that down, like, put it

32:34

down, don't. do anything. And he was

32:36

already mid- inhale and so he blows

32:39

it out the window into the cop's

32:41

face and turns around and looks at

32:43

me and says, what did you say?

32:46

Like he needed to be told. Well

32:48

I guess he did need to be

32:50

told. He did, I guess. He blew

32:52

a puff of marijuana smoke into a

32:55

cop's face? He did. Yep. His face

32:57

was pretty funny. He just looked at

32:59

us like, are you stupid? What are

33:02

you doing? So he just gave the

33:04

finger, like, you know, like, whoop, and

33:06

was like, go over to the parking

33:09

lot. So we pull over to the

33:11

parking lot and I thought I would

33:13

try and hide it in my. shoe

33:16

somehow and that was silly and of

33:18

course it fell out because it was

33:20

way too big for me to even

33:23

try and hide in my shoe and

33:25

so it fell out in front of

33:27

him and we had just brought this

33:29

little bowl with us. So just like

33:32

a little tiny little bit of weed

33:34

in the car with us. So we'd

33:36

actually smoked it also. Really all that

33:39

we had was just the residue that

33:41

was left in it. And so he

33:43

saw that and he asked us like,

33:46

do you have anything else? And I

33:48

was like, no, we don't have anything.

33:50

And he was really cool. Super super,

33:53

super nice guy. think he was just

33:55

like they're just dumb kids you know

33:57

what I mean so he was very

34:00

good to us and he just wrote

34:02

us like a couple of citations and

34:04

then said we weren't allowed to drive

34:06

home yeah so how did you get

34:09

home we had to call my mom

34:11

and that was really embarrassing she was

34:13

really mortified yeah what did she have

34:16

to say you know my mom is

34:18

a a really soft person, you know

34:20

what I mean? And she's very soft-spoken

34:23

and, you know, just this cute little

34:25

Christian lady. And so I have never

34:27

seen her cuss before, and that was

34:30

the first time I'd ever heard her

34:32

cuss at me. She had a few

34:34

choice words for us, and... took us

34:37

home and was like I don't know

34:39

what you were thinking why would you

34:41

do that what if you hurt somebody

34:44

what if you you know all the

34:46

scenarios the parents run through so we

34:48

got the lecture for sure did most

34:50

of your law enforcement encounters have to

34:53

do with drug use yeah pretty much

34:55

every single one of them and I

34:57

don't know what it is but I

35:00

never got in trouble like hardly at

35:02

all They never really messed with me

35:04

ever. They would Eric and then anyone

35:07

else that was with us, even other

35:09

gals, but never would they ever charge

35:11

me with anything. Wonder why that is?

35:14

I don't know. I'm really good with

35:16

people and I can kind of make

35:18

the best out of situations I think.

35:21

Did you have other friends that you

35:23

would corouse with? Oh yeah, so we

35:25

had another friend of ours and he

35:27

owned like this huge storage unit. And

35:30

it's one that you can store like

35:32

boats in. So you can even have

35:34

like multiple levels in it. So it

35:37

was huge. And he had like a

35:39

little nook set up there. So it

35:41

had couches, TV, heater, everything. So we

35:44

would go there and do poker nights

35:46

all the time and then just like

35:48

hang out and watch movies. A whole

35:51

bunch of us would meet up there

35:53

and we used to do quite a

35:55

bit of. and we had just bought

35:58

like, I don't even know how much

36:00

an obscene amount of mushrooms from him.

36:02

And we were leaving the storage unit

36:04

and I had the mushrooms and I

36:07

put him in my purse and we

36:09

got pulled over for not coming to

36:11

a complete stop at the stop sign.

36:14

The cop, I don't know how he

36:16

didn't smell weed on us or if

36:18

he did, he didn't say anything, which

36:21

was just crazy because he fully had

36:23

probable cause to search our vehicle and

36:25

had he done that, we would both

36:28

still probably be in prison because mushrooms

36:30

are like a tempted manslaughter. It's something

36:32

really serious like that. So we had

36:35

those in my purse and he ended

36:37

up, neither one of us had a

36:39

valid driver's license at the time. And

36:41

so he told us that we weren't

36:44

allowed to drive home and to park

36:46

the car and have somebody come and

36:48

pick us up. But he said right

36:51

before I left, he said, listen. I'm

36:53

not one of those cops that's going

36:55

to be sitting down the road waiting

36:58

for you to drive by. He goes,

37:00

but my recommendation would be to call

37:02

somebody to come pick you up. And

37:05

we were like, okay. So he was

37:07

basically telling you to drive yourselves home

37:09

if you really had to. If we

37:12

really had to, yeah. I mean, I

37:14

think he really wanted us to have

37:16

somebody come and pick us up, but

37:19

I think he also didn't want us

37:21

sitting in. kind of a weird spot

37:23

of town by ourselves for long periods

37:25

of time because we were so young.

37:28

So did you call your mom again?

37:30

No, we drove home. Poor mom. You

37:32

drove home. We drove home. Oh no.

37:35

Yeah. We waited like a half hour

37:37

and drove home. And you made it

37:39

home without incident? We did. Yes, we

37:42

did. Which was very nerve racking. That

37:44

one scared me. That was very lucky

37:46

encounter. Yes. Yes, yes it was. Did

37:49

you get mixed up with any other

37:51

dealers? Yeah, we, there was quite a

37:53

few of them. We ended up going

37:56

on a car chase one time with

37:58

some people. Yeah. Were you being chased

38:00

or you were chasing? Yeah, so we

38:02

were being chased. So we were with

38:05

a large group of friends at this

38:07

point. And we had kind of ripped

38:09

off some people in this big city

38:12

that we didn't really know. We had

38:14

no idea how connected they really were.

38:16

So it did end up being a

38:19

big problem. But we ripped them off.

38:21

Not me, the people that I was

38:23

with. And they chased us. we were

38:26

exchanging drugs for money and I think

38:28

they were buying ecstasy and so we

38:30

ended up handing them like bunk pills

38:33

and they gave us the cash and

38:35

then my buddies just took off hopped

38:37

back in the car and we took

38:39

off. I didn't know about it ahead

38:42

of time. I thought we really were

38:44

going to do an actual drug deal

38:46

because we really did have drugs on

38:49

us but I didn't realize that they

38:51

were giving them. Bunk drugs. And so

38:53

then once they realized they actually chased

38:56

us, which was crazy, and we got

38:58

in a pretty good car chase for

39:00

a little bit and ended up, they

39:03

hit the back of our car. And

39:05

so we pulled off into a parking

39:07

lot and they got out and there

39:10

was a pretty good fight that went

39:12

on between a couple of them. And

39:14

then some people started noticing and calling

39:17

the cops. And so at that point,

39:19

everybody was like, nope, so we all

39:21

took off. And then the other people

39:23

took off too. And it wasn't me

39:26

that was doing it, I was just

39:28

with them that night and they did

39:30

end up actually getting found by the

39:33

people again later on, like a couple

39:35

weeks later and got the crap beat

39:37

out of them for it. So. Wow,

39:40

how much money are we talking about?

39:42

Probably 2,500 bucks. Goodness, and are you

39:44

actually dealing? Yeah, we

39:46

did deal quite a bit, but

39:49

at that, like that particular night,

39:51

it was not me or Eric

39:53

dealing. We were just with friends

39:55

that were dealing, because it's, you

39:57

know, we used a lot. but

40:00

we also would deal to try

40:02

and get extra for us because

40:04

you can, you know, pay a

40:06

smaller amount, get a large bit,

40:08

and then sell part of it

40:11

that'll cover all of it, but

40:13

we would still get some out

40:15

of it. So we were doing

40:17

both, buying and selling. And what

40:19

were you dealing? Mostly heroin and

40:22

meth. Mostly heroin and meth. Well,

40:24

it's quite a lifestyle you've got

40:26

going. Yeah, it was pretty crazy

40:28

and then we had a friend of ours

40:30

that was a gal. She had a really

40:32

hard life. I actually felt really bad for

40:34

her. She lived over in a pretty big

40:36

state and she had been dating a gentleman

40:39

and he took a golf club to her

40:41

face. So, beat her within like an inch

40:43

of her life. That's what started her into

40:45

drug use when she was in the hospital

40:47

and having reconstructive surgeries and then she was

40:49

hooked. She just never got off of them

40:51

after she left the hospital. So she moved

40:53

up to our area and we befriended her.

40:55

She dated all the gals at the local

40:57

strip club. So we hung out with all

40:59

of them quite a bit. And then she

41:01

had one girlfriend that I became pretty good

41:03

friends with and then this particular gal. became

41:05

really kind of obsessed with Eric. It actually

41:07

caused a huge rift between Eric and I.

41:09

And she got a super large settlement when

41:12

she turned 18. So she was loaded and

41:14

she was really smart with her money. So

41:16

she was really into drugs, but she rarely

41:18

ever paid for them. She was smart about

41:20

it. So she would buy such large quantities

41:22

that it would cover all of her drug

41:24

use and then some and still make money.

41:26

Like selling them. I don't know how smart

41:28

that is, but she's being economical. She was

41:30

being economical. Yeah, probably not smart. We

41:32

got really into fentanyl

41:34

and that was really

41:36

hard to come by

41:38

and this particular gal

41:40

had a really good

41:42

hook up for it.

41:45

So we were hanging

41:47

out with her all

41:49

the time because she

41:51

had a really good

41:53

abundance of it and

41:55

we wanted it. One

41:57

night she and Eric

41:59

went to go buy

42:01

some more drugs and

42:03

the guy ended up

42:05

ripping her and Eric

42:07

off. And so Eric

42:09

was the one that

42:11

had gotten out of

42:13

the car to go

42:15

meet up and do

42:18

the drug deal. And

42:20

he saw what was

42:22

like as it was

42:24

happening. He was like,

42:26

oh crap, that was

42:28

a mistake. I shouldn't

42:30

have done that. And

42:32

so he yelled at

42:34

our friend and was

42:36

like, get him. He's

42:38

taken off with our

42:40

stuff, with our money.

42:42

And so she went,

42:44

chased him in her

42:46

car, hit him, like

42:48

ran him over. Somehow

42:51

he was still walking

42:53

and he gets back

42:55

up. He was on

42:57

foot. He was on

42:59

foot. Yes. And she

43:01

ran him down. Yes.

43:03

And she ran him

43:05

down and did not

43:07

think twice about it.

43:09

She was crazy. Good

43:11

Lord. Was he okay?

43:15

I don't enough that he

43:17

got back up, but

43:19

we never saw him again

43:21

after that, but he

43:23

got back up and took

43:25

off again into the

43:27

neighborhood. So she could not

43:29

follow him into there.

43:31

So she went and grabbed

43:33

a crowbar out of

43:35

her car and went over

43:37

and destroyed his truck

43:39

in the parking lot. Smashed

43:41

out every single window,

43:43

slashed the tires, dented every

43:45

inch of that truck,

43:47

destroyed. I mean, it probably

43:49

got totaled out. I

43:51

don't know how nobody called

43:53

the cops. The worst

43:55

part about all of it

43:57

was that Eric was

43:59

hollering at her the whole

44:01

time like, hey, I

44:03

think that's his truck. I don't think that's his

44:05

truck. Oh my God. Well it turns out it

44:07

wasn't his truck but she was seeing red and

44:09

so angry that she just destroyed it anyways. Even

44:11

after Eric was like, listen I don't think that's

44:13

his truck like stop I don't think that's his

44:15

truck we have to go we need to leave.

44:17

She did not care. How do you know it

44:19

wasn't his truck? I don't know how Eric found

44:21

out but he found out it was not

44:23

his truck. Turns that that that that guy

44:25

never even drove a vehicle vehicle

44:28

there. He had friends drop him off

44:30

and then when he took off into

44:32

the neighborhood got picked back up afterwards.

44:34

That was his plan the whole time.

44:37

So he never even drove that truck

44:39

there. Crazy. Well, I hope he didn't

44:41

sustain any injuries from getting

44:43

run over. I don't know. We never

44:45

saw him again after that. That does

44:47

not sound healthy. No. And I'm sure

44:49

she hit him at full force. So I'm

44:52

surprised that he got back up. But

44:54

yeah. So it was just really... crazy

44:56

stuff like that would happen and then

44:58

she and her girlfriend were living in

45:00

a hotel for a little while and

45:02

they ended up getting kicked out because

45:05

the hotel noticed all of the people

45:07

coming in and out and it was

45:09

pretty obvious that there was you know

45:11

drug use going on because of all

45:13

the people on and out and a

45:15

lot of us were kind of shady

45:18

looking so I think it was kind

45:20

of obvious that what was happening so

45:22

they told her she had to

45:24

get out and she had Eric

45:26

and I stand on the outside

45:28

because they were on the bottom floor

45:30

so she had Eric and I

45:32

stand outside the window by her

45:34

car and it took everything

45:36

cleared out the hotel room

45:39

everything the mini fridge the

45:41

microwave the hairdrier anything that

45:43

she could take, she took

45:45

every towel that was in

45:47

there, the coffee, coffee maker,

45:50

everything. And we helped her. I

45:52

could not believe we did that.

45:54

And I still had a pretty

45:56

good moral compass going on,

45:58

like even we weren't making the

46:01

best decisions, I did feel guilt

46:03

about it and about what we

46:05

were doing. And so that one

46:07

was a hard one for me

46:09

to stomach because it was a

46:11

smaller hotel. And so I'm like,

46:13

you know, this isn't one of

46:15

those big chain hotels, not that

46:17

it would make it any better,

46:19

but you know, this is probably,

46:21

you know, local owner that owns

46:23

it. And that was a hard

46:25

one for me. Did you have

46:28

any other creative ways of acquiring

46:30

drugs? that all that happened with.

46:32

She had an inn with one

46:34

of the doctors that was fairly

46:36

close to where we lived and

46:38

so she would pay him and

46:40

he would write prescriptions for people

46:42

and their names and we would

46:44

go and fill them and give

46:46

them to her. Get out of

46:48

here, a doctor, like a legit

46:50

doctor would write bogus prescriptions for

46:52

money. Yep, he's actually in prison

46:54

right now for it. How do

46:56

you even figure that out? I

46:58

have no idea how she'd figure

47:00

that out. Like how is that

47:03

connection made? You know, you're in

47:05

there for an annual and you're

47:07

like, well, you know, Doc, if

47:09

I cross your palm with silver,

47:11

will you write me some prescriptions?

47:13

I don't know how that even

47:15

happens. I don't know. I would

47:17

be too scared, honestly. I'd be

47:19

like, is this a setup? Yeah,

47:21

right. Yeah, I would be really

47:23

too scared. I don't know how

47:25

she made that connection, honestly, and

47:27

he was one of two connections

47:29

that she had, but we never

47:31

went through or met the other

47:33

one. She just told us about

47:36

him, but this guy ended up,

47:38

the one that wrote prescriptions in

47:40

our name, which we are so

47:42

lucky that we did not get

47:44

indicted because it was a massive

47:46

FBI case, and he's in federal

47:48

prison to this day for it.

47:50

Do you know how the doctor

47:52

ultimately got caught? Yeah, I know

47:54

that they did some controlled buys

47:56

on him. Eric actually read through

47:58

the court filings on his case.

48:00

They had some people that getting

48:02

the prescriptions. They had officers watching

48:04

those people that were filling them

48:06

and picked some of them up

48:08

as well and told them if

48:11

they didn't testify, you know, that

48:13

they would get charged with their

48:15

charges. So they ended up testifying

48:17

against him as well. Yeah. So

48:19

you guys are living a really,

48:21

really chaotic life. Super chaotic. It's

48:23

dangerous. Yeah, it really was. Did

48:25

you guys ever have any close

48:27

calls with overdosing or? you know

48:29

just just just consuming too much.

48:31

Yeah we did. So I overdosed

48:33

one time and I overdosed twice

48:35

but this time was the one

48:37

that was really bad. and we

48:39

got some heroin and Eric was

48:41

working at fast food restaurant at

48:44

the time and so he was

48:46

at work and one of our

48:48

other friends had been kind of

48:50

staying with us off and on

48:52

for about a month at that

48:54

point and we had just gotten

48:56

a couple of points of heroin

48:58

and my buddy had told me

49:00

he said listen I know you're

49:02

used to doing a good bit

49:04

and but don't do it all

49:06

only do half of a point.

49:08

And I was like, okay, yeah.

49:10

And so he actually went to

49:12

go buy some weed from a

49:14

buddy down the road. So he

49:17

left and I was like half

49:19

a point. I'm gonna do a

49:21

full one. It'll be fine. I

49:23

have a high tolerance. And so

49:25

and the other thing too is

49:27

that I thought he was trying

49:29

to get some also. So I

49:31

was like, well, I better do

49:33

it all. Or else he's gonna

49:35

ask for some and want some.

49:37

You don't want to share. No,

49:39

not at all. And he was

49:41

that kind that like never really

49:43

brought much to the table, but

49:45

always was like, oh, you know,

49:47

just give me a little bit

49:49

here. You know, just give me

49:52

a tiny bit. He was that

49:54

one that would always ask everybody

49:56

for stuff, but never bring anything

49:58

to the table. So I especially

50:00

was like, no, you didn't pay

50:02

for it. I did. You're not

50:04

getting any. And I know. I

50:06

knew he would have hounded me

50:08

for it. So I did the

50:10

entire thing. And then I, the

50:12

next thing I remember is I

50:14

just remember hearing our friend being

50:16

like, no, please, please wake up,

50:18

come on, please wake up, come

50:20

on, please wake up. Speaking to

50:22

you. And speaking to me, but

50:25

my eyes weren't open at the

50:27

time. I couldn't get them to

50:29

open. I could just hear him.

50:31

And then I finally got my

50:33

eyes to open and I see

50:35

him and he's just pacing back

50:37

and forth freaking out like freaking

50:39

out crying hysterical and I was

50:41

like what's wrong? What's going on?

50:43

I had no idea what happened.

50:45

He thought you were dead. He

50:47

really did. He was freaking out.

50:49

He was hysterical and he had

50:51

actually had an old girlfriend a

50:53

couple years prior to that that

50:55

had overdosed and she did actually

50:57

die. And so I think he

51:00

was like reliving that again. And

51:02

so he just went to hysteric

51:04

mode. But you came to? Yeah.

51:06

Did you need to go to

51:08

the hospital? I did not. I

51:10

probably should have, but I didn't.

51:12

Yeah. And, um... I was just

51:14

in shock. I'm like, what are

51:16

you talking about? I overdose. And

51:18

he was like, Kendra, you were

51:20

dead. He goes, you had no

51:22

pulse. You were super pale. Like

51:24

you were gone. He goes, I

51:26

even was like trying to open

51:28

your eyes. He goes, you were

51:30

gone. You were not here. And

51:33

I'm like, well, I don't remember

51:35

that. I just remember being like,

51:37

oh, that was really good. So

51:39

he was petrified because he thought

51:41

had I died had I died

51:43

on his watch. Yeah. That must

51:45

be so scary to think about.

51:47

It's... I mean you're almost not

51:49

here. It's crazy to think that

51:51

I used again after that. I

51:53

just can't believe that. I don't

51:55

know what was wrong with me.

51:57

I don't know why. I could

51:59

not let it go and I

52:01

saw what it was doing to

52:03

my mom, which was really hard

52:06

to see that. And I saw what

52:08

it was doing to my family. And

52:10

I just was so angry at life,

52:12

I couldn't get out of it and

52:15

I don't know why that was. I

52:17

don't know why it had such a

52:19

stronghold on me. Like it did, but

52:21

it really did. It gripped me.

52:23

Well, you were addicted. I was. Yeah.

52:25

I really, really was. Terrible.

52:28

Terrible. It was horrible.

52:30

Every day you wake up and all

52:32

you care about is how do you

52:34

get your next high? You know, that's

52:37

what your whole day revolves around is

52:39

how can I get money to go

52:41

buy drugs? And it's it's a horrible

52:43

life. It's miserable. And I

52:46

dealt with terrible anxiety and

52:48

depression the entire time because

52:50

I was just miserable, but

52:52

I didn't know how to stop either.

52:54

You can still feel it today. I

52:57

do. It was really horrible time.

52:59

And I can't believe the things

53:01

that I did is really hard for

53:03

me. I used to go and

53:05

panhandle and just walk up to

53:07

truck stops and walk up to

53:09

truckers and knock on their doors

53:11

at 2 AM asking for money,

53:13

you know, by myself. And I'm

53:15

like, how? What who thinks to

53:17

do that? You know what I

53:19

mean? Like being a young girl,

53:21

why would I ever think that

53:23

was okay? You know, nobody was

53:25

looking out for me. Nobody was

53:27

there to help me should something

53:29

have happened. You know, my friends

53:31

were probably all doing their

53:33

own thing. You know what I mean? And

53:35

I just, yeah, it's really hard

53:38

to think about sometimes. Probably

53:40

people tried to take

53:42

advantage of you when you

53:44

were panhandling. Yeah. There was definitely

53:46

a few people that propositioned

53:49

and I turned them down

53:51

and thankfully that was the

53:53

end of it. But it could

53:55

have been so much worse. So

53:58

many dangerous situations? So many. Yeah,

54:00

and we're just scratching the surface. You

54:02

know, there's really stories for days of

54:04

just the crazy stuff, because every day

54:07

was like that. Every day we were

54:09

in that world for years. Did Eric

54:11

ever overdose and come close to death?

54:14

He did. Yeah, so he actually overdosed

54:16

a couple of times, but the one

54:18

time that really stands out, we were

54:20

at a friend's house, and this was

54:23

close to the end, right of our...

54:25

chapter in that world. I was done.

54:27

I didn't want to be part of

54:30

it. I was ready to figure out

54:32

how to get out of it. So

54:34

this was kind of the tipping point

54:37

that pushed me over to the edge

54:39

that I was like, nope, we have

54:41

to be done with this. We will

54:44

not make it. And we were at

54:46

a friend's house and I left for

54:48

some reason with another friend. I think

54:50

we were just running to the gas

54:53

station and he got a call from

54:55

his girlfriend that was at the house

54:57

and said you need to come back.

55:00

Eric. Eric. is overdosing and you need

55:02

to come back because he's not waking

55:04

up. Oh my God. Yeah, we raced

55:07

back to the house while another buddy

55:09

of ours was just showing up and

55:11

I don't think this is 100% true.

55:13

I don't know, but it was a

55:16

known drug house that we were at

55:18

and our buddy said that it was

55:20

getting ready to be raided that he

55:23

had gotten a tip off that they

55:25

were about to raid the house. So

55:27

our buddy literally throws Eric over his

55:30

shoulder. throws him into the back of

55:32

the car and we're sitting there smoking

55:34

mess and blowing it into his face

55:37

to try and jumpstart his heart which

55:39

is wait which is so silly because

55:41

he's not breathing so he's not breathing

55:43

it in is that a thing I

55:46

that's you blow meth smoke on people

55:48

to get their heart jumped not at

55:50

all we know No, not even remotely.

55:53

We were just panicking and didn't know

55:55

what we were doing. Anybody think to

55:57

go to the hospital? No. No. One

56:00

time, did we think we should go

56:02

to the hospital? So you're in the

56:04

car driving off with Eric? Yep. Eric

56:06

and I are in the back seat.

56:09

We have a friend that jumped in

56:11

the back seat as well. The same

56:13

gal that had called us originally to

56:16

say come back because Eric was overdosing

56:18

and then our buddy that came in

56:20

and said the house was being raided

56:23

was driving it. So we were all

56:25

kind of. packed into his car driving

56:27

away and where I'm like pounding on

56:30

Eric's chest. I am trying to get

56:32

him to come to, I'm pouring cold

56:34

water on him, I'm literally doing everything

56:36

that I can to get him to

56:39

wake up and he ended up taking

56:41

a huge breath and came back and

56:43

I don't think it was anything necessarily

56:46

I did. I think God had plans

56:48

for him. So I think he... came

56:50

back and I was done at that

56:53

point. I knew it was coming to

56:55

an end. I was not going to

56:57

lose him. Wow, so if your own

56:59

near-death experience wasn't a wake-up call. Yeah.

57:02

Eric's near-death experience was? Yep. It was.

57:04

I could not live without him. So

57:06

that was enough for me. What a

57:09

close call? Yeah. And then I tricked

57:11

him after that. Coming

57:14

up how Kendra tricks Eric and

57:16

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57:19

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show notes. So

59:19

you tricked him. What do you

59:22

mean? I did. Well, drugs had

59:24

such a hold on us. We

59:26

both grew up in really big

59:28

families though, and he's the oldest

59:31

of seven, and so he was

59:33

always kind of filling dad a

59:35

little bit, like they had a

59:38

good dad and stuff, but he

59:40

always was, you know, the big

59:42

brother that took care of everybody,

59:44

and you know, was... helped his

59:47

mom when his dad was working

59:49

and you know he was just

59:51

really good and so kids were

59:53

really important to us and I

59:56

knew deep down I said if

59:58

a child was brought into this.

1:00:00

I know that we would not

1:00:02

do anything to harm that child

1:00:05

or to bring them into a

1:00:07

drug world. So in my brain,

1:00:09

I was like, okay, how do

1:00:12

I get us out of this?

1:00:14

Sounds like a terrible idea.

1:00:16

Horrible idea. Horrible

1:00:18

idea. So what was the trick?

1:00:21

So I told Eric that

1:00:23

I was already pregnant, but

1:00:25

you weren't. But I wasn't.

1:00:27

and I went to the dollar store

1:00:29

and I bought 10 pregnancy

1:00:32

tests and I took them all

1:00:34

and they were all negative because

1:00:36

of course I wasn't actually pregnant

1:00:38

and showed them to him but

1:00:40

luckily I got I made sure

1:00:42

I got the ones that didn't

1:00:44

actually say on the test itself

1:00:46

what positive and negative were and

1:00:48

then you had to read the

1:00:50

paper that came with it to

1:00:52

see what meant what. So you

1:00:54

said, look, it says positive. Yeah,

1:00:57

I did. All of them. How

1:00:59

did he react? He was like,

1:01:01

holy crap, you're joking. I was

1:01:04

like, nope, it's not me,

1:01:06

it's the test. They're the

1:01:08

ones telling us. I'm pregnant,

1:01:10

definitely. Yep, I'm shocked as

1:01:12

well. Was he happy? He

1:01:14

was really scared, very, very concerned.

1:01:16

He was like, what are we

1:01:19

going to do? Okay, well that's

1:01:21

the right reaction. Yeah, he was

1:01:23

like, we cannot bring a child

1:01:25

into this house. And I said,

1:01:28

absolutely not. No, we cannot. I

1:01:30

said, that means we've got to

1:01:32

get some stuff figured out. And we

1:01:34

actually went on, I had called my

1:01:36

dad and told him that Eric and

1:01:39

I needed to get away. And so

1:01:41

for just a little bit, we just

1:01:43

need to clear our heads and everything.

1:01:45

So we actually flew across the country

1:01:48

to go visit my dad in a

1:01:50

whole different state on the other side

1:01:52

of the US. And we were there

1:01:54

for two weeks with him. And we

1:01:57

just did not bring anything with us.

1:01:59

We brought him. drugs, we brought no

1:02:01

needles, we didn't bring anything with

1:02:03

us, and we were like, we'll

1:02:05

have no choice at this point,

1:02:07

but to detox. And so we

1:02:09

did. Did your father know you

1:02:11

were detoxing? No, he had no

1:02:13

idea. He was not very present

1:02:15

in my life at that point.

1:02:17

I mean, he might have from

1:02:20

my other siblings, he might have

1:02:22

heard that, you know, I wasn't

1:02:24

in the best of place, and

1:02:26

he was pretty oblivious to that

1:02:28

part of it, which was good.

1:02:30

You got off the drugs? Mm-hmm.

1:02:32

And you flew back home? Yeah.

1:02:34

And I'm pretty sure that I

1:02:36

got pregnant right before we left

1:02:38

for that trip. Oh, pregnant for

1:02:40

real? Mm-hmm, pregnant for real. Yeah.

1:02:42

I got pregnant pretty quick. Did

1:02:44

you come clean to him and

1:02:46

say, well, I wasn't really pregnant,

1:02:48

but now I really am? Or

1:02:50

did you just keep it to

1:02:52

yourself? I just kept it to

1:02:54

myself. Okay, so now the lie

1:02:56

had become true. So now the

1:02:59

lie had been that and that

1:03:01

was kind of my thought was

1:03:03

I was like well, you know,

1:03:05

this is what's best for us

1:03:07

I'm gonna make that decision and

1:03:09

You know, it's gonna work out

1:03:11

anyways. So Why even bring it

1:03:13

up again, right? Yeah, so now

1:03:15

you're back at home, but you're

1:03:17

just back in the same environment

1:03:19

Yeah, so did you get back

1:03:21

to the drugs? Very minimal. Eric

1:03:23

had a harder time than I

1:03:25

did getting off of it, but

1:03:27

also at that point we had

1:03:29

just found out that I was

1:03:31

pregnant. And so I went to

1:03:33

my doctor and I just laid

1:03:35

it all out. I said, listen,

1:03:38

this is where I'm at in

1:03:40

life. I don't want to hurt

1:03:42

this baby. I need somebody to

1:03:44

hold me responsible. to make sure

1:03:46

that I don't hurt this baby.

1:03:48

I can't do anything to harm

1:03:50

this baby. By doing drugs. And

1:03:52

yeah, like doing drugs and I

1:03:54

told him everything. I told him

1:03:56

the whole situation and he held

1:03:58

my hand and said I will

1:04:00

help get you through this. You

1:04:02

need to be honest with me

1:04:04

and up front but I want

1:04:06

to help you. succeed, like let's

1:04:08

do this. And I was like,

1:04:10

okay, let's do this. And he

1:04:12

did, and he held me accountable.

1:04:14

He would at random visits, he

1:04:17

scheduled more appointments for me than

1:04:19

I think most people probably would.

1:04:21

And he, you aid me at

1:04:23

every single appointment to make sure

1:04:25

that I was not using. He

1:04:27

was very careful about doing more

1:04:29

ultrasound than normal, just to make

1:04:31

sure that the baby was growing

1:04:33

and developing how she should. And

1:04:35

he was just, he was wonderful.

1:04:37

I am so thankful for him

1:04:39

because he would have held me

1:04:41

accountable to. And we had had

1:04:43

kind of a scary situation right

1:04:45

before all of that happened to

1:04:47

where we had somebody kind of

1:04:49

stalking our house. And so I

1:04:51

was pretty terrified at that point.

1:04:53

I'm like, we have to get

1:04:55

out or else we're gonna die.

1:04:58

How did this stalking situation come

1:05:00

about? I was walking down the

1:05:02

road. back from the grocery store

1:05:04

that was like right down the

1:05:06

road from our house. And when

1:05:08

I was walking by an abandoned

1:05:10

house that had been there for

1:05:12

a long time, I had two

1:05:14

guys came out that grabbed me

1:05:16

and drug me into the house.

1:05:18

What? Yeah, it was pretty terrifying.

1:05:20

Did you know them? Not at

1:05:22

all. Had no idea who they

1:05:24

were. What did they do to

1:05:26

you? So one of them pinned

1:05:28

me up against the wall and

1:05:30

there was a sliding glass window

1:05:32

kind of to the left of

1:05:34

me and it's like a dilapidated

1:05:37

house so it's abandoned falling apart

1:05:39

and the other guy ran into

1:05:41

the back room to go grab

1:05:43

something I don't know what and

1:05:45

I kicked the guy as hard

1:05:47

as I could in his area.

1:05:49

and took off. I flew through

1:05:51

that broken glass window like crazy.

1:05:53

I just bolted. Do you know

1:05:55

what their intentions were? not good.

1:05:57

I don't know. Probably not good,

1:05:59

I'm sure. I did end up

1:06:01

calling the cops on that one

1:06:03

because I was hysterical. I was

1:06:05

absolutely hysterical and I had dropped

1:06:07

my phone at some point there

1:06:09

and one of the officer that

1:06:11

responded to the call, he actually

1:06:13

went and found my phone. and

1:06:16

brought it back to me. And

1:06:18

he went, of course, and searched

1:06:20

the house and nobody was there.

1:06:22

My guess is after I took

1:06:24

off, they took off. And he

1:06:26

went inside and searched the house

1:06:28

and found like some sleeping bags

1:06:30

that were in that back room.

1:06:32

And there was some rope back

1:06:34

there. And then there was a

1:06:36

whole bunch of like random photos.

1:06:38

Of what? Just like a foot,

1:06:40

right, like somebody's foot. or like

1:06:42

a corner of a wall in

1:06:44

that abandoned house. Like it just

1:06:46

totally random, like nobody, no faces

1:06:48

in particular, no people, but just

1:06:50

like, or the sleeping bag, you

1:06:52

know, it was just very random,

1:06:55

like somebody would just randomly pick

1:06:57

up a camera and just take

1:06:59

a picture of whatever they were

1:07:01

looking at. It was weird. Just

1:07:03

super weird, like somebody that probably

1:07:05

wasn't in their right mind, you

1:07:07

know what I mean. How did

1:07:09

this turn into a stalking situation?

1:07:11

So I don't know if it

1:07:13

was one of them or both

1:07:15

of them, but somebody, one of

1:07:17

them had followed me to my

1:07:19

house and they ended up stalking

1:07:21

me at the house. He tried

1:07:23

to come into the house a

1:07:25

couple times while Eric was there

1:07:27

and would come up and jiggle

1:07:29

the door handle at like... two

1:07:31

a.m. in the morning, our neighbor

1:07:34

caught him like three different times,

1:07:36

the neighbor that lived behind us,

1:07:38

her dog would randomly start going

1:07:40

nuts and he would come and

1:07:42

like be looking through our bedroom

1:07:44

window from our backyard into our

1:07:46

room and her dog would start

1:07:48

going nuts. crazy. That is terrifying.

1:07:50

So we had a rule back

1:07:52

then, like in that world, that

1:07:54

you don't call the cops for

1:07:56

anything, you handle your own stuff,

1:07:58

and I called them several times,

1:08:00

because I was so, that's how

1:08:02

scared I was, because I was

1:08:04

like, this is not going to

1:08:06

end well, I would have nightmares,

1:08:08

I would not go out alone

1:08:10

anywhere. I was petrified too, and

1:08:12

Eric was so... sweet to me

1:08:15

the entire time. He was always

1:08:17

there for me. If he did

1:08:19

leave for any reason, he would

1:08:21

be talking to me on the

1:08:23

phone the whole time to make

1:08:25

sure I was okay. And he

1:08:27

actually ended up one of the

1:08:29

nights that the guy came up

1:08:31

and jiggled the door handle. He

1:08:33

opened the door and the guy

1:08:35

took off and Eric chased him

1:08:37

down the road for like five

1:08:39

blocks trying to catch him. It

1:08:41

was crazy. And did the cops

1:08:43

ever catch them? No, never caught

1:08:45

them. They did not know who

1:08:47

they were. So I have a

1:08:49

suspicion of who one of them

1:08:51

is, and we kind of found

1:08:54

that out through some friends of

1:08:56

some friends, who we think may

1:08:58

have been one of the people

1:09:00

involved in it. A couple years,

1:09:02

even after all this was done,

1:09:04

one of them. went to the

1:09:06

house that my mom had rented

1:09:08

previously from a co-worker that I

1:09:10

had stayed at for a little

1:09:12

bit and he ended up going

1:09:14

to that house after my mom

1:09:16

had moved out and was banging

1:09:18

on the door saying I know

1:09:20

Kendra's in there, I know she's

1:09:22

in there, you need to send

1:09:24

her out, send her out of

1:09:26

the door right now, or else

1:09:28

I'm coming in and... just it

1:09:30

was a whole ordeal they ended

1:09:33

up having to call the cops

1:09:35

and then the people that were

1:09:37

renting told the owner so she

1:09:39

relayed to my mom what had

1:09:41

happened and what was going on.

1:09:43

So these people did know you?

1:09:45

Oh yeah I'm sure by the

1:09:47

end of it. They were hanging

1:09:49

around my house all the time.

1:09:51

You think that when they grabbed

1:09:53

you outside the house? that they

1:09:55

did not know you? I don't

1:09:57

know. I don't know who they

1:09:59

were, so I'm not sure. I

1:10:01

don't know if they knew me,

1:10:03

if we had ran into each

1:10:05

other. I have no idea. I

1:10:07

mean, if they were calling you

1:10:09

by name later, it sounds like

1:10:12

they knew you. Yeah, they could

1:10:14

have. Very well could have. Or

1:10:16

hanging around my house, I mean...

1:10:18

Eric, I'm sure would. Kendra, hey,

1:10:20

Kendra, you know what I mean?

1:10:22

It wouldn't have been hard to

1:10:24

hear somebody saying my name to

1:10:26

find out who I was. And

1:10:28

so if you were able to

1:10:30

determine through your network who it

1:10:32

was, did you let the police

1:10:34

know the person's identity? No. No.

1:10:36

So by that point, we were

1:10:38

already moving away. I just wanted

1:10:40

to be done. I didn't want

1:10:42

anything to do with anything. We

1:10:44

left in the middle of the

1:10:46

night. literally in the middle of

1:10:48

the night because I was pregnant

1:10:51

and I was scared and we

1:10:53

had to get the heck out

1:10:55

of here and we packed up

1:10:57

and we moved to Eric's family's

1:10:59

house in the middle of nowhere

1:11:01

like 40 miles away where there's

1:11:03

no cell service, nothing and we

1:11:05

literally camped out at that house

1:11:07

for like a year I think

1:11:09

is how long we were there.

1:11:11

And the only time I would

1:11:13

ever come back into town as

1:11:15

if I had a doctor's appointment

1:11:17

or if I was going straight

1:11:19

to my sister's house. And that

1:11:21

was it. We did not come

1:11:23

into town other than those two

1:11:25

reasons. Were you able to make

1:11:27

a living out there or were

1:11:29

you just? So Eric was working,

1:11:32

he got a job pretty quick,

1:11:34

but I did not. It took

1:11:36

me a little bit. Number one,

1:11:38

I was pregnant and so whoever

1:11:40

hired me was going to have

1:11:42

to be okay with me going

1:11:44

on to leave pretty quick after

1:11:46

hiring me. You know, I would

1:11:48

work for a few months and

1:11:50

I'd have to go on to

1:11:52

maternity leave. And then the other

1:11:54

thing was I just had a

1:11:56

fear of going out, I was

1:11:58

just, safe there because there was

1:12:00

so many people there and I

1:12:02

just I did not want to

1:12:04

leave but finally my father-in-law said

1:12:06

it's time you need to go

1:12:08

get a job like it's not

1:12:11

healthy you had your baby out there

1:12:13

yeah well I hadn't had a baby yet

1:12:15

well you were there for a year yeah so

1:12:17

at the time that he told me

1:12:19

to get the job I didn't have

1:12:21

her yet. I was very pregnant. I

1:12:23

was like two months away from having

1:12:25

her because she was about seven months

1:12:27

old when we finally moved out of

1:12:30

their house. Well, you couldn't get a

1:12:32

job very well while you're pregnant.

1:12:34

No, no, it was pretty hard.

1:12:36

Luckily, my mother-in-law had a connection

1:12:38

at a local bank and my

1:12:40

second date there, the gal that

1:12:42

hired me quit. So the new

1:12:44

manager that came in and took over

1:12:46

was like, what, you're pregnant, you're

1:12:48

pregnant. I was like, yep, I'm

1:12:51

really sorry about that. I'm very

1:12:53

pregnant actually, so I will

1:12:55

be going on maternity leave

1:12:57

soon. So thank goodness for

1:12:59

her though, hiring me beforehand

1:13:01

because otherwise I don't think

1:13:03

they would have because they needed

1:13:05

somebody there to work and I get

1:13:07

that. But I came back after I

1:13:10

was on maternity leave and I

1:13:12

worked at that local bank for two

1:13:14

years. And then that's where I

1:13:16

ended up meeting. my manager at

1:13:18

the dealership that I work at

1:13:20

now. And I tried to sell

1:13:23

my credit card. And it turned

1:13:25

into a job. And it turned

1:13:28

into a job. Well, that's great.

1:13:30

And so did you end up

1:13:32

moving back to the town where

1:13:34

you had lived before? Never. Never.

1:13:37

So you live near there, but

1:13:39

not there? Yeah. There's a pass,

1:13:41

like a pretty large pass that's

1:13:44

in between the... town. So the

1:13:46

little place I live, there's a

1:13:48

big pass separating me from the

1:13:51

other side. So I only go over there

1:13:53

really for grocery shopping or to

1:13:55

visit family, but otherwise I still

1:13:58

don't really go back there. for

1:14:00

any other reason than that.

1:14:02

And it's pretty unlikely that your

1:14:04

stalkers know where you are.

1:14:06

No, they don't. It's been years

1:14:08

now. So I'm not really

1:14:11

worried about that so much anymore.

1:14:13

I don't know whatever became

1:14:15

of them to be honest. I

1:14:17

don't know if they're alive

1:14:19

in jail, moved somewhere else. I

1:14:21

don't have any idea. And

1:14:24

I don't really care to know if I'm

1:14:27

being honest. I know that might sound bad, but

1:14:29

I don't want any part of it. So

1:14:31

you faked a pregnancy to get out of a

1:14:33

life of drugs, and it worked. It

1:14:36

did. In

1:14:38

the intervening years, have

1:14:40

you told Eric about your

1:14:43

lie? I have. I

1:14:45

did finally recently tell him.

1:14:47

Recently? Yeah. How did

1:14:49

he take it? I

1:14:51

thought he would laugh. I

1:14:54

thought we were far

1:14:57

enough into the future that

1:14:59

he would laugh and

1:15:02

he was kind of stunned at first,

1:15:04

like, what did you just say? And

1:15:06

I was like, oh yeah, I guess

1:15:08

I didn't tell you that part, huh?

1:15:10

And he goes, no, yeah, no, you

1:15:12

did not tell me that. And I

1:15:14

was like, oh yeah, I'm sorry. I

1:15:17

just, I didn't think you'd be on

1:15:19

board. So, you know, and he kind

1:15:21

of was like, listen, don't do that

1:15:23

stuff. Like just talk to me. don't

1:15:25

do that stuff. You know, don't do

1:15:27

anything like that again. Like just be

1:15:29

upfront with me like we're a team.

1:15:31

We'll figure stuff out together. And I

1:15:33

told him like I didn't think you

1:15:36

would be open to it if I

1:15:38

had brought it up to you. So

1:15:40

I felt like that was my only

1:15:42

option really. And so we, he laughs

1:15:44

about it now and kind of chuckles

1:15:46

about it now. But at first he

1:15:48

was like, what in the world? You

1:15:50

did what? You didn't think he'd be

1:15:52

open to moving? I didn't think that

1:15:55

he would be open to having a

1:15:57

baby. If I had asked him if

1:15:59

he wanted to have a baby. he would

1:16:01

have said no. I see. I'm almost positive. So the only

1:16:03

way, but I felt like that was

1:16:05

our only way out. So I tricked

1:16:07

him and told him I was

1:16:09

already pregnant. So there was no

1:16:11

precautions taken. I follow. I follow.

1:16:14

Yeah. So then you really did

1:16:16

get pregnant, which was your intention?

1:16:18

Correct. And happened very quick.

1:16:20

Yeah, quicker than I expected.

1:16:22

How much time was there

1:16:24

between the fake pregnancy test

1:16:26

and when you discovered you

1:16:28

were truly pregnant? It was

1:16:30

not long. Maybe three months

1:16:32

tops, if that. So he

1:16:35

never noticed the timing was

1:16:37

a little bit off? No.

1:16:39

Because you took a year

1:16:41

to give birth under this

1:16:43

scenario? No. Whereas I think it

1:16:45

usually takes nine months. Yeah.

1:16:47

He did not notice that.

1:16:49

No. Okay. I think he

1:16:51

had other things on his mind

1:16:54

or was just like, wow, this

1:16:56

does seem like it's taking a

1:16:58

long time. Well, it all worked out. I

1:17:00

think he just never put two and

1:17:02

two together. You know what I mean?

1:17:04

I just don't think it was, I

1:17:07

think we were so preoccupied with other

1:17:09

things going on that he just, it

1:17:11

wasn't anything he was thinking about. He

1:17:13

wasn't like, oh, that timeline doesn't add

1:17:15

up. She tricked me, you know what

1:17:17

I mean? Yeah, sure, he had no

1:17:19

reason to suspect you. Yeah, exactly. So

1:17:21

he wasn't looking for anything. No, exactly.

1:17:23

So he did not find out until

1:17:25

just. pretty recently. I don't even,

1:17:28

yeah, it was pretty recent, so.

1:17:30

So now you're working at a

1:17:32

dealership and Derek is in construction,

1:17:34

you've got a couple little girls,

1:17:36

you beat the odds somehow. We

1:17:38

did, yeah, we, as soon as we moved out

1:17:40

to the mill nowhere, I never look back. I

1:17:43

said, nope, we will not be those people,

1:17:45

we will succeed and we will not

1:17:47

ever go back to that life and

1:17:49

we never have. And so how's Eric,

1:17:51

Eric, he's really your person, isn't, isn't,

1:17:54

isn't, isn't he? He is my

1:17:56

person. He is my best

1:17:58

friend. Yeah. Yep. He is

1:18:00

a person, he's my rock, 100%.

1:18:02

Yeah. And how is your job

1:18:04

at the car dealership? It is

1:18:06

crazy. Yeah, it's a lot. Selling

1:18:08

cars is really intense sometimes. Did

1:18:10

you happen to hear episode 227

1:18:12

of The Secret Room, which was

1:18:14

called the dealership, where Catherine told

1:18:16

us her experience working in the

1:18:18

industry? I was freaking out the

1:18:20

entire time. I was like, oh

1:18:22

my gosh. I know how she

1:18:25

feels. I totally, similarities for sure.

1:18:27

I think it's just being the

1:18:29

dealership world really. I hope you're

1:18:31

having a better experience since she

1:18:33

did. I've been here for like

1:18:35

eight years now and it's been

1:18:37

a ride. That's for sure. Oh

1:18:39

my goodness. Hang in there? Yeah.

1:18:41

So whatever became of your friend

1:18:43

who the bounty hunters were after?

1:18:45

Did he get out of jail?

1:18:47

So he did get out of

1:18:49

jail just to be re-arrested a

1:18:51

couple more times after that and

1:18:53

then We just recently found out

1:18:55

that he actually is in prison

1:18:57

for life. He just got sentenced

1:18:59

to a life sentence for what?

1:19:01

It was for sexually abusing a

1:19:03

family member under the age of

1:19:05

12. Oh my god. That's awful

1:19:07

It's terrible It made a lot

1:19:09

of sense to Eric. Afterwards, he

1:19:11

looked back on some things and

1:19:13

said, yeah, you know what, I

1:19:15

believe that, I believe that that's

1:19:17

true and that that really happened

1:19:19

because he was able to kind

1:19:22

of look back in hindsight 2020

1:19:24

and he goes there with some

1:19:26

really off moments of things that

1:19:28

happened that he said were really

1:19:30

weird that I was not privy

1:19:32

for because I was not with

1:19:34

him at that time. That probably

1:19:36

just reinforced for you. I mean

1:19:38

it was one more checkmark like

1:19:40

I am so glad we got

1:19:42

out of this life You don't

1:19:44

need to be hanging around with

1:19:46

all these nefarious people Absolutely, it

1:19:48

was I had a customer actually

1:19:50

that came in I knew that

1:19:52

he lived somewhat close because the

1:19:54

dealership that I work at we

1:19:56

have people that come from all

1:19:58

over the place He was fairly

1:20:00

local, which I was like, oh,

1:20:02

that's cool You know, I don't

1:20:04

get a tremendous amount of those

1:20:06

and so When he showed up

1:20:08

he I looked at him and

1:20:10

I was like, oh my gosh,

1:20:12

what in the world and it

1:20:14

was a guy that actually? Eric

1:20:17

and I used to run around

1:20:19

with sometimes in that world. And

1:20:21

I was like in full blown

1:20:23

panic mode because nobody out here

1:20:25

knows that we used to live

1:20:27

that life. That was something that

1:20:29

Eric was very, like he had

1:20:31

to sit down conversation with me

1:20:33

and it was like, listen, I

1:20:35

know you're kind of sometimes an

1:20:37

open book and you're pretty outgoing.

1:20:39

He goes, but I do not

1:20:41

want people to know that that

1:20:43

was our past and that we

1:20:45

used to live that life. Just

1:20:47

want to live with your white

1:20:49

pick offense. He wanted a clean

1:20:51

slate and he in the little

1:20:53

town that we live in your

1:20:55

reputation is really big out here

1:20:57

and it means a lot and

1:20:59

his dad especially has a really

1:21:01

good reputation and so he said

1:21:03

we will not tarnish our reputation

1:21:05

or his reputation at all. And

1:21:07

so how does he feel about

1:21:09

you telling your story on the

1:21:12

podcast? He's pretty nervous about it.

1:21:14

He was not very happy at

1:21:16

first when I told him. that

1:21:18

I did a submission to you

1:21:20

a while ago, because I did

1:21:22

it without talking to him. It

1:21:24

was for the moment, I was

1:21:26

like, oh, kind of got a

1:21:28

secret, I can tell. And so

1:21:30

he wasn't very happy at first,

1:21:32

but then he said, if you

1:21:34

want to do this, then I

1:21:36

support you in doing it, which

1:21:38

was nice of him. Yeah. Sounds

1:21:40

like he's always got your back.

1:21:42

He does. He's been very, very

1:21:44

good to me over the years

1:21:46

of all the craziness. How much

1:21:48

do you think you'll ever tell

1:21:50

your daughters? I don't know. We've

1:21:52

talked about that quite a few.

1:21:54

times actually I was pregnant so

1:21:56

it was easier for me I

1:21:58

think to stay away from drugs

1:22:00

because had I done it it

1:22:02

would have harmed our baby but

1:22:04

for Eric it was a little

1:22:06

bit harder because he didn't have

1:22:09

a little human inside of him

1:22:11

depending on him to stay clean

1:22:13

and sober so he did have

1:22:15

a couple of slipups after. we

1:22:17

moved out here. They were not

1:22:19

major, they were just, you know,

1:22:21

a couple minors ups. So that's

1:22:23

something we've talked about. Are we

1:22:25

going to say anything to our

1:22:27

kids and our oldest one? Like,

1:22:29

are we going to say anything

1:22:31

to her? She's almost a teenager,

1:22:33

you know, here pretty soon? How

1:22:35

are we going to handle this?

1:22:37

And he wants to tell her

1:22:39

a little bit, but he does

1:22:41

not want to go into... a

1:22:43

lot of detail on it. He

1:22:45

wants to tell her, you know,

1:22:47

like, we've been there, we've made

1:22:49

some mistakes, you know, learn from

1:22:51

us, don't do it, kind of.

1:22:53

Is there any way that it

1:22:55

could come out, you know, like

1:22:57

if you had some trouble with

1:22:59

the law, you know, your police

1:23:01

record would, might be exposed? Yeah,

1:23:04

I mean, I guess if something

1:23:06

ever did happen down the line.

1:23:08

Not really for me because I

1:23:10

didn't really have much of a

1:23:12

record. It was mainly Eric and

1:23:14

he did take the fall, you

1:23:16

know, a few times that we

1:23:18

did get caught with stuff. So

1:23:20

if his record was pulled up,

1:23:22

you would see quite a bit

1:23:24

on it. for sure. There would

1:23:26

be a lot. So... Well, tell

1:23:28

him to live clean. Yeah. And

1:23:30

he is. He is. Yes, he's

1:23:32

been clean and sober for a

1:23:34

very long time now. The last

1:23:36

stint that he had, our daughter

1:23:38

was like three, I think. And

1:23:40

he was very forthcoming with me

1:23:42

about it and told me as

1:23:44

soon as it happened. we went

1:23:46

through it, he went to some

1:23:48

NAM meetings and got hooked up

1:23:50

with like a sponsor again and

1:23:52

you know got back on the

1:23:54

straight and narrow. So I think

1:23:56

he was a little worried about

1:23:59

that like what if she remembers

1:24:01

that that happened but I don't

1:24:03

think she will. So what's the

1:24:05

backstory that you tell people? You

1:24:07

know what was your life before

1:24:09

your current one? Oh boy. People

1:24:11

ask you where you came from

1:24:13

or you know how you met?

1:24:15

I tell them that I was

1:24:17

a military brat because before my

1:24:19

parents split up I was so

1:24:21

we kind of moved around the

1:24:23

country a lot so that seems

1:24:25

to kind of distract them into

1:24:27

that like well that's cool you

1:24:29

know where all did you live

1:24:31

and then I tell them that?

1:24:33

Eric and I met through a

1:24:35

mutual friend, but I really don't

1:24:37

go into detail. That's smart. Don't

1:24:39

get caught up in the details.

1:24:41

No, not at all. And I'm

1:24:43

pretty good about turning the conversation

1:24:45

back on other people. You know,

1:24:47

you tell me about you, you

1:24:49

know? Right. And people love talking

1:24:51

about themselves. They do. Do you

1:24:53

ever feel the lure of drugs

1:24:56

today? A little bit. I think

1:24:58

it'll always be a battle. you

1:25:00

know, I think it's a lifelong

1:25:02

battle and there's been some really

1:25:04

crazy moments here at the dealership

1:25:06

and I do sometimes when I

1:25:08

get hard or where I'm really

1:25:10

frustrated or, you know, I've been

1:25:12

working for six days straight doing

1:25:14

12 hour days, you know, that

1:25:16

I'm like, man, you know, something

1:25:18

would be really nice just to

1:25:20

take the edge off. But anytime

1:25:22

that happens, I call my oldest

1:25:24

daughter. and I just talked with

1:25:26

her about her day and how

1:25:28

it was and that is actually

1:25:30

enough for me. How old is

1:25:32

she now? Yeah. She is almost

1:25:34

10. And how old is your

1:25:36

youngest? She just heard four a

1:25:38

couple days ago. Yeah, and she's

1:25:40

a redhead like me. That's great.

1:25:42

Yeah, so she's very fiery. So,

1:25:44

Kendra, why did you want to

1:25:46

tell your secret today? It's really

1:25:48

hard, you know, to live a

1:25:51

whole different life. That was a

1:25:53

big part of my history and

1:25:55

who I was, and I'm so

1:25:57

incredibly proud of where I'm at

1:25:59

now. And I just thought it

1:26:01

would be really cool to tell

1:26:03

people, you know, that doesn't have to

1:26:05

be your life. There's better out

1:26:07

there and you can find that fulfillment,

1:26:09

you know, in other ways. You don't

1:26:11

have to use drugs. You can get

1:26:14

out of it. You can get out of

1:26:16

it. You really can. And I really root

1:26:18

for people that are trying to get out

1:26:20

of it. And you won't get out unless

1:26:23

you want to. That has to be the

1:26:25

thing you have to want out. I asked

1:26:27

my mom one time why she

1:26:29

didn't ever call that show intervention

1:26:31

and she said because I knew

1:26:33

you weren't ready. I know you

1:26:35

didn't want it. And I said,

1:26:37

okay, that's fair enough. And you

1:26:40

do, you have to want it, but

1:26:42

you'll get out if you try. And

1:26:44

the key for you was

1:26:46

tricking Eric into getting you

1:26:48

pregnant. Yeah, it was. Which

1:26:51

is fortunately for giving you

1:26:53

four. But you got a

1:26:55

beautiful daughter out of it.

1:26:57

And thank God it worked,

1:26:59

really. But nobody knows that,

1:27:02

except you and Eric

1:27:04

and Elle audience. That's

1:27:06

the secret. Yeah, that's

1:27:08

the big one. Well,

1:27:10

Kendra, thank you so

1:27:12

much for sharing today.

1:27:14

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank

1:27:17

you for having me.

1:27:19

I appreciate it. Kendra and Eric's secret life

1:27:21

is drug addicts, or that she tricked Eric

1:27:23

into getting her pregnant so they would have

1:27:25

a reason to get sober. Let me know

1:27:28

your thoughts on social, but either way Kendra

1:27:30

is proud of the new life they've made,

1:27:32

and she should be. They turned their lives

1:27:34

around. See pictures of Kendra's family today on

1:27:37

social media. Her handle everywhere is at Secret

1:27:39

Room pod. And if you're looking for a

1:27:41

little extra secret room community, try the Facebook

1:27:43

discussion group. Just ask to be a member,

1:27:46

all are welcome. Another way to get some

1:27:48

extra secret room in your life is

1:27:50

to subscribe to our premium show, The

1:27:52

Secret Room Unlocked. Producer Susie Locke interviews

1:27:54

former guests and has original secrets too.

1:27:56

Here's what's next. Do you remember episode

1:27:59

239, Dad's Other... where Sammy's dad had

1:28:01

an addiction to pain pills and ended

1:28:03

up dying from an overdose? Well, Morgan

1:28:05

was drawn to write into the secret

1:28:08

room unlocked to share a similar experience

1:28:10

within her own family. Her father was

1:28:12

taking Vicodin as long as she could

1:28:14

remember and his loss was sudden and

1:28:16

when people asked why he died, the

1:28:19

story was twisted to fit a different

1:28:21

narrative than what actually happened. When Morgan

1:28:23

returned home three years later after her

1:28:25

dad died another tragedy struck that tore

1:28:28

her family further apart than she ever

1:28:30

could have imagined It all came as

1:28:32

fast as lightning could strike and took

1:28:34

her breath away That's coming up on

1:28:37

the next unlocked in one week unlocked

1:28:39

is a key part of our ecosystem

1:28:41

that keeps this podcast coming to rain

1:28:43

or shine every other Tuesday We'd love

1:28:46

to include you as a supporting member

1:28:48

too. There's a free trial find it

1:28:50

on Apple podcast Spotify and at patreon.com/secret

1:28:52

room. Submit your secret at our website

1:28:55

if you'd like to be on the

1:28:57

show. Secret room pod.com click the share

1:28:59

a secret button. And thanks to Susie

1:29:01

Lark and Luna Patel for their assistance

1:29:03

on today's program. Breakmaster Cylinder composed our

1:29:06

music. Thanks for downloading your favorite indie

1:29:08

podcast that could. This is the Secret

1:29:10

Room. A podcast about the stories no

1:29:12

one ever tells. I'm Ben Han.