Where is Laura? | EP 11

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Every week, Snap deals a new card. Like the girl whose sister was a monkey. The man who lived in the woods for 30 years. Or the woman who snuck her lover out of prison in a dog crate. Pick a card. Any card. Snap Judgment from KQED. New episodes every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. Over the past year, Laura's found herself in quite the bind. She's facing a complicated patchwork of consequences. And it can be hard to follow. That's because we're talking about cases across two states. Arizona and California. We're talking about multiple different court systems. Civil courts, family courts, and now criminal courts. So I want to regroup and give you an overview of what Laura's up against. In June 2024, Clayton won his family court case against Laura. That's a civil court judgment. Along with her judgment, Judge Mata ordered Laura to pay Clayton's legal fees. A number that after Laura's failed appeals is nearing $200,000. Then, seven months later, in January 2025, the police raided Laura's family home in Arizona to serve a search warrant. By that summer, she was indicted in Arizona on seven felony charges. That's the criminal system. You know, the one that sentences people to prison. Here's Clayton. I hope for justice to be served. And to me, what that looks like is her going to prison. No matter what she's faced up until this point. She has not once said, you know what, I'm sorry. Even after seven felony charges, Laura still decided to renew her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Maricini. This one, in the San Francisco court system. It's a civil case. But for Mike, it's a legal battle he's been fighting for almost 10 years. And while she battled Mike in court, the prosecutors in Arizona weren't quite done with her yet. Their investigation had uncovered more. What we know is coming down the pipeline is bigger than anything she could ever imagine. And bigger than any of us could ever imagine. I'm Stephanie Young, and this is Love Trapped. If you ever, ever, ever, ever Try to leave At the end of the last episode, we left off in San Francisco. Laura Owens filed to renew her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Maricini. But this time, Mike had secured legal counsel and was ready to fight back. The evidentiary hearing was slated for October 2025. And I flew to San Francisco to be in the courtroom. The night before the hearing was set to start, someone in Laura's camp emailed Mike's attorney. Omar Serrato. Omar and Mike thought Laura was agreeing to drop the DVRO renewal. But 12 minutes later, they found out that wasn't the case. Here's Omar. There was like that surreal moment where you have all this adrenaline and then it's over, but the adrenaline's still there and you're trying to like calm down. Mike is crying and he's like raising his arms in triumph and hugs all around. And then I get this mysterious email come through my phone. In the email, Laura requested a Zoom link for the next day's hearing, which Omar expected. She would need to agree to the deal in front of the judge. But she also asked for a Zoom link for her former attorney and nurse practitioner. That didn't make sense. If she planned to dismiss the case, why did they need to be present? Everybody's still in celebration mode. And so I'm like trying to sitting on that for five minutes, like, what does this mean? And then I emailed her. Hey, Laura, my understanding was we had an agreement. Is that still the case? And then like 10 minutes later, no, we don't have an agreement. That was just a one-liner. And then I had to break the news to Mike. Hey, is this still on? But he took that remarkably well. I was like, well, if I get game on then, I guess back to the original plan. I arrived at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse early on Tuesday morning, October 21st. The hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. It wasn't long before a familiar, your face, joined me, Clayton Eckert. He traveled to San Francisco just for this hearing. I am in San Francisco for the first time in my life. I'm here to support Mike. I'm here because he showed up for me. And that was it. No matter what happens, no matter what the outcome is, I'm here to show Mike that I appreciate him. That's it. I'm like, I can pause all this shit in my life right now because honestly, this is more important than all that. When Clayton had his family court trial against Laura the previous year, the courthouse in Arizona was filled with his supporters, including the content creators who'd been covering his story. Now, in San Francisco, that same energy surrounded Mike. Outside the courthouse that morning, I ran into journalist Megan Fox. I'm reporting out from in front of the Superior Court in California in San Francisco. We're going to wait for Laura Owens to appear by Zoom, we think. Maybe, or maybe she's not going to show up at all. We're not sure. But we're going to go in and find out. We're all here. Where is she? What do you think is going to happen today? God, it's one of three things. It's going to get dismissed because she doesn't show up. Secondly, it could be continued. It's possible she could show up and argue for a continuance. And the third option is that we fight it out. There's a trial. They're open. Should we go in? Let's do it. We all piled into the small courtroom. I sat next to Clayton. Since it's a domestic violence-related proceeding, audio recording is not allowed in the courtroom. But I took plenty of notes. So let me summarize. Laura joins by Zoom, along with her former attorney, David Gingras. Although, Gingras clarified that he was there as a witness, not as Laura's counsel. Because Laura is the petitioner in this case, the judge told her that she needed to be there in person. But Laura refutes this and says she thought it was only strongly suggested that she be there in person. The judge agreed to pick up the hearing the following day. But when they did, she said Laura needed to be in the courtroom. No exceptions. If she wasn't there, the case would be dismissed. Laura said she would try her best to be in San Francisco the following day. After that, the judge moved on to another case. There were so many people there to see what would happen. So much anticipation and build-up. All to be told, come back tomorrow. After the hearing, I caught up with Mike Maricini and his wife, Danielle. How are you guys feeling? Anxious. Yeah, anxious. She just creates chaos. It's always chaotic. There's nothing that's ever just smooth sailing. Did you expect the judge to be that heartbroken? on her? Yes. No, I didn't. I did because she told Laura she had to be here in person. So I'm not surprised by the judge playing hardball. Are you ready for tomorrow now? Yeah, I'm ready. I personally don't think she's going to show up, but I'm ready. I asked Mike what it was like to have Clayton there. It was great to see Clayton. I told him he did not need to come. Like, don't waste money on a plane ticket. And he said, Mike, you supported me for the June 10th hearing. Like, this is the least I could do. I want to be there to support you. I joined Clayton, Mike and Danielle for lunch that afternoon. This was my first time finally sitting down with Mike and Danielle face to face. And spirits were surprisingly high. Here's Mike. Going into day two, I was like, okay, this is going to condense the entire trial into one day, but we can knock this out. My team still felt very confident. We're just one day instead of two days. So I still felt good going into day two. I returned to the San Francisco Superior Courthouse the next morning. Yes, I just did this the day before. What I didn't know at the time is that we'd all be doing it again. When I arrived, I found Megan Fox already at work, live streaming, joined virtually by Dave Neal. The question of the day, would Laura show up? Because of her seven felony indictments, she needs to ask the courts for permission to leave the state of Arizona. As far as anyone knew, she hadn't done that. That's what Dave and Megan were talking about on that live stream outside the courthouse. So you're waiting for the trial to start. What are the odds that Laura shows up? She's not coming. Zero. She did not file for permission from the prosecutor in Maricopa County to come. And she has to do that. She can't leave the state without permission from the prosecutor. Laura's going forward, whether or not Laura was here. And I did want her to know that we're covering this case, whether she shows up or not. We're all going to be here. And I think it's important. We've been following this case for how long, Dave? Two years now? Two years. Yeah, sure. Two years. And I actually wanted Laura to be there because I wanted Mike to be able to face her and come out victorious. But what's your feeling? Assuming she isn't there, she's going to, what, just have to drop it? Will she then make any, excuse that she didn't want to drop it, but she did? If she doesn't show up today, I have a feeling that the judge will dismiss it. With regards to the sort of vibes with Mike and Clayton, who was there yesterday, what's, uh, is Mike's family there? How are they feeling? What's the update with that? Mike's wife is here. She is feeling very frustrated. She said to me yesterday, we have children, real babies at home that need us. And she would just rather not be here. And Laura's wasting everyone's time. Laura's the one who brought this. She needs to show up and fight her case. You can't file something and then decide at the last minute, you don't want it. This is where the fight is, Laura. You should have shown up. You wanted it. Where's your evidence? She says she has evidence. So come and make your case in front of Judge Gold. When we got there that morning, we were all waiting in the hallway. Me, Clayton, Mike, Danielle, and Mike's legal team. Besides us, there were 20 or 30 people packed into the hallway. They were strangers to Mike, but told me they'd been following Justice for Clayton online and came to support Mike in person. And the demographic of supporters was surprisingly diverse. Young people, older people, men and women. The hearing was supposed to start at 9 a.m. But 9 a.m. came and went. And the doors didn't open. The group started to become tense. No one knew what was going on. At around 9.30 a.m., the bailiff finally opened the doors, but only allowed Mike and Omar to enter the courtroom. Everyone looked confused. Ten minutes later, Mike and Omar came back out. Mike was in tears. He went over to Danielle and they left the building. I didn't have a chance to speak with them. Later, Mike explained what happened in his closed-door meeting with the judge. We walk in and Laura's up on the screen and she was in a car and she's got like just like a laughing spark on her face like, oh, I got you guys again. So I immediately sat down knowing something was wrong because the judge told her to be there in person the day before and she's up on the screen confident as can be with her with her smirk. And the judge says, we received some information about an ADA. We are going to be there in person the day before. And she's up on the screen. We're going to be continuing the court date. And they use a lot of other legal jargon in between. An ADA. Laura filed a formal request for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's a federal civil rights law that all courts are obliged to comply with. We asked if we could essentially argue this ADA accommodation. And the judge is like, no, it's already been processed. We're going to be pushing court to November 5th. In other words, they all thought it would be over. But by filing for an ADA accommodation request, the deadline was pushed back by another two weeks. I walk out of the courtroom. I'm emotional. I'm crying. And I talked with my wife immediately. And I talked with Clayton, I think, right after that. And Clayton was like the first line of defense. He said, she's just delaying the inevitable. She knows she's going to lose this. You have to stay strong. You cannot give up now. You've come too far. And my attorney said the same thing. And I was just upset with the court system that day and the justice system. I said, I just want to go home and spend time with my family because that's what's going to make me happy right now. Later, I asked Danielle Maricini about this moment. Like Mike, she'd been expecting this day to finally be the end of Laura's domestic violence restraining order. It was re-traumatizing, quite frankly. And I thought, we're going to be let down again. And she's going to win again. And we will have to deal with the consequences of a permanent restraining order for the rest of our lives. After Mike and Danielle left the courthouse that day, I sat down with Clayton to process what just happened. I'm pissed because I first saw Mike walk out of the courtroom and tears in his eyes. And you know where those tears are coming from. It's six plus years that this man has had to endure. And I feel for him because I've went through two years of my own. And so it is really frustrating because you just want it to be done. Clayton knows better than anyone else what it feels like to try to prove his innocence against Laura Owens. Laura thinks she's won today. I don't see that at all as a win. Clayton was determined to see this thing through. He'd recently gotten a phone call from one of the state investigators in Arizona. He'd recently gotten a phone call from one of the Mayonnaise uses whole eggs. 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That's odoo.com. In October 2025, Mike Maricini and his legal team prepared for an evidentiary hearing on Laura's domestic violence restraining order renewal. This had nothing to do with her criminal case in Arizona. She'd been charged with multiple felonies five months prior. But the DVRO renewal was an entirely separate legal matter in another state. After a dramatic back and forth in their first scheduled hearing, Laura filed a disability accommodation request with the San Francisco Superior Court, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's the kind of filing the courts are obligated to take seriously. Here's Mike's attorney, Omar Serrato. Nobody was expecting an ADA request to supersede everything. But it does. In California, you don't fuck with ADA law. Mike needs to win this on the merits. He cannot have this lost on an ADA violation. And it pushed the DVRO hearing date back by two weeks. You might be wondering what disability Laura claimed to have. We weren't privy to what she said in the closed-door meeting with the judge. But Laura submitted a filing to the court, explaining her medical situation. I've had a voice actor read from it. Attached as Exhibit A is a letter dated October 17, 2025, from Dr. Colleen Green, a medical provider I have been seeing since September 2024. Dr. Green states that participating in a hearing next week would be life-threatening for her because of the combined psychiatric and physical decline. This new evidence, unavailable when the court previously ruled, directly rebuts any assumptions, that I am capable of safely participating in a contested proceeding at this time. In addition to Dr. Green's findings, my other treating medical providers have diagnosed extreme anorexia following a 50-pound weight loss accompanied by gastrointestinal bleeding. Following multiple episodes of vomiting blood, my treating physicians advised that urgent gastrointestinal testing and specialist evaluation were medically necessary. I was referred for a specialist consultation scheduled for October 22, which was the earliest available date for the required procedures. The overlap with the hearing date is entirely unavoidable, as the appointment was made immediately upon referral for a very serious condition. Postponing this appointment could delay essential diagnostics for several weeks and significantly increase the risk of further bleeding, worsening anemia, and medical destabilization. Translation The earliest day the doctor could perform a procedure for a life-threatening medical emergency was the very day of trial, October 22. The judge issued a continuance, meaning, come back in two weeks and we'll do this again. So I left San Francisco and flew home. A week later, my phone started blowing up. It was news about Laura. Journalist Megan Fox, was doing a YouTube Live when she saw a comment pop up. I'm reading my comments and I see just one little sentence that says, she was at a horse show. Megan decided to investigate. It turns out, there was an equestrian competition happening in Arizona that very week. The Scottsdale Fall Classic. I go to the website, the Scottsdale Fall Classic, the website. And I go and immediately I'm looking for the award. I type in her name. Sure as shit, there she is. Winning awards after she was supposed to be in court and she said she was bleeding internally and needed a blood transfusion. Excuse me? Megan and the online community even uncovered footage of Laura Owens competing. Low children's, low adult hunter. 5.70 is the rock of 91 with Laura Owens, the owner and writer of Scottsdale Harrison. Laura earned three first place finishes and won $150. There's a photo of her on her horse. She has a huge smile on her face and she's draped in a championship ribbon. When the online community saw this, they flew off the handle. Dave Neal made this video about it. She was actually caught by some of our audience members competing in a horse race this weekend. Why is this interesting? Well, it's interesting because Laura claims she suffers from PTSD and extreme anorexia and all these other issues, which may or may not be true. I don't know. But if you're really sick, shouldn't you not be on a horse competing? It was so brazen. When I interviewed Dave, I asked him what he made of Laura competing in the horse show. I think she just lives on the day to day. She's like, let's just get through this court thing and then tomorrow we'll jump horses. And she doesn't even try to hide it. You can imagine how offensive this was to Mike Maricini and his wife, Danielle. They'd spent thousands of dollars to go to San Francisco for the hearing, booking hotels and arranging overnight childcare for their two daughters, only to have Laura file the ADA request and push the date back another two weeks. Danielle Maricini was livid. I can't even put into words the level of anger. I tried to steer clear of those emotions, because they will rot you from the inside out. But seeing her in those videos, I felt like she was just laughing in my face. Like, ha ha, fuck you. Like she was making a mockery of my pain and my husband's pain. She thinks that she can keep getting away with it and there's no repercussions. And she also thinks we're all too stupid to find out like the actual truth. A week later, Mike was due back at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse. I boarded a flight to meet him there. It felt like deja vu. Once again, Laura was ordered to be there in person. If she didn't show, it might finally be the end of her restraining order against Mike. When I arrived in San Francisco, the chaos had already begun. Here's Rachel Juarez, one of Mike's attorneys. I was like, literally in an Uber on the way to the airport. The emails between Laura and the court started going rapid fire. And Laura started sending emails saying, I am not coming. I called Omar from the Uber and said, should I just turn around and not come? There was this chaos. That's what she does. She creates chaos. Earlier that day, the court emailed both parties. They said there was a high likelihood that a court reporter would not be available for their hearing. Unfortunately, we've been dealing with a court reporter shortage in a lot of the state courts in California for many years. It's really a resource issue. Laura tried to make this into a bigger deal than it was. Mike's team retained and paid for a court reporter and the court approved it. The court just said, I just want to make it clear that the judge has not continued this. We're going forward as planned. It looked like the next morning there would be a hearing, no matter what. That night, they prepared for every possible scenario. Here's Mike's attorney, Rachel. We kind of tried to keep it a low-key night, not do too much trial prep. But again, we went back to what if the judge says, okay, I'll let her appear by Zoom? What if she Zooms in from the hospital with a doctor there saying she's going into emergency surgery? Do we start getting into the horse show? Do we just let it go? What do we do? When Omar and Rachel woke up the next morning, their inbox was full of emails from Laura Owens. We wake up to an email the next morning from Laura saying, I actually was coming, even though she had said the prior day she wasn't. My parents bought me a plane ticket at seven o'clock last night to come. And I'm in the hospital. I really was coming. I promise. I promise. But now I'm in the hospital and I might have to have a procedure and this and that. And so now I really obviously cannot come anymore. According to Laura, in a declaration in support of motion to correct and augment the record, in the early morning hours of November 5th, she experienced multiple episodes of vomiting blood. She alleged this was a life-threatening recurrence of prior gastrointestinal bleeding and that she was seeking medical care at a hospital in Arizona. We get another email at 6.53 a.m. Laura emailing the court, just letting them know, hey. So unfortunately, I've had these two life-threatening medical occurrences. I'm going to be forced to go into the ER and they've scheduled me for a procedure, which I will be under anesthesia. So obviously, I'm not going to be present for court this morning. I hope the court will take this into consideration and find good cause to continue our proceedings. I didn't respond to that. The court just said, thank you, Laura. We've received what you've sent us. In that same declaration, Laura said her physicians. Didn't expect her to be released until the following day. So she wasn't showing up. She'd pulled something like this once already. The question was, would they give her another continuance like they had two weeks prior? And so Judge has had now experience with Laura Owens and her ability to lie and conjure up these emergencies and try to delay things. So they're no longer taking her seriously. So me and Rachel were like, there's no fucking way they're going to continue this, right? There can't be. So again, it kind of turns what is already a stressful trial morning into a total circus. On the morning of November 5th, the hearing was still on the court docket. Even if Laura didn't show up, the result of the hearing needed to be on the record. And if she didn't show up, there was a good chance the renewal request would be dismissed. The restraining order would be over. But she'd been clinging on to this for almost 10 years. It was her last connection to Mike. Would she really miss this hearing? We all headed to the courthouse that morning as planned. I'd been there two weeks ago, and I knew seating would be tight. So I got there on the early side, 7 a.m. By the time I arrived, there was already a group of supporters gathered outside the courthouse. And the crowd kept growing by the minute. I ended up standing in line with content creator Lauren Knighty. We're outside. The courthouse in San Francisco. Because Laura's supposed to show up for her DVRO renewal with Mike today. But it seems unlikely. It's raining a little bit, so we're just standing out here waiting because it doesn't open until 8.15. And there was a line last time she didn't show up. So we weren't sure how early we'd have to get here. Do you think she's going to show up today? No. Why? I think that she knows what she's doing, and she's now in a position where there are consequences for these actions for the first time in her life. If she were to show up. Take the stand and tell her lies. You know, she's very calculated. She knows that she can't show up here today and do what she normally does. Or else she might end up in an unfamiliar territory like she already is with a criminal trial pending. So I don't think that she's going to do that. Do you think that it will get dismissed today if she doesn't show up? Yeah, I do. The judge was pretty clear last time. The courthouse doors opened. And what happened next? Felt like an exact repeat of two weeks prior. Here's Mike's attorney, Omar. We get there, it's 9 o'clock, and then it's 9.05, and then it's 9.15, and then it's like 9.20. Omar started prepping Mike for what might happen once they got in the courtroom. I was telling Mike, listen to me. You need to prepare yourself for anything, okay? Because for all I know, they're in there with the judge right now. Going over whatever medical documents that she has that she wants to show the judge. Just ready yourself in the event this is a continuance, not a dismissal. I'm trying to just prep him for that. Because last time, we weren't ready for that. When the courtroom doors finally opened, Mike looked like he was in good spirits. But he later admitted to me that he had a bad feeling. We were pretty pessimistic, just based off the fact that she was having emergency surgery. My wife and I were convinced that it was going to be continued again. And that Laura was going to get out of it. We were going to have to push the court date another couple of weeks. We were finally allowed into the courtroom. And within minutes, the hearing got underway. Due to the nature of the case, audio recording is not allowed in the courtroom. But I wish it was. Because I want you to hear what happened next. Judge calls us in. I think it was about 9.30-ish or so. She makes a comment right away. She's like, well, it's 9.30. Laura Owens is not here. And she's like, well, she's not here. And right when she said this, I was like, holy shit. We got this. We got this. And then I relaxed. Rachel relaxed. I immediately tried to look over past Omar to Mike to see if he caught it. Because to me, that was the moment. When she said, this is going to be quick. That was the moment where the flip switched for me. I knew that she was going to dismiss it right there. I was sitting next to Mike's wife, Danielle. When it became clear what was happening, she grabbed my hand and said, I kind of blacked out. I remember grabbing your hand and like ecstatically shaking it with a clownish smile on my face. And I only got emotional when I saw him. I don't even think Judge Gold had even gotten out. Like, this is dismissed. And I could see the tears like rolling down his face. And that was the moment that, that I like burst into tears. After 2,857 days, Laura's domestic violence restraining order against Mike Maricini was finally dismissed. As the dismissal was announced, a round of applause broke out in the courtroom. I've seen a lot of hearings and trials. I'd never witnessed anything like that before. And then we were quickly, moved into the hallway, right after clapping and Judge Gold looking at us like we were a bunch of weirdos. Like, what is going on here? But yeah, it's just so much relief and inexplicable joy that we did it. We did it. As we exited the courtroom, we all noticed that the weather outside had abruptly shifted. Here's Omar. It was a cloudy, rainy, cold, windy day in downtown San Francisco. The clouds were hovering. It was gloomy. There was no sunshine whatsoever. And we walk out. The sun is beaming through the windows. The clouds have cleared and all of the sunshine rays and everybody's happy in the jubilation. And this time it's tears of joy. Outside the courthouse, I was able to catch up with Mike and Danielle. I just want you to tell me immediately off the bat what happened in there today. Laura did not show up. She tried to throw out medical emergencies saying she was having a surgery and the judge dismissed it. And it is such a relief because coming into today, I truthfully thought the judge was going to continue it and I thought we were going to be back at square one. And so I just feel really, really, I feel really, really good because this has been such a long time and I'm coming. I've been fighting for almost 10 years and I've had the support of everybody. That's the only reason why I've been able to get through this from my wife to my attorneys to the entire group of supporters. Like I would have never been able to do this without everybody. And I'm so fortunate. Do you think that she's going to try to appeal this? A hundred percent. She loves this. Danielle, I want to talk to you for a second. Tell me about how you were feeling last time when we left as compared to this time and what you were feeling in the past. Last time, a lot of defeat, anger, frustration, hatred. I mean, the whole gamut of the emotional wheel. This time I feel relief, but I know that we're still going to be fighting her with appeals, that this isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. I'm confident in this community to continue to push for the truth and what is right. And I know that this group of individuals won't let her get away with this again. Relieved to have the day behind them, Mike and Danielle headed home to be with their daughters. I took some time to debrief with Mike's legal team and the content creators who'd made the trip to San Francisco. But before I made it back to my hotel, my phone started buzzing with a FaceTime request. It was from myself. My sister, she never FaceTimes me. We live in the same city. So anxiously, I picked up the call. That's when she told me she was eight weeks pregnant with her first child. The timing of the news while I was covering this case wasn't lost on me. My sister and I both started crying happy tears. It's a moment I'll never forget. And without me even asking, she showed me her very real sonogram. It's really that easy. The next day, I had an afternoon flight to Phoenix to catch up with Clayton. It was a beautiful morning, and before my flight, I was planning to go take a walk near the Golden Gate Bridge. But those plans got interrupted by a text message from Mike Maricini. He'd just heard some big news. It wasn't about his case, though. It was an update from the prosecutors in Arizona. They brought more criminal charges, and they said, against Laura Owens. I thought you probably knew before I did. And so I was expecting you to just be like, I already know. But I'm glad that I finally gave you some breaking news. Do you ever notice that most home security systems don't really do anything until after someone has already tried to break in? The alarm goes off, you get the notification, and then help is on the way. 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While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement. Some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up. Only at Boost Mobile. After $30,000, you don't have to worry about your bill increasing or going down. You don't have to worry about your bill increasing. You don't have to worry about your bill any additional information for your legal case. Best of luck. luck, Lisa. Maricopa County investigators interviewed the real Lisa Daniels, who told them she did not author this note. The investigators asked if Daniels would be willing to help the prosecution, and she said yes. She also noted that she worried about retaliation from Laura Owens. There's another charge that's a bit cryptic, theft by extortion. According to the state of Arizona, Laura Michelle Owens knowingly obtained or sought to obtain property or services from Gregory Gillespie by means of a threat to accuse Gregory Gillespie of a crime or bring criminal charges against him. There are no additional details about this charge, so we don't know exactly what evidence the state gathered. The investigation report we've been quoting included information mostly about the first seven charges. That means more information could still come out. Like evidence from Laura's devices. I asked Clayton what it felt like when he saw Laura charged in not only his case, but also Greg's. Another big old heaping scoop of justice being served and watching him get all this support online. I love it. This has become larger than me. At the time I'm recording this, no criminal charges have been brought in regard to Laura's relationship with Mike Maricini. If she was ever to be charged in his case, it would likely be in California. On December 2nd, 2025, Laura attended a scheduled pre-trial hearing on her first seven charges. The state decided to tack a second arraignment onto that hearing, which we got the audio from. Good morning, Your Honor. Jeffersworth gift hearing with Ms. Owens as to both matters. She is present in the courtroom. Ms. Owens, can I get your name and date of birth, please? Laura Owens. Ms. Owens. In this hearing, Laura has a new criminal defense attorney. Two months earlier, Laura applied for indigency status, which means she was claiming she lacked the financial resources and needed court-appointed assistance. And the state granted it. With the additional seven indictments, her previous criminal attorney withdrew. That's how Laura Owens ended up being represented by a public defender, Jeffrey Swirsky. There has been a supervising indictment filed. I provided a copy to Mr. Swirsky. Mr. Swirsky, did you have the opportunity to review that with your client? Yes, I did, Your Honor. Did you want me to conduct a not guilty arraignment today on her behalf? I would, Your Honor. All right. Do you waive a reading of the charges and her rights? Yes, we will waive formal reading and enter a plea of not guilty as to all charges. All right. We'll enter a plea of not guilty on her behalf. Laura entered a plea of not guilty for the seven additional felony charges. Mr. Swirsky, since I have you here, have you received, uh, yes, in the last week, I have received approximately 6,000 pages of disclosure and 16 body cam recordings. All right. Thank you. We're in recess in this matter. All 14 charges have been rolled into one case against Laura Owens. At this time, Laura's pled not guilty to all of the charges. So like we said in the last episode, Laura's faced with two options, either go to trial or change her plea to guilty. The whole time, Laura still owed Clayton nearly $200,000 for attorney's fees. That was by order of the Family Trial Court, the Arizona Court of Appeals, and the Arizona Supreme Court. As time passes, that number is collecting interest. I asked Greg Woodnick what usually happens in situations like these. Most people have jobs. And so it's a little bit easier to collect when you have a judgment because what you do is you get a wage assignment order, a rate of garnishment. Essentially, that's an order that gets sent to someone's employer, Taco Bell, whoever they're working for. And that employer, before they issue a paycheck to Laura, would take part of that paycheck and it would essentially get routed to the judgment creditor, in this case, Clayton. But Laura didn't have a job, so we didn't have any place to issue a wage assignment order. This is where we need to get technical. Because of the money Laura owed Clayton, Greg Woodnick, scheduled something called a judgment debtors exam. It's basically a deposition, but all related to Laura's finances. I asked Woodnick to explain how judgment debtors exams usually work. It's kind of a fishing expedition. You're looking for assets or things that you can collect via the judgment. Maybe someone has a boat or a car or something that is not excluded from collection that you could, in theory, use to pay the debt of the debtor. In this case, Laura owed Clayton money. Woodnick planned to ask Laura about her assets, like property, cars, horses, even LLCs. Obviously, my team had prepared for the judgment debtors exam, gathered questions, things that I wanted to know about her financial situation, to determine if there was an avenue to collect for Clayton's judgments. On the eve of the judgment debtors exam in Maricopa County Superior Court, we received notice that she had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 is basically a fast-track bankruptcy. Think of it like a request for a fresh start. If it's granted, you might lose some non-essential assets, but your debt is wiped out and you have a badly bruised credit score. As soon as Laura filed for bankruptcy, all debt collection proceedings halted. Before they could resume, Laura would have to appear in federal court for bankruptcy. When she filed the Chapter 7 bankruptcy, we prepared to ask her questions about her assets and try to figure out if there was a way for Clayton to get paid, because he deserved to get paid. He had three judgments. But our disappointment changed because as soon as the federal government got involved, it was a whole new show. They were running the show and they were doing their own inquiry regarding Laura's assets and her transparency. She opened a Pandora's box. Instead of doing a judgment debtors exam with Greg Woodnick, had now opened up her finances to a federal court. And a notoriously unforgiving one at that. All right, this is a call on the Laura Owens case, case 25-11801. Debtor is present. In January 2026, Laura was ordered to appear at a meeting of creditors. It's kind of like a mini-deposition. Anyone who she owes money can join this call to ask Laura about her finances. And she owed a lot of people money. We have a lot of interested parties in the meeting, but as far as I know, we're only going to have one ask any questions. So I'm going to go ahead and swear you in, Ms. Owens. Obviously, her biggest creditor was Clayton Eckerd. Marcus Reisinger appearing on behalf of Clayton Eckerd, a creditor in this matter, and I'd like to ask a few questions. Marcus is an associate at Woodnick Law. He started by asking Laura about her income. And page two of that statement asks, did you have any income during this year or the two previous calendar years? Why did you answer no? Because I personally do not have any income and have not for the last two years. Did you testify in June of 2024 that you had approximately $200,000 per year of income with your business partner? With my mother, and that's all gone directly to the LLC. Nothing's been paid to me personally. One of those LLCs is the Owens family's horse flipping business. Marcus asked her if they had any valuable assets, like horses, for example. I have no assets. I know where you guys are getting at. I have literally zero assets. I'm just asking some questions so I can understand your estate. I don't have one. As you know, this case has the ability to make any income. I have none, and I truly believe you guys are trying to embarrass me by trying to make that point. Again, I'm not trying to embarrass you. All I'm doing is asking questions to understand your bankruptcy estate. Despite her emotionality, Marcus can continue questioning her about her bankruptcy filing. She claimed she didn't have any assets or any current income. But this contradicted a sworn testimony Laura gave the year prior. Last question. Your testimony is that you have not had any income in the past two years. No, I have not. Can you understand that you're under a. Tell me where the money is then. I haven't made any money. The only reason I'm asking is because you had numerous occasions in 2024 that you had income at that time. Is that correct? That I had businesses with my mom. Correct. Yeah, and that was less than two years ago, correct? My expenses have been paid for for living by my parents. That's what I've gotten in exchange. I want to play you a clip from Woodnick's 2024 deposition with Laura. It's the same deposition you heard in episode six. What is your current employment? I do a lot of things. I have a podcast. I buy and sell horses. And I have a real estate investing company. Do you earn income as a W-2 employee anywhere? I do not. Let's talk about the podcast first. What's the name of the podcast? And what is the theme of that podcast? Self-help, self-improvement. Are you the owner of the podcast? And that may not be a good question. So if you don't answer it, I'll take another shot at it. I'm, I guess, co-owner of it. I know where you're. Yeah, I know what you mean. Who's the other. co-owner if there's another person? Yeah, my mom. Are you making money with the podcast? Yes. How much money are you earning annually from the podcast? The podcast last year made $83,000 and so I had half of that. Because the other half went to your mom? Yeah. And when you say $83,000 that was after business costs? No, that was before business costs but we don't really have many business costs. So you've got the podcast, you also mentioned you've got something with horses, what is that? It's a business buying and selling horses, show horses. How much money did you make in 2023 with the horse business? $144,000 and that's also split into I have that business with my mom. So the podcast is half owned with your mom and the horse? Business, yeah. If she told the truth in the deposition, that's an annual income of $200,000. $127,000. Even split with her mom, that's still $113,000 a year. Now that Laura was in bankruptcy court, all of her previous sworn statements came under scrutiny. There appeared to be some inconsistencies. After the first meeting of creditors, Laura's bankruptcy case was referred to the United States Department of Justice. Here's Woodnick. My understanding is that the Department of Justice has a function that I think most people don't understand. I think most people don't understand. I think most people don't realize. Amongst all the other important things they do in the government, I think they serve as a watchdog function over the bankruptcy process. So I think someone must have notified them. Certainly it wasn't my office, but someone notified them that Laura's bankruptcy had some red flags and then they conducted their own investigation. I got a copy of Laura's bankruptcy filing. Her debts tell a story of their own. Aside from what she owes on her car and to Clayton, she claims to owe her own money. She claims to owe her own money. She claims to owe nearly $50,000 to over 20 creditors. That amount includes medical and veterinary debt, credit card accounts, and buy now, pay later accounts. Laura also has a car payment for a car that she obtained in December of 2024 and discloses ownership of four LLCs. In bankruptcy filings, you also need to disclose your monthly expenses. Laura claims to spend $1,800 a month in food and housekeeping supplies. That's more than most people's rent. And that's just part of her total expenses of $3,300 a month. But as you heard in her bankruptcy filing, Laura listed her income as $0. When the DOJ got involved, Laura was forced to answer some tough questions. This is a call in the Owens case, Laura Owens case 25-11801. Laura Owens was back under oath on February 9th, 2026. So Ms. Owens, I'm an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Trustee's Office, and we oversee these bankruptcy cases sort of as a watchdog. And I had gone through your bankruptcy documents and I just want to ask you some questions. The DOJ attorney, Ms. Jennifer Giammo, launches straight into some questions that the DOJ wanted answers to. So on Schedule I, it indicates that you have zero income, so no income from wages or operating a business, correct? Correct. And so for what time period were you saving that you had no income for? I mean, I haven't ever in my life had like a 1099 or W-2 job, but I've, you know, really been supported by my family. So never in your life have you received a 1099 or a W-2 from any business, including your own businesses? Correct, never. Have you ever received any kind of tax form like a Schedule K-1 that indicates that you have a certain share of earnings from a partnership or an interest in an entity? No, I know that the LLC, my family is an LLC, business taxes are filed on a Schedule C. Oh, that's, yeah, but yeah, that's all I know. In this recording, you can hear the repeated notifications as new creditors join the Zoom call. But just like in Mike's DVRO renewal hearing, her former attorney, David Gingras, is on this call. As a, quote, witness. Laura tries to turn to him for guidance. Maybe David could offer some clarification because he helped me answer that question. David? Well, let me just pipe in here. Either Mr. Gingras represents you or he does not. So I'm not comfortable with having Mr. Gingras step in as your counsel. So, you know, if he's not your counsel here, unfortunately, no, he cannot be, you know, advising you. On how to answer that. One of the debts Ms. Giammo asks about is something called Cherry Tech. It's a buy-now, pay-later lender for medical services. If you remember in the investigation report, the state alleges that Laura purchased HCG from a med spa and med spa accepts Cherry Tech as a schedule you listed debt to Cherry Tech. And that's a lender for a med spa, correct? Cherry Tech is a lender that I used for Botox and for, um, like a skin firming treatment that I got. I don't, I don't know if there was, but that's, that's not what I used it for. It was, um, pool sculpting was the one I used it for. I would provide the place, the name of the place that did that as well. Okay. So you never obtained any loans from Cherry Tech, um, based on services or products that you purchased from a med spa? Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I've gone to a lot of places for Botox and procedures, but that, that's not where I think I did anything for Cherry. Okay. Ms. Giammo asked Laura the obvious question. If she doesn't have a job, how does she afford to live? You added a line item, um, on 8H for family support for food and living expenses, and you put zero. So was that a mistake? Do you receive any kind of family support to pay your, uh, expenses, your monthly expenses? Um, they just pay them out of their money. I don't, um, like out of my, my parents' pension and social security, they don't give me money to pay that. They pay it directly. So what are they paying directly when you said they pay it? Um, well, I, I live on their property, so I mean, technically say they're paying, you know, housing and for my food. Okay. What about your car payments? Um, we share a car. They pay, they pay for my car. Okay. So they directly, cause will you, you are the sole owner of the, I'm the sole owner, but they're paying for it right now because I can't afford to make the payment. Okay. And I'm okay. So you don't pay any bills for yourself? No. And you say that you've never, are you saying that you've never earned any income on your own ever? Correct. Okay. How old are you? I'm 35. So 35 years, you have not never had made any income on your own to pay your own bills. I mean, like I said, I've been the face of my parents' businesses. So they've, you know, paid my living expenses. So I've never earned any income on my own to pay my own bills. So I've never earned any income on my own to pay my own living expenses in exchange for me, um, helping them. Okay. So that's kind of a compensation for your services then? Um, I mean, they, yeah, I mean, I, I don't take advantage of it, but, um. Well, you're providing them with services and they're compensating you by paying your bills is what you just said, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, then you better figure out how you're going to want to disclose that in these schedules, because that is a form of compensation. Laura claimed that her parents paid for her life, but here's what's interesting. Four months earlier, Ron Owens and Jan Black also filed for bankruptcy. There's one particular online detective who's been looking into this part of the story, Tiffany Robertson, who goes by BigTipDog on social media. She recently retired from a career in the financial services industry and joined the online community investigating Laura Owens. Everybody kept saying, trust fund baby. She's a trust fund baby. And I started thinking, I am radio host. Okay. Well, he's not Howard Stern, right? I'm not sure that she's a trust fund baby. And just on a whim decided to start looking into using my skillset to look into the family a little deeper. And I think I even shocked myself with what I found. Ron Owens and Jan Black filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy on their mortgage payments. And one of their credit card companies had filed a lawsuit over delinquent accounts. Laura's parents agreed to the court-ordered payment plan and made the first payment. But after that, it appears they failed to continue. The mortgage problem they had is that they have two mortgages on their home that they cannot afford. I think it's $14,200, $32 total, but that's a lot of money. money going out each month, even when you make $21,000 a month. $21,000 a month. That's what Ron and Jan declared as their monthly income on their bankruptcy filing. They allege that this income is a combination of their pensions and Social Security, with $0 coming in from three LLCs. But because they didn't file their income tax returns, and they didn't keep up with their payment plan, their bankruptcy claim was dismissed in January 2026. That means the filing was dismissed, not the debts, which is not good news for Ron and Jan. They will have to start paying all of their previously paused debts, including their mortgage. Tiffany explains. Approximately one month after Ron and Jan's bankruptcy was dismissed for lack of compliance, their first mortgage company filed a notice of trustee sale. And that's essentially a notice of foreclosure action. They are going to put the property up for auction. At the time I'm recording this, the Owens family home is in foreclosure. It's scheduled to be sold in a public auction on May 26th, 2026, on the steps of the Maricopa County Courthouse. What we see with Ron and Jan repetitively over time, and I'm going back decades because that's how far I've gone back into their mortgage history, at least. We see what appears to be spending habits that make no sense whatsoever. Before Ron and Jan filed for bankruptcy, they added their oldest daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Christian, to the deed and mortgages on the Scottsdale house. Now that the home is in foreclosure, Sarah and Christian are on the hook for any outstanding debt on the home. As for Laura's bankruptcy case, in April 2026, all parties agreed to pay the mortgage. The Owens family home is in foreclosure. They agreed to dismiss her filing. It's not clear why. A dismissal agreement does not automatically discontinue any investigations by the DOJ. It just ends the bankruptcy case and forbids her from filing again within a year. Like with her parents, that means she currently owes all of her debts. But the two meetings of creditors, where she testified under oath, those can be used in her upcoming criminal proceedings. Because her bankruptcy filing was dismissed, Laura still owes Clayton around $1,000. Around $200,000. I went back to Greg Woodnick to ask him what happens next in a situation like this. That's the easiest and most common way to collect on an obligation. But to my knowledge, Laura does not seem to have regular employment. Pursuing any of the other assets is difficult and may be impossible, depending on how things are structured and buried in different LLCs and whatnot. Clayton's not interested in elderly horses. And I'm not and I don't know what other assets she has. Clayton is interested in having the three judgments paid. And it may be very difficult, if not impossible, for that to happen. In April 2026, after Laura's bankruptcy was dismissed, her former attorney, David Gingras, posted a video on his blog. It's just Gingras this time, no Laura. A lot of people don't realize this, but when you file bankruptcy or whether you do or don't file bankruptcy, courts cannot make people pay money they don't have. In America, we used to have, I think, I don't even know the history of it, but I think in England, other countries, they had something called debtor's prisons. So if you incurred a debt and you refused to pay it, even if you just didn't have the money because you're broke, they would throw you in jail and basically make you work off your debt. We don't have debtor's prisons in America. If you are ordered to pay a billion dollars to somebody in damages and if you don't have the money, you're never going to have to pay it. They don't put you in jail. There's no consequences. There's no being broke. So Laura is not going to be paying Clayton anything as a result of her bankruptcy being dismissed. She doesn't have the money to pay him. He's welcome to go chasing after that. He tried to already. So what can you do? Nothing. Clayton hasn't let it go. He's still holding out hope that he'll get the court-ordered repayment from Laura Owens. But this isn't the end of the story. There's one more twist. All new tonight, Laura Owens could take a plea deal instead of going to trial. 35-year-old Laura Owens back in court, this time discussing a possible plea deal on the table. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office won't discuss the terms of that plea deal with us. But during a pretrial conference this morning, Owens' attorney confirmed a plea deal has been extended. In February 2026, the state of Arizona offered Laura Owens a plea deal for the 14 felonies. Accepting the plea would likely mean a more lenient sentence if she admits to guilt on at least some of the charges. The exact terms of the plea aren't public, but I called Clayton to see what he's able to share. As a victim, I have been told what the plea is. And without saying too much, I'll just tell you that I'm not happy with it. For me, what I want to see is Laura face prison time. It leaves one huge question hanging in the air. Will Laura take responsibility or head to trial and fight to prove her innocence? We've caught you up to the biggest cliffhanger in this entire story. And it's happening in real time. Because that plea deal? It's currently set to expire the same day this episode comes out, Thursday, April 30th. So with that, I wait, we wait, and judgment time is coming. But as far as what happens to Laura, only time will tell. It seems like a black and white decision. But I've been following this story long enough to know, somehow, Laura always tries to find a way out. We'll let you know what happens on the next and final episode of Love Trapped. Love Trapped is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, LLC. On Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please leave us a review. A five-star rating helps others find this show. We're grateful for your support. If you would like to reach out to the Love Trapped team, or have a similar story to share, email us at lovetrappedpod at gmail.com. That's lovetrapped, P-O-D, at gmail.com. Love Trapped is a production of Glass Podcasts. A division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. This show was executive produced by Nancy Glass, Andrea Gunning, and Ben Fetterman. Written, produced, and hosted by me, Stephanie Young. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Producer on this episode is Sidney Gladue. Additional production support from Todd Gans. Our production manager is Kristen Malkiri. For iHeart Podcasts, Allie Perry was our executive producer. Editing and mastering by Anna McClain. Additional editing support by Tanner Robbins and Matt DelVecchio. Thank you to our voice actors, Leslie Tolley, Todd Gans, and Olivia Hewitt. This podcast was developed in collaboration with Danny Passman and Leb Abramoff at Crybaby Media. The Love Trapped theme is composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by Mibe Music. A special thanks to Carrie Lieberman, Will Pearson, Jessica Kreincheck, Allie Cantor, and the entire iHeart Podcast team. And for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, HR, fully integrated, easy to use, and built to grow with your business. Why not you? That's odoo.com. Some people use ChatGPT to answer questions. Others use it to get real work done. With ChatGPT Work, you bring the goal, plus real inputs like briefs, notes, files, feedback, data, and project plans. 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