Credibility | EP 6 | Saskia's Story

Summary

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Betrayal Weekly – "Credibility | EP 6 | Saskia's Story"

Release Date: March 5, 2026
Host: Andrea Gunning
Podcast by: iHeartPodcasts | Glass Podcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode of Betrayal Weekly delves into the legal and personal aftermath of Saskia Inwood’s discovery that her then-husband, Mike Levengood, had raped her and distributed images of her without her consent. Following Mike's criminal conviction and brief jail sentence, the focus shifts to their divorce proceedings, which become a secondary battleground for control, truth, and credibility. The episode explores how abusers use the court system to further discredit their victims, drawing on expert commentary and courtroom audio to illuminate the burdens survivors face long after criminal verdicts are handed down.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Aftermath of Mike’s Guilty Plea

• Criminal Conviction: Mike pleads guilty to one count of second-degree rape, resulting in just 18 months in prison ([02:39–03:53]).
  • Judge Jill Cummins: “It was clear to me that Ms. Inwood was comatose. Not asleep, but comatose. Unconscious. Absolutely.” (03:03)
• Saskia’s Ordeal Continues: Despite the criminal outcome, Mike pursues an aggressive divorce, accusing Saskia of complicity and aiming to clear his own name ([03:53–06:56]).

2. Divorce as a Weapon

• Divorce Filing: Just four days after Saskia discovers the evidence and goes to the police, Mike serves her divorce papers, accusing her of cruelty [05:10–06:29].
• Mike’s Strategy: He accuses Saskia of being a willing participant, alleging she lied about abuse and was complicit in the camming and video posts [05:29–06:29].
  • Saskia Inwood: “He was actually saying that I was complicit in all this and I knew about Chatterbait. And it’s pages and pages of allegations that him and I were a team camming together.” (05:29)
• Emotional Toll:
  • Saskia: “To get this divorce complaint just floored me. I knew that this was going to be really ugly.” (06:29)

3. Victim-Blaming & the Battle for Credibility

• Mike’s Legal Tactics: Mike centers his divorce case on undermining Saskia’s credibility ([10:13–10:53]), highlighting her depression, alcoholism, and drug use, framing her as unstable ([10:53–11:40]).
  • Mike Levengood: “She was very depressed. She was unable to get out to work... The kids are stressing me out. Life is stressing me out.” (10:53)
  • Saskia: “I felt like I was in the twilight zone. The fact that the judges were even listening to these things was blowing my mind.” (11:56)
• Expert Commentary:
  • Deborah Turkheimer (Professor of Law): “The perfect victim standard includes misconceptions about how victims behave and how they ought to behave before, during, and after the abuse...” (20:15)
  • That perfect victim trope (“no drinking, no drugs, always fights back, and has flawless recall”) is contrasted with Saskia’s reality [20:30–22:02].

4. The Power of Images—and Doubt

• Video and Photo Evidence: Mike’s lawyer seeks to introduce hundreds of images and videos, spanning years, to support his narrative ([24:08–26:16]).
  • Alice Perret (Mike's Attorney): “There are hundreds of photographs, hundreds of videos and they take place over the course of years and years, six or seven or more years.” (25:16)
• The Horrific Reality:
  • Reporter Kaitlin Golden (on seeing the images): “It’s so hard to describe as anything other than horrific. Like, yeah, she’s not there.” (33:59)
  • Andrea Gunning: “It’s like a corpse with her eyes open.” (34:14)
  • The images, intended to establish Saskia’s consent, only reinforce the trauma, showing her unresponsive and clearly violated.

5. Judicial Deliberation & the Limits of Justice

• Judge's Review: The judge views the materials privately, then concludes:
  • “It looks as though Ms. Inwood knows at points that pictures are being taken, and I’m not sure about knowing she’s being videotaped... I don't think that is going to challenge Ms. Inwood's credibility, but I do believe that Mr. Levengood's attorney should have some opportunity to examine her about that.” (36:17)
• On the Stand: Saskia must watch a video of her own assault and defend herself while attorneys debate her memory and consent ([37:04–38:33]).
  • Saskia Inwood: “It was so retraumatizing to have to defend myself. It’s dehumanizing to have your life whittled down to that and to have people talking about things that are affecting your life, and you can’t do anything.” (38:33)

6. Verdict and Impact

• The Decision:
  • Divorce Judge, decision read aloud: “This court credits defendant's testimony and expressly discredits plaintiff’s testimony.” (40:36)
  • “Plaintiff betrayed his spouse in the worst type of way. He then lied about it and continued to lie about it.” (41:31)
  • Divorce granted on grounds of cruelty: “This court can think of few actions that warrant a divorce on this ground, more so than the rape and sexual exploitation that occurred here.” (42:35)
• Bittersweet Victory:
  • Saskia: “Of course, yes, she found that he was not credible and that I was credible, but it still didn't take away from what I had been through in this divorce and what had been taken away from me.” (41:40)
  • Prof. Turkheimer: “Even in the end, if the survivor is found credible and there's that vindication that comes along with it, along the way, the process can be enormously difficult, degrading, even traumatic.” (42:13)

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Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• Judge Jill Cummins on the evidence: "It was clear to me that Ms. Inwood was comatose. Not asleep, but comatose. Unconscious. Absolutely." (03:03)
• Saskia is served divorce papers the day she seeks a protective order: "I got served the divorce papers." (05:10)
• Mike tries to buy Saskia’s silence: “I think that he assumed that I would accept some kind of deal for alimony in exchange for not testifying.” (07:24)
• Saskia refuses any deal: “If the condition is that I don't testify, there's no way. I don't care. I'll be destitute.” (07:47)
• Mike’s campaign to discredit: “She drank a significant amount. There was drug use on her part, more than mine. It very quickly snowballed into seven, eight, nine drinks...” (11:21)
• Deborah Turkheimer on the “perfect victim” standard: “The perfect victim standard includes misconceptions about how victims behave and how they ought to behave before, during, and after the abuse.” (20:15)
• Judge’s decision in divorce: "This court credits defendant's testimony and expressly discredits plaintiff’s testimony." (40:36)
• Final judicial acknowledgment: “This court can think of few actions that warrant a divorce on this ground, more so than the rape and sexual exploitation that occurred here.” (42:35)

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Expert Commentary & Analysis

• Victim Stereotypes:
  • Professor Turkheimer describes the persistent and damaging myth of the “perfect victim” and how this standard leads to doubting survivors, even in the face of overwhelming evidence ([20:15–22:02]).
• Default to Doubt:
  • There’s a “default to doubt” in cases of sexual violence, compounded by historical jury instructions and cultural biases ([31:56–32:46]).
  • Even video evidence is “always a matter of interpretation”; no amount of corroboration is foolproof ([32:51–32:57]).

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Reflections on the Justice System

• Endurance of Victims: The episode illustrates not just the pain of the original betrayal, but the compounded trauma of having to repeatedly defend one's own credibility in court.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Even with legal vindication, for survivors like Saskia, being believed by the court does not erase years of humiliation, self-defense, and scrutiny.

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Closing Quote

Andrea Gunning:
“Saskia was granted a divorce on the grounds of cruelty... But she had to live through two and a half years of proceedings to get there. When he'd already been convicted in criminal court. She spent two and a half years defending herself, having to answer for every drink she had, every hospital stay, having all of her vulnerabilities put on display when Mike had raped her. And this crime isn't unique to Saskia.” (42:30)

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Featured Expert

• Deborah Turkheimer – Professor of Law at Northwestern University, Author of “Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers.”

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For Survivors & Listeners

• Visit rainn.org/betrayal or call 1-800-656-HOPE for support and resources ([42:45]).

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This episode exposes the grave difficulties sexual assault survivors face while seeking justice, the weaponization of legal proceedings to undermine them, and the strength required to keep fighting for the truth.

Transcript

[Andrea Gunning]

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[Andrea Gunning]

Mike Levengood pled guilty to just one count of second degree rape. He took A plea deal that meant he would only serve 18 months in prison. By the time of his sentencing hearing, the one you heard last episode, the judge's hands were tied. But she had watched those Chatterbait videos and she was sure of what she saw.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

It was clear to me that Ms. Inwood was comatose. Not asleep, but comatose. Unconscious. Absolutely.

[Andrea Gunning]

Any technicalities in the law didn't matter. The videos spoke for themselves. To Judge Jill Cummins, this was rape.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

You were a predator to Ms. Inwood, and I completely understand it. The damage done to her is probably irreparable. Do you understand that by pleading guilty this morning, you are waiving or giving up that presumption of innocence?

[Mike Levengood]

Yes, I do.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

Do you still wish to plead guilty this morning?

[Mike Levengood]

I do, you, Honor.

[Andrea Gunning]

Okay.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

And are you pleading guilty today, sir, because you are, in fact, guilty?

[Mike Levengood]

Yes, you, Honor, of the one count.

[Andrea Gunning]

You'd think that would have been the end of it, but for Saskia, things were about to get much worse. Mike was just getting started. I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is betrayal. Season 5 Episode 6 credibility Mike's guilty plea marked the end of his criminal proceedings. But his sentencing hearing wouldn't be his last time in court. It wouldn't be Saskia's either. For a year, the criminal matter took center stage. But the whole time, there was another case playing out. Saskia and Mike's divorce. We're going to rewind a bit to before Mike's plea deal, before he was even charged with a crime. It was November 1, 2018, just four days after Saskia discovered the videos of her being sexually assaulted and went to the police. On that day, Saskia was back at the courthouse, finalizing her protective order. But before she could leave the building,

[Saskia Inwood]

I got served the divorce papers.

[Andrea Gunning]

At first, having those papers in hand was a relief. She wanted a divorce as quickly as possible. But as Saskia sat in the courthouse lobby reading the documents Mike sent, she realized this wasn't just any divorce filing.

[Saskia Inwood]

He was actually saying that I was complicit in all this and I knew about Chatterbait. And it's pages and pages of allegations that him and I were a team Camine together.

[Andrea Gunning]

Just four days after, Saskia realized what Mike was doing to her. Four days after Mike left the house, he filed for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Saskia's cruelty towards him. Mike said that Saskia's allegations that he raped her, secretly videotaped her, and posted nude images of her without her knowledge were all false. Saskia was making it all up the divorce complaint reads, the parties would spend evening time posting and watching other couples doing the same. This was a regular activity that the parties engaged in openly. These acts were all consensual.

[Saskia Inwood]

To get this divorce complaint just floored me. I knew that this was going to be really ugly.

[Andrea Gunning]

These divorce proceedings were completely different than the criminal case Mike was about to face. That case was the State of Maryland vs. Mike Levengood. It was the state's job to prove Mike's guilt. This divorce case was Mike Levengood versus Saskia Inwood.

[Saskia Inwood]

It really felt like I was the one on trial.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mike could have gone for a no fault divorce. Instead, he was determined to take Saskia down. And this path had a lot to offer him. His criminal trial hadn't taken place yet, so the divorce was a bargaining chip. Saskia thinks that Mike was using the divorce case to get her to back down and make his criminal troubles disappear.

[Saskia Inwood]

I think that he assumed that I would accept some kind of deal for alimony in exchange for not testifying. It would be easy to throw some cash my way and this would all go away.

[Andrea Gunning]

Saskia could have used that money she was dipping into her 401k just to pay her divorce attorney. But that kind of deal she'd never accept.

[Saskia Inwood]

If the condition is that I don't testify, there's no way. I don't care. I'll be destitute. We're going to follow through with this.

[Andrea Gunning]

The criminal proceedings went ahead with Saskia as an active participant in the case. But even after Mike pled guilty, even after the criminal matter was closed, he charged ahead with the divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Saskia wanted a divorce too. But like I said earlier, this was no typical divorce. Mike was saying Saskia was a liar and there was a lot at stake. If a judge believed him, Saskia could owe Mike, her rapist, tens of thousands of dollars. She could even be charged with false reporting or sued for defamation. In this case, there were lengthy depositions, requests for documents, and then in January

[Saskia Inwood]

of 2021, the divorce actually went to trial.

[Andrea Gunning]

This is extremely rare. Only about 5% of divorce cases make it to trial. It was the middle of COVID so much of the trial took place over Zoom. Saskia sat at her kitchen table, staring at Mike through her screen.

[Saskia Inwood]

He was sitting there in an orange jumpsuit after pleading guilty to rape.

[Andrea Gunning]

At this point, Mike had been convicted. But in spite of that, at this divorce trial, Mike would claim he was innocent. That's why he was so determined to see this case through. You See, Mike couldn't win his freedom through his plea. He'd waived much of his right to an appeal. But convincing this new judge that Saskia was lying could help him clear his name. If he won the divorce, he could have an official document that proved Saskia made the whole thing up. A document he could take to employers, friends and family to say, this is what really happened. The divorce judge saw the truth. On the surface, the divorce trial was all about money, as most divorces are. Who'd get the house, the. The cars. But really, the trial rested on who the judge believed. Mike or Saskia.

[Saskia Inwood]

Mike looked very arrogant and cocky and had no emotion or feeling. I think he thought that it would be just a wash.

[Andrea Gunning]

When Mike and his attorney opened their case, their strategy was clear. Turn the spotlight off Mike and onto Saskia. Their goal was to undermine Saskia's credibility. But what does that really mean? Well, they would have to prove she wasn't believable. They'd introduce patterns of behavior, aspects of her character that would show she wasn't a reliable narrator. How would they do this? By saying she'd lost her mind.

[Mike Levengood]

She was very depressed. She was unable to get out to work. I'm depressed. I can't take it. I can't work. Work is stressing me out. The kids are stressing me out. Life is stressing me out.

[Andrea Gunning]

This is the courtroom audio from the divorce trial. That's Mike's real voice you just heard. And calling out Saskia's anxiety and depression wasn't the only way he tried to undermine her credibility. He also talked a lot about her use of drugs and alcohol.

[Mike Levengood]

She drank a significant amount. There was drug use on her part, more than mine. It very quickly snowballed into seven, eight, nine drinks. He also received Adderall from a friend. When she starts drinking, she doesn't stop.

[Andrea Gunning]

All of this was to introduce doubt about Saskia. Saskia's lawyer objected to a lot of this testimony, arguing that Mike's side was trying to enter character evidence unfairly. But the judge allowed Mike to continue.

[Saskia Inwood]

I felt like I was in the twilight zone. The fact that the judges were even listening to these things was blowing my mind.

[Divorce Judge]

Foreign,

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[Andrea Gunning]

When Saskia and Mike's divorce trial began, he was zooming in from jail and his legal strategy was to discredit Saskia.

[Mike Levengood]

She was very depressed. There was drug use on her part, more than mine. When she starts drinking, she doesn't stop.

[Andrea Gunning]

Saskia sat through hours and hours of this testimony, listening to Mike drag out every time she drank too much and every time she couldn't get out of bed. It wasn't that these moments hadn't occurred, it was that Mike was using them to say Saskia was responsible for everything that happened to her. He was telling the story of the worst period of her life. But in this story, it was all her fault. She was the one causing chaos.

[Saskia Inwood]

These things were so dehumanizing and so dismissive of what I had been through in my pain.

[Andrea Gunning]

I have to admit, it's hard for me to listen to Mike make this argument without feeling angry. Mike knew her family's mental health history and how Saskia was determined to remain stable, to not walk the same path as her dad. Saskia thought Mike was on her team, and yet Mike had been exploiting her mental illness, her use of alcohol and drugs for years. Saskia's friend Heather put it best. It was his advantage to keep her

[Deborah Turkheimer]

in this drunken, drugged up, bad mental

[Andrea Gunning]

health state, because the more vulnerable she became, the easier it became for him

[Deborah Turkheimer]

to take advantage of her.

[Andrea Gunning]

But as Mike testified and his attorney spoke, his culpability faded into the background. He zeroed in on her behaviors, her imperfections, to show that she shouldn't be trusted and even that she was to blame. I want you to hear Mike's account of October 27, 2018, the night of the Halloween party, the night Saskia saw what was on Mike's computer screen. The audio isn't perfect, so listen closely. Here's his story of that night.

[Mike Levengood]

We've been having a party, ping pong. We're both stuck.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

And

[Mike Levengood]

ended up looking at Chatterbait's website.

[Andrea Gunning]

When they got home, they went onto Chatterbait, the camming website. But just as they were logging on,

[Mike Levengood]

she got up and wanted it off. So the dog went to bed and that was it for the evening. Next morning, he was very, very agitated. Wanted to look at the website, which we did, and then became very focused on my use of pornography. Meaning looking at the website without her. The pinwheel became very emotional and started saying all kinds of things. And that's at the point where she stood there in front of the dresser, and she looked at me and she said, you know, I now know what you're doing. And it was just such a shock. And out of nowhere, it just completely floored me, that moment when I realized that there's a mental illness that was going on here.

[Andrea Gunning]

In Mike's memory, he and Saskia were at a party. They were both drunk, looked at a website. The next day, Saskia went crazy on him out of the blue. There could only be one explanation for all of this. Saskia was mentally ill. In court, this strategy is often effective. It plays on misconceptions we all have about what it means to be a rape victim. If you've watched any crime show or any courtroom drama, you're probably familiar with the character of the perfect victim.

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[Andrea Gunning]

William Harris is the man who raped me in that alley. Think of law and svu. There's the perpetrator, the bad guy, and then there's an innocent victim. She's written to be brilliant, beautiful, and beyond reproach. I tried to get away, but I couldn't. He just left me there. Storytellers love this archetype. The protagonist is clear, and audiences love it, too. We know exactly who to root for. There's no room for doubt.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

The problem is that most victims don't behave the way this imaginary perfect victim behaves.

[Andrea Gunning]

That's Deborah Turkheimer, a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

I am a former prosecutor, and I handled cases involving special victims.

[Andrea Gunning]

Debra wrote a book called why We Doubt Accusers and Protect abusers. She's an expert on sexual violence. She says the perfect victim character doesn't just live on screen. She's the benchmark, the standard that all rape victims are judged against in the courts, in circles of friends, everywhere.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

The perfect victim standard includes misconceptions about how victims behave and how they ought to behave before, during, and after the abuse. Before, there ought to be no drinking, no drug use.

[Andrea Gunning]

And Saskia, as we know, was on a lot of substances when she was raped.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

During the abuse, the perfect victim fights. She fights back. She fights hard.

[Andrea Gunning]

But Saskia was knocked out.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

And then afterwards, the perfect victim. She's able to recall with precision every

[Andrea Gunning]

single detail of what happened, which, again, Saskia couldn't. In every way, Saskia failed to rise to the perfect victim standard. The reality is, most victims do it's

[Deborah Turkheimer]

unfair to impose a set of rules that, for the most part, can't be followed and aren't followed.

[Andrea Gunning]

And yet the rules remain and they serve abusers like Mike. Because when victims aren't perfect victims, we can write them off and we can turn them into other characters.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

The regretful woman. So someone who had consensual sex and then decided it was a mistake and so is now, quote, unquote, crying rape. The gold digger. Someone who is making this up because she wants money. Money.

[Andrea Gunning]

And then there's the hysterical woman.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

Someone who just really doesn't know what's going on and doesn't have a firm grasp of reality.

[Andrea Gunning]

It's one of the oldest and most effective ways to discredit a victim, to make the judge question their sanity and doubt what happened to them. Here's Alice Perret, Mike's attorney from the divorce trial.

[Alice Perret]

What did you see that makes you believe that she was struggling?

[Mike Levengood]

He was very depressed. He was unable to get out from work. Many, many times he was struggling to take care of the kids.

[Alice Perret]

Ms. Inwood says, I'm feeling like shit. How often would she tell you something like that?

[Mike Levengood]

So many times I could not even count.

[Alice Perret]

And were there any particular reasons why she felt like ship?

[Mike Levengood]

Because of, I'm anxious, I'm depressed, I can't take it, I can't work. Work is stressing me out. The kids are stressing me out. Life is stressing me out.

[Andrea Gunning]

By Mike's account, Saskia wasn't composed or stable or credible. She was a woman in the midst of a breakdown. Her word couldn't and shouldn't be trusted. She had to have lost touch with reality because according to Mike, he and Saskia were camming together, having sex on camera all the time.

[Alice Perret]

How many times have have the two of you cammed on chattape?

[Mike Levengood]

You know, two to three dozen times.

[Alice Perret]

And how many times had you observed other people camming on chatterbait?

[Mike Levengood]

3. For a dozen times. The sex life became. Was extremely adventurous with not a lot of limits. There was no boundary. That was something that I had not experienced previously in any relationship.

[Andrea Gunning]

But Mike wasn't asking the judge to take his word on all this. His divorce attorney, Alice Perret, said she could prove it. She had a plan.

[Alice Perret]

I would like to really admit all of the pictures and all of the videos because I think the. How much much of them is relevant to my client's case.

[Andrea Gunning]

And when Alice said all, she wasn't just talking about the videos from the criminal trial, the ones Detective rule recovered from 2017 and 2018.

[Alice Perret]

There are hundreds of photographs, hundreds of videos and they take place over the

[Judge Jill Cummins]

course of years and years, six or

[Alice Perret]

seven or more years.

[Andrea Gunning]

There was more evidence, much more, and Alice claimed it would show Saskia consent consented to everything, every sexual act, every video.

[Alice Perret]

What's happened is the defendant has under oath in pleadings and requested responses to admissions just denied everything, right? Never posed for a picture, never participated in videos and you say this never happened and there is a picture of a living color or dating of it in moving motion.

[Andrea Gunning]

It's relevant and according to Alice, it would show that Saskia was not to be believed.

[Judge Jill Cummins]

Foreign.

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[Andrea Gunning]

In the criminal trial, There were about 30 videos recovered from Chatterbait. These videos were the key to prosecuting and convicting Mike. But in the divorce trial, Mike said he never raped Saskia or took images of her without her consent. She agreed to all of it, and to back that up, he said that he and Saskia often made pornography together,

[Mike Levengood]

which was done over the course of seven years to the tune of over 200 photographs and videos.

[Andrea Gunning]

200 photographs and videos. His divorce attorney, Alice Perret, seemed confident

[Alice Perret]

the evidence will convince the court that she was a willing participant in these matters.

[Andrea Gunning]

While working on this episode, we reached out to Alice Perret. She declined to comment in these additional images. It wasn't just that Saskia's eyes were open. As we've talked about in previous episodes, Alice claimed that in lots of instances, Saskia was awake and she was posing and performing for the camera. If Saskia was saying she'd never consented, she was lying, or she was delusional. From the early days of reporting this season, I knew that there were some pictures Mike took of Saskia. Consensually, Saskia was open about that with us and with detectives too. The kids would be out of the house and they'd be drinking, having a good time. Then Mike would pull out his phone. You heard about one of these incidents in episode one?

[Saskia Inwood]

I remember one time he took a picture of me and showed me how good my butt looked. Or something like that, and I explicitly asked him, what are you doing with that picture? And he's like, well, of course I'm going to erase it. I would never show it to anybody.

[Andrea Gunning]

But she can only remember this happening a handful of times. Mike said he had 200 photographs and videos, and most of these images, I

[Saskia Inwood]

don't remember taking them, and I never knew of their existence.

[Andrea Gunning]

All of this brings up another painful truth about rape cases. No matter the corroboration, no matter the amount of prosecutors, family members and experts standing behind a victim, there's an initial

[Deborah Turkheimer]

default to doubt that is sort of culturally ingrained in us.

[Andrea Gunning]

That's law professor Deborah Turkheimer. Again, she says doubt is built into the crime of rape.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

It's really difficult in the criminal setting to get past that very high standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's true of every crime. But it's especially true of rape. Historically, there were special instructions that were given to juries that said, you should be even more cautious about convicting in this case because accusers are so untrustworthy. Now, those formal instructions aren't given, but we still have a default to doubt when someone comes forward.

[Andrea Gunning]

That's true even in a case like this, where there's so much evidence, even

[Deborah Turkheimer]

sometimes when it's on video. Right. There are questions of interpretation.

[Andrea Gunning]

No judge or jury can turn back the clock to be in the room at the time a rape happened, and no one can get into the minds or bodies of the people involved. And that's also a challenge for us as reporters. That's my producer, Kaitlin Golden.

[Kaitlin Golden]

We can't go back in time. And so in understanding this story, the only thing we can do is rely on the evidence that is available to us.

[Andrea Gunning]

When it comes to images like these, attorneys will always make arguments of what was really going on. But our team didn't understand the degree to which these were just arguments until we saw the images for ourselves. After months of reporting, we finally got access to the case files from the divorce and the criminal case. We saw the kinds of photos we heard so much about from Mike's attorney, ones where Saskia's eyes were open. One in particular has stuck with us.

[Kaitlin Golden]

I remember the first time I saw that photo and I had to immediately close my laptop because, I mean, it's so hard to describe as anything other than horrific. Like, yeah, she's not there.

[Andrea Gunning]

No, no, she. She isn't there. I hate even describing it, but the only way I could. Could describe what I saw is it's like a corpse with her eyes open. It's really upsetting. So when I look at that photo, I think, of course she doesn't remember this. Yeah.

[Kaitlin Golden]

And the idea that images like this, where her eyes are open, were being used to say that she was awake and consented to everything, is so, so disturbing.

[Andrea Gunning]

Seeing this image, it felt clearer than ever. What happened to Saskia is real. It matters. And Mike, not Saskia, is to blame. But in the divorce trial back in 2021, there was only one person that needed to be convinced of all this. That was the judge. And Saskia was unsure what she'd make of these images.

[Saskia Inwood]

I knew that I wasn't going to be given the benefit of the doubt.

[Andrea Gunning]

Before Mike's attorney could show the videos, the judge asked to review the content herself. She stepped into her chambers to watch in private. As everyone waited for the judge to return, Saskia sat in her kitchen, staring at Mike through her screen. The man who'd hurt her was now in jail. He was just a little box on zoom, and yet he had the power to make her feel so small. He was the one behind bars. But the judge was deliberating over Saskia's actions, her character.

[Saskia Inwood]

It felt ridiculous and absurd and dehumanizing that I had to go through that, but I also knew that I just had to get through it.

[Andrea Gunning]

Saskia knew the truth. The truth is always the best defense. She just hoped the judge would see the truth, too. After a brief recess, the judge returned.

[Divorce Judge]

So I have gone through the additional videos and it looks as though Ms. Inwood knows she at points that pictures are being taken, and I'm not sure about knowing she's being videotaped because I don't think I saw anything that expressly shows that. So this could very well be a situation where, you know, a consenting couple agree to take pictures of each other. And I don't think that that is going to challenge Ms. Inwood's credibility, but I do believe that Mr. Levengood's attorney should have some opportunity to examine her about that.

[Andrea Gunning]

The judge couldn't say for sure that Saskia did or did not know she was being filmed or whether she knew this content was being shared. So she asked the officers of the court to turn around, and Mike's attorney, Alice Perret, pulled up the evidence. She wanted to show Saskia the videos and make her answer for them. In front of everyone, Saskia looked at the video on her screen. Despite what Alice said, this was a video of her being violated, a video that was now being shown to a room Full of strangers.

[Saskia Inwood]

It made me feel like a fool. It made me feel like less than a person.

[Andrea Gunning]

The whole time, she couldn't stop thinking about Mike.

[Saskia Inwood]

It's heartbreaking to think that he put everybody through that just so that he could get away with humiliating me.

[Andrea Gunning]

With Saskia on the stand, the judge let Mike's attorney, Alice Perret, proceed.

[Alice Perret]

Ms. Inwood, do you recall this video?

[Andrea Gunning]

No, I don't.

[Alice Perret]

Do you recall when it was taken?

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[Divorce Judge]

Homerun. Ma', Am, do you recall when this video was taken?

[Andrea Gunning]

No, because I don't recall the video. The attorneys fought back and forth on objections and relevance as Saskia just sat there.

[Saskia Inwood]

It was so retraumatizing to have to defend myself. It's dehumanizing to have your life whittled down to that and to have people talking about things that are affecting your life, and you can't do anything. You're just sitting there helpless, having to listen to it. And it's something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

[Andrea Gunning]

Alice continued cross examining Saskia for just a couple more minutes, asking Saskia if she posed for pictures for Mike. And then the judge popped in.

[Divorce Judge]

You Go ahead, Ms. Perret. Anything else you want to ask?

[Judge Jill Cummins]

No.

[Divorce Judge]

No other questions of Ms. Inwood?

[Alice Perret]

None. I will save my time for Mr. Levy.

[Divorce Judge]

All right. All right. Any. She didn't ask much. Any redirect?

[Mike Levengood]

No, you, Honor.

[Divorce Judge]

All right, thank you. Okay.

[Andrea Gunning]

Alice spent her remaining time questioning Mike again. Before long, she ran out of time. Both sides closed their cases. In the weeks that followed, Saskia waited and waited for the divorce decision. She wasn't expecting any kind of big win. She just wanted those papers in hand.

[Saskia Inwood]

I had no faith in the justice system anymore. I just wanted it to be over. I was already so disheartened about everything and not hopeful at all. It was like I was waiting for the time to run out. Everything was just getting in the way of me just being divorced from this monster. I wanted nothing more than to be divorced and be able to move on. And I could really say that this is not my husband. This is a monster who was posing as my husband, and now he's totally con.

[Andrea Gunning]

Finally, a few months later, the judge released her decision. We're going to have a producer read part of it for you. And remember, Mike is the plaintiff here. Saskia is the defendant. The judge wrote.

[Divorce Judge Reading Decision]

This court credits defendants testimony and expressly discredits plaintiff's testimony.

[Andrea Gunning]

In other words, she didn't believe Mike. She believed Saskia.

[Divorce Judge Reading Decision]

Plaintiff Attempted to convince this court that defendant was aware of the site and aware that she was being sexually penetrated and otherwise manipulated by the plaintiff. The court is unconvinced. The evidence revealed defendant had struggled during the party's marriage and before with addiction and mental health issues, making her particularly vulnerable to mistreatment by someone she trusted. Defendant learned only after very personal images were broadcast to the world on the Internet that she was married to someone whom she could not trust. The plaintiff betrayed his spouse in the worst type of way. He then lied about it and continued to lie about it.

[Andrea Gunning]

Another judge saw through Mike's lies and came to the same conclusion. On paper, she won, but in reality,

[Saskia Inwood]

to saskia, it didn't matter. Of course, yes, she found that he was not credible and that I was credible, but it still didn't take away from what I had been through in this divorce and would have been taken away from me.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was exactly how saskia felt after Mike's plea deal. She was told that this was a good outcome for the court system, but it didn't feel that way. Professor Deborah turkheimer says that's often how these cases go.

[Deborah Turkheimer]

Even in the end, if the survivor is found credible and there's that vindication that comes along with it along the way, the process can be enormously difficult, degrading, even traumatic.

[Andrea Gunning]

Saskia was granted a divorce on the grounds of cruelty. The judge wrote.

[Divorce Judge Reading Decision]

This court can think of few actions that warrant a divorce on this ground, more so than the rape and sexual exploitation that occurred here.

[Andrea Gunning]

But she had to live through two and a half years of proceedings to get there. When he'd already been convicted in criminal court. She spent two and a half years defending herself, having to answer for every drink she had, every hospital stay, having all of her vulnerabilities put on display when mike had raped her. And this crime isn't unique to Saskia. You can see his hands, his wedding ring. And then I realized that I am in these images. On the next episode of betrayal, we meet other survivors. It has been a real journey for me to get to the point of realizing that it's not my gut that's broken, it's him that's broken. For resources on sexual violence, visit rainnn.org betrayal that's R A I N N.org betrayal. You can also get free confidential 24. 7 support through RAINS National Sexual Assault Hotline. Just text HOPE to 64673 or call 1-800-656-HOPE you are not alone. If you would like to reach out to the betrayal team or want to tell us your story, email [e-mail] that is betrayalpodmail.com or follow us on Instagram etrayalpod to access additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community. Join our [e-mail] we're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning. Written and produced by Kaitlyn Golden. Our supervising producer is Carrie Hartman. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Olivia Hewitt and Leah Jablo. Production management by Clark Kristin Melchiori Additional support by Curry Richman. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by Matt d'. Alvecchio. Special thanks to Saskia, her friends and family and special thanks to Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman. The Trail's theme is composed by Oliver Baines Music Library provided by MyB Music and for more podcasts from from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Andrea Gunning]

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