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Foreign. Hey, everyone, it's Katie. If you're loving Crime House Daily, you need to check out Crimes of, the newest show from Crime House. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Their first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Crimes of is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or find them on YouTube at Crime House Studios. New episodes out every Tuesday.
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This is Crime House. Some things happened, but there was no sexual intercourse. The next day when I told her that was a mistake and this can't be anything more than what that was, she began to cry. And I realized at that point something felt off.
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Tonight, former Bachelor star Clayton Eckert speaking out.
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Her whole goal was to overwhelm victims into not being able to function. She would send me these dating contracts, basically saying, if you date me, I will not go public. And then we can go ahead and just. I will, I will, I will close the court case and we can figure this out behind closed doors.
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She claimed reality TV star Clayton Eckerd was the father of her unborn twins. But prosecutors say it was all a lie. Now Laura Owens stands accused of fraud, forgery and perjury. And with a trial on the horizon, her story is unraveling fast. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor, and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening, and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on the biggest cases. Every night, Night Watch episodes take you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is a place for you. Follow Crime House Daily Wherever you get your podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel @CrimeHouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases, breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Tonight, we're diving into the bizarre case of Laura Owens, a twisted paternity suit wrapped in fraudulent schemes with the star of The Bachelor caught in the middle as Owens pleads not guilty and awaits trial in early 2026, we'll break down the timeline, the charges and the tabloids messy role in dragging Clayton back into the spotlight.
- [03:44]
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- [04:16]
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In our main story tonight, we're talking about a case involving the star of season 26 of the Bachelor, Clayton Ray Eckerd. In August of 2023, a woman named Laura Owens filed a paternity suit against Clayton after an alleged one night stand. But it wasn't long until Laura's story started unraveling and now she's the one facing legal trouble. Laura has been accused of altering an ultrasound, lying under oath and fabricating a pregnancy video and has been charged with seven felonies including four counts of perjury. After this case hit the press, more victims came forward claiming Laura has defrauded them as well. Given the high profile nature of her alleged victim, there's breaking news coming out almost every day, so there are still a lot of moving pieces. Let's dive in. Before he was the Bachelor, Clayton Eckerd was just an everyday guy from Eureka, Missouri, a small town outside of St. Louis. Growing up, Clayton and his two younger brothers spent a lot of their time outdoors. In the summers they loved to go to Lake St. Louis where they would pass the days boating and fishing. But Clayton was also a hard worker. After high school, he played football for the University of Missouri and in July 2016, the 23 year old tight end signed with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. Unfortunately for Clayton, he's cut from the roster before the regular season started. But he doesn't let it get him down. Instead, he shifts his focus to a career in business and starts working in medical sales. After a few years, he makes another transition into reality TV. In 2021, 28 year old Clayton competes on season 18 of the Bachelorette. That year, the Bachelorette was a 28 year old elementary school teacher named Michelle Young and she and Clayton bonded over the fact that Clayton's mom was a teacher too, and they end up building A strong connection. But in the end, the connection wasn't strong enough and Clayton was eliminated in eighth place. He wouldn't be off America's TV screens for long though, because on November 30, 2021, he's announced as the next star of season 26 of the Bachelor. Deep down, Clayton's a romantic. His parents have been together for 29 years and he wants that kind of love in his life too. His ideal partner is someone smart, funny, independent, and ideally, she'd be a great workout buddy too. In the end, Clayton doesn't find what he's looking for, and the end of the season gets a bit messy. Clayton tells all three of the final women that he's in love with them. Not only that, he's intimate with two of them. And when he tells the third, Susie Evans, she quits the show. Clayton tries to go after Susie and propose, but she turns him down. And although they do try to date after the season ended, it doesn't work out. After this experience, Clayton decides to shift gears again and focus on himself. He moves to Scottsdale, Arizona, where he writes a book, starts a fitness coaching business and gets his real estate license. And it doesn't take long for things to take off. On May 17, 2023, just weeks after getting his real estate license, Clayton received a message on LinkedIn. It's from a woman looking to hire him as her real estate agent. Her name is Laura Michelle Owens. 33 year old Laura is the daughter of Ron Owens, a radio host in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ron. Ron is a local legend and was inducted into the Bay Area Radio hall of Fame. They were also well connected to influential politicians and TV stars like Bob Saget. So Laura is comfortable being around celebrities and she wants Clayton to take her on as a client. Or at least that's what she says. Laura and Clayton start sexting and on May 20, 2023, he asks her to come over. That night, Clayton says they only had oral sex and didn't do anything else. And the next day he tells her he wants to keep their relationship purely professional, which Laura reportedly does not take. Well, according to Clayton, she breaks into tears when he turns her down. Her reaction is so intense he doesn't think it's a good idea to even have a professional relationship. So he ends up asking his colleague to take her on as a client. But Laura wasn't going to disappear from his life that easily. Ten days later, she sends Clayton another picture. But this one's not a nude. It's a picture of a positive pregnancy test and Laura says the baby is Clayton's. Clayton is understandably shocked and knows that's not even possible. He says that a positive pregnancy test isn't enough, he needs to see an ultrasound, and that if Laura is really pregnant, he wants to take a paternity test. Laura agrees, but it's still too early for her to get an ultrasound that would show anything. In the meantime, she emails Clayton several times a day. And in one of these emails, Laura proposes a dating contract. According to Clayton, the agreement says that he'll agree to date Laura for a week and if it doesn't work out, she'll have an abortion. But if Clayton refuses to sign, she'll go through with the pregnancy. For obvious reasons, he does not agree to this proposal. But Laura doesn't give up. In fact, she is now insisting she is pregnant with twins. And on July 10, almost six weeks after she told Clayton she she was pregnant, Laura sends him an ultrasound. Clayton is not convinced, though, so he does some digging and finds out that the ultrasound video was actually from YouTube and he reaches out to the original poster to confirm it. She is also refusing to have him do a paternity test, despite the fact that she is far enough along that the results would show whether or not he was the father. And in August, she ends up filing a paternity lawsuit against him, seeking child support. And on top of that, she goes to the press to share her accusations in the tabloids. And the reaction against Clayton is savage.
- [11:14]
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- [11:43]
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- [11:57]
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- [11:59]
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- [12:13]
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After Laura Owens publicly reveals her paternity lawsuit against Clayton Eckard in August 2023, there's a ton of backlash against him. He already didn't have the best reaction with some Online communities because of his behavior on his season of the Bachelor. He absolutely maintains that he did not impregnate Laura and that they didn't even have vaginal sex. But it doesn't matter. Before he gets the chance to defend himself in the court of law, a lot of people in the court of public opinion decide he's guilty. As a result, Clayton is dropped from a lot of speaking engagements he'd booked. And after Laura goes public with her accusations, nobody is calling Clayton. But Clayton makes an astonishing discovery. There are at least two other men Laura has allegedly done this to. Their names are Michael Maracini and Greg Gillespie. In both cases, the men claimed that Laura faked pregnancies in their relationships and had legal actions taken against them. Once Clayton realizes other people are going through the same situation, he decides to take the fight back to Laura. And in September 2023, he and Laura finally undergo a paternity test which shows there is, quote, little to no fetal DNA in Laura's body, which means Laura is most likely not even pregnant. But she refuses to drop the case. During a hearing in November 2023, she testified that she'd just seen her doctor and that she's 24 weeks pregnant. So they do another DNA test. The results are the same. Little to no fetal DNA. After this, there's not much Laura can do to argue her case. And in December 2023, she says she's no longer pregnant and asks for the case to be dismissed. But Clayton says not so fast and wants it to keep moving forward. He wants a non paternity finding officially on the record, for Laura to pay his legal fees and for her to be fined for bringing a bogus case to court. Laura tries to counter Clayton's motion. But on February 21, 2024, the judge announces her decision. The case will move forward. The case was finally heard on June 10, 2024, just over a year after Laura first told Clayton that she was pregnant. There are so many spectators in attendance for the hearing that the court has to set up an overflow room. During the two hour hearing. While Laura is up under oath, she continues to insist that she actually was pregnant. Laura also makes another claim. She says Clayton sexually assaulted her. As a disclaimer, every allegation of sexual assault needs to be taken seriously and less than 5% of allegations are false. However, the fact that the evidence is looking like Laura most likely lied about even being pregnant and that she has done this to multiple men is not helping her credibility. And her claim has not been substantiated. The judge does not find any of her allegations or any of her other claims credible. And on June 18, eight days after the hearing, the presiding Judge Julie Mata ruled in Clayton's favor. Judge Mata finds that Laura had falsified her pregnancy test, ultrasound and sonogram and decides that Laura had knowingly brought a false claim to court. So she orders her to pay almost $150,000 for Clayton's attorney fees. Her 19 page ruling says that at best Laura's lawsuit was premature, at worst it was a fraudulent attempt to force communication and or a relationship with Clayton. Additionally, Judge Mata states that Laura has repeatedly engaged in this kind of behavior and refers the case to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for criminal consideration.
- [16:33]
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- [17:00]
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- [17:32]
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In July 2024, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office began their investigation into Laura Owens false paternity claim. In the meantime, Laura decides to fight the judge's decision from her failed paternity suit against Clayton Eckerd. In November 2024, she appealed Judge Julie Mata's ruling against her. About five months later on March 28, 2025, that appeal was denied and almost six weeks after that, on May 6, Maricopa County's investigation concluded and a grand jury charged Laura with seven felonies. Clayton was immediately relieved. The same day she was charged. He was quick to put an end to this chapter and shared this video statement to his Instagram. Let's listen.
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Justice is finally served. I am absolutely amped to share this news with you. All that today as of like I think 20 minutes ago, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has announced the indictment of Laura Michelle Owens on felony charges related to the Paternity scheme.
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The charges against Laura Owens included one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of forgery, four counts of perjury, and one count of tampering with physical evidence. The county's press release says, quote, between May 2023 and June 2024, Owens altered an ultrasound image, fabricated a pregnancy video, and lied multiple times under oath. The next day, Laura released a statement that the charges were the result of a coordinated harassment campaign against her. She says she's being targeted by a group called justice for C.L. clayton, which as of this recording has been rebranded to Victims of Laura Owens. Their website documents all of Laura's alleged crimes and the people she's victimized. But as always, she is innocent until proven otherwise. And on May 29, 2025, she pleaded not guilty. However, the prosecution is pretty sure that they have a good case against her. And during a pre trial conference on August 11, 2020 25, it's revealed that Laura hasn't been offered a plea deal. That being said, there's still plenty of time before the case starts and it was recently rescheduled to January 22, 2026, which means a lot can happen between now and then. But one aspect of this case has been settled. After Laura's initial appeal of Judge Mata's ruling was denied, she sent it further up the chain to the Arizona State Supreme Court. On August 27, they denied it, and Laura will have to pay Clayton's attorney fees in that case. Laura is also going through a legal battle with one of her other alleged victims, Michael Maracini. In July 2025, she filed for a restraining order against him to be made permanent. This requires Michael to defend himself against allegations of abuse Laura made back in 2018, and they should be going to court for that soon. So Laura Owens legal battles are far from over and we'll be here to bring you all the biggest updates. As always, be sure to follow us rimehouse24.7 for breaking news. What did you think of today's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments and follow us at crimehouse24.7 on TikTok and Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @CrimeHouse Daily for ad free listening, join Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You stay curious and I'll stay on the case. We'll see you next time.
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