← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
“She Made Us Wear SCREAM MASKS!!!” Teen Boys Expose Teacher’s Drug-Fueled Sex Parties | Teacher From Hell: The Brittany Fortinberry Case
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Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell. Oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
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Break up with bland breakfast and taste AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with K tree eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AMPM Too much good stuff.
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Hey everyone, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead serious. You know, there are some stories in True Crime that just sicken me, like right to my core. I have a story for you today about a teacher who allegedly acting pretty inappropriately with students. And I know you're going to say stop, I've heard it before, I've heard it a bunch. But I am telling you, I have never heard anything as cringe and as sickening as what this teacher is alleged to have done with not one, not two, not three, four, five, six or seven multiple boys, many of them 13. And the husband is kind of involved in the story. You may have heard a headline about a teacher who allegedly bought scream masks and had sex with students wearing the scream masks. And if that's the only story that you've heard, you need to buckle up and get a drink because this is the story of a former 31 year old Indiana teacher and and mother that's sending shockwaves through her small town community after she was accused of unspeakable crimes involving her own students. Her name is Brittany Fortenberry and prosecutors say the smiling substitute teacher, the one parents trusted with their kids, wasn't just crossing lines with her students, she was blowing them out of the water, obliterating those lines. Behind the substitute teacher facade, prosecutors say Brittany Fortenberry was living a secret double life. One fueled by manipulation and drugs and deception and threats involving boys as young as 13 and lots of them. She's now facing 47 criminal charges. 47. And by the way, you know, strap in here because there may well be more charges to come for this woman because they just keep piling on when the boys keep coming forward. All of this began the way so many of these stories begin, with a teacher getting too close to her students outside of class. But prosecutors say it became something far more sinister with Britney, involving months and months of manipulation, threats and finally exploitation. Investigators say Brittany Fortenberry forced her teenage victims to wear ghost face masks like the ones from the movie scream during group sex encounters. But to understand how it all started and how far it went, we gotta rewind to when Brittany Fortenberry first stepped into the classroom. Brittany worked as a substitute teacher for both Martinsville Schools and Eminence High School, two districts where investigators say several of her alleged victims were students in her classes. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She was actually popular with the students and she was trusted by the parents. But according to prosecutors, while she was teaching, Ms. Fortenberry was already building inappropriate relationships online and allegedly telling students that she, quote, dreamed of having sex with them, end quote. It all started to unravel on August 22nd of 2024. Remember that date?
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August.
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August 22nd, 2024. That is when officers with the Morgan County Sheriff's Department were notified after two students aged 17 and 18 came forward with claims that Brittany Fortenberry reportedly sent them, quote, inappropriate messages and videos on Instagram and Snapchat. Those two students were interviewed by detectives where they both said that their teacher, Ms. Fortenberry, send images and videos of sex toys, a stripper pole in her home, and nude photos. And sure enough, when detectives eventually searched Brittany Fortenberry's home, they discovered a stripper pole and several adult items matching exactly what the victims had described. When officers questioned her, Brittany Fortenberry reportedly made a stunning comment saying she regretted ever losing weight because if she were still, quote, 150 pounds heavier, quote, she believed none of this would have happened. I remember that one making headlines, right? A teacher who's being accused of sexual impropriety with students claiming that, well, if I hadn't lost all this weight, nobody would care. None of this would, would make headlines. I remember that headline, but I don't remember ever knowing how far this story actually went, how down the rabbit hole these details actually go at this point. Brittany Fortenberry was immediately suspended though from her job at Eminence Community School. But one day later, she all out resigned. And then she was slapped with two counts of dissemination of matter harmful to minors based on what the 17 year old and 18 year old reported to the police. But the investigation was far from over because later on in December of 2024, remember the first complaints came in in August of 2024. So now we are already to December and a grandmother contacts the police with extremely disturbing allegations. According to the grandmother, Ms. Fortenberry allegedly sent nude photos to her grandson when he was just 15 years old. The grandmother also said that Ms. Fortenberry gave her grandson magic mushrooms before having sex with him multiple times in October of 2023. So more than a year prior, the grandmother said she even bought the boy clothes. When that victim was interviewed by detectives, he said that Ms. Fortenberry had contacted him through Snapchat. He said she sent nude pictures, molested him multiple times, took him on an out of town trip, took showers together with him, and drugged him. Not only that, but this victim corroborated claims found in the other investigation, which alleged that she had a stripper pole in her home, along with myriad sex toys and lots and lots of drugs. This boy also told police that he wasn't the only one involved with her. According to the boy, she'd done the same thing. To quote at least five, maybe 10 other teenage boys, some of them as young as 13. It didn't take long before police charged her with three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor for what the grandmother had reported to the police, along with her grandson. If you're keeping track, this brings Britney's total charges to five. But get comfy because it didn't stop there. There's a lot more ahead. A world of hurt is ahead for Ms. Fortenberry. Like I mentioned at the top of this episode, Brittany Fortenberry was a married teacher and a mother of one. But her husband, Nicholas Fortenberry, filed for divorce in February of 2025. So let's keep the dates right. One kid comes out in 2024 and says a year ago, in 2023, October, these things were happening. More kids come out in August of 2024 and say these things were happening. So now Nicholas, in the new year in 2025, decides to file for divorce from his wife. And if you're like me, you probably thought upon hearing that poor guy, right? This must have come as such a shock and obviously must have been such a secret. Not so fast. That husband Nicholas Fortenberry allegedly found out about what his wife was up to well before she was ever caught. But Nicholas Fortenberry did nothing about it, certainly didn't call police and didn't file for divorce. What did he do again? Pour a second drink for this one? At a hearing on March 25, 2025. Again, this is just a couple months after he files for divorce. Detective Patrick William Williams of the Morgan County Sheriff's Office in Indiana testified that Nicholas, the husband, threatened a 13 year old boy, saying, quote, if you don't stop what you're doing with my wife, I'll kill you in front of your family. End quote. Let that sink in. He's not saying this to his wife. He is saying this to a 13 year old boy, allegedly. He also allegedly told the boy, quote, don't see her again until you turn 16, end quote. To which I say what the actual is going on here till you turn 16. Like, is he allegedly mad that the kid's too young to be with his wife, that he's not mad that he's with his wife, that you can come back when you're 16 and it'll all be okay? Like, I am thoroughly confused about what Nicholas Fortenberry is alleged to have been angry at or what Nicholas Fortenberry is alleged to have said to these kids. For what reason? Come on back when you're 16. None of that makes sense. But prosecutors charged Nicholas Fortenberry with failure to report a crime and intimidation. He posted a $600 bond and he was released. Not the same for Brittany. And I'll get to that in a minute. But just when you think the case can't get worse, even more students started coming out of the woodwork to report that Ms. Fortenberry also abused them. According to court filings, Brittany Fortenberry would invite her students, again, some just 13 or over to her home. And once there, she allegedly gave them alcohol, marijuana, and even psychedelic mushroom capsules. The teens told investigators she'd then pressure them to engage in inappropriate acts, sometimes while recording them doing so or just snapping pictures. Several victims said she spent hundreds of dollars buying gifts and clothes and electronics for the boys. Some of them were even paid directly to between $100 and $800 in exchange for photos of their genitals. One of the victims told police that Ms. Fortenberry would put her four year old child to bed and then in the same house, engage in sexual acts with these boys. Ms. Fortenberry allegedly had sex with one teenager that she had asked to babysit her child. One boy told police that if the boys said they didn't want to have sex with Ms. Fortenberry, she would make them while saying, quote, just let it happen, end quote. Let me tell you something, when I hear that, I just kind of get dizzy because so many women in the past, I mean, decades of me reporting on sex crimes, so many women have said they're rapists, just said, relax, just let it happen. This will be easier if you just relax and let it happen. I have never heard a woman saying this, much less a woman saying this to a child. Again, these are all allegations. She hasn't gone to trial yet, but another teenager told police that if they refused to participate, Ms. Fortenberry would make him and others, quote, watch her with another boy, end quote. Another teenager said she told them that she would kill herself if they told anybody about what was happening. Remember that? Okay? She said she would kill herself. The boys told police if they told anyone what was happening, what does that tell you? Does that tell you that if this is true, she knows it's wrong? She doesn't want it getting out? Remember that. We're going to talk about that in a hot minute. One of the most disturbing claims came from a 13 year old boy who said that Ms. Fortenberry allegedly spent $600 on various items, including Scream masks. You know, the ones from the movie Scream. She apparently bought these for a group of teenagers that she planned to have sex with. The boy said she forced the group to wear the masks during a group sex encounter in which, quote, they would rotate every 15 minutes, end quote. And the entire thing, quote, could last for hours, end quote. Similar stories were shared by other alleged victims. Detectives also interviewed a woman who said she'd been close friends with Brittany Fortenberry since 2022. That friend told the police that Ms. Fortenberry had helped her through a divorce and often watched her kids for her. But this friend said she started noticing strange behavior around her teenage son. Fortenberry was allegedly buying him expensive gifts, acting flirtatious, and later added him on Snapchat behind the mother's back. When detectives interviewed that boy, he said Brittany Fortenberry sent him explicit videos, gave him alcohol and marijuana, and sometimes made him drink something that, quote, tasted like alcohol. He said he'd black out and couldn't remember what happened after that. The teenager also said she gave other boys drugs and vapes. Another victim told detectives he first met Fortenberry in seventh grade. He said she began snapping him, meaning Snapchat all the time, sending photos and giving him THC vape cartridges. That same boy said she gave him psychedelic mushroom capsules that made him feel, quote, funny and that on more than one occasion she inappropriately touched him. He also said she'd make other teens watch if they refused to participate and once bragged that, quote, nobody would ever believe them. Remember that quote, too? Because if she really said that, that nobody would ever believe them, it says to me that she knew something was bad. So bad no one would believe the kids if they talked. But again, we'll get to that in a minute. Several boys said that she would use the Scream mask or wear lingerie while telling them to stay quiet. Detectives said all of the boys told the same story that she used threats or money or gifts or. Or emotional manipulation to control them. And detectives kept digging. They say they even found text messages where Ms. Fortenberry allegedly told the teenagers to delete their messages, quote, before someone saw. And, yeah, I'm going to come around to that again, too. On May 7, 2025, Britney Fortenberry's defense team filed a notice that she has a mental illness or defect, saying, quote, counsel has good faith belief that the defendant likely suffers from a mental disease or defect, but lacks the expertise to proffer whether the defendant appreciated the wrongfulness of her conduct at the time of the offence. Such an opinion must come from qualified experts. Pursuant to statute. Her attorneys asked the judge to appoint two or three mental health experts, psychiatrists or psychologists to evaluate Britney's state of mind and determine whether she fully understood the wrongfulness of her actions. So TBD on that. But wait just a minute, because I just told you all sorts of episodes where she said, nobody will believe you, right? Or how about the part where she allegedly told them to delete their messages before, quote, somebody saw that sounds to me like she fully appreciated the wrongfulness of it, all, right? All those moments where she allegedly told these kids, keep quiet, don't tell anybody that she'd kill herself if anybody found out. That is like, evidence that she appreciated that this was wrong, that this behavior was bad. It all comes down to that whole insanity defense, right? Whenever you hear about somebody who kills someone and then claims insanity, you can't claim insanity if you ran away and hid, because if you ran away and hid, you know right from wrong. And knowing right from wrong means you're not insane according to the law. So I'm a little confused as to what these lawyers are filing. Unless through syntax, it's hard to understand. But they're trying to suggest she's not competent to even stand trial in the first place. And I'm starting to think that might be it. They're saying that she can't appreciate right from wrong and she's not competent. She doesn't even understand what's going on and she can't help us in her defense. Now, that's different. That's. That's something where you say we can't even come into court to mount a defense. We can't even start with a process in court because she's not competent. So I'm waiting to see where this goes, right? But things have been getting much worse for Ms. Fortenberry because most recently on September 25, 2025, prosecutors in Morgan county filed a new wave of charges, bringing her total. Are you ready? To a whopping 47 criminal counts. And the updated counts included several of each of the following. Misconduct with a minor, dissemination of material harmful to minors, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child exploitation, and multiple counts of child solicitation. And get this, that new filing added another alleged victim to the case. This latest victim, another teenage boy, said that at first Ms. Fortenberry would just have him over to do drugs and hang out. He told police she would compliment him on his appearance and his strength while doing chores. The boy said that Fortenberry started touching him and then one night they started having sex in her garage. Afterwards, he told police that Ms. Fortenberry went to bed with her husband and that he, the boy, slept in their four year old child's room. I don't know where the four year old child was sleeping, but if it was in the same room, this gets even more filthy. Like the others. The boy also told police that Ms. Fortenberry would give him and other boys drugs and try to buy them gifts. He said he stopped coming over to her house when he realized Ms. Fortenberry was having sex with a lot of other teenage boys. That, to me is so tragic because here you have, if the story is true, a teenage boy who thinks she's being exclusive to him. He thinks he's in a relationship with this teacher, this married teacher who's going to bed with her husband after having sex with him in the garage, allegedly. And when he finds out there's other kids, that's what stops him, man. She's not exclusive. Whole bunch of other kids are doing this, too. I feel like an idiot. That is how entrenched these boys allegedly were. In the wake of her arrest, a local law firm, Wagner Reese llp, filed a lawsuit against the Martinsville School District on behalf of one of the boys. According to the filing, the student was abused on dozens of of occasions due to what the firm describes as the district's negligence and failure to protect its students. And get this, they're not seeking a little money. They're seeking a whopping amount of money. $700,000 in damages per incident, along with additional compensation for the teen's emotional trauma, which attorneys say have, quote, pushed his life into chaos, end quote. The notice also alleges that Martinsville administrators were aware of prior inappropriate behavior by Ms. Fortenberry, but hired her anyway. That I can't wait to see more details because, oh my God, if they had ever heard anything about her having done anything like this before and hired her anyway, which I find really hard to believe. If they knew something had happened before with her sexually with kids and hired her anyway and this happened with this many kids, allegedly. Oh my God, these kids can like bring a wheelbarrow and fill it with cash. And I think these school districts might be bankrupted, one or the other school district, because me thinks that there will be more civil suits coming. The lawyers for this one lawsuit say the goal of their suit is to ensure that this kind of abuse never happens to another student again. And mark my words, if they get the kind of settlement or the kind of award that they might get at trial, I don't think there will be a school district. I don't think they could possibly afford that many millions of dollars. Maybe they can, who knows? One thing to note, however, the district did issue a statement saying, quote, the safety of our students is our number one priority. End quote. This story is still unfolding, and for those boys and their families, the fight for justice has only just begun. As for Britney, Ms. Fortenberry, her next pretrial hearing is coming up in December, and as we speak, she's stuck in jail until then because reports are she could not make the $160,000 bond. We're going to keep tracking every development as it moves through the courts. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, do me a solid, hit the like button and tell me what you think about this case in the comments. It really helps this podcast a lot. And if you're listening on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, please make sure to follow and leave me a quick review because it really does help me to keep telling the stories that matter to you. As always, thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you for being part of this community from both Atlas and me. I'm Ashley Banfield and remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead dead serious.