Jackpot Match

Summary

Happy Face – Episode: Jackpot Match

Release Date: October 6, 2020

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Introduction

“Happy Face,” a gripping podcast by iHeartPodcasts, explores the harrowing true-life story of Melissa Moore and her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, a notorious serial killer. In the episode titled “Jackpot Match,” listeners accompany Melissa’s daughter, Becky, as she navigates the complexities of discovering her biological roots amidst a dark family legacy.

Becky’s Adoption Journey

Becky opens up about her traumatic early life, detailing the circumstances surrounding her adoption. She reflects on the conflicting narratives she received about her birth:

Becky [04:24]: “On the day I was adopted, the things that I know were that Diane went into labor, was taken to the hospital... I was not really sure which is true.”

Becky recounts the emotional turmoil of her teenage pregnancy and the eventual decision to place her child for adoption, a choice that mirrored her mother Diane’s own experiences.

Confirming Biological Ties Through DNA

The episode delves into the pivotal moment when DNA detective Michelle Leonard assists Becky in confirming her maternal lineage. This breakthrough establishes that Becky is indeed Diane Downs' biological daughter.

Gilbert King [19:24]: “That confirms that Becky is in fact, the biological daughter of Diane Downs.”

Becky [20:07]: “Those results are super huge for me. Every emotion you can think of is what I feel. This is zero doubt I am her biological daughter.”

This revelation brings a mix of relief and emotional complexity for Becky, solidifying her connection to Diane despite Diane’s later denials.

Exploring the Paternal Line

With her maternal ties confirmed, Becky and her team shift focus to uncovering her biological father. DNA analysis reveals a significant match, termed a “jackpot match,” indicating a close paternal relationship.

Gilbert King [25:09]: “She is most definitely a paternal match. It’s either a paternal aunt or half-sister.”

However, identifying the exact relationship proves challenging due to the privacy settings of potential matches. Michelle emphasizes the need for a cautious approach:

Gilbert King [27:03]: “You have to make it short. Are you interested in exploring our match?”

Emotional Struggles and Fears

Becky shares her deep-seated fears about reaching out to her possible biological father, highlighting the emotional stakes involved in uncovering her true identity.

Becky [33:18]: “If he is alive...he may not want to contact me. He may not know he's my biological father or he's deceased. So I am very nervous about that.”

This vulnerability underscores the personal toll of her investigative journey and the potential repercussions of reconnecting with her past.

Challenges in DNA Analysis

Michelle Leonard discusses the technical and emotional hurdles in tracing Becky's paternal lineage. Despite identifying a high-level DNA match, locating and connecting with the individual remains elusive.

Gilbert King [36:10]: “Michelle plans to dive far beyond the DNA results...building a paternal family tree bit by bit.”

The scarcity of DNA matches from recent immigrants adds another layer of difficulty, emphasizing the intricate nature of genealogical research in modern contexts.

Future Steps and Hope

The episode concludes with a strategic plan to continue Becky's search for her biological father, emphasizing patience and sensitivity. Gilbert outlines the next phases of their investigation:

Gilbert King [37:53]: “When you make a first contact, you have to make it short. Just, you know, are you interested in exploring our match?”

This measured approach aims to respect potential family members’ privacy while diligently pursuing truth and closure for Becky.

Notable Quotes

• Becky [07:09]: “I was just crying, and it got to the point where nobody was telling me anything.”
• Gilbert King [25:09]: “She is most definitely a paternal match.”
• Becky [20:07]: “Those results are super huge for me. Every emotion you can think of is what I feel.”

Insights and Discussions

“Jackpot Match” poignantly illustrates the intricate dance between personal identity and familial legacy. Becky's narrative is a testament to resilience in the face of unsettling truths, and the episode highlights the profound impact of DNA technology in unraveling complex family histories. The careful balance between investigative rigor and emotional sensitivity offers listeners a deeply human perspective on true crime and its far-reaching consequences.

Conclusion

In “Jackpot Match,” “Happy Face” masterfully intertwines suspense with heartfelt storytelling, providing a nuanced exploration of Becky's quest for identity amidst her father's dark legacy. As Becky continues her search, the episode leaves listeners anticipating the next steps in her journey toward understanding and reconciliation.

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Produced by Ben Bolen (Executive Producer), Melissa Moore (Co-Executive Producer), Maya Cole (Primary Producer), Paul Decent (Supervising Producer), Sam Teagarnan (Researcher), and Matt Riddle (Story Editor). Featured music by Dream Tent. “Happy Face presents Two Faces” is a production of iHeartRadio.

Transcript

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all his wife, Caroline.

[Becky]

He texted, I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would he go to cover up what he'd done?

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[Andrea Gunning]

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Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in In Bone Valley season one. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer.

[Gilbert King]

He's just straight evil.

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I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Andrea Gunning]

At the end of the day, I'm.

[Gilbert King]

Literally a son of a killer.

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Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Becky]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarky, hosts of Criminalia. As they uncover Curious is from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s, her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The day I was adopted, the things that I know were that Diane went into labor, was taken to the hospital. I was told that there was a huge media frenzy outside. So once I was born, I was told that she did not hold me. But the way that she tells it is that she spent hours with me in the hospital, holding me as a baby. So I'm not really sure which is the right. You know, I don't know which is true. Trying to think of the word that I wanted to say, but I don't know. An officer took me out the back to hide from the media and rushed me over to a hotel nearby. That's where my parents were waiting.

[Andrea Gunning]

Did your adoptive parents know who you were related to?

[Becky]

Yes, my adoptive parents did know. My mom even told me that, you know, she had. Or her. And my father had gone to my grandfather and was like, you know, we've got this child. We're very excited about it. But, you know, she is Diane Down's daughter. How do you feel? And, you know, he just said, she's a Babcock. You know, it doesn't matter where she came from. She's ours. You know, in some roundabout way, my mom did tell me a little bit about the day I was born and that they were waiting at that hotel room and the officer coming through the door holding the little baby girl. And she said that she looked down at me and that I was perfect, that it didn't matter where I came from, because I'm her daughter, and to her, I was perfect.

[Andrea Gunning]

Dana Timms was able to confirm some of what Becky had heard about the day she was born.

[Becky]

I was told that the day that I was born, that Diane held me for a very long time, for a couple of hours. Then I was also told that I had to be snuck out the back of the hospital by authorities because of the media that was out front covering the story. Do you know anything about that? That's probably true.

[Andrea Gunning]

Although it was.

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You were born 10 days after her.

[Andrea Gunning]

Conviction, so I'm not sure that. I mean, certainly the Lane county sheriffs.

[Becky]

Didn'T alert the press to say, hey.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Diane's been taken to the hospital, so if they took you out the back.

[Andrea Gunning]

It would have been as a precaution. Not that there was a row of.

[Gilbert King]

TV cameras set up there.

[Becky]

Okay.

[Andrea Gunning]

But, yeah, I think she held you.

[Becky]

For maybe even longer than two hours.

[Andrea Gunning]

And she let.

[Becky]

Doug Welch, one of the Ling Hattie sheriff's detectives, told you also.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'll say also that during the trial, as she was sort of continuing to get fuller as her pregnancy was moving along, she was Constantly hands on her belly. And it was sort of like she had a little partner every day who was helping bring her strength in a tough situation. Definitely got the feeling that she was.

[Becky]

Holding you all that time.

[Andrea Gunning]

The idea of Diane's courtroom pregnancy and subsequent birth after conviction were perhaps an important part of Becky's own experience to come. She experienced pregnancy in her teens, and the experience wasn't easy.

[Becky]

Yeah, and I begged them. I said, please don't tell my dad. You know, he can't let me at least tell him that I'm pregnant, you know, and they ended up telling him. And I talked to my dad later about it. I was like. I asked them not to tell you. He's like, you're a minor. And he's like, so. And that's how I phrased it. I knew something was wrong. There was a reason you were not at boot camp, you know, and so it's like, that's how we found out.

[Andrea Gunning]

You must have been going through so many emotions.

[Becky]

Oh, my gosh. I remember I was just crying, and it got to the point where nobody was telling me anything. At MEPs in Portland, I just left. I was like, I'm not going to boot camp, obviously. I can't just sit here and do nothing. And I left, and I went back to where I was staying, and I, you know, sat down on the couch next to Christian's biological father and sat there for a while in silence. Then I looked over at him, and I'm like, I'm pregnant. He says, I know. That was it. We sat there for like an hour, just silent. And later on, I asked him, I'm like, what do you mean? How did you know? He's like, because you're back.

[Andrea Gunning]

Becky's second pregnancy was initially planned with her then boyfriend, a date from her first pregnancy. She loved him, and they wanted a child together. Unfortunately, things began to fall apart and the situation became difficult.

[Becky]

It was a high risk pregnancy. I was bedridden for most of it. I didn't want to give up on our family. So I ended up staying in a homeless shelter because I couldn't work. And he went back to his ex. And they just. They were awful. They just kept telling me, you know, that they were gonna take him from me or they were gonna have the state take him from me. And it's all these horrible things. Whereas I'm here in Klamath Falls trying to make our family work. And it didn't. So I called my parents, you know, and I asked for help.

[Andrea Gunning]

Becky's parents agreed to take her in and help take care of her during the pregnancy, but on the condition that she consider adoption.

[Becky]

So I didn't decide until I was eight months pregnant that adoption was what was going to be best. I fought it. I really. I tried so hard to get everything right in my life just so that I could keep him. But in about eight months, I had to just accept that I couldn't. And so we got a hold of the adoption agency, and they brought all these folders of families, just family after family after family. And I just remember going through the pages and just thinking, like, these people cannot raise my child. This isn't the right place for him. I had to pick somewhere that was perfect. In one of the very last folders that I got were the ones they had already had, a son, and they just couldn't have children together. So that was who I chose. And, you know, I met them, and they were just. They were just amazing.

[Andrea Gunning]

Letting go wasn't easy for Becky. In many ways, giving up her second child mirrored Diane's own experience with her. But Becky was able to control the narrative. As difficult as the situation was, she was able to ensure that he went to a family who would love him.

[Becky]

I didn't even hold him for very.

[Gilbert King]

Long.

[Becky]

And they just had to take him because I couldn't let go. So they took him. And the family was in a room close by, and they spent those first two days in the hospital with them. You know how mom stays in the first. They ought to do that. I had to go home and recover. And two days later, I get a call from the hospital. They forgot to have me sign the adoption papers. They left those part out. So I actually had to go back into the hospital and see them and see the baby and sign over my rights. Right then, after two days of just misery because I gave my child away, it was the hardest moment of my life. But he is with an amazing family. He's doing so great. I get pictures every year on his birthday, and it's an open adoption. But at this point, I feel that I'm gonna wait until he's ready to find me. I don't want to push myself into his life. And they didn't hide that he was adopted. So, you know, I'm sure when he's ready or if he's ever ready, he'll find me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Perhaps thinking back on her own situation and her curiosity about her own biological parents, Becky considered whether or not the son she gave up for adoption would one day wonder about her and who she was so she made sure he would have the answers if he ever wanted them.

[Becky]

Of course, I wrote him a letter and gave it to the parents to give him when he was old enough. Just I remember writing it when I had decided to put him up when I was eight months pregnant. And I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote, and the thing probably was 10 pages long. And I just realized that I need to, you know, short and sweet, just let her to know, let him know that I loved him. And then I was really doing what I thought was best. I'm terrified that he may think bad of me, that he thinks that he was unloved or that he was unwanted or didn't have that connection because, you know, he was part of my heart.

[Andrea Gunning]

Shortly after this difficult experience, Becky reached out to Diane for the first time. Do you remember what you wrote to Diane?

[Becky]

I think it was pretty general. The first letter, you know, said that I think I'm a. Your biological daughter. Here's my date of birth time. Here's what I look like. Just all the basics.

[Andrea Gunning]

And then when you reached out to her, this was only because you just had your son up for adoption. He was now in the picture of with another family. Is that correct?

[Becky]

Correct.

[Andrea Gunning]

We've spoken about the nature of their correspondence in an earlier episode, but the letters immediately devolved into Diane attacking Becky for wanting to know about her biological father. And over the years, Diane has continued to deny that Becky is her daughter. Diane recently went so far as to claim that Becky could be a disinherited niece out to con Diane out of Amy's inheritance. I've corresponded with Diane through emails, and she is somehow has flipped it to that you're not her biological daughter. Amy is somewhere out there, and she hasn't reconnected with Amy. And she only uses Amy as the name of that little girl, which is you. How does that make you feel? Hearing the name Amy? How does that make you feel?

[Becky]

It's about the same as hearing the Hungry Lake wolf song. It just kind of sends chills up your spine a little bit. I don't identify with it because it doesn't fit me. I don't feel like it's my name. Yeah, in the letters, when she started with her conspiracy theories and, you know, really getting into stories that I just didn't want to hear. And I asked her to stop writing me is when she decided that I wasn't her daughter, I'm assuming because I rejected her. I asked her to stop writing me. And at that point, then I was the enemy as well, and she decided that I was the one who was after her and I didn't want to feed into that, so I didn't continue conversating.

[Gilbert King]

Foreign.

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[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all, his wife, Caroline.

[Becky]

He texted, I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Caroline's Husband was living another life behind the scenes. He betrayed his oath to his family and to his community.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

She said you left bruises, pulled her hair, that type of thing.

[Becky]

No.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would Joel go to cover up what he'd done?

[Gilbert King]

You're unable to keep track of all.

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Your lies, and quite frankly, I question how.

[Gilbert King]

How many other women may bring forward.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

This season of Betrayal investigates one officer's decades of deception. Lies that left those closest to him questioning everything they thought they knew. Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one. I just knew him as a kid. Long, silent voices from his past came forward, and he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Gilbert King.

[Gilbert King]

I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

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I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer.

[Gilbert King]

He's just straight evil.

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I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

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I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm.

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Literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Gilbert King]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

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[Andrea Gunning]

There'S quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Becky is Diane's daughter. But the only way to remove any lingering doubts Becky might have is through DNA. For this, we checked back in with Michelle Leonard, the DNA detective. With both Becky, as well as Diane's brother James having submitted samples, Michelle is finally able to start putting together the pieces of the larger puzzle.

[Gilbert King]

So with Becky's ancestry results, you get two main components, you get an ethnicity estimate, and you get the DNA match list. And I'm sitting here looking at Becky's results page at the moment, and I'm going to open up her ethnicity estimate, and I'm going to go through what that tells us. So first up. So it's telling us that Becky is 46% Germanic Europe, 42% England, Wales and Northwestern Europe. 5% Eastern Europe and Russia, 4% Norway, 3% Baltics.

[Becky]

That makes sense. I was told that I have Danish ancestry.

[Gilbert King]

One of the other things I've done in preparation for the case is I've built a tree out for your maternal side. But your Fredriksen line goes back to Denmark. Came over to the United States after your great, great grandfather, Christian Peter Fredricksen, who was born in 1867. So he was the immigrant who came to the United States and died in South Dakota.

[Andrea Gunning]

What I think is interesting, just right off the top is you said Frederickson line that confirms that Becky is in fact, the biological daughter of Diane Downs.

[Gilbert King]

Absolutely. 100%. Yeah. There's no doubt about that whatsoever. That is definite. Especially since Diane's brother has also taken a test, and Becky matches him exactly as you would expect for an uncle niece relationship. So there's no mystery as to the maternal side.

[Andrea Gunning]

Becky, how do you feel about that? Because there has been speculation and doubt, especially from Diane herself saying that you aren't her daughter, like you said.

[Becky]

Diane has denied I'm her biological daughter for a really long time. In her very first letter, she was excited to have me as her daughter. But then, you know, it quickly went to, I was not her daughter. And ever since then, she has believed that I'm not her biological daughter. So, I mean, those results are super huge for me. Every emotion you can think of is what I feel. I have seen my adopted birth certificate, but I've never had this kind of proof. Like, this is zero doubt I am her biological daughter. And there's been a lot of stipulation out there, and people weren't quite sure if I was that child that, you know, she was pregnant with on when she was on trial. So I don't know. It just kind of shows that it's real.

[Andrea Gunning]

With Becky's maternal line established and having finally received confirmation that she is, in fact, Diane's biological daughter, Becky's next question, and perhaps to her the most important, is to begin tracing the paternal line. In order to do that, Michelle has to begin by building a family tree.

[Gilbert King]

I want to know who your maternal ancestors are, because that helps me with eliminating DNA matches that result from your maternal side. So that's why I've built out a maternal tree to help me with doing that. And basically, outside of the Danish ancestors, it just shows that your maternal ancestry has been in the United States in general, in most lines of Florida, for a number of generations. The longer that the lines have been in the United States, the more DNA matches you tend to get to them, which is another thing that is important to know about when you're trying to work out the DNA. So if we go back to the ethnicity side of things, we've obviously got this 46% Germanic Europe showing up and this little bit Eastern Europe and Russia, the little bit that's categorized as Norway might well be the Danish. The Germanic Europe, if you can look at the map, it covers quite a large area which takes in the likes of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. So it's quite clear you have some strong and a large amount of ancestry from this part of Europe. From your ethnicity estimate, well, that makes sense.

[Becky]

I mean, I'm five nine and blonde hair, green eyes and, yeah, I look like I'm from that region.

[Andrea Gunning]

As Michelle unpacks Becky's estimated ethnicities, she warns that they're accurate to some extent, but they don't give much detail at a micro level.

[Gilbert King]

It does make sense in those terms. Yes. And the looking down the rest of it, Obviously there's a 42% England, Wales and Northwestern Europe. I suspect that quite a lot of that is your maternal side. Those American lines that have maybe come over from England, Wales, etc. Further back in time, I always say don't read too much into the ethnicity estimate as a whole. It's very interesting to see, especially when you have one side of your ancestry that's unknown. It can really give you a clue as to the direction to look in, but it's never going to solve the case and there's always going to be, you know, things that aren't quite right with ethnicity estimates as well. I say they're generally accurate to the continental level, but when you try to drill them down further to country level, it's much more difficult to do and they have to be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt. At the same time, Michelle believes that.

[Andrea Gunning]

Even with the information she has currently, and with a few more database submissions, she will be able to trace Becky's paternity.

[Becky]

So do you think we're going to be able to solve the mystery?

[Gilbert King]

I really do think we are. The key, however, to solving the mystery isn't the ethnicity estimate. Like I say, it can give us a clue. And that bit about the Germanic Europe is interesting, but it's not going to tell us who your biological father is. The key are the DNA matches.

[Becky]

His DNA is not on file, then he's not submitted.

[Gilbert King]

No. You don't have a parent match, which is, as I say, not at all unusual. The vast majority of People looking for a birth parent, when they take a DNA test, will not find that birth parent has already tested. A few will, and they're very lucky if they do.

[Becky]

Makes it easier.

[Gilbert King]

It does make it easier, but most don't. So obviously your top match is your maternal uncle and you're sharing a lot of DNA with him, nearly 1700 centimorgans, as we call it. And that's a really significant amount of DNA. Exactly the right amount to be sharing with a full uncle.

[Andrea Gunning]

But it turns out that James isn't Becky's only high level match.

[Gilbert King]

However, with that amount of DNA, there are a number of different relationships that you could have with someone. And your second highest match is sharing over 1500 centimorgans with you.

[Becky]

So what does that mean? Is that another aunt or uncle?

[Gilbert King]

So this is a female match. This person is either a grandmother, a full aunt, or a half sibling. She is one of those three relationships. Now, at this point, we don't know which, but she's what I call a jackpot match. And she does not match your maternal uncle. Therefore, given the size of the match and given how closely related he is to you, she is most definitely a paternal match. It's either a paternal grandmother, a paternal aunt, or a paternal half sibling, half sister. She's one of those three. It is. It's very exciting.

[Andrea Gunning]

There are caveats though, even though there is a high level match, but there are obstacles in the way. Not all users on DNA databases, even those that appear to be relatives as matches, are easy to track down, nor do they always want to be.

[Gilbert King]

She has no tree and she has a username that is quite privatized. And I have tried everything I could think of to see if this concoction of letters and numbers has been used by somebody somewhere that I could identify who this person is. And it hasn't. They've been very smart and maintaining their privacy on the site with the name that they've used. The one thing that I can tell from it is that she is not a grandmother, she's not your paternal grandmother, simply because I'm able to look at all of the matches that she has and she's clearly matching to, you know, both sides of your paternal ancestry and not just one. So that suggests to me that we can narrow her down to being either your paternal aunt or half sister. So she's one of those two relationships with you.

[Andrea Gunning]

Michelle also cautions against the natural tendency that many of us would have in this situation.

[Gilbert King]

A lot of people when they see such a jackpot match the very first thing they're going to want to do is fire off a message to that person. It's human nature and it's normal to want to do that. And in many cases it's the right thing to do. And in some it's not. At this point in time, we don't know if she's a paternal aunt, we don't know if she's a paternal half sister. And contact is the most delicate thing that we're going to be doing with this situation. It could be that she is your birth father's daughter, it could be she's his sister. But either way, we're not going straight to the source. If we message her and we give her this information and then she goes to him, whether he's her brother or he's her father, and says, dad or brother, what's this? Who's this person? What do you know? And maybe he knows nothing and maybe he knows something and maybe that puts him in a very difficult situation and that makes him less likely to want to have contact because we've gone through his family and not given him the opportunity. Opportunity to tell them himself, if you know what I mean.

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[Andrea Gunning]

When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talkspace.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers online. Military members, veterans and their dependents ages 13 and older can get fast access to providers, all from the privacy of their computers or smartphones.

[Andrea Gunning]

I just answered a few questions online and Talkspace matched me with a therapist. We meet when it's convenient for me and I can message her anytime. It was so easy to set up and they accept Tricare. Therapy was going so well, my husband and I started seeing a couples therapist through Talkspace, too.

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[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all, his wife, Caroline.

[Becky]

He texted, I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Caroline's husband was living another life behind the scenes. He betrayed his oath to his family and to his community.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

She said you left bruises, pulled her hair, that type of thing.

[Andrea Gunning]

No. How far would Joel go to cover up what he'd done?

[Gilbert King]

You're unable to keep track of all.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Your lies, and quite frankly, I question.

[Gilbert King]

How many other women may bring forward.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

This season of Betrayal investigates one officer's decades of deception. Lies that left those closest to him questioning everything they thought they knew. Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one. I just knew him as a kid. Long, silent voices from his past came forward, and he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Gilbert King.

[Gilbert King]

I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer.

[Gilbert King]

He's just straight evil.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

I never expected to find my myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Andrea Gunning]

At the end of the day, I'm.

[Gilbert King]

Literally a son of a killer.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Gilbert King]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Andrea Gunning]

There have been some speculation that Becky's father may not know his identity. But there are A number of things that indicate that he very likely does, in fact, know that Becky exists.

[Gilbert King]

So I think that it's best to hang back from making that contact with her at this point in time until I've. At least until I've done a full evaluation. I might be able to identify her through her more distant relatives. I might be able to identify who her father or her brother is. And if that's possible, then you always want to go straight to the birth person, the birth parent, if at all possible, because that gives them the opportunity then to tell their family if they want to do that. Of course, it might be that we get to that point and we get no reply, and then we can always go back and try contacting her at that point.

[Becky]

That's one thing that I'm a little bit nervous about, is the contact, if he is alive. Because I've been public with my story for 10 years and he has not contacted me. I'm worried that he may not want to contact me. He may not know he's my biological father or he's deceased. So I am very nervous about that.

[Andrea Gunning]

First contact, I think, with you, Becky. I've been thinking about that as well, how public you've been over the last 10 years. And then also, as I was digging in a little bit more about what Ann Rule has reported on her contact with your birth father. If that's in fact true, I don't have any reason to doubt she's lying. But if it is true that she did have contact with your birth father and she made a deal with him, he would know then that Diane Downs, you know, obviously had a child and that he has a child with her. You know, I'm not a man, obviously, so I don't know if there's shame that he. We don't know the circumstances, how he came into the position of being with Diane intimately, if that was as it's been quoted in books and resources, is that he was duped into this affair or whether he went into it willingly. But I could imagine this is somewhat shameful to know that he had sex with a convicted child killer.

[Becky]

It's just the same as it's shameful to be the daughter. You know.

[Andrea Gunning]

Several names have floated for who Becky's father might be, but with Ann Rule's use of an alias, his real name may have died with her. No one else seems to know exactly who he might be. So what's interesting, Michelle, is that everybody has a theory who Becky's father is.

[Becky]

So many theories.

[Gilbert King]

Yeah.

[Andrea Gunning]

So spoke to the nanny, she had the theory it was a defense attorney, which is ruled out. So that's not the case. But everybody speculates who had this access on a daily basis with Diane, that could be potentially the father, based on what I have researched. Ann Rule gave the statement that she made a deal that she would use his story in the book but change his name, you know, make a pen name for him, and then also change his profession, which he changed his profession in the book to teacher. But then, interesting enough, when we talked to reporters, they all said, we heard it was a local reporter. And there's so many people who are attached to this case that want to know the results and are curious in a different fashion to Becky.

[Gilbert King]

I mean, I always say the proof is in the DNA. Yet the problem with what you've got, you've got a jackpot match, and at the same time, you've got the unlucky status of being from almost certainly from very recent immigrants, which means that there are less DNA matches to work with. Like I said, the vast majority of your matches are maternal. That sort of issue of, oh, we've got fewer matches to work with, yet at the same time we've got the jackpot match.

[Andrea Gunning]

Michelle plans to dive far beyond the DNA results. And using whatever name she's able to find, she'll build a paternal family to tree bit by bit until she's able to solidify the identities of Becky's closest relatives on her father's side.

[Gilbert King]

And next, what I want to do is a full evaluation of the paternal matches that she does have. I want to build their trees, I want to try and find their connections. And of course, the fact that it is recent immigration from countries like Poland and the Ukraine does make that more difficult. But I will try my very best to build these people back to their ancestors and see if I can find connections. And if I can do that, I might be able to solve it through these more distant matches. It just depends how lucky we are with them and how possible it is to build the trees back and find the connections. And at that point, we can make a decision on contacting the jackpot match or if I've been lucky, that maybe contact the birth father himself. So that's why I'm saying hold off on any contact with the high match at the moment until I've done this.

[Andrea Gunning]

Having been through this scenario many times with others. There's an approach Michelle recommends for those who may be contacting possible family members for the first time.

[Gilbert King]

I say, you know, you have to do it Very cautiously. You don't want to barrel in there telling them your life story in a first message. You have to gauge what they may know and what they may be willing to. How you know. When you make a first contact, you have to make it short. You want to say, you know, hey, we have a close match, but you don't want to say, oh, I think I'm your daughter, or I think I'm your sister, or, you know, you don't want to go into that detail. Just, you know, are you interested in exploring our match? Is there anything you could tell me about your ancestry? General questions? You know, I think one of the worst mistakes is if you're looking for a birth parent and you instantly see you have half siblings or you have aunts or, you know, first cousins, people that are close to that man and you know, you've worked out who he is, but you instead go on Facebook and message his daughter, because then you might be opening up a can of worms that leads you to alienating the person that you're trying to get in contact with before you've even managed to speak to them. And going about these things the right way doesn't always result in a positive outcome. If you can possibly get to the birth parent themselves. Always. You want to do that.

[Becky]

I was just thinking, it's funny that all of your don't do's when contacting is exactly what I did when I contacted Diane. I said, I think I'm your daughter. I told her my entire life story. And I think I overwhelmed her. You know, it was just like I was. I was kind of excited to contact her, which is weird, I know, but, you know, it's still where I come from. And so I got a little over excited when I wrote my letter.

[Gilbert King]

And it's natural, isn't it, to get overexcited contacting someone who's so closely related to you and what's right for one person isn't right for another. And I always say keep the first, you know, contact, sure, in general. But when they, when. If they come back and they're super interested and they're telling you their life story, you know, then get into it because, you know, obviously there's. They want to hear it. And of course, I'm talking from the perspective of finding people as a DNA match and not from having adoption papers and the like, and knowing this person is supposedly your birth parent. My first thought isn't, let's fire off a message to her straight away. I want to do some more digging and find out if I can work out who she is and maybe work from her to get to your birth parent.

[Andrea Gunning]

With a jackpot match of Becky's paternal side, discovering the identity of Becky's father seems likely. In many ways, finding out would be the culmination of her journey and the reconciliation and acceptance of who she is. The question is whether or not her biological father will feel the same. On the next episode of Happy Face presents two Face. In a bizarre letter from Diane Downs to her post conviction attorney, she completely changes her version of the events that took place that night of the shooting and what happens when Diane escapes from prison. Ben Bolen is our executive producer, Melissa Moore is our co executive producer, Maya Cole is our primary producer, Paul Decent is our supervising producer, Sam Teagarnan is our researcher and Matt Riddle is our story editor. Featured music by Dream Tent Happy Face presents Two Face is a production of iHeartRadio.

[Gilbert King]

Foreign.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone let's face it in therapy. By talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's S P A CE80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all his wife Caroline.

[Becky]

He texted, I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would he go to cover up what he'd done?

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

The fact that you lied is absolutely horrific and quite frankly, I question how many other women are out there that may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer.

[Gilbert King]

He's just straight evil.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Andrea Gunning]

At the end of the day, I'm.

[Gilbert King]

Literally a son of a killer.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Becky]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarchi, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

Cases from the past.

[Becky]

The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers. Known as the Wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s, her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Talkspace Ad Voice]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.