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Peyton Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hi everyone and welcome to the into the Dark podcast. I'm your host, Peyton Moreland. I'm so glad you are here listening. If you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to the channel and leave a comment on this video. Just engage with the episode. Please, please, please. And if you are listening on podcast and can leave a review, that would be amazing. Either way, I love you. Just a quick announcement before I get into my 10 seconds. Some of you noticed that this show's Instagram handle was changed to like Peyton Moreland show or something. I don't really know. It's still the into the Dark Instagram dedicated to the show. You may or may not know that my husband runs basically the entire back end of the podcast and he met with some marketing team and, I don't know, some strategy. I honestly don't know. But don't worry, it is still the into the Dark Instagram. The handle is just changed, but the name of the page is still into the Dark. And if you search into the Dark, it will still come up. Okay, that being said, let's get into today's 10 seconds. Well, I hate to tell you this, but I did actually hurt my back. I really did. You guys. I don't know. Something pinched in my lower back. I can barely stand up straight. Garrett's been having me do exercises. But it's just unfortunate, honestly. It's unfortunate because I feel like I've been trying to be more active and I've, you know, been going to the chiropractor which maybe did it. I don't know. Honestly, I don't know, but I'm just doing my exercises. I'm still trying to be as active as possible while also not overdoing it. But yeah, that's kind of been a bug, not gonna lie. Other than that, I did get my Halloween decor up before that happened and I just feel like the Halloween decor should stay year round. I don't know why it only has to be October for me to have skulls in my house. I already have like ghosts up for permanent decoration. I have witch pictures that are up for permanent decoration. I'm like, why do I ever have to take this stuff down? Honestly, I tend to go for less. Happy Halloween. I have no orange. I have no happy things. I only have like dark spooky. I have a potion cabinet. I have a lot of candles, a lot of candles, candlesticks all around the house, a lot of skulls, a lot of black. So honestly, that's the vibe. This year I did a really large, like, I guess tree branch, but it's the size of like my front door and it has, it's just spooky looking. Think like Snow white haunted forest and we glued a bunch of like black crows to the tree branch and it kind of like hangs over the door. It looks so spooky. And then I also did a wreath on my front door. Like a Halloween wreath. But instead of it being like Happy Halloween and ribbon, whatever, I just did a dead plant. A dead wreath, basically. It's like yellow and rotting. It's so freaking cute. I only did like green and white pumpkins coming up, but mixed in with like skeletons and lanterns and stuff. But yeah, that's kind of the gist of what I did. I'll probably post a video of it over on my personal Instagram because I always am really proud. This is the, like one holiday I always go so out for. Oh, also a little hack. If you also decorate spooky and like dark and mystery. If you have pieces of furniture that you're not changing out or whatever, but don't really go with the vibe. I just put my. Not my fitted sheet, but my like flat sheet that comes with all of my sheet sets. I just grab a bunch of the flat sheets and then just drape them over. Like in old houses, like old abandoned mansions when like people would go in and there's like just white sheets draped over everything. I do that on a lot of the furniture that I'm like, this just doesn't fit the vibe. But I have nothing else to do with it. I do it over like picture frames, things like that and it kind of just adds to the spookiness while also keeping your house intact because we can't change everything out. But yeah, that's kind of a little hack. I do on Halloween. I think it's super fun. Do as many candles as possible. Never do the big lights. I get like little colored lights so like little red spotlights around as well. Honestly, it's just fun. It's my favorite thing. Like I said, I probably will be posting a reel on my personal Instagram once I'm done with everything, so you can check it out there. But yeah, I think that's my 10 seconds for this week. The Halloween decorating kind of took everything. Oh, I got a new tattoo. Guess I should have decided that one. It's a little skeleton torso that's giving itself a hug. I've always wanted to do like the self love tattoo of like the woman or the female body hugging itself because I, I don't know, I really like relate to that kind of, you know, you only have, you make sure you're prioritizing, you make sure you fall in love with you first type thing. But obviously like I love skeletons and so yeah, I just did like a little skeleton torso that's hugging itself and it's so cute and I love it so much. Okay, let's get into today's episode Trigger warning. This episode includes discussions of suicide, so please listen with care. I want you to think about the last time you went onto social media. You were probably scrolling through your feed looking at posts from your friends, family members, casual acquaintances, and they probably all looked pretty happy, as though they were living exciting lives, having a really good time. Tick tock. Instagram and Twitter are full of smiling faces, people celebrating birthdays, going on vacation, getting married, having kids. And when you're looking at these images every day, it is natural to feel a bit self conscious, to have a little bit of fomo. Like your life can't possibly be as full and as rich as everyone else's. But social media isn't reality. Of course. We all have things that we keep private and plenty of people have secrets. And in 2018, that was especially true of Mark and Jennair Jaredo. Mark and Janaire had been married to each other since 1994. So it had been 24 years by 2018. And on the surface, they seem like the picture perfect couple. Now before their marriage back then, they had actually been high school sweethearts. Back in 1986, Mark and Janer were both teenagers and and he met her while she was working at Taco Bell. Now, during their brief first interaction, she made a big impression on him. And afterward, Mark couldn't stop thinking about Janaer. Except they didn't officially start dating until four years later in 1990, after high school. So almost high school sweethearts. Now, they hadn't been in touch during that four year break, but through a complete coincidence or maybe fate, they actually bumped into each other on the street one day and Janaer told Mark, no, I'm not working at Taco Bell anymore. She had a new job at a shopping mall and Mark didn't want to let his chance at love get away again. So after that, he kept finding excuses to drop by the store where she worked. And they just started to see each other regularly, talk and joke around. And before long, it was clear that there was a mutual attraction between them and they began dating. And it was clear to Mark that Janaer was very bold and outgoing. She was one of those people who did what she wanted and she didn't care what anyone else thought. Mark, on the other hand, was more timid and shy. He didn't like to push boundaries or do things that might upset other people. But when he was with Janaer, she helped coax him out of his shell and encouraged him to try new things. This was actually one of the things that marked Mark liked the most about Genaer. She added a dash of excitement to his life. So finally, they get married. They landed high profile jobs in the marketing industry and they seemed to have everything figured out from the outside looking in. Their marriage was like a fairy tale come to life. They regularly posted on social media and all of their pictures showed them smiling and happy. Now, they didn't have kids, but they did have several golden retrievers that were beautiful and healthy. And their posts showed them dining out and hiking on these gorgeous trails with incredible views. It seemed like Mark and Jennair had everything you would want out of a romantic marriage. Except, of course, nobody knew what Mark and Janer were really like behind closed doors. And the truth was, they fought all of the time. Their marriage was actually very unhappy. The two of them argued about everything, even little issues that shouldn't have mattered. And these little issues always escalated into massive shouting matches. Now, part of the problem was that Mark and Jenner could both be very stubborn. Neither of them wanted to compromise or feel like they were losing an argument. So once the two started bickering, neither was willing to give in. And before you know it, they would be yelling horrible things at each other, crying, making each other miserable. And one of the biggest issues in their marriage was money. Mark and Janer never saw eye to eye about how much they should be spending money versus how much to save or invest. And things got even worse in the year 2008. Now, at the time, the economy was weak, they were both worried about losing their jobs, and their stress was at an all time high. Things were actually bad enough that Mark and Janer decided they just needed a fresh start. Like if they bought a new house in a new town, they made new friends, they got new jobs, they basically changed everything about their lives. They could start over and learn to be happy again and put this rocky past behind them. So they actually packed their bags and moved to South Carolina. And then they started over from scratch. And honestly, for a while, it worked. Mark and Janaer felt like newlyweds again. They got along, they weren't fighting as much. They actually lived a short drive away from the shore and a mountainous area with lots of trails. So during this time in their lives, Mark and Janer got very into hiking and swimming and spending quality time together outside. But the good times wouldn't last forever. Before you knew it, Mark and Janae were back to having regular fights again. It didn't help that sometime around the year 2017, Janaer actually lost her job. She was applying and interviewing for new positions, but months went by without an offer. It made her feel insecure, and when she was really down, she lashed out on Mark. So Mark decided to try the same thing that had worked so well the last time their marriage was on the rocks. He suggested they should move to a new town, restart their lives again and see if it helped. So Mark actually begins spending a lot of time online looking for job postings in other cities. And he saw one position that was really interesting to him. It was actually at the University of Delaware. Mark thought he had the qualifications for it, and Delaware seemed like a nice place to live. Maybe, just maybe, he and Jennair could be happy there. Well, Mark didn't want to just submit a resume and wait to hear back. Instead, he actually did a bunch of research until he found the name of the manager who would be interviewing and hiring for the job. It was a woman named Meredith Chapman. 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I'm Mayra Amit, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com Mark is a Mochi member, compensated for his story. So once he's done all this sleuthing and finds Meredith the manager, Mark emails her directly explaining that he's looking for a new job and he thought this one would be a good fit. And he also personally sent her his resume and a list of his qualifications. Now, Meredith actually writes back right away and she said she was impressed with his background and his eagerness and she wanted to meet in person for an interview. Now I have to say, even though Mark had emailed Meredith first, he was actually a little skeptical at this point. When he looked Meredith up online, he saw that she was a high ranking executive, but also she was only 32 years old, meaning she was 15 years younger than he was, but would be his boss. Now, according to her social media posts, Meredith had accomplished a lot in her short career. She was a bit of a superstar. But Mark knew the same thing that I mentioned at the start of this episode. Social media isn't always accurate. People can lie or exaggerate or leave out key details, make their life look better than it is. Mark just wasn't convinced that someone that young and that inexperienced could have the brilliant career that Meredith seemingly had. Except when he went to his interview, Meredith blew all of his concerns out of the water. It was obvious that she was incredibly competent, smart, strategic, personable, and basically everything you would want in a boss. In fact, when Mark left the interview, he realized that he liked Meredith on a lot after that interview, and not just in a professional way. He was definitely attracted to her. And it's safe to say that it's not great to have a crush on your potential boss who is 15 years younger than you, especially not when you and your wife are already having marital issues. But the truth of the matter was that Mark needed a job. So when Meredith reached back out with an offer, he actually accepted it, even though he was going into this knowing that his feelings were not appropriate. And it gets worse, because Mark needed to move to Delaware before he could begin working. But in the meanwhile, he needed Genaer to stay behind in South Carolina. She needed to pack up their house and get it ready to sell. So for 45 days total, a month and a half, Mark lived alone in Delaware. He went to work every day, and each day he spent time with Meredith. And each night he came home to an empty house. It was almost like he was single again, which meant he was willing to flirt with Meredith and act friendlier than he usually would. Now, for her part, Meredith was also married. She had been with her husband for nine years, and to all appearances, her relationship was strong and stable. But she flirted back with Mark, and it was clear that she liked him too. So one night only, about two weeks after Mark had started his new job, Meredith invited him to grab drinks after work. He agreed. And this wasn't a happy hour with other co workers. It was just the two of them. And while they were at the bar, they opened up to one another. Meredith explained that appearances, her social media, was deceiving, at least as far as her marriage was concerned. On the surface, she and her husband seemed happy, but the truth was that her relationship was falling apart. She and her husband were still technically together, but she had felt emotionally Distant from him for years. At least this is what she's telling Mark. And Mark admitted that he was unhappy with Janae too. But he insisted he had no intention of ever cheating on his wife. He and Meredith couldn't deny that they were attracted to one another. However, he states pretty clearly he had no intention of acting on that attraction. In fact, not long after this conversation, Mark actually begins job searching again. He knew that it would be hard to resist temptation if he was seeing Meredith every single day at work. So even though he had barely even started his new job, he was looking for new positions in Delaware, jobs that could let him leave this complicated situation. And he actually got invited to an interview in Denver. So Mark flew all of the way out, met his potential new boss, and answered all of their questions. Here's the thing. Even though he was on the opposite side of the country trying to do the right thing, Mark couldn't stop thinking about Meredith. I mean, it was so bad he was considering leaving his job. He realized that if he took this new position and said goodbye to her forever and it was going to be hard and break his heart and he couldn't do it. Mark didn't want to be a liar or a cheater, but he also didn't want to ignore his feelings any longer. So before he could fly home, he called Meredith, his boss in Delaware, to say that he wanted to be with her. And that was the start of their affair. They went on dates, they texted constantly, they were sexually intimate, and by late the fall of 2017, they had even said I love you to one another. Keep in mind, they had only known each other for about four weeks at this point. This affair was definitely moving fast. And Janaire still wasn't even around. She was in South Carolina taking care of their house, packing up, getting it on the market and trying to sell it. And by the time she finally does move to Delaware that December, she moves in and immediately can tell something is off. It was clear that Mark wasn't as emotionally present as he had been in the past. Something had definitely changed while he lived and worked in Delaware alone. Janer also noticed that he did seem to be spending a lot of time with his boss, Meredith. He was always talking about her. He seemed to really like her. So finally, Janer asked Mark point blank if he was cheating on her and if the other woman was Meredith. But Mark denies it all. He lies. He insists that Janer was being paranoid, that she was imagining things, that there was definitely nothing going on, there was no affair. And Meredith, his boss, wasn't a threat. Except before long, the situation was impossible to deny. Especially because Mark and Meredith realized that they wanted to be together for real. They wanted to leave their spouses for each other. No more sneaking around, no more hiding things. So Meredith decides to come clean to her husband and begins the process of filing for divorce. Luckily, Meredith's husband took the news about as well as he could. I'm sure her husband wasn't happy to learn that she had cheated, but they managed to actually stay friends and part on good terms. The problem came when Mark told Genaer that he had been having an affair and he also said on top of that, I want to leave you and be with Meredith permanently. Needless to say, Janer does not take this well. She was so stunned that she didn't even say anything at first. After all, she'd been lied to and deceived and now was being left. She'd moved to a brand new city and state to be with Mark. Basically, it felt like she had given up everything to make their marriage work for this fresh start. And now Mark was casting her aside for a prettier, younger, more exciting woman. And to make matters worse, it had now been about a year since Genaer had lost her job and she still hadn't found a new one. Frankly, she had been so busy trying to sell the house and move, she had barely had a chance to send out resumes and get out there to do interviews. So on top of her feelings of betrayal, she was terrified that she'd end up broke and alone after this divorce. The stress was so bad that Janar began posting about her struggles online. At this point, she didn't care about presenting a picture perfect version of her life anymore. She went on the Nextdoor app to ask for recommendations for marriage counselors and divorce lawyers. Now, in these posts, Janaire was very honest about her current situation. She wrote to people online publicly about how Mark had cheated on her, that she was feeling depressed. It was clear that she needed a lot of help and even if her marriage couldn't be saved, Janair could use a friend. But she didn't know anyone in Delaware very well, so she felt really alone. But then Sometime in early 2018, Geniere approached Mark and said that she'd found a way to somehow accept their situation. She understood that he was leaving her for Meredith and she couldn't stop him. But she wanted a few things from him before they finalized the divorce. Janer didn't want her last memories of her marriage to be about lies, deception, and heartache. She wanted to go out to a few more nice dinners with Mark, spend quality time with him, enjoy a couple of hikes. The sorts of things they usually did. That way, they could end their marriage on a high note. Which was a strange request, for sure, but Mark agreed to it. He knew he was in the wrong. And in his mind, if this was what Janae needed and if it would help her move on, he would do it. Now, for the next few weeks, Mark and Janaer did all of the things that she'd requested. It was almost like they were kind of dating again. They went on nature hikes, they had fancy dinners, they spent a lot of time together, one on one. And then once they had checked everything off Janaer's list, Mark moved out. In his mind, he did what he was supposed to and he was done. He come clean. He. He had spent all of that time with Jenner, and now it was time to start the next phase of his life. But I'm sorry to say that he and Jenner were not able to happily part ways like he'd hoped. Because on the evening of April 23, 2018, at 7:05pm, Mark called 911. He gave an address explaining that he was at someone's house, but it wasn't his, and that there were two dead people inside of this home. So when police arrived, they found Mark out front and he was covered in blood. He screamed to responders that his wife was dead. So a few detectives go inside and they found two women lying on the floor. Both of them had already passed away due to gunshot wounds. So right away, the officers identified one of the victims as Meredith, because this was Meredith's house. She had died in her own house. And the other woman on the floor was Janair. So, to summarize, Mark's wife and his affair partner had both been shot to death in his affair partner's home. Mark was at the scene of the crime, still alive and. And covered in blood, and he was the one who had called the cops. So naturally, the police immediately suspect him as the killer. As soon as some paramedics confirmed that he wasn't hurt, the police officers put Mark in the back of a squad car and then drove him down to the station for an immediate interrogation. Well, as soon as Mark realizes what's going on and that he's not just a suspect, but the main suspect, he took the news very poorly. He becomes angry with detectives. Mark acted offended at the idea that the police would ever believe he was capable of these murders. According to him, he was innocent. He said he would never hurt Genara or Meredith. Instead, Mark believed, told the police that the killer was his wife, that she must have shot Meredith and then herself, and he had just happened to find their bodies after this murder. Suicide. Now, you might be thinking, okay, this is just a theory. Mark may have been blaming the victim for a murder he committed, but then he presented some evidence that made Genar look like a potential suspect. See, for months, Jenner had been dealing with feelings of paranoia. They had begun right around the time that she had moved to Delaware. And, I mean, in fairness, she had a good reason to feel suspicious and question her reality. Mark was having an affair and lying to her about it? She asked. And he lied. So it sounds like Janaire didn't trust him or her reality. She didn't believe Mark when he said nothing was going on. So around this time, Janaire began doing investigating of her own. According to people in her life, she took things to an extreme. She bought countless GPS trackers, stuck them on both Mark and Meredith's cars. That way she could always know where they were and if they were together. She even sewed one of those trackers into Mark's jacket. And each night when he got home from work, she had to cut the tracker out of his clothes, download the data in order to see where Mark had been that day, and then get out the needle and thread and. And sew it back into the jacket for the next day. This is happening every single night. And somehow, Jennair also got into Mark's office and planted an audio recording device there. It captured everything that anyone said when they were near his desk. And it let Janer eavesdrop on all of his work conversations, including the ones with Meredith. Plus, Janer repeatedly hacked Mark's phone so she could read his conversations. Now, Mark's phone was set so it would only unlock for his fingerprint, but Janer would wait until he had fallen asleep and then press his hand against his phone in order to access it. Now, you might be thinking, this is all crazy. And I will say it does seem a bit unstable. But when someone is questioning not just their reality, but their sense of self based on someone else's behavior and lies, it can get someone to this point.
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Peyton Moreland
Had the time of my life. Hey, I never felt this way before. From building timelines to assigning the right people and even spotting risks across dozens of projects, Monday Sidekick knows your business, thinks ahead, and takes action. One click on the star and consider it done. And I owe it all to you. Try Monday Sidekick AI you'll love to use on Monday.com. now, obviously, Mark had no idea about any of this. Not until one day when he was putting on a jacket and he found the tracking device in it. So he confronted Janar about the surveillance, and she downplayed it, acting like it wasn't a big deal. Basically, she made it sound like any person would do the same thing if they suspected their husband of cheating. So, anyway, this conversation was actually part of what spurred Mark to come clean. At this point, he realized there was no point in lying because Janae already knew exactly where he spent his evenings anyways. Except after Mark told Janae about the affair, he was like, yep, okay, you're right. You don't need to do this detective work anymore. You don't need to be paranoid. I'm having an affair. But then he tells her, I'm gonna divorce you and leave you for her. She begins behaving erratically, even more erratically than before. One night, Mark found another tracking device sewn into a different jacket. And in his mind, there was no way for Janaer to explain this away. She couldn't pretend that she was just a concerned wife or that this was a normal way to handle suspicion. He had already confessed to cheating. He had begun the process of filing for a divorce. There was no reason for Janer to need to know where he was anymore. Mark became so angry that he confronted Jenner and screamed in her face. He even tipped a table over. And in response, Gener said that she'd rather die than let their marriage end. She threatened to take her life right then and there in front of Mark. And of course, he was afraid for her safety. Even though he wanted to leave Generre, he didn't want to see her get hurt. So he talked her down and encouraged her to go to therapy. Except Janer still didn't get better. And again, I think it's important to note that cheating is a form of severe emotional abuse, and it creates a toxic environment for people to react in toxic ways. Now, I'm not justifying Genaerre's behavior here. I am simply saying that there is definable reasons for her behavior. So she doesn't get any better. She starts sending disturbing text messages to him. She left a strange voicemail to a couple, actually, and once she complained about how she felt like she didn't measure up to Meredith. She believed she couldn't compete with someone who was so much younger. Gener said, you don't find me appealing. You don't find me attractive. You don't want me anymore. You don't even like me. You are miserable. Janaire is spiraling, okay? She is spiraling, and she is no longer in a healthy place mentally, and there isn't anyone around to help. But all of this paled in comparison to the messages that she sent on the evening of April 28th. This is the same night when she and Meredith died. See, Mark and Janer were supposed to meet up that evening, and the plan was for them to go to dinner and talk about the upcoming divorce, work out how to split their assets, that sort of thing. So Mark was already at the restaurant, and he was waiting for Jennair to arrive. And it was then that he got a message from her saying that a conflict had come up, she wasn't going to make it, and they needed to reschedule. So Mark was just about to head out of the door of the restaurant when he got another text. And it was also from Genier. This one was just a picture, namely, a photo of a used condom lying in a trash can. Except when Mark sees this picture, he realizes this isn't just any condom in any trash can. This is a trash can from Meredith's house. He recognizes it now. Mark knew there was no good reason for Janer to be at Meredith's house. The two of them were not friends. They didn't hang out. Obviously, there was animosity there. And all he could think was that Janer's stalking had escalated even further, that she had broken in to the mistress's house so she could harass Meredith or find more evidence about her relationship with Mark, like the condom. Not that she needed to go snooping around. Like I said, Mark had already told Janera that he was sleeping with Meredith. But clearly Janaire was not in a good place mentally or emotionally. She had become obsessed with her situation at this point, and Mark could only imagine what she would do if Meredith came home while she was still inside the house. He didn't think his wife was capable of seriously hurting anyone, but he's still worried. Of course, his fear was that Janaer would pick a fight and make Meredith feel unsafe in her own home. And of course, Mark didn't want to subject Meredith to that. So he immediately hops in his car and drives straight from the restaurant to Meredith's house. And while he's on the way, he keeps getting more texts from Genar like, you've ruined my life. I hope you never find happiness. And finally he gets a last text that says, bye, Mark. Honestly, this is heartbreaking. So he didn't know exactly what those messages meant, but it was clear that she was not in a good place and something bad was definitely happening. So when he got to the house at around 7pm, one of Meredith's neighbors was actually standing in the front lawn. And when Mark gets out, he said he had heard shouting coming from inside the house and then a loud bang, but he hadn't been able to get into the house to see what was going on. And the neighbor was getting ready to call 91 1. But first mark was like, listen, I'll go in. I'll see if there's anything I can do to help. So he makes it as far as the kitchen before he realizes it's too late. Janer and Meredith were both dead. They were both lying on the floor in puddles of blood. So Mark was too stunned to think clearly. He grabbed Jennair, screaming curse words at her dead body. What have you done? And that's how he gets her blood all over his clothes. And then when he made it back outside, he called the police. Now, as soon as Mark was done giving his statement, the officers knew that they needed to investigate further. If his story was true, if all the things I just told you that he told police was true, it meant Janair was probably the real killer. There's obviously still is a chance that Mark was lying to hide his own guilt. So the detectives look into the situation and they start by pulling his engineers phone records. And sure enough, they match his statement genre really had texted him the picture of the condom while he was at the restaurant, and then all of those other disturbing messages followed. So it was fairly clear that she had been at Meredith's home before her death on her phone. And Mark's alibi that he was at the restaurant at the time of the shooting held up. In addition, just a few hours before the crime, Jennair had actually sent an email to almost everyone in her family. And in it, she said that she was angry at Mark for cheating on her and then leaving her. So she was going to find a way to make him pay and ensure that he would never feel Happy again. In this email, she confessed to her family that she was planning to commit a murder, but she didn't say that she wanted to kill Meredith specifically. Jennair wrote that she was going to break into Meredith's house and shoot the first person that she saw. Maybe it would be Mark, or maybe it would be Meredith. It honestly seemed like Genaer didn't care who she killed as long as it was one of them. The police also found records that Janer had bought the murder weapon back in late March, meaning she had begun planning this homicide for five entire weeks before it happened. And her credit card statements showed that she had spent a lot of time at shooting ranges during those five weeks. Now, on top of that, when first responders arrived at the scene after Janaer's death, they found the gun under Janaer's body, as though she had collapsed onto it after shooting herself. It actually would have been impossible for Mark or anyone else to plant the gun there after the murder, not without disturbing the scene and leaving evidence of doing it. Instead, the more police looked into this, the more it became increasingly clear that Janaer had broken into Meredith's house that night with the gun in her hand. She'd waited in the kitchen for someone to come home, and that person was Meredith. Janair fatally shot her, and then after the murder, she took her own life. Now, I should know it's very rare for women to commit these sort of crimes. Statistically speaking, the vast majority of murder suicides, especially murder suicides involving jealousy over a romantic partner, are committed by men. So it's not surprising that it took a while for the police to really accept and believe this narrative, because statistics, statistically, this is not the norm. Eventually, though, the evidence was too clear to deny, the authorities let Mark go and ruled Meredith and Janaer's deaths a murder suicide. The case was closed, but this is obviously the beginning of a long grieving process for Mark. He'd lost his wife, he'd lost his girlfriend, and he'd also lost a picture perfect life, or at least a life that had looked picture perfect from the outside. Clearly, he had been having relationship problems for a while. He was a cheater. He was a liar. Janer had struggled with jealousy, paranoia, possessiveness, and her tragic story, and Meredith's. Just goes to show, everyone has secret struggles that you don't know about, and nobody's life is as nice as what they post on social media. And that was the murder of Meredith Chapman. Again, there is never justification for murder. Obviously, we as true crime listeners, know that I did touch on the effects of emotional abuse today only as fair coverage of the background that led to the Janaire getting to Meredith's house that day. Love triangles come up often in true crime stories as a motive. A motive that's obviously strong enough for multiple people to feel. I think from the outside looking in, it's easy to be like, why not just pack up your bags and leave? But obviously it's not as easy as that. When you look at the amount of times this has happened, I would hope that every single one of us would pack our bags and leave, but obviously that was not the case for Jennair. Thank you so much for going into the dark with me today on this case, and I will see you next time. Goodbye. Limu Emu and Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.
Host: Peyton Moreland
Date: September 24, 2025
In this episode of “Into The Dark,” host Peyton Moreland explores the chilling true crime case known as “The Deadly Affair.” The story centers on Mark and Janair Gerardot, a married couple whose seemingly perfect life unraveled in a deadly love triangle involving a younger colleague, Meredith Chapman. Peyton dissects the progression of their relationship, the impact of secrets and social media, and the shocking murder-suicide that devastated multiple families. The episode also dives into psychological motivations, the danger of appearances, and the tragic toll of emotional unraveling.
On Social Media Illusions:
“When you’re looking at these images every day, it is natural to feel a bit self-conscious...But social media isn’t reality, of course.” — Peyton (08:25)
On the Draw of Janair’s Personality:
“She helped coax him out of his shell and encouraged him to try new things…she added a dash of excitement to his life.” — Peyton (09:55)
On the Marriage’s Facade:
“Their marriage was like a fairy tale come to life. They regularly posted on social media and all of their pictures showed them smiling and happy.” — Peyton (12:26)
On the Effect of Infidelity:
“Cheating is a form of severe emotional abuse, and it creates a toxic environment for people to react in toxic ways.” — Peyton (34:20)
Describing Janair’s Surveillance:
“Each night…she had to cut the tracker out of his clothes, download the data…sew it back into the jacket for the next day. This is happening every single night.” — Peyton (27:22)
On the Night of the Crime:
“He got a last text that says, ‘Bye, Mark.’ Honestly, this is heartbreaking.” — Peyton (38:03)
Reflecting on Tragedy and Appearances:
“He’d lost his wife, he’d lost his girlfriend, and he’d also lost a picture-perfect life, or at least a life that had looked picture-perfect from the outside.” — Peyton (42:15)
Peyton Moreland crafts a haunting narration, echoing the podcast’s true crime-with-a-hint-of-horror tone. The episode weaves a tale of hidden misery behind outward perfection, chilling escalation from suspicion to violence, and the way social media distorts reality. Through the tragic story of Mark, Janair, and Meredith, Peyton reminds listeners of the unseen struggles behind smiling faces—and the irreversible destruction that can grow from secrets, betrayal, and unchecked obsession.
Trigger Warning: The episode involves discussions of suicide and domestic violence. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help.