Where is Laura? | EP 11

Summary

Love Trapped — Episode 11: “Where is Laura?”

Podcast Release Date: April 30, 2026

Overview

This episode of Love Trapped delivers a riveting update on the saga of Laura Owens, the woman at the center of multiple civil and criminal legal battles stretching across Arizona and California. Host Stephanie Young takes listeners inside the courtroom drama, online sleuthing, and the mounting consequences Laura faces, including the latest indictments, courtroom setbacks, and financial unraveling. The episode explores questions of truth, accountability, and the impact of manipulation—culminating in a pivotal moment as a plea deal deadline looms.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Legal Tangle: Laura’s Mounting Troubles

• [02:38–03:45] Stephanie recaps Laura’s journey: from family court losses and appeals against former Bachelor Clayton Echard (resulting in ~$200K owed in legal fees), to a police raid and seven felony indictments in Arizona for criminal charges.
• [04:28] Clayton: “What we know is coming down the pipeline is bigger than anything she could ever imagine and bigger than any of us could ever imagine.”
• Laura continues to fight a domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) renewal against Mike Maracini in San Francisco—separate from her criminal charges.

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2. San Francisco Courtroom Drama: DVRO Showdown

• [05:12–10:58] Stephanie details the lead-up to the highly anticipated DVRO renewal hearing. The night before, hopes for resolution dissolve when Laura fails to finalize any agreement to drop the case.
• [07:15] Clayton shows up to support Mike: “This is more important than all that.”
• Mike notes the energy shift as Clayton returns the support Mike offered him in previous legal battles.

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3. Day-After-Day: Delays & Unfolding Chaos

• [11:12–13:28] Legal observers including Megan Fox and Dave Neal gather, questioning whether Laura can or will travel, due to her Arizona indictments prohibiting leaving the state.
• [13:28–17:56] The day of the hearing: Laura appears on Zoom, not in person, and files an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accommodation request at the 11th hour, pushing proceedings back by two weeks. Mike and Danielle express exhaustion and heartbreak at yet another delay.
• [15:42] Clayton encourages Mike: “She’s just delaying the inevitable. … You cannot give up now. You’ve come too far.”

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4. The Online Community Turns Up Evidence

• [24:26–25:42] Journalist Megan Fox, tipped off via YouTube comments, discovers Laura competing—and winning—in an Arizona horse show at the exact time she claimed incapacitating illness prevented court attendance.
• [25:42] Dave Neal: “She was actually caught by some of our audience members competing in a horse race … if you’re really sick, shouldn’t you not be on a horse competing?”
• The revelation infuriates Mike and Danielle, who see it as a calculated disrespect after spending considerable resources to attend court.

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5. Final Courtroom Push: Dismissal & Vindication

• [27:22–36:20] A rescheduled hearing features last-minute chaos. Despite fresh claims of medical emergencies from Laura, the judge holds firm. Laura fails to appear in person. The judge finally dismisses the DVRO renewal after nearly a decade.
• [36:20] Danielle: “So much relief and inexplainable joy … we did it.”
• [36:46] Omar Serrato (Mike’s attorney): “The sun is beaming through the windows … tears of joy.”

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6. More Charges & Victims Emerge

• [43:17–51:11] Stephanie breaks the news: Arizona indicts Laura on seven additional felony counts, now totaling 14 charges. The second set involves another victim, Greg Gillespie, including identity theft, forged medical documents, and fraudulent use of a sonogram image from a woman named Stormy.
• [45:23] State reveals sonogram used by Laura was stolen from Stormy: “She’s afraid that she’s going to be able to find her and hurt her family.”
• [47:05] Investigator reveals forged medical note Laura sent to Greg Gillespie.
• [48:32] Laura charged with theft by extortion, seeking to leverage accusations for monetary gain.

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7. Financial Fallout & The Bankruptcy Saga

• [51:55–66:24] Laura owes $200,000 to Clayton and tens of thousands to other creditors, but lacks a wage-earning job. Stephanie and financial investigator Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog) expose the tangled finances of Laura and her parents, Ron Owens and Jan Black, including failed bankruptcies, home foreclosure, and dubious claims about income and assets.
• [53:32] Laura files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which halts debt collection but triggers intense scrutiny. Both oral testimony and paper trails contradict her claims of zero assets and income.
• [59:28] “There appeared to be some inconsistencies.”
• [66:32] Federal intervention looms; Laura’s financial maneuvering opens her to DOJ investigation.

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8. Family Finances Collapse

• [67:23–69:08] Tiffany reveals Ron and Jan’s own bankruptcy collapsed due to noncompliance; their Scottsdale home is scheduled for foreclosure auction—dragging more family into financial distress.

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9. The End of the Line for Legal Evasion?

• [70:38–72:14] Laura’s bankruptcy is dismissed. Greg Woodnick, legal expert: “Pursuing any of the other assets is difficult and maybe impossible depending on how things are structured and buried in different LLCs… it may be very difficult if not impossible for [Clayton] to get paid.”
• Former attorney David Jingris posts video: “Courts cannot make people pay money they don’t have… so Laura’s not going to be paying Clayton anything.”

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10. Cliffhanger: Plea Deal or Trial?

• [72:27–73:56] The episode closes with dramatic uncertainty: The Arizona prosecutor has offered Laura a plea deal on 14 felony charges. The offer expires April 30, 2026.
• [73:08] Clayton: “As a victim, I have been told what the plea is and without saying too much, I’m not happy with it. For me, what I want to see is Laura face prison time.”
• [73:47] Clayton: “So with that, I wait. We wait. And judgment time is coming. But as far as what happens to Laura, only time will tell.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Clayton (on justice and forgiveness):

  “I hope for justice to be served, and to me, what that looks like is her going to prison. No matter what she's faced up until this point, she has not once said, you know what? I'm sorry.”
  — [03:45]

• Mike, on Clayton’s support:

  “He said, ‘Mike, you supported me for the June 10 hearing. This is the least I could do. I want to be there to support you.’”
  — [10:31]

• Danielle, on Laura’s manipulation:

  “It was re-traumatizing, quite frankly. And I thought, we're going to be let down again and she's going to win again…”
  — [16:28]

• Community sleuths expose Laura at a horse show:

  “Sure as shit. There she is, winning awards after she was supposed to be in court.”
  — Megan Fox [24:54]

• Mike, after the judge finally dismisses the DVRO:

  “I've been fighting for almost 10 years, and I've had the support of everybody… I would have never been able to do this without everybody, and I'm so fortunate.”
  — [37:22]

• Greg Woodnick (on debtor’s prison):

  “We don’t have debtor’s prisons in America. If you are ordered to pay a billion dollars to somebody in damages and if you don’t have the money, you’re never gonna have to pay it, they don’t put you in jail, there’s no consequence for being broke.”
  — [71:28]

• Tiffany Robertson, about financial mismanagement:

  “We see what appears to be spending habits that make no sense whatsoever.”
  — [69:20]

• Clayton (on the indictment expansion):

  “Another big old heaping scoop of justice being served. … This has become larger than me.”
  — [49:13]

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Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |-----------|--------------| | 02:38 | Stephanie recaps Laura’s legal woes and mounting cases | | 05:12 | San Francisco: Eve of DVRO renewal hearing | | 07:15 | Clayton arrives to support Mike | | 11:48 | Community gathers over Laura’s possible absence | | 13:28 | Laura appears via Zoom; files ADA request | | 24:26 | Megan Fox discovers Laura at Arizona horse show | | 27:22 | Pre-hearing chaos; lawyers scramble as Laura threatens not to appear | | 34:42 | Judge dismisses DVRO hearing as Laura is absent | | 43:17 | Stephanie and Mike receive news: seven new felony indictments against Laura | | 45:18 | Stolen sonogram evidence, identity theft comes to light | | 51:55 | The story pivots to Laura's bankruptcy filings | | 67:23 | Ron and Jan's (Laura's parents) bankruptcy unraveling; foreclose threat | | 70:38 | Aftermath: Laura’s bankruptcy dismissed, debt remains | | 72:27 | Cliffhanger: Will Laura accept the plea or go to trial? |

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Episode Tone & Narrative

The episode is tense, meticulous, and emotional—reflecting the dogged determination of both the legal teams and a fiercely invested online community. Stephanie Young’s narration remains grounded, empathetic, and persistent, while contributors like Megan Fox, Lauren Knighty, and Dave Neal add color, skepticism, and righteous frustration. There’s a palpable mix of relief and exhaustion as the latest court battle ends, but the uncertainty ahead keeps listeners on edge.

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Wrap-up

Episode 11 of Love Trapped peels back layers of legal maneuvering, exposing not only Laura Owens’ protracted efforts to evade accountability, but also the collective will of those seeking justice. As the episode ends, all eyes are on Laura’s next move—a cliffhanger for the final chapter of this intricate, cautionary tale.

Transcript

[Stephanie Young]

This is an I Heart podcast.

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[Stephanie Young]

Over the past year, Laura's found herself in quite the bind. She's facing a complicated patchwork of consequences, and it can be hard to follow. That's because we're talking about cases across two states, Arizona and California. We're talking about multiple different court systems. Civil courts, family courts, and now criminal courts. So I want to regroup and give you an overview of what Laura's up against. In June 2024, Clayton won his family court case against Laura. That's a civil court judgment. Along with her judgment, Judge Mata ordered Laura to pay Clayton's legal fees, a number that, after Laura's failed Appeals, is nearing $200,000. Then Clayton. Seven months later, in January 2025, the police raided Laura's family home in Arizona to serve a search warrant. By that summer, she was indicted in Arizona on seven felony charges. That's the criminal system. You know, the one that sentences people to prison. Here's Clayton.

[Clayton Eckert]

I hope for justice to be served, and to me, what that looks like is her going to prison. No matter what she's faced up until this point, she has not once said, you know what? I'm sorry.

[Stephanie Young]

Even after seven felony charges, Laura still decided to renew her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Maracini. This one in the San Francisco court system. It's a civil case, but for Mike, it's a legal battle he's been fighting for almost 10 years. And while she battled Mike in court, the prosecutors in Arizona weren't quite done with her yet. Their investigation had uncovered more.

[Clayton Eckert]

What we know is coming down the pipeline is bigger than anything she could ever imagine and bigger than any of us could ever imagine.

[Stephanie Young]

I'm Stephanie Young, and this is Love Trapped. I'll be raising cold. There's no way. If you ever, ever, ever, ever

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

try to leave.

[Stephanie Young]

At the end of the last episode, we left off in San Francisco, Laura Owens filed to renew her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Maracini. But this time, Mike had secured legal counsel and was ready to fight back. The evidentiary hearing was slated for October 2025, and I flew to San Francisco to be in the courtroom. The night before the hearing was set to start, someone in Laura's camp emailed Mike's attorney, Omar Serrato. Omar and Mike thought Laura was agreeing to drop the DVRO renewal. But 12 minutes later, they found out that wasn't the case. Here's Omar.

[Omar Serrato]

There's like that surreal moment where you have all this adrenaline and then it's over, but the adrenaline's still there and you're trying to like calm down. Mike is crying and he's like raising his arms in triumph and hugs all around. And then I get this mysterious email come through my phone.

[Stephanie Young]

In the email, Laura requested a zoom link for the next day's hearing, which Omar expected she would need to agree to the deal in front of the judge. But she also asked for a zoom link for her former attorney and nurse practitioner. That didn't make sense. If she planned to dismiss the case, why did they need to be present?

[Omar Serrato]

Everybody's still in celebration mode. And so I'm like trying to sitting on that for five minutes, like, what does this mean? And then I emailed her, hey, Laura, my understanding was we had an agreement. Is that still the case? And then like 10 minutes later, no, we don't have an agreement. That was it, just a one liner. And then I had to break the news to Mike. Hey, this is still on. But he took that remarkably well. I was like, well, if I get game on, then I guess back to the original plan.

[Stephanie Young]

I arrived at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse early on Tuesday morning, October 21st. The hearing was scheduled for 9am it wasn't long before a familiar face joined me. Clayton Eckert. He traveled to San Francisco just for this hearing.

[Clayton Eckert]

I am in San Francisco for the first time in my life. I'm here to support Mike. I'm here because he showed up for me and that was it. No matter what happens, no matter what the outcome is, I'm here to show Mike that I appreciate him. That's it. I'm like, I can pause all this shit in my life right now because honestly, this is more important than all that.

[Stephanie Young]

When Clayton had his family court trial against Laura the previous year, the courthouse in Arizona was filled, filled with his supporters, including the content creators who'd been covering his story. Now in San Francisco, that same energy surrounded Mike. Outside the courthouse that morning, I ran into journalist Megan Fox.

[Megan Fox]

I'm reporting out from in front of the Superior Court in California and San Francisco. We're gonna wait for Laura Owens to appear by Zoom. We think maybe, or maybe she's not gonna show up at all. We're not sure, but we're gonna go in and find out. We're all here. Where is she?

[Stephanie Young]

What do you think is gonna happen today?

[Megan Fox]

God, it's one of three things. It's gonna get dismissed because she doesn't show up. Secondly, it could be continued. It's Possible she could show up and argue for continuance. And the third option is that we fight it out. There's a trial. They're open. Should we go in?

[David Jingris]

Let's do it.

[Stephanie Young]

We all piled into the small courtroom. I sat next to Clayton. Since it's a domestic violence related proceeding, audio recording is not allowed in the courtroom. But I took plenty of notes. So let me summarize. Laura joins by zoom along with her former attorney, David Jingris. Although Gingris clarified that he was there as a witness, not as Laura's counsel. Because Laura is the petitioner in this case. The judge told her that she needed to be there in person. But Laura refutes this and says she thought it was only strongly suggested that she be there in person. The judge agreed to pick up the hearing the following day, but when they did, she said Laura needed to be in the courtroom. No exceptions. If she wasn't there, the case would be dismissed. Laura said she would try her best to be in San Francisco the following day. After that, the judge moved on to another case. There were so many people there to see what would happen. So much anticipation and build up all to be told, come back tomorrow. After the hearing, I caught up with Mike Maracini and his wife Danielle. And how are you guys feeling?

[Danielle Maracini]

Anxious.

[Mike Maracini]

Yeah, anxious. She just screwed. Chaos. It's always chaotic. There's nothing that's ever just simple.

[Stephanie Young]

Did you expect the judge to be that hard on her?

[Mike Maracini]

Yes.

[Danielle Maracini]

No, I didn't.

[Mike Maracini]

I did because she told Laura she had to be here in person. So I'm not surprised by the judge playing hardball.

[Stephanie Young]

Are you ready for tomorrow now?

[Mike Maracini]

Yeah, I'm ready. I personally don't think she's to going show up, but I'm ready.

[Stephanie Young]

I asked Mike what it was like to have Clayton there.

[Mike Maracini]

It was great to see Clayton. I told him he did not need to come. Like, don't waste money on a plane ticket. And he said, mike, you supported me for the June 10 hearing. This is the least I could do. I want to be there to support you.

[Stephanie Young]

I joined Clayton, Mike and Danielle for lunch that afternoon. This was my first time finally sitting down with Mike and Danielle face to face. And spirits were surprisingly high. Here's Mike going into day two.

[Mike Maracini]

I was like, okay, this is going to condense the entire trial into one day, but we can knock this out. My team still felt very confident with just one day instead of two days. So I still felt good going into day two.

[Stephanie Young]

I returned to the San Francisco Superior Courthouse the next morning. Yes, I just did this the day before. What I didn't know at the time is that we'd all be doing it again. When I arrived, I found Megan Fox already at work, livestreaming, joined virtually by Dave Neal. The question of the day, would Laura show up because of her seven felony indictments, she needs to ask the courts for permission to leave the state of Arizona. As far as anyone knew, she hadn't done that. That's what Dave and Megan were talking about on that live stream outside the courthouse.

[Dave Neal]

So you're waiting for the trial to start. What are the odds that Laura shows up?

[Megan Fox]

She's not coming. 0. She did not file for permission from the prosecutor in Maricopa county to come, and she has to do that. She can't leave the state without permission from the prosecutor. Court was going forward whether or not Laura was here. And I did want her to know that we're covering this case. Whether she shows up or not, we're all going to be here. And I think it's important. We've been following this case for how long, Dave? Two years now? Two years.

[Lauren Knighty]

Two years.

[Dave Neal]

And I actually wanted Laura to be there because I wanted Mike to be able to face her and come out victorious. But what's your feeling? Assuming she isn't there, she's going to what, Just have to drop it? Will she then make an excuse that she didn't want to drop it, but she did.

[Megan Fox]

If she doesn't show up today, I have a feeling that the judge will dismiss it.

[Dave Neal]

With regards to the sort of vibes with Mike and Clayton, who was there yesterday, what's. Is Mike's family there? How are they feeling? What's the update with that?

[Megan Fox]

Mike's wife is here. She is feeling very frustrated. She said to me yesterday, we have children, real babies at home that need us, and she would just rather not be here. And Laura's wasting everyone's time. Laura's the one who brought this. She needs to show up and fight her case. You can't file something and then decide at the last minute you don't want it. This is where the fight is, Laura. You should have shown up. You wanted it. Where's your evidence? She says she has evidence, so come and make your case in front of Judge Gold.

[Stephanie Young]

When we got there that morning, we were all waiting in the hallway. Me, Clayton, Mike, Danielle and Mike's legal team. Besides us, there were 20 or 30 people packed into the hallway. They were strangers to Mike, but told me they'd been following justice for Clayton online and came to support Mike in person. And the demographic of supporters was surprisingly diverse. Young people, older people, men and women. The hearing was supposed to start at 9am, but 9am came and went and the doors didn't open. The group started to become tense. No one knew what was going on. At around 9.30am, the bailiff finally opened the doors, but only allowed Mike and Omar to enter the courtroom. Everyone looked confused. Ten minutes later, Mike and Omar came back out. Mike was in tears. He went over to Danielle and they left the building. I didn't have a chance to speak with them. Later, Mike explained what happened in his closed door meeting with the judge.

[Mike Maracini]

We walk in and Laura's up on the screen and she was in a car and she's got like, just like a laughing smirk on her face, like, oh, I got you guys again. So I immediately sat down knowing something was wrong because the judge told her to be there in person the day before. And she's up on the screen confident as can be with her with her smirk. And the judge says, we received some information about an ada. We are going to be continuing the court date. And they use a lot of other legal jargon in between.

[Stephanie Young]

An ada. Laura filed a formal request for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's a federal civil rights law that all courts are obliged to comply with.

[Mike Maracini]

We asked if we could essentially argue this ADA accommodation. And the judge is like, no, it's already been processed. We're going to be pushing court to November 5th.

[Stephanie Young]

In other words, they all thought it would be over. But by filing for an ADA accommodation request, the deadline was pushed back by another two weeks.

[Mike Maracini]

I walk out of the courtroom, I'm emotional, I'm crying. And I talked with my wife immediately. And I talked with Clayton, I think right after that. And Clayton was like the first line of defense. He said, she's just delaying the inevitable. She knows she's going to lose this. You have to stay strong. You cannot give up now. You've come too far. And my attorney said the same thing. And I was just upset with the court system that day and the justice system. I said, I just want to go home and spend time with my family because that's what's going to make me happy right now.

[Stephanie Young]

Later, I asked Danielle Maracini about this moment. Like Mike, she'd been expecting this day to finally be the end of Laura's domestic violence restraining order.

[Danielle Maracini]

It was re traumatizing, quite frankly. And I thought, we're going to be let down again and she's going to win again and we will have to deal with the consequences of a permanent restraining order for the rest of our lives.

[Stephanie Young]

After Mike and Danielle left the courthouse that day, I sat down with Clayton to process what just happened.

[Clayton Eckert]

I'm pissed because I first saw Mike walk out of the courtroom and tears in his eyes. And you know where those tears are coming from. It's six plus years that this man has had to endure. And I feel for him because I've went through two years of my own. And so it is really frustrating because you just want it to be done.

[Stephanie Young]

Clayton knows better than anyone else what it feels like to try to prove his innocence against Laura Owens.

[Clayton Eckert]

Laura thinks she's won today. I don't see that at all as a win. This was another unification of all of us to be together and to further be driven to see this through. All she did was light a fire. And if you think that we're all just gonna go, oh, and we lost and we're gonna all like, no. I have a renewed sense of fire. I know everyone that's here has a renewed sense of fire, and we are winning.

[Stephanie Young]

Clayton was determined to see this thing through. He'd recently gotten a phone call from one of the state investigators in Arizona. The criminal case against Laura Owens wasn't finished yet.

[Clayton Eckert]

He had called me and said, look, what Laura doesn't realize is what we found out about her and the things that we have uncovered. The paternity scandal is the least of her worries.

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[Stephanie Young]

That's innerbalance.com support for the show comes

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[Stephanie Young]

In October 2025, Mike Maracini and his legal team prepared for an evidentiary hearing on Laura's domestic violence restraining order renewal. This had nothing to do with her criminal case in Arizona. She'd been charged with multiple felonies five months prior. But the DVRO renewal was an entirely separate legal matter in another state. After a dramatic back and forth in their first scheduled hearing, Laura filed a disability accommodation request with the San Francisco Superior Court, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's the kind of filing the courts are obligated to take seriously. Here's Mike's attorney, Omar Serra.

[Omar Serrato]

Nobody was expecting an ADA request to supersede everything, but it does. In California, you don't fuck with ADA law. Mike needs to win this on the merits. He cannot have this lost on an

[Stephanie Young]

ADA violation, and it pushed the DVRO hearing date back by two weeks you might be wondering what disability Laura claimed to have. We weren't privy to what she said in the closed door meeting with the judge, but Laura submitted a filing to the court explaining her medical situation. I've had a voice actor read from it.

[Voice Actor Reading Medical Letter]

Attached as exhibit A is a letter dated October 17, 2025 from Dr. Colleen Green, a medical provider I have been seeing since September 2024. Dr. Green states that participating in a hearing next week would be life threatening for her. End quote. Because of the combined psychiatric and physical decline. This new evidence, unavailable when the court previously ruled, directly rebuts any assumption that I am capable of safely participating in a contested pro at this time. In addition to Dr. Green's findings, my other treating medical providers have diagnosed extreme anorexia following a 50 pound weight loss accompanied by gastrointestinal bleeding following multiple episodes of vomiting blood. My treating physicians advised that urgent gastrointestinal testing and specialist evaluation were medically necessary. I was referred for a specialist consultation scheduled for October 22, which was the earliest available date for the required procedures. The overlap with the hearing date is entirely unavoidable as the appointment was made immediately upon referral for a very serious condition. Postponing this appointment could delay essential diagnostics for several weeks and significantly increase the risk of further bleeding, worsening anemia and medical destabilization.

[Stephanie Young]

Translation. The earliest day the doctor could perform a procedure for a life threatening medical emergency was the very day of trial, October 22nd. The judge issued a continuance, meaning come back in two weeks and we'll do this again. So I left San Francisco and flew home. A week later my phone started blowing up. It was news about Laura. Journalist Megan Fox was doing a YouTube live when she saw a comment pop up.

[Megan Fox]

I'm reading my comments and I see

[Stephanie Young]

just one little sentence that says she was at a horse show. Megan decided to investigate. It turns out there was an equestrian competition happening in Arizona that very week. The Scottsdale Fall Classic.

[Megan Fox]

I go to the website the Scottsdale Fall Classic, the website.

[Stephanie Young]

And I go immediately.

[Megan Fox]

I'm looking for the awards. I type in her name. Sure as shit.

[Stephanie Young]

There she is winning awards after she

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[Stephanie Young]

And she said she was bleeding internally

[Pets Best Insurance Ad Host]

and needed a blood transfusion.

[Stephanie Young]

Excuse me. Megan. And the online community even uncovered footage of Laura Owens competing.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Hello, children grow adult Hun 570 is

[Stephanie Young]

Barraco 91 with Laura Owens the owner and rider.

[David Jingris]

Scottsdale, Arizona.

[Stephanie Young]

Laura earned three first place finishes and won $150. There's a photo of her on her horse, she has a huge smile on her face and she's draped in a championship ribbon. When the online community saw this, they flew off the handle. Dave Neal made this video about it.

[Dave Neal]

She was actually caught by some of our audience members competing in a horse race this weekend. Why is this interesting? Well, it's interesting because Laura claims she suffers from PTSD and extreme anorexia and all these other issues, which may or may not be true. I don't know. But if you're really sick, shouldn't you not be on a horse competing?

[Stephanie Young]

It was so brazen. When I interviewed Dave, I asked him what he made of Laura competing in the horse show.

[Dave Neal]

I think she just lives on the day to day. She's like, let's just get through this court thing and then tomorrow we'll jump horses. And she doesn't even try to hide it.

[Stephanie Young]

You can imagine how offensive this was to Mike Maracini and his wife, Danielle. They'd spent thousands of dollars to go to San Francisco for the hearing, booking hotels and arranging overnight childcare for their two daughters, only to have Laura file the ADA request and push the date back another two weeks. Danielle Maracini was livid.

[Danielle Maracini]

I can't even put into words the level of anger. I try to steer clear of those emotions because they will rot you from the inside out. But seeing her in those videos, I felt like she was just laughing in my face like, ha, ha, fuck you. Like she was making a mockery of my pain and my husband's pain.

[Mike Maracini]

She thinks that she can keep getting away with it and there's no repercussions. And she also thinks we're all too stupid to find out, like, the actual truth.

[Stephanie Young]

A week later, Mike was due back at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse. I boarded a flight to meet him there. It felt like deja vu. Once again, Laura was ordered to be there in person. If she didn't show, it might finally be the end of her restraining order against Mike. When I arrived in San Francisco, the chaos had already begun. Here's Rachel Juarez, one of Mike's attorneys.

[Rachel Juarez]

I was literally in an Uber on the way to the airport. The emails between Laura and the court started going rapid fire, and Laura started sending emails saying, I am not coming. I called Omar from the Uber and said, should I just turn around and not come? There was this chaos. That's what she does. She creates chaos.

[Stephanie Young]

Earlier that day, the court emailed both parties. They said there was a high likelihood that a court reporter would not be available for their hearing.

[Rachel Juarez]

Unfortunately, we've been dealing With a court reporter shortage in a lot of the state courts in California for many years, it's really a resource issue.

[Stephanie Young]

Laura tried to make this into a bigger deal than it was. Mike's team retained and paid for a court reporter and the court approved it.

[Omar Serrato]

The court just said, I just want to make it clear that the judge has not continued this. We're going forward as planned.

[Stephanie Young]

It looked like the next morning there would be a hearing no matter what. That night, they prepared for every possible scenario. Here's Mike's attorney, Rachel.

[Rachel Juarez]

We kind of tried to keep it a low key night, not do too much trial prep, but again we went back to what if the judge says, okay, I'll let her appear by zoom? What if she zooms in from the hospital with a doctor there saying she's going into emergency surgery? Do we start getting into the horse show? Do we just let it go? What do we do?

[Stephanie Young]

When Omar and Rachel woke up the next morning, their inbox was full of emails from Laura Owens.

[Rachel Juarez]

We wake up to an email the next morning from Laura saying I actually was coming, even though she had said the prior day she wasn't. My parents bought me a plane ticket at 7 o' clock last night to come and I'm in the hospital. I really was coming, I promise, I promise. But now I'm in the hospital and I might have to have a procedure and this and that and so now I really obviously cannot come anymore.

[Stephanie Young]

According to Laura, in a declaration in support of motion to correct and augment the record, in the early morning hours of November 5, she experienced multiple episodes of vomiting blood. She alleged this was a life threatening recurrence of prior gastrointestinal bleeding and that she was seeking medical care at a hospital in Arizona.

[Omar Serrato]

We get another email at 6:53am, Laura emailing the court, just letting him know, hey, so unfortunately I've had these two life threatening medical occurrences. I'm going to be forced to go into the ER and they've scheduled me for a procedure which I will be under anesthesia. So obviously I'm not going to be present for court this morning. I hope the court will take this into consideration and find good cause to continue our proceedings. I didn't respond to that. The court just said, thank you Laura, we've received what you've sent us.

[Stephanie Young]

In that same declaration, Laura said her physicians didn't expect her to be released until the following day. So she wasn't showing up. She'd pulled something like this once already. The question was, would they give her another continuance like they had two weeks prior.

[Omar Serrato]

And so judge has had now experience with Laura Owens and her ability to lie and conjure up these emergencies and try to delay things so they're no longer taking her seriously. So me and Rachel are like, there's no fucking way they're gonna continue this, right? There can't be.

[Rachel Juarez]

So again, it kind of turns what is already a stressful trial morning into a total circus.

[Stephanie Young]

On the morning of November 5, the hearing was still on the court docket. Even if Laura didn't show up, the result of the hearing needed to be on the record. And if she didn't show up, there was a good chance the renewal request would be dismissed, the restraining order would be over. But she'd been clinging on to this for almost 10 years. It was her last connection to Mike. Would she really miss this? Heard we all headed to the courthouse that morning as planned. I'd been there two weeks ago and I knew seating would be tight so I got there on the early side. 7am by the time I arrived there was already a group of supporters gathered outside the courthouse and the crowd kept growing by the minute. I ended up standing in line with content creator Lauren Knighty.

[Lauren Knighty]

We're outside the courthouse in San Francisco because Laura's supposed to show up for her DVO renewal with Mike today, but seems unlikely. It's raining a little bit so we're just standing out here waiting cuz it doesn't open till 8:15 and there was a line last time she didn't show up so we weren't sure how early we'd have to get here.

[Stephanie Young]

Do you think she's going to show up today?

[Lauren Knighty]

No.

[Stephanie Young]

Why?

[Lauren Knighty]

I think that she knows what she's doing and she's now in a position where there are consequences for these actions. For the first time in her life, if she were to show up and take the stand and tell her lies, you know, she's very calculated. She knows that she can't show up here today and do what she normally does or else she might end up in an unfamiliar territory like she already is with a criminal trial pending. So I don't think that she's going to do that.

[Stephanie Young]

Do you think that it will get dismissed today if she doesn't show up?

[David Jingris]

Yeah, I do.

[Lauren Knighty]

The judge was pretty clear last time.

[Stephanie Young]

The courthouse doors opened and what happened next felt like an exact repeat of two weeks prior. Here's Mike's attorney, Omar.

[Omar Serrato]

We get there, it's 9 o' clock and then it's 9:05 and then it's 9:15, and then it's like 9:20.

[Stephanie Young]

Omar started prepping Mike for what might happen once they got in the courtroom.

[Omar Serrato]

I was telling Mike, listen to me, you need to prepare yourself for anything, okay? Because for all I know, they're in there with the judge right now going over whatever medical documents that she has that she wants to show the judge. Just ready yourself in the event this is a continuance, not a dismissal. I'm trying to just prep him for that because last time we weren't ready for that.

[Stephanie Young]

When the courtroom doors finally opened, Mike looked like he was in good spirits. But he later admitted to me that he had a bad feeling.

[Mike Maracini]

We were pretty pessimistic just based off the fact that she was having emergency surgery. My wife and I were convinced that it was going to be continued again and that Laura was going to get out of it.

[Greg Woodnick]

And we were going to have to

[Mike Maracini]

push the court date another couple of weeks.

[Stephanie Young]

We were finally allowed into the courtroom, and within minutes, the hearing got underway. Due to the nature of the case, audio recording is not allowed in the courtroom. But I wish it was, because I want you to hear what happened next.

[Omar Serrato]

Judge calls us in. I think it was about 9:30 ish or so. She makes a comment right away like, well, it's 9:30. Laura Owens is not here. And right when she said this, like, holy shit, we got this. We got this. And then I relaxed. Rachel relaxed.

[Rachel Juarez]

I immediately tried to look over, passed Omar to Mike to see if he caught it, because to me, that was

[Public Investing Ad Host]

the moment when she said, this is

[Mike Maracini]

going to be quick. That was the moment where the flip switched for me. I knew that she was going to dismiss it. Right there.

[Stephanie Young]

I was sitting next to Mike's wife, Danielle. When it became clear what was happening, she grabbed my hand.

[Danielle Maracini]

I kind of blacked out. I remember grabbing your hand and, like, ecstatically shaking it with a clownish smile on my face. And I only got emotional when I saw him. I don't even think Judge Gould had even gotten out, like, this is dismissed. And I could see the tears, like, rolling down his face. And that was the moment that then I, like, burst into tears.

[Stephanie Young]

After 2,857 days, Laura's dementia, domestic violence, restraining order against Mike Maracini was finally dismissed. As the dismissal was announced, a round of applause broke out in the courtroom. I've seen a lot of hearings and trials. I'd never witnessed anything like that before.

[Danielle Maracini]

And then we were quickly moved into the hallway right after clapping and Judge Gold looking at us like we were a bunch of weirdos. Like, what is going on here? But, yeah, it's just so much relief and inexplainable joy that we did it. We did it.

[Stephanie Young]

As we exited the courtroom, we all noticed that the weather outside had abruptly shifted. Here's Omar.

[Omar Serrato]

It was a cloudy, rainy, cold, windy day in downtown San Francisco. The clouds were hovering. It was gloomy. There was no sunshine whatsoever. And we walk out. The sun is beaming through the windows. The clouds have cleared and all of the sunshine rays, and everybody's happy in the jubilation. And this time, it's tears of joy.

[Stephanie Young]

Outside the courthouse, I was able to catch up with Mike and Danielle. I just want you to tell me immediately off the bat what happened in there today.

[Mike Maracini]

Laura did not show up. She tried to throw out medical emergencies, saying she was having a surgery, and the judge dismissed it. And it is such a relief because coming into today, I truthfully thought the judge was going to continue it, and I thought we were going to be back at square one. And so I just feel really, really. I feel really, really good because this has been such a long time coming. I've been fighting for almost 10 years, and I've had the support of everybody. That's the only reason why I've been able to get through this, from my wife to my attorneys to the entire group of supporters. Like, I would have never been able to do this without everybody, and I'm so fortunate.

[Stephanie Young]

Do you think that she's going to try to appeal this 100%.

[Mike Maracini]

She looks loves us.

[Stephanie Young]

Danielle, I want to talk to you for a second. Tell me about how you were feeling last time when we left as compared to this time and what you were feeling in the courtroom last time.

[Danielle Maracini]

A lot of defeat, anger, frustration, hatred. I mean, the whole gamut of the emotional wheel. This time, I feel relief. But I know that we're still gonna be fighting her with appeals, that this isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. I'm confident in this community to continue to push for the truth and what is right. And I know that this group of individuals won't let her get away with this.

[Stephanie Young]

Relieved to have the day behind them, Mike and Danielle headed home to be with their daughters. I took some time to debrief with Mike's legal team and the content creators who'd made the trip to San Francisco. But before I made it back to my hotel, my phone started buzzing with a FaceTime request. It was from my sister. She never FaceTimes me. We live in the same city. So anxiously, I picked up the call. That's when she told me she was eight weeks pregnant with her first child. The timing of the news while I was covering this case wasn't lost on me. My sister and I both started crying happy tears. It's a moment I'll never forget. And without me even asking, she showed me her very real sonogram. It's really that easy. The next day, I had an afternoon flight to Phoenix to catch up with Clayton. It was a beautiful morning, and before my flight I was planning to go take a walk near the Golden Gate Bridge, but those plans got interrupted by a text message from Mike Maracini. He'd just heard some big news. It wasn't about his case though. It was an update from the prosecutors in Arizona. They brought more criminal charges against Laura Owens.

[Mike Maracini]

I thought you probably knew before I did, and so I was expecting you to just be like I already know. But I'm glad that I finally gave you some breaking news.

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[Stephanie Young]

That's innerbalance.com support for the show comes

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[Stephanie Young]

Before I left San Francisco, I got a text from Mike Maracini. He just heard some breaking news about Laura Owens.

[Mike Maracini]

I received a text that she had been indicted with seven more charges the

[Stephanie Young]

day after the domestic violence restraining order was dismissed November 6, 2025, the state of Arizona indicted Laura Michelle owens on another seven felony charges, bringing the total to 14.

[Mike Maracini]

Yeah, I was riding a high for a solid 48 hours.

[Stephanie Young]

Almost immediately it was being reported on by news outlets and YouTubers like Dave Neal.

[Dave Neal]

I thought it was groundhogs. I said, why is everybody sending me old news? I already know she's been indicted. And they said, no, she's indicted on more.

[Stephanie Young]

The Scottsdale woman is facing seven new felony charges in addition to the seven she was indicted on back in May. She is facing 14 felony charges in total for two cases. Maricopa County Attorney's office says Owens falsely

[Omar Serrato]

claimed she was pregnant by someone who

[Stephanie Young]

she went on three dates with back in 2021.

[Greg Woodnick]

This thing just gets stranger and stranger.

[Stephanie Young]

The first batch of charges were all related to Clayton, but as the Maricopa County Attorney's office investigated his case, they uncovered evidence of more potential criminal behavior. The new seven felony counts are all tied to Laura's brief relationship with Greg Gillespie. Remember, Greg is the man she met in 2021 in Scottsdale. You heard about him in episode five after a few dates and hookups. Laura claimed to be pregnant with twins. Shortly after, she brought an abortion coercion case against Greg. Some of these new indictments are similar to Clayton's. Perjury, forgery, fraudulent schemes and artifices. But a few reveal new information and even identify another victim of Laura's. There are two Class 4 felony charges related to a sonogram image Laura sent to Greg. Laura said it was her own sonogram, but according to the state, Laura stole it from a woman named Stormy. Remember that sonogram we talked about with the Fiverr logo?

[Megan Fox]

It says Fiverr.

[Rachel Juarez]

Oh, no.

[Stephanie Young]

Oh, hold on.

[Dave Neal]

Okay, hold on, hold on. This is why you do it live.

[Stephanie Young]

According to the state investigation, a woman named Stormy originally posted that sonogram on her personal blog. In 2014, the Maricopa county investigators interviewed Stormy. She told them she started her blog in 2011 to help her cope with grief after a stillbirth. She didn't know anyone outside of her family and friends were viewing the blog until Internet detectives reached out to her and told her a woman named Laura Owens was passing the sonogram image off as her own. The investigator summarized their interview with Stormy,

[Stormy (Interviewee)]

writing, stormy said that it's caused anxiety and fear. She fears that people are going to be able to find her. Stormy continued by telling us that by the little things that she's found out about Laura, she's afraid that she's going to be able to find her and hurt her family.

[Stephanie Young]

There are another two charges related to identity fraud and forgery. It appears Laura forged a medical document assuming the identity of a real physician's assistant at One Medical named Lisa Daniels. In August 2021, Laura sent Greg Gillespie a screenshot, allegedly from her One Medical patient portal. It appeared to have a doctor's note on it signed by Lisa Daniels. We've had this note read by a voice actor.

[Voice Actor Reading Forged Note]

Hi, Laura. Thank you for coming in today. Based on your physical examination and reviewing your test results, urine and ultrasounds, both from in our office and with outside providers, we can confirm that your pregnancy is viable and consistent with the date you provided of intercourse on June 30 or July 1. A fetal heartbeat was detected. Since you took medical abortion pills, injury to the fetus is likely, but the extent of the damage is unknown at this point. Please seek care from an obstetrician going forward. I have followed up with Julie Ulrich, NP regarding the call she had with you and the father of the child on July 16. She noted that he came off as a potential domestic abuser. And remarked on his seemingly controlling and dominating behavior. She said that she was concerned for your well being and is happy to testify on your behalf. Please let us know if you require any additional information for your legal case. Best of luck, Lisa.

[Stephanie Young]

Maricopa county investigators interviewed the real Lisa Daniels, who told them she did not author this note. The investigators asked if Daniels would be willing to help the prosecution, and she said yes. She also noted that she worried about retaliation from Laura Owens. There's another charge that's a bit cryptic. Theft by extortion. According to the State of Arizona, Laura

[Stormy (Interviewee)]

Michelle Owens knowingly obtained or sought to obtain property or services from Gregory Gillespie by means of a threat to accuse Gregory Gillespie of a crime or bring criminal charges against him.

[Stephanie Young]

There are no additional details about this charge, so we don't know exactly what evidence is the state gathered. The investigation report we've been quoting included information mostly about the first seven charges. That means more information could still come out like evidence from Laura's devices. I asked Clayton what it felt like when he saw Laura charged in not only his case, but also Greg's.

[Clayton Eckert]

Another big old heaping scoop of justice being served. And watching him get all this support online. I love it. This has become larger than me.

[Stephanie Young]

At the time I'm recording this, no criminal charges have been brought in regard to Laura's relationship with Mike Maracini. If she was ever to be charged in his case, it would likely be in California. On December 2, 2025, Laura attended a scheduled pretrial hearing on her first seven charges. The state decided to tack a second arraignment onto that hearing, which we got the audio from.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Good morning, you, Honor. Jeffrey Swirsky appearing with Ms. Owens. As to both matters, she is present in the courtroom.

[Judge or Court Official]

Ms. Owens, can I get your name and date of birth, please?

[David Jingris]

Laura Owens.

[Stephanie Young]

In this hearing, Laura has a new criminal defense attorney. Two months earlier, Laura applied for indigency status, which means she was claiming she lacked the financial resources and needed court appointed assistance, and the state granted it. With the additional seven indictments, her previous criminal attorney withdrew. That's how Laura Owens ended up being represented by a public defender, Jeffrey Swirsky.

[Judge or Court Official]

There has been a supervening indictment filed. I provided a copy to Mr. Swirsky. Mr. Swirsky, did you have the opportunity to review that with your client?

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Yes, I did, you, Honor.

[Judge or Court Official]

Did you want me to conduct a not guilty arraignment today on her behalf?

[Public Investing Ad Host]

All right.

[Judge or Court Official]

Do you waive a reading of the charges and her rights?

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Yes, we will waive formal reading and Enter a plea of not guilty as to all charges.

[Judge or Court Official]

All right, we'll enter a plea of not guilty on her behalf.

[Stephanie Young]

Laura entered a plea of not guilty for the seven additional felony charges.

[Judge or Court Official]

Mr. Sworski, since I have you here, have you received disclosure?

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Yes, in the last week, I have received approximately 6,000 pages of disclosure and 16 body cam recordings.

[Judge or Court Official]

All right, thank you. We're in recess.

[Stephanie Young]

In this matter, all 14 charges have been rolled into one case against Laura Owens. At this time, Laura's pled not guilty to all of the charges. So like we said in the last episode, Laura's faced with two options. Either go to trial or change her plea to guilty. The whole time, Laura still owed Clayton nearly $200,000 for attorneys fees. That was by order of the Family Trial Court, the Arizona Court of Appeals, and the Arizona Supreme Court. As time passes, that number is collecting interest. I asked Greg Woodnick what usually happens in situations like these.

[Greg Woodnick]

Most people have jobs, and so it's a little bit easier to collect when you have a judgment, because what you do is you get a wage assignment order, a writ of garnishment. Essentially, that's an order that gets sent to someone's employer, Taco Bell, whoever they're working for. And that employer, before they issue a paycheck to Laura, would take part of that paycheck, and it would essentially get routed to the judgment creditor, in this case, Clayton. But Laura didn't have a job, so he didn't have any place to issue a wage assignment order.

[Stephanie Young]

This is where we need to get technical. Because of the money Laura owed Clayton, Greg Wudnick scheduled something called a judgment debtors exam. It's basically a deposition, but all related to Laura's finances. I asked Wudnick to explain how judgment debtors exams usually work.

[Greg Woodnick]

It's kind of a fishing expedition. You're looking for assets or things that you can collect via the judgment. Maybe someone has a boat or a car or something that is not excluded from collection that you could in theory use to pay the debt of the debtor.

[Stephanie Young]

In this case, Laura owed Clayton money. Wudnick planned to ask Laura about her assets, like property, cars, horses, even LLCs.

[Greg Woodnick]

Obviously, my team had prepared for the judgment debtors exam, gathered questions, things that I wanted to know about her financial situation to determine if there was an avenue to collect from for Clayton's judgments. On the eve of the judgment debtors exam in Maricopa County Superior Court, we received notice that she had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

[Stephanie Young]

Chapter 7 is basically a fast track bankruptcy. Think of it, like a request for a fresh start. If it's granted, you might lose some non essential assets, but your debt is wiped out and you have a badly bruised credit score. As soon as Laura filed for bankruptcy, all debt collection proceedings halted. Before they could resume, Laura would have to appear in federal court for bankruptcy.

[Greg Woodnick]

My team was pretty disappointed when she filed the Chapter 7 bankruptcy. We'd prepared to ask her questions about her assets and try to figure out if there was a way for Clayton to get paid because he deserved to get paid. He had three judgments. But our disappointment changed because as soon as the federal government got involved, it was a whole new show. They were running the show and they were doing their own inquiry regarding Laura's assets and her transparency. She opened a Pandora's box.

[Stephanie Young]

Instead of doing a judgment debtors exam with Greg Woodnick, Laura had now opened up her finances to a federal court. And a notoriously unforgiving one at that.

[Bankruptcy Court Official]

All right, this is a call in the Laura Owens case. Case 2511801. Debtor is present.

[Stephanie Young]

In January 2026, Laura was ordered to appear at a meeting of creditors. It's kind of like a mini deposition. Anyone who she owes money can join this call to ask Laura about her finances. And she owed a lot of people money.

[Bankruptcy Court Official]

We have a lot of interested parties in the meeting, but as far as I know, we're only going to have one ask any questions. So I'm going to go ahead and and swear you in, Ms. Owens.

[Stephanie Young]

Obviously, her biggest creditor was Clayton Eckerd.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Marcus Risinger appearing on behalf of Clayton Eckard, a creditor in this matter. And I'd like to ask a few questions.

[Stephanie Young]

Marcus is an associate at Woodnick Law. He started by asking Laura about her income.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

And page two of that statement asked, did you have any income during this year or the two previous calendar years? Why did you answer no?

[David Jingris]

Because I personally do not have any income and have not for the last two years.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Did you testify in June of 2024 that you had approximately $200,000 per year of income with your business partner?

[David Jingris]

With my mother. And that's all gone directly to the LLC. Nothing's been paid to me personally.

[Stephanie Young]

One of those LLCs is the Owens family's horse flipping business. Marcus asked her if they had any valuable assets, like horses, for example.

[David Jingris]

I have no assets. I know what you guys are getting at. I have literally zero assets.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

I'm just asking some questions so I can understand your mistake. Do you? I don't.

[David Jingris]

I don't have one. As you know, this case has my ability to make any income. I have none. And I truly believe you guys are trying to embarrass me by trying to make that point again.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

I'm not trying to embarrass you. All I'm doing is asking questions to understand your bankruptcy estate.

[Stephanie Young]

Despite her emotionality, Marcus continues questioning her about her bankruptcy filing. She claimed she didn't have any assets or any current income. But this contradicted a sworn testimony Laura gave the year prior.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Last question. Your testimony is that you have not had any income in the past two years.

[David Jingris]

No, I have not.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Can you understand that you're under oath?

[David Jingris]

Tell me where the money is then. I haven't made any money.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

The only reason I'm asking is because you did testify numerous occasions in 2024 that you had income at that time. Is that correct?

[David Jingris]

That I had businesses with my mom.

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

And that was less than two years ago. Correct.

[David Jingris]

That I had businesses with my mom. My expenses have been paid for for living by my parents. That's what I've gotten In exchange, I

[Stephanie Young]

want to play you a clip from Woodnick's 2024 deposition with Laura. It's the same deposition you heard in episode six.

[Greg Woodnick]

What is your current employment?

[David Jingris]

I do a lot of things. I have a podcast. I buy and sell horses, and I have real estate investing company.

[Greg Woodnick]

Do you earn income as a W2 employee anywhere?

[David Jingris]

I do not.

[Greg Woodnick]

Let's talk about the podcast first. What's the name of the podcast and what is the theme of that podcast?

[David Jingris]

Self help. Self improvement.

[Greg Woodnick]

Are you the owner of the podcast? And that may not be a good question, so if you don't answer it, I'll take another shot at it.

[David Jingris]

I'm, I guess, co owner of it. I know where you're. Yeah, I know what you mean.

[Greg Woodnick]

Who's the other person?

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Co owner.

[Greg Woodnick]

If there's another person.

[David Jingris]

My mom.

[Greg Woodnick]

Are you making money with the podcast?

[David Jingris]

Yes.

[Greg Woodnick]

How much money are you earning annually from the podcast?

[David Jingris]

The podcast last year made 83,000. And so I had half of that.

[Greg Woodnick]

Because the other half went to your mom.

[David Jingris]

Yeah.

[Greg Woodnick]

And when you say 83,000, that was after business costs.

[David Jingris]

No, that was before business costs, but we don't really have many business costs.

[Greg Woodnick]

So you've got the podcast. You also mentioned you've got something with horses. What does that.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

That.

[David Jingris]

It's a business buying and selling horses. Show horses.

[Greg Woodnick]

Yeah. How much money did you make in 2023 with the horse business?

[David Jingris]

144,000. And that's also split into. I have that business with my mom.

[Greg Woodnick]

So the podcast is half owned with your mom and the horse business?

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Young]

If she told the truth in the deposition, that's an annual income of $227,000. Even split with her mom, that's still $113,000 a year. Now that Laura was in bankruptcy court, all of her previous sworn statements came under scrutiny. There appeared to be some inconsistencies. After the first meeting of creditors, Laura's bankruptcy case was referred to the United States Department of Justice. Here's Woodnick.

[Greg Woodnick]

My understanding is that the Department of Justice has a function that I think most people don't realize. Amongst all the other important things they do in the government, I think they serve as a watchdog function over the bankruptcy process. So I think someone must have notified them. Certainly wasn't my office, but someone notified them that Laura's bankruptcy had some red flags and then they conducted their own investigation.

[Stephanie Young]

I got a copy of Laura's bankruptcy filing. Her debts tell a story of their own. Aside from what she owes on her car and to Clayton, she claims to owe nearly $50,000 to over 20 creditors. That amount includes medical and veterinary debt, credit card accounts, and buy now pay later accounts. Laura also has a car payment for a car that she obtained in December of 2024 and discloses ownership of 4 LLC in bankruptcy filings, you also need to disclose your monthly expenses. Laura claims to spend $1,800 a month in food and housekeeping supplies. That's more than most people's rent, and that's just part of her total expenses of $3,300 a month. But as you heard, in her bankruptcy filing, Laura listed her income as $0. When the DOJ got involved, Laura was forced to answer some tough questions.

[Bankruptcy Court Official]

This is a call in the Owens case. Laura Owens case. 2511801.

[Stephanie Young]

Laura Owens was back under oath on February 9, 2026.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

So, Ms. Owens, I'm an attorney with the U.S. department of justice, the U.S. trustee's office, and we oversee these bankruptcy cases sort of as a watchdog. And I had gone through your bankruptcy documents and I just want to ask you some questions.

[Stephanie Young]

The DOJ attorney, Ms. Jennifer Giamo, launches straight into some questions that the DOJ wanted answers to.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

So on schedule I, it indicates that you have zero income, so no income from wages or operating a business, Correct?

[David Jingris]

Correct.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

And so for what time period you saving that you had no income for?

[David Jingris]

I mean, I haven't ever in my life had like a 1099 or W2 job, but I've you know, really been supported by my family.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

So never in your life have you received a 1099 or a W2 from any business, including your own businesses, correct?

[Jeffrey Swirsky]

Never.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Have you ever received any kind of tax form with a Schedule K1 that indicates that you have a certain share of earnings from a partnership or an interest in an entity? No.

[David Jingris]

I know that the llc, my family's llc, business taxes are filed on a Schedule C. Yeah, that's the article. I know.

[Stephanie Young]

In this recording, you can hear the repeated notifications as new creditors join the Zoom call. But just like in Mike's DVRO renewal hearing, her former attorney, David Jingres is on this call as a, quote, witness. Laura tries to turn to him for guidance.

[David Jingris]

Maybe David could offer some clarification because he helped me answer that question. David.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Well, let me just pipe in here. Either Mr. Gringas represents you or he does not. So I'm not comfortable with having Mr. Gringas step in as your counsel.

[David Jingris]

Correct.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

You know, so, you know, if you don't. If he's not your counsel here, unfortunately, no, he cannot be, you know, advising you on how to answer that.

[Stephanie Young]

One of the debts Ms. Giamo asks about is something called Cherry Tech. It's a buy now, pay later lender for medical services. If you remember, in the investigation report, the state alleges that Laura purchased HCG from MedSpa, and Med Spa accepts Cherry Tech as a financing option.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

And I see that in your schedules, you listed debt to Cherry Tech, and that's a lender for Med Spa, correct?

[David Jingris]

Cherry Tech is a lender that I use for Botox and for, like, a skin firming treatment that I got. I don't. I don't know if there was, but that's. That's not what I used it for. Was poolsculpting was the one I used it for. I would provide the place, the name of the place that did that as well.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, so you never obtained any bones from Cherry Tech based on services or products that you purchased from Med Spa?

[David Jingris]

Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I've gone to a lot of places for Botox and procedures, but that. That's not where I think I did anything for cherry.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay.

[Stephanie Young]

Ms. Giamo asked Laura the obvious question. If she doesn't have a job, how does she afford to live?

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

You added a line item on 8H for family support, for food and living expenses, and you put zero. So was that a mistake? Do you receive any kind of family support to pay your expenses, Your monthly expenses?

[David Jingris]

They just paid them out of their money I don't like out of my parents pension and Social Security. They don't give me money to pay that. They pay it directly.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

So what are they paying directly when you said they pay it?

[David Jingris]

Well, I live on their property, so I mean you could technically say they're paying, you know, housing and for my food.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, what about your car payments?

[David Jingris]

We share a car. They pay for my car.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, so they directly because, well, you, you are the sole owner of the.

[David Jingris]

I'm the sole owner, but they're paying for it right now because I can't afford to make the payment.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, and I'm assuming your parents also pay your car insurance?

[David Jingris]

Yes.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, so you don't pay any bills for yourself?

[David Jingris]

No.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

And you say that you've never. Are you saying that you've never earned any income on your own ever? Correct. Okay, how old you get?

[David Jingris]

I'm 35.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

So in 35 years you have not never had made any income on your own to pay your own bills?

[David Jingris]

I mean, like I said, I'm at the face of my parents businesses, so they've, you know, paid my living expenses in exchange for me helping them.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Okay, so that's kind of a compensation for your services then?

[David Jingris]

I mean they. Yeah, I mean I don't take advantage of it, but.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Well, you're providing them with services and they're compensating you by paying your bills is what you just said. Right?

[David Jingris]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Voice Actor / Court Reading]

Well, then you better figure out how you're going to want to disclose that in these schedules because that is a form of compensation.

[Stephanie Young]

Laura claimed that her parents paid for her life. But here's what's interesting. Four months earlier, Ron Owens and Jan Black also filed for bankruptcy. There's one particular online detective who's been looking into this part of the story. Tiffany Robertson, who goes by Big Tip Dog on social media. She recently retired from a career in the financial services industry and joined the online community investigating Laura Owens.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

Everybody kept saying trust fund baby, she's a trust fund baby. And I started thinking AM radio host. Okay, well he's not Howard Stern. Right. I'm not sure that she's a trust fund baby. And just on a whim, decided to start looking into using my skill set to look into the family a little deeper. And I think I even shocked myself with what I found.

[Stephanie Young]

Ron Owens and Jan Black filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy on August 14, 2025. Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows people to keep their home while catching up on missed payments through a court appointed repayment plan. Ron and Jan were severely behind on their mortgage payments and one of their credit card companies had filed a lawsuit over delinquent accounts. Laura's parents agreed to the court ordered payment plan and made the first payment. But after that it appears they failed to continue.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

The mortgage problem they had is that they have two mortgages on their home that they cannot afford. I think it's 14,000

[David Jingris]

total.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

But that's a lot of money going out each month even when you make $21,000 a month.

[Stephanie Young]

$21,000 a month. That's what Ron and Jan declared as their monthly income on their bankruptcy filing. They allege that this income is a combination of their pensions and Social Security with $0 coming in from three LLCs. But because they didn't file their income tax returns and they didn't keep up with their payment plan, their bankruptcy claim was dismissed in January 2026. That means the filing was dismissed, not the debts, which is not good news for Ron and Jan. They will have to start paying all of their previously paused debts, including their mortgage. Tiffany explains.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

Approximately one month after Ron and Jan's bankruptcy was dismissed for lack of compliance, their first mortgage company filed a notice of trustee sale. And that's essentially a notice of foreclosure action. They are going to put the property up for auction.

[Stephanie Young]

At the time I'm recording this, the Owens family home is in foreclosure. It's scheduled to be sold in a public auction on May 26, 2026 on the steps of the Maricopa County Courthouse.

[Tiffany Robertson (Big Tip Dog)]

What we see with Ron and Jan repetitively over time, and I'm going back decades because that's how far I've gone back into their mortgage history at least. We see what appears to be spending habits that make no sense whatsoever.

[Stephanie Young]

Before Ron and Jan filed for bankruptcy, they added their oldest daughter Sarah and her husband Christian to the deed and mortgages on the Scottsdale house. Now that the home is in foreclosure, Sarah and Christian are on the hook for any outstanding debt on the home. As for Laura's bankruptcy case, in April 2026, all parties agreed to dismiss her filing. It's not clear why. A dismissal agreement does not automatically discontinue any investigations by the doj. It just ends the bankruptcy case and forbids her from filing again within a year. Like with her parents, that means she currently owes all of her debts. But the two meetings of creditors where she testified under oath, those can be used in her upcoming criminal proceedings. Because her bankruptcy filing was dismissed, Laura still owes Clayton around $200,000 I went back to Greg Woodnick to ask him what happens next in a situation like this.

[Greg Woodnick]

Most people have jobs. That's the easiest and most common way to collect on a. But to my knowledge, Laura does not seem to have regular employment. Pursuing any of the other assets is difficult and maybe impossible depending on how things are structured and buried in different LLCs and whatnot. Clayton's not interested in elderly horses and I don't know what other assets she has. Clayton is interested in having the three judgments paid and it may be very difficult if not impossible for that to happen there.

[Stephanie Young]

In April 2026, after Laura's bankruptcy was dismissed, her former attorney David Gingris posted a video on his blog. It's just Jingris this time. No Laura, a lot of people don't

[David Jingris (Blog Video)]

realize this, but when you file bankruptcy or whether you do or don't file bankruptcy, courts cannot make people pay money they don't have. In America we used to have, I think, I don't even know the history of it but I think in England, other countries they had something called debtors prisons. So if you incurred a debt and you refused to pay it, even if you just didn't have the money because you're broke, they would throw you in jail and basically make you work off your debt. We don't have debtors prisons in America. If you are ordered to pay a billion dollars to somebody in damages and if you don't have the money, you're never gonna have to pay it, they don't put you in jail, there's no consequence for being broke. So Laura's not going to be paying Clayton anything as a result of her bankruptcy being dismissed. She doesn't have the money to pay him. He's welcome to go chasing after that. He tried to already. So what can you do? Nothing.

[Stephanie Young]

Clayton hasn't let it go. He's still holding out hope that he'll get the court ordered repayment from Laura Owens. But this isn't the end of the story. There's one more twist, all new tonight.

[Inner Balance Ad Host]

Laura Owens could take a plea deal

[Stephanie Young]

instead of going to trial. 35 year old Laura Owens back in court this time discussing a possible plea deal on the table. The Maricopa County Attorney's office won't discuss the terms of that plea deal with us. But during a pretrial conference this morning, Owens attorney confirmed a plea deal has been extended. In February 2026, the state of Arizona offered Laura Owens a plea deal for the 14 felonies. Accepting the plea would likely mean a more lenient sentence if she admits to guilt on at least some of the charges. The exact terms of the plea aren't public, but I called Clayton to see what he's able to share.

[Clayton Eckert]

As a victim, I have been told what the plea is and without saying too much, I'll just tell you that I'm not happy with it. For me, what I want to see is Laura face prison time.

[Stephanie Young]

It leaves one huge question hanging in the air. Will Laura take responsibility or head to trial and fight to prove her innocence? We've caught you up to the biggest cliffhanger in this entire story, and it's happening in real time because that plea deal, it's currently set to expire the same day this episode comes out Thursday, April 30th.

[Clayton Eckert]

So with that, I wait. We wait. And judgment time is coming. But as far as what happens to Laura, only time will tell.

[Stephanie Young]

It seems like a black and white decision, but I've been following this story long enough to know somehow Laura always tries to find a way out. We'll let you know what happens on the next and final episode of Love Trapped. Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow Love Trapped on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please leave us a review. A five star rating helps others find this show. We're grateful for your support. If you would like to reach out to the LoveTrapped team or have a similar story to share, email [e-mail] that's lovetrapped p o [e-mail] lovetrapped is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iheart Podcasts. This show was executive produced by Nancy Glass, Andrea Gunning, and Ben Federman. Written, produced and hosted by me, Stephanie Young. Our Story Editor is Monique Laborde. Producer on this episode is Sidney Gladue. Additional production support from Todd Ganz. Our Production Manager is Kristen Melkiri for iHeart podcasts. Ali Perry was our Executive producer. Audio editing and Mastering by Anna McLean. Additional editing support by Tanner Robbins and Matt Del Vecchio. Thank you to our voice actors Leslie Tolley, Todd Ganz and Olivia Hewitt. This podcast was developed in collaboration with Danny Passman and Leb Abramoff at Crybaby Media. The Love Trapped theme is composed by Oliver Baines Music Library provided by My Music. A special thanks to Carrie Lieberman, Will Pearson, Jessica Kryncheck, Ali Kanter, and the entire iHeart podcast team. And for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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