Baby Broker | 5. The Last Adoption

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Binge Cases: Baby Broker | Episode 5: The Last Adoption

Introduction

The Binge Cases: Baby Broker is a gripping true crime series produced by Sony Music Entertainment, delving into the dark underbelly of the adoption industry. In Episode 5, titled "The Last Adoption," host Peter McDonald unravels the shocking story of Tara Lee, an adoption broker who manipulated expectant parents for personal gain. This episode meticulously chronicles the experiences of Teresa and Mike Matheny, a couple who became entangled in Tara Lee’s elaborate scam.

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Meeting Tara Lee

The episode begins with Teresa and Mike Matheny’s introduction to Tara Lee, the charismatic yet enigmatic adoption broker. Tara presents herself as a passionate social worker dedicated to helping birth mothers, but her true intentions are far more sinister.

Teresa Matheny [08:40]: "We met Tara in Chick Fil A downstairs, which was like, we're, like, on pins and needles."

Tara’s outward appearance—tattoos, designer nails, and a tough demeanor—belies her professional credentials. Despite her rough exterior, she boasts about her educational background and professed commitment to aiding birth mothers.

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Suspicion and Realization

As the Mathenys navigate the adoption process, subtle inconsistencies begin to surface. Tara Lee’s behavior grows increasingly suspicious, especially regarding the financial transactions and the legitimacy of the adoption matches.

Peter McDonald [06:54]: "Mike and Teresa were already in Detroit. They're, like, in the middle of it. You keep asking for more money, and it's like, nobody wants to cut ties."

The couple starts to suspect that Tara Lee might be orchestrating a scam, exploiting vulnerable adoptive and birth parents alike. Their doubts are reinforced when they realize that Tara’s fee for facilitating the adoption was exorbitantly high, raising red flags about the legitimacy of her operations.

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The Incident and Hospital Drama

Tension escalates when Stephanie, a birth mother working with Tara Lee, collapses while driving her partner to a grocery store. The incident leads to a chaotic night at Hudson Women's Hospital, where Stephanie is diagnosed with preeclampsia and must undergo an induced labor earlier than expected.

Teresa Matheny [10:15]: "Tara's got our money. We're already in Detroit. It's a perfect scam."

During Stephanie’s hospital stay, the Mathenys attempt to support her, but Tara Lee remains detached and unhelpful. The situation intensifies when Tara demands additional payments under the guise of ensuring a successful adoption, further entangling the Mathenys in her fraudulent scheme.

Mike Matheny [12:18]: "She whispered to me and said, you know, you still have a balance due to me."

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FBI Involvement

As the complexities of Tara Lee’s scheme unfold, the Mathenys find themselves at the center of an FBI investigation into wire fraud. Special Agent Matt Sluss, a pivotal character in the investigation, begins to piece together the extensive network of fraudulent adoptions orchestrated by Tara Lee.

Agent Matt Sluss [18:37]: "I knew nothing about how adoption works."

Agent Sluss collaborates with Supervisory Special Agent Mark Krieg to uncover the breadth of the scam, revealing that Tara Lee had defrauded over a hundred couples by designing adoptions that were destined to fail, thereby pressuring adoptive parents into further payments.

Agent Matt Sluss [20:59]: "I took that big rollout paper... and started drawing. A roadmap of every name who was connected to who."

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Turning Against Tara Lee

Empowered by the FBI’s investigation, the Mathenys decide to take matters into their own hands. They confront Tara Lee by leveraging the information uncovered, presenting her with evidence of her fraudulent activities. This confrontation marks a turning point in the story, as the Mathenys actively work to dismantle Tara Lee’s operations.

Teresa Matheny [23:09]: "We paid Stephanie's back rent and three months of advance rent. We paid her overdue electric bill and bought a few months of credit."

By providing Stephanie with essential support, the Mathenys not only rescue her from Tara Lee’s exploitation but also empower other victims who had been silenced by fear and manipulation.

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Resolution: Adopting the Baby

Despite Tara Lee’s relentless tactics to reclaim her money, the Mathenys successfully finalize the adoption process. They welcome their son, Baby S, into their family, symbolizing a triumphant end to their harrowing ordeal. The emotional weight of finally holding their child underscores the profound impact of overcoming Tara Lee’s deceit.

Mike Matheny [14:03]: "His hand was as big as his body, and he was just Precious. He was 5 pounds, 4 ounces. He was a tiny little thing."

The episode culminates with the Mathenys returning home, their family complete, while Tara Lee faces the consequences of her fraudulent actions as the FBI continues its crackdown on her operations.

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Conclusion and Aftermath

"The Last Adoption" concludes by highlighting the broader implications of Tara Lee’s scheme on the adoption community. The Mathenys’ bravery in exposing the fraud not only secures their family’s future but also paves the way for justice against Tara Lee and support for other affected families.

Peter McDonald [27:10]: "The Mathenys’ dream came true. But after they got home, settled in, they said they felt guilty even though they'd been through hell to adopt their son."

The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the vulnerabilities within the adoption system and the importance of vigilance and integrity in safeguarding the dreams of countless families.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Teresa Matheny [08:40]: "We met Tara in Chick Fil A downstairs, which was like, we're, like, on pins and needles."
• Mike Matheny [06:54]: "You've got vulnerable birth parents. You've got vulnerable adoptive parents."
• Teresa Matheny [10:15]: "Tara's got our money. We're already in Detroit. It's a perfect scam."
• Agent Matt Sluss [18:37]: "I knew nothing about how adoption works."
• Mike Matheny [14:03]: "His hand was as big as his body, and he was just Precious."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 5 of The Binge Cases: Baby Broker masterfully weaves a narrative of deceit, resilience, and justice. Through meticulous storytelling and compelling interviews, Peter McDonald sheds light on the intricate layers of Tara Lee’s fraudulent adoption scheme and the unwavering determination of Teresa and Mike Matheny to protect their family and others like them. This episode not only entertains but also educates listeners about the critical need for transparency and accountability in the adoption process.

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Stay Connected

To listen to The Binge Cases: Baby Broker and other true crime stories, subscribe to The Binge on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com. Follow The Binge Crimes and The Binge Cases for new stories released on the first of every month.

Transcript

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Listen to all episodes of Baby Broker ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge. Visit the Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen the Binge feed your true crime obsession The Binge Teresa Matheny's initial description of 38 year old Tara Lee as someone who cussed like a sailor and was covered in tattoos was so striking it almost sounded like a quote. It was, and I found it in the second paragraph of Tara Lee's introductory email to the Mathenys. She wrote, I swear like a truck driver and am covered in tattoos. She also wrote that she had a master's degree in social work from Northwestern and that her passion was to help birth mothers. She wrote, I am constantly teaching life skills to these women who have had no one to help them grow and evolve. That phrase, help them grow and evolve, struck me as pejorative. I'm sure she didn't mean it that way, but it sounds a little like social Darwinism, as if the birth mothers she worked with were inferior and primitive. She said her fee for evolving Stephanie was $9,000. The day after Teresa and Mike had their upsetting call with Courtney Edmond, they drove to Port Huron with their fingers crossed, desperately hoping Tara Lee and Stephanie would show up. They parked, went inside, got a booth, and waited. Then they spotted a woman with black hair, tattoo sleeves and bright designer nails walking toward them. Behind her were a petite pregnant woman with brown hair and two men, the birth father and Tara Lee's assistant, Jay, Teresa and Mike exhaled From Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence, this is Baby broker. I'm Peter McDonald. Episode 5 the Last Adoption.

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[Peter McDonald]

Teresa and Mike stood up, introduced themselves and gave Stephanie a hug. Everyone except Tara Lee was nervous.

[Mike Matheny]

We had never heard anything about this guy named Jay. He was introduced to us as someone that would be witnessing our birth father signing away his rights because that's what we were doing that night.

[Peter McDonald]

Stephanie and her partner sat next to each other.

[Mike Matheny]

You could tell that the birth parents loved each other very much.

[Peter McDonald]

Because there'd been so much confusion about Stephanie's due date, Teresa decided to ask the one person at the table who would know for sure. Stephanie said she wasn't due for a few more weeks.

[Mike Matheny]

So then Tara jumps in. She goes, that's not true. That is not true. That is not what the doctors said. You are 40 weeks, you know, and our birth mom just kind of cowers down.

[Teresa Matheny]

It was 100% that the birth mom was terrified of Tara.

[Peter McDonald]

Teresa and Mike smiled and nodded through the dinner, but a whole other conversation was happening in their heads. They realized that if Tara Lee really was running a scam, it was perfect. And she had them. She had them good.

[Mike Matheny]

You've got vulnerable birth parents. You've got vulnerable adoptive parents.

[Teresa Matheny]

Tara's got our money. We're already in Detroit. We're, like, in the middle of it. You keep asking for more money, and it's like, nobody wants to cut ties.

[Mike Matheny]

It's a perfect scam.

[Peter McDonald]

When I started working on this podcast, I reached out to Stephanie through Teresa and Mike, who are now friends with her, but she declined to be interviewed. The day after, the Mathenys had dinner with Stephanie and Tara Lee. Mike worked from their Airbnb. Theresa hung out with her sister, who was visiting, and it was way too cold to play golf. Late that night, Stephanie and her partner ran into trouble. It was dark out and below freezing. Stephanie had driven her partner to a grocery store. She idled while he ran in. Then she passed out. A passerby found her slumped over the steering wheel and called 911. EMTs arrived and revived her, but her blood pressure was dangerously high. Teresa told me rather than take her to the hospital, the police arrived and took Stephanie and her partner home. Then they impounded her car because her insurance had lapsed. The next morning, Stephanie called Tara Lee and asked her for a ride to the hospital. Tara Lee called her an Uber. When Stephanie arrived at Hudson Women's Hospital in downtown, her doctor quickly diagnosed her with preeclampsia and decided to induce. Stephanie tried calling her partner, but he wouldn't answer. Amidst the chaos the night before, he'd left his cell phone in their impounded car. It was October 25th, Teresa and Mike's third wedding anniversary.

[Teresa Matheny]

We met Tara in Chick Fil a downstairs, which was like, we're, like, on pins and needles. And Tara was like, I'm famished, you know, like, we're going to Go sit in Chick Fil A and have a chicken sandwich.

[Peter McDonald]

They said Tara Lee wore a black Lululemon tracksuit, Prada reading glasses, a Rolex watch, and a large diamond ring. She also had diamonds painted on her nails. As Tara Lee dug into her lunch, she told them a story.

[Teresa Matheny]

This bullshit story about how, you know, that morning she was at the bank at bank of America, blah, blah, blah, like, conducting some business. And she, you know, she blacked out and she fell and she hit her head and she had to go get multiple stitches. And she was telling us that she probably had a concussion and that the doctor told her that she needed bed rest. But it was so important for her to be there for us for the birth of this baby. And the reason I say that's important is because there were so many of those type of stories. And heart attack, stroke, cancer, gunshot.

[Peter McDonald]

Did she seem like she had a concussion?

[Mike Matheny]

No, no, no, not at all. And we knew it was bullshit. We knew.

[Peter McDonald]

It seemed like every time someone else was in the spotlight, in this case Stephanie, Tara Lee would try to redirect everyone's attention to herself. When she was done eating, they went up to labor and Delivery.

[Mike Matheny]

Our birth mom is hooked up to the monitors. She is frantically trying to get a hold of her partner who doesn't have the phone. She's terrified. She's alone. She doesn't know us. She has no support there.

[Teresa Matheny]

Tara's sitting in the corner of the table. Theresa and I are literally sitting in.

[Mike Matheny]

Chairs against the wall facing the bed.

[Teresa Matheny]

While Tara is, you know, on her cell phone. Like the whole dynamic was just so freaking weird.

[Mike Matheny]

And that's when I started recording. I love Steve Harvey. He makes me laugh on an hourly basis. Okay, well, we got some tv. We got some clear fluids coming.

[Peter McDonald]

Life is good. Life is good. Then Tara Lee made a phone call to someone to vent about a set of adoptive parents. She called them APs. It sounded like a birth mother was wavering in her decision.

[Mike Matheny]

I specifically told the AP's no communication. Let her breathe.

[Peter McDonald]

And they didn't listen.

[Mike Matheny]

They sent text messages. Peds 22 to 3206, please. Peds 22, 3206. My give a shit filter today is at a very, very, very low, low, low fuel left, right. The low fuel lights on. I protect my mothers till the end of the earth.

[Peter McDonald]

My biggest takeaway from 30 minutes of recordings that Teresa shared with me was that despite Tara Lee saying to someone on the phone that she protected her mothers till the ends of the earth, I didn't hear her give Stephanie any emotional support. Stephanie was in labor. All the attention should be on her. She couldn't get hold of her partner. And although the Methenys were adopting her baby, she'd only met them once. The person she knew best in the room was Tara Lee, who was supposed to be her doula. Even during the birth of a baby, Tara Lee stole the spotlight. Stephanie, who says almost nothing in these recordings, seems in the shadows alone, almost as if she wasn't there. As the Metheny sat anxiously in the room, trying not to say the wrong thing, Teresa said Tara Lee leaned over to her.

[Mike Matheny]

She whispered to me and said, you know, you still have a balance due to me.

[Peter McDonald]

Teresa just nodded. The two attorneys, Thalia and Tanya, had told the Mathenys not to give Tara Lee any more money. Hours passed. Around 7pm Tara Lee said Stephanie probably wouldn't deliver until the middle of the night. She encouraged them to go get some sleep and promised she'd call when Stephanie was close. Mike and Teresa went to a nearby restaurant to wait it out. And it was a good thing they didn't go back to their Airbnb to take a nap, because an hour later, Tara Lee texted to say it was happening. The Mathenys paid their bill and rushed back to the hospital. They ran up to the delivery room and found Stephanie sobbing. He'd been born. They'd missed it. The birth father was on his way. And you don't see Tara empathizing with the birth mother.

[Mike Matheny]

She was like, just, you know, go to the NICU or whatever. And I'm sitting here looking at this human being, a woman who has carried this baby for nine months, has given this baby up for adoption, and has no one there with her. It was heartbreaking. The most important thing to me at that moment was consoling her. And I asked her permission. I said, is this okay? Is it okay for me to go to the nicu? And she said, yes. And so that's when I went to.

[Teresa Matheny]

The nicu and Tara comes to me and was basically like, so can I get that check? I walked past her like she didn't exist.

[Peter McDonald]

They went into the NICU and for the first time saw their son.

[Mike Matheny]

And I saw his little face, and he was just so sweet.

[Peter McDonald]

Mike reached in and touched him.

[Mike Matheny]

His hand was as big as his body, and he was just Precious. He was 5 pounds, 4 ounces. He was a tiny little thing. And, yeah, he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. He was so sweet. He had, like, the cutest little Nose. He was just perfect to my eyes. I mean, he was just. You know, he also seemed like he was very alert, you know, he was just beautiful. I don't know. It felt like he was mine, if that makes sense. Like.

[Teresa Matheny]

Like, here we are. This is real.

[Mike Matheny]

I couldn't believe it. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, this is real. Like, we have a son. Like, this is crazy.

[Peter McDonald]

Their son's Ballard score was just 34 weeks, meaning Stephanie was right about her due date. She delivered early. The Mathenys didn't want to leave their son alone. They worried that if they stepped away, something might happen. They told me they just had a gut feeling about it.

[Teresa Matheny]

I think she had every intention of having us drive to Detroit. I don't think she had any intention of us going home with the baby.

[Mike Matheny]

Yeah, no intentions at all.

[Peter McDonald]

But the adoption paperwork couldn't be signed for three days, and they needed sleep. The Methenys went back to their rental house and crashed. In the morning, they rushed back to the hospital. Baby S was still in the nicu, and Tara Lee was still sitting right next to Stephanie in her recovery room.

[Teresa Matheny]

She is camped out waiting for us, and she is pissed off because she wants her money.

[Peter McDonald]

Teresa said they ignored Tara Lee's demand for her final $4,000 payment.

[Teresa Matheny]

And that's when we put the hospital on notice that we didn't want Tara anywhere near the nicu.

[Mike Matheny]

So no one knew about the FBI. So the hospital. They thought we were crazy.

[Peter McDonald]

Later that morning, the lawyers, Talia Getting and Tanya Corrado surreptitiously arrived. They messaged the Methenys to meet them on another floor where they could talk in secret. When they were all out of Tara Lee's earshot, the Lawyers said the FBI's investigation was very serious, and this might be Tara Lee's last adoption. They gave them Athenies, the phone number for FBI Special Agent Matt Sluss.

[Teresa Matheny]

And so I called what turned out to be Matt's cell phone. Left him a voicemail. And then it was like, I don't know, probably lunchtime. I was walking into the hospital by myself. I had just parked the car. It was snowing. I see this 313 number.

[Peter McDonald]

Mike answered. He had his first conversation with the FBI. You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Mike Matheny]

Ba da ba ba ba.

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[Peter McDonald]

Last summer, I reached out to the FBI to ask if they'd speak with me about their investigation into Tara Lee. They don't always talk to reporters, but this case was very important to them. Special Agent Matt Sluss is thin with a neat beard and talks in a thoughtful and Precise way. In 2018, he was a newish agent working white collar crime. And he said when he got this case, he knew nothing about how adoption works.

[Agent Matt Sluss]

It was early October of 2018. There was an individual who was intimately connected with Tara Lee's adoption business that brought information to our FBI Detroit field office.

[Peter McDonald]

They wouldn't tell me who tipped them off, though. They don't want to discourage people from reporting crimes to the FBI. Regardless, someone told them that Tara Lee was taking money for an adoption that was designed to fail. The FBI had never come across a case like it. The first person to review it was Supervisory Special Agent Mark Krieg.

[Agent Matt Sluss]

Okay, what is the exact violation here?

[Peter McDonald]

As Agent Krieg chewed it over in the office, Agent Sluss came in.

[Agent Matt Sluss]

It was a Friday afternoon, and I had returned from a meeting with a prosecutor on a different case.

[Peter McDonald]

They didn't know if this was a federal crime or a state crime or if it was a crime at all, but it seemed like it should be. And if you're curious about the timeline of this meeting, it happened about a week before the Methenys got to Detroit. Agent Krieg called the U.S. attorney's office and asked to talk with Assistant U.S. attorney Sarah Woodward.

[Mike Matheny]

And he just said, we have this allegations that are really unusual and we're not sure if this is a federal case, if there's a crime here, but how do you think we should move forward? And I think he called me because I had worked on a lot of child exploitation cases and some unusual cases with victims. So once he told me about it, I said, well, that sounds like wire fraud potentially. So we should open an investigation and we should try to find out what's going on.

[Peter McDonald]

Wire fraud, you've probably heard of it, but might not know what it means. It's the use of physical or electronic communication systems like email or text to commit fraud. The name is kind of outdated. It dates Back to when we used wired telephones. Wire fraud is a federal offense, which is why the FBI got involved. Sarah Woodward and Agent Matt Sluss would need to show that Tara Lee used her cell phone or, or email to defraud people. AUSA Sarah Woodward was sitting at her L shaped desk on a high floor of the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit. When we talked, she was surrounded by case files. Woodward told me that this case was so novel that she had to come up with new terminology just to describe the alleged fraud. Terms like fabricated match and double match. That first week on the case, Agents Sluss and Krieg interviewed about a dozen people connected with Tara Lee's adoption business. These people were the tip of the iceberg. Because each interview introduced the FBI to new names and allegations. The scope of the case beneath the surface was way bigger than they initially thought. By Friday, Matt Sluss felt compelled to visually piece it together.

[Agent Matt Sluss]

I went into our conference room and I took that big rollout paper that's three or four feet wide and tore off like a ten foot section, put it across the conference table, and then just literally started drawing. Hand drawing, handwriting. A roadmap of every name who was connected to who. Adopted parents, names, birth parents, names, match date. How much money was paid? Did the match succeed? Was it failed? A quick note on how did it fail if it did?

[Peter McDonald]

Courtney and Curtis Edmond, two failed matches. Tammy and Nick Granith, one failed match, one fabricated match, one success. On October 26, Agent Sluss added, Mike and Teresa Matheny, success. 20 blocks away, Mike hung up with Matt Sluss and found Teresa in the hospital and told her what had just happened. He now had no doubts that this investigation was real and it was time to turn the tables on Tara Lee. He and Teresa walked the echoey halls, talking in hushed tones. When they saw two familiar faces coming toward them. It was Stephanie and her partner with no Tara.

[Teresa Matheny]

And so we just kind of start talking and we find one of those just little random like sitting areas. She was like, oh, Tara's upset with you guys about something, okay? I said, she wants us to pay her more money and we're not gonna pay her. She's not providing the services. The rent wasn't paid, their electric was about to be cut off. No insurance on the cars, the tires hadn't been put on, there's no food in the house. I said, I can do one of two things. I said, I can either pay Tara so that she goes away, or we can tell Tara to fuck off and I can put that money to use to help you guys, you know, I had spoken to the attorneys. The attorneys confirmed that as long as everything was documented and we weren't, like, giving cash that, you know, I could pay their rent and then submit receipts, you know, directly myself. And so that was what we chose to do.

[Peter McDonald]

They paid Stephanie's back rent and three months of advance rent. They paid her overdue electric bill and bought a few months of credit. They paid her car insurance and had her driver's license reinstated. They put new tires on her car. They bought her food, clothes, and shoes. And they felt bad that Stephanie had been taken advantage of. She'd been promised support for her pregnancy. Instead, she struggled for months. She collapsed in her car. She was alone during the delivery. The truth was, even after what they'd done for her, Stephanie was going to keep living paycheck to paycheck. Her son was going to grow up with a middle class family. It was going to be hard no matter what. Tara Lee had made it so much harder. A few days later, Tonya Corrado returned to the hospital in secret so the Methenys could sign the adoption consent forms. In her last adoption, Tara Lee was going to be cut out.

[Teresa Matheny]

Tara was literally marching around the hospital trying to find us. And we're sitting at a table and Tanya's got her phone. Tara called her no less than 15 times.

[Mike Matheny]

Yeah, she's blowing Tanya's phone up.

[Teresa Matheny]

Like, Tanya's hiding over and over and over again. Like, this is how convoluted it got. Talia called me and said, hey, I've got to send your wife a text. Want you to know it's not real. I need to send it so I can screenshot it and send it back to Tara.

[Peter McDonald]

It was time to turn Tara Lee's tactics against her.

[Teresa Matheny]

And so Thalia sends Teresa this text, basically, like, demanding the attorney's fee, accusing us of being shady and blah, blah, blah. Thalia was like, now I need your wife to respond back to that text so I can screenshot and send the answer. So, like, we answer from Theresa's phone saying, oh, I'm so sorry. We don't mean to be shady. I have to transfer some money from a broken brokerage account. The transfer is going to take a few days, you know, blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, so that was how we bought time. So, of course, you know, I'm like, and please let Tara know that she's been such an angel through this whole process, you know, like, just like, really, like overplaying the hand. It was like, after Taliyah sends it to Tara. Then Tara responds and was like, well, at least she recognizes it.

[Peter McDonald]

Tara Lee never got her $4,000. The Methenys stayed in Detroit for almost two months. Every day, they visited their son in the NICU, rocked him, read to him, fed him. He doubled his weight. In early December, he was released from the hospital. They could go home.

[Mike Matheny]

I think we still had a week left on our Airbnb, and we just said, keep it. Just, we're leaving.

[Peter McDonald]

The only thing that wouldn't fit in the car were the golf clubs. Mike put them on the roof. It was sleeting and snowing. As they dressed their son in the monogrammed sailor outfit they bought for him back in Brunswick, Georgia.

[Mike Matheny]

We're so excited. We get in the car, we get on the road. I mean, we hit the road, dude. We're, like, out of there.

[Peter McDonald]

Teresa Square squeezed into the backseat next to her son. At a stoplight, Mike aimed his camera at the rearview mirror and snapped a family picture they'd never forget. Teresa and Mike are smiling as if it's the first mile of a spring break road trip.

[Teresa Matheny]

It's like my first time driving with a baby.

[Mike Matheny]

Yeah.

[Teresa Matheny]

And it's.

[Mike Matheny]

It's stayed in the slow lane like a grandpa.

[Teresa Matheny]

And it's pouring, and he screamed, like, the whole way.

[Mike Matheny]

You know what I mean? He hated the car scene.

[Teresa Matheny]

He decided that he was over it by the time we hit, like, Southern Ohio and then it rained.

[Mike Matheny]

Yes. The entire way home.

[Teresa Matheny]

I'm talking port from Southern Ohio through Kentucky, through Tennessee, all the way to the doorstep.

[Mike Matheny]

Yep. It's all our friends, I think, were waiting at our house when we got there. Right. We had all of our friends there. My dad. Yeah. He came down. My sister was there. It was great. Yeah. So that's kind of how it happened.

[Peter McDonald]

The Mathenys dream came true. But after they got home, settled in, they said they felt guilty even though they'd been through hell to adopt their son. They got him. But one couple didn't. Teresa told me the name of a couple besides the Granites, who she believes Tara Lee might have matched with Stephanie, the couple who didn't get the baby. I reached out to them and have not heard back, so I'm not going to share their names. For many of the couples, the painful experience of working with Tara Lee remains private. In November 2018, while the Methenys were still in Detroit, FBI agent Matt Sluss was uncovering a trove of evidence of wire fraud, enough to get a search warrant for Tara lee's house and Courtney's Facebook group now included the Mathenys and over 100 other couples. But one couple wouldn't reply to Courtney's messages because they firmly believed that Tara Lee was innocent. They believed that her side of the story was the truth. It was these angry women who were after her to shut her business down because they had failed adoptions. Next time on Baby Broker. I text her we were here for you. You just have to keep dealing with the bullshit in these bitches. Karma will turn just a matter of time. We trust and believe you. We are in your corner. Stay strong. Be the tatted, foul mouthed woman we love. Baby Broker is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence. It was hosted and reported by me, Peter McDonnell. I'm the executive producer. Don't want to wait for that next episode. You don't have to unlock all episodes of Baby Broker ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge Channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to learn more. Producer along with Kathryn St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch of Sony Music Entertainment, Stephen George recorded the narration at the Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. We used music from Audio Network and a few tracks from Epidemic Sound. News clips are courtesy of WXYZ 7 in Detroit, Michigan. Our production managers are Tameka Balance Kolasny and Sammy Allison. Our lawyers are Allison, Sherry and Kathleen Farley. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Racik and Jamie Myers. Get ready for your next True Crime binge.

[Mike Matheny]

It's all a blur. My Aunt Ilsa called me and she just said get to the hospital. The doctor came in and told us that there's really not much more that they could do for her and that we need to go say goodbye.

[Peter McDonald]

This doesn't happen to people like me. A new True Crime 10 part series from the makers of Sword and Scale launches March 3rd. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.