03x02 - Do No Harm

[bunniefuu]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[crickets chirping]

STACEY: How do you do that?

How do you live with yourself?

[sniffles]

I don't understand it.
I'll never understand it.

♪ ♪

I have a lot of guilt.

I should've known.

I should've known.

ANDREA: People handle betrayal
in a lot of different ways,

but there's a lot of
shame across the board.

But what was unique
in Stacey's case,

and what I thought was
really important to share

is that she really struggled

to merge the two men that
is Justin Rutherford.

STACEY: You're so bad.

[laughs]

ANDREA: There was the doctor.

The loving husband. The
incredible stepfather.

And then there's this monster.

[laughing] I didn't
even get up yet.

He's already rolling.

It all began with a discovery

of a small camera
by a teenage boy.

REPORTER: A teenager
took the camera

and later gave it to his
mother, who called police.

There were thousands of
images of people showering,

using the bathroom,

changing in and out of clothing,

that type of thing.

[indistinct chatter]

It's like, holy sh*t,
how deep does this go?

[suspenseful music]

MIKAYLA: You know
better. You're a doctor.

You made an oath.

I watched you take that
oath to do no harm.

How dare you do that to a child.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[somber piano music]

♪ ♪

STACEY: I know it's cliché
to say hindsight's 20/20,

but everything
becomes more clear

after something
like this happens.

So I don't necessarily know

if there were red
flags at the time,

but after everything
started to fall apart

and everything went down with
the raid and the cameras,

I saw things differently.

♪ ♪

When Justin and I had
first got together,

the first time that we
ever tried to have sex,

it just didn't happen.

And I was like, aww,
he's all nervous.

And he just would
always kind of say...

[sighs] I'm sorry.

Like, I just... I'm
under a lot of stress.

You have no idea how
stressful med school is.

He kept promising me it was
going to change over time.

When I'm done with med
school, it'll change.

Well, then med school ended.
When I'm done with residency.

Then it was, well,
I'm an attending now,

and, whew, that's a
lot of pressure too.

And then it just kind of
became a part of my life

that didn't really exist.

I looked at all the
good that we had,

and I thought, how petty of me

to be like, yeah, I'm
going to break up with you

because you're not doing
this for me this way

when there was so
much good in our life.

[child giggling]

No.

[roaring]

TOMMY: It was definitely
a happy family.

He was just the way a
dad is supposed to be.

Playing around, horsing
around. No big deal.

[laughter]

Let me go.

He was like one of the boys.

Like, I felt like when Tyler's
friends would come over,

they would almost, like,
beeline for Justin.

He really gravitated
towards the kids.

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

I almost chalked it up to...

you know how when somebody just
really wants to be the cool guy?

I thought, maybe he was just
really nerdy in high school

and didn't have a lot of people

that thought he was cool.

TOMMY: Justin would always
be playing in the pool

with all of Tyler's friends,

throwing them around,
wrestling with them.

[laughter]

And of course, back
then it's like, well,

my uncle dunked
the sh*t out of me

and threw me halfway across
the pool into the deep end.

But looking back now,
it's like, oh, great.

He was just living
it up, you know?

Pool party with the boys.

[chatter]

STACEY: Three weeks
prior to the raid,

Tyler had had some
friends stay the night.

TYLER: We were all
swimming in the pool,

and they told me they were
getting ready to go up

to the bathroom and go change.

[foreboding music]

♪ ♪

And I remember a few
minutes later or so,

they come running downstairs
from the bathroom,

and they're telling
us that they got to go

because they have some
sort of family emergency.

It seemed odd, but I
didn't question it really,

more than for like a minute.

STACEY: That evening,
somebody knocked on the door.

[knocking]

And I was like, get the g*n.

Who's knocking on our door
at this time of night?

And Justin goes downstairs.

And when he comes back
up to our bedroom,

he said, you need
to come downstairs.

Social service is here.

Apparently, somebody says I
did something to their kid.

♪ ♪

And I think at that moment,
somewhere in me knew

that something was
really, really wrong.

They don't just
come for nothing.

They kept telling me,
well, we have a report

that Justin asked your son's
two friends to go upstairs

in the bathroom and do
inappropriate things

to each other while he recorded.

As soon as I heard that,

I just had this sick feeling
in the pit of my stomach.

But also, I thought,

there's no way he
would have done that.

I kept saying, that is not true.

He was with me the whole time.

He came in to get a cigar.

There wasn't enough
time for him to do that.

So these things that
they were telling me,

they didn't make sense.

She had no reason to believe
that Justin did this.

It's unthinkable.

♪ ♪

STACEY: The next
morning, we get up.

It was Sunday, and he had
went upstairs for a while,

and I went upstairs just
to see what was going on.

I walked in and his
back was to the door,

and that's when I caught
him encrypting his computer.

I said, what are you doing?

And he was like, if
somebody's coming after us,

I don't want them to see
things on my computer

that may have accidentally
been looked at,

or if you and I had watched
something inappropriate,

which I knew had never happened.

And, you know, I just...
I want to keep us safe.

So I'm encrypting my computer,
and I know what it looks like.

I was just like, yeah, it
looks like you're guilty.

♪ ♪

It didn't end with social
services coming to the house.

Three weeks later,

there was a raid
because a hidden camera

was found by one
of Tyler's friends.

Even though it was clear
that Justin had put

this hidden camera there,
there was no arrest made.

The raid was really about
collecting evidence.

They still needed to
do more investigation.

MIKE: My name is Mike Fick.

I've been employed for the
DA since October of 2011.

There was no reason for us
to rush and arrest Justin.

At that point, we wanted to have

our forensic services unit
withdraw the information

on every electronic
device and see exactly

what was recovered and
recorded in the house.

It was quiet for a little bit

while the investigation
was going on,

but then there was a bombshell.

HEATHER: A few days
after the raid,

Stacey called me and Tyler
asked what was going on.

And I said, well, your
friend has come forward

and said that Justin has
been inappropriate with him.

And Tyler just kind
of looked at me.

There wasn't a huge response.

He didn't act surprised.

My Aunt Heather was
texting me, texting my mom,

asking if anyone's
available to call,

and we FaceTimed and
Tyler told both of us.

The secret that I had been
holding on to for so long...

♪ ♪

Is that my stepfather had been

sexually molesting me for years.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

So when they first came for
the raid and was explaining,

you know, the charges and
what they were looking for,

they had told me that it was
just pretty much a misdemeanor,

and he could have just
got probation for it.

TYLER: After the raid, I
was living with my aunt

so I could get done with school.

And after I heard
my Aunt Heather

talking to my mother about
the charges with the cameras

will only be a misdemeanor,

she was talking about how

even if the charges with
my friend come to light,

I mean, it doesn't help
that he was unconscious

and under the
influence of alcohol.

So there's a good chance
he won't get a lot of time.

And I just started crying.

That's when my aunt
started prying me.

I was very concerned about my
little brother at the time.

I knew I was getting older,

and I knew that eventually,

he wasn't going to
have access to me.

And I mean, he was going
to get his fix somehow.

And it was going to
be my little brother.

And deep down, I knew
that I could sink him.

So I told my aunt,

once they know
what I have to say,

he'll never get out.

And I hugged him and I told
him how much I loved him

and how proud of him I was.

[somber music]

TYLER: Me and my aunt, we
told my mom what had happened.

It was so hard getting
it out that first time,

it felt impossible to say it
again, especially to my mom.

I mean, what boy
wants to tell his mom

that's what's happening to him?

I mean, she just started crying.

She was broken.

STACEY: As soon as I got off
the phone, I texted Justin.

I don't remember what I said,

but I think it was
along the lines of,

you sick son of a b*tch.

[messages dinging]

Clearly, you want
the abuse to stop,

but I didn't feel
good about saying

I was going to put who
I looked at as a father

in jail for the
rest of his life.

♪ ♪

Tyler really loved Justin.

I mean, that was one
of his best friends,

someone who he looked up to

not just as a stepdad, a friend.

So there's still a
part of Tyler that

will always have
that love there.

My name is Anthony Edwards.

People have seen me
over the years in

a lot of different
things as an actor.

STACEY: Anthony was
Dr. Greene from "ER,"

Goose from "Top g*n."

I'm also a survivor of

childhood sexual abuse.

When I was 52 years old,

I started to speak
for the first time

about something that
happened to me when I was 14.

The average time it takes for a
man to disclose childhood abuse

is between 40 and 50 years.

Shame is what silences men,

because the feeling is if
this person I cared about

could have hurt me, it
must have been my fault.

Because all I was
looking for was love.

In this case, Justin, he was
filling a role of a father.

Those experiences
were genuine and real.

And that's what is the kind of

big psychological conundrum.

The adult's job is
to protect them.

And when that falls apart,

that damage is set.

So the thing with Justin is
he started off really slow,

kind of like
branching into things,

so I guess seeing if I
would speak up or not.

And I guess every time
he would see I wouldn't,

he would take it farther.

The first, like, real instance

was when my mom had
left for a weekend

to go on a girls' trip
with some of her friends.

We were hanging out,

and then he started
drinking some alcohol.

[laughter]

And he asked if I
wanted to try it,

so I drank it and from there,
we just... we kept drinking.

JUSTIN: You thought it
was coming from you.

TYLER: So then I
started getting blurry.

I was clearly under
the influence.

Really, the only thing
I remember is waking up

and I was under the
blanket with Justin

and we were both naked.

I was uncomfortable.

I didn't know what to say.

[laughter]

And then after that
first instance,

he would always say
that I touched him

and that I r*ped him...

And that if I was the
one who started it,

why do I have a problem
continuing to do it?

ANDREA: There was
a very intricate

manipulation happening.

Here is Jordan Dann.

Jordan has never
treated Justin or Tyler,

but she is a licensed
psychologist, psychoanalyst,

author, teacher, and speaker.

JORDAN: Grooming and
creating that relationship

is all based on kind
of bait and switch

of care, of warmth, of love,

and then threats and cruelty.

And this is true for, you know,

all sexual perpetrators.

Justin would like play
mind games with him

make him believe that
nobody would believe him

if he ever said anything.

Like he always would say, like,

you know, Mikayla
won't believe you.

She loves me too much.

And he would kind of use the
same guilt trip about mom

and say like, oh, you know,

you're going to take
this house away from her,

the pool, the perfect
life, the money.

And same thing with the
kids, like he'd use them

and say, like, do
you want to take

the kids' dad away from them?

Do you want them to never
know who their dad is?

STACEY: Tyler always,
when he was little,

he never wanted to hurt
anybody's feelings.

If he thought he
disappointed you,

you could just tell it just
wrecked his whole world.

I think that that was a
lot of the mind control

that Justin had over Tyler.

JORDAN: Children do
everything in their power

to hide what is happening.

The abuse is actually
easier to tolerate

than the danger and
fear of actually saying

what's happening to them.

And so sometimes,
victims stay silent.

Tyler kept his secret
quiet for years

so that he didn't have to
watch his mom struggle.

I was not only concerned
about what Justin had done,

I was now concerned
about how Tyler was going

to internalize the fact that
he endured six years of hell,

for what?

I wasn't happy about it
because by that point,

the abuse had started.

A ring on the finger to me
was kind of sealing the deal.

I kept quiet for, I
mean, many reasons.

I didn't want to hurt
anybody, especially my mom,

and I was happy
seeing my mom happy.

And we still had a lot
of good times together,

and Justin was still
pretty good to me

throughout all those years
and still treated me like

a father would treat a son.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

We were so easy to just
like, cling to somebody.

And I think he saw that
and was like, done.

I can... I can work
this in my favor.

And I will say, like,
it definitely hindered

my relationship with
my biological dad, too,

because I was like,

oh, well, I have this dad who's
doing all these things for me,

and you're kind of not.

And, you know, I think that
was part of his scheme.

My dad and me are
not affectionate.

Like the most you're going to
get is, hey, I love you, pop.

OK, you know, see you later.

But Tyler and Justin
were cuddling.

They're on the couch
together, they're cuddling.

But I was not about to
judge family dynamics.

Like, just because
it's not normal to me

doesn't mean it's not normal.

But then you look
back and you're like,

holy sh*t, man, it
was all right there,

right in our face
the whole time.

He was calculated.

He had it all planned out.

ANTHONY: Pedophiles,
these groomers,

the ones that have found
their way into the Boy Scouts

or into the Catholic Church

or wherever they found
a great feeding ground,

they're masters at manipulation.

They seduce the parents
at the same time

they're seducing the kids.

My mom had him put a
parenting app on my phone,

and since he was the computer
smart one, he ran it all.

He used my mom's fear of me
being hurt by the internet

to let him hurt me.

He knew everything I
was thinking, doing.

He would claim that it
was to keep me safe.

And he would always
tell me that, like,

he was worried about
me watching porn

because of what it
does to your brain.

But around my 13th birthday,

he told me it was
my gift, basically,

that I was now old
enough to watch porn.

It got to a point where
he seemed like he almost

encouraged me to watch porn.

And then he would
go back and like,

look at what I was
doing on my phone.

He was just good at what he did.

It sounds awful.

You don't want to
call somebody like,

good at being a pedophile.

But, I mean, I guess
that's just how I'd put it.

♪ ♪

How do you do that?

How do you live with yourself?

[sniffles]

I don't understand it.
I'll never understand it.

♪ ♪

I have a lot of shame.

I have a lot of guilt.

♪ ♪

I should've known.

I should've known.

♪ ♪

[soft tense music]

I think Tyler waited so
long to tell us because

he wanted Mom to be happy.

He didn't want to take
the guilt of ruining that,

even though that was
never his guilt to carry

and he should have
never felt that way.

[somber piano music]

♪ ♪

About 1 in 6 men have

been victim to childhood sexual
abuse by the time they're 18.

So that means that there's


that are walking around having
experienced this trauma.

And what I see is that not
many of them are talking

because it's very male to
not show your feelings.

We don't teach them
that it's OK to cry.

We teach them to suck
it up and be tough.

And those are the things that
don't serve recovery or health.

♪ ♪

TYLER: After I told my
mom what had happened,

it wasn't too long after that,
we had talked with authorities.

It was the worst
conversation in my life.

Later that night, I got home

and I just remember, like,
crying in the shower,

thinking, you f*cked up.

Now everyone's going to know.

♪ ♪

Before Tyler disclosed
to law enforcement,

Berks County had a few things.

They had the hidden camera.

They have photos.
They have videos.

But that was really
a misdemeanor.

And then they had
testimony of another victim

who was claiming that he
was abused at a sleepover

while he was in the
Rutherford home.

[message dings]

But there was alcohol involved,
so he was under the influence

and they were worried
about that testimony.

I think a lot of
what he had to say

was a little bit blurry,
which isn't good for his case,

and I think I helped out
a lot in that aspect.

Tyler coming forward
was a game-changer.

TYLER: When I talked
to the police,

I went into detail and they
saw my side of the story

and I think got a little
bit more perspective

that they didn't have
just because of my friend

being under the influence.

MIKE: There was nothing
captured on the video

as far as sexual abuse.

So until they came forward,
we didn't know that

we actually had victims
that he assaulted.

At that point, we had
enough to arrest him.

But first, we had to
locate Justin Rutherford.

I was at my mom's and
she had got a bank alert

that he had pulled
out a bunch of money,

and she immediately
was like, he's running.

STACEY: A few days
later, we're driving

and Nanny calls me.

Nanny was Justin's
mom's best friend,

and she was a grandparent
basically to my kids.

You know, we called her Nanny.

So that day,

she's not frantic,
but she just says,

Justin's gone.

And I was like,

what do you mean, Justin's gone?

She said, I come
home, there's a note.

I said, well, read it to me.

And she read it, and it's
something along the lines of

I have to go. You
know, this is too much.

I need to think.

You know, I'll be OK.
I love you, Nanny.

Take care of the kids.

I'm leaving my car. I
don't know if I'll be back.

But I knew enough
about her to know

she would never have been calm

if he went anywhere
that she didn't know.

So I thought, you know
more than you say.

Justin was like a son to her.

And there is a loyalty there,

so I didn't know if
Nanny was somebody

that I could really
trust at that point.

A couple days later, I was at
the house getting some things,

and Nanny had said,
hey, Justin wanted me

to give you all
your credit cards.

And I noticed that
my Citi Costco card

wasn't in the envelope.

[suspenseful music]

So I called to cancel the card

and the lady on
the other end says,

well, let's go over
some of these charges

just to make sure that
this isn't fraudulent.

So she starts reading them

and she says Amsterdam,
Great Britain.

There was a train
ticket, and I said,

no, ma'am, I did
not purchase those.

She said, well, the good news is

whoever did it paid
your credit card off.

♪ ♪

So that way it wasn't carrying
a balance and I wouldn't know.

So that was his way of
like, covering his tracks.

He'd always said, too, it
was always one of his dreams

to go backpack around Europe.

That's honestly probably
where we'd expect him to go.

When Justin bounced, I
wasn't even surprised

because he didn't have
any other options.

Like it was clear
that he was guilty.

It was him.

There's no other
person it could be.

But how the hell
did that happen?

He's a dangerous
man for what he did.

When I found out that he
had left the country...

♪ ♪

In my mind, I thought he's
going to hurt more people.

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

My concern mainly
with him running

was that he was not going
to be extradited back

and Tyler was not going to
get the justice he deserved.

I thought he was a coward.

I was just like, really?

Like, you're going to run away?

I was frustrated that
it got as far as it did.

He should have never been able
to get out of this country.

MIKE: Some individuals flee,
you know, we never get them.

But we didn't panic.

We had him on a watch list,
and we knew if he came back,

we could arrest him.

STACEY: So when I found out
that he had left the country,

I went back with the little ones

to start packing because I
had to get the house on sale

on the market, and
I realized that

Nanny would go out on the porch

and smoke and talk with him.

♪ ♪

I could hear things like,
get this, take this,

and get the title to this.

And it was just
sneaky, sneaky stuff.

MIKE: I couldn't believe
that she would still

communicate with him
and talk like she did.

That surprised me.

STACEY: That was the day
that I confronted her

and just said, Nanny,
if you know where he is,

you need to tell me.

[as Nanny] I don't
know where he is.

I said, if you
took him somewhere,

you could be an accessory,

and I don't want you
to get in trouble.

I think he's telling you
these things are legal and OK,

and they're not.

And she flew off the handle.

We were liars and we
were making up stories.

And, oh, now I'm an accomplice.

And it just blew
up, and I lost it.

I think that was my
final straw with her,

and I just said, you know what?

You can get the f*ck
out of my house, too.

♪ ♪

Stacey had to learn
really quickly

that she didn't truly
know her husband.

And so with Justin abroad,
Stacey feels empowered enough

to pack up her
things and move her

and the two younger
kids she had with Justin

to Virginia with her
sister and Tyler.

If he would have went over
there and never came back,

I think that we would
have always been looking

over our shoulder for him.

But a couple of months later,

there was a text
message on my phone,

and it just said, we got him.

The suspect fled the country,
spent a few months in Europe,

and then for some reason

returned to the
U.S. on Saturday,

landing at Dulles International
Airport in Virginia,

where he was quickly arrested.

MIKE: We had him
on a watch list,

and when he came back,

the warrant was signed
and they secured him

at the airport for us.

The easiest way to put
it of how he got caught

is that he's an idiot.

You're basically getting
away with it at this point.

Why the hell would
you come back?

That's like criminal 101.

TOMMY: I mean, I don't know
how you could be so smart

and so dumb at the same time.

You just came on back and
thought you'd be fine?

I don't got no
college education,

and I know better than that.

Maybe he thought he'd
get a slap on the wrist

or a reduced sentence
or who knows what,

because he's a doctor
and he's a good guy,

at least in the eyes of society.

It was almost comical,
had it not been for

the rest of the circumstances.

STACEY: There was
relief knowing that

I knew where he was

and that I knew where
they were taking him,

we were going to be safer.

But it kind of also opened
up like, a whole emotions of,

OK, this is moving
on to another level.

Like, now... now we're in
a different phase of this.

TYLER: Justin was charged
with invasion of privacy,

r*pe of a child,

and r*pe of an
unconscious victim.

That might have been my first
bit of a little bit of relief,

but all I could think about is,

man, I think I just
put him in prison

for the rest of his life.

Like, I'm going to be
the reason he suffers

for the rest of his life.

But he was the reason
I suffered for years.

[cell door clangs]

[somber music]

When he had got arrested,

I think I was like,

still at a point of
missing him as a father.

And it's hard to explain. A
lot of people don't get it.

But it's still your dad.

♪ ♪

JORDAN: Children with
a*usive caregivers,

they have to separate those
two aspects of the person,

because to be with the reality
of a person who they are

dependent upon for survival
and is cruel and violent

is impossible.

Like looking back now, it's
obviously a hard concept.

Your brain has these good,
amazing memories of them.

It was so confusing to
navigate at the time.

STACEY: Where's Daddy's nose?

I know people say, you know,

corny things like, oh, I want
to pinch myself to wake up,

but you almost do.

You're like, there is no
way that my life went from

being this picture perfect life

that we had together

to this that we're
going through right now.

I went quite a while with
not speaking to him at all.

There was no contact
with him and I.

But he had a texting
app in prison.

He had reached out
and said, you know,

please just let me
talk to the kids.

I'm locked up. It's not
like I can hurt them.

And I felt this
guilt inside of me

that I was keeping
him from them,

that it was my fault, and that,

OK, what would it hurt
for them to talk to him?

I finally let them video chat.

My sister was still allowing
him to talk to them,

chat with them, send
mail to them and things

because she was
trying to navigate

how to tell them that their
dad was no longer around.

And I believe she was trying
to do the best job she could.

However, it concerned me.

I was 50/50.

From a psychological standpoint,

I very much understood
why it was important

to have him at least
semi in their lives.

And I think there was
a sense of comfort

knowing that it was
behind a screen.

Personal opinion wise,

I was not thrilled with it

because I thought he did
not deserve to know them,

so let's not give
him the satisfaction.

It definitely bothered me.

There was one time
I was in the house

and I didn't know they
were video chatting

and went downstairs
and I heard it.

And that was really
rough. I didn't like that.

And I just told my mom, like,

if you're ever
video chatting him,

just 100% make sure I'm not
going to walk downstairs.

Because now that I'd
finally got away from him,

it felt weird to see him.

Like, it was one of the
last things I wanted to do.

♪ ♪

STACEY: The letters to me
were just trying to get me

to talk Tyler into recanting.

He would say things like,
we don't have to be married.

You know, we can be divorced.

I'll get out and I'll take
care of all of you guys still.

I would be able to
still be a doctor.

It's not about my lifestyle
that I'm trying to maintain.

It's about keeping
you away from my kids

and keeping them safe.

[pensive music]

I know that Justin wrote you
guys letters while in prison,

and I thought maybe we
can kind of go through

and share moments
in these letters

that you found interesting.

"First, I would like to
say that I am truly sorry

not just for the
past, but for any way

you will be affected
in the future.

I'm not making excuses,
just explaining

that all I ever wanted
was to be normal.

Your mother told me once
that you didn't hate me,

but wanted to know I was sorry.

I still think of all
the good times we had

"when I was in parent mode."

That, I think, that
sticks out to me the most.

ANDREA: Why?

When I was in parent mode.

What does that mean?

Why do you... there's
not a mode for that.

I think that it's like
almost admitting to his,

like, double-sided personality.

He had two modes.

What would he consider
the other mode?

Monster mode? Lover mode?

What was that to him?
-Right.

Yeah.

And so then when
that didn't work

and things started to get a
little bit desperate for him,

he started reaching
out to Nanny.

Yes.

I was working out at the
gym right after school.

I just got there.

It'd been about five minutes

and I'm in the middle
of doing an exercise,

and I see D come up to me.

[suspenseful music]

And she's holding a paper.

And she stops me and she says,
here, I got a note for you.

It's from Justin.

And right there, I'm
immediately like,

dude, because I mean,

he wasn't supposed to have any
contact with me as a victim.

She hands me this note.

So I read it in there,

and then she snatched
it out of my hand.

And I told her I was like,
well, that's my letter.

Can I have it back?

She was like, no, he said
you couldn't have it.

And then she left.

STACEY: We immediately
called the detectives.

And he said, get him a
piece of paper and a pen

and have him write down as
much as he can remember.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

This is what I wrote down.

"On Thursday, March 31,


Deborah Cline came to my
gym and gave me a note

written by Justin Rutherford.

In the note, Justin
explained to me

that he assumed I was OK
with what he was doing,

and was convinced that
we had a relationship.

He explained that he would
never intentionally hurt me

and that he had no
clue I did not like it,

even though he came
to me in my sleep

and I pushed him
away many times.

He told me that he
grew up bisexual

"and was insecure
with his sexuality."

JUSTIN: Oh, my God.

"So he would try
stuff on his friends

and other close people to
him to see if they liked it.

He also said that he
was touched as a kid

at six years old
and thought maybe

that made him the way he was.

He also said he never
r*ped my friend that night.

He told me that if I wanted him
dead, he would k*ll himself,

and if I handed him a g*n,

he would put the
b*llet in his head.

Then at the end, he said he
hoped I could forgive him

and one day when he gets out,

we can have a relationship
and do the fun things

"we used to do together."

♪ ♪

That definitely like,
brought up a lot of anger

with Nanny D.

You should have just called
Justin and been like,

I'm not giving this to him.

You need to own up
to what you did.

♪ ♪

It just felt like

she was trying to let
him back in my life.

It was like she was letting
him get that hold he lost.

And that's not fair.

While Justin was in
jail awaiting trial,

Nanny D gave Tyler a
letter from Justin.

And it basically said

if Tyler didn't recant
his statement that,

like, he would k*ll himself.

And I don't know who
you think you are

telling somebody to do that.

He believed, and told
me multiple times,

that it was not him that
started this relationship

between the two of
them, that it was Tyler.

So he would tell
me all the time,

if anybody belongs in jail,
Tyler belongs in jail.

Tyler r*ped me.

MIKE: A lot of individuals
that we arrest,

they try to turn it like
the child came on to me.

That's ridiculous.

She couldn't believe it.

She was pretty pissed off.

STACEY: I said
Tyler was a child.

You were a 300 pound,


So you just continued to
allow my child to "r*pe" you?

Come on.

So in his eyes, Tyler
needed to recant

because Tyler was
making up lies.

♪ ♪

Justin was writing Nanny D,

saying that if
something wasn't done,

he was going to k*ll himself.

And I think as his
mother, essentially,

she was just doing everything
she could to keep him alive.

MIKE: I listened to a
lot of jailhouse calls

from her and Justin,
and there's times

they talked like they're
husband and wife.

It was not normal.
They seemed too close.

MEG: My name is Meg McCallum.

I supervise the child
abuse, sexual as*ault,

and domestic violence unit

here in the district
attorney's office.

If Tyler didn't
cooperate, and if Tyler

wasn't willing to testify
in this case at a trial,

we would not be able to
convict Justin Rutherford

of the crimes that
we charged him

for his conduct against Tyler.

STACEY: I could see that
it was weighing on him.

You could tell that
he was carrying a lot,

and it was building.

I think he felt
guilty feeling like

he ruined our lives.

STACEY: I was worried about him.

I worried about
him all the time.

TYLER: I just felt
constant anxiety.

And it was just like one
day where it felt like I was

like having a panic attack.

And it was like, all day.

And I got to a point
where I was like,

man, I can't take this.

I decided that was
going to be the night

I was going to take my life.

[tense music]

Tyler called me and told
me that he had taken

a bunch of stuff, basically
almost like Red Bull,

but like times 50,

essentially trying to give
himself a heart attack.

You're supposed to take
like one a day, max.

Got like 300
milligrams of caffeine.

I probably drank like


So then I called 911.

And then I called my mom.

♪ ♪

[distant sirens wailing]

I waited in a hospital
bed all night with my mom

until a mental health
facility had a spot for me.

I was just angry at everything

that Justin had taken from him.

When was it going to be enough?

It was like he was
still continuing to have

some kind of control, even
though he wasn't there.

OK, so now my son doesn't
even want to live anymore

because of what
you've done to him.

It's like it just wouldn't end.

People do crazy things
in desperate times,

but to see what someone
was willing to do,

it was terrifying.

Eventually, we had
come to find out

through detectives
that Justin was trying

to find people to k*ll me.

♪ ♪