04x01 - Internal

[bunniefuu]

-[doorbell rings]
-[dog barking]

[door opens]

[accuser] How you doing? Hey, man,
is your wife home by chance?

[Joel] Why's that?

[accuser] That's my wife out there.
The one that you f*cked in your cruiser.

-[Joel] What are you talking about?
-Joel… Kern?

-What are you talking about?
-Yeah, I'm talking about you.

[accuser] I wanted to ask you
to stay away.

And I wanted to let your wife know
what you were doing.

My husband was one of the good officers.
He was one of the good ones.

-[children laughing]
-[siren wails]

{\an8}He had a reputation of really being
an excellent police officer.

{\an8}All of these crimes
interrelate in some way.

He was supercop.

He was the family man, devoted father,
good friend, good neighbor.

[shutter clicking]

I never heard anything negative
about Joel Kern.

And then I got a text
that completely changed my life.

[phone chimes]

He was clocking in
and then going to have sex with people.

[accuser 2] He put me on all fours.

He was very rough with me.

In his cop car, while on duty.

I made a poor choice in a weak moment.

[sniffles]

I can't believe how good he was
at keeping these secrets,

having the two faces of Joel Kern.

He had no problem manipulating
family, friends, colleagues.

[Borega] This man,
if he was doing anything

it would have to be
when he's away from the house.

That would mean that's while he's at work.

You think he's going to jeopardize
his job for you? f*ck no.

Never did I ever think my husband
would ever want any harm on me, ever.

{\an8}Can you tell me a little bit
about how you found the podcast?

{\an8}My daughter, Nicole, was scheduled for
orientation her freshman year of college.

And we're driving
and doing the road trip thing,

and she put on Betrayal, season 1.

The podcast had really
struck a chord with me.

I went through this,
and I've never been able to talk about it.

To think that every one of these women

were living in such isolation
and shame and fear

as a result of someone else's actions.

To find the power from that pain,
it was so inspiring.

My name is Karoline Borega.

I grew up in Colorado Springs.

{\an8}It's beautiful, it's gorgeous.

And everybody is super gracious
and super kind.

[Borega] I've always been this, like,
eclectic kind of hippie kid.

I enjoyed being outside with friends
and doing Colorado kid stuff.

When she started college, she knew
exactly what she was going to do

and she went after it.

I really knew I wanted to do something
in a social-work-type field.

I knew I wanted to help people.

And so I went to school
just about two hours away from home

at University of Northern Colorado.

[Jessica] She's very driven and focused,

but also she was a lot of fun
to be around.

She is one of those people that is
just fiercely loyal and… and loves hard.

When I was coming toward
the ends of my undergraduate studies,

I was offered a job
for a victim advocate position

for the police department.

One of the things on the training sheet
was to complete a ride-along

with the Colorado Springs
Police Department.

I show up at the police department,

and this cop comes out to see me
and he says,

"The first thing we're going to do tonight
is sit through a lineup,

just a briefing that happens
before every shift."

It's really cold and sterile,
and no one's saying hi to her.

And she was really nervous.

Next thing you know,
there's this disruption.

This incredibly tall, very young,
very handsome,

with this sandy blond hair,
hot mess express.

He's holding a clipboard in his left hand
and paperwork is spilling out over it.

It's instant comic relief,
like, that weight

and sterile feeling in the room
just completely lifted.

Even the sergeant's like,

"Okay, I guess we can get started
once Joel finds his seat."

And so he sits down.

And we locked eyes with each other,
and it was magnetic.

We finish up lineup,
and as we're walking over to the exit,

Joel comes, like, running over.

He said, "So, don't forget.
I'm your sector partner tonight."

The cop that Karoline was doing
the ride-along with was like,

"This is Joel Kern.
He's clearly trying to get close to you."

Just shaking his hand…

it was like lightning went through me.

I had never felt like that in my life.

Throughout the whole shift,

Joel was just trying to impress Karoline

until the end of the shift.

[Borega] As I'm walking to my car…

I hear these footsteps
kind of running after me, and it's Joel.

And he's got a little bit
of an audience behind him.

He's like, "Hey, I really enjoyed
meeting you tonight.

I know that you're new in town,
and I'd love to show you,

like, some of my favorite spots
around town."

And I see the audience behind him.

I'm like, "I don't need to be shown
around this town. I grew up here."

And you hear them laughing
in the background.

And he said, "Well, I'll just leave you
with my business card,

and I guess the ball's in your court."

I drive home,
and my mom was waiting up for me,

and she's like,
"Okay, tell me about the night."

And I said, "Well, I met the man
I'm gonna marry."

And she said, "Jesus Christ, Karoline.
It better not be a cop."

And I started laughing.

And when I wake up,
I pick up the business card.

And I call him and I leave a message
on his voicemail.

"I really did grow up here,

but I would still love to see
all of your favorite spots in town."

Twenty, 30 minutes at the most went by,
and the house line rang.

[phone ringing]

And Joel said,
"What took you so long to call me?"

So we start talking, and he was like,
"So what are we doing tonight?"

I said, "Well, we aren't doing anything
because we're having family dinner."

And so he's like,
"Well, I like Sunday family dinners."

So, Joel comes over.

My parents were so cold to him,

and he handled it with charm and grace
and like a champion.

And we finish up dinner, and he's like,

"Did I earn it?
Can I take you on a real date now?"

And so Joel and I left.

We had this great night.

And then we had our first kiss.

After that first night,
we became inseparable.

I was only 22. He was only 24.

It was a very special time in life.

When I first met him, he was just
friendly and outgoing and welcoming.

He was jovial, funny.

A really easy person to talk to.

You felt the love
that Joel had for Karoline.

He adored her.

[Borega]
We had been dating for about three years.

And one night we were getting ready
to go somewhere,

and I turned around and Joel had a ring.

When you get married
in the Catholic Church,

you have to go through
what's called Pre-Cana,

which is essentially
premarital counseling.

[Borega] One of the conversations that
we had was deal-breakers in a marriage.

And I said to him, "I have two rules.

Don't ever lay a hand on me.
Don't ever cheat on me."

And he told me, "That's more than fair.
I agree with you."

We got married
in a beautiful Catholic church,

and we had a wedding of about 150 people.

And it was by candlelight
and it was stunning.

And then a huge reception afterwards,

and our wedding song was
Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight."

[♪ "Wonderful Tonight" plays]

♪ And I say
"Yes, you look wonderful tonight" ♪

We had a fantastic night of just dancing
and having a great time.

After we got married, I needed to send
a thank-you note to my aunt.

We got married in 2001, and my aunt
had just gotten an email account.

And I'm trying to log on
to my email account,

and it's not connecting,

and I see that his email account
is minimized.

So I bring it up, and I thought,
"Oh, this will work out perfect."

So I fire off the thank-you note.

And as I'm sitting there,
I see Joel's email account.

And I'm looking at
some of the preview lines,

and I can see that he has been
corresponding with a childhood friend.

And some of the preview lines
are so inappropriate.

Enough to make me double-click
and open them up.

And the two of them are talking about

what it would have been like
if they had ever gotten together.

And then it progresses to say
what it would have been like

to have been able to connect
before he and I got married

when she was in town.

Has he violated one of the two things
that she asked him never to do?

Has Joel already betrayed her?

[Gunning] Karoline is devastated.

{\an8}She is seeing these inappropriate email
exchanges between Joel and his friend.

I grabbed a pen,
and I wrote on this c*ck napkin,

"Saw this on your email. Very angry."

And I taped the c*ck napkin
to the computer screen.

And I left,

and I drove over to my parents' house.

And after some de-escalation, my mom said,

"You're married now,
and you need to go handle this."

And I drove home,
and he was on his knees and crying,

and I said, "How could you do this to me?"

And he starts saying
how it was just for attention.

He would never follow through with it.

"I will do anything to show you

that this was the dumbest thing
I could have done."

The next morning, Joel suggests
that they go to couples counseling.

And, in fact,
he's already made an appointment.

And Karoline is encouraged by this.

[Borega] One of the things
that was brought up

was some pretty significant
childhood trauma.

And he had admitted that
the trauma was never really addressed.

And we talked about
stressful things that he had seen

as a result of being a police officer.

And that him sending an email like this

could have been just a deflection
or a way to cope.

At least this didn't go anywhere
besides an email.

And fast-forward after that moment,
we hadn't even been married a year,

and I found out I was pregnant.

And I showed him the pregnancy test.

He said, "I've been waiting for this.
I've always wanted to be a dad."

And we were so happy.

[Kern] So you can see
the baby's coming along.

And then we have a little crib deal
set up for the baby.

It felt like this was just something
that was going to bring us together again.

And it did. It absolutely did.

[chuckles]

During the pregnancy,
Karoline and Joel decide

that Joel's career
is going to be the priority,

so that he can advance
and provide for the family.

He's gonna be a good big brother.

Our son was born in 2003.

He was just perfect. Just perfect.

And just a little over
a year and a half later,

I knew that I was pregnant again.

Nicole was born in 2005.

Perfect, gorgeous, beautiful baby girl.

What?
You're just like your big brother, buddy.

[person laughs]

[Nicole crying]

And I knew that she completed us.

Just five days after Nicole's birth,

Joel learned that he was going to be
promoted to sergeant.

He was, at the time,
the youngest sergeant.

[Kern] Walk to Mama.

Ooh.

[Borega] From a family standpoint,
the promotion was difficult

in the sense that he went
onto a midnight shift.

But the pride that I felt for him
and all what he had accomplished

at such a young age,
I mean, it was incredible.

[shutter clicking]

The schedule was based off of him
and his work schedule.

We celebrated all the holidays,
birthdays at the station too.

But I had a nice childhood, I would say.

[shutter clicking]

[Karoline and Joel's son] It's like a pure
middle-class, suburban upbringing.

Karoline's son
wants to prioritize his privacy,

but he has a lot to share
and a lot to say,

and I spoke to him for hours
for the podcast.

And so, while you won't see him,

you're gonna hear
pieces of that conversation.

[Karoline and Joel's son] My sister and I,
we were high achievers in school.

We're super competitive
with academics and sports.

And I think my mom really, like,
ingrained excellence in us.

[Gunning] And even though
Joel is working odd hours,

he's still making time
to be there for his kids

and to foster that sense of excellence.

[Borega] Joel signed up to be a leader
for our son's Cub Scouts.

And after our son announced that
he wanted to try his hand at lacrosse…

[spectator] Yeah, come on!

[Borega] …Joel volunteered himself
to be one of the coaches.

[spectator 2] Go, go, go!

Go in! Go in!

[Borega] And then our daughter, she played
for a national team and would travel,

and we agreed that we'll turn
these events into family vacations.

[crowd whistles]

To watch him, um, embrace fatherhood,
I mean, it was fantastic.

What do I do?

[Kern] Just pull it up.
Don't reel in that tight.

Okay, I'll help you.

Why does it get so gross?

-Oh, my gosh. It's so gross.
-[Kern chuckles]

[Borega] Camping trips
and being able to mountain-bike.

He loved every second of it.

We would always talk about getting an RV.
And then, finally, we did.

Our lives have changed so much, but…

we still have those memories, you know.

-[Nicole] Hey.
-Hello.

Ready to do this?

-Yeah.
-Okay.

I'm excited,
but a little nervous 'cause I don't think

I've really seen a lot of photos
of your family.

-[Borega] Oh, my gosh.
-[Nicole laughs]

[Gunning] What's this story?
Looks like a mug shot.

[Borega] That's the Joel Kern I met.

I look at that, and I see… I see your son.

-Yeah.
-[Nicole] Mm-hmm.

And there are moments where I see you too.

-[Nicole] Mm-hmm.
-[Gunning] Is that hard?

It is kind of weird to think, like,
I have my dad's hair color,

and I have his eyebrows,
and I have his eye color.

-Like, I see myself in my dad.
-[Borega] Yeah.

[chuckles] Almost every night,
we would FaceTime to say good night.

Me, you know, at home in bed,

having no idea all what he was doing
while I was at home.

[Nicole] That's when I had
to get hospitalized.

[Borega] I can remember
how terrified I was that week.

She had sepsis.

And so she was in Children's Hospital
for about a week.

He had said, "It's just a really bad time.

I'll come by when I can."

I remember this day,
I'd been with Nicole for a couple days.

He was working some really crazy hours,

and I asked him, I said,
"Could you just come by

so I could just grab a shower,
get a change of clothes?"

He's like,
"Okay. I'll-I'll figure it out."

At the time, I thought,
"Oh, thank goodness he's come by

and he's able to see her and…"

But this picture is time-stamped.

And that same day, I have time stamps

of him exchanging messages with someone,

where he'd made arrangements to meet them.

He was doing things that were
dishonest and deceitful to our family

and to our marriage while we were there.

This picture infuriates me now.

[Nicole] Prom dress shopping. [giggles]

This is a man who's smiling with
his daughter in this stunning dress.

Would you guess that he is the same person

that knows he's under investigation,

has been for over two months?

And I didn't know.

Does that look and smile depict,

"I'm going to change
this little girl's life forever"?

All pictures of my dad,
whenever I see my dad,

it's just…

It's tainted now.

My dad was such a figure in our community.

-[chuckles] Yeah. I don't know.
-This is horrible.

[Karoline and Joel's son]
I admired the sacrifices made

and the nobility of the profession.

{\an8}We had articles and plaques and awards

{\an8}hanging up in our house
dedicated toward him.

[Kern] My office that Karoline decorated.

And there's the computer.

There's Karoline.

And then she put my awards
in the room like that.

He even started jokingly calling it
the "love me" room.

{\an8}Even during times of tension and scrutiny
surrounding the police,

{\an8}Joel stood out as one of the good ones.

{\an8}[sirens wailing]

{\an8}A Black man being detained
by a white police officer died

{\an8}following that violent arrest.

{\an8}[Gunning] After George Floyd's death,
there were protests everywhere,

including Colorado Springs,
and they got pretty intense.

Joel was in charge of overseeing
all the protest response for CSPD.

{\an8}There were times where he was working


When he would come home,
he would start to say,

"Look, like, this is where
people were throwing

frozen water bottles last night.

This is where I got hit.
Look at this bruise.

Look at this.
Someone was throwing rocks last night."

Little did I know
all what he was doing on that shift.

The admiration wasn't just at home.

Joel was well-respected by his colleagues.

Joel came across as very easygoing,
well-spoken, well-dressed.

He definitely looked like
he had his sh*t together.

He had a reputation of really
being an excellent police officer

that took his responsibilities seriously.

[McFarland] He was supercop.
I respected him immediately.

He was clean-cut. He was professional.

I never heard anything negative
about Joel Kern.

I looked to him as a mentor.

Around 2011, 2012,

he had an opportunity to be
an internal affairs sergeant.

I kind of look at it now
as, uh, like I'm the palace guard,

if that makes sense,
to, uh, to help keep the department right.

His superiors
really did think highly of him

and felt that he was capable

of taking on those leadership roles
in the department.

I spent nine years on midnights,
and, um, I had, uh, two young kids.

And so I finally had to make a decision,
and you know what?

Uh, I wanna be home at night
and I wanna be home on the weekends.

And an IA opening popped up,
and then I… [chuckles] …I went there

because I'm home at night
and I'm home on the weekends.

There are very few events and times
that Joel took off work.

But he took off…

when my dad was sick.

And he spent the weeks…

of the end of my dad's life with him.

He was there for my mom too.

Five years after my dad passed away,
my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer,

and Joel volunteered to take her to chemo.

And in middle of December of 2016,

I was at work, and my cell phone rang.

And he said, "There's just
nothing they can do for her."

And I drove to my mom's house.

And she was laying in her bed.

And Joel was holding her hand.
He was, like, stroking her hair.

And he was there the day she died.

And my mom loved and trusted him so much

that she left him
as the executor of her will.

And one of the things
that was passed to me

was this rental property,
and I wanted to sell it.

And he told me, "This is passive income.

You don't have to do anything
with this house.

I will handle everything with it."

-[Borega] It's the blue one right here.
-[Gunning] Oh, wow.

[Borega] I did not want this house.

We have this discussion of,
"It's been in your family

for this amount of time,
let's just keep it.

You don't even have to step foot
in there if you don't want to."

-He did hold up his end of the bargain.
-He did.

He made sure to take care of the house,
deal with the tenants.

But instead of doing
exactly what was asked of him

by my mom, my dying mom,

he used this as another platform
for his deviance.

[Borega] Around 2016, Joel came home,
and he was like,

"I've been offered to step in
as the interim public information officer

with the Colorado Springs
Police Department."

{\an8}The public information officer,
or the PIO,

is the spokesperson
for the police department.

And they have a close
working relationship with the media.

[Borega] I mean,
what a great professional accolade,

and he assumed the role.

{\an8}Normally, in these types of crimes,
it is, uh, very complicated,

{\an8}very, uh, intensive investigations.

He did fantastic with it,
and you could tell Joel loved the role.

{\an8}When you say
a million dollars' worth of jewelry, uh,

{\an8}some people might think
that that suitcase is full.

{\an8}Uh, however, it could be valuable jewelry
that's, uh, small.

{\an8}I thought it was really cool that
I was able to see my dad on the news.

{\an8}The sales of spice
have dropped off dramatically.

We would be
walking through the grocery store,

and someone would stop and recognize him,

and you could see him beam.

He loved the recognition for it.

[Borega] Joel had been the interim PIO
for maybe half a year,

but it's meant for a lieutenant.

Mid-2018, he was selected
for the position of lieutenant.

The person who was the PIO
was going to retire.

He interviewed and came home and said,
"I feel fantastic about it."

And we were all just waiting
on pins and needles,

and I remember when he got the call.

I knew how excited he was,
and we were excited as a family

because we knew he loved that role.

It was really, really an exciting time.

Just weeks before Joel starts
his permanent PIO job,

he comes home and he's acting strangely.

[Borega] And I can feel the tension
from him.

I said, "Are you okay?"

And he said, "No. I'm not gonna get PIO.

The chief came into our shift last night,
and I had a blowup with him."

And then the chief decided that
he was taking away PIO from him.

I said,
"You and the chief of police got into it?"

I could not wrap my head around it.

I'm like, "Who are you?"

Joel would never do this.
She knew something wasn't right.

But little did she know
Joel was under investigation.

Joel had worked closely with a reporter
when he was temporary PIO.

And she filed a complaint
for sexual harassment.

[reporter] He had sent a message

that was obviously sexually suggestive.

[Gunning] Had he crossed a line
he couldn't come back from?

But Joel didn't tell Karoline
about any of this.

Instead, he had an excuse.

He said, "I've had so much tension
built up in me

because I have severe PTSD from work."

{\an8}70% of cops have PTSD,
most of which is undiagnosed.

You know what you call the other 30%?

Rookies.

In other words, it's going to happen.
Every cop gets PTSD.

The job is not driving around
giving speeding tickets to soccer moms.

[siren wailing]

It's tragedy every day.

[Borega] And so I did find a therapist

who specialized in PTSD
for first responders,

and Joel did engage in therapy.

And Joel went right back to
continuing as a midnight lieutenant.

No harm, no foul.

But Karoline was really worried about him
mentally. It was a really tough time.

{\an8}Joel told Karoline
that he lost his job as PIO

{\an8}because of a fight with the police chief.

So he started seeing a therapist
and saw no other consequences at work,

but he's really in a bad place mentally.

[Borega] Around spring of 2019,

we were sitting at our son's lacrosse game

and he was particularly disengaged.

And so after the game, I said to him,
"What is going on?"

{\an8}And he said,
"I'm having issues with our son driving.

{\an8}Now that he's 16, I find myself replaying

all the different fatal accidents
that I've been to

where there's been a kid involved."

And that hit me.

How can I make sure
that you feel safe with him driving?

Trying to take every measure possible
just to put him at ease.

While Joel's focusing
on his mental health,

there was still a lot to celebrate
within the family.

Our daughter was getting ready
to have her sweet 16,

our son was graduating from high school,

and Joel and I were approaching
our 20th anniversary,

and he said, "Let's go big."

And then we invited friends to join us

on what they thought
was just a vacation in Mexico.

{\an8}We spent some really fun days together.

And then it was sprung upon us
that it wasn't just a trip

but it was a vow renewal
for Joel and Karoline

and that we were all here
for that purpose.

[shutter clicking]

When it was time for his vows to me,
he said, "The first time I did this,

we were just getting started out,
and I just did this impulsively.

This time around,
I put some thought to it."

{\an8}Joel was crying
when he was saying his vows.

That sticks with me sometimes.

[Borega] Then he got down on one knee,

and he had this huge,
beautiful new ring for me,

and there wasn't a dry eye on that beach.

There was so much that was going on
in their lives at that point.

You know, Karoline was so afraid,
and the kids were worried about their dad,

that to go there and to watch them,
it was just inspiring.

That's the kind of love
that-that people aspire for.

[cheering]

[shutter clicking]

[Borega] Our son, at our reception,

he grabs a glass of champagne for a toast.

[Karoline and Joel's son] I was proud
to have parents that were still together

having a 20-plus-year marriage
with the renewal of vows.

[Borega] And he said, "Out of all
my friends, my parents are the anomaly.

Cheers to my mom and dad
for showing us what love is."

When they got back from Mexico,
things were okay for a while,

but then Karoline says
Joel's mental health started to decline

and things got really bad.

[Borega] And he says, "Karoline, I think
I'm having a nervous breakdown."

I just said, "Quit.

You know, you've done this
for over 25 years. Just quit.

We'll figure it out.

I can't stand seeing you like this."

They are working as a team
to figure out how to get Joel better.

But a month later,
Joel's actions would destroy their family.

I wanted to talk a little bit
about April 11th, 2022.

[Borega] You know, I can't do that
without talking about April 10th.

April 10th, it was a Sunday,
and Nicole and I had gotten up,

and we were getting ready for church,

and-and Joel emerged
and came into the bathroom and said,

"Hey, I'm gonna go with you, guys."

Nicole's face was just like,
"Oh, my gosh, Daddy.

Like, really, you're gonna come with us?"

Because he had never participated
in that part of our lives.

And he went to mass with us.

It was what we thought was kind of
this enlightening moment for him,

that he was finding his faith
and finding just mental health stability.

It was just such a good day,
and it was a good night too.

I've never told you this…

It was the last time we were intimate.

It was just a good day.

And I said to him, "I'm so proud of you

for putting yourself first
and your mental health first."

[Borega] That next day, I was at work.

It was around 1:30 in the afternoon.

I was in an online meeting,

and I see this notification
come through on my phone.

And we had outside cameras
around our home,

and I see that there's movement
on the cameras,

and I see that it's Joel.

I watch him drag up the trash can.

Then I sent him a quick text,
and I just said,

"Hey, what brought you home so early?"

And he didn't respond.

And as I'm watching, I thought to myself,
"Where's his cop car?"

So I texted him again.
"Hey, why are you home so early?

I noticed that your cop car
isn't in the driveway.

Is everything okay?"

He didn't respond.

So I text him again, and I said,

"I'm a little scared
'cause you're not responding.

Is everything okay?"

And then at this point, I see the dots
on the iPhone just bouncing.

And then I got a text
that completely changed my life.

[Borega] I texted Joel, "Everything okay?"

His response was, "No.

Everything's not okay.

I've f*cked up the worst
I've ever f*cked up in my life.

You're going to want to divorce me."

And I had this panic and fear
come over me.

And I wrote back,
"What are you talking about?

What is going on?"

And he wrote back, "I was caught
receiving oral sex in my cop car.

I lied about it during
an internal affairs investigation.

I'm pending termination.
I have ruined our lives."

And I sat there staring at that.

I just closed my laptop.

I didn't excuse myself
from this very professional meeting.

I didn't tell anyone what I was doing.

I just got my stuff,
and I walked out of my work.

I made it to a street corner
before I lost it.

And I was crying, and I called him,
and I just kept repeating

over and over and over again,
"What did you do?

What did you do?"

And he said, "I'm sorry, Karoline.
I'm just so sorry."

I got home.

And he wasn't there.

And I heard Nicole come home,
and she was just so unsuspecting.

It was like her last moments
of an innocent voice.

I thought it was weird that my mom
was home from work already.

And she said like, "Come talk to me.

Something happened."

She started choking up
and couldn't really express the words.

And so I said like, "What's happening?
What's wrong?

Is Daddy okay?"

And she started crying,

and so she said,
"Call your brother on the phone."

[Karoline and Joel's son] I get a call
from my sister. It's an emergency.

I remember my mom and my sister shaken up.

[Borega] Nicole had her brother
on speakerphone,

and I could hear Joel come home.

And I said, "You need to tell them."

He told both of the kids,

"I got caught receiving oral sex
in my cop car.

I'm pending termination."

So emotionless.

It was like rehearsed.

And both kids just started crying.

And our son,

he kept saying, "Why?

Why would you do this to our family?"

[Karoline and Joel's son]
My initial reaction was anger

and such a profound feeling of betrayal.

[Borega] Our son hangs up in a rage.

Our daughter has buried her head
into me and crying.

And in the moment of seeing
all of that emotion,

he takes off his wedding ring.

He just walked out the door.

That was it. That's how he left us.

[Karoline and Joel's son]
This isn't a simple affair story.

My mom and sister were both
so overcome with grief,

and it would only get worse.

We had just been pawns
in his game and story.