Episode 1 - The Attack

TRIGGER WARNING: Domestic Violence

Whitten finally unmutes. Join Whitten as she goes unmute. Episode 1 starts with the night that everything changed.

Transcript

Introducing Unmute

Whitten Montgomery 0:00

Hi , my name is Whitten and I'm Maggie , and we are here to launch a new podcast called Unmute . I have had a dream of putting together a podcast of a personal experience I went through because I feel it might be relevant to others to hear this story , and I am so happy to have Maggie here with me to help tell this story . So I guess this is probably a good time for us to tell them how we know each other .

Maggie Patten 0:22

Oh , that's a good idea .

Whitten Montgomery 0:23

Yeah , I think that's a good idea . Otherwise it's not just you like commenting on my trauma and they're like who's this Right ?

Maggie Patten 0:27

Yeah , okay , random person .

Whitten Montgomery 0:30

So Maggie and I have known each other for about a decade now , right ? Yeah , that's wild , it is crazy . So we've met because we are both thespians , and by thespian I do not mean lesbian , cause I'm the lesbian and she's straight Boring , but I'm the thespian lesbian . But a thespian means a lover of the arts . I love that , wouldn't the thespian lesbian ? Yes , we can make stickers with that on , oh my God . So a thespian means a lover of the theater , the theater , yes . So we met back nearly a decade ago .

Maggie Patten 1:07

Right .

Whitten Montgomery 1:07

And Maggie , do you want to tell them ?

Maggie Patten 1:09

how it was when you first met me .

Whitten Montgomery 1:10

I would love to oh , would you Tell the public ?

Maggie Patten 1:13

Oh my God . So I was in a production at one of our local community theaters and we were invited by Whitten , who was producing a collaborative show with many other community theater groups , to come and do a couple , perform , a couple of numbers in this , in this show . So we got to the theater and I remember Whitten , backstage with her headset on maybe a clipboard , I don't know , maybe I'm just imagining that at this point , uh , being like an hbic , you know , head in charge , and she seemed a little cold , a little standoffish . I was trying to meet her because she thought I was a bitch .

Whitten Montgomery 1:49

Well , you kind of acted like one I did .

Maggie Patten 1:53

You were just like doing your shit . Okay , you were , I mean , you were just running that shit , so it kind of makes sense . But I was like , oh , I don't know that I'm gonna be friends with that girl , so she wrote me off , did the show , whatever .

Whitten Montgomery 2:10

And let me tell you all about the first time that I met sweet Maggie . So I was running a theater company , but also looking for other work , and there was a children's traveling theater company that was looking for a tour manager . So I became the tour manager of a company where Maggie was a very seasoned actor and during the first rehearsal that I attended , I came in and I didn't know really anyone and Maggie is there and she's like, "Hi Whitten , how are you ? Oh my gosh , come here , sit by me , it's going to be okay . Hi , sit by me , it's going to be okay . Hi , sit by me , wasn't I sweet , oh my gosh .

Maggie Patten 2:46

So I remember this incredibly kind person reaching out to me , just being so kind , and then I tell her later on that I remembered her being a bitch , so she was really offended by that .

Whitten Montgomery 2:59

Yeah , still offended .

Maggie Patten 3:00

Obviously my first impression was wrong , Because here we are , nearly 10 years later .

Whitten Montgomery 3:06

I don't know , ask my ex-wife .

Maggie Patten 3:07

Oh , my first impression was wrong , because here we are nearly 10 years later , I don't know .

Whitten Montgomery 3:13

Ask my ex-wife oh , fuck that bitch , okay . So yeah , since then we've gotten super close . We've had a lot of different phases of our lives together and I'm really grateful to be able to have you here telling the story with me . Oh , I'm so glad to be here telling the story with you Well thank you , I've decided to call this podcast unmute because this story with me .

Whitten Montgomery 3:23

Oh , I'm so glad to be here telling the story with you . Well , thank you . I've decided to call this podcast Unmute because this happened to me in the time of the pandemic , when everything was going on , with us having to learn how to do everything virtually and go unmute and mute ourselves , and that was also a period of my life where I really was forced to be silent and I wasn't able to talk . So I'm really happy to now go unmuted and to tell my story .

Maggie Patten 3:49

We would also like to say that there might be some trigger warnings during this podcast , but we will always call those out . But this podcast is going to be dealing with domestic violence and we want everybody to be prepared .

Whitten Montgomery 3:57

Just for reference , as we tell the story , we're not going to go in a chronological order necessarily . This is actually the order . A lot of people found out about my story because , due to trauma and other things , I wasn't really open with a lot of people about my life . So we're starting on the night that a lot of instances and things all kind of culminated and came together . We have really worked through as we've developed the script , to make sure that names are important to it , but we're not actually using the names of the individuals involved in the story . You have my true name and Maggie's true name , but everything else will be censored just to protect the identities of everyone , including the guilty , yes , but also innocent bystanders . We won't use anyone's direct name but , yes , the guilty are protected as well . So we hope you enjoy .

Whitten Montgomery 4:43

Okay , it started as a normal day . It was mid-August in Pasture Town , north Carolina . I spent the day cleaning and preparing dinner and getting everything organized for the week . My wife was out at rehearsal she was in a show and so she was rehearsing and I spent the day . I was preparing dinner and her son was going to join us for dinner , so we actually were having salmon packets .

Maggie Patten 5:08

I've been hearing about these salmon packets for two and a half fucking years , y'all .

Whitten Montgomery 5:13

It's like the last meal , it was like the end of my life these salmon packets and I didn't even get to eat it and we were like balling on a budget .

Whitten Montgomery 5:22

At the time we had our Sam's Club salmon and I was like rocking my meal and like sam's club salmon , and so , like we had these wonderful little salmon packets made , I made it for her son too . I was preparing for like a nice dinner . When she got home from rehearsal , everything seemed fine . She was always kind of our um mixologist , our cocktail performer , um I can't even think of the right word Our bartender Bartender , thank you . Okay , yes , cocktail performer I like that .

Whitten Montgomery 5:50

I like that . Okay , we'll start . We'll start . You know , getting that going , we during the time we were actually into these kale tonics that they had at first watch , so we started to cause they were expensive to get to start to make them at our on our own . So we would actually order the kale and like juice it to make the drink . You had a juicer , we had a juicer . We had a really nice home . We had a lot of stuff in there I don't know what where , like I , my whole life savings was in that house .

Maggie Patten 6:17

I mean , I know , but like juicers are such , it's such a good idea , but it's such a waste of space and it's so much effort for such a dismal outcome Like you get out of kale , do you ?

Whitten Montgomery 6:30

You get like nothing . And we were , at this point in time , buying kale because it was so affordable . I would buy it like by the bushel . So we were actually also we were trying to save all our money , so we were . Also I would make kale chips , like I literally put them in the oven at like , at like very high temperature , like low temperatures , for a long period of time . We have kale anyways . So we were bushel , so , um , we were , we had kale , so she wanted to have some kale tonics , she made the drinks and we , we were kind of being casual to seat in our living room on the couch .

Whitten Montgomery 6:59

My elbow was really hurt and this is just like story Maggie's life , I'm sure , cause I've broken my elbow before , actually back when I lived with her , so several years prior , and I'm a little bit more predisposed to elbow injuries just cause my elbows had to repair itself and joints are a little like that . So I was in a sling and , um , lizzie wasn't too pleased at the time because it was just making me take a little bit longer to get stuff done , and so she kept trying to pull the sling off of me so that I could be more efficient . Be more efficient in your chores , in my tasks for the house so she could rehearse , just to be clear your chores .

Whitten Montgomery 7:31

Well , she didn't work at all . Yes , right , we went into the living room space to eat dinner . It was pretty casual . I had the salmon ready , but we wanted to just have our drinks first . Just to be clear , the salmon packets , the salmon foil packets , the salmon foil packets were all ready , but I was . We were just sitting there drinking and Lizzie was like drinking very fast , which was not necessarily abnormal , but she was drinking much faster than me and usually we kind of were like one for one together . So it was a little bit odd to me that she was going through it so quickly and mine just tasted like super duper , like strong and stuff , stuff and weird . So I was like taking a little bit longer . But she kept wanting me to drink and I was like , oh , I need to keep up and at that time I would have done anything to please her . So that is where things get a little bit foggy after that beverage but you finished , you , you remember finishing a beverage .

Whitten Montgomery 8:20

Yes , I do remember finishing it . I remember her wanting to go get the next round . So the last thing I remember really is like that I was peer pressured very much so to finish the string , yeah , and she had pulled my sling off of me because she didn't want my arm restricted .

Maggie Patten 8:36

So you had no sling on . You'd finished one drink , and one drink is not going to affect you to where you're going to be wasted .

Whitten Montgomery 8:46

No or not remember anything . Right , you've lived with me , I have . We've done much worse .

Maggie Patten 8:52

I have . So I know for a fact that one vodka drink is not going to make you black out , Correct . But you're saying that after this one drink , things are getting fuzzy . No , not just fuzzy like gone .

Whitten Montgomery 9:09

Right , completely gone Right , and like I had been like very much like preparing because we worked Next morning was Monday , so like I was getting ready for work , just preparing to have a nice little salmon foil packet dinner , and then you know , we were going to . Just like a chill little Sunday night . A chill little Sunday night . I was already in my pajamas .

Maggie Patten 9:30

What do those pajamas look like ?

Whitten Montgomery 9:32

They were just like like you got to think like gosh , like full out . They were purple , with white trim , with the buttons and everything Like full out like old bomb pajamas .

Maggie Patten 9:41

Listen y'all . Whitten loves her pajamas .

Whitten Montgomery 9:43

I do love my pajamas .

Maggie Patten 9:45

Whitten loves her little matching PJs . More on that later .

Whitten Montgomery 9:48

Yes , but right now lights out . Suddenly . I came to and out of nowhere , I didn't know what was going on . Lizzie was on top of me .

Maggie Patten 9:58

Where were you ?

Whitten Montgomery 10:00

Outside near our cars in the driveway Definitely not in the living room where we had been having the cocktails prior to dinner . She's on top of me . She's literally sitting on top of me . I'm lying on the ground and her hand is holding my hair and she's banging my head into the concrete and I don't know what the fuck is going on and how I got there or why I'm there or why she's on top of me and she's laughing and I can still hear her laughter . Like the way she was laughing , she kept saying , oh , you gonna fight me and I was trying to push her and my arm hurt because my elbow issues . So it was just shocking .

Escape From Attack

Whitten Montgomery 10:45

I don't necessarily claim to be the most athletic human in the world and so I did what I could to like try to get out of that section and all I could do , cause , like she , her head was , I mean , her hand was on my hair . So , like you can't do super duper much in that moment , you're very much constrained . And so I got up like got her off of me and I just ran . So we'll leave it there .

Maggie Patten 11:19

I mean , this part's still pretty hard to hear , you know .

Whitten Montgomery 11:21

I still have to go back and close my eyes , like I can .

Maggie Patten 11:23

I can see it vividly pretty hard to hear .

Whitten Montgomery 11:24

You know , I still have to go back and close my eyes like I can . I can see it vividly , I know so . When I started running I was in pasture town . We lived in a very , very , very small town in north carolina , probably had less than 2 000 residents , very small , um main street and all sorts of things . Our house is actually right off the Main Street area . Maggie has now been there so she can attest to the logistics and the cartography . It's quaint . It's quaint , it's small .

Whitten Montgomery 11:53

Getting into this situation and we'll go more into how I met Lizzie and what happened but this town I had no ties to prior to this relationship . Everyone that I knew there had known Lizzie prior because she had one of her previous marriages . Basically , we'd met some people in the area that she'd already known . I'd met them and I was kind of a peripheral friend . But there was a couple that I was growing closer to . We had just stayed with them .

Whitten Montgomery 12:19

They actually had a beach house that we went to for the 4th of July , and so if you think this is mid August , the 4th of July was not that far away house that we went to for the 4th of July , and so if you think this is mid-August . The 4th of July was not that far away , and that night they basically said to me we think you're being conned , we don't trust Lizzie , we never have , and the only reason we wanted to invite you out here is so we could get to talk to you alone , and we think that you need to get help and you need to get out of here .

Maggie Patten 12:41

And that was on the . That was the 4th of July , the 4th of July trip .

Whitten Montgomery 12:44

So I , of course , was her gladiator , her protector and was like this isn't true , that's not what's happening . But I was a little bit . Red flags were coming up , because that's around the time . Actually , I did call Maggie and , like I , they always say that like DV victims , like have so many times they almost exit and then don't . I did have those . So I knew that they were somewhat aware , but not fully aware of the trauma that I went through .

Whitten Montgomery 13:08

And Pasture Town is so small that in our little grid of a town I had to run about three blocks and I ended up at their house and I'm in my pajamas and I don't even know what I look like at this point in time . Later , when I was photographed with the police , like I know how bruised and everything I looked , but they weren't home yet and they had this beautiful like Southern home with a big porch and I just sat on their porch alone , hiding , waiting until they got home , cause I didn't know what to do . And when they got home , I mean I saw their car come up and like ran to them and I'm like in my pajamas and I scared the shit out of them . I'm sure I mean , and so it was just .

Whitten Montgomery 13:47

I feel so guilty about this whole circumstance . And there I am alone , scared , and they are overwhelmed , they don't know what to do and no one . I don't know what I was thinking , I didn't know where to go , I didn't know this town , I didn't know where I was . I was in tremendously isolated and you .

Maggie Patten 14:02

I mean you literally ran from her laying on top of you , banging your head into the concrete , so you had literally nothing . Nothing my pajamas On your back .

Whitten Montgomery 14:12

Yes , literally , that's it .

Maggie Patten 14:14

Your cute little button down .

Whitten Montgomery 14:16

Pajamas running through pasture town .

Maggie Patten 14:18

Right . So you had no phone , you had no wallet , you had no keys , you had nothing . Nope , no , right .

Whitten Montgomery 14:24

I definitely terrified them . They , they wanted to help but they didn't know how . So they called the police and the police arrived and I am just , I mean , I'm , I'm just tremendously shaking . It's weird because I don't access his memory a lot . It's not pleasant . So their house has like the side driveway and so like like I , after I'd seen them , they tried to , they tried to calm me down , but I wasn't really able to get , get , get calmed down . So I was still out in the driveway when the police got there . One of them was the best caregiver ever , so he was just like on , like , just like a being very nurturing .

Whitten Montgomery 14:59

Yes , he was being very nurturing , trying to help I know I wanted to say like a mama bear , but that's not right . So and the other one was speaking to the police a little bit more . I now have actually seen all this Body cam footage yes , I've seen all of this and know exactly what they said , and I did get an idea of it that night . But the consensus was that like I needed to go to the police station and I'm curious because I don't know .

Whitten Montgomery 15:23

I don't talk about this night a lot . I don't you never really talked about this .

Maggie Patten 15:29

Were they telling the police that they had ? Were they kind of saying stuff that they had said to you on the 4th of July to the police that night ?

Whitten Montgomery 15:34

Yes they were . The police became like instantly like protecting me in a sense , because they wanted me to go pull out as much money as I could of the bank , if possible , like anything that I could do , pull out as much money as I could of the bank , if possible , like anything that I could do . So they said that this girl has been like clearly has obviously just been beaten up which was evident , and I hadn't even seen myself in a mirror but like , yes , but also like she doesn't have a safe place to go back to and this woman has definitely taken her for a ride . So love Pasture Town , this is not something the police are as familiar with dealing with .

Whitten Montgomery 16:09

I will say so this was definitely not a big city , so they were not really familiar with this , and they basically just took the insight of my friends on what to do and they wanted to get me to the police station so that I didn't have to return to the house , so that we could make like a plan for safely getting me out of this city where I literally knew no one had been isolated . I did not want to go and just get out of the city because I had Finn , so I was not okay with that idea .

Maggie Patten 16:39

And we haven't talked about Finn yet . But Finn is Whitten's Yorkie Poo , who is , I mean , straight up , this bitch's life . This little gentleman is her life . So you can imagine her being plucked out of Louisville , kentucky , which we'll talk much more about later . But Louisville , kentucky , which is the city ? Are we saying Louisville ? Yeah , we can say Louisville , okay , which we'll talk much more about later . But Louisville , kentucky , which is the city , are we saying Louisville ?

Whitten Montgomery 17:07

Yeah , we can say Louisville . Okay , good , we're not protecting Louisville because we still live here . I don't know . We do live here when we become big , famous celebrities . I guess we'll be regretting that we told you . But yes , we live in Louisville .

Maggie Patten 17:15

Nobody's going to come find us . So she's been born and raised in the city that she loves and the only thing that she took with her is her fin , and again , this dog is her life . So the fact that she even ran from this house without fin that night shows like if you know Whitten , it shows you how fucking terrified she was that she left that house without Finn that night .

Whitten Montgomery 17:48

That is true .

Maggie Patten 17:48

So sorry , just a little sidebar on that A hundred percent valid . Her saying that she had to go back to get Finn is obviously her number one priority . Yes , yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 18:00

And that is like and it's interesting now because I've had to watch all this body cam footage which I have not enjoyed that night like you have to think too , like you don't ever expect to , like you could be the best friends of anyone in the world , and then if you have your friend running up to you in pajamas after they've just been brutally attacked , like with their head bleeding it's not what you anticipate like running into and they did the right call and getting the police involved at that point , um , there's different like things about that that I wish I had handled differently with the police and known about , which is why I'm honestly doing this podcast , so that I can share that wisdom now , because I didn't do it right and there's a lot of things I could have done differently that I wish I had .

Whitten Montgomery 18:37

But they did the best they could and I got . I got to the police and they eventually we agreed that we were going to go back to my house to get Finn and anything that I could , because at this point in time it'd been some time they had another patrol car go by my house and saw that it was empty , so like they knew that there was no one at the house . So Lizzie had vacated with her son , so we had the opportunity then to go back to the house and I really just wanted finn , because I was too afraid to be there .

Maggie Patten 19:11

But do you have any concept of time , of like how long about ?

Whitten Montgomery 19:14

it's interesting because , like I do have the time stamps of these videos , but I don't know what time I was attacked , I I would say that I probably only had to wait at their house for 10 to 15 minutes until they got there .

Maggie Patten 19:25

I'm just curious about like how long after the attack before you went back to the house .

Whitten Montgomery 19:30

And she took everything Right . I would say it had to have been like An hour , hour and a half max . I was in such a state of shock , I don't know how long we had .

Discovery of Missing Items

Whitten Montgomery 19:42

Sure , at this time I got into the back of their car . I remember the main police officer . I can still remember his name . We'll call him Edward . Edward was fantastic and he helped me figure out what we needed to do . Figure out what we needed to do . We got to my house and the the backyard was . The gate was shut but the back door was open .

Maggie Patten 20:09

Like unlocked or open open .

Whitten Montgomery 20:10

The back door was open , open , so Finn had access to the backyard . Okay , edward and the other cops were protecting me and helping me walk into the house . We got there and it was eerie . It's like you get somewhere right after someone has just left . The salmon pack-ins had been opened and the salmon packets were set on plates , as if the dinners had been eaten by Lizzie and her son inside of Lizzie's bathroom . So I guess they ate as they packed . They were sitting out in her . She had the massive bathroom , so in the house the big bathroom was hers . I was really triggered at that time . The oven was still on with my salmon foil packet sitting in the oven , so the police turned it off . So it was . Did you , do you ?

Maggie Patten 20:55

remember turning it off that night the police turned it off . I do no but do you remember , did you turn it off when you were making dinner ? I think so . So like she did that though .

Whitten Montgomery 21:06

Yes , she turned it back on .

Maggie Patten 21:06

She turned it back on and put your dinner in there , the fuck .

Whitten Montgomery 21:10

Yes , she did . Yes , she did . Okay , I really wanted a few things out of this , specifically Finn , who I had at that point in time , my little walrus . I had Finn set and I was hoping to get my car keys in my phone so that I could plan an exit . Yeah , we searched the whole house . I've seen all of this on body cam footage . Everyone searched everywhere . There was no evidence in any place I would have left my keys or phone . Of my keys or phone , the only thing at that point of value that I felt I could bring with me to be able to have access , because my personal laptop was gone , any of my other personal devices , like my Apple Watch , all of those were gone .

Maggie Patten 21:56

You weren't wearing your Apple Watch .

Whitten Montgomery 21:57

No , no , no , I was entirely in my pajamas , ready for bed , and you don't wear it to bed . I do not sleep in my apple watch . I'm one of those . I don't sleep in any sort of jewelry . Yes , I'm a charge overnighter . So we were gathering anything we could , and the only thing that felt useful was my work computer , so she had not taken my work computer . My pajamas had been bloodied from multiple ways because I had started my period . I had been abused , I've been beaten , so I did switch to another outfit and like your car is there , her car is gone .

Whitten Montgomery 22:34

Her car is gone . My car is there , but my keys are not there . Right was there . Did her son have a car ? Her son had a car . It was there .

Maggie Patten 22:42

His keys were not there okay , she made sure that you couldn't leave easily on your own accord and did not have anyone to contact anyone right ?

Whitten Montgomery 22:51

because she took your phone . Yes , your computer and all the cash that we had she wanted to keep in her vicinity .

Maggie Patten 23:02

And all of that was gone as well .

Whitten Montgomery 23:05

So would y'all have like a little bank of cash somewhere in the house ? We did keep cash in the house in case you know Girl Scouts came or anyone came that we needed to use cash for what I like to keep cash in case I need to , like you know , someone comes and wants to sell something at the door what what ? Wants to sell something at the door girl , what what ? Okay , like in the town of pasture town a lot of people would come and like try to sell like chili , kickoff tickets or other things .

Maggie Patten 23:28

So we did have a source of cash so we had , like a like a fat stack of cash in a drawer we did some girls yes , we did so .

Whitten Montgomery 23:38

All the cash was gone as well .

Maggie Patten 23:40

Well , sucks for those Girl Scouts .

Whitten Montgomery 23:44

The police were adamant that I use the bank card that I found .

Maggie Patten 23:49

So I found one of my old bank cards , oh right right , because you , at this point , you probably had , did you have the wallet on your phone yet ?

Whitten Montgomery 23:56

No .

Maggie Patten 23:56

Okay , Because I mean , if y'all don't know about the wallet on your phone , check it out .

Whitten Montgomery 24:01

Yes , it's very useful . Yes , now my whole wallet's on my phone , although my phone was taken , but I did have an old version of one of my debit cards that was there that I knew I could utilize . So I took a debit card , thin my work computer computer and a new outfit . So those are the

Seeking Solace

Whitten Montgomery 24:17

things that I took . I was too afraid to stay in the house much longer . I was getting very antsy and scared . I felt very hurt to seeing that the dinner had been eaten , that everything went on as normal and that they were gone .

Whitten Montgomery 24:27

Right . So I will say I was a little bit heartbreaking because this is someone I was in love with . So I went back to the house and realized they had taken all of my personal belongings .

Maggie Patten 24:37

Anything that I had to contact someone with , any method of getting help , was gone so at that point , did you feel like um did you have any idea that this could have been like planned or like ?

Whitten Montgomery 24:50

well , the police and my neighbors were all leading to the fact that , like you've been duped , like you're in this sort of con , this is the , the culmination , and I'm getting the feeling of it , but it's not necessarily hit .

Maggie Patten 25:02

It's hard to recognize .

Whitten Montgomery 25:03

And then I walk in this house and see that they ate dinner and packed up their stuff and I guess they left . I guess they left because they knew I was probably running to the police when I was beaten up Yep , which is horrible to know what they did after that , but we don't know this yet . But I took this and I left the house and the police really wanted me to try to go to an ATM because my friends that we had visited had made it very clear that they thought that Lizzie was going to try to steal everything she could from me , and the weekend that this had happened we were living penny to penny I mean dollar to dollar during this time . But in my job , if I meet a certain threshold we get a bonus and that prior Friday my bonus had been paid out into my bank account . So they were very afraid that my whole bonus , everything was going to be gone . The only thing that I could withdraw from an ATM on a weekend evening was $500 cash . So we did go and my limit is 500 . So if you ever get into this crisis , guys know your limit , because you can't get very much out of your damn bank account . I only got $500 . And that in today's world doesn't get you as far as you'd want it to . So I had $500 cash , this bank card , my new outfit , finn , and my work computer . With my work computer's charger we went to the police station .

Whitten Montgomery 26:22

The Pasture Town police station is not quite what you'd expect for a police station . What do you mean From ? Like there's an entryway you can walk into , like not very official looking , okay . And then if you go through there's like a window , like I guess , if you're like trying at a bank to talk to an entryway window , okay , and if you're like trying at a bank to talk to an entryway window , and if you go past the entryway window , there's like one conference room , two offices and one jail cell . So it's . This is where I am quaint . It's quaint from my perspective . That day we went and sort to sort of like the conference room area with a computer . Edward wanted to call lizzie . He repeatedly wanted to get a hold of her to figure out where she was , because he wanted me to be able to have the keys to my car .

Maggie Patten 27:03

Why the fuck did he think ?

Whitten Montgomery 27:04

that that would work . Yeah , I think my neighbors I'm not sure exactly who gave the impression that if we spoke to Lizzie it might just work out . So they repeatedly wanted to call Lizzie . I am sitting there , terrified . I am on a Facebook messenger trying to contact every friend of mine possible because they've given me , like , the internet code . So I'm sitting there trying to contact Maggie , trying to contact my other close friends from home , just trying to say I'm in crisis , point in time . It's not as late as you'd think . I'm probably contacting these people at nine or 10 at night . I'm not getting a lot of response because a lot of my friends were a little bit distanced from me at this time because I wasn't as present in their lives either . So I'm in crisis , trying to get help , and I get a hold of my parents . For the first time I've ever told them that I've married this person .

Maggie Patten 27:51

Wow , I didn't know that was the first time .

Whitten Montgomery 27:52

My parents had no idea . I confided to Maggie and I confided to my sister because Lizzie didn't want anyone to know that we'd married . I had married Lizzie to help her . I'd married Lizzie because I'm in love with her . I'd married Lizzie to give her everything she wanted , and insurance was something she really wanted . She wanted her health insurance . So I'm getting ahold of my parents and they're upset , and that's justifiably so . I mean I was one of those little girls who wanted to get married and played wedding with her Barbies . For my parents to know that this had happened , they were very upset . I didn't really have anyone until I got a hold of one of our close friends and she was able to help me and I finally felt like I had someone on the other side to talk to .

Whitten Montgomery 28:30

But the police were still trying to get a hold of Lizzie at that point in time and eventually Lizzie called back . So she called the police phone back . When we saw that Lizzie was calling , the police were like pick it up to me , because they said get her on the phone and have her give you back your things that she stole from you so that you can get out of here and get home . And when I picked it up , she said why are you picking up the police phone ? You shouldn't be have the authority to picking up the police phone . You shouldn't be have the authority to pick up the police phone . You're insane . Give me the police now .

Whitten Montgomery 29:03

The police were listening to this , as they are the ones who told me to talk to her , and they speak to her and it's clear to them that she's trying to create a narrative that I'm insane and trying to get me out . So at that point , when the police are not agreeable to what she wants she , she hangs up the phone . We have not gotten my keys or my phone . The police realize we're not .

Maggie Patten 29:23

How long was that conversation ?

Whitten Montgomery 29:24

I think maybe three minutes . Yeah , literally just like Very condescending to me . She got me to do exactly what she wanted , which was give the phone back to the police . I gave the phone back to the police . Edward was very anxious that he had been doing something wrong , even though he hadn't .

Maggie Patten 29:39

Edward was very anxious that he had been doing something wrong , even though he hadn't . She's that manipulative that she can make a police officer like question what they're doing . Yes , yes and so , and I will say that , like this is , this is probably something that Pasture Town has never dealt with before . It's like it's probably something that a lot of places have never dealt with .

Whitten Montgomery 30:03

I mean , she's a master manipulator and I had no idea , right ? So they're all . Everyone is all in crisis . They realize at this point , after she hung up , that there's no way I'm going to get my car keys , no way I'm going to get my phone , no way I'm going to have anything of my past identity . And they recognize that I'm too afraid to go back to my house . So me and my dog , along with speaking to my parents back and forth as my parents are upset and that's justifiable eventually decide that I should get to a hotel so that the next morning I can get out of Pasture Town and get back to Louisville where I know people .

Whitten Montgomery 30:32

Maggie actually helped me get there and took her to get home . We made arrangements with a hotel in the vicinity . I leaned on my one friend who was awake . It was very helpful and caretaking in this moment . She helped me find a space to stay , she helped me find where to go and I rode in the back of a police car to a Holiday Inn . It was not the correct Holiday Inn , so , as I get dropped off at this hotel was not the correct holiday inn . So as I get dropped off at this hotel , they , the police leave me and my dog at the front door and they do not let us into the hotel . Because I have a dog , yes , and I look like hot shit as well . I mean , I am in this new outfit that I threw on . I have a dog , a computer , a computer charger and I have my $500 , hopefully , stuck up my pants somewhere . I don't even know Jesus , it's all that I have . So I am standing at this hotel and someone communicates .

Maggie Patten 31:32

But it's late , right , it's later .

Whitten Montgomery 31:34

Yes , now it's later . It's getting progressively later as we stay .

Maggie Patten 31:38

I feel like it's the time of night where , like a hotel doesn't necessarily have their doors that are , like on automatic , open no no right , okay , okay .

Whitten Montgomery 31:47

So someone speaks to the outside speakers . You can't bring that dog in here . I try to communicate that I have a reservation and they look my name up in no such luck . So wrong hotel . Luckily at this kind of and this town is this city is wrong hotel . Luckily at this kind of and this town is this city is not large , so luckily , at this sort of exit there's a couple other hotels . So I walk over to another hotel that is , I mean , a stone's throw away from the previous one , because you're at one of those sort of exits and I walk through the first automatic door . Lock him through .

Whitten Montgomery 32:18

Now I'm in some sort of vestibule . Finn's out the ground . He's excited that we're finally going in somewhere and this door is locked . The woman communicates to me and I say I have $500 cash , I need to stay somewhere tonight , and she says they do not accept cash . And in this hotel vestibule I fall on the floor and start crying with Finn and say I'm experiencing domestic abuse and I need somewhere to stay tonight . Can I please pay you with cash ? Shit , so the manager comes . Shit , so the manager comes and allows us in and we pay in cash . So I have a room . That's awesome .

Whitten Montgomery 33:02

Yes , now , I don't know if anyone out here has ever paid for a hotel with cash . I have now I know you pay more cash up front than you would a debit card , because they can't hold stuff on your card , so I am down to not very much for my original $500 . At this point in time , however , finn and I get a hotel room and for the first time since I ran to my friend's house , I'm alone and I have that computer and it's late and I'm utilizing no text , no , anything Facebook Messenger to message anybody that I know that's still awake , and our one friend who had children is awake and she keeps telling me you need to go to bed , you need to get rest . I have the hotel landline . I tried to call my closest friends a couple of times . It's too late , no one's answering their phone .

Maggie Patten 33:56

So I'm just it is a sunday night , like yes , not that that matters , but it does .

Whitten Montgomery 33:58

I'm calling from a random phone number random phone number on sunday night from a hotel .

Whitten Montgomery 34:03

Yes , so I am alone .

Return Home

Whitten Montgomery 34:07

I then thinking of what all my friends have said , like the ones I talked to , the ones who thought that she was a scammer . I opened my computer and I start to , outside of Facebook , try to log into things . I can't get into my email . I get into my bank account and it's empty . I can't get into any basic thing . I can't even log into my Canva . I can't even log into my most basic accounts . They've all been closed .

Whitten Montgomery 34:36

So I'm beginning to realize that within the span of a few hours , my whole life is being taken from me and I'm just sitting in the hotel room with my dog alone , sad I don't even know how else to describe it Like I had finally , like I'm just alone and I'm coming to this realization and I can't sleep and everyone keeps telling me who I can get old of is just sleep , sleep . Tomorrow you've got a big day , there's a lot you've got to do . You've got to get out of here , and I'm trying genuinely . But I also just want some sort of like outside contact people to tell me I'm going to be okay , because I really don't think I'm going to be okay and I'm a little bit afraid after I heard what had gone on with the police and she had called them and tried to tell them that I was insane , that something bad was going to happen and I really want to get out of this city . So I try , and I sit in the bed for a minute , I try to put on the TV and then I just realize I'm sitting in blood because my period's so bad and I'm just alone .

Whitten Montgomery 35:37

So eventually I call and my friend . She says I have to take the rest of the cash that I have , go to the Walmart that she's mapped out for me for where she knows I am , and get a burner phone , dog food and tampons . So that's what I did and I walked into the Walmart and they tried to tell me I couldn't be there with my dog and I just cried . So then they let me in so way to go Walmart . Yeah , and I've never bought a burner phone before , so that's a new experience . But I got one and I was at the checkout and I was worried that I wouldn't have enough and I started crying and the woman at the checkout was already telling me where domestic violence shelters were , because I think she got the vibe .

Whitten Montgomery 36:20

So it was a bad day . It was a bad day and I was very alone . But I did get fin food and I did get tampons . So I tried to soak my clothes in the hotel sink to clean them , and I got enough to be able to go . And then I got ahold of Maggie and so Maggie got me a car to get out .

Whitten Montgomery 36:41

So it was like a very bad morning , night , day , whole day . But if I didn't have people surrounding me and helping me make plans , I don't know if I would have been able to do it , because it was a lot . And in those moments they say you like , prepare for crisis , because you always got to have that plan , but if everything's taken away from you , it's a little bit more difficult . So when I'm sitting outside of Walmart actually which is where some of the footage pictures of me are , because so our close friend got me the Uber to get me to where Maggie had arranged for the rental car to pick me up , which in this small city was only the airport , so I had to get to the airport from Walmart .

Whitten Montgomery 37:17

We're sitting outside of Walmart , me and Finn and I'm getting texts . Finally I can finally text again on my burner phone . I call and give them the number and I'm getting a text stating that I need to ensure because I know the police took pictures but that I have pictures of all my wounds . So I did take a lot of pictures of myself in the walmart parking lot sitting there with finn as I went into my uber to get there and my uber got me there and then took me to the airport where maggie had arranged for the rental car . Do you remember any of this ? I think it was a Kia . It might have been a Kia , I just remember it was like a little Kia it was . I feel like it was bigger . Maybe what they had in stock was bigger , but like I , was able .

Maggie Patten 37:56

I feel like it was like a little sedan , though it wasn't like , it was just like a small car .

Whitten Montgomery 38:01

I don't even know what sedan means . Mean like a cord ?

Maggie Patten 38:03

no , I mean like , like a little corridor situation . It wasn't an suv , no , no , no , it was not what you're used to driving , but like I think it was just like a little , I don't remember even what it was . I feel like it was a kia . Whatever it was , it was a kia brand car .

Whitten Montgomery 38:18

That's great , it was . Whatever it was , it was a car and um it was whatever was available at that the inky dink fucking airport I know magg Maggie's been there since .

Maggie Patten 38:28

I still get emails from Alamo . Who did ?

Whitten Montgomery 38:31

it Alamo's , who we just drove across the country from , is it ? Yes , that's another story . Okay , yeah , that's another story . Now my life is okay and I can drive across the country . So we were at , so when I got there , they didn't want to give me the car , remember , because , so we were at , so when I got there , they didn't want to give me the car , remember . Yes , because I had to put a card on file for incidentals and I didn't have anything and you didn't have it .

Maggie Patten 38:53

And I had to talk to them and like I gave them my card and they just like were questioning everything and I was like I totally , like you can , like I am the one that's going to be responsible for everything , just put my card on it , because she didn't have a fucking card , and did you ? You didn't have a driver's license , I didn't have anything . I don't know how did they let you drive out of there without ?

Whitten Montgomery 39:17

a driver's license . You said something on the phone I guess I did .

Maggie Patten 39:21

I guess that boss ass bitch that shit . I guess , because I don't know how the fuck you got out of there without a driver's license . I never thought about that .

Whitten Montgomery 39:30

They gave me the car eventually .

Maggie Patten 39:32

Well , yeah , you made it back .

Whitten Montgomery 39:36

But that was a nine and a half hour car ride home and I had cash to go to get gas with and just my burner phone and the ability to hope for the best Because at this point in time my debit card that I'd found the leftover debit card was out because I'd realized she'd taken everything out of my bank account , did you ?

Maggie Patten 39:57

feel like you had enough cash to get back . I was very worried , yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 40:00

Because gas is so expensive , right , and so the hotel , and there was nothing that any of us could have done to . You could have wired . I remember our close friend , western Union . I don't know Our close friend was talking about wiring me money . Okay , yeah , that's what you do , right .

Maggie Patten 40:14

I guess . I mean , we live in such a digital age now . It's not like I could have Venmo'd you money . No , you couldn't have .

Whitten Montgomery 40:30

God , that's crazy , though . So I am driving . I'm so used to just , you know , playing bluetooth or doing anything . I actually at one of the early stops because I hadn't eaten . I hadn't eaten in a long time because I didn't get my salmon foil packet . So I was hungry and I will say , like during my marriage , eating was not a privilege I had frequently because there was a little bit of control about weight .

Maggie Patten 40:50

Why is that a privilege ?

Whitten Montgomery 40:51

with control about weight . And I actually will say , like I at one of the early stops I remember I used my money to buy a charger for this burner phone so that I could have a burner phone . And I'm calling and I'm having to tell my work , because it's a Monday , right , that I'm not . And I'm having to tell my work because it's a Monday that I'm not working . I'm having to tell everybody , like you know , I'm coming back , I have to be off today and I started crying on the phone to one of my supervisors at work just saying and I'm saying this as a gay woman and I recognize the irony in this but I just want a Chick-fil-A sandwich and I know that they are not good people , I just really like fried chicken . And it's a fault , it's a fatal fault . You wanted the hate chicken , I wanted the hate chicken so bad and I was so hungry . And she said she looked on the road and found a Chick-fil-A near me and had them prepay for the food .

Maggie Patten 41:47

So I could eat food on the way . I did not know that .

Whitten Montgomery 41:51

I did not know that , yeah , she did Wow , so I did have a meal . Wow , so that I could save my money for the gas , wow . And I was just rotating people because there were a few people who were like my coworkers were kind of like what the fuck's been happening , please tell us everything ? And they were a little bit in on the gossip . A lot of people too , though my closest friends . I'd really hurt , which makes sense , because most of the people that I called I had to say hi , not only did I move away to North Carolina , but I also got married and someone else was controlling my entire life . And now I'm fleeing from an abusive relationship and no one knew . And that was .

Whitten Montgomery 42:31

That was new information to like almost everybody everybody but two people Cause that one day that I broke down and almost ran away and called you and Jacqueline .

Maggie Patten 42:40

Yeah , and that was , um , that was a lot , that was a . That was a pretty rough conversation because you know there were obviously lots of lots of red flags , black flags , whatever the worst flag you can imagine . There were lots of those before you left and then to be pretty much cut off from any kind of communication and just have your imagination wondering what your friend is going through , and then to get a phone call one day and hear just like a tidbit of what's going on Pretty fucking crazy . You know , like I would say that this is kind of just the tip of the iceberg . So we did a disclaimer at the beginning of the podcast referencing domestic violence , and we did touch on that in this episode , for sure . But just know that there's going to be a fair amount more that's going to be touched on in episodes to come , things such as same-sex identity theft , because that shit is crazy and that bitch became Whitten or at least tried successfully in a lot of ways successfully in a lot of ways .

Maggie Patten 44:02

Um , what else ? Property theft , which doesn't sound real sexy , but , um , when you walk into a house that you previously left , that was completely furnished and it's completely empty , with every yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 44:16

Everything your whole life has saved is gone everything . Yes , there's that there was a false arrest , or I don't even know what the right term is . I just want to emphasize the fact that I was innocent , but arrested because someone lied .

Maggie Patten 44:31

And the reason that she got arrested is to call the police to help her , because she was scared .

Whitten Montgomery 44:35

I did .

Maggie Patten 44:36

We took a trip back to Pasture Town that you're going to hear about and there's going to be a full episode on that for sure including the false arrest , including utilities being cut off , including refrigerators being filled with milk and chicken products . It was , oh my God , Knowing that the utilities were going to be cut off .

Whitten Montgomery 45:04

Like we're talking about a psychotic person who , like this house , had a stench that you could smell as soon as you entered the building , and poor Maggie dealt with it .

Maggie Patten 45:16

It's funny , there were also objects laying around that were like cryptic messages that were super fucked up . Post-it notes , little figurines that were laid out in specific ways . I mean it's just deflated balloons calculated evil that did this it's like .

Whitten Montgomery 45:35

it's like it sounds like a soap opera , but it's real and I think that this situation , as I reflect upon it , having lived it now , maggie , having lived it , I used to think was isolated and I realize is so much more common , and so I hope that sharing it makes a difference . The reason I came off mute and Maggie is unmuted with me is because this story in a lot of ways is universal and it hits from a lot of different factors . It doesn't just hit from the domestic violence factor , it doesn't just hit from the divorce factor . It doesn't just hit from the identity theft factor or the incarceration factor or the you know , consistent daily abuse factor , or like the play on mental health and I , as someone who's gone through a lot of mental health struggles , being completely like diluted into a circumstance .

Whitten Montgomery 46:32

It comes from so many different sides and there's so much knowledge that I've obtained and also so much faith that I've lost in a lot of legal systems and resources and tools . I wish I knew ahead of time legal systems and resources and tools . I wish I knew

Emotional Journey of Moving On

Whitten Montgomery 46:49

ahead of time . This is episode one , because I think it's worth it . Otherwise it's probably not worth me making Maggie go on this emotional journey every weekend where we're both just crying , talking about the past , because we'd rather move on . But I'm not ready to move on because I think we might help somebody , hopefully , I hope we do .

Whitten Montgomery 47:05

Or at least us we will . I hope we help somebody . At least it do , or at least us we will I hope we help somebody , at least it's therapeutic for us . Yes , so goodbye . I'm gonna go back on mute until the next episode . Bye y'all , bye .