Episode 2 - The Return Part 1

PART 1 of 2.

TRIGGER WARNING: Domestic Violence

Whitten continues to unmute. She returns to Pasturetown. 

Transcript

Unmute Episode Two

Maggie Patten 0:00

Hi , I'm Whitten and I'm Maggie , and welcome to episode two of Unmute . If you have not listened to our previous episode , I would recommend it because this next episode might not make sense if you don't listen to that one . But a quick recap of our last episode . We really dove into the attack , which was the culmination of all of the mental abuse and mind games that Lizzie had been putting Whitten through for a little over a year , and we also heard the aftermath of the attack of that night and how we got Whitten back to Kentucky . I do want to give a quick warning of trigger warnings , because this entire podcast is going to be working through domestic violence and abuse , so just want to make sure that we're calling that out every episode .

Whitten Montgomery 0:54

And a reminder that we're not telling the story in a chronological order . In fact , this episode won't come immediately after the last one . It's going to come kind of in a point where it makes sense for us to continue and that we have changed the name so that I can tell this story in a place of peace for myself and also to protect the guilty . Yes , unfortunately that does mean that the guilty are protected too . So we hope you enjoy episode two , the Return .

Maggie Patten 1:31

So I had been in Louisville for about two months before I even managed and ventured to go back to North Carolina to try to see what was left there and luckily , sweet Maggie decided to come with me or decided , or was forced , decided , I'm not quite sure .

Whitten Montgomery 1:39

We'll just say that Maggie came , that Maggie came and I actually picked this specific weekend because Lizzie had been using the health insurance one of the reasons she married me and I was able to see through the health insurance that she had scheduled an appointment out of the state of Kentucky or North Carolina actually in a whole different state and so I knew that she was not going to be at the house , and that was my biggest fear was to see her again . It was actually very unclear to me whether or not she was in North Carolina or Louisville , because she'd lived in Louisville before , obviously , and where she went back to . So we decided to go to North Carolina because I needed to do three things yes , wanted to get my car , yes , and I wanted to make sure the house was okay because I was still paying the mortgage on this property . Right , I was worried about it . Okay , because I was still paying the mortgage on this property .

Whitten Montgomery 2:27

I was worried about it my lawyer , basically early on , because I did something really stupid and never do this whenever you buy a house with someone , even if you love them forever . But she didn't qualify to be on the mortgage , but I still let her sign the deed . That's right . So I couldn't sell the property without her allowing me to do it , and so , but I was the only one bound with my credit to the mortgage .

Whitten Montgomery 2:47

So my lawyer suggested to get her to get out of the house that I was paying for was for me to stop paying for the utilities , so that then she was kind of forced to move on and find her next victim , I guess , or whatever .

Maggie Patten 2:59

Right , right , but and essentially forcing her out of the house and , yes , essentially forcing her back to Louisville .

Whitten Montgomery 3:06

Which I didn't want to do .

Maggie Patten 3:07

But I just I didn't want to pay for her .

Whitten Montgomery 3:09

To live . Yeah , no , no , no . So I did so at that moment . I knew that , yeah , we knew we were walking into a house without any power or anything thing . But when we told her we were going to pay it , my lawyer told her and she didn't respond positively , which we will figure out the way she retaliated later , once you and I get there , yep . But I wanted to ensure the house was okay , because this was my biggest asset . Everything I owned was put into this property , I mean all my money , and then I was hopeful that there would be some belongings that I could take .

Maggie Patten 3:42

Well , yeah , you left with you , left with nothing , right ? You left with your work computer . You left with finn a change of clothes . So bad debit card . Yeah right , all all of your clothes , all of your jewelry , all of your personal belongings , everything , every memory still at that house yeah , so we were hopeful we'd be able to get some stuff .

Whitten Montgomery 4:01

But my dad has actually worked with cars his whole life and he was very much clear that he wanted Maggie and me to get the car sent off to be checked to make sure nothing bad had happened to it . So we were going to get . We had a plan to have the car picked up , towed away and inspected before we drove all the way back from North Carolina to Kentucky with said car .

Maggie Patten 4:20

Right , Because I don't know if we have stressed enough that this bitch is crazy . And you know , I don't know People is a very small airport and it's not even in .

Whitten Montgomery 4:33

Pasture Town . It's actually in a city outside of Pasture Town , but when I say city I'm being very generous because it's not a large airport . So there was only one airline we could use . We took a plane to a large airport and then got on a different plane .

Maggie Patten 4:59

So the first flight was fine . It was fine Like a normal , a normal plane yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 5:05

It was fine , like a normal . A normal plane , yeah , like a normal plane . Yes , the first flight was normal . Um I I don't know if we need to get into everything about Maggie , but she does struggle with some um fears of . I don't know if it's claustrophobia or whether it's heights , or Got some anxiety got some anxiety up in here . So our second flight . I will say , maggie , was it just up to your standards ?

Maggie Patten 5:26

It was not up to my standards . I don't like flying anyway because , as you said , some anxiety and claustrophobia issues because you're in a metal coffin being hurled through the air Okay , but a large one normally . And when we got to the second airport I say in quotes we were then put onto a plane that it did have a center aisle , our assigned seats . They made an announcement that we might have to redistribute where people are sitting because of sorry , because of weight distribution on the plane . So it was , needless to say , it was a very small plane , she wasn't doing a lot of anxiety .

Maggie Patten 6:20

Yes , some xanax was had luckily we made it the , the , the person moved was had .

Whitten Montgomery 6:25

Luckily , we made it . The person moved , the way it was distributed and we made it to the airport and we were safe and fine .

Maggie Patten 6:37

But like never in my life did I ever anticipate unless I'm like in Africa , going on a safari , on like a you know little tiny jet engine kind of , maybe people maybe like really rich people have this all the time when they're on private planes , maybe , but like we're not used to this , no .

Whitten Montgomery 6:50

So we got there and the airport was very empty and we had thought we would take an Uber to our hotel and get our rental car in the morning .

Maggie Patten 7:01

Well it was apparent that we landed after hours in this airport , so not a major , any kind of major airport , I mean it has one gate . One gate and that shit was shut down . And what time did we even get in ? I mean maybe nine , 10 . I mean it was later but it was . It wasn't two or three in the morning .

Whitten Montgomery 7:23

No , but it was shut down . So we were outside trying to get an Uber and the little man trying to shut down the airport was like what are you all doing ? And then he told us that maybe more people in the area might because they're all asleep might have their lift turned on . So then we tried to turn our lift on . We eventually got a car to take us , and this is when I decided to break the news to Maggie that in North Carolina they don't sell liquor on Sundays and that the next day was a federal holiday , so they wouldn't be selling liquor on Mondays either , so we weren't going to be able to have a drink .

Maggie Patten 7:59

Which we were going to need a drink for what we were getting into .

Whitten Montgomery 8:02

Oh yes , yes , gonna need a drink for what we were getting into . Oh , yes , yes . So , as the lift driver happens to finally get there , we are lamenting to him about our circumstance and the lack of alcohol , and he tells us that because also they only .

Maggie Patten 8:16

You can only buy liquor at specific stores it's not like stores right . It's not like you can go to a grocery store , a gas station , it's very specific stores and that shit was shit was closed it was closed .

Whitten Montgomery 8:26

That's just how it is in North Carolina . That's their liquor policy . So we're lamenting to him and he tells us well , he sells bourbon out of his trunk .

Whitten Montgomery 8:34

He said but wait but wait , come in my trunk and , oh , did I buy bourbon out of that man's trunk ? I did , I did , I did . And then , after he makes his sale , he reminds us because I didn't live in North Carolina that long that you could actually buy wine and beer at the gas stations if you want to . So as I have sketchball bourbon , we decide Trunk bourbon . Yes , trunk bourbon . We decide to then still go to the gas station and buy some beer and Definitely a bottle of wine non-twist top yes , so we do get to our hotel .

Whitten Montgomery 9:10

Um , that kind lift driver was able to take us on our very nice , very accommodating and then we get to the hotel and this isn't a hotel where they just have a corkscrew for you at the front desk , but that front desk check-in guy really wanted to impress us , I think .

Maggie Patten 9:35

And this nice young man in his crisp white hotel , embroidered button down , got a corkscrew and decided that he was going to open it for us . Oh , the poor thing . But it wasn't a good corkscrew . It's one of those that you twist down , you put the thing through the hole in the top and then you just have to pull with all your might and pray it doesn't spill everywhere . Well , it spilled , it did .

Whitten Montgomery 9:55

All over his white shirt .

Maggie Patten 9:56

It literally just . He was a strapping young man and he pulled it hard and fast and it just was all over .

Whitten Montgomery 10:11

So we took our remaining wine up to the room and braced ourselves for what we knew was going to be a tough next day , of walking into my house and seeing what the situation was .

Maggie Patten 10:20

And just having no idea of what we were walking into .

Whitten Montgomery 10:22

Yes , so after our night of half of a bottle of wine , after that wine splatter , we got to sleep , Got the rental car and the next morning we were planning to go get the rental car .

Unjust Arrest

Whitten Montgomery 10:34

I remember getting ready in the hotel . I was like I remember looking in the mirror , I guess , while Maggie was in the bathroom getting ready .

Maggie Patten 10:45

I was in like a mirror in the hallway and I was like Maggie , I feel like I'm going to get to this house and I'm going to be arrested , which I mean I think I answered like that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard . Why would you get arrested ? But I will preface Whitten's fear that she has always had in a naturally irrational fear of being arrested , like I have , like there's Wynton's never done anything to where she could would get arrested , but she has always had a just massive fear of being incarcerated . I've heard her say that phrase so many times about being incarcerated and so you know she's saying this stuff to me that morning and I was just like I don't know what you're talking about . That's not going to happen . Like it , it will not happen .

Whitten Montgomery 11:33

Yes , she did say this . Um , I w . I know that I was afraid because the last time I was in North Carolina and I think we referenced this in the last episode was that I knew that Lizzie had been trying to tell the police that I was insane and even , like I thought , even trying to force me into a mental institution or a jail . And I still had that lingering fear just by being back in the area . So I was terrified .

Whitten Montgomery 11:56

We had decided we were going to call the police to be there at the house . When we got there because I the last time I was there I was attacked but I even was way back and forth about canceling the police I was like do we even want them with me ? Maybe they're going to make me too scared if I see them . So that morning we did go to get the rental car and headed over to the house . I don't think we ate , and this is kind of sad in my opinion , because this was like a beautiful home , a dream home , I mean a beautiful home to raise a family in , and on one of the best streets in the neighbor in the town . Just a wonderful home , and it was definitely in disarray , but I had a lot of dreams there , a lot of dreams that I wanted to fulfill there .

Maggie Patten 12:40

When we got to the house the police weren't there yet , but we went ahead and went in .

Whitten Montgomery 12:43

It was shocking , shocking . The whole house was nearly empty . And we'll probably get more into some of these details in later episodes , but just to give idea , every room was outfitted , like you know furniture , light fixtures , decor .

Maggie Patten 13:17

I mean prior to this right .

Whitten Montgomery 13:17

Yes , oh we had a full , beautiful furnished house . Yeah , every dollar I earned was in that house , right ? I mean we replaced all the light fixtures , we replaced the poles in the kitchen , we replaced appliances , it was everything . And to see all of it pulled away , even like the light fixtures- gone , gone .

Maggie Patten 13:34

So I think you were upstairs , I was upstairs and I was downstairs in the kitchen kind of pool area and there was a banging on the back door . So I went and I saw it was . I saw it was a uniformed police officer and I was like , oh , they did decide to come by even though we had said I think we're okay , we don't need you to come by . And I opened the back door and he said are you Whitney Montgomery ? And I said no , but she's just inside . And they said we have a warrant for her arrest . They kind of pushed past me to go into the home . I came downstairs .

Whitten Montgomery 14:13

You did come downstairs , I knew what was happening . At this point it was my worst fears realized entirely , and you always prepare for your worst fear in your head a little bit , and I'd been living in crazy town , so it was exactly what I thought was going to happen , and I was so confused as to why . What could I have said ? What could I have done ? The last time I was in pastor town , I was literally beaten . And here I am back just trying to take anything left that I could have the scraps of my old life , the scraps of my life savings . And , Whitten Montgomery , we have a warrant for your arrest and , like they take no fucking time to put you in handcuffs , I'm going to tell you that right now .

Maggie Patten 14:55

No time , no time . And I just remember asking them if they had to put her in handcuffs , she was not , there was no resistance . If they had to put her in handcuffs , she was not , there was no resistance , there was no questioning . Honestly , because , as Whitten just said , like she somehow knew this was going to happen , even though I thought like how in the hell could this possibly happen ? People lie . You just don't understand the level of evil that you are dealing with . I knew I didn't .

Whitten Montgomery 15:26

People lie . Yeah , yeah , she lies .

Maggie Patten 15:28

And I just was begging them to not put her in handcuffs because as somebody as I've mentioned previously who deals with claustrophobia and anxiety , I knew that if I had been in that situation , somebody put handcuffs on me , I would have lost my fucking mind . And they said it's standard protocol , we have to do it . I immediately grabbed her phone . I don't know how I had the wherewithal to think to do that .

Whitten Montgomery 15:53

And they were encouraging you .

Maggie Patten 15:55

They were .

Whitten Montgomery 15:55

Honestly , they weren't bad at this moment . No , they had this warrant and they had to serve it Right and after the days later and stuff knowing about them in the circumstance , they weren't pleased with this situation either it .

Maggie Patten 16:09

They were doing what they had to do because it was their job .

Whitten Montgomery 16:12

It was bad , and maggie did take my phone , she did get my passcode and in that moment I'm we are trying to at first probably prolong this to figure out what we can do to make another plan . But they explained to us that until I get to the pastortown station to see , on the literal warrant , what is written on it , we are unsure of what my next steps are going to be , whether or not I could just leave on bail , whether or not I'm required to go into jail , what the next steps are . And we're on a ticking time because I don't want to stay somewhere overnight and we're dealing with pandemic times . So Maggie takes my phone and instantly just calls my lawyer , which luckily she knew who my lawyer's name was . I had a divorce lawyer , I had a family lawyer . I didn't have a criminal lawyer , right .

Maggie Patten 17:00

And luckily she , you know . She answered the phone immediately and she said hey , Whitten , what's up ? And I was like this is not Whitten , here's what's happening . And she sprung into action like a fucking rock star .

Whitten Montgomery 17:12

She's amazing God . If I could use her real name one day , I would , because I would endorse her a hundred percent .

Maggie Patten 17:17

Maybe we'll get her on the podcast . Oh my gosh , that was so fun . But you know , she immediately sprung into action and she said um , I'm gonna get off the phone right now and I'm gonna contact I've got at least three criminal lawyers that I can contact in this in the , the larger city town close to pasture town .

Whitten Montgomery 17:37

she immediately did that and I immediately called witness parents , which was not an easy phone call and I'm there in a handcuff still right , and this is just fucking awful right and the police are explaining to me that if we don't get maggie and me to start moving , that I could be staying in jail . Like the longer that maggie's talking to people , the longer it's gonna , the more I'm at risk of saying time is ticking because the hours of the day are getting later .

Maggie Patten 18:00

You know it's like we gotta move now because you want any chance of getting out . Yes , and this isn't like a quick procedure , because it's like we got to move now because you want any chance of getting out .

Whitten Montgomery 18:04

Yes , and this isn't like a quick procedure , because it's not all at one place , because I have to go to Pasture Town first to get printed and then take into the larger city to actually be booked Right . So sweet , maggie follows me in the rental car as I'm in a jail car , as this prisoner . A police car , the jail car , the jail car . Yes , like it was to me in the moment , the jail car .

Maggie Patten 18:24

Well , yeah , I mean you were in the backseat of a fucking police car , handcuffed Like . What a nightmare . Yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 18:30

Yeah , yeah . But Maggie was a godsend , definitely . Getting a hold taking my phone , being able to utilize the resources of my phone and make those phone calls yeah , I couldn't . And I think , as Maggie said , like she would have been claustrophobic and had a reaction I don't think you necessarily would have . When you're like in your own protection mode and you have to just survive , all of a sudden this part of you comes out . That's like now I'm just going to be a boss because I have to , but I'm not really a boss . I'm like the person in handcuffs just going to say , yes , sir , as much as I can , yeah , but not cry , I didn't cry yet no , no you didn't Not yet .

Maggie Patten 19:02

I was . It was horrible . I was immediately . I mean I was immediately shaking and like crying , and then it was like wait a minute .

Whitten Montgomery 19:12

We got to move . We got to move now .

Maggie Patten 19:14

Got to get the phone , got to call people , got to make sure I've got that passcode and write it down , because my memory sucks .

Whitten Montgomery 19:22

Well , the jail car took me to the Pasture Town station . It did so . If you've never been arrested , I will say that there are a lot of things I didn't know about that need to happen , first and foremost , in a small town . The small little station is not necessarily where you'll end up staying or being booked .

Whitten Montgomery 19:46

We spent a quick amount of time at the Pasture Town station and while I was in there , they were explaining to me that we had to move quickly , that in fact , they had obtained the warrant and a box that we all feared too well would be checked on . The warrant was checked and it did have the domestic violence box checked on it . If you are not familiar with this , if you are in a domestic relationship and you experienced domestic violence , when you or your perpetrator are arrested , they cannot just simply be let on bail to come back to you , because that would be a dangerous situation and I understand why this exists . But given the fact that we were not still sharing the same dwelling and I was , in fact , the victim , not the perpetrator , it was very unfortunate for me to know that the case was that there was no way I would just be let out on bail and I had to go into jail .

Maggie Patten 20:35

So wait , what are you ? You're saying that on the warrant . On the warrant , it was checked that you had committed the domestic violence .

Whitten Montgomery 20:43

Yes , and it was in a box and it's just a little box If the domestic box is checked Right . I just want to make sure that's clear , that All of it said I was the perpetrator Right .

Maggie Patten 20:51

Yes , Even though the last time you were there , you were accusing Lizzie of all of these things . No , no , no , but that's not right .

Whitten Montgomery 20:58

Because I wasn't accusing her of anything . I was just seeking safety .

Maggie Patten 21:02

Okay , I didn't actually and this time being back there , it was because there was a warrant out for your arrest , because she had accused you , because she lied .

Whitten Montgomery 21:13

Yes , but she didn't even do it through Pasture Town . She actually went to the larger city outside of there and went to their magistrate which is what it's called to that person to report it . So in fact , the night that I was attacked I was still in love with her . I wasn't doing any accusations , I was more just stating facts of she attacked me and she beat me , but I didn't want to do anything because I was too scared . So when I went back there and I was taken to this room and locked up and taken to this area and then shown this piece of paper that I can't even touch because my hands are locked and see that this box is checked because the two of us were married she said that we were a married couple I knew that I would have to be taken into jail as opposed to just going up for a bail hearing right gotcha when you get fingerprinted .

Whitten Montgomery 21:59

Don't know if you know this , maggie , have you ever been fingerprinted ? I've not . Well , it's not like . Just like you like do your little fingers with ink . They actually use this whole computer scanning system and you have to do like the side of your hand like you're signing a note . All of this fingerprinting takes like a long time because they do like the edges of it so like they could get your hand if it was in any position

Booking and Jail

Whitten Montgomery 22:18

.

Whitten Montgomery 22:18

So I got fingerprinted and then I remember he said , before you put your handcuffs back on , put your hands behind your back like you're praying , and he said this will give you more room . Because this point was like realizing , you know , he already knew that I was innocent . He was trying to give you a little bit of wiggle room within like the grip , and he said that makes your wrists a little thicker so that once you get handcuffed you have a little more room . So I put my hands like behind my back in prayer hands , and then he put the handcuffs on me . So then when I un-prayer hand it , I had like a little bit more room and it wasn't as tight because they were really coming into my wrist . I was having like um bruises on my wrist . So after that we went back outside and I knew that I was going to the city jail . We were driving out of pasture town .

Whitten Montgomery 22:59

The police officer is starting to get very sentimental . He's saying , saying I feel so bad that I'm having to do this . I feel like you're not going to be able to get out . I don't know what's going to happen . I will say everything that I can to tell them that you've been so cooperative and to try to make this as quickly as possible for you . But since the domestic box was checked , I feel so bad . And he said he hated that I had such a bad experience and , of course , me , trying to be kind and polite , say I'm so sorry , officer , like , let me like . If this were a Yelp of an arrest , I would give you five stars . And I'm going to tell you that I said this in complete sincerity , like this was not me being sarcastic . I felt so bad for him feeling so bad that I said I would give you a five-star Yelp review for your arrest , which is just crazy to me that I said that .

Whitten Montgomery 23:46

So we get to the jail and Maggie is right behind us , I'm getting out of the car and they're taking me in to like get booked , and Maggie's walking with me which is just the sweetest thing possible and he tells you you can't go in that door . We have to walk through all these desks and such to get to a it seems like a little train station booth where there's a magistrate and he presents me my warrant to the magistrate with me and they say sit and wait here . So we're sitting in these chairs outside of this little like kind of like it looks like a ticket booth , almost like you're at a train station , like this little like little booth . Yeah , and then he says to them and I hear him say you know , she's been cooperative , this has been a really , I think , misunderstanding . Is there anything we can do to expedite this ? And they say no , and then he looks at me and says I'm sorry and he leaves the officer . Yeah , because now I'm with these other people , right , I go from the outside hallway , kind of holding waiting area , where there are a bunch of officers with people that they're arresting , waiting for the magistrate to tell them the next steps , and I go through this door and if you haven't gone to jail before , your life is a lot of doors closing that you can't open and it's very loud . So that's the first door and it closes and there's a woman .

Whitten Montgomery 25:18

There is a rule in this city that only women can work with women and only men can work with men . This city that only women can work with women and only men can work with men . So I'm working with a female who is asking me a lot of questions . They ask you a lot of questions about how much money you make , about all sorts of things , and that's also like for bail factors later which I didn't know . But they ask you a lot of personal questions and she's going through all of this . I'm answering everything the best that I can . I'm trying to be super cooperative . And she says do you fear for your life ? And I say yes , and she looks at me and she says do you really want me to have to put that on this piece of paper , that you fear for your life ? Do you actually fear for your life ? Coming in here and I say yes .

Whitten Montgomery 26:09

And then she says okay , and she moves on to another question . And then she says what is your sexual orientation ? And then I say that I'm gay . And then she says another one really loudly , wow . And then she says another one really loudly Wow .

Whitten Montgomery 26:26

And then she asked me if I have any tattoos . And then she says I tell her that I have a semicolon tattoo on my foot . And then she says we got a suicide risk , really loudly , wow , oh , it's not pleasant , it's very not pleasant . And she explains to me that I have been flagged for medical needs because of my mental state and being afraid of my life , for my life , and that that's going to make my booking process longer . But truthfully , I'm thinking , thank God , like let's make this take as long as possible . So , like I'm like in a little bit of survival mode , I'm like I don't this take as long as possible . So , like I'm like in a little bit of survival mode , I'm like I don't think a long booking sounds bad . Don't bring me into the main area , right , right , there's a big hub in the middle , okay , with counters all around the edges , okay , and each , all of them is the different officers at computers , okay , and then Like a nurse's station , okay , with hospital rooms on the outskirts , yes , and they're not actually barred doors or anything .

Whitten Montgomery 27:26

They're metal doors with windows . It's definitely not what you picture with bars . In Pasture Town the one little cell did have bars , but these are all much more like a big metal flap door shuts on you .

Whitten Montgomery 27:39

It's just one tiny window , okay , and it's a window like at school , like those really narrow rectangular windows you can't even see much out of . Yeah , yes . So she takes me down along the edge of this hub area where all of the officers are , and we walk kind of to the edge at the end of the room and there's a um big measuring stick thing with a white background and that's what they do mug shots which you can't smile for . I don't think anyone wants to smile .

Maggie Patten 28:08

I doubt it .

Whitten Montgomery 28:09

So they take your mug shot and then she puts me in a cell , a holding cell . I can see very little out the window . I have on the clothes that I was prepared to pack up my house in and the piece of paper that said that there was a warrant for my arrest , and the handcuffs finally come off when I get locked in the cell . That piece of paper was all that I had with me and I had to read it , and I looked at that piece of paper . Finally , now that my hands weren't behind my back and saw that what I was being arrested for were bullet Mark by bullet Mark of exactly what Lizzie had done to me . Down to that , there was a bite Mark on the left breast and that's exactly where she had bitten me . I have all the photos , I mean you've seen it all I .

Whitten Montgomery 29:02

It's all true . I sat there and read all of this . There's a phone on the wall in holding cells at least in this city there were and next to it is a bunch of numbers for bail bondsman's . So you have that . There's no better anything . There's like a kind of ledge thing made out of concrete that you can sit on , and there is a toilet and there's a sink and I want to get on the phone , I want to call , and this is where you realize it's important to , at some points in your life , know people's phone numbers , know some phone numbers .

Maggie Patten 29:42

Which is not common in our day and age anymore . I mean , I still remember my childhood home phone number because we had a home phone number .

Whitten Montgomery 29:49

I did too .

Maggie Patten 29:50

I still remember a lot of my childhood friend's phone numbers , but since getting iPhones and whatnot , you don't have to remember shit .

Whitten Montgomery 29:56

No , and what good are those numbers to you now ?

Maggie Patten 29:58

But your brain won't forget them , correct ?

Whitten Montgomery 30:00

Yes , I know I still like , cause I needed to remember your phone number and I still like . It's still hard for me to remember that , but I could tell you my best friend from childhood's phone number now Right .

Whitten Montgomery 30:08

Yes , so I do know my mom's phone number and my wonderful mother . I called her and she picked up the phone and I didn't know anything about this . First , it's very hard to make a phone call out unless you understand the system . It is a paid system from the outside you can't pay from the inside , so you get a free minute to a phone number and it remembers the phone number , so you can't recall the phone number for a minute . You get a free minute to the phone number and my mother's in crisis mode , so I do spend about a minute with my mother crying and me trying to tell her that I'm going to be okay .

Maggie Patten 30:43

I'd imagine that phone call was a lot of reassurance towards your mother instead of her reassuring you . Bless her heart . That's true . Your parents were definitely in crisis mode . I spent a lot of time on the phone with them .

Whitten Montgomery 30:56

This is very kind .

Maggie Patten 30:57

They were definitely in crisis mode mode . I spent a lot of time on the phone with them . They were definitely in crisis mode and I well , I will say crisis mode , but your dad was in fucking fixer mode .

Whitten Montgomery 31:07

I'm glad we will definitely talk about that more later . But so I then finally realized that Maggie had my phone and I knew my phone number right . So this was like a little jail epiphany for me . And so I did call my phone number and get ahold of me . And so I did call my phone number and get ahold of Maggie , and since I'd already gone through that conversation with my mom , I think I was probably very much so like you have to pay this fee . I don't think I was talkative , because I wanted to be able to be talkative Right . So you figured it out .

Maggie Patten 31:35

I did and I think that I think I just had to like literally key in my you know my debit card number .

Whitten Montgomery 31:42

When I called you like , did it say like this is an inmate .

Maggie Patten 31:45

Yes , what does it sound like ? It was like you know this call is coming from city jail . She's laughing because we are not saying the name of the city , because that's not the name of the city . Yeah , I think that that's . You know , it was like that . That part of it was kind of like what you see on tv .

Whitten Montgomery 32:02

It gave me a second to like say my name yeah , so you like you would accept a call from collect call . Yes , yeah , yeah yeah , okay , well , I guess I'm , but I knew who . I knew who it was coming from I have to say something endearing that magg Maggie did between this . Somehow from the outside she was panicking to somebody , so much that someone came to me because I think you paid the money on your own phone , not my phone . And someone came to me and gave me Maggie's phone number .

Maggie Patten 32:31

Oh yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 32:32

And they are not kind necessarily to you when you're in there and I'm sitting in the cell and this , the woman who booked me , says Montgomery , I'm going to tell you a number , you're going to write it down and then I'm going to walk away . And I said , okay , well , I didn't have a pen and I took my finger and stuck it in the jail toilet and wrote out her phone number on the cement floor with the jail water , so that I would be able to see it , so that I could call her , which is really sad .

Heartbreak in Orange

Maggie Patten 33:13

There was a very nice gentleman that I spoke to but I just was expressing my concerns about you being there , about the potential of you being there overnight . Gave him my phone number to give to you and I guess he made that happen .

Whitten Montgomery 33:31

He did .

Maggie Patten 33:33

He was a very nice man .

Whitten Montgomery 33:35

Yes , because this woman did come he could see my fear .

Maggie Patten 33:37

Yes , the woman did come . He could see my fear .

Whitten Montgomery 33:40

Yes , the woman did come scream this number at me . Uh , I'm sorry she was such a bitch . No , it's fine because he was very nice . So I got your number and I called you and it's very complicated . There's actually like a bunch of things the phone says to you before you can do anything I'm sure and I was having to navigate all of that and figure that out .

Whitten Montgomery 33:58

And then there's this period of waiting , because I'm sure that I'm waiting while you're listening to the like my side of it and accepting the charges . And so then I finally get to you and you do tell me that there's a plan .

Maggie Patten 34:12

Yeah , I've been talking to your dad and I've been talking to a lawyer and then , like , your dad got connected with the lawyer and your dad was kind of taking it from there . But the plan was that we were going to get you in front of a judge that day , like things were going to happen that day , so that you were not going to have to spend the night in jail .

Whitten Montgomery 34:36

So Maggie told me this on the phone and I believed her . And then a woman comes to the cell and screams Montgomery , and I have to go , because that's what you do in jail you just go when you're told . And she told me that I was going to dress in and dress in is a jail term for putting you in orange and it's a very ugly situation . You are naked , it is invasive , it is horrible , and I was on my period . I think I'm always on my period .

Maggie Patten 35:15

I mean you tend to be during major life events , but I mean , what a layer of trauma that adds to this Because , like I don't know how much , you want to go into it .

Whitten Montgomery 35:28

Well , you go to this room and there's two of them there and I'm taking off all my clothes and you can't wear your bra unless you're willing to take the underwire out of your bra . So you have to like make that choice , because I guess that's a weapon . And then you take off everything and you're completely nude in front of these two women because it was only women with women situation and you have to like bend down and do squats and huff like a loud huff coughing sound . I guess it's to make sure that there's nothing inside of you . Yeah , and my tampons there and during the huffs and stuff this bloody tampon falls out and I was like I'm on my period . That's awful , it's , it's demoralizing , it's humiliating , it's horrible .

Whitten Montgomery 36:14

So they told me that I was dressing in and they took my clothes and they gave me , they pulled out a big set of jail underwear and set a big pad on top of it . Gave me that , put me in orange pants and orange shirt and they said what size shoe are you ? And I told them and they said , oh , you got baby feet when we only got two size here , so you're not going to have enough room in those shoes . So my feet , like I , was basically like walking around in like slippers . It felt like like I was swimming , like a size 10 .

Whitten Montgomery 36:48

Yeah , I'm sure they then took me to another cell and all thoughts of believing what maggie had told me are gone , because now they are telling me it is a COVID protocol , 100% . You will be booked tonight , you will be here tonight , you are going in this other cell and you are going to wait there because you are on medical watch and we're going to have a doctor come talk to you . And you were able to call me , I know , but I didn't right away , because I got there and I didn't want to make anyone as sad as I felt and everyone I called was crying and I hadn't cried yet , and like you were crying and my mom was crying and my dad was even crying , and everyone I called was crying and I didn't want anyone to hear me crying , necessarily , and so like I kind of sat there for a minute and was trying to take in the circumstance and this new cell , because I'm just now bracing myself for the fact that what the fuck can I say to this doctor to get me into a situation where I don't end up in the other place like is there anything I have inside of me to just say like I don't want to go there , like can you put me in just one cell alone tonight , like I'm so scared . But then I kind of get over those fears because then I'm like I don't know what the fuck time is it .

Whitten Montgomery 37:56

I don don't know what's going on , and Maggie had said arbitrarily the time of two . But in jail there's no time . It is not your time , it is just your torture . So you're literally just sitting there and I called you and you said I think you didn't know I was put in orange .

Maggie Patten 38:14

I did not know you were put in orange until you called me , and that was shocking , because everything that I had been hearing from this . He hinted that she's not getting out tonight and I was like no , no , no , we're . We're doing things out here like Steps are happening . She's going to get out tonight . This Magical lawyer did turn out to be a magical lawyer , he did .

Maggie Patten 39:00

Was going to take care of things that day . But then when we went and called me crying for the first time , saying that she was in orange , and that's what she kept saying to me . She just kept saying Maggie , I'm in orange , I'm in orange . And that's when I was like , well , like internally , I was like we're fucked , like you're fucked .

Whitten Montgomery 39:21

And I thought that too . Yeah , I mean , I thought that too . And then someone comes to the door saying you're waiting on medical and brings me another outfit and a blanket .

Maggie Patten 39:31

What was the other outfit ?

Whitten Montgomery 39:32

A jail outfit Like I guess you get two outfits and a blanket when you go into there . Oh , like you're going to be there for a while Be put into gen pop , yes , so then that happens , and then I did . I called my dad and I talked to him for a while . I talked to my mom some too .

Maggie Patten 39:46

Whitten is a strong , a strong individual .

Whitten Montgomery 39:49

No , I'm not .

Maggie Patten 39:57

Well she is . But Whitten has been through a lot in her life . But I knew that if Whitten was left to spend the night in jail that there were concerns for her safety from her own doing honestly , because I knew that it was one of the biggest fears of her life . No , I understand your fears .

Whitten Montgomery 40:22

And I don't know if you want me to say that or not . No , that's fine , I understand . And I was in there and I was thinking about what led me there and what got me to this point . And I was looking at the walls and I started to try to count the stones , like the stone blocks that like are on the jail wall , and trying to like pace myself , because in therapy they say like to count things , like do things to calm yourself , and I I couldn't alone .

Whitten Montgomery 40:52

I look at this piece of paper and I am so sad . I am so sad that , like I gave someone the power and that someone out there who I loved knew my biggest fear in the world and knew that that would be the thing that could break me and even end me potentially and like intentionally knowing all that , after how much I loved her head to toe would have done anything for her heartlessly decided to go lie and say exactly what she had done to me was what I had done to her and that she knew that I would be sitting there reading this at some point . It was really heartbreaking .

Released on Unsecured Bail

Whitten Montgomery 41:41

It was really hard then to hear everyone else continuously tell me that it was going to be okay when other people were telling me it wasn't . So , needless to say , everyone on the outside was correct , was correct , and this woman , who I had never seen before , comes the door and says montgomery , grab your stuff , which is not my stuff , it is a jail blanket in an outfit , in the fucking piece of paper I still have , and she says to come with her . She cuffs me and I'm to walk the line , which there's , like these painted lines on the ground , like you're a school child , right ? And she wants me to be leaning , like my body touching the wall .

Whitten Montgomery 42:24

As I'm walking the line and I'm seeing other orange people going by me on the other side of me and I'm thinking , oh , this is it . Like , screw the doctor , they're just taking me to gym pop right now because the other people are going by . I'm doing this . I have no idea the time , like no idea . I would ask you like what time it was , and it would sound like only like 15 minutes had passed and I thought an eternity had passed . And then I get to a room and she opens the door and there is a screen , a metal table and two , two chairs . And I'm like , oh , my God , they're right , I'm going to see a judge and this woman is and she grabs me and she pulls me like by the handcuffs to sit down , which is very painful and I sit and then I hear some moaning and she's like situating herself in her seat and I'm like are you okay ? Did you have a rough day at work ?

Maggie Patten 43:26

and she's like yes , after this bitch is like yes , yeah .

Whitten Montgomery 43:31

And she's like yes , why are you in here , sweetheart ? Then she starts to talk to me like a human and I say there's a big misunderstanding , I think , and she's like that's what everybody says and I said I understand .

Whitten Montgomery 43:47

And then she said most people don't talk to me , so why are you here ? And I tell her and she's like this is what's going to happen . And she starts telling me a judge is going to get on the TV . My guardian angel has blessed me . I'm going to get out , no matter what . If you get to see a judge , you're going to get out on some sort of bail and as long as you can afford it , you're getting out . And I'm like holy shit , like this is good , yeah , this is really good . And this woman's now being positive to me . And that screen comes on and there's a judge and he's like witton montgomery . And I'm like yeah , he , well , you found me . And he , he , this man comes on and he says his name and he's like the . The judge says like do you accept this man as your representation ? Like yes , yes , yes , any represent I don't care who you are .

Whitten Montgomery 44:34

do you accept this man as your representation ? Like yes , and then they have this person who's talking to lizzie on the phone , like so the da has someone there on the phone , like someone there with , with , with . Either they've communicated with lizzie I'm still like unsure but someone has talked to lizzie on the phone , or they have her currently on the phone , yes . My lawyer then says this was a misunderstanding . She was arrested , calling the police for help . She called the police for help .

Whitten Montgomery 44:56

There has been a major issue in like integrity because someone has completely lied and put her in the circumstance . And my client will do whatever you need . Please let's just get her out today so that she can be safe . And then he gave me that stupid green piece of paper that said , like you know , I was on unsecured bail , which , if anyone doesn't even know what that means because I didn't understand what that means is , an unsecured bail is when you don't have to pay anything down . You just would have to pay it if you don't come to court , right . But a secured bail is when you actually have to pay the money hard down and then you would only get it back after you go to court , gotcha . So mine was an unsecured bail of $500 , which is literally the lowest possible thing that they can do . Yeah , and then he basically I guess this piece of paper was dictating a court date when I would have to come back . Right After that I got out of there and then I still had to go back at a fucking jail cell .

Maggie Patten 45:51

Right .

Whitten Montgomery 45:53

And then it took like another hour .

Maggie Patten 45:54

So what was the end of that conversation ?

Whitten Montgomery 45:56

Just like , You're getting out , okay , but you're on this bail , yeah , and you have to come back , right . But I was just like , oh my goodness , get me out , get me out of here . But they put me back in the medical waiting cell and the woman who had become kind to me Right , explained to me , explained to me that it would take some time to process the paperwork and it would all depend on how quickly the judge got the paperwork to them and then how quickly they decided to process the paperwork to then get me out . But it should be that day , and this is like 2 pm . I mean , at this point I've been there for four hours and that sounds very short , but it felt like an eternity . So then I had to go to dress out . So you dress in and you dress out . So I went to dress out and they handed me back my clothes . Through this , you go in this like room , you're not alone .

Whitten Montgomery 46:46

There's a human with you right and then through this like slit in the wall , they like kind of it's like a big one like wall size , and like they hand you your little like old bag of clothes to wear and so you pull off your little prison clothes and you hand your prison clothes back to them and then you put on your clothes and then they put me back in my cell . I think I called you during this time .

Maggie Patten 47:12

I think so , because you were like , hey , it's done get me out of here like why am I still here ?

Whitten Montgomery 47:17

yeah , yeah so then I did go to a checkout area and I did say to this woman thank you for being kind to me and she's . And then she said I try to treat all people like people . And I'm like no , you didn't . No , you try to be pretty awful at first , um , but that's okay .

Whitten Montgomery 47:39

So they're telling me that if I ever want to go back to the house , according to this document that they're giving me , the police have to escort me . Police are not happy to do such a thing , so I'd only be able to be at the house for 15 minutes . So if I want to go back to my house to get anything , they'll have to escort me . It'll be 15 minutes . And I am just listening to them signing anything they tell me to sign . I'm just like okay , yes , I'll do that . Yes , I'll do that , I'm going to do this . Give me my green piece of paper . You're supposed to . You have to carry around your bail piece of paper for forever , right , it's awful . And then I've walked through those doors and then there's Maggie at the end of a hallway . Oh , my goodness , you were right there . We like ran to each other .

Whitten Montgomery 48:17

It was like it's like , it was like a movie moment yes except , like , like you used , like a glamorous like oh , at the airport they're finally .

Maggie Patten 48:22

No , this was literally in a jail well , I didn't know if I could like come , if I could walk towards you . I felt like I should like wait for you to like come down the hall , and I did .

Whitten Montgomery 48:33

It was awful it was awful but wonderful to see you . It was wonderful to see you . It was wonderful to see you and so wonderful of you to be there .

Maggie Patten 48:42

Well , I wasn't going to leave bitch .

Whitten Montgomery 48:47

That was a hell of a day and we hadn't gotten anything done we needed to do in Pasture Town .

Maggie Patten 48:53

That's okay , that's okay , things could wait .

Return Trip Shenanigans in Carolina

Whitten Montgomery 48:58

So I think I've been talking about this for like an hour already . There's a lot to cover , so I think that perhaps this episode is actually going to have to be two episodes to cover this trip back to North Carolina , because I just perhaps dramatized my jail experience a little bit .

Maggie Patten 49:14

Well , I mean , you were being very honest and truthful about your feelings . I don't think that was dramatized necessarily .

Whitten Montgomery 49:20

Yes , it just was a long , four hours for me . Well , I mean , you were being very honest and truthful about your feelings .

Maggie Patten 49:24

I don't think that was dramatized necessarily . Yes , it just was a log .

Whitten Montgomery 49:26

Four hours for me , right , right , you were very detailed , yes , very detailed , which is good , so I think that we'll have to end this episode here .

Maggie Patten 49:32

But in our next episode we're going to get into after the pickup . Yes , we're going to get into the next day at the house and some shenanigans there , oh , indeed and uh . Then our drive back to kentucky where maggie took us the long way okay , okay , okay , all right , I will just say that the settings on your maps on your phone is important a hundred percent , but until then we're gonna go back on mute .

Whitten Montgomery 50:03

Bye , bye .