All language subtitles for Who.Do.You.Believe.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10-English

[ Thunder crashes ]
Narrator: When a crime
has been committed...

[ Siren wailing ]
...there are two sides
to the story...

[ Pounding on door ]

...two versions of the truth.

And sometimes...

it takes
putting them side by side...

♪♪

...to get to the whole story.

This is not only
a true crime story...

[ Police radio chatter ]

...but the ride
that led to it all...

[ Siren wailing ]

...told directly
from the opposing sides

going head to head.

But where does the truth lie,
and where do the lies begin?

The more they say,

the more the cracks
in the story are revealed.

♪♪

Tonight, a whirlwind
Texas romance

looks like love
at first sight.

I'd known Charity
roughly five months

before I asked her
to marry me.

But soon,
small disagreements

turn into the roller-coaster
marriage from hell...

Parchem:
I knew there was something

that was really bothering me
about him.

...with each side claiming
the other is a predator.

A thief is a thief
is a thief.

Don't ever think
that they're not.

So, who is lying,
and who is the real criminal?

He is
a very dangerous man.

What is true...

That's pure-ass evil.

...and what is not?

Parchem: I remember
walking to the hotel door,

and that was it.

I don't remember
anything else.

If that's what was said,
that's a lie.

[ Siren wailing ]
Have a seat.

It's up to you to decide.

♪♪

Who do you believe?

♪♪

♪♪

Name's Mark Athans.
I'm from Central Texas.

I was born in Brownwood,

which is the geographic
heart of Texas.

I am a mid-level practitioner.
I am a nurse, too.

But I've been doing surgery
since 1991.

I have three boys.

All three of them
are very good men.

And they're at that age now
that they're men, so...

My youngest one, Dakota,
still lives with me.

He was diagnosed with autism.

He's probably the most resilient
person that I've ever known.

Kelly was my first wife.

That was
the mother of my sons.

And bless her heart,
we were married for 22 years.

We started growing apart
when we moved

from Central Texas to Houston.

And I did that because
I got a better job offer

that was going to take
all the pressure off of me

as far as being able
to provide.

Eventually,
Kelly and I divorced,

and later she died.

My second wife and I --

we were only married
for like two months.

We were both
in line with each other --

it was just not the right time.

So we had an amicable divorce.

I tried dating.

And I didn't find anybody that
I could...

felt wholeheartedly with,

just comfortable enough
that I really wanted to progress

into something that would be
a long-lasting relationship.

Then I saw Charity's profile,
and even though

there was a considerable
age difference between us,

things like that
don't bother me.

She had put down there
that she was a nurse.

So, okay, there's a good thing.

Then she was attractive.

Second thing. I like that.

My name is Charity Parchem,

and I have
four gorgeous daughters.

My girls have all moved out
except for the youngest.

I'm the supervisor
for three different

nursing home facilities
working with the elderly.

Alzheimer's is my specialty.

That's hard work, you know,

when you're doing that
12 to 18 hours a day.

So I decided I needed
to start dating again

because I deserve to be happy.

In 2016, I went online,
and I met Mark.

♪♪

We went back and forth
for a while.

The more I read, I was like,
"Oh, my gosh,

you know, this guy sounds, like,
really down-to-earth."

We just had a lot in common.

We ended up going on
our first date.

He asked me out.

♪♪

Narrator: It was all
seemingly perfect online

and over the phone.

But how will
this whirlwind romance

pan out in the real world?

Because really, they didn't
know each other at all.

We went to
a nice Chinese restaurant.

I was so nervous

because I'd never done
that online thing before.

He was wearing scrubs
because he was on call.

I saw her. I had...

Like, "Oh, my God,
she's beautiful," you know?

Her personality had
a magnetism to it.

She's like the person
you take to a party,

and everybody wants to know
something about them

or learn about them.

She told me
that she took care of elderly,

terminally ill patients,
and I was going like,

"Wow, it takes a special person
to do that."

He told me on the first date
that he was looking

for a mother for his son

and a wife for him.

I was a little freaked out
about it.

I didn't want to get
married again

because I already
had failed marriages.

But when he talked about
his son, it tugged at my heart.

So I agreed to go
on a second date with him.

Narrator: Charity is
understandably cautious.

But for Mark,
it's full steam ahead,

and he wastes no time
bringing her home.

He wanted me to meet his son,
and he said

I could bring my daughter in
so they can meet each other.

I roll up to the house.

I saw the property,
and it was huge.

Dakota was standing outside
with his dad,

and he was all excited

and I fell in love with Dakota
immediately.

I took her and her youngest
daughter to Round Top,

which is like a big,
giant antique flea market.

He opened the middle console,
and he pulled out

two stacks of cash
that were all hundreds.

He had brought $10,000,
and he wanted me

to carry it in my purse.

And I don't know you that well,

and you're going to hand me
this money for why?

You know, I don't know
if it was to show off,

but it made me
very uncomfortable

for him wanting me
to have all the money.

No, actually,
I didn't do that.

If I ever did ask her
to hold any money,

the most that I would have
had in my pocket

would have been $1,000.

So, no,
that boat don't float.

I put some of it
in my purse.

I refused to put all of it
in my purse.

I told him if there's
something big that he wanted,

he would just have to walk back
to the truck and get more money.

I wasn't doing it.

No, ma'am.

I wouldn't have done that,
'cause what happens

if somebody
breaks into my truck

and takes that $10,000?

It's gone.

He was either testing me

or trusting me.

And me...

one thing that we --
I thought we had in common

was we trust people until
they give us a reason not to.

Narrator: Despite their
different memories of that date,

Charity and Mark

trusted their relationship
was worth committing to.

Things seemed to go pretty well,
and we started trying

to get to know each other
a little bit better.

Things got a little bit
more intense with us

as far as relationship wise.

Parchem: I think it had been
like three or four months,

and he's like, "Why don't you
just move in here?"

And he's like, "I love you,
and I want to be with you."

I was like, "No, I need --

I need to think
about this, you know?"

And he said,
"You don't ever have to worry

about the financial aspect
of anything."

It all seemed like a good fit.
We had so much in common.

He and I were both
in the medical field.

We loved living out
in the country.

We loved fishing.

My daughter, his son...

we had a lot of lifestyle things
that were alike.

Narrator: After dating
for just a few months,

Charity accepts Mark's offer,
and they grow even closer.

It seems almost too good
to be true.

But when it comes to love,
when you know, you know, right?

I had known Charity
roughly five months

before I asked her
to marry me.

I got down on a knee
and I'd explained to her,

"Where is it written

how long you got to know
somebody before you trust them?"

And at that point in time,
I did.

I trusted her enough
to ask her to marry me.

♪♪

Parchem:
The engagement ring was huge.

It was definitely a surprise,
because he knew I liked

small dainty things

and not big gaudy things.

It wasn't that big and gaudy.

She really liked the ring.

I mean,
I'd put a lot of effort

into getting this ring
custom made

and actually picked out
every stone that was in it.

Parchem: I was raised, like,
even if you have money,

you don't act like that.

I felt embarrassed
to go in public with it.

Narrator: Were these grand
gestures a romantic dream,

or were they all a lure?

As the engaged couple
brings their lives together,

the battle for control
begins to simmer.

Parchem:
Before Mark, I had a house

that was
in a nice neighborhood.

I was renting it.

I knew there was something
that was

really bothering me about him.

Well, and just, like,
this nagging feeling

in your head or your gut.

I just felt something like,

"I might need this house
one day."

You know,
"I'm just going to keep it."

Athans: She wanted
to keep the old house.

I started to end up
having to make the payments.

That was $1,500 a month.

I would say, "Are you going
to get some more work?

You're putting a lot
of financial load on me."

Parchem: It was Mark's idea
that I needed to stop working.

He gave me an ultimatum.

It was our family and the kids
or my job.

If that's what she had said,
that's a damn lie.

♪♪

I'm not that kind of person
that just says,

"You stop working,
and you stay at home,

you take care of the kids.

This is
what you're going to do."

That was her choice.

Parchem:
Eventually, I'd lied to Mark,

to tell him, yes,
I got rid of the house

because I've been
married before, obviously,

and financially, I didn't want
to lose control of myself.

I just wanted
all my bases covered.

So I let Bart, my ex-husband,
and then my nephew --

I let them move in,
and they paid me rent.

I did lie, because
I needed to know I had

a safe place to go
if I needed.

Narrator: Although Mark
no longer pays her rent,

Charity finds another way
to tap into his funds.

I had said something about
my breasts.

I mean, they were huge,
and I had always,

you know,
wanted them smaller.

I was totally against
Charity getting

breast reduction surgery.

I paid for that --
all that surgery,

and it was not
just breast reduction.

It was breast reduction,
liposuction.

Basically, mommy makeover.

$26,000.

After the surgery
was done,

Mark was very, very mad

because he said
that my breasts were too small

and he wanted
a small implant put in.

So I had to have
another surgery,

you know,
because he was pissed.

No, I did not want
her to get implants,

because I was satisfied

with the way things were
in the first place,

plus the fact of every surgery
anybody has done,

no matter
what kind of surgery it is,

there is no such thing

as a minimally invasive
or minor procedure.

Narrator: So who really was
the controlling party,

and was anyone laying a trap?

So, in 2017, we took a vacation
to South Dakota, to Sturgis,

where they have
the biggest motorcycle rally

in the United States.

We were going to get married
in front of the falls

at Spearfish Canyon --

same place as they filmed
"Dances with Wolves."

And we had agreed
and we had talked about it,

so Charity knew that we were

going to get married
in South Dakota at Sturgis.

I was looking forward
to South Dakota for Sturgis,

not for a marriage.

Athans:
While we're up there filling out
the marriage application,

she said she was going to
step outside.

I was still
waiting on paperwork,

took them a while
to get everything.

I looked down,
and my phone starts ringing,

and it's Charity,
and Charity says,

"Meet me over here
at City Hall.

I want you to
come meet somebody."

So I walk into City Hall, and
she says, "This is the mayor,

and he says
he can marry us right now.

Let's get married right now."

Oh, no. Oh, no.

I did not suggest
that we get married there.

That wasn't even in my mind.

I didn't want to
break his heart,

and it was just
he was so excited.

And so I gave in,

and...

we did it
right then and there.

Narrator: Both sides agree
it was one spontaneous wedding,

but which one was in a rush
and why?

Turns out,
right after they said "I do,"

the simmer of their problems
turned up to a boil.

The whole time driving back,

I'm feeling resistance
and distancing.

Like, what the hell
is going on with her mentally?

I just felt like
I could not say no.

♪♪

If you didn't want
to get married,

why did you say yes?

Because I threw a fancy ring
in front of your face?

♪♪

Narrator:
Charity and Mark's quick
marriage raised some questions.

Is Mark generous or controlling?

Is Charity skittish

or a liar who's taking advantage
of Mark's trust?

What's revealed next
makes their relationship

even more disturbing.

Athans:
The whole time driving back,

I'm feeling resistance
and distancing.

It was like I got
the cold shoulder,

and that progressively
started getting worse.

I wasn't keen
on getting married.

He knew that,

but he also told me that
he wanted a ring on my finger

that men
would look at and be like,

"Oh, yeah, no,
she's well taken care of."

I think Mark wants to, like,
get complete control of you.

So I...

I did let him
kind of run over me

and without realizing
what was really going on.

♪♪

Narrator: Charity feels like
she's caving

to Mark's every desire,

but Mark sees things
very differently.

I think, financially,
she really...

wanted to see...

what I had available
to offer her.

Charity was spending money
on crazy things,

but she was spending money
on stupid things.

When I would just ask
a common question about it,

it would start
a battle, a war.

And I was going like,
"You're getting $1,000 a week.

What the hell are you spending
$1,000 a week?"

Parchem:
He got a card from his bank.

This is the only money
that I had to go shopping

for the house or anything.

Athans: I told her straight up,
"I am not willing to jeopardize

all the finances
until you prove to me 100%

that this is in
for the real deal."

When I would need to go grocery
shopping, he would tell me,

"Get everything you need,
put it in the basket."

And I had to calculate
the price of everything,

and then I had to call him

and tell him
how much everything was.

He would put that amount
on my card

just so it wouldn't
come up negative.

It was so embarrassing.

Am I a controlling person?

When I'm the one
making the money,

I'm working my ass off,

I think me giving you a card
that you get to spend on it,

I think that's pretty damn
lucrative and nice of me

when I could say,
"I don't owe you a damn penny,

because the only thing
that you're doing right now

is sitting here laying in bed,
doing nothing.

Do you work?
Do you clean? Do you cook?"

My job was to take care
of the house,

his special-needs son,
and my daughter.

Narrator:
And by now, Mark is keeping tabs

on more
than just Charity's spending.

I'd had some break-ins.

My truck had been broken into,

so I put surveillance on my
vehicles so I could track them.

No!
Mark is straight-up lying.

We lived out in the country,

and nobody was
breaking into anything.

Like, we didn't even
lock our doors.

Athans: One day, I had to
go to work and she said,

"Well, I've got some things
I need to go take care of."

And I said, "That's fine."

And she was gone,

and she didn't come home
till 11:00 at night.

I just didn't know
where she was,

and I was starting
to get concerned.

That's what instigated me
to go like, "You know what?

Holy [bleep] I forgot.
I got those trackers.

I'm going to find out
what the hell's going on."

GPS tracker showed me
she went to that house

that she was supposed to

no longer
have any involvement with.

Well, she was confronted
about all this.

"Well,
now my cousin lives there,

and I was just there
seeing him."

Really?
Well, that's kind of funny.

♪♪

Parchem:
I didn't really go to the house

because I tried
to stay away from there.

I didn't want him to know
I still had it.

And then I find out
that he was tracking my car

so that he could have
my location.

Mm-hmm.

I'm not just a dumbass redneck
because I got a Texas accent.

I started looking
at cellphone records.

♪♪

And at that point in time,
I started seeing a number

that kept popping up,
popping up, popping up.

Huh. It's kind of funny. Who's
this cellphone number belong to?

And I typed it in
and looked it up.

It was Bart,
her so-called ex-husband.

♪♪

He's going around thinking
I'm cheating with Bart

because I wanted Bart
and my youngest daughter

to mend their relationship.

You know, I did everything
that I could possibly do

to be a good wife to him,
and it was just never enough.

Narrator: Only three months
into the marriage,

and their relationship
was already in serious danger,

and soon,
their lives would be, too.

Parchem: At that point,
I didn't know what to think.

I mean, I just knew
I was getting frail,

getting sick,
getting way too skinny too fast.

When I went to
the doctor's office

to find out what's going on
and they took my blood

and what she said,
it was horrific.

I was shocked.
Absolutely shocked.

♪♪

Narrator: Mark and Charity's
marriage is on the rocks.

Both are full
of suspicion and distrust.

Soon, Charity will learn

if she can survive
love's shaky ground

or find herself buried
beneath it.

I couldn't process
what was going on.

I just know I was getting frail,
getting sick.

I was thinking, "This just
doesn't make any sense."

When I went to
the doctor's office,

we found out
that I had sux poisoning.

[ Monitor beeping,
oxygen hissing ]

And you can only get it
in the operating room,

and that's the only place
he worked,

was the operating room.

Mark told me
that he had been married

to his first wife for 20 years

when she passed away suddenly.

But I didn't know how.

I thought,
"Oh, my gosh, what happened?"

That's when I really
started to feel like

maybe his first wife died

of the same thing
he poisoned me with.

♪♪

Narrator: Despite Charity's
alleged poisoning,

she is unable to provide
any documentation

from her doctors
to support her claim.

And there has never been
any proof

that Mark's previous wife
died by poisoning.

Still, it doesn't stop Charity.

Charity asked me more
about Kelly's death.

I told her straight up,

"I really don't know
because I wasn't there."

We were already divorced.

Mark told me that his first wife
died of several things.

First, he said she died
of a drug overdose.

And that's not true.
I told her --

I said she had gotten into
an altercation in Central Texas.

And then Mark said that
his ex-wife had pneumonia.

She was in the hospital.

Athans: She had been assaulted
and beat up,

and she died
from those injuries.

So I was like,
"The hell is this?"

That's when I really started
to feel like...

Like, "Are you..."

Okay, here's another thing.

When I realized
I was being poisoned,

I was afraid that
he did something to her.

♪♪

Charity had accused me
of having something to do

with my first ex-wife's death.

It hurt.
I was so angry, I broke down.

Because this is the mother
of my sons.

That's pure-ass evil.
Who does things like that?

♪♪

Narrator: As Charity grows
increasingly suspicious of Mark,

his teenage son is doing
a little sleuthing of his own.

Athans: Dakota has a gift
where he can look at somebody

and just say,
"Something's not right."

Dakota liked Charity.

Once Dakota saw something
that made him think different --

maybe because Charity and I,
we were already having trouble,

and he knew that --

he made it his obligation
to get the answers.

So he went and started
doing research on Charity,

and he found out
she had a criminal record.

Then he approached me with it,
and I researched it,

and sure enough, he was right.

And that took my breath away.

I did a couple months in jail.

It was over hot checks.

It was a misdemeanor,
but it wasn't me.

I was 17.
I got a bank account,

and I gave
these two little girls,

that was my friend's daughters,
the checkbooks

so they could play groceries
and...

But I was naive.

Their mom got ahold of them,

and she went and bought
a bunch of groceries and stuff

with a check.

And so I sat in jail --

I mean, I couldn't afford
an attorney.

He showed me the records.

Charity had been arrested
for theft by check,

and she served time for it.

♪♪

I'm not mad at Dakota.

I know his dad has made him
say things about me,

and that's not Dakota.

So a lot of things then started
coming to light

that I should have probably
checked a long, long time ago.

I thought Charity was an RN.
That's what she had told me.

♪♪

In the state of Texas,

if a nurse has a record

for anything that is outside
of a Class A misdemeanor,

you will never be a nurse.

I called the Texas State
Board of Nursing,

and they looked it all
the way up to the first license

that was ever issued
in the state of Texas,

which was in 1941.

This lady does not exist.

♪♪

She told my parents,
she told my friends

that she was a nurse.

No, that's --
that's not what I said.

Mark knew that
I was into nursing,

but he knew I wasn't registered
'cause he asked me what I did.

And I told him I took care

of older people
with dementia and Alzheimer's,

and I ran three facilities.

Athans:
When I confronted Charity,

I got an excuse, basically.

She said she never said
she was a nurse --

she was in
the healthcare field.

That was the icing on the cake.

I was going like,
"I've been lied to.

I've been buffaloed.
And why? Why?"

In October of 2018,
I filed for divorce,

and I filed for divorce
because I knew then

everything that
we'd been through was a lie.

♪♪

Narrator: Mark learns his wife
is a convicted felon,

and Charity believes Mark
is a poisoning murderer.

They're still fighting
for their marriage, but why?

Did one have another motive
all along?

Parchem: One day, I was doing
my regular day-to-day stuff

and, you know, about to leave.

And somebody pulls up, and...

I was served divorce papers.

What? I, like, freaked out.
Like, "What is going on?"

We met at a restaurant
to talk about it.

And I was like,
"What did I do wrong?

Why are you filing for divorce?
What's going on?"

And he said that he was trying
to get my attention.

And I was like [chuckles]
"Yep."

At that point in time, I'm done.

I'm ready to walk
the hell away from her.

All of a sudden,
everything changes.

Charity became as nice
and as loving as could be.

She wanted
to try to work on this.

She wanted to
withdraw the papers.

She told me to do it.

And I said,
"Okay, let me do this."

Because whenever I finally
got a chance to calm down,

I figured
maybe I was presumptuous

to assume I've been lied to.

He said that he needed time
alone with me,

and he suggested one of
the nicer hotels in Galveston.

Charity said, "I've got us
a hotel in Galveston.

We're going to spend
the weekend, just you and I."

But there was just something
I couldn't pinpoint,

and that just didn't go away.

That's why I was hesitant.

But at the same time,
my first thought was, Dakota.

I had already, you know,
really bonded with Dakota.

Like, I never had a son,

and, you know,
he hasn't had a mom.

It sounds very crazy,

but if I wanted to keep my
relationship with Dakota intact,

I felt like I needed to do
what my husband wanted me to do.

♪♪

So I said yes.

♪♪

The weird thing is, he told me

that I need to turn off
my location on my phone

because my daughters
always have my location,

and he wanted me
to turn off all that

so they don't know
where we're at.

And he can really just have
one-on-one time with me

without any kids bothering us.

I did not tell Charity to turn
off her cellphone location.

That is not true.

To be honest, it made me
very uncomfortable.

We had a very reserved
but nice evening.

Parchem:
We went to the steak restaurant
that was in the hotel.

We were waiting for our food.
I had one glass of champagne.

Athans:
We had quite a few drinks.

♪♪

So we had our meal,
and she was in a very good mood,

and she told me straight up,
she wanted

to go back to the room
to get...frisky with me.

♪♪

Parchem:
He's just getting real edgy.

Just real -- Just not right.

And I'm like,
"What is going on?"

He's like,
"We need to get our stuff to go.

Just get it to go.
We can eat it in the room.

But I just want to spend time
with you, and we just --"

I mean, he started getting
really flustered.

♪♪

And I remember
walking to the hotel door,

and that was it.

I don't remember anything else.

♪♪

Athans: There was nothing
that was out of the ordinary.

We went back up to our room.

She went to the bathroom, said
she was going to go take a bath.

She wanted us
to have some time together.

I was already pretty tired,

and as soon as I laid down
on the bed,

it didn't take long,
and I was out.

The next thing I know,
it's almost midnight.

Never heard a word
from the bathroom.

So I finally went up there
and knocked on the door,

and I said, "Charity."

I couldn't get her attention.
The door was locked.

And then I started
getting concerned.

So I started kicking the hell
out of that door.

And finally,
I could get in the door.

I found Charity
slumped down in the tub...

♪♪

...her nose just barely
out of the water.

I actually thought she was dead
when I saw her in there.

I get to the hospital,
tell them who I am. Come out.

The nurse is telling me,
"So, you're the husband?"

And I could tell by her demeanor
and the way that she said that

something was not cool.

♪♪

Next thing I know, I wake up,
I'm in the hospital,

and I can see and I can hear,
but I can't move.

I said, "I need to see my wife.
What's wrong? What's going on?"

"Well, in the first place,"
she said,

"you have assaulted her."

And I'm going like,
"Excuse me?"

I can see Mark.

And he's arguing
with the doctor.

And I ask her, "Charity,
what the hell is going on?"

And Mark said,
"Do I need my attorney

to be in there with her?"

He was just real scary

because he refused
to let the doctor take my blood.

Athans: I said,
"What's your blood work say?"

She says, "I wouldn't let them
take none of it."

Parchem:
Mark said I was fine,

that I had just had
too much to drink.

And he was taking me home.

If I had assaulted her,
how would they even allow me

to pick her up at the hospital
and walk away with her?

I still to this day
don't know what happened.

I think he tried to kill me.

♪♪

Narrator:
A vacation meant to heal
their marriage turns divisive

when Mark finds Charity
unconscious in a bathtub.

Someone here is lying.

What is the truth?

Is Mark a dangerous predator

on his second attempt
on Charity's life?

Or is Charity
a liar and a con,

using Mark for his money?

♪♪

Athans:
So even though, in Galveston,

things started getting
kind of crazy,

I'm going like,

"I'd already been through
two failed marriages.

Why have three?"

It was Charity's idea
to go to Fredericksburg,

in the Hill Country,
to have a trip to get away

and take Dakota with us
for his birthday.

I had an ulterior motive
going to Fredericksburg,

and it was so that my girls

could get all my belongings
out of the house.

♪♪

I started to make a plan
to get away,

but I had to be careful because
he wants ultimate control.

And he said
if I ever left him,

he would drag me
through court.

He would ruin my family.

He would make everybody's lives
a living hell.

If that's what was said,
that's a lie.

He is a very dangerous man.

♪♪

Narrator:
Charity's plot is in motion,

but it depends on Mark
staying away from home.

The plan immediately
hits a snag.

We went to the B&B,

and we all got in the hot tub --
me, Dakota, and Charity.

Parchem:
I'm trying to be normal,
but I'm watching my phone,

and it's just real scary.

And, you know,
Mark's not a stupid person,

so he knew something was up.

Athans: While we were sitting
in the hot tub --

and I don't know if it was
because she had had the wine

to drink or what --
I have no earthly idea --

she started
a conversation about

when she was married
to her third husband,

that he was bad to her,

and things that Dakota
didn't need to be hearing.

And finally, I had had enough.
I said, "I'm done."

That's...

That's not even true.

Apparently, his neighbor friend

saw multiple vehicles
at the house and called him,

and he was tipped off

that they were putting
a bunch of stuff in the vehicles

and...

Just my things. Yes.

Yes, just my things.

And so, Mark gets really mad,

and he decides to leave
with Dakota in the car.

Athans:
Dakota and I packed up our stuff

and left about
4:00 a. m. in the morning.

I walk inside the house.
There's a lot of things gone.

♪♪

I was realizing
I've been had.

♪♪

The next day, I got up
and started checking e-mails

like I usually do,
and I look up,

and my bank alert's going off
like crazy,

and I'm going like,

"What the hell is going on?"

There's $15,000 missing.

♪♪

With somebody like Charity,
a thief is a thief is a thief.

Don't ever think
that they're not.

All's you have to do is have
a picture of a credit card,

and you got that number,
and that's all you need.

I didn't have his cards.
I don't even have his numbers.

Athans:
I went into protection mode.

I need to call
my attorney right now.

I have to keep going through
the divorce proceedings

because I was feeling like I
was being backed into a corner.

Narrator: At this point,
Mark had had enough.

While the divorce
was going through the courts,

Mark had Charity investigated
for financial fraud.

But who will be exposed
as the criminal?

What the police uncover

is perhaps
the most shocking part yet.

I had to go to file a report,

so I had to tell the detective
all the fine details.

And within three, four days,

I got a phone call
from the detective,

and he told me,

"I have some interesting news
to give to you."

Parchem:
A week or so after I moved out,

police were at my door.

They had a warrant
for my arrest.

♪♪

And I'm like,
"What did I do wrong?"

And they said, "You will find
out when you get to jail."

♪♪

So now I'm learning
another story

on top of the lie
that she was a nurse.

The detective, he's going like,
"I found Charity's husband.

Charity is married to this man."

And I'm going like,
"What the hell do you mean,

she's married to him?"

"She's married to him.

She's still married to him.

And she's married
to somebody else, too,

besides you."

♪♪

Narrator: Charity and Mark's
entire relationship

has been a battle of suspicions.

I was realizing
I've been had.

Between manipulation
and deception...

He wants ultimate control.

...surveillance and greed...

I started looking
at cellphone records.

...poisoning,
attempted murder...

His first wife died of the same
thing he poisoned me with.

...and now bigamy.

♪♪

Athans:
So, the detective told me,

"Charity is married
to this man."

And I'm going like,
"What the hell do you mean,

she's married to him?"

"She's married to him.

She's still married to him.

And she's married to somebody
else, too, besides you."

And he said, "She's actually
married to three different men

right now.

Only one of them that is legal."

And I'm the last one
that she married illegally.

I was going like, "Where
the hell did this come from?"

I had been married before,
yes.

But I don't know
what happened at all

because I was minding
my P's and Q's.

Before you get
a marriage license,

you have to go
into the county clerk's office

and you give them
all your information,

all the last names you've used,

and they make sure that you are
okay to be married again.

So that's what really
bothered me,

that I had no clue.

Are you kidding me?

When a person
is a habitual liar or psychopath

and has that psychopathic
behavior,

you have to feed a lie
with a lie

with a lie with a lie.

♪♪

Narrator: Now you've heard
both sides and both claims,

but who is guilty?

♪♪

The court-appointed attorney
literally told me,

"You know, you need to,
like, take a deal

because they're going to try to
put you in prison for 20 years."

I said, "20 years?"

I said, "Prison?"

Narrator: Charity was tried
and found guilty of bigamy.

Parchem: The judge gave me
four years' probation,

and as long as I do
everything I'm supposed to do,

it goes off my record
after I'm done.

[ Gavel bang echoes ]
Narrator: She may have been
the one found guilty,

but what about Charity's
accusations towards Mark --

poison, murder, or just lies?

As it happened, Charity never
pressed charges against Mark,

and he was never tried.

♪♪

Charity pled guilty
to bigamy in court.

Since we were married
in South Dakota,

the South Dakota judge voided
and annulled the marriage,

said it never existed

because she violated the terms
of the license itself.

But the judge in Texas

didn't know that Charity
pled guilty to bigamy,

so she wanted me
to pay her spousal support.

Parchem:
She was asking me how much
I need for spousal support.

I wasn't trying to ruin the man.

And I told her,
"$2,000 a month?"

I mean,
I felt like that was fair.

And the judge
just shook her head.

She's like, "She's only asking
$2,000 a month."

And she said,

"With as much money as you make,
I would ask for a lot more.

You're a lucky man."

Narrator: The court orders Mark
to pay Charity

$2,000 in alimony every month.

I was so angry about that.

I paid the alimony
that I was told to pay

until I finally just said,
"You know what?

You want to get me
for contempt of court?

It's time for me to
take the ass-whupping.

I'm not doing it."

I got two checks
for spousal support.

And on the second check I got,

he wrote in the memo,
"Last spousal support check."

[ Chuckling ] And I'm like,
"It's only your second one."

He owes me close
to half a million dollars.

Narrator: Charity's pursuit
of Mark for spousal support

doesn't end there.

In July 2019,
Charity filed a petition

claiming that Mark had not paid
his court-ordered alimony.

The judge was coming after me
for contempt of court,

which means that they were going
to give me the max sentence.

So I was going to be in jail
for over two years.

Narrator: But Mark wasn't going
to give up without a fight.

They're still trying
a second time to appeal it,

which the appellate court
already denied it.

So he's trying
to appeal it again.

The appellate court decided,

"You violated this man's
constitutional rights.

You violated his due process.

We're telling you,
do not call this man.

Do not try to enforce anything
that you have tried to enforce.

Leave him alone.
Back off."

No way in hell
she'll get that money.

Narrator: So who's responsible
for the sad state

these two
now find themselves in?

Who is the predator...
and who is the con?

It all depends on
who you believe.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪