Andrea Gunning

But whenever we weren't recording, the walls went back up.

In a way I'd never encountered before with other stories.

For instance, during our reporting trips, we usually take our storytellers out to dinner with our team.

Saskia was the first person I've worked with who didn't really want to go.

That was a real learning moment for me.

The idea that going out to dinner with us could be hard.

On this show, we're asking people who've experienced a traumatic betrayal to trust us with their story.

It always takes months of building rapport to get to that point.

By the time we got to Maryland, Saskia was ready to share her story.

But we questioned if she was ready to really put herself out there with this show.

So I asked her about that.

Part of her thought about ending the whole project right there.

Instead, she made a choice.

The choice to keep going.

For years, Saskia has received support from a psychiatrist and other mental health providers.

But in choosing to do this podcast, we wanted to ensure she had extra support.

If you've been listening to our show for a while, you might recognize Jess from season two, where she worked with our subject, Ashley Linton.

Often, Jess and Saskia talked about emotions that came up throughout the production process.

It took strength to report the crime and get through those early days.

But in many ways, that strength was a reflex.