In the second episode of season 5, Andrea dives into how Sophie’s Evangelical Christian beliefs colored her worldview. From claiming that adopting a child from Zambia was God’s path for her life to allegedly performing an exorcism, Sophie’s faith is an integral part of this case. We hear from Dr. Lauren Turek, an Associate Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and author of To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations, gives us a context about Evangelical Christianity in the US and abroad and helps us understand Sophie’s religious upbringing and worldview. Andrea is then joined by some of the Nobody Should Believe Me team: Senior Producer Myrriah Gossett and Lead Researcher/Producer Erin Ajayi to attempt to fill in the many blanks left by Sophie’s memoir about her time in Zambia. The three of them lay out a timeline leading up to Sophie’s adoptions of M and C, while at the same time examining the series of omissions and half-truths riddling Sophie’s story. *** Links and Resources: Learn more about Dr. Lauren Turek: https://laurenturek.com/ Preorder Andrea and Mike’s new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy Catch Andrea and Mike at their Seattle Book Launch Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andrea-dunlop-and-mike-weber-the-mother-next-door-tickets-1097661478029 Learn more about our featured non-profit and mutual aid organizations: https://www.nobodyshouldbelieveme.com/nsbm-supports/ Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show! Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content. Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop Buy Andrea's books here. To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive ethical true crime bonus content. For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
True Story Media. Before we begin, a quick warning that in this show, we discuss child abuse, and this content may be difficult for some listeners. If you or anyone you know is a victim or survivor of medical child abuse, please go to munchausensupport.com to connect with professionals who can help.
Media stories about Munchausen by proxy often only scratch the surface of the complicated tangle of deceptions and manipulations that underpin them. And the media coverage of the Hartman case is no exception. These stories tend to get fixated on details like the number of times the kid was taken to the doctor or the gruesome surgeries that they endured, possibly under false pretenses.
And in doing so, they really miss the central question. Why did this happen? You either have to determine why a mother would ever do the unthinkable things she's being accused of, or if she didn't do those things, why doctors and others would conspire against her to say that she did. When attempting to unravel a story like Sophie Hartman's, it can be hard to know just how far back to go.
I remember this feeling in the years after I became estranged from my sister, Megan, following the first investigation into her for medical child abuse almost 14 years ago now. It was impossible to know where to begin, because it wasn't just that Megan lied about her son's medical issues or that she lied about her own.
The more those of us who loved her started to pull on the threads, the more the entire fabric of who I thought I knew just came completely undone. Megan lied about finances, about work, and just about all these little incidental things. It was really everything everywhere all at once. And what I've learned in the years that I've been covering these cases is that it's always like this.
Perpetrators lie about everything. And being around one of them just leaves you constantly on your back foot. As these cases play out in court, they often become hyperfixated on a single piece of the puzzle. Perhaps an event that was captured on video surveillance. Or they go on a fool's errand to prove or disprove a single rare diagnosis.
And in doing so, they completely miss the forest for the trees. Because the lying isn't just a feature of this abuse, it is the abuse. There may be physical abuse or poisoning as well, but the deception is always the primary weapon. And while there are many mysteries around what really happened with Sophie Hartman, one thing we can be sure of is that she is an unreliable narrator of her own story.
We know this because she tells us so in the pages of her very own journal, entries of which were included in the case files. She writes, When it comes to suffering, I am a compulsive liar. As we covered last time, much of Sophie's memoir sounds implausible on its face.
But just because this book is not a truthful representation of Zambia, or even of Sophie's time there, it doesn't mean that it's not extraordinarily telling. Munchausen by proxy cases typically begin while the mother is pregnant. This pattern, as we've talked about in previous seasons, usually begins with obstetrical complications, followed by a preterm birth.
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