All language subtitles for Betrayal.2023.S04E01

♪ ♪

- My husband was one
of the good officers.

He was one of the good ones.

♪ ♪

- He had a reputation of

really being
an excellent police officer.

- All of these crimes
interrelate in some way.

- He was super cop.

He was the family man,
devoted father,

good friend, good neighbor.

- I never heard anything
negative about Joel Kern.

- And then I got a text that
completely changed my life.

♪ ♪

- He was clocking in and then
going to have sex with people.

♪ ♪

- In his cop car
while on duty.

- Can't believe how good he was
at keeping these secrets,

having the two faces
of Joel Kern.

- He had no problem
manipulating family,

friends, colleagues.

Never, did I ever think
my husband would ever

want any harm on me, ever.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Can you tell me
a little bit about

how you found the podcast?

- My daughter, Nicole, was
scheduled for orientation

her freshman year of college

and we're driving and
doing the road trip thing.

And she put on
"Betrayal" season one.

The podcast had really
struck a chord with me.

I went through this

and I've never been able
to talk about it.

To think that
every one of these women

were living in such isolation

and shame and fear as a result
of someone else's actions.

♪ ♪

To find the power from that
pain, it was so inspiring.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

My name is Karoline Borega.

I grew up in Colorado Springs.

It's beautiful, it's gorgeous,

and everybody is super gracious
and super kind.

I've always been this, like,

eclectic kind of hippie kid.

I enjoyed being
outside with friends

and doing Colorado kid stuff.

♪ ♪

- When she started college,
she knew exactly

what she was going to do
and she went after it.

- I really knew
I wanted to do something

in a social work-type field.

I knew I wanted to help people.

And so I went to school just
about two hours away from home

at University of
Northern Colorado.

She was very
driven and focused,

but also, she was a lot
of fun to be around.

She is one of those people
that is just fiercely loyal

and loves hard.

♪ ♪

- When I was coming
toward the end

of my undergraduate studies,

I was offered a job for
a victim advocate position

for the police department.

♪ ♪

One of the things on
the training sheet

was to complete a ride-along

with the Colorado Springs
Police Department.

I show up at the
police department

and this cop comes out
to see me.

And he says that
the first thing

we're going to do tonight
is sit through a lineup,

just a briefing that happens
before every shift.

- It's really cold and sterile
and no one's saying hi to her.

And she was really nervous.

♪ ♪

- Next thing you know,
there's this disruption.

♪ ♪

This incredibly tall,
very young, very handsome,

with this sandy blonde hair,
hot mess express.

He's holding a clipboard
in his left hand

and paperwork
is spilling out over it.

It's instant comic relief.

Like, that weight and
sterile feeling in the room

just completely lifted.

♪ ♪

Even the sergeant's like, OK,

I guess we can get started
once Joel finds his seat.

And so he sits down.

And we locked eyes with
each other and it was magnetic.

♪ ♪

We finish up lineup and as
we're walking over to the exit,

Joel comes, like,
running over.

He said, so don't forget,

I'm your sector partner
tonight.

- The cop that Karoline was
doing the ride-along with

was like, this is Joel Kern.

He's clearly trying
to get close to you.

♪ ♪

Just shaking his hand--

it was like lightning
went through me.

I had never felt like that
in my life.

- Throughout the whole shift,

Joel was just trying
to impress Karoline.

Until the end of the shift.

As I'm walking to my car...

I hear these footsteps

kind of running after me,
and it's Joel.

And he's got a little bit
of an audience behind him.

He's like, hey, I really
enjoyed meeting you tonight.

I know that you're new in town
and I'd love to show you

like, some of my
favorite spots around town.

And I see the audience
behind him.

I'm like, I don't need to
be shown around this town.

I grew up here.

And you hear them laughing
in the background.

♪ ♪

And he said, well,

I'll just leave you
with my business card

and I guess
the ball's in your court.

♪ ♪

I drive home and my mom
was waiting up for me.

And she's like, OK,
tell me about the night.

And I said, well, I met
the man I'm going to marry.

And she said,
Jesus Christ, Karoline.

It better not be a cop.

And I started laughing.

♪ ♪

And when I wake up,
I pick up the business card

and I call him and I leave
a message on his voicemail.

I really did grow up here,
but I would still love to see

all of your favorite spots
in town.

20, 30 minutes
at the most went by.

And the house line rang.

And Joel said, what took
you so long to call me?

♪ ♪

So we start talking
and he was like,

so what are we doing tonight?

And I said, well, we
aren't doing anything

because we're having
family dinner.

And so he's like, well,
I like Sunday family dinners.

So Joel comes over.

My parents were
so cold to him

and he handled it with charm
and grace and like a champion.

And we finish up dinner
and he's like, did I earn it?

Can I take you on
a real date now?

And so Joel and I left.

♪ ♪

We had this great night and
then we had our first kiss.

♪ ♪

After that first night,
we became inseparable.

I was only 22.
He was only 24.

It was a very special time
in life.

♪ ♪

- When I first met him,
he was just friendly

and outgoing and welcoming.

- He was jovial, funny, a
really easy person to talk to.

You felt the love
that Joel had for Karoline.

He adored her.

♪ ♪

We had been dating
for about three years

and one night, we were
getting ready to go somewhere.

And I turned around
and Joel had a ring.

♪ ♪

When you get married
in the Catholic Church,

you have to go through
what's called Pre-Cana,

which is essentially
premarital counseling.

♪ ♪

One of the
conversations that we had

was deal-breakers
in a marriage.

And I said to him,
I have two rules.

Don't ever lay a hand on me.
Don't ever cheat on me.

And he told me
that's more than fair.

I agree with you.

♪ ♪

We got married in
a beautiful Catholic Church

and we had a wedding
of about 150 people.

And it was by candlelight
and it was stunning.

♪ ♪

And then a huge
reception afterwards

and our wedding song was

Eric Clapton's
"Wonderful Tonight."

- ♪ And I say yes ♪

♪ You look wonderful tonight ♪

- We had a fantastic
night of just dancing

and having a great time.

♪ ♪

After we got married,

I needed to send
a thank you note to my aunt.

♪ ♪

We got married in 2001

and my aunt had just
gotten an email account.

And I'm trying to log on
to my email account

and it's not connecting.

And I see that his
email account is minimized,

so I bring it up.

And I thought, oh,
this will work out perfect.

So I fire off
the thank you note.

And as I'm sitting there,
I see Joel's email account.

♪ ♪

And I'm looking at some
of the preview lines.

And I can see that

he has been corresponding
with a childhood friend.

And some of the preview lines
are so inappropriate.

♪ ♪

Enough to make me double click
and open them up.

♪ ♪

And the two of them
are talking about

what it would have been like if
they had ever gotten together.

And then it progresses to say

what it would have been
like to have been able

to connect before he and I got
married when she was in town.

♪ ♪

- Has he violated
one of the two things

that she asked him never to do?

Has Joel already betrayed her?

Karoline is devastated.

She is seeing these
inappropriate email exchanges

between Joel and his friend.

- And I grabbed a pen

and I wrote
on this cocktail napkin,

saw this on your email.

Very angry.

♪ ♪

And I taped the cocktail
napkin to the computer screen.

♪ ♪

And I left.

And I drove over
to my parents' house.

And after some de-escalation,
my mom said,

you're married now
and you need to go handle this.

♪ ♪

And I drove home and he was
on his knees and crying.

And I said,
how could you do this to me?

And he starts saying how
it was just for attention.

He would never
follow through with it.

I will do anything
to show you that

this was the dumbest thing
I could have done.

♪ ♪

- The next morning,

Joel suggests that
they go to couples counseling.

And in fact, he's already
made an appointment,

and Karoline is
encouraged by this.

♪ ♪

One of the
things that was brought up

was some pretty significant
childhood trauma.

♪ ♪

And he had admitted
that the trauma

was never really addressed.

♪ ♪

And we talked about stressful
things that he had seen

as a result of being
a police officer,

and that him sending
an email like this

could have been just
a deflection or a way to cope.

At least this didn't
go anywhere besides an email.

And fast forward
after that moment,

we hadn't even
been married a year

and I found out I was pregnant.

And I showed him
the pregnancy test.

He said,
I've been waiting for this.

I've always wanted to be a dad.

And we were so happy.

So you can see
the baby's coming along.

And then we have a little
crib deal set up for the baby.

- It felt like this
was just something

that was going to bring us
together again.

And it did.
It absolutely did.

- During the pregnancy,
Karoline and Joel decide

that Joel's career is going
to be the priority

so that he can advance
and provide for the family.

♪ ♪

- He's going to be
a good big brother.

Our son was born in 2003.

He was just perfect.
Just perfect.

And just a little over
a year and a half later,

I knew that
I was pregnant again.

Nicole was born in 2005.

Perfect, gorgeous,
beautiful baby girl.

- You look just like
your big brother, buddy.

Yes.

And I knew that
she completed us.

Just five days after
Nicole's birth,

Joel learned that he was going
to be promoted to sergeant.

He was at the time
the youngest sergeant.

Walk to Mama.

Ooh.

From a family standpoint,

the promotion was difficult
in the sense that

he went onto a midnight shift.

But the pride that
I felt for him

and all what
he had accomplished

at such a young age, I mean,
it was incredible.

- The schedule was based off
of him and his work schedule.

We celebrated
all the holidays,

birthdays at the station too.

But I had a nice childhood,
I would say.

♪ ♪

It's like a pure middle-class

suburban upbringing.

- Karoline's son wants
to prioritize his privacy,

but he has a lot to share
and a lot to say.

And I spoke to him for hours
for the podcast.

And so while
you won't see him,

you're going to hear pieces
of that conversation.

♪ ♪

My sister and I,

we were high achievers
in school.

- We were super competitive
with academics and sports.

And I think my mom
really, like,

ingrained excellence in us.

♪ ♪

And even though
Joel is working odd hours,

he's still making time
to be there for his kids

and to foster that sense
of excellence.

Joel signed up to be a leader

for our son's Cub Scouts.

And after our son announced

that he wanted to try his hand
at lacrosse,

Joel volunteered himself
to be one of the coaches.

Go, go, go, go!

Yes!

And then our daughter,

she played for a national team
and would travel.

And we agreed that

we'll turn these events
into family vacations.

To watch him
embrace fatherhood,

I mean, it was fantastic.

- What do I do?

Just pull it up.
Don't reel it that tight.

OK, I'll help you.

- Ugh! It's so gross.

Oh, my gosh, it's so gross.

Camping trips and
being able to mountain bike,

he loved every second of it.

We would always talk
about getting an RV,

and then finally, we did.

♪ ♪

- Our lives have changed
so much, but...

we still have those memories,
you know?

♪ ♪

- Hey.
- Hello.

You ready to do this?
- Yeah.

- OK.

- I'm excited,
but a little nervous

'cause I don't think
I've really seen

a lot of photos of your family.

♪ ♪

Oh, my gosh.

What's this story?

Looks like a mug shot.

That's the Joel Kern I met.

- I look at that and I see--
I see your son.

- Yeah.
- Mm-hmm.

- And there are moments where
I see you, too.

- Mm-hmm.
- Is that hard?

- It is kind of weird
to think, like,

I have my dad's hair color
and I have his eyebrows

and I have his eye color.

- Like, I see myself in my dad.
- Yeah.

♪ ♪

Almost every night, we would
FaceTime to say good night.

Me, you know, at home in bed,

having no idea all what he was
doing while I was at home.

♪ ♪

That's when
I had to get hospitalized.

I can remember
how terrified I was that week.

She had sepsis, and so

she was in Children's Hospital
for about a week.

He had said,
it's just a really bad time.

I'll come by when I can.

♪ ♪

I remember this day.

I'd been with Nicole
for a couple days.

He was working some
really crazy hours.

And I asked him, I said,

could you just come by so
I could just grab a shower,

get a change of clothes?

And, you know, he's like,
OK, I'll figure it out.

At the time I thought, oh,
thank goodness he's come by

and he's able to see her and--

but this picture's time-stamped

and that same day
I have time stamps of him

exchanging messages
with someone.

Where he made arrangements
to meet them.

He was doing things
that were dishonest

and deceitful to our family

and to our marriage
while we were there.

This picture infuriates me now.

♪ ♪

Prom dress shopping.

This is a man who's
smiling with his daughter

in this stunning dress.

♪ ♪

Would you guess that
he is the same person

that knows
he's under investigation,

has been for over two months?

And I didn't know.

Does that look
and smile depict,

I'm going to change this
little girl's life forever?

♪ ♪

- All pictures of my dad,
whenever I see my dad,

it's just--
it's tainted now.

♪ ♪

- My dad was such
a figure in our community.

This is horrible.

I admired
the sacrifices made

and the nobility
of the profession.

- We had articles and plaques

and awards hanging up in our
house dedicated toward him.

My office that
Karoline decorated.

And then there's the computer.

There's Karoline.

And then she put my awards
in the room like that.

- He even started jokingly
calling it the love me room.

- Even during times of
tension and scrutiny

surrounding the police,

Joel stood out
as one of the good ones.

- Black man being detained
by a white police officer

died following that
violent arrest.

After George Floyd's death,

there were protests everywhere,
including Colorado Springs.

And they got pretty intense.

Joel was
in charge of overseeing

all the protest response
for CSPD.

♪ ♪

- There were times where
he was working

16, 17, 18 hours,
and he was gone.

When he would come home,
he would start to say,

you know, look, like,
this is where people were

throwing frozen water bottles
last night.

This is where I got hit.
Look at this bruise.

Look at this.

Someone was throwing rocks
last night.

Little did I know all what
he was doing on that shift.

♪ ♪

- The admiration
wasn't just at home.

Joel was well-respected
by his colleagues.

♪ ♪

- Joel came across
as very easygoing,

well-spoken, well-dressed.

He definitely looked like
he had his shit together.

He had a reputation

of really being an excellent
police officer

that took his responsibilities
seriously.

He was Super Cop.
I respected him immediately.

He was clean-cut,
he was professional.

I never heard anything
negative about Joel Kern.

I looked to him as a mentor.

♪ ♪

- Around 2011, 2012,

he had an opportunity to be
an internal affairs sergeant.

- I kind of look at it now
like I'm the palace guard,

if that makes sense, to help
keep the department right.

- His superiors really
did think highly of him

and felt that he was capable

of taking on those leadership
roles in the department.

- I spent nine
years on midnights

and I had two young kids.

So I finally had
to make a decision.

You know what?
I want to be home at night.

I want to be home
on the weekends.

An IE opening popped up
and I went there

'cause I'm home at night
and I'm home on the weekends.

♪ ♪

- There are very few events and
times that Joel took off work.

But he took off when
my dad was sick.

♪ ♪

And he spent the weeks

of the end of my dad's life
with him.

♪ ♪

He was there for my mom, too.

Five years after
my dad passed away,

my mom was diagnosed
with lung cancer.

And Joel volunteered
to take her to chemo.

And in middle
of December of 2016,

I was at work
and my cell phone rang.

♪ ♪

And he said, there's just
nothing they can do for her.

And I drove to my mom's house.
She was laying in her bed.

♪ ♪

And Joel was holding her hand

and was, like,
stroking her hair.

And he was there
the day she died.

♪ ♪

And my mom loved
and trusted him so much

that she left him as
the executor of her will.

♪ ♪

And one of the things
that was passed to me

was this rental property,
and I wanted to sell it.

And he told me,
this is passive income.

You don't have to do anything
with this house.

I will handle
everything with it.

♪ ♪

It's the blue one right here.

Oh, wow.

I did not want this house.

We had this discussion of,

it's been in your family
for this amount of time.

Let's just keep it.

You don't even have
to step foot in there

if you don't want to.

♪ ♪

- He did hold up his end
of the bargain.

- He did.
- He did.

He made sure to take
care of the house,

deal with the tenants.

But instead of
doing exactly what was asked

of him by my mom, my dying mom,

he used this as another
platform for his deviance.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Around 2016, Joel came home

and he was like,
I've been offered to step in

as the interim
public information officer

with the Colorado Springs
Police Department.

- The public information
officer, or the PIO,

is the spokesperson
for the police department.

And they have a close working
relationship with the media.

I mean, what a
great professional accolade.

And he assumed the role.

Normally in
these types of crimes,

it is very complicated,
very intensive investigations.

- He did fantastic with it

and you could tell
Joel loved the role.

When you say a million
dollars' worth of jewelry,

some people might think
that that suitcase is full.

However, it could be
valuable jewelry that's small.

- I thought it was really cool

that I was able to see my dad
on the news.

- The sales of spice have
dropped off dramatically.

- We would be walking
through the grocery store

and someone would stop
and recognize him.

And you could see him beam.

He loved the recognition
for it.

♪ ♪

Joel had been the interim PIO
for maybe half a year,

but it's meant
for a lieutenant.

♪ ♪

Mid-2018, he was selected
for the position of lieutenant.

The person who was the PIO
was going to retire.

♪ ♪

He interviewed
and came home and said,

I feel fantastic about it.

And we were all just waiting
on pins and needles.

and I remember when
he got the call.

♪ ♪

I knew how excited he was,
and we were excited as a family

because we knew
he loved that role.

It was really, really
an exciting time.

♪ ♪

- Just weeks before Joel starts
his permanent PIO job,

he comes home
and he's acting strangely.

♪ ♪

And I can feel
the tension from him.

I said, are you OK?

And he said no.
I'm not going to get PIO.

The chief came
into our shift last night

and I had a blow-up with him
and then the chief decided

that he was taking away PIO
from him.

♪ ♪

I said, you and the
chief of police got into it?

♪ ♪

I could not
wrap my head around it.

I'm like, who are you?

- Joel would never do this.

She knew something
wasn't right.

♪ ♪

But little did she know
Joel was under investigation.

♪ ♪

Joel had worked closely
with a reporter

when he was temporary PIO,

and she filed a complaint
for sexual harassment.

Had he crossed a line
he couldn't come back from?

But Joel didn't tell Karoline
about any of this.

Instead, he had an excuse.

♪ ♪

- He said, I've had
so much tension built up in me

because I have severe PTSD
from work.

♪ ♪

- 70% of cops have PTSD,
most of which is undiagnosed.

♪ ♪

You know what you call
the other 30%?

Rookies.

In other words,
it's going to happen.

Every cop gets PTSD.

The job is not driving around

giving speeding tickets
to soccer moms.

It's tragedy every day.

♪ ♪

And so I did find
a therapist who specialized

in PTSD for first responders.

And Joel did
engage in therapy.

And Joel went right back

to continuing
as a midnight lieutenant.

No harm, no foul.

But Karoline was really
worried about him mentally.

It was a really tough time.

- Joel told Karoline
that he lost his job as PIO

because of a fight
with the police chief,

so he starts
seeing a therapist

and saw no other consequences
at work.

But he's really
in a bad place mentally.

Around spring of 2019,

we were sitting
at our son's lacrosse game

and he was
particularly disengaged.

And so after the game, I said
to him, what is going on?

And he said, I'm having issues
with our son driving.

♪ ♪

Now that he's 16, I find myself

replaying all
the different fatal accidents

that I've been to where
there's been a kid involved.

♪ ♪

And that hit me.

♪ ♪

How can I make sure that
you feel safe with him driving?

♪ ♪

Trying to take every
measure possible

just to put him at ease.

♪ ♪

- While Joel's focusing
on his mental health,

there was still a lot
to celebrate within the family.

- Our daughter was getting
ready to have her sweet 16,

our son was graduating
from high school,

and Joel and I were

approaching
our 20th anniversary.

And he said, let's go big.

And then
we invited friends to join us

on what they thought was
just a vacation in Mexico.

- We spent some really
fun days together.

And then it was sprung upon us
that it wasn't just a trip,

but it was a vow renewal
for Joel and Karoline

and that we were all here
for that purpose.

♪ ♪

When it was time
for his vows to me,

he said,
the first time I did this,

we were just
getting started out

and I just did this
impulsively.

This time around,
I put some thought to it.

- Joel was crying when
he was saying his vows.

That just sticks
with me sometimes.

And he got down on one knee

and he had this huge,
beautiful new ring for me.

And there wasn't
a dry eye on that beach.

♪ ♪

- There was so much that was

going on in their lives
at that point.

You know,
Karoline was so afraid

and the kids were worried
about their dad,

that to go there and to watch
them, it was just inspiring.

That's the kind of love
that people aspire for.

♪ ♪

Our son at our reception,

he grabs a glass of champagne
for a toast.

I was proud to have parents

that were still together,
having a 20-plus year marriage

with the renewal of vows.

And he said,
out of all my friends,

my parents are the anomaly.

Cheers to my mom and dad
for showing us what love is.

♪ ♪

- When they got back
from Mexico,

things were OK for a while.

But then Karoline says,
Joel's mental health

started to decline
and things got really bad.

And he says, Karoline,

I think I'm having
a nervous breakdown.

I just said, quit.

You know, you've done this
for over 25 years.

Just quit.

We'll figure it out.

I can't stand
seeing you like this.

- They are working as a team

to figure out
how to get Joel better.

But a month later,

Joel's actions
would destroy their family.

I wanted to talk a little bit
about April 11th, 2022.

You know, I can't do that

without talking
about April 10th.

April 10th, it was a Sunday.

And Nicole and I had gotten up

and we were getting ready
for church.

And Joel emerged and
came into the bathroom

and said, hey,
I'm going to go with you guys.

Nicole's face was just
like, oh my gosh, Daddy.

Like, really, you're
going to come with us?

Because he had
never participated

in that part of our lives.

And he went to Mass with us.

It was what we thought was

kind of this
enlightening moment for him,

that he was finding his faith

and finding just
mental health stability.

It was just such a good day
and it was a good night, too.

I've never told you this.

It was the last time
we were intimate.

It was just a good day.

And I said to him,

I'm so proud of you
for putting yourself first

and your mental health first.

♪ ♪

That next day, I was at work.

It was around 1:30
in the afternoon.

♪ ♪

I was in an online meeting

and I see this notification
come through on my phone.

And we had outside cameras
around our home

and I see that there's
movement on the cameras.

And I see that it's Joel.

I watch him drag up
the trash can.

And I send him a quick text
and I just said,

hey, what brought you home
so early?

And he didn't respond.

♪ ♪

And as I'm watching,
I thought to myself,

where is his cop car?

So I texted him again.

Hey,
why are you home so early?

I noticed that your cop car
isn't in the driveway.

Is everything OK?
He didn't respond.

♪ ♪

So I texted him again
and I said,

I'm a little scared,
'cause you're not responding.

Is everything OK?

♪ ♪

And then at this point,

I see the dots on the iPhone
just bouncing.

And then I got a text

that completely
changed my life.

I texted Joel,
"Everything OK?"

His response was, no,
everything's not OK.

I fucked up the worst I've
ever fucked up in my life.

You're going to want
to divorce me.

And I had this panic
and fear come over me.

And I wrote back,
what are you talking about?

What is going on?

And he wrote back,

I was caught receiving oral sex
in my cop car.

I lied about it during an
internal affairs investigation.

I'm pending termination.
I have ruined our lives.

And I sat there
staring at that.

I just closed my laptop.

I didn't excuse myself

from this very professional
meeting.

I didn't tell anyone
what I was doing.

I just got my stuff
and I walked out of my work.

I made it to a street corner
before I lost it.

♪ ♪

And I was crying
and I called him.

And I just kept repeating over
and over and over again,

what did you do?

What did you do?

♪ ♪

And he said, I'm sorry,
Karoline, I'm just so sorry.

♪ ♪

I got home.

And he wasn't there.

And I heard Nicole come home.

And she was just
so unsuspecting.

It was like

her last moments
of an innocent voice.

♪ ♪

I thought it was weird

that my mom was home
from work already.

And she said, like,
come talk to me.

Something happened.

She started choking up

and couldn't really
express the words.

And so I said, like,
what's happening?

What's wrong?
Is Daddy OK?

And she started crying.

And so she said,
call your brother on the phone.

I get a call from my sister.

It's an emergency.

I remember my mom
and my sister shaken up.

♪ ♪

Nicole had
her brother on speakerphone.

I could hear Joel come home.

And I said,
you need to tell them.

He told both of the kids,

I got caught receiving
oral sex in my cop car.

♪ ♪

I'm pending termination.
So emotionless.

It was, like, rehearsed.

♪ ♪

And both kids
just started crying.

And our son,
he kept saying, why?

Why would you do this
to our family?

My initial reaction was anger

and such a profound feeling
of betrayal.

Our son hangs up in a rage.

Our daughter has buried her
head into me and crying.

And in the moment of seeing
all of that emotion,

he takes off his wedding ring.

He just walked out the door.

That was it.
That's how he left us.

This isn't
a simple affair story.

My mom and sister were both
so overcome with grief

and it would only get worse.

- We had just been pawns
in his game and story.

♪ ♪