A month ago, we recommended the addictive podcast series Love Trapped, sparked by the scandal that started when Arizona woman Laura Owens claimed she was pregnant with former Bachelor Clayton Echard’s twins. Please read that first! In Part 2 (make a cup of tea and sit down), we look at what happened next and what the latest updates are…
On August 1 2023, Laura Owens filed a Family Court petition to establish paternity, alleging she was two months pregnant with twins by former Bachelor Clayton Echard (in Arizona you only need an affidavit, not medical proof of a pregnancy). Laura also went to the media anonymously, and posted on Reddit as ‘the anonymous woman’.
Clayton would later speak about everything with Stephani Young from the Love Trapped podcast, while Laura declined an interview with Stephani, although Laura has continued to stand by her statements that she was pregnant with Clayton’s twins. Clayton, who has always maintained they’d had oral not penetrative sex, hadn’t got hard proof of an ultrasound. He wanted a paternity test. He says Laura made excuses, said she already knew he was the father so it would be a waste of money, said she wanted to wait until the due date, then said clinics won’t do paternity tests with twins. Clayton found a provider that would, and announced on social media that he’d provided his blood sample.
Laura submitted a sample. The result was ‘little to no fetal DNA present’. The test was deemed ‘inconclusive’ as it cannot definitively state whether a woman isn’t pregnant or whether there’s been a sampling/testing error. A second test also said ‘little to no fetal DNA’. Laura later said in court that a third test’s results were lost in transit.
Meanwhile, over five months, according to testimony, Laura had sent Clayton around 500 messages, mainly over email as he’d blocked multiple phone numbers. Finally, he filed for an Injunction Against Harassment (IAH): a legal order designed to protect individuals from unwanted, aggressive, or threatening behaviour. In response, Laura filed for an Order Of Protection (OOP), which forbids a person from contacting or coming near you.
There would be duelling court hearings over two days, presided over by different judges. Laura attended the OOP hearing in person, and the IAH hearings virtually.
On October 24 2023, Clayton represented himself at the IAH hearing, but for various reasons, the judge said to come back in a week. Clayton didn’t know this hearing was live-streamed via the court, until YouTube content creator Dave Neal (who covers Bachelor news among other things) messaged him afterwards, saying he’d done a good job representing himself but still needed a lawyer. Dave’s community chipped in for legal fees. At a November 2, 2023 hearing, Clayton was granted the Injunction Against Harassment. Laura would have to stop those emails.
On October 25 2023, a judge granted Laura an OOP in large part because Laura said that Clayton was the only other person who had an image of ‘her’ sonogram (an image rendered by an ultrasound) that found its way into an unflattering Halloween meme depicting Laura. Clayton denied doing that. Laura didn’t tell the judge that the sonogram was in the ‘dropbox of proof’ she’d made available publicly via Reddit. In fact, a Reddit user had created the meme.
No longer pregnant?
In a court filing in December 2023, Laura said she “is not now pregnant”. Two months later, her attorney said she had miscarried.
Told that the paternity case would be dismissed, Clayton felt he had a right to establish he never fathered the alleged twins; indeed, he said he wanted to prove Laura was never pregnant. To do so, he filed under the Putative Father Registry which protects the parental rights of unmarried biological fathers.
A judge denied Laura’s motion to dismiss the case, because the issue of paternity, attorney’s fees, costs and sanctions remained. In the lead-up to an evidentiary hearing in June, the process of discovery required each side to disclose and share all relevant information, including Laura’s medical records.
A deposition is sworn testimony, recorded for potential use in court later. According to Clayton’s lawyer Gregg Woodnick, two days before Laura’s deposition, she sent a letter saying she’d sue Clayton for $1.4 million (for not putting forward her offers on investment properties as her realtor) unless Clayton dropped the paternity case and didn’t bring other cases. Woodnick and Clayton ignored the letter.
Woodnick conducted Laura’s deposition on March 1. He asked about a sonogram she’d sent Clayton. Laura had to admit she’d altered the provider’s name, and would later admit she’d changed the date and added her name, although she claimed the sonogram was still hers.
In the deposition, Woodnick asked Laura about an ultrasound video. Laura said it wasn’t hers and that she hadn’t emailed it to Clayton – she suggested Greg Gillespie (who she dated previously) had hacked her email and sent it.
At the deposition Laura said, for the first time during litigation, that she hadn’t consented to sex with Clayton. However, soon after their hook-up, a message Laura sent Clayton indicated they hadn’t had intercourse, and public records show her message to a pregnancy-support line seeking Plan B [the morning-after pill] said ‘I was consensually intimate with a partner although we did not have intercourse’.
At the deposition, she also agreed that four men have accused her of fabricating pregnancies in the past.
You can hear the stories of what Greg Gillespie and Mike Marraccini allege happened to them on the podcast. The fourth man only wants to be known by his first name, Matt.
A Day In Court
On June 10, 2024, Judge Julie Mata presided over a Family Court evidentiary hearing. Mike Marraccini and Greg Gillespie were there, having been subpoenaed to testify – but as each side only had 50 minutes, there wasn’t time for them to do so. Laura was questioned by her attorney, then Clayton’s attorney.
On June 18, Judge Mata released her findings in a 19-page ruling. Her ruling was ‘non-paternity’. The Court ruled that Laura “knowingly presented a false claim”.
The Court stated that Laura had, when presented with the evidence, admitted “to altering and fabricating ultrasounds and sonograms” and that Laura admitted she’d changed HcG levels on a home pregnancy test. (Home pregnancy tests are based on the presence of HcG in a woman’s urine.)
The Court ruled that Laura was not treated by any OBGYNs including the two Laura mentioned, and that getting no in-person care for a alleged high-risk pregnancy was not believable.
The dates just didn’t line up. At an earlier hearing in this case, Laura stated that, in mid-November, she realised she must have miscarried in September or October. Now, at the Family Court trial, Laura was stating that she’d miscarried in July. If that was true, the judge said, she had perjured herself when she’d said she was 24 weeks at the IAH hearing on November 2. The Court stated that a 24-week miscarriage would have required emergency medical care and foetal death certificates.
The Court found Laura had filed the case in bad faith – not grounded in fact, or based in law – that she’d provided false testimony, and that the petition was filed for an improper purpose such as to harass the other party, to cause an unnecessary delay or to increase the cost of litigation to the other party. After Laura unsuccessfully appealed the ruling, then the Arizona Supreme Court declined to consider the case, she now owes Clayton US$196,000 for attorney fees.
Regarding Laura’s recent claim of sexual assault, the judge said evidence and testimony do not support this “inconsistent contention”.
“The Court, having determined that Laura Owens has a pattern of similar, if not identical behavior, and court involvement, [is] referring this matter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for review of Laura Owens’ actions.”
Laura said this afterwards in a statement. “It seems clear to me that Judge Mata would not have allowed this case to go on if Clayton had not been a former Bachelor star. Because Clayton had a high-profile status, Judge Mata seemed determined to drag this case out.”
Meanwhile, detectives got to work. Helpfully for them, content creators including Dave Neal – and online sleuths from the r/justiceforclayton subreddit including the anonymous SchnitzelNinja – had already done a lot of sleuthing.
On January 29 2025, after armed police had secured the property where Laura and her parents live, county detectives arrived with a search warrant and questions.
Exactly Two Years
On May 20 2025, two years to the day after that fateful hook-up, Laura was indicted by a grand jury on seven felony counts: one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of forgery, four counts of perjury, and one count of tampering with physical evidence. A grand jury is a group of citizens that decides whether there’s enough evidence to formally charge someone with a crime.
Laura pleaded not guilty to all counts. She said in a press release: “As someone who has never been charged with a crime in my life, I am stunned by the seven felony charges announced against me by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. These allegations appear to be the result of coordinated harassment, misinformation, and public pressure in the aftermath of a paternity case I filed against former Bachelor star Clayton Echard.”
“I intend to meet these accusations head-on — and I will defend myself, fully and relentlessly, through every step of this process.”
But wait, there’s more
On November 6 2025, Laura was indicted criminally by a grand jury on another seven felony counts related to Greg Gillespie, and another allegedly fake pregnancy of twins. One charge of perjury, two of forgery, one of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, two of Taking the Identity of Another, and one of Theft by Extort-Accuse of Crime. That’s when someone tries to obtain something by threatening to accuse the victim of a crime, but I won’t get into Greg’s case.
The two cases were folded into one trial, scheduled to start on July 29. More than 60 witnesses are listed.
Meanwhile, in January 2026, an 118-page Investigation Report was released following a freedom-of-information request. The investigation report alleges that Laura passed off her sister Sarah’s sonogram and a video of Sarah’s belly as her own. Also, detectives allege that Laura had purchased injectable HcG.
Laura hasn’t given any interviews, but the website justiceforlaura.com has multiple blog-style articles, with no author identified. One post says: “Maricopa County faces more than 13,000 violent crimes every year, many of which go investigated or unresolved due to limited staffing. Yet vast county resources – investigators, digital-forensic teams, senior prosecutors, a SWAT deployment and two grand juries – were spent pursuing an autistic woman with no criminal record over a paternity case and a two-year-old dispute.”
Trial or Plea Deal?
Laura has two choices. Go to trial, where if convicted, she could face a custodial sentence. Or accept a plea deal. A plea deal was offered in February, then in April the deadline was extended to June.
As a listed victim, Clayton got to see the plea deal, which wasn’t made public and which he doesn’t disclose. But it would likely involve her pleading guilty to at least one major felony, while other felonies would likely go away. There has been public speculation the plea offer is probation: a court-ordered period of supervision that allows a convicted offender to remain in the community.
Clayton wasn’t happy. He wrote a letter to the prosecutor and victims’ services, and read it out on Instagram. Here’s some of what he said. “My attorney (Gregg Woodnick) has told me that non-violent offenders like Laura often do not receive prison time. However, Laura is no ordinary offender, and her actions, though not physically violent, have been acts of violence… I feel strongly that we should not overlook the extreme mental, emotional, and financial damage she has caused.” He said he’d experienced suicidal ideation during his ordeal, and asked that the plea deal be changed to include jail time. “It is the only way to stop her, for if you do not, I promise you will see the day where new victims of Laura Owens arise, and also potentially the day where you will see one of the victims finally fall.” Clayton claims Laura is back on dating apps.
New Eps!
Love Trapped unexpectedly dropped two new episodes last week. In the ‘Eleventh Hour’ episode, Clayton told Stephani that, following his letter, prosecutors spoke to him about the (publicly undisclosed) plea deal. Clayton said he’s now aware that probation can include some jail time. Prison and jail are different things in Arizona. Jail is for shorter-term sentences generally served locally, and can involve spending nights and weekends in jail, but you may be allowed to attend a job on weekdays.
As he told Stephani, Clayton now realises that, if Laura takes a plea deal, the victims can tell a judge about how they’ve been impacted at a sentencing hearing. Clayton and Greg could ask for jail time. Their having input is part of why Clayton thinks Laura won’t take a plea deal. He also believes she’ll never admit guilt.
What is her strategy? As Love Trapped reports, Laura’s attorney Christian Lueders told journalist Kristin Thorne that he’s preparing for three outcomes: case resolution by agreement (a plea deal), a trial, or a dismissal. Lueders said they’re looking for anything that may allow them to dismiss one or more of the charges, such as major gaps in the investigation, insufficient evidence, procedural errors, or violations of constitutional rights.
Plea Deal or Trial?
Love Trapped’s ‘Eleventh Hour’ episode came out before court hearings were held on June 26 and June 29. So what happened? Did Laura take the plea deal?
This is my understanding, having watched videos of the hearings. The settlement-conference hearing on June 26 was about the plea deal, set to expire that day. A magistrate presided in a more informal and conversational setting than you’d get with a judge. Very cordial, the magistrate told Laura that she may know all this already, but he was available to explain her options, answer any questions she had, and go over “best and worst-case scenarios”. The best? Being found innocent at trial. The next best? Taking a plea deal and getting a term of probation, noting the judge could impose up to a year of jail. The worst? If found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to the maximum term for each, and the sentences ran consecutively, that would add up to 64 years in prison, though it’s very unlikely to be that long.
Laura had no questions. And she wasn’t taking the plea deal… at least for now. Lueders, being her third attorney so far, said he hadn’t had time to look through all the discovery information provided by prosecutors, some of it arriving recently, so could not yet properly advise his client on the plea deal. Prosecutor Ed Leiter said he’d help Lueders by telling him what the key exhibits will be in court.
The magistrate granted Lueders “a reasonable time” (no specifics) to review all the evidence so he could properly advise his client (and because otherwise it could open up grounds for an appeal). Lueders questioned whether outside factors affected the plea offering. Leiter said: “I can definitively say there’s no outside influence or pressure. This plea does give Miss Owens the opportunity to have straight probation.” Probation: we had breadcrumbs, and now we have confirmation. (Again, probation could include up to a year’s jail time.)
Clayton and Greg attended this hearing. Clayton briefly spoke to the magistrate about not wanting the plea deal extended due to delay tactics. “It’s been three years. I’m tired.” Presumably speaking about the other men, he said “I know we’re all tired”. The magistrate said that was something to address with the judge at the complex case-management conference hearing three days later.
At that four-minute hearing on June 29, the judge said he’d received a case-management report, and had spoken to the attorneys privately. The judge asked Leiter to propose a new settlement-conference date, and Leiter said he would do so after speaking to the victims. They won’t be happy. The next settlement-conference hearing is scheduled for August 28, which may possibly also be a new plea-offer deadline. So you can scratch that July 29 trial date.
However, the extensions and delays won’t be granted forever. Expect a plea deal or trial this year.
Again, Laura Owens has consistently maintained she became pregnant with Clayton Echard’s twins and later miscarried. “I intend to meet these accusations head-on — and I will defend myself, fully and relentlessly, through every step of this process,” she said in a public statement last year.
*Listen to the Love Trapped podcast on Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio Network or Spotify – it’ll be dropping new episodes on developments. Want to know more? The podcast’s Stephani Young is interviewed about each episode in ‘Inside The Edit’
MAIN IMAGE CREDIT: ABC/THE BACHELOR
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