S26 Ep9: Moment of Truth

In September 2022, a college student named Alison texted a classmate a photo of a newborn baby at 1:17 AM, ten minutes after claiming to have given birth. The baby was named Waverly Aspen, weighed two pounds, and was headed to the NICU. Within hours, Alison reported that Waverly’s lungs had collapsed and the baby had died. The classmate who received those texts—a student named Summer—had already been suspicious for weeks. She and another classmate, Riley, had been quietly cataloging inconsistencies in Alison’s pregnancy story. But it was the photos that broke everything open.

The accumulating inconsistencies

Alison had presented herself as a Christian conservative student who became pregnant after being raped by her boyfriend, Jake. She told classmates she was due in January but might be induced in October. Then, on September 20th, during a journalism class, Alison stood up and left, claiming her water had broken. She texted Summer throughout labor—while supposedly 9 centimeters dilated, then 10, then immediately after delivery. Summer found it strange that Alison was texting her, a relatively new acquaintance, instead of family. Even stranger: Alison was already planning a Halloween party and talking about getting drunk on Tito’s vodka as soon as the baby was born, while the premature infant was fighting for survival in the NICU.