162: The TRUTH About ‘Dirty John’ With Special Guest Terra Newell

Tara and her sister, Jacqueline, were skeptical of their mother Deborah's new boyfriend, John, from the start—particularly after noticing concerning behaviors and inconsistencies in his stories. Despite their warnings, Deborah was quickly enamored, marrying John just two months after meeting him, and shrugged off her daughters' qualms. Jacqueline was especially distraught and even cried all through one Christmas due to the marriage. Tara and Jacqueline, unsettled by John's defensiveness about his past and peculiar behavior such as having dirty nails despite claiming to be a doctor, decided to look further into his background.

Terra reveals her mother's history with the Nazarene church and her pride in Deborah's ability to leave toxic relationships. However, following a previous relationship where Deborah had been taken advantage of, she was particularly vulnerable to John's charms as he presented himself as an anesthesiologist and Prince Charming. As Deborah's daughters dug deeper, the situation escalated, with confrontations leading Tara and her boyfriend to feel unsafe and eventually be kicked out of Deborah's home, as Deborah sided with John.

Despite Tara's initial effort to independently assess John, their discovery of his nursing certificate—which contradicted his claim of being a doctor—led them to hire a private detective. The investigation uncovered a disturbing pattern of behavior; John was not a real doctor, had homes across the country, numerous restraining orders had been filed against him by diffe ...

The story of Tara Newell's harrowing encounter with her stepfather John arrives from multiple sources, revealing the details of a vicious attack and a desperate fight to stay alive.

After Deborah finally divorced John, he became enraged and began stalking and terrorizing the family, leading him to eventually ambush and attack Tara in the parking lot of her apartment.

On August 20th, 2016, five months after Deborah and John's divorce, Tara was confronted by John in her apartment building's parking lot at around 5:30 pm. Her sister had lost sight of John following her the night before and warned Tara. Recalling a strange phone call from a man with a fake French accent and John's odd behavior near her vehicle, a dreadful picture emerged. As Tara went past him, John, fiddling with a tire iron and wearing a straw hat, seized her waist and asked ominously, "Do you remember me?"

Despite having no prior self-defense training, Tara's quick thinking and determination to survive allowed her to fight back against the larger, stronger John and ultimately kill him in self-defense.

Realizing her peril, Tara understood her need to conserve energy. Instead of replying, she assessed her situation as John began his attack. Initially, she mistook his knife stabs for punches, not recognizing the sharp, quick pressure as life-threatening wounds. Once on the ground with scraped shoulders, fighting back, her dog, too, leaped into action, biting John’s ankles.

Tara's actions during the attack, such as imagining John as a "zombie" to guide her fighting instincts, and her awareness of vulnerable areas like the eye, demonstrated an impressive resourcefulness in the face of mortal danger.

Her instinct for self-preservation soared, visualizing John as a zombie—a tactic gleaned from "The Walking Dead." She attempted to block stabs with rain bo ...

Tara Newell has encountered a challenging journey in the aftermath of her attack, from the initial interaction with authorities to her extensive healing and recovery process.

The police initially treated Tara as a suspect rather than a victim, interrogating her for hours and failing to provide prompt medical attention for her stab wounds.

When the authorities arrived at the scene of the attack, Terra was treated like a suspect, which delayed her medical treatment. Paramedics were busy attending to John, leaving her with an open wound. The police interrogation at the hospital involved repeated questioning and invasions of privacy. Adding to her distress, a male technician took photos of her wound without sensitivity or consent. The "kidnapping kit" found in John's car eventually led authorities to recognize that Terra had acted in self-defense.

Tara's traumatic experience at the hospital, where she was subjected to invasive examinations and touching without consent, further compounded her trauma and sense of violation.

Terra's hospital experience was traumatic; she was left waiting, touched without consent, and had to endure a lack of privacy that compounded her sense of violation. Her fear of needles added to the ordeal, but the presence of her therapy dog provided the comfort she needed to allow the medical staff to proceed with their work. Still, she encountered a lack of compassion and called for a more understanding approach to victim treatment.

In the years since the attack, Tara has worked to reclaim her story and use her experience to help other victims of abuse and violence, while also navigating her own healing process.

Terra has become proactive in using her experience positively, becoming an expert in escaping toxic relationships and recovering afterward. She serves as a personal coach, assisting others in navigating away from unhealthy relationships. Terra is selective about sharing her personal story as retelling her experience can be re-traumatizing.

Tara has started pro ...