Amy Acton Ad: The Survivors’ Take with Deondra Brown and Michelle Denault
The Survivor Files with Elizabeth SmartShow Notes
Everyone is talking about Amy Acton after her estranged mother appeared in a political ad calling the Ohio gubernatorial candidate “a liar.” Acton has also spoken openly about surviving childhood sexual abuse. Elizabeth Smart, Deondra Brown and Michelle Denault — all survivors themselves — talk about the controversy, what sexual abuse can do to families, and what this moment looks like through the eyes of survivors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart
After a desperate escape attempt fails, Alisa Matthewson is recaptured, bound, and taken even farther from safety. When her 55-hour ordeal finally ends, she expects to be reunited with her children — instead, she finds herself fighting a new battle to get them back. In the finale of her story, Alisa reveals what happened when her case finally went to trial and the man accused of kidnapping, raping and trying to kill her chose to cross-examine her himself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Alisa Mathewson wakes at 3:00 a.m. with the terrifying certainty that someone is standing in her bedroom. It is her estranged husband — the man she has spent months trying to escape. In Part One of her story, Alisa reveals how her desperate attempts to break free from his control culminate in a middle-of-the-night break-in that leaves her bound, drugged and fighting to stay alive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Eduardo Valseca is locked inside a tiny box, its coarse walls tearing at his skin whenever he moves. He doesn’t know where he is, what has happened to his wife, or why the men holding him refuse to speak. Then the message comes: his captors want millions of dollars in ransom — and when his family can’t pay, his captivity stretches on for seven months of beatings, starvation and torture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the sexual assault allegations at Cornell University dominate the headlines, Elizabeth and fellow survivors Kimberly Corban and JoDee Neil engage in a challenging conversation about consent, reporting, bystanders, and what people still getting wrong about trauma. Plus the "Three D" rules for protecting young people at college parties. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After surviving more than 26 hours in captivity, Lisa Mae reaches the police expecting them to help her — only to find herself fighting to convince investigators that her story is true. Then a news report about another murdered woman leads Lisa to a chilling realization: the man who abducted her is the serial killer terrorizing Tampa. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.