13. Lorena and John Bobbitt - The Snippy Story
01:01:16 Share

You guys, most weight loss plans are one size fits all. They don't take into account each person's individual needs, but Noom builds personal plans that can meet your individual needs. Noom takes into account dietary restrictions, medical issues, and other personal needs to build a plan that works for you and is built for your psychology and your biology,

meeting you where you are. And you guys, I actually have been using Noom Weight and it truly feels personalized to meet my lifestyle. What I love most is that Noom doesn't restrict what you can eat and it actually doesn't shame you when you choose to treat yourself. Noom's personalized program has felt more sustainable than other more restrictive weight loss programs.

Noom Weight uses psychology and biology, and that's why they say losing weight starts with your brain. The program helps you understand the science behind your eating choices and why you have cravings and actually helps you build new habits for a healthier lifestyle. So stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology-based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. Today, Noom has helped more than 5.2 million people lose weight.

All right, you guys, we are jumping into an ad and I wanted to let you know that listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.

Listening can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being. Audible has the best selection of audiobooks without exception, along with popular podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. All-in-one, easy app.

Enjoy Audible anytime while doing other things, household chores, exercising, on the road, commuting, you name it. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your everyday routine without needing to set aside extra time. You guys, since becoming an Audible member, I've found it so easy to fit more stories into my day. Recently, I've actually been listening to Twilight on audiobook and it's been a game changer during my daily walks.

So there's more to imagine when you listen. New members can try Audible now for free for 30 days with your first audiobook included. Visit audible.com slash M-W-M-H or text M-W-M-H to 500-500. That's audible.com slash M-W-M-H or text M-W-M-H to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. ♪

Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. My name is Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. Another day, another podcast, huh babe? Another day, another podcast. So we are super excited to tell you guys...

that we are doing our first giveaway ever with Murder With My Husband. Father's Day is just around the corner, and so we have teamed up with Dossie Ties, which are super trendy, skinny ties with a style for everyone. Garrett has multiple ties, and he loves them, right? I really do love them. I wear them all the time. I swear they're the only ties you wear. Yeah. So these ties are perfect for your husband, your father, or you if you wear ties.

That being said, Dazzy and Murder With My Husband are giving away $100 in store credit to one of our listeners who leaves a review with a comment on whatever platform you listen on. Keep in mind, if you have already left us a review with a comment, you are automatically entered in the giveaway.

A review with a comment would just mean not just five stars, or I guess if you're not rating us five stars, you rate the stars and then you leave a comment. Why? The only reason we have to do it that way is so that we can see who entered. It's just a lot harder to see when you don't leave a comment. So yeah, leave a comment with your review and you are automatically entered into $100. Yeah.

in store credit to Dossie Ties, and we'll be giving away to one of our listeners. This is really an awesome giveaway. $100 is a lot to this company. So we are super excited for this. So yeah, if you haven't left a review, go do it now. Father's Day is just around the corner, and this is a great opportunity. Don't miss out. Okay, so let's jump right into the story. I'm going to tell you where...

I got my information from. Okay. www.newyorktimes.com There is also an Amazon four-part series called Lorena about this case and it is amazing. It is where I got majority of my information from. Like I said, it's four-parts.

Kind of long, but really good. And then I also got from www.thehotline.org. So let's jump right into it. Peyton is really, really excited about this one. So I am. I did a lot of research. I really wanted this one to be a good one for you guys. We've been pretty busy. We know that last week was, you know, wasn't the best. It was a little bit of a struggle for us. I'm not going to lie, but we had a really busy week. So I just wanted this one to be awesome. So you ready? I think so.

In 1989, battery and women and domestic violence against women was not looked into or taken seriously. There were more laws against animal cruelty versus domestic violence at this time, meaning that animals actually had more rights when violence was done to them than women had more rights when violence was done to them at this time. Keep in mind, animal cruelty is still bad and please stop doing it.

I don't like that, but I'm just giving you some reference. In 1991, Clarence Thomas gets nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court and his former woman assistant, Anita F. Hill, came forward against him for sexual harassment.

The Senate comes to his defense. The accusations are brushed aside and he gets elected anyways. Wow. Anita is brutalized in the media and women were shown that this is what happens if you come forward in a, he said, she said the man is granted authority and credibility over the woman.

Then the Kennedy rape case is dismissed. And once again, the women are devalued by the man and by the system. In 1992, charges against the Naval Academy are dismissed one by one. So there was like this huge case in the Naval Academy of sexual abuse. And one by one, they're just brushed aside. In 1993, over 2,000 women were killed by their partners.

This was the situation going on in America for women's sexual rights and domestic violence. On June 23, 1993, at around 5 a.m., the Manassas, Virginia Police Department gets a call from the hospital. The doctors claim that they need to dispatch officers over there immediately. A man named John Bobbitt has been rushed in, his penis cut off pretty cleanly.

Whoa, what do you mean cleanly? Like straight line. Just... Cut right off. Whoa. It had been cut off with a kitchen knife by his wife while he slept. A sharp knife because our knives can barely cut our vegetables. I'm just going to say I saw the picture of the knife and it didn't look that sharp. But I also saw the picture of the penis and it was a clean cut. You saw the picture of the penis? Yes. Oh my gosh. It was...

You are insane. Okay. So confused and shocked, obviously, the police dispatch over to the hospital and accurately do find John in a lot of pain. In fact, without his penis. Just the balls. Oh my gosh. The police department immediately dispatched CSI to John's apartment where him and his wife Lorena lived and

And where the incident had taken place. Rumors had spread that Lorena had actually swallowed his penis after severing it. But nonetheless, authorities were hoping to maybe find the missing appendage anyways and hopefully reattach it. That makes me hurt. That literally makes me hurt.

So upon arrival in the early hours of June 23rd, CSI noticed a blood trail from the parking lot up to the Bobbitts apartment. They enter the residence and they find blood scattered throughout the house, discovering that the bedroom was in fact where the crime had occurred. There was a pool of blood, surprisingly about an inch deep, in the shape of buttocks on the mattress.

It's immediately apparent that John had actually sat there after she had for a long time done the deed. Yeah. Before he stumbled out to his friend who happened to be staying with them, like in the apartment. So he stumbled out and said, you know, and can you take me to the hospital? Oh my, I can't even think shit right now. Cause that just makes me hurt so bad. That is crazy. So this is how he found his way to the hospital from his friend. And he was,

Okay, according to him, no. But according to everyone else, he was severely intoxicated that night, which actually served him quite well as the pain of the wound didn't actually reach him very fast, which is why he sat in the bed for a while. So the CSI, unable to discover or find the penis in the bedroom, searched the rest of the apartment. They entered the kitchen and searched for the knife that had been used in the endeavor and with no luck...

in either the murder weapon or the missing body part, but they do discover pamphlets in the kitchen about rape and spousal protection against it.

So they're kind of like, Oh weird. What the heck? Yeah. It was at this point though, that the CSIs then get a call from the authorities and they claim that they had received a 911 call from John's wife, Lorena, and that she had confessed to them where she was, where the penis was and what had actually happened. So with what? Can you reattach a penis? Like, is that a thing? You'll find out. Okay. That's good to know. Yeah.

So, you know, just in case I ever go crazy. Exactly. So with everything going on, the cops decide that the missing penis was the top priority. Not like arresting Lorena yet. They just knew that they had to get this penis and they had to get it back to the hospital because they didn't know how much time they had until reattachment wasn't possible anymore. So Lorena tells the cops that after rushing out of the apartment, she did, in fact, have the penis in her hand.

And she got into her car and she started to head to the nail salon where she worked. But it's like the middle of the night, remember? And on the way, she found that driving with the body part in her hand was somewhat difficult. And she was already in like a weird state of mind. And so she just, while she was driving, she just rolled the driver's side window down. No, she did not. Stuck her arm out and just tossed the penis over the top of the car and into a field.

That's so valuable. Why would you do that? Oh my gosh. I know. I can't. I can't. I can see her just like flicking a little pee pee up over it. This is like a comedy show. I know. I know. If we're saying the word penis too much and that bothers you, I'm sorry. No, this story, every time I say the word penis, take a shot if you're a drinker.

So they immediately, the cops, head to the area where she claimed she had tossed it. It was just a general area because she didn't, it was dark. She wasn't really paying attention.

And at the same time as this, the CSI team now race against time to get to the garbage can where Lorena claimed she had thrown the knife that she used in the incident. It was in a trash can outside of her nail salon workplace. When she had arrived to the nail salon, she found that it was locked because it's the middle of night. And so she just threw the knife into the trash can and left.

But it happened to be trash day that next morning and sanitation workers were on their way to pick up the trash. So it was literally a race between them and the CSI team to go get that knife first. Yeah. So keep in mind, like she walks out of the house after doing this with the kitchen knife in one hand and the penis in the other. Yeah.

So meanwhile, in the penis field, a firefighter stumbles upon the severed body part. Like he comes upon it in the field and he reveals to the search team, everyone, I found it, but no one would pick it up. They were like, I'm not picking it up. I can imagine. So everyone waits for the rescue team to get there because they have like equipment, you know, they have gloves, they have things to pick this up. And then once the,

treasure was secured, I guess. It was rushed to the nearby 7-Eleven that just happened to be on the corner of the penis field. And the penis was placed into a hot dog tray filled with ice from the 7-Eleven. Inside a hot dog bun? Yeah, like why couldn't they have just used like a square hamburger one or like a cup or a bag or literally anything that people don't eat a weenie out of. They just needed to use a hot dog bun. They had to use it.

So at this point, the secured penis was on ice and was rushed to the hospital where John and doctors waited to see if reattachment was possible. Upon arrival, the appendage was sterilized and John went into what would become a nine hour long surgery to reattach his property. Oh, man. During the time of the penis surgery, Lorena, the suspect and the wife, was taken to the same hospital opposite side to do a rape kit.

So her husband's getting the penis that she cut off reattached and she's on the other side of the hospital getting a rape kit done. It wasn't until the penis had been found that the cops had actually started to somewhat uncover the rest of the story. Lorena told them that John was very, very abusive through their marriage. He would rape her, control her, and physically, emotionally, and mentally abuse her. She was his property and he reminded her of that every single day. I'm going to tell you now, she is a...

immigrant she's a latina woman she's like 90 pounds she's tiny beautiful beautiful girl but he held this against her like she immigrated over he was her first love yep i know she has a green card because of him so he reminded her the reason i'm here yes blah blah all that okay so that night she claims that john had come home drunk and raped her and afterwards he fell asleep and

And so she went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. And then she saw the kitchen knife sitting in the kitchen. And she said something inside of her just snapped after the years of abuse. And she doesn't really remember what happened next. Wow. It was as fast as the next morning that journalists had caught wind of this investigation. And the story spread like wildfire, as you would expect. It was the first time that the word penis was printed in the New York Times.

Whoa, so everyone's saying penis, not just us. Oh, yeah. Well, how would I say it? We can tiptoe around it, you know? The male private part.

The headlines read, wife cuts off husband's penis. And absolutely everyone who reads that is going to, absolutely everyone who sees that is going to read it. That's a great clickbait. Yes. So from the beginning of this case, you know, and the coverage of this, rape was mentioned. It was, the headline was, you know, cuts off penis and wife accuses husband of rape, cuts off his penis. So celebrities, TV,

TV shows, media was instantly making jokes about this situation. Dark humor from how it was reattached to what she did with it during to why to it was just literally a comedic story from the beginning. It was not serious coverage. It was like

your reaction to the story, right? Well, it's kind of like a joke because he's alive and she just cut his penis off. And they reattached it. Yeah, it's like a book. Yeah. And so late night shows, Steve Harvey, Oprah, et cetera, are like talking about this story. Everyone was cracking jokes. How come I've never heard of this before?

I asked my parents. All I had to say was his name. I mean, and this was in... I have never heard of this. I mean, this was a while ago, but not that long ago. And I just said his name and they were like, oh yeah, we know that story. Oh, that's so funny. So...

You know, everyone's focusing on this woman who cut off her husband's ding-a-ling, but no one was focusing on the reason why. At this point in time, marital rape was barely even acknowledged, let alone pressed. Like when it was, oh, he raped her, people were like, they're married. Yeah. You know.

So Lorena immediately hires an attorney and a media rep. Usually victims of sexual assault do not get their names published in media. And this case would mean that neither John nor Lorena's name would be published because they both had filed as victims. John is pressing charges against her for cutting off his weenie and she's pressing charges against him for marital rape.

So when Lorena hired the media rep, though, journalists caught wind of it. And then they were like, oh, that's it. She hired media reputation. So now we have the OK to publish her name. So soon widespread who had done it, what their names were, everything about them. So Lorena's lawyer decides to get in front of it while he can. Using the widespread attention, he sets up an interview with Vanity Fair before the trial against him has even begun.

Keep in mind, this was before the internet. Nobody, you know, except those who already knew John and Lorena had known what they looked like. So this interview was going to put a face behind the most popular story in America at the time. And John and Lorena were attractive. He was attractive and she was beautiful. You're going to have to show me a picture after this. So she's not in jail, obviously. No, they're just both arrested. Okay. Just taken into custody? Yes. Got it.

Vanity Fair was about to add to this story in a crazy way by releasing her side of the story, her beautiful pictures. I mean, her pictures in Vanity Fair were in a swimming suit. Wow. Yeah. Like she's gorgeous. Sports illustrated. Okay. So at the first hearing for domestic relations against Lorena, the authorities read aloud the statement that she had first given them the morning of the incident. So right after it happens, they interview her and this is what she says.

A damning segment of this interview was when she was talking about why she had done it. They say, why do you do it? She claims that the abuse, you know, and that he had raped her and all that. And then she says, because he have orgasm and not wait for me. He never let me orgasm. Those were her exact words. Yes. And keep in mind, she, there's some speech. I mean, she's an immigrant. There's a barrier. Yeah. But, and I think that does have a big part to do with this. I mean, she'd just done this.

not making excuses for her actions, but she had just done this. She was in a very weird state of mind and the cops were just, why, why, why? And after she had talked about the rape and after she had talked about the abuse, she then says this statement, which doesn't look good for her. No, because sexual frustration is not a reason. Sexual frustration in everyone's mind is way different than rape. Right. So this was hard.

In the sense that John was claiming that she had done this because he had told her he wanted to divorce that night and wouldn't have sex with her. And that's why he says that she did this. And then she went into that. Okay. So she says, no, he raped me. But then she says that. So it doesn't. Yeah. Okay. You guys shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall can be a challenge, but I'm telling you right now.

My quince products that I have, my quince clothing items are my go-to staples in the fall. They make it so easy. They have timeless, high quality items. I use their silk skirts. I literally wear them in so many ways with boots, with tights, with a sweater, with a crop top.

They have cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops, so much more. And the best part is that they are priced so well because they partner directly with top factories. So they cut out the cost of the middleman and then they pass the savings onto you. So you are literally getting cashmere sweaters for $50. I love it. I

I just got a cashmere sweater from Quince that I am going to be wearing. I also have a pair of their linen pants. I'm actually just going to pair them together. I will post it on my social media and you will see it. So make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash husband.com.

for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns you guys if you want free shipping make sure to do quince dot com slash husband that's q u i n c e dot com slash husband to get free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com husband they have the cutest clothes you need to go check it out okay let me guess your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that does not work

You still aren't sleeping, you still hurt, and you're stressed out. That's how it was for me, so I cleared out my cabinet and reset my health with CBD from CB Distillery. CBD Distillery's targeted formulations are made from the highest quality clean ingredients, no fluff, no fillers, just pure effective CBD solutions designed to help support your health.

In two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm, 80% said CBD helped with pain after physical activity, and an impressive 90% actually said they slept better with CBD. I have personally used CBD before to help me sleep. I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping and I couldn't figure out what to do to help. And honestly, CBD did help and if that's something you're struggling with, give it

Give it a try. Check it out. If you struggle with a health concern and haven't found relief, make the change like I did to CBD Distillery. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money back guarantee, CBD Distillery is the source to trust. You guys, we have a 20% discount to get you started. So if you've ever wanted to do CBD, now is the time. Visit CBDistillery.com and use code husband for 20% off. That's CBDistillery.com.

.com code husband, CBD distillery.com code husband.

Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Shopify is there to help you grow. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout up to 36% better compared to other leading commerce platforms.

and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI-powered all-star. Peyton and I love Shopify. We have been using it for, I mean, I've been using it for six years now, so many years, and it's amazing. It just keeps getting better and better with more updates. It's easy to use. It's user-friendly. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US, and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklyn, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.

Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash husband, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash husband now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash husband. So Lorena's attorney said the statement came from, you know, the language and the cultural barrier as well as a woman who was in shock and despair and she had no attorney present during it. You know, it was the first interview. And so that's what they, you know, chalk it up to be.

John was arraigned the next day for marital sexual abuse, and he claims that he didn't do any of it. I never beat her. I never abused her mentally, physically, or emotionally. I never raped her. I just wanted a divorce. The tests on Lorena that night came back positive for sexual intercourse, but John claims they never had sex that night. So her rape kit says she had sex that night, but John is saying we didn't have sex that night.

Okay. So police had been called four times previous to this incident to their home. Three of the times they were called by John. The fourth was by Lorena's mom who claimed to the police that Lorena had been the cause of the whole fight. And Lorena was also the breadwinner of the couple. John was independent on her. She made more money than him. And because of all this, the prosecutors believe that John's innocent. Yeah, it sounds, I mean, what you're telling me, because I don't know anything about the story, but it sounds like-

She's the cause of everything. It sounds like she was going crazy. Obviously, we're not done with this story, but that's what it's all looking like. So John goes on trial before Lorena and it becomes internationally covered. People came from all over to witness the penis trial. Like you said, I'm sure people were just cracking up. Oh, yeah. Just a big comedy show. You should see the news clips, like a joke. Just crazy.

Just dying over this. This is the biggest trial in America of a wife who did this. And at this time, it's a wife who did this because her husband wouldn't let her orgasm. As she says. As she says. So that, I mean, that didn't help in the media at all. You know? Yep. Like there were jokes about women who were like, well, maybe man should get their crap together. Why? You know? Oh, I can imagine. And men who were like, you know, it just was bad. So, yeah.

locals actually started making merchandise and selling it outside the courthouse, like boxers that say like, cut it, or shirts that are like, don't cut it too short, stuff like that. And they just played on the situation of the whole thing. It was like everyone outside the courtroom was wearing this like penis merchandise.

And CNN, ABC, all the major news stations were following this case at the courthouse covering it, you know, the case of the Bobbitts, you know. And so at his trial, John was able to tell his brutal side of the story from that night. He claims that he went out to a couple of clubs, wasn't intoxicated as she had made it seem and came home. He says that Lorena attacked him because she was sexually unsatisfied.

Then Lorena gets up and tells her side of the events of the hearing as well. She claims that John had pinned her down that night, tore her clothes off. She had asked him why he kept doing this. But the judge in John's case ruled that the only events that were allowed to be mentioned at the trial were five days previous or after the incident. So she couldn't talk about the abuse. Do you know if there's a reason behind that? No, I don't know. Okay. I mean, there's always admissible evidence.

It kind of... It screws over cases sometimes. I'm not going to lie. It seems strange because why would the judge care about... Because she couldn't get up and go...

Claim to her state of mind of the past years of abuse. Exactly. So it just kind of seems weird. The judge would only do five days. Yeah. So that was hard. Lorena explains that even in those five days, he had raped her before this. He had told her that forced sex excites him. And if she tried to leave, he would find her and make her still have sex with him. And doctors who at this trial who examined Lorena testified that they don't think she was raped.

that her panties were cut with scissors and not torn, and that she had no outward appearance of rape, including her mental state after, which like she just cut off her husband's penis. So how do you testify to someone's mental state at the time on a completely different matter? Yeah, that's true. Oh, afterwards she wasn't acting like she got raped. Well, she just cut off his penis. Like I don't know what you were wanting her to act like.

John changes his story at trial claiming, okay, okay, okay. We did have sex that night, but I was asleep during it basically because I was so tired. I wasn't drunk, but I was so tired that I was basically asleep. Okay, well, that's a lie because you cannot sleep during sex.

Thank you, man. You're welcome. John was not charged for the crime. So he gets off. Not for he doesn't get marital rape sexual. I've never understood how people in court can change their stories and

Yeah, the judge and the jury looks at it like, oh, you know what? Yeah, they just, I don't know, they changed their mind. That's something that's always kind of bugged me. Court's a weird thing. If you change your story in court, something's wrong. Yeah. Like something's wrong. Yeah. So feminist women's organizations come out, protests immediately start happening. This woman's battered. She's abused. Yeah. And you just let him off. So to prove marital rape at this point in time in America, right?

there had to be two qualifiers. One was you had to be separated at the time. So you couldn't be married and have marital rape. You had to be living in different houses. And then he came over and raped me.

And then two, you had to leave significant damage. You had to make her bleed. You had to bruise her. You had to leave physical damning evidence. That makes no sense. Not emotional, you know, physical. So basically, it was impossible to prove marital rape. Marital rape happens in marriages. They're not separated. Don't always leave damage. Wives don't always fight back to their husbands. And so...

This was in a state that basically... These were the cases in a state that accepted rape was even possible in marriage. Most states at this time didn't even accept it. You couldn't come to court saying, my husband raped me. It didn't stand. It was impossible. If you were married, it was consensual no matter what. Only few states had these...

okay, fine, you can get raped during marriage, but you have to have these two things. Yeah. So in the case, the jury had actually come back pretty quickly with a verdict. But upon being interviewed years later, saying, you know, when we were trying him, they actually changed their mind. They think that after being shown photos of the crime scene, the knife, the cut off penis, and it's pretty graphic, they kind of lost track of what they were really there for. It wasn't about did this guy rape her? It was about

Did this woman cut off her husband's penis? Which...

I mean, I guess it makes sense, right? Because you're looking at these pictures and you're like, oh my gosh. It felt like they were convicting her. Yeah. Well, it'd be hard to look at a crime scene that's so violent and then try her side. Convict him, right? Exactly. Yeah. You're convicting the victim of these pictures. Psychologically, your brain, it would just be weird to look at. And they say that now. They're like, yeah, I don't think we knew kind of, we didn't. Well, how do you wrap your mind around that? Yeah. So...

After the first trial, John's trial, John went to live on a ranch. He refrained from interviews, but he made sure that people knew he was riding horses because that would hurt after you just had reattachment surgery. And he was still playing into the joke. And so he had he had journalists come take pictures of him riding horses and publish them. So he also gets a new girlfriend while he's out there.

And between the trials, the jokes and the comedy value of this only get worse. As John started to laugh and chime in on these jokes as well in his interviews, he would joke about it. He would talk about it. David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, every late night show was talking and joking about this. This guy was like a celebrity. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 100%. Howard Stern had his annual New Year's pageant that he used to use to raise money.

And in this year, he raised it for John and his reattachment surgery because it costs a lot of money. They ended up raising $190,000 for him on TV that night. And it all went to him. All went to him. He was an instant celebrity profiting off this case. Oh, maybe you should cut my penis off.

But it was disgusting. The Howard Stern show, they made him get naked, basically, and strip and talk about his penis and how crazy his wife was. And she was just getting the bad end of the stick, and he was the celebrity. Yeah, that kind of sucks for her because she's claiming and saying that he raped her, and she's just getting, like, it's a joke. Yeah. Okay, keep going. He started selling his own merchandise.

about his pee pee and he goes on tour talking about his pee pee. Like literally he's just famous for his penis. I don't know. He starts joining in on the comedy skits, late night shows, um, about his incident that was literally still going to go to trial soon. Like it hadn't even gone to trial yet. And there was already this much media coverage about it. I bet part of him wanted to just drop everything. Cause he probably didn't

Like didn't care about the whole penis thing. Right? Because he got his penis back. So he probably was just. He says like this was his time to make it. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So Lorena's trial was going to be aired on TV in January.

And the same person who was prosecuting John's trial was also going to prosecute Lorena. So he did the John trial and tried to prosecute him and failed. And now he's going to do Lorena's trial and try to prosecute her. So he literally did both sides of the story, which is kind of crazy. That rarely happens. So she was going to plead guilty.

not guilty and claim temporary insanity even after getting offered only four months if she pled guilty um she was looking at 20 years if she gets sentenced but Lorena said no I'm not going to take four months I'm going to risk the 20 years because I'm not guilty and I'm going to go through with this trial

That'd be hard. So on day one of her trial, there were so many cameras and people there to witness and even more local selling merchandise. This was even bigger than John's trial. Was this on steroids? Japan sent over people to cover the story. Like,

hundreds of news trucks outside of the courtroom. Just, I guess there was nothing else really going on at this time. And so this was it. Lorena's team opening statements ended with a life is more valuable than a penis. I cannot believe I have not heard of this before. I live under a rock.

That's crazy. I know. So women around started speaking up for Lorena. Whoopi Goldberg takes her side, does a whole thing on it. You know, those who are proud of her for standing up against her rapist. There was a pretty big shift for self-defense and women's right at this time. It kind of pushed it pretty good.

At the trial, Lorena and her team showed many instances of past abuse, some even validated with eyewitnesses, neighbors, coworkers. Neighbors said they could hear John yelling at her all the time and acting controlling. Coworkers claimed that she would come to work with rug burns all over her legs, bruises, goose eggs on her head. People claimed that he shoved her around in front of them like at parties. He would push her up against the wall, call her degrading names, call her like a stupid Latina.

Oh my gosh. So when she finally has her chance in court to talk about the past abuse, eyewitness after eyewitness comes in against him for her. Really? Yes. Good. Even though the past police calls were made primarily by John, he was actually arrested at one of them for battery because she had bruises. She had a fat lip. It was all cut up. How was this not brought up before? Because the judge made it inadmissible. That's so frustrating. So it

It comes out in the trial that one of her neighbors had actually given her the pamphlets about the rape and the marital abuse. So she was telling people, I'm in trouble and they could see it. And so one of her neighbors gave those to her. They even brought in some of John's basketball friends and all of his friends testified against him talking about how he talked about forced sex and that he liked it and he liked to make girls scream for help and he liked hurting them during sex and etc.

Oh, that's horrible. It was basically a floodgate of witnesses providing evidence that they had seen the abuse on Lorena by John. Hola. ¿Cómo está? Hola, ¿cómo estamos? Want to learn a new language? Well, the best way is to uproot your entire life, move to Spain, and live there for the rest of your...

I made that up. I went off the ad. Let me go back to the ad read. The best way is to uproot your entire life. Drop your... Oh. You literally followed the ad. I didn't read the rest of that. Drop yourself in the middle of a new country and figure it out from there. I just want to let everyone know that's what I did. But... That's what I did. It worked. If you're not ready for that, you can still learn a new language the next best way, and that is with Babbel. See you.

Speak like a whole new you with Babbel, the science-backed language learning app that gets you talking. Wasting hundreds of dollars on private tutors is the old-school way of learning a new language. Babbel's 10-minute lessons are quick and handcrafted by over 200 language experts, ready to get you talking your new language in three weeks, because talking is the key to really knowing any language.

Designed by real people for having real conversation, Babbel gets you talking. You guys, I actually use Babbel to brush up on Spanish when we travel. I love it. It is so easy. And then I can actually kind of keep up with what's going on. And with over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babbel's 14 award-winning language courses are backed by a 20-day money-back guarantee. So...

There's no pressure. Buy Babbel and travel. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash husband. Get up to 60% off at babbel.com slash husband spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com slash husband. Rules and restrictions may apply.

When Lorena was testifying, so she finally gets up, it's so obvious that she's reliving the trauma. It was really hard for me to watch because it was aired. So they have the footage and she's shaking and she's trembling and she can't really speak English that well. And so she's trying to talk and she's a hurt woman. Like you can tell she is not okay. And he's fine. He's going off with Howard Stern and partying and a celebrity thing.

That's so sad.

When John gets up on stand at this trial, he admits to pushing and shoving, but never hitting or forcing sex. Oh, I shoved her. I pushed her in front of those people. They're right. But I never hit her and I never raped her. This keeps changing his story. The defense provides a document that he had actually had to sign during his time in the military. And on the document, he admits that he's hit his wife before. Like one of the questions was like,

Spousal abuse and he says yes. Whoa, I'm surprised. Why would you I don't know. Why would you put yes, even if you did it not saying that's okay. I'm just yeah when they ask John, you know, what about all these eyewitnesses? What about this point? What about your basketball friends? What about this? He forgets or doesn't remember a lot of the instances that the eyewitnesses had brought up.

Around this point in the trial, with this story headlining on every news station, another story that was, in my opinion, equally as heartbreaking and strange broke headlines, which sort of clouded the obsession with the Bobbitts for a minute. The story that was breaking news was that Olympic skater Tanya Harding had cheated by paying someone to break the legs of her fiercest competition, Nancy Kerrigan. Oh, okay. I know this. So this news obviously dulls the interest. They're now splitting the limelight.

But only for a second. Honestly, this was a great time for tabloids and TV. Nancy Kerrigan on film right after, you know, screaming out in pain. They just had all the juiciest stories. These two both were living. There was pictures, you know, there was, you know, it was just a good time for TV. Wow. And I think.

think this time in television proves my theory that despite the ugliness and sadness that comes along with true crime from the beginning of time majority of people have just been obsessed with it and we can't seem to look away no one you know cnn was actually receiving complaints about their coverage on the actual presidential news at the time viewers upset that they weren't covering

tanya and the bobbitt case why are you talking about the news why are you talking about politics why are you talking about president talk about tanya talk about the penis like they were getting complaints sent in stop covering up these things that's so interesting so back at trial

And Hispanics from all around surrounding states made their way to the trial to protest and show their support outside of the courthouse for Lorena. They stood in the freezing cold weather that January and they stood with her when she would walk out. They would cheer for her. Lorena testifies at trial that during their marriage, she had actually tried and she bought a tape recorder so she could show the divorce lawyer because she wanted to leave him how he treated her. She wanted to have proof of the abuse so that

They wouldn't deport her basically. Smart lady. And John found it. Oh, before. And then he hit her. He raped her. He punished her for it. Lorena had moved some of her stuff out to her neighbor's house, telling the neighbor that she was leaving him and she just wanted to, wanted it to be a fast move. So can I start sneaking things to your house? Um,

A couple days before the incident, a brand new client from the nail salon who didn't know Lorena came in to get her nails done. She noticed that when Lorena, you know, pulled her sleeves up to start working on the hands, she had handprint bruises on her forearms.

And so the client, you know, asks her about it and she starts shaking, bawling. The manicure is bad. Lorraine is just silently crying through the whole thing. How is this guy just not convicted already? There's so much evidence against him. When the client asked her, you know, what's wrong? She claims that her husband's hurting her. The client told her to leave. Lorraine didn't answer. The client said she would bring her home with him or her home with her if she needs her to. And she says, no, her husband would kill both of them.

If she left. So she tried. She tried. She told people. She knew she needed help. A day before the incident, Lorena went in to get a restraining order against him. And she was denied. She was told to come back a couple days later when there was someone there who could help her. So she tried.

The day before she broke. That's so messed up. That's so messed up. The night of the incident, John and his friend, who was staying with them, arrived home from the bar at 3 a.m. John claims to this day that he only had a little bit to drink and neither of them were drunk because they wouldn't drive drunk, but his friend literally testified at the trial that they were drunk and that they drove home drunk. So I don't know. Lorena woke up when they came home and John went and got in bed with her. John claims that he...

you know touched her rolled on top of her and then fell asleep he doesn't remember if they had sex or not stating if i did i was asleep during it but he's not drunk remember yeah he's perfectly fine lorena claims that john came in pulled her underwear off and got on top of her raped her she claims that you know she said i don't want to have sex with you but he pinned her down anyways he covered her mouth so his friend wouldn't hear her struggling while testifying this part lorena is

not okay like they're making her relive it and she is the saddest i've ever seen a testimony she tells the attorney interviewing her that you know you probably just you don't understand because you're a man but it hurts when you're raped like it hurts and i was hurting like physically yeah and she goes it feels like i was getting ripped open and she says john doesn't understand either how bad it hurt because he just doesn't care about my feelings like she's just exploding on the stand and

She says afterwards that she went into the kitchen to try to calm down because she was super worked up. She was sobbing and she got a glass of water and she opened the fridge and all the lights were off and the fridge illuminated and the knife was sitting right there. That was a sign. And so she says that

bad from their marriage just ran through her head and took, took over her. And she just claims, I don't remember what happened after that. I was just enraged. And so she just remembers driving in her car, unsure of who she even was, what was going on, how she felt. And then she comes to, and she noticed that she has a knife in one hand with her hand on the steering wheel and a penis in the other hand on the steering wheel. And so she instantly gets scared, rolls the window down and throws the penis out of the window. Cause she's like, what? Like,

Like she knows, but she's in a break. Like she's mentally broke. No, it's true. I mean, I've heard of stories where people do things and they're like, I just, I don't remember doing them. Yeah. She subconsciously drives to her workplace because that's the only other place she knows. She tries to go in, can't get in. She tries to understand what happens, what had happened and what she had done. And so she knows, I think she'd put two together. And so she throws the knife away in the trash can. She's like, I, she starts freaking out a little bit.

And then she calls the cops on herself. That's why they get the phone call later. Oh, okay. So it's not like she just...

Like didn't really comprehend what was going on. So at the trial, the doctors that they bring in this time claim that Lorena was suffering from PTSD at the time of the incident. She went into a panic. They testify that she did not have control over her impulses, acting in severe distress. She legitimately went psychotic. Which is why she claimed insanity, correct? Yes, yes. Temporary insanity. Okay. And she attacked the thing that tortured her. Like she went in there and literally went...

He told me that I can't leave, that he will continue raping me. And there was a lot more details to...

All of this and what he would do and stuff. So if you're interested in that, you can do it. I'm not going to go into that graphic and stuff. Yes. Okay. Yeah. The way that's horrible. The, the reason why the rape was hurting her basically. So this whole thing is called an irresistible impulse of insanity. She literally couldn't stop the insanity from coming on after years of abuse, the PTSD, like they literally say a person just breaks. Wow. So the defense brings in doctors who claim, Oh,

oh no she was just angry no psychosis was going on okay those doctors should be fired and should never be doctors again so like that's so messed up literally a pivotal point of this case for the jurors was when one of the state's key witnesses that came in and said oh she was just angry after watching her testify gets back up and says after watching this and hearing more evidence i too am in agreement with the defense's doctors she had ptsd

He changes his opinion. He was on John's side and in the middle of case goes, nope, nevermind. This is a battered woman. She literally broke. She is not responsible for her actions. He probably couldn't take it anymore. No.

So during the trial, there were many people that were not on Lorena's side because John was a celebrity at this point. So television personalities arguing back and forth about who to believe, men stating that the rape accusations were false, John was just good looking and he could get whoever he wanted. He didn't need to rape her. The dialogue about the case was pretty intense and pretty disgusting. I'm not going to lie. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of the celebrities I saw talking about this case. Wow. Just...

And I know, like I said at this time, marital rape was not acknowledged. Sexual violence was not acknowledged either. We're still working on it. Some of the things these people said, she's an ugly Hispanic woman. Why would he need to rape her? Yeah, I think something that really bothers me, because I've heard it in other rape cases and...

So forth is when people say, well, they're super good looking. They don't need to rape anyone. That is said so many times. And I just, it's not about that. He doesn't just want sex. He wants a violent sex. Exactly. It's not about that. They don't understand. I mean, I'm not a doctor, but I don't know how people don't understand that. I know.

The jury on the case of Lorena Bobbitt versus John Bobbitt found Lorena not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Good. Okay. Because of this, by law, though, she was immediately taken to the psychiatric hospital for an evaluation of how long she would be in custody for mental help. But she needed help.

Keep in mind, this woman broke. I mean, she has PTSD to an extent. So some jurors think that she might actually not have been completely insane at the moment, but they voted not guilty because John got what he deserved. So they weren't going to punish her for it. Good. So even though some of the jurors were like, we don't actually believe she was temporarily insane. We just think that he was a bad man and he got what we deserve. So we're not going to send her to jail for it. Yeah.

The public was pretty 50-50 on the verdict after the media coverage on this case because keep in mind, everyone's first opinion of this case was she didn't have an orgasm so she cut

his thing off. I know that's, that is the hard thing is that first line. And it was, it was the first trial and it was the first thing they read. It was at the first hearing. And so the media ran with it. It's like, no matter what is said and what is done, your mind always goes back to, but why did she say this? So I think it was confusing for her because she was a virgin before she met him. And so in her mind, it was like, this is sex.

Like this is sex. So in her mind, it was like, well, why, you know, why, why, why? And she was saying he's abusive. And also he always orgasms and he never lets me orgasm. Like she was trying to explain the rape. That was rape was he gets off and I don't. And I think it just came off as like sexual frustration when in fact she was trying to explain, no, he rapes me. He doesn't have time for me. It's just about him.

So, yeah, that's sad. Some people think this case was feministic issues. A lot of the men were like, no, she deserves to go. You don't cut. I don't care what he did to you. You don't cut that penis off. Like that's the that's the lie. I mean, I disagree with that as well. Me as well.

So the media coverage of this case really missed the point that Lorena was a victim of domestic abuse, focusing more on the penis, to be blunt. John ultimately became even more of a celebrity because of this. After the trial, while Lorena was getting help from years of abuse in a hospital, John didn't receive any help for his issues and in fact profited off of the situation. He was invited on shows left and right. He was asked to judge Lorena lookalike contests that were going on all around the country.

What in the world? He sold his underwear for money and people began to celebrate his penis even more. It was around this point that John decided to join the porn industry with his famous penis. Blasting to everyone that it was fully functioning and doing just fine.

One of his videos, he has a partner whose name is Lorena and she basically portrays real life Lorena. Oh my gosh. She's all innocent. The sex is violent. That's horrible. It's completely atrocious. Yeah, that's so sad. I hate this part of the story. I hate that she suffered and healed while he profited off of his own abuse of his wife, even mocking her while at it. He beat his wife and is a celebrity for it. So...

He tried her basically, right? Yes. So what about him? Like for raping her? She, it was, that was the first trial. She tried him the first trial and he got off. And you can't like do it again. There's nothing you can do. No. So then he tried her. That was the second trial that was even bigger. So he just, so then he just continued to profit off of it. Like you said, for free and nothing ever happened. Made porn, famous, went on tour. Wow.

Um, he signed, okay, this helps. His porn film had its own screening in Hollywood. Celebrities came, they walked the red carpet and then they all went in and watched John rape Lorena on his porn video.

I still can't get over that. I have never heard about this before. I don't know. This is crazy to me. This whole thing is crazy. This is the best part though. He signed with a manager who eventually ended up screwing him over, taking all of the money that he made off of all of his porn, all of his appearances, everything. And John filed for bankruptcy shortly after. Well, that's, that's karma at its finest right there. So John ends up moving to Vegas. He becomes a Reverend. He performs marriages. He,

Um, he goes in, he gets a penis extension. The surgery goes wrong and he gets the new nickname Franken penis in the porn industry because his penis was botched. Even more karma for this dude. Not many years later, um, his life is falling apart. He's just working at a, as a bartender. He has no money. He's lost his celebrity, whatever. And he's charged again with domestic violence against another woman.

He's sentenced to 60 days in jail, and he only serves 15 of those days.

Because he died? No. Because I don't know. Because that's the justice system. Oh, he only served 15 days and he got out? Yeah. Oh. On his second domestic violence. That makes no sense. In 1999, John receives probation after robbing a store in Nevada. And in 2003, he is sentenced to prison for breaking his parole. Shortly after, he's arrested again on battery charges involving his new wife. He was arrested two more times for...

for domestic violence again with this wife and then they eventually get divorced so lorena worked on healing in the hospital and she was eventually released she kept a low profile she changed her name back to her maiden name of gallo she founded lorena's red wagon organization which helps prevent domestic violence through family-oriented activities um she has been in a long-term relationship with a man and they now have a daughter oh that's so good

Domestic violence is dangerous and is a major problem to this day. Police report that domestic violence calls are their most common and dangerous calls they report to. And I've even heard your dad say that as well, that his domestic violence calls were the scariest calls he ever went to. Yep.

When a partner hits the other partner and gets away with it, it makes it easier to then punch the partner the next time and then choke the partner the next time and then eventually kill them. It just escalates from there. Most domestic violence murders happen after the partner has already left. Just in case you're one of those people who are like, why didn't she leave? Most of the killings happen after the woman has tried to leave. That's why they don't leave. Yeah.

Some of the news clips from this trial and media coverage is appalling. We went over that. It's gross how they talk about domestic violence and sexual assault. And this wasn't that long ago. I know we've made steps, but this wasn't that long ago. Did Lorena snap? Did the past events and years of abuse and torment register with her while he was asleep and she felt helpless and like this was her only way out? In the pressure of all her feelings and helplessness, did she react in the only way she thought would help?

I don't know. What I do know is that John Bobbitt was a bad man. So is he still around? Is he still alive? Yeah. So in the four part series on Amazon that I watched, they interviewed both of them. Like, um, like today, him today, her today, the neighbors today, the witnesses today. What's he up to? What's going on? He just got in like a bad accident. I guess he hurt his neck or something. He's broke. He's basically just had bad karma ever since. Yes. Mm hmm.

She's doing good. She works at a nail salon still. Okay. She says that talking about it has made it easier. Yeah. Kind of getting it off her chest. She hates the fact that it was that her abuse and years of torment were made such a joke. Yeah. But she understands it because of what she did. She says, I actually understand that it's comical that I did what I did, but I don't quite understand why I did what I did still to this day. Yeah. And she's like, so sometimes that hurts.

But she goes, I, she goes, I, I did cut it off. Like I did. I don't remember it, but I know I did it. I had it. And she goes, so I'm not, I'm not denying the fact that it was, I saw a video of her on like, I think it was like Dr. Phil or was Steve Harvey or something. And he's like asking her, so what'd you do with it? Did you think about it? Did you? And I'm just like, she's a victim. Yeah. And at the time she's just going along with it because she's in the public eye and

And what's she going to say? And the crowd is laughing at her. And so she kind of chuckles along, but you can tell she's uncomfortable. Well, in her mind, I mean, look, she's getting raped. Like it's the serious thing. Yeah. It's not a joke. It's hell. It was her personal hell. I mean, granted, like you said, I mean, it is comical, right? Well, and that's the, I mean, and she says that, which is why I'm okay talking about it because she says it's comical what I did. Like the fact that I cut off his penis is extreme. Yeah.

But she doesn't know what happened. So I'm here standing with Lorena in this domestic abuse is horrible. But, you know, sometimes a man just gets what he deserves. Yeah. And if that's the weapon that was hurting her, then I'm sorry. Like... Can't blame her. I'm going to be honest. Yeah. I mean, I'm not justifying any act of violence. It's not okay. And she did have to go to the hospital for it. And she says the hospital was horrible. She said...

She's like, it was it felt like I was in prison. I was having to heal. I was having to talk about things I didn't want to talk about. But it was just like we were talking about. We were at dinner with some of our friends and he was talking about, well, why? Like, why do people do it? And I mean, that was her. There's your why. There's your why. Doctors came in and explained it for you. Yeah. Years of abuse and all of her family living together.

not near her she's the only one here she immigrated here by herself fell in love with this young marine got married was a virgin was the first guy she ever loved and her life was horrible after yeah so wow that was a crazy one because it wasn't a murder it was a little different than what we normally do you know it was just a case yeah i think i enjoyed it a bit

Yeah. More than some of them. Because no one died. Because no one died. So here's the thing. I know this case is pretty popular. And honestly, I've heard of this case, but I didn't know the name. If you had said Bob, I wouldn't have known.

And so you might know this, you might not, but I wanted to tell you this story so bad because I feel like you would like this story. So that's why we covered it. I promise I'm not, next week we'll do a story not everyone's heard, I swear. But I just really wanted you to hear that one. Yeah, no, that was a good one. That was crazy. I just want to say real quick, if you or anyone you know is affected by abuse, domestic violence, sexual violence, and needs support, call

Call the Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS in all caps to 1-866-331-9474.

Remember, you're not alone. Agreed. Agreed, agreed, agreed. Remember our $100 giveaway to Dossie Ties. It's a big deal. Leave a comment. Leave a review. Go on our social media. Follow us. Talk. We get some comments. We get discussions going about these cases. So if you ever want to add a comment or about your experience with the case or, you know, I remember I was doing this when I heard about this case. Go on. Leave a comment. Follow us. It's Murder With My Husband.com.

All of the links to the case sources are in our episode notes, as well as all of the links to our social media. And I'll also be linking all of the information for the domestic abuse hotline as well if you need it. And please keep sharing it with your friends, family, anybody you know. It's super helpful. And like my wife said, the Dazzy giveaway, you do not want to miss out on this. Nope. All right, guys, I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. Bye. Bye.

Thank you.