The Unlovely Truth Lori Morrison

Let’s explore the inside of the FBI from a female perspective. Jana Monore, the first female to earn a spot in the prestigious Behavioral Science Unit, is our guest today. She’s written an amazing book filled with stories about talking to serial killers, working undercover, and not letting her  male colleagues see her fear of spiders! She’s so down to earth and I can’t wait for you to hear from her. But first, I’m going to tell you a little bit about her book.
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
This is Season 4, Episode 36. Our book this week is “Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Science Unit, and My Life as a Woman in the FBI” and our guest is its author, Jana Monroe. Being a female in a very male dominated profession can be tough. But not as tough as Jana herself. She began her career in law enforcement at what was called a Youth Training Facility. It was filled with young offenders whose crimes would have landed them in prison if they had been old enough to send them there.
Jana spent years rising through the ranks until she was sitting next to serial killers asking them to tell her why they were in prison. Mostly they poured out lies and self-justifications. She said that they had Hearts of Darkness. 
Our Bible passage this week is 1 Peter 5:6-9, The Living Bible
If you will humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, in his good time he will lift you up. Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.
This passage has what I think is some of the most practical wisdom for daily life that you’ll find anywhere in the Bible, and it dovetails so perfectly with what Jana shared with us today.
I hope you'll visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast. Together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
Pre-order “Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Science Unit, and My Life as a Woman in the FBI” today! (and support the Unlovely Truth when you use this affiliate link)
Watch Jana talk about working with Jodie Foster on "The Silence of the Lambs"
 
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Do you think you could turn your own father in to the police? What if I told you that you found out that he had abused children? Could you then? Would it make a difference if one of those children was your own sister, and others were children at the church where your father was the preacher? That’s the dilemma today’s guest faced And it changed the course of his life.
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
This is Season 4, Episode 5. Our book this week is The Devil Inside and our guest is author and pastor Jimmy Hinton. 
Everyone wants a father they can look up to. A father who shows them love and teaches them right from wrong. Jimmy Hinton had a dad like that. He also had a dad who molested dozens of children. It’s hard to imagine one man had these two sides to him.Jimmy consults with churches who are dealing with leaders who have done things similar to what his father did. Many say, “But you don’t know how much good this man has done for the church”. I love the way Jimmy responds by saying “And you don’t know how much evil he’s done either”.
If you’re a leader in your church I urge you to get this book. There's a link below so you can find it easily. I want to read a quote directly from the book that I think is a call to action we can no longer ignore.
“Our kids can’t afford for us to sit idly by, hoping someone else will step up to the plate to protect them. Idleness hasn’t worked for generations, and it’s not working now. So now is the time for Christians to act. The church’s record on abuse should embarrass us. When secular researchers rightly name the church as the most dangerous place for children, it ought to spark a fight inside every one of us."
Most of us are probably familiar with the first verse of Psalm 89 from the old hymn “I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord”. I have put a link below to a video of a bunch of cute kids singing it so you can remember who we are trying to protect with this episode. I want to focus on verse 14, and it seems only right to read it from the International Children’s Bible translation: 
Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair. Love and truth are in all you do.
How can we, as the church, tell others about the wonders of God’s kingdom if we don’t do what is right and fair? It’s not right to cover for people who abuse children, or anyone else. Yet we’ve seen it happen again and again in Catholic and Southern Baptist churches, and it’s happening elsewhere and just not getting as much media attention. It’s not fair to our flock to let them think they are safe when we aren’t doing all we can to make that so. 
But it doesn’t have to be that way! I know that some of you listening are in churches that are getting it right - and I want to hear what you’re doing. Unfortunately some churches are not placing as much importance on the safety of our children as we should. I want to hear from you too. Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!
Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Link to buy The Devil Inside by Jimmy Hinton (and support The Unlovley Truth by using this affiliate link)
 
Connect with Jimmy on his website
 
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How much courage does it take to leave behind everything you’ve ever known? Last week we started with the story of Abby Alvarado as an abused nine year old child who was taken from her home by authorities. They unknowingly placed her somewhere that was even worse. 
 
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
 
This is Season 4, Episode 34. Our book this week is I Am Abigail: A Texas Woman's Childhood Nightmare - And Her Escape From Hell as a Sex Slave/Survivor.our guests are Abby Alvarado and Jamie Collins. Jamie wrote this story, and Abby lived it. 
 
At the end of last week’s episode, Abby was legally an adult, but felt powerless to leave. She couldn’t imagine abandoning the three children she’d had by her uncle/ adoptive stepfather/ abuser. Abby’s adoptive mother Laura developed a life threatening disease, and Chevo, her adoptive father, told her that once Laura passed, he and Abby could be married and have more children. It was all she could do not to throw up when he talked that way. She wondered if it would be better just to be dead. But Abby knew that her children needed her.
 
But Abby’s life changed when she met Rudy. They were instantly drawn to each other but had no idea how hard it would be to really get to know each other. Rudy tried messaging her on FaceBook, but Abby’s responses were usually very short. No one would ever have guessed how controlling Laura and, especially, Chevo are of Abby’s time and who she interacts with.
To get around that, Rudy adds another phone to his plan . A phone for Abby. He doesn’t know it, but that phone will be a lifeline for her and her children.
 
Isaiah 21:6-8 NIV
 
This is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys 
or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.” And the lookout shouted, 
“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.”
 
Isaiah is prophesying here about the coming ruin of Babylon. God tells him that a watchman is needed to be aware of what is happening around the city and give the people reliable information about what he sees. A watchman’s job is to alert people of danger. 
 
Rudy was a watchman. He paid attention, and he tried to warn Abby of the dangers he saw. It was hard for her, but as she trusted him more and more, she was able to take action to save herself and her children.
 
A big lesson for all of us here is that watchmen, or we’ll say watchpeople, not only have to open their eyes, but also their mouths! We cannot forget that we live in a broken world with people who have given themselves over to evil. We must be watchers. And when we see things that just aren’t right, that just might mean danger to someone - we have to speak up. 
 
I know that can feel scary, so I want to hear what you think about the idea of being a watcher for your family, your community, and the people in your church. Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!
 
Listen to last week’s episode
 
Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Grab your copy of I Am Abigail (and support the Unlovely Truth - this is an a

I’m going to tell you a story about a very scared nine year old girl. Her home life isn’t great, but it’s all she knows. As Jamie wrote in her note from the author, Abby “...never questioned the empty cupboards or the constant hunger. She didn’t know it wasn’t normal to not have toys or clothes. She didn’t know that smoke billowing in a living room full of strangers, beer cans, and white lines of powder on tables was not the norm.” Child Protective Services removed Abby and her siblings from their home, but eventually placed them somewhere that Abby’s abuse would not only continue, but be worse than any case I have ever heard of. 
 
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
 
We’re going to look at the 10th chapter of Deuteronomy today. It starts out with Moses having to make new stone tablets for the 10 commandments to be written on because he got mad and smashed the first ones when he saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf. That’s right. God gave them tablets with rules on them INSCRIBED BY HIS OWN FINGER, and Moses broke them. On purpose. Losing our tempers has just never worked out for us has it? 
 
Anyway, God has Moses make two more tablets that will be put in the ark. This is the ark of the covenant, a gold covered wooden box, not the ark with the animals. And Moses tells the people again about the commandments and mentions that they are for our own good. He speaks about how the God they serve shows no partiality and how He defends the cause of the fatherless. Verse 18 in the HCSB says: 
 
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, 
and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
 
This is a hard promise to reconcile with what we’ve heard today - and you know that I left a lot out. But remember what I said at the beginning, that Abby wants everyone to find hope in her story? Well this verse speaks to me of hope. Even if we don’t see justice in the story so far for this young girl who grew up first with no father and then with a father that no one should have had, we know that God promises that it is coming. It may not look like what we are expecting or come as soon as we want it too. That’s why in the midst of troubles we have to hang onto hope the way Abby did. Be sure you don’t miss next week’s episode to hear what happens. 
 
Child abuse is so hard to talk about and if anyone listening has experienced that I want to say that you are strong, you are loved, and it was not your fault. And if you are someone who suspects abuse in the life of a child please contact authorities. Most foster parents are loving and kind and will help abused children as they heal. If you have a story to share about this topic,  Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!
 
Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

Link to buy I Am Abigail
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If you don’t believe that evil exists, you may change your mind after today’s episode. For over thirty years, women and girls disappeared from the small towns that dot I-45 between Houston and Galveston, Texas. At least 30, and probably more. Since the early 70’s, someone - maybe more than one someone - has been snatching unsuspecting young women and killing them. What did they have in common? They met evil face to face. 
 
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
 
This is Season 4, Episode 32. Our book this week is Deliver Us: Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the Infamous I-45 Texas Killing Fields by Kathryn Casey. Let’s investigate a bit of these women’s stories. 
 
The tenth chapter of Matthew describes Jesus sending out his disciples to spread the word about the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven. After telling them all they would need to do, Jesus got very real with them, saying “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” (v 16)
 
In every woman’s story I share today, they were certainly sheep among wolves. All were young. Some were very, very young. They didn’t understand the nature of wolves. They were innocents who didn’t know they were in the midst of predators. 
 
While I was preparing this episode, I learned something about wolves. Because wolves tend to be dispersed across a wider area than their preferred prey, they will adapt and feed on whatever is handy. Their kill rates are highest when their prey has come through a tough winter and is weaker than usual. And when humans don’t intervene and keep their population under control, they can multiply very rapidly.
 
That all hits pretty close to home, doesn’t it? These women who lost their lives to murderous wolves were chosen because they were simply there. They were in vulnerable seasons, some due to instability in their lives, some simply due to their tender age and lack of life experience. Not one deserved what happened to her.
 
So how do we prepare ourselves and our loved ones to be “as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves?” It starts by being aware that the wolves of this world are purposely looking for sheep to harm. Sometimes people make evil choices because they just want to, and we have to acknowledge that in order to practice reasonable caution. 
 
But we also have to be gentle. Hiding away and treating everyone like they are out to get us doesn’t serve God's purposes. And we can’t be a person of impact that way! So please find at least one person that you can share something you learned today, so they can be safer too.
 
And I’d love to hear what that something is! Let me know what you think! Send me an email at lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!
 
If you liked this episode, you won’t want to miss this one. 
 
Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

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Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero were shot to death on June 25, 1980 in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. They had been hitchhiking their way to the Rainbow Gathering, a temporary community in the woods that aims to bring together everyone from hipsters and hippies to show that we can all live in peace if we reform our society. That the women would meet such a violent end on their way to such a hopeful spot makes their story all the more tragic. But they weren’t they only victims in this sad story
 
Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!
 
Let’s talk about Matthew 9:35–36 to find ways to do just that.
 
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
 
Have you seen anyone else who did this? Any politicians? Any social media influencers? And if we are really honest, do we see our churches leave the building to find those who need us? If your church does, that’s awesome - keep it up! If not, ask your leadership why not and if you can help start an outreach ministry to serve people who might not feel welcome in a church. Maybe that’s a bible study in your local jail, taking bottled water and food to a homeless encampment, or helping out foster kids in your community. Have compassion like Jesus did and help shepherd his sheep.
 
Let me know what you think! Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!
 
Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

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