Ep 101: Re-Investigating Dirty John with Tonia Bales, Part 1

Laura interviews Tonia Bales, John Meehan’s first wife of 10 years about her life with John. Tonia had two daughter’s, Emily and Abigail, with John. Having listened to the podcast ‘Dirty John’ and watched scripted Bravo show of the same name and the documentary ‘Dirty John the Dirty Truth’ Tonia realized there was so much she did not know – and she and Laura wanted to go back and re-investigate John.  The re-investigation was documented in the eight-part investigative podcast, ‘The First Wife: John Meehan’s Reign of Terror’ (available only on Audible) and in this two-part series, Laura and Tonia go behind the scenes of the re-investigation and candidly debrief some of the astonishing revelations including one bombshell that has changed Tonia and her daughter’s lives forever. Laura and Tonia also discuss how John tried to further control her using the Family Justice System, a system that seemed to back up and enable John at every turn, despite criminal investigations into John’s behaviour and him going to prison. You won’t want to miss this. Trigger warning: Listener discretion is advised. This episode may be upsetting and/or triggering and it will be angry making.  You can follow Laura and her work on: Instagram @crimeanalyst @laurarichards999 TikTok @crimeanalystpod Twitter @thecrimeanalyst @laurarichards999 #ToniaBales #TheFirstWife #Survivor #CrimeAnalyst #Expert #Analysis #Behaviour #TrueCrime #Podcast #DirtyJohn #MaleViolence #Femicide #CoerciveControl #DomesticAbuse Clips https://variety.com/2021/tv/podcasts/dirty-john-podcast-the-first-wife-1235022802/ Sources https://www.audible.com/pd/The-First-Wife-John-Meehans-Reign-of-Terror-Podcast/B099BYMH4G Sign the Petition to Criminalize Coercive Control in America and Complete the Victim’s Voice Survey: https://www.laurarichards.co.uk/dv-law-reform/ Crime Analyst Merch  https://crime-analyst.myshopify.com/ Leave a Review If you want to support my work and Crime Analyst and if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here: https://www.crime-analyst.com/reviews/new/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices