A California couple, who was eager to have another child, was left heartbroken after falling victim to an adoption scam perpetuated by the birth mom online.
Laura and Matt Trayte had been in conversations with Elizabeth Jones, who said she was five months pregnant with a girl. Jones got in touch with the couple on Facebook. The adoptive parents and the birth mom clicked right away thus it never occurred to the Traytes that they were falling into an adoption scam.
According to Little Things, her ruse was uncovered in late November 2018, when Jones texted Laura and Matt that she was in labor. The couple rushed to an East Tennessee hospital to be there for the birth of Noelle. They even brought their 6-year-old son, who was wearing his Best Big Bro shirt, to welcome his adoptive sibling.
But when they got to the hospital looking for Jones and asking about the baby, the nurse informed them that there was a woman with the same name who was admitted to the hospital. However, she was not there for a pregnancy. She was not pregnant at all.
No Clue About the Adoption Scam
A few months before the "birth," Laura met with Jones in Virginia to finalize their arrangement, which included travel to a Tennessee hospital for the birth. The Traytes had a tour of the hospital and even met some of the nurses who would eventually attend to the baby, per The Denver Post.
Laura had special shirts made for them and they captured the moment with their photos in their "Adoptive Mom Strong" and "Birth Mom Strong" shirts side by side. The birth mom, on the other hand, gave Laura a stuffed unicorn with a recording of the baby's heartbeat.
Still, the Traytes did not have any clue about this adoption scam because Jones never asked for payment, which made her motive even more puzzling. In hindsight, they were several red flags that only made sense to Laura and Matt after processing their pain.
On the day of Jones' scheduled birth, she texted the family that she was in labor and even showed photos of towels and blankets with blood to suggest that it was an emergency. A few minutes later, she informed them again that the baby couldn't wait to be born. She gave birth in the vehicle on the way to the hospital. Laura thought she heard everything as she was coaching Jones through the labor.
However, instead of their intended hospital, Jones told the couple that they were rerouted to Holston Valley Medical Center, a few miles away, where baby Noella was admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The baby was allegedly born prematurely at 33 weeks.
The couple still saw Jones at the hospital but she denied ever meeting the Traytes to the caseworkers who had to intervene during the commotion. Laura recalls that Jones looked at them, as they cried out for a non-existent baby, with her dead eyes.
Just spoke with Matt and Laura Trayte who flew from California for today’s hearing. They say “justice has been served” @news5wcyb pic.twitter.com/qJURVBp73I
— Kristen Quon (@WCYB_Quon) June 26, 2019
Birth Mom's Criminal Record
Laura and Matt, who struggled with fertility issues and two miscarriages, thought Jones was a bemedalled Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. Later on, the couple found out that the birth mom had a prior conviction for credit card fraud.
A few hours after finding out the truth, Jones sent a message to Laura on Facebook and said that she miscarried but could not tell the couple. She also said she has the death certificate to prove it but, during the investigations with the police, she had four different versions of the baby's "death."
Months later, Jones entered a plea of guilty to committing a felony. She told the court she experienced so much pain in her life so she wanted "someone else to experience pain" as well.
The case led Sen. Ben Chafin to sponsor Senate Bill 1003, which was passed as a state law in Virginia, to prosecute individuals using the internet for an adoption scam, per WBIR 10 News.
