What Came Next

Content warning: suicidal ideation, suicide, image-based sexual abuse, coercion, intimate partner violence, and human trafficking.  Norma Buster is a survivor, speaker, podcaster, and Chief of Staff at C.A. Goldberg Law, a Brooklyn-based victims rights law firm. Norma grew up with a passion for fashion, but after experiencing harassment and image-based sexual abuse at a pivotal point in her life,...

Content warning: coercion, blackmail, extortion, abduction, kidnapping, slavery, sociopathy, psychopathy, intimate partner violence, and attempted murder. Megan is a loving family woman, equestrian, and survivor of abduction and attempted slavery born in Southern California. Although Megan spent many of her younger years growing her love for horses at her family’s idyllic Colorado stable, her life...

*Content warning: harassment, cyberstalking, workplace abuse, sexual abuse material, sexual sadism, murder, and serial murder. Javier Leiva is a podcast host and Emmy award-winning producer. His show, Pretend Podcast, began airing in 2017 and highlights cases of fraud executed by perpetrators from cult leaders to con artists to undercover FBI agents. However, it was in June 2024 that Pretend's eig...

Content warning: intimate partner violence, domestic violence, officer-involved domestic violence, and murder. Join Amy B. Chesler for a new episode of 'Questions & Answers' regarding What Came Next, Broken Cycle Media, and more.  Submit Your Story: https://somethingwaswrong.com/submissions/ WCN on IG: https://www.instagram.com/whatcamenext_podcast/ What Came Next featuring Hannah Vanderhorst:...

Content warning: animal cruelty, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, cold cases, gun violence, and murder. Haley Gray is a credentialed victim advocate and podcast researcher, writer, and producer whose extensive career in podcasting has seen many phases. Over the last nine years, she has lent her skills to numerous well-known true crime podcasts with an ever-growing intent to make the t...

Content warning: gun violence, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, officer-involved domestic violence, and murder. As shared in part one of his story, Bruce Bieber is a retiree from New York who had an illustrious career in commercial construction. However, after retiring and moving to Florida to live minutes away from his three adult children, Bruce and his family would experience a hor...

Content warning: gun violence, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, officer-involved domestic violence, and murder. Bruce Bieber is a retiree from New York who had an illustrious career in commercial construction. However, after retiring and moving to Florida to live minutes away from his three adult children, Bruce and his family would experience a horrific heartache: the murder of Bruce...

Content warning:  arson, assault, fetal abduction, kidnapping, attempted murder, murder, substance use, and substance use disorder. As shared in part one, Angelique Robledo is an incredible mother and survivor living in Arizona. She was born in Southern California, but after a pivotal move nearly four hundred miles east in her middle school years, she found herself having trouble fitting in. Sever...

Content warning:  arson, assault, fetal abduction, kidnapping, attempted murder, murder, substance use, and substance use disorder. Angelique Robledo is an incredible mother and survivor living in Arizona. She was born in Southern California, but after a pivotal move nearly four hundred miles east in her middle school years, she found herself having trouble fitting in. Several years later, and not...

Content warning: robbery, armed robbery, gun violence, domestic violence, extortion, and corruption. Maya is a teacher, artist, and multi-crime survivor from Los Angeles. After finishing her undergraduate degree in Spanish in 1996 (at the age of 22), Maya found herself seeking direction. But it was only a couple months after her graduation that she experienced a life-changing armed robbery. Not lo...

Content warning: depression, suicidal ideation, suicide, sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse. As shared in Episode 52 'What Happens Next // Part Two' (which originally aired on January 12th, 2024), Kelly Gee is a former professional hockey player and coach, and the current powerhouse executive director of the non profit organization Survivors for Change. Kelly has always been driven to make an...

Content warning: depression, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse. As shared in Episode 51 'Against Big Odds // Part 1' (which originally aired on January 5th, 2024), Kelly Gee is a former professional hockey player and coach and the current executive director of the non profit organization Survivors for Change. Kelly has always been driven to make an i...

Content warning: sexual abuse and child sexual abuse. It has been a great honor to host Mike Sacks and Kelly Gee on What Came Next prior to this conversation. Kelly first shared his experiences of abuse in episodes 51 and 52, entitled “Against Big Odds” and “What Happens Next,” which aired in January of 2024. Episodes 109 and 110, entitled “Silence is an Incubator” and “Up to Us to Protect,” were...

Content warning: child sexual abuse material, child sexual assault, sexual assault, nonconsensual pornography, sexual violence, sexual paraphilia, and pedophilia. Kim is a mother and nurse from Indiana. She reached out to the Broken Cycle Media team in hopes of sharing her story for the first time to bring awareness to a trajectory she never thought she would have had to traverse. Nearly a decade...

Content warning: child sexual abuse material, child sexual assault, sexual assault, nonconsensual pornography, sexual violence, sexual paraphilia, and pedophilia.  Kim is a mother and nurse from Indiana. She reached out to the Broken Cycle Media team in hopes of sharing her story for the first time to bring awareness to a trajectory she never thought she would have had to traverse. Nearly a decade...

Content warning: assault, sexual assault, rape, serial rape, and nonconsensual pornography. As shared in part one of her story, Hannah Vanderhorst is a special education teacher and administrator living in Denver, Colorado. Having moved to the city in 2016, just before going through a breakup, Hannah turned to dating apps to expand her social circle and look for potential love. However, an October...

Content warning: assault, sexual assault, rape, serial rape, and nonconsensual pornography.  Hannah Vanderhorst is a special education teacher and administrator living in Denver, Colorado. Having moved to the city in 2016, just before going through a breakup, Hannah turned to dating apps to expand her social circle and look for potential love. However, an October 2019 date changed her trajectory f...

Content warning: pedophilia, sexual sadism, paraphilia, psychopathy, brutality, child sexual abuse material, rape, sexual assault, torture, and murder. Joan Hoyt is a business professional and family woman from Santa Cruz, California. Although she has proudly served her county as a juror before, a 2024 jury duty assignment opened her eyes to the harsh realities of a criminal justice process she wo...

Content warning: fraud and professional abuse. As shared in part one of her story, Victoria Latham is an established professional living in South Carolina. At the encouragement of her friend Lauren (who will also be sharing her perspective on the following episodes), Victoria has joined us to share about her experiences working for a burgeoning technology company that collapsed after its founder w...

Content warning: fraud and professional abuse. As shared in part one of her story, Victoria Latham is an established professional living in South Carolina. At the encouragement of her friend Lauren (who will also be sharing her perspective on the following episodes), Victoria has joined us to share about her experiences working for a burgeoning technology company that collapsed after its founder w...

Content warning: fraud, professional abuse, child sexual abuse material, and gun violence.  Victoria Latham is an established professional living in South Carolina. At the encouragement of her friend Lauren (who will also be sharing her perspective on the following episodes), Victoria has joined us to share about her experiences working for a burgeoning technology company that collapsed after its...

Content warning: substance abuse disorder, lethal substance consumption, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse, rape, statutory rape, pedophilia, murder, and mediumship. As shared in part one of her story, Kiersten Hathcock is a multi-crime survivor, self-taught carpenter, entrepreneur, author, volunteer intuitive medium, and co-founder of the non-profi...

Content warning: domestic violence, intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse, rape, statutory rape, pedophilia, murder, and mediumship. Kiersten Hathcock is a multi-crime survivor, self-taught carpenter, entrepreneur, author, volunteer intuitive medium, and co-founder of the non-profit organization, The National Institute of Law and Justice. Although she was born and raised...

Content warning: domestic violence, intimate partner violence, narcissistic abuse, cultic abuse, cults, and sexual abuse. Liz Iacuzzi is an athlete, writer, performer, and personality who focuses  on exploring uncomfortable subject matter through comedy. However, it wasn’t until extricating herself from an acting class-turned-cult that she would eventually discover her next passion: educating the...

Content warning: substance abuse, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, child abuse, childhood sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, and sexual abuse. Mike Sacks is a hockey player, telecommunications engineer, founder of the non-profit organization, Survivors for Change, and a true change-maker. Through Survivors for Change, it has become his personal mission to aide survivors o...