Episode 4: Almost Everything She Says… Is True

Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story

Dear Media

True Crime

4.4 • 989 Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

To try to get to the truth of Coco Berthmann’s past, the investigation turns to Germany. Coco’s mother provides evidence to contradict many of Coco’s most horrific stories. But it’s clear that people were concerned about Coco’s welfare from the age of 12, when she first started showing signs of abuse. And even her mother believes that something must have happened to her. The investigation zeroes in on her mother’s former boyfriend, a man named Gregor.

If you or a loved one is struggling, help is available:

Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Dial 988

National Human Trafficking Hotline: 888-373-7888

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 855-897-5910

National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) Resources

Mental Health Hotline: 866-903-3787

A word from our sponsors:

Stop throwing your money away. Cancel unwanted subscriptions and manage your expenses the easy way – by going to RocketMoney.com/believable.
With Factor, you can rest assured you're making a sustainable choice. Head to FACTORMEALS.com/believable50 and use code believable50 to get 50% off.

Produced by Dear Media.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	A note before we get started. In this episode we will be using an AI clone of Coco's voice
0:07.9	to read some of her actual written words. And we're also using an AI-altered voice for the translations from German to English.
0:16.1	And a warning. This episode includes mention of some pretty tough stuff, including sexual violence
0:21.9	against children, self-harm, and suicide.
0:25.2	Listen with care.
0:29.3	We might not have ever known the true story of Coco Birthman's childhood, if not for veteran Utah journalist
0:36.1	Lynn Packer.
0:37.7	He came across one of Coco's videos on YouTube.
0:40.5	It was sometime in 2020. I found the story pretty unbelievable.
0:46.2	Lynn says he only watched about five minutes, but that was enough. But I had no reason to follow up to see if it was true.
0:55.0	I asked Lynn why he didn't believe Coco's story, and it turns out that we both spotted the same red flag.
1:02.0	Oh, immediately, the raped red flag. Oh, immediately, raped 10 to 50 times an evening.
1:07.4	Lynn says he found himself trying to imagine what he calls the parade of pedophiles
1:12.2	coming through Coco's suburban neighborhood every night.
1:15.0	Logistically, it just did not ring true.
1:18.0	A year and a half later, in the summer of 2021, Lynn came back to Cocoa Berthman's story.
1:25.0	And it turns out Lynn was really the perfect person to investigate it.
1:28.6	He was raised in the LDS church, so he has connections to many of the people who had supported
1:33.8	cocoa and he speaks German he served his mission in Germany and he had even spent
1:39.3	ten years as a consultant for German television.
1:50.3	Lynn had access to a bunch of Coco's records, like her birth certificate and her visa application.
1:55.8	He got them from an unnamed source, and even though we've become pretty chatty over the last few months He still hasn't told me who his source is which is no real surprise because a good journalist never reveals their sources.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -561 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dear Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dear Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.