247: Alyssa watched her abuser burn

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’re in the Austin, Texas area – let’s meet up. I’ll be in Austin the second week of March – and this is 2026, for you listeners of the future – we’ll have another in-person Listener Meetup on March 11. This is where you can come and hang out with me and other podcast listeners, have a drink, ask a question, whatever. I’d love to get to know you! All of the details can be found in the What Was That Like Facebook group, at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. And now, on with today’s episode, which needs a content warning for discussion of suicide. Here in the US, 1 out of every 3 women have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. My guest in this episode is Alyssa. She WAS that 1 out of 3. This is a Flashback episode. Alyssa told this story on the podcast way back in episode 16, more than 7 years ago. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, I was not able to get in touch with her recently for an update. Alyssa lives in Tennessee and she’s really into music. She’s a musician, a songwriter, and an audio engineer. Her boyfriend, Jared, was abusive to her - emotionally and physically – and police were actively planning to arrest him. But before that could happen, Jared decided he would take his own life. And he wanted to do it in a way that would be disturbing and traumatic for anyone nearby. Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/247 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Visit AuraFrames.com and use promo code WHATWAS at checkout to get $45 off. If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, this is Scott, and if you're in the Austin, Texas area, let's meet up.
0:06.7	I'll be in Austin the second week of March, and this is 2026 for you listeners of the future.
0:12.8	And we're going to have another in-person listener meetup on March 11.
0:17.6	This is where you can come and hang out with me and other podcast listeners, have a drink, ask a question, whatever. I'd love to get to know you.
0:27.2	All of the details can be found in the What Was That Like Facebook group at what was that like.com slash Facebook.
0:35.4	And now on with today's episode, which needs a content warning for discussion of suicide.
0:42.3	Here in the U.S., one out of every three women have experienced some form of physical violence
1:02.5	by an intimate partner.
1:06.0	My guest in this episode is Alyssa.
1:09.6	She was that one out of three.
1:14.4	This is a flashback episode.
1:16.4	Alyssa told the story on the podcast way back in episode 16 more than seven years ago.
1:23.6	Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, I was not able to get in touch with her recently for an update,
1:29.2	but Alyssa lives in Tennessee, and she's really into music.
1:33.9	She's a musician, a songwriter, and an audio engineer.
1:39.4	Her boyfriend, Jared, was abusive to her, emotionally and physically, and police were actively planning to arrest him.
1:50.3	But before that could happen, Jared decided he would take his own life.
1:56.5	And he wanted to do it in a way that would be disturbing and traumatic for anyone nearby.
2:08.4	Real people in unreal situations.
2:13.4	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me.
2:18.7	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
2:21.2	And then I had to tell him it was me.
	...

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