405: What if you were accused of murdering your mother?
This Is Actually Happening
Audible
4.6 • 10.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After years of caring for her mother through a devastating decline, a woman helps ease her final suffering, only to be accused of murdering the person she loved most.
Today’s episode featured Rachel Waters. If you’d like to reach out to Rachel, you email her at RFosterWaters@gmail.com.
You can find Rachel on Instagram: @distinguishedheathen and TikTok: @distinguishedheathen, and on Reddit @notedheathen
To read Rachel’s story in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/07/rachel-waters-mom-morphine-murder
Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits
Content/Trigger Warnings: dementia, cancer, terminal illness, caregiving stress, end-of-life suffering, death of a parent, grief, accusations of murder, incarceration, family estrangement, bullying, corporal punishment, medical trauma, and chronic illness, explicit language
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Read more about Whit’s insights into each episode on Beyond The Story Substack: whitmissildine.substack.com. On the Substack, Whit will be sharing personal reflections on the deeper themes that emerge from each episode and from across the conversations he’s been immersed in for years, including the psychology of radical transformation, the power of storytelling, the lessons of trauma and healing, and how we die to an old Self and are reborn. He’ll share behind-the-scenes glimpses into the making of the show and his own personal journey in creating it.
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Intro Music: “Sleep Paralysis” - Scott Velasquez
Music Bed: Ambient Themes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of This Is Actually Happening, |
| 0:04.4 | ad free right now. |
| 0:06.4 | Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. |
| 0:09.5 | This Is Actually Happening features real experiences that often include traumatic events. |
| 0:13.7 | Please consult the show notes for specific content warnings on each episode, |
| 0:17.0 | and for more information about support services. |
| 0:19.5 | Hi listeners. Most of our stories come to us from listeners or from news stories, |
| 0:24.1 | but today's episode began with a Reddit rabbit hole. |
| 0:27.3 | Ellen Westberg, our showrunner, came across our storyteller today, |
| 0:31.3 | Rachel Waters, who has written extensively about the loss of her mother and the nightmare that followed. |
| 0:37.1 | Rachel has chronicled much more |
| 0:38.7 | of her life on Reddit, and I encourage you all to go read her full account. You can find her |
| 0:44.0 | Reddit handle in the show notes. And now on to today's episode. What if you were accused of murdering |
| 0:50.5 | your mother. |
| 0:58.7 | This is a contact with the criminal legal system I have never even come close to having. |
| 1:08.3 | And immediately, my grief turns to terror and this understanding that now I'm in the fight for my own life. |
| 1:19.1 | From Audible Originals, I'm Witnessildine. |
| 1:22.4 | You're listening to This Is Actually Happening. |
| 1:28.4 | Episode 405. What if you were accused of murdering your mother? |
| 1:33.9 | You know, My parents met at Fort Gordon where they both worked, and it was both of their second marriage. |
| 1:59.6 | My father had three boys in his previous marriage, and my mom was |
| 2:07.4 | already in her 30s, and she wanted a child more than anything. She had this high-powered job at Fort Gordon, |
... |
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