A 16-year-old girl in Wyandotte, Michigan is under investigation after bamboozling her boyfriend into believing she was pregnant with triplets for 10 months and extending the ruse to her entire community, accepting gifts and cash donations from acquaintances, churches and local organizations. Can you believe that? Triplets!? The details of the case–and how she was able to do this–are even more shocking…
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When the teen girl, whose name hasn't been made public, first told her boyfriend Jordan he was a father-to-be, he quickly stepped up to the plate to face his new responsibilities, searching for jobs to support his rapidly growing family. As it turned out, there was no pregnancy at all–much less one involving multiple babies.
Apparently, the girl relied on the website FakeABaby.com–which champions itself the "home of the $9.95 fake ultrasound," and also offers such handy tools for deception as fake DNA tests, silicone pregnancy bellies, and silicone "pregnant boobs"–to spin her elaborate web of lies. In addition to sharing ultrasounds and sporting a growing baby bump, she went so far as to join a Facebook group offering support and advice for mothers of triplets and even gave her imaginary babies names: Ivan, Alice and Isabella.
Despite her plan, the truth began to surface when nine months elapsed with no signs of labor. Things collapsed as quickly as a domino tower soon thereafter. First, Jordan's mom did some investigating and, when she was unable to verify that her would-be daughter-in-law's alleged OB-GYN even existed, she kicked her Nancy Drew snooping into high gear. Soon enough, she connected with a member of the Facebook group who remarked that the teen's ultrasound looked suspiciously alike to those on FakeABaby.com.
Then came the final straw: the day before she was allegedly scheduled to undergo a C-section, the teen said she'd lost the triplets. When she refused to go to the hospital or get medical attention, the boyfriend's parents called the police. The teen girl's brother eventually gave a statement, admitting that she had faked the pregnancy but arguing that she had been with child but had suffered a miscarriage at the 6-week mark and, distraught and scared, had proceeded to stage her pregnancy.
It's unclear whether the teen's parents were involved in the charade, but it's difficult to imagine how they could have been ignorant to everything that was happening. Surely, Mom would have wanted to accompany her daughter to at least one medical appointment, right? She was underage, so parental consent would have been necessary for a number of procedures. And wouldn't mom or dad have wanted to hold their daughter's hand while listening to the heartbeats of their future grandchildren? Wouldn't they have been there to discuss insurance, medical fees, and so forth? And who was financing all these fake bellies and ultrasounds?
If not prodded by her parents, then why did this girl go to such lengths to fake a pregnancy? Was she afraid her boyfriend would break up with her? Was this a desperate measure she took in hopes of keeping her man close?
The whole debacle is both bizarre and disturbing, but what I find most outrageous is the ease with which she perpetrated this lie–all thanks to a website that's literally designed to deceive. It's harrowing to imagine how many other women have turned to this very same website with the intent to manipulate those around them.
Image via Corbis
