02x02 - Rags to Riches to Rage

[bunniefuu]

[eerie tones playing]

[Ashley]
I'm Ashley Massengill.

I went from eviction
to $30 million.

Like, the American dream
came true.

We had Facebook rocking.

I did $1 million
in 40 minutes.

[Derricka]
I was very proud of Ashley.

We were totally twinning.

[Patrick] She has to honestly be
one of the coolest people

I've ever met in my life.

[dramatic chord strikes]

But then everything
started unraveling.

-[ding-dong]
-[dog barking]

-[Derricka] The doorbell rang...
-[doorbell ringing]

...and it rang again.

It was early in the morning,
and I heard a knock.

[knocking]

-Boom, boom, boom.
-Asked who it was.

-We're with the FBI.
-The FBI?

My heart sank to
the pit of my stomach.

Then it really got dangerous.

Someone created a hate group
about Ashley Grayson.

[Britney] I was shocked
that this was real life.

It was like a movie.

I was panicking.
I thought, like, "This is it."

I was scared for my life.

-[tires screeching]
-[dramatic chord strikes]

[theme music playing]

[Paul]
I met Ashley on a dating app

back in March of 2013.

I thought she was beautiful.

We just started chatting
with each other.

She was a very nice person,
and we had a lot in common.

And we finally met face to face,

and we just had a great
time around each other.

It was just like first time
you see someone,

you fall in love.

It went kind of fast,
but I knew she was

the one for me.
I moved in with her

sometime in July,
and we ended up

getting married in August.

Since I couldn't afford a ring,
we decided to get

matching tattoos of our initials
on her ring finger.

And then a few months later,
she called me at work

and told me that we was
being evicted

because she was a month
behind on her rent.

Well, she never told me that,
and that our stuff was

on the side of the road.

It hurt because I don't
understand why you would keep

something like
that from your husband.

I would have done anything
I would have to do to make sure

we wouldn't have got evicted.

At that time, she was working
at the post office,

but we were
financially struggling.

She didn't have a car,
had bad credit.

And so one day, our goals
was to start businesses

and build together
and be financially stable,

you know, just to be --
live the American dream.

There was someone on social
media Ashley was following,

that had a flashy lifestyle,
nice cars, a nice house,

and she saw they did
credit repair.

Hey, everybody.

It is Derricka Harwell here
from Beautify Credit.

I'm gonna give you
your credit tip for today.

I'm gonna do top five ways
in under 50 seconds to spot

a credit repair scam.

Yeah, there are some out there.

[Paul] So she researched it,

and she started the process
of repairing her own credit,

disputing different things
that was on her credit report.

Her credit was bad at 400,

and she got it to close to 800.

After that,
she actually worked on

some other people's
credit for free.

She repaired their credit,
and actually that's what really

motivated her
to start the business.

And then in February 2017,

we launched AM/PM
Credit Repair.

The business took off so fast
because Ashley was

a great storyteller.

I had bad credit
since I was five months old.

Uh-huh.

Somebody had gotten a credit
card in my name,

didn't pay it.

She loved posting
on social media,

getting interaction
with people.

She was real transparent
as far as the struggles

she went through.

[Ashley] I didn't have a car,
I didn't have a job,

I didn't have any money.

[Paul]
Her followers just expanded
because a lot of women

could relate to her.

[Britney] I'm Britney, and I'm
Ashley's younger sister.

I loved having an older sister.
It was like a best friend.

Growing up as kids
with a single mom was difficult.

My sister being the oldest,
she helped look after me

when my mom had to work.

We would play school a lot,
where she would teach me

things, teach me how to read.

I looked up to my older sister.

She was always smart
and bright and creative.

When she launched her business,
I was excited for her,

happy for her,
happy that it was doing well.

I definitely was proud of her.

In my first 30 days

of launching
a credit repair company,

I made almost $10,000.

People really wouldn't believe
how fast it grew.

It took me 18 months to hit
my million dollar mark

in the credit repair industry.

[Britney] She had a large amount
of supporters on social media.

[Ashley] I've been able to help
hundreds of people close

on homes, get brand new cars.

[Paul]
At that point, she had 100,000
followers on social media,

and the company was worth
around six, seven million.

It was like the American dream
came true.

But with the popularity
on social media and the money,

she turned
into a different person.

Everything she bought was
designer things, Gucci,

Louis Vuitton,
and it was gaining attention

from her followers.

[Britney] It was a great tactic,
great marketing strategy.

I feel like people gravitated
towards her

because of the materialistic
things she had.

Everybody loved her.

Everybody was just
praising her, so she was

very comfortable in that life
that she had online.

That's when I felt a shift
in our relationship

and our marriage.

She wasn't
the same person I knew

before we started the business.

As a man, as a husband,
I didn't feel

appreciated anymore.
I felt like I was

her employee.

So at this time, I was sleeping
in a different room.

And I woke up one morning
and I looked at my phone.

I saw that she commented
on a guy's page,

and his name was Patrick Tate.

He made a post saying
if he dated a woman,

she'd have to at least make
$50,000 a year.

Well, she commented on his post
and said,

"You deserve a multimillionaire.
Stop low balling."

When I saw that comment,
I was like,

"Wow."
Uh...

It just took me for a shock.

Why would she be commenting
on a guy page

something like that?

So that's
when I noticed Patrick.

My name is Patrick Tate.

Back in 2018,
I was on Facebook.

And this viral post popped up
on my timeline.

It was like, "#BLACKLOVE,

"Love has no time limit.
You date who you want.

You move how you want."
And I agree with the statement.

So I shared the post saying,
"Oh man, look at this couple.

of this black love.
I agree."

And then I got a Facebook
request and I was like,

"Oh, this is the girl
from the picture that I shared."

And then three months
after that, Ashley commented

on a post that I made that said,
"If that girl doesn't make

$50,000 a year, she's not
the woman for me."

And she commented and said,
"You deserve a millionaire.

Don't shortchange yourself."

I didn't know that she was
a millionaire.

But I agree.

If I deserve a millionaire,
then absolutely.

So put like the eye emojis.
"Who's the millionaire?

Tell her to come talk to me."
And then she sent me a message.

She said, like,
"I see you do tech.

"I see you work at Dale.
I would love to have

a conversation with you."

I was like,
"Oh, that'd be awesome.

Like, you know,
what do you need?"

"I really need somebody
who I can partner with.

"I do all of these
different things.

"I do credit repair.

Can we jump on a phone call?"
"Absolutely."

We spoke on the phone
for eight hours.

Only those first 30 minutes
we talk about business,

or seriously talk
about business.

Everything else after that
was pure, just friendship

conversation that started
to get more towards,

"I really don't wanna get off
the phone,"

but I have to go to work
in the morning.

It blew my mind.

And then I asked her, I said,
"Aren't you married?"

"Oh, no,
we're just pending divorce."

Two weeks
after the first conversation,

we met in person.

She said, "I'll get a room

at the Omni in downtown Dallas."

And we got a long...

Oh, man,
she's such a sweet person.

We literally met,
had some adult activity,

and then we went out
that night.

She has to honestly be one
of the coolest people

I've ever met in my life.

[Paul] He posted
he was in Dallas, Texas,

and he lived in Austin.

And that's when I
pretty much put it together

she was with him that weekend.

That's when I told her
I knew about Patrick.

She just had a look of shock,

'cause she didn't know
that I knew.

Ashley dating Patrick really
pushed her to want a divorce.

She wanted her partner,
her relationship partner,

to be her business partner.
"I can make you so much money."

Like, "I need someone
with your intelligence.

I need someone
with your skill."

Asked me, you know, well,
"How much do you make at work?"

I told her.
It's like she kind of smirked,

like, "Oh, that's chump change.

"You can make that in a day.
I want you to move here,

like, now."
I took up on her word.

My lease was ending,

and I packed up
and moved to Dallas.

[Paul] This was right
after I moved out of the house.

At that time,
no one on social media knew

we was going through a divorce.

She posted a picture
of her and Patrick on Facebook.

Just boom.
And her caption was,

"Is she dating an NFL player?"

And of course,
a lot of her followers start

questioning, like,
"Who is he? Where is Paul at?"

That's when she told me
that Paul is dogging you,

and he's saying, "Oh,
you just here for the money.

And I was here before
all of this stuff."

And he said, "He playing you.
You ain't even his type."

[Paul] Ashley and Patrick made
a Facebook Live,

and they was bashing me.

He stole, he lied,
he was lazy.

He did you wrong!

[Paul] Any lie you can think of,
she was saying just

terrible things about me.

Just so much abuse
that just wasn't true.

She got everything,

financially wise,
the businesses.

She got everything
as far as our divorce.

She had a very loyal following.

It didn't matter what she said,

they believed
everything she said.

I was attacked.
I was threatened.

I saw followers asked her,
"What's his address?

We will find him
and do bad things to him."

Another person said,
"It's time for all the cousins

to do a drive-by at this point."

I was scared for my life.

[unsettling tones playing]

[Paul] I received a lot
of death threats.

And it was to the point that
when our divorce was settled,

my lawyer put a clause
in our divorce decree

basically saying that neither
one of us can say anything

about each other
on social media anymore.

From that point on,
I really thought that anything

between me and Ashley would be,
you know, we would be done.

She'd move on with her life,
I'd move on with mine,

and, you know,
we'd go our separate ways.

But look at me now,
that's not --

that wasn't the case.

I am Dr. Derricka Harwell.

I own a very successful
credit repair company

called Beautify Credit.

I launched my business in 2013,

and my Facebook reach is
around 1.2 million.

In 2019, business was booming.
My numbers were phenomenal.

That's the year,
we did a little over $3 million.

But then, around that time,
I started getting a lot

of messages from people
that follow both myself

and Ashley Massengill.

At the time, I really didn't
know much about Ashley.

I just knew that she was
in the credit repair space,

and they were informing me that
any time that they would share

something positive about me,
she would block them.

I would get message
after message after message.

I didn't know if it was
a coincidence or if it was

really intentional,
so I messaged her,

"Hey, I'm pretty dope
if you just get to know me."

And Ashley messaged me back
almost immediately.

And then we exchanged numbers

and proceeded to have
a conversation.

And we spoke
for about three hours.

There were just so many things
that we had in common.

Like, "Wow, you're going
through that too?

Oh my gosh -- oh,
you don't like this as well?"

At that moment, it was like,
"Where have you been?"

It was a mind-blowing
conversation.

I think that night is when
I saved her number in my phone

as like my twin sis,
because it seemed like

we were totally twinning
in so many different areas.

After the phone conversation,
I sent her a gift

of Tiffany and Company
to extend the olive branch,

became Facebook friends.

And that was her first post
after we were able to connect.

And I felt like it was
a message to the world

that there's no drama
between these two women

and you know, whatever illusion
other people were having,

it's gone now.

[Patrick]
Going into summer 2020,
Ashley and I

had Facebook rocking.

Everything that we would post,

everything that we would do,
going viral.

Within three months
of us dating,

Ashley doubled
her follower count to 200,000.

We were in the house working
every day on strategy plans,

building everything up.

We were working
on the AM/PM Academy,

teaching you how to create
a credit repair business

of your own.

The course cost $997.

Probably 100,000 people just
on the waiting list.

And we were ready to launch.
We had a countdown.

We opened enrollment.

We went live on Facebook
so people could see the money

that we're making.

And it was just bling,
bling, bling, bling, bling.

People were signing up,
signing up.

That was the one that we made
a million in eight minutes.

She started screaming.
My hands got sweaty.

I couldn't even breathe.
Like, I'm panicking.

I'm like, "How is this life?"

Like, what is happening
right now?

I had a video of her,
like, walking out of the bank

with some of the money
in her suitcase.

I feel like I'm doing
something ill*gal.

And we got back home
and opened the suitcase

and put it on the bed.

And she took a picture of it
and put on a caption that says,

"When you rob a bank
but realize it's not

enough bail money."

The energy between us
was amazing.

We bought the $2 million
mansion, castle.

That house, insane.

It was like something
out of MTV "Cribs."

It had eight bedrooms.
It had an elevator, huge pool.

It had a movie theater.

[Derricka]
I actually assisted Ashley
with buying this home.

So she really valued
my opinion.

I was excited for her.
This was just a huge purchase.

And I bought her a really nice
housewarming gift.

This Versace kitchen set.

Then, things started
to get weird.

My husband had just upgraded
my wedding ring.

And just a few days later,
there was a post that she made

that was a picture of my ring
and a picture

of the ring she wanted.

"Dear future husband, don't ever
get me this ring on the left.

You know, get me this ring
on the right."

And then she went to talk
about how inexpensive

she thought the ring was.

And so I immediately
called her and said, "Hey,

is this about me?"

She says, "That has nothing
to do with you.

It's all in your head."

But then Ashley's post got
more intense and more personal.

I remember sharing with her
how I wish I had a relationship

with my mom.

Then parts of that conversation
landed on social media.

There was a post,
"You brag about cutting

"your mom off.

I brag about putting my mom on,
we're not the same."

I felt like this is happening
way too frequently

and it's getting more
and more personal.

And I thought,
"OK, this is enough."

And so I literally went
to social media

and I blocked her.

When she realized she was
blocked, she then sent me

a very vulgar and disgusting
text message.

She said, "Don't be
a messy jealous B on Facebook

"when you have my number.
Stop being a coward.

"If you have an issue with me,
address me like a grown woman.

"If my success was too much
for you, just say that to me,

not Facebook
with your weak a*s."

It was definitely confirmation
that what I felt was

accurate and that everything
that had transpired

was very real.

I went off on her back.
"I'm not jealous.

You have nothing for me
to be jealous of."

Why did you play in my face
for so long?

Why did you pretend?

Why did you make me feel
like I was going crazy?

Why would you constantly lie?

Like it was so much anger
and so much frustration.

She said, "Stop texting me,
go find your husband.

Does he even know
he's married to you?"

After that, I blocked her.

And then a few hours later,

I get a message
from my lead tech advisor,

and she notifies me
in a frantic that,

"Your home address is

"all over the internet.
It's all in your comments.

"There's over 200 of them.
I cannot get rid of them.

"It's a fake page.

I'm trying to track it,
but I'm trying to delete."

When I jumped on Facebook,
I was in shock at someone being

so dedicated to being up
in the wee hours of the AM

to put this online
so many times

in so many comments.

It was scary

because we knew where
it derived from.

My husband and I were
very concerned.

So I tried to tell
the police department

what was going on,

but they were not hearing me
at all.

They said,
"This is a social media thing.

This is an internet thing."

They told me that I should file
a restraining order.

And so I got all
of my paperwork together

and filed a restraining order.
But I was denied.

[voice breaking]
We cannot help you.

We will only assist if this is
a domestic issue.

If the police can't help
and the courts can't help,

what am I supposed to do
at this point?

So I armed myself.

And I expected the worst
to occur.

[Ashley] Don't record me.

That's how I know
I'm not drunk,

'cause I know you're
recording me.
-[Patrick] OK.

-[Ashley] Stop the video.
-[Patrick] OK.

Things started to change
between me and Ashley.

-[Ashley] No, stop the video.
-[Patrick] It's gone, babe.

We literally argued so much.

The person that Ashley,
like, eventually...

and I don't know
if it's what she became,

is maybe once I started

to realize it, like,
who she was this whole time,

because the same thing that
she had done with Paul is what

she began to do with me.

She would always remind me
that this is hers.

She got her money,
she got her houses,

she got her business.

And so nothing ever felt
like it was mine.

So I was going to Mexico
for my 30th birthday.

And I told her, I said,
"When I get back, I'll come

"straight here.
We can work on whatever

we need to work on.
We can figure some stuff out."

I land and I get back
over to the castle,

and she's not there.
The car's gone.

I'm like, "All right."
So I'm calling her,

calling her, calling her.

Don't know what's going on.

She's not answering.
Her location was off.

So I'm like,
"Hmm, OK, that's strange."

So I text her.

Then the FaceTime popped up.

So I answered it,
and it was a guy.

I said,
"I don't know who you are.

I didn't call to talk to you."

And he was like, "Nah, you keep
texting my girl phone.

"And clearly she made
her decision.

Like she not responding
to you."

And I was like,
"So I'm pretty sure

"you kissing her in the mouth.

Well, she just [muted]

my [muted]
a couple of days ago."

He said, "You don't stop
calling her phone,

texting her phone,
you gonna have to deal with me."

That's when her and Josh
got together

and his bio on Facebook,
he just had an image of wealth.

He had owner of a Mayweather
Boxing Gym, and he had

this credit repair course
that cost $30,000 a person.

Hey, you guys, I'm Joshua
Grayson from New Credit Law.

Ashley was the first person
to ever purchase that.

People would send me
screenshots of Joshua referring

to themselves
as the new Bobby and Whitney,

Jay Z and Beyoncé,
courtside games.

Like, I didn't care.
It just worked for their image.

And then Ashley set up
a new credit repair business

with Joshua called Credit Cake.

Ashley often gifted
her followers money,

cars, and even
a family a house.

See, I feel
like I'm dreaming.

Like, this don't even
feel real.

I was excited for her
when she met Josh.

She spoke really highly of him.

He seemed pretty decent,
super family-oriented,

and seemed like he was coming
from a good place.

Her engagement was a fun time.

I remember it like
it was yesterday.

She seemed happy.

-...what love is?
-[attendees chuckle]

[Britney]
One of Ashley's favorite
singers, Monica, performed.

But looking back,
the engagement was

the last time we were
all together as, like, a family.

Truthfully, it just reminds me
how I don't care for Josh.

And right at the engagement,
everything started unraveling.

[Sherell]
My name is Sherell Hodge,
and I'm a TikToker.

And currently, I have

and I got my hashtag
tattooed, actually,

and it's right here on my hand.

I came across Ashley
on Facebook.

She had just posted a video
about getting engaged,

and it went viral.

I was like,
"Wow, this is, like, beautiful."

And, realizing
that she was in my same city,

I'm like, "Whoa, like,
now I wanna know more

about who
this Ashley person is."

And I just kind of went
on a journey

down her page.
-Didn't have a car.

I didn't have a job.
I didn't have any money.

[Ashley]
I'm just thinking, like,
"I wanna have that actual

rags to riches story as well."

When I started following her
on Facebook, I never expected it

to turn into the nightmare
that it did.

One day, she posted a link
for her credit repair business.

It costs $29.99 a month.

And immediately,
I signed up for it.

After a couple of weeks,
her software was showing

negative things were being
removed, score was increasing.

It was working.
I was happy,

but it seemed
too easy for her to do.

So I decided that I was gonna
check with another company

to kind of compare and make
sure everything is going

the way that it was going,
and it was not.

So I was definitely confused.

I reached out for an answer
as to why

I wasn't getting a response.

I asked for a refund,
still didn't get a response.

So I turned to TikTok.

I had her picture
in my background and I was like,

"Hey, you guys, you're probably
wondering why I have

these two black moguls --
-...in my background.

Legends say
that these two right here

are some elite scammers."

When I woke up
the next morning,

I realized I had

I had started
receiving messages.

People were
in the comment section.

Seeing those messages made me
want to really dive deeper.

I got on Facebook and I found
this group that was

all about exposing Ashley.

Realizing that I wasn't the only
one that had been scammed,

it fueled
a different fire in me.

I thought,
"You gotta be stopped."

[Derricka]
Summer of 2022, things really
started to pick back up

when I felt like she started
to spiral.

She was receiving backlash
while I was being praised.

I received presidential honors
from the Biden administration.

I received
my honorary doctorate.

And I think that
that was very triggering

for Ashley Grayson.

And then Ashley went online
and made these accusations

that I created
the Ashley Grayson hate group.

Then said I assisted
in facilitating the post

against her.

There was one time
that I spoke out.

Someone that I love dearly
that had shared

one of Ashley's posts,
"I want this for me."

So I said, "Be careful
what you speak over your life.

"I bet a million dollars
this isn't it.

"I had to get legal and file

a whole restraining
order against this one."

And that screenshot went viral.

And then Ashley filed
a lawsuit against me

for defamation of character.

[Britney] One day I woke up
from a bad dream.

It wasn't a good dream
that I had with her and Josh.

And I mentioned it to her.
I just called her.

And I let her know, like,

something is --
something is off with him.

I felt like he was

isolating her.

I was just like, "I don't think
he has the best interest

for you."

And she had repeated
it to Josh, so, um...

And of course,
he didn't like that.

He wanted an apology for me
telling her how I felt

about the dream and how
I felt about him.

He was isolating her

from people that really cared
about her.

'Cause if nobody's around
to call anything out,

you're the only one
that she's looking up to

or she's trusting.

I feel as if Josh had
some snake tactics.

[Patrick] Ashley and I hadn't
spoke for four months,

and she called me crying.
-[phone ringing]

And she's like, "I just need
somebody to talk to."

And I know how we ended,
but I know

I can still talk to you.
I was like, "Man, what's up?

Was all good?
What's going on?"

She was like, "Josh."

Biggest issue
was that he wanted her

to be, like,
a submissive housewife.

He told her, like,
"I'm a king.

My woman's supposed to bow
down to, like, what I said."

Said they had a argument
because Josh was still asking

for my address.

And he was, like, pestering,
like, "Nah."

He was like,
"I want Patrick's address.

"Like, give me
Patrick's address.

"And why are you protecting him?
Why are you protecting him?

Why you won't give me
his address?"

I don't know if he wanted
to fight, I don't know

if he wanted to look tough
for Ashley, I don't know

if he wanted to come with a g*n,
but he was posting b*ll*ts

in his story on Facebook.

I had exposed Ashley Grayson
back in August

because she was basically
taking money from people

and feeding them some BS.

More people were just giving me
their stories

and how they were scammed,

and it ranged from $1,300
all the way up to $2,500.

The information was coming
so fast,

I was doing live on TikTok
two, three times a day.

It's another day
for another story

about Ashley Grayson.

And then I found out
this expl*sive information

that really blew up
the Ashley Grayson story.

Going back to her original
Facebook post

where she was posting
about her rags to riches,

she stated that she overdrafted
her account,

fixed her credit, and was able

to make a million dollars
from credit repair in 2012.

I found out that Ashley
was working

at Pompeian in Baltimore.

She was at work
and one of the machines

malfunctioned and sliced
two of her fingers off.

She later sued the company
for not displaying

an emergency shutoff switch.

I was thinking that you got
that million dollars

from a settlement,
so the initial rags to riches

about overdrafting her account
was a lie.

Took that, put it
into a TikTok video.

You real life out here telling
us you got it out the mud

when you didn't!
You didn't!

You got lucky and your finger
got whacked off,

them people paid you
a million dollars.

Ashley's whole world
went crazy.

So it leaves me to think,
what else is there out there

about you?
You know what I'm saying?

Imma keep diggin'.

She started spiraling
out of control,

'cause now the truth is
being revealed,

and she can't hide it anymore.

I did receive
a cease-and-desist letter

three days later.

So, I got on TikTok

and I started
to read the letter.

They want me to remove
my videos and retract

any statements
in the same manner and medium

as the original publications
and acknowledge

that the statements are
false and defamatory.

Hoo!

At this point, my entire world
is about making sure

you never get to do this again.

But she had a cult-like
following,

like these people do
whatever to protect Ashley.

She had over 400,000 followers
at the time.

I started receiving
strange messages

from her followers.

Messages like,
"If I see you out in public,

Imma beat you up."
It did start to get dangerous.

Everybody knows who I am.

Anybody could come
to my house.

I did have
to purchase a weapon.

I started sleeping with it
above my head on my headboard.

And then it really
got dangerous.

[g*n shot]

[Derricka]
At approximately 9:36 PM...

-[ding-dong]
-...the doorbell rang,

and it rang again.
-[doorbell ringing]

We thought it was odd,
because who's visiting us

at 9:30 at night?

My husband went to the door.

I was listening in
on our doorbell camera.

And there are two people
standing at the door saying

that they are with the FBI
and they need to see

Derricka Harwell immediately.
It is urgent.

And he's like,
"Well, I'm her husband."

What do you need to see
my wife for?

He would not give them
immediate access to me.

He said, "Listen, if you wanna
reach her, you gotta call her."

And I don't even think
they were out of the driveway

before the lead agent called me

and basically told me,

"There is a threat
against your life.

Somebody's trying to k*ll you."

And my heart sank
to the pit of my stomach.

I could not believe that

what I was experiencing
in that moment was real.

Who's trying to k*ll me?
And that was her next question.

Do you know who would be
trying to k*ll you?

[tension in music building up]

And I couldn't think of anyone
in the world

except for Ashley Grayson.

From that moment,

I'm now
looking over my shoulder.

"Did Ashley hire this person?
Is this person following me?

Is this person watching me?"

We got a notification
that Ashley had posted saying

that she was wanting
to clear up lies.

And then someone reached out
to me and said Ashley was

in the area.

I notified the FBI,
who acted immediately.

They checked my G-wagon,
like, all around and underneath

to make sure nothing was
attached to it.

[siren wailing]

[Derricka]
We immediately moved.
We went into protection.

We had the police officers,
they would park the car

right on the street just to let
someone know if they were

coming to do some type
of harm for us.

[loud knocking on door]

[Sherell] I wake up to booming
on the door, like,

"Boom, boom, boom!"

And I'm like,
"What the heck?"

I get up, I open the door...

and I see just officers.

"Are you OK?

We've been made aware that
there's a threat on your life."

They come in,
they do a walkthrough

secure the doors, windows.

They were like,
"Anything suspicious going on,

you call 911."
And then they left.

I closed the door,
and it set in.

I'm terrified.

I'm visibly scared,
like I'm shaking.

I was on edge the entire time,

expecting for someone to come
to my door.

Like, dang.
It all just spins

right back to Ashley Grayson.

[phone ringing]

[Patrick] My mom called me.
I answered the phone

like, "Hey, ma, what's up?"

"Pat, the FBI at the house.

They say they're looking
for you.

And they said, like, it's
about a m*rder-for-hire case."

Like, "Wait, what'd you say,
a m*rder-for-hire?"

And I was like, "What the f..."
Somebody hired a hitman for me?

Now I'm panicking,
my hands sweating, muggy.

And then while I'm on the phone
with her, like a car swerved,

but they pulled up
right in front of the door.

And so now
I'm on the phone panicking.

I thought like, "This is it."

[tense music building up]

[car door closes]

[Patrick]
But it was just somebody
picking up their food.

By that night,

a bunch of people
kept sending me TikToks

and they like,
"Hey, go watch it,
go watch it, go watch it."

So I go to TikTok
after opening it.

I was like, "What?"

Those videos being released,

they packed
a very powerful punch

that I don't think that
anyone was really ready for.

[Sherell] Someone tagged me
in a post and was like,

"You need to go
and see this."

I logged into TikTok
and it was the first video

that popped up on my TikTok.

And the caption said,
"Ashley Grayson,

m*rder-for-hire."

[Patrick]
The TikTok video was from
a woman named Olivia Johnson

who claimed Ashley paid her
to k*ll these people.

This video that Olivia
showed on TikTok

was Ashley plotting the whole
m*rder-for-hire.

[Derricka]
I was shocked.

She's really talking
about ending you

and your existence.

Ashley was offered
$100,000 total,

$20,000 for Sherell,
$20,000 for Derricka,

$60,000 for me.

For somebody to literally talk
about having you k*lled,

it did not feel real.
Still don't feel real.

It's a scary thing to just
know somebody is...

plotting on you like that.

[Derricka]
I'm listening to the words,
and I'll never get them out

of my head of,

"You don't want
her hurt or nothing, right?"

And Ashley responds,
"No, I want her outta there."

[voice breaks] For them to be OK
with you being m*rder*d

at your home
in front of your six children,

that is --
[exhales]

that's a whole 'nother
level of hatred.

You can't hate someone
like that who's never done

anything to you.

You can't hate someone
like that who you've never even

met face-to-face.

It's so heartless.

[Sherell]
Ashley wants me dead

because I'm exposing
the truth about her.

A TikToker.

Like, that's what I kept
replaying in my head.

A TikToker.
You want a TikToker dead.

This is insane.
This is crazy.

Like, how did we go
from social media

to "you want me dead?"

[Sherell] I think
Patrick's life was at threat

because he knew more
about Ashley than I did.

I just think that I was the ex
that she never got over.

Then Olivia Johnson,

the person who got hired,
went online and said,

"We just playing Ashley.

"We ain't really gonna do
nothing to y'all.

"She think we gonna hurt y'all.

We just trying get
some money outta her."

[Patrick]
It came out that four months
before all of this,

Ashley gifted
Olivia's mom a house.

I feel like I'm dreaming.

Like, this don't even feel real.

[reporter]
Olivia Johnson says she first
met Ashley Grayson on Facebook,

and they've grown closer since.

Ashley is just everything to us,

and she know it.
-[reporter] Yeah.

I'm indebted to her
for the rest of my life.

Ashley hired a production
company herself

to make sure
that this was covered.

I'm excited, like,
it's my house.

It was meant to be
a viral moment.

We just gotta sign them papers
and this is 100% yours.

They thought that the house
was theirs.

Come to find out, Ashley's name
is still on the house.

She never intended to take
her name off of it.

[Sherell] So Olivia recorded
the m*rder-for-hire

conversation and then later
used that video to say,

"Hey, look, if you don't take
your name off my mom's house,

we're gonna go to the FBI
about this."

Ashley decided, like, "Oh, OK,
if you're gonna extort me,

"let me call the FBI
and tell them

you're trying to extort me."

Why would you go to the FBI?

[Patrick]
Ashley calling the FBI turned
into self-incrimination

for the whole investigation.

Literally for nine months,
she trolled us online.

She called us clout chasers.

"I'm not even being
investigated by no FBI."

[Sherell]
"They so mad that I own
this castle.

"They mad that I'm pregnant.

"They're mad that
they thought I was going

"to jail, and I'm not.

"They just mad and broke.
How tragic.

The villain in the story is
now saying, "You're the liar."

[Patrick] She was posting stuff
on her story,

like tagging the FBI.

Ashley felt
like she was untouchable.

"I ain't going nowhere.
Bloop, bloop."

You think that you was just
gon' skip right on back

to your castle?
No, ma'am.

[reporter]
Ashley Grayson's glamorous
image collapsed in May of 2024,

when she was indicted
in a chilling

m*rder-for-hire plot.

I was relieved, like,
"Yes, it's finally happening."

[reporter]
Olivia Johnson,
who was not charged,

testified
during Ashley Grayson's trial.

Ashley was convicted
and sentenced

to 10 years in prison.

[Derricka]
After the m*rder-for-Hire
came out,

Ashley's former friends

reached out to me to let me
know back in 2016,

"She was obsessing
over you then."

She really hate Derricka.

Like, she feel like Derricka
make this fake page

about her and all this.

So she talked about her
so much on the phone.

I believe that Ashley
definitely wanted to be

in my shoes.

I strongly believe
that she really wanted to...

to be me.

[Britney] It's still hard
just to witness everything

that transpired.

I definitely felt like I lost
a sister way before jail.

The money
and the social media,

including the following she had,
brought out the worst in her.

If anything could jeopardize
her image that she built

on social media, she would do
anything to stop them

or shut them up.

[Derricka]
I think that this story has
really shaped me to take

social media
a lot more seriously

because I don't know who
the next Ashley Grayson is.

[producer]
If you could say anything
to Ashley,

what would it be?

You want my real response?

Gotcha, b*tch!

[keyboard clicking]

Nobody was doing TikTok like
Matima was doing TikTok.

When you are well known
and someone is jealous,

you become a target.

[g*n fire]

The person who done this
is still loose.