It was perfect.
The Traytes were about to grow into a family of four.
Matt, Laura, and their 6-year-old son Hudson were about to get their little girl.
The Traytes had problems conceiving from the start, so although IVF was able to give them their son, it wasn't working for a sibling.
So, the Traytes turned to social media. They created a website explaining their story and their goal of adopting a child. It was through this website and this outreach that they were contacted by Elizabeth Jones.
Jones lived out in Virginia. She told Matt and Laura that she was pregnant and, after getting to know each other better, that she wanted the Traytes to adopted her unborn child that was due in November.
Everything seemed perfect.
Jones wasn't attempting to pull any money out of them. She was open about her story and everything that was going on. She even sent the Traytes a picture of the ultrasound.
November came and everything still seemed normal.
Jones was still communicating with Laura. They were talking about all the things that moms talk about.
After countless hours messaging back and forth, Laura decided to fly out on November 9 to visit the doctor, to get all of the legal papers organized, to meet Jones in person, and just connect with the family that they were about to dive into this open adoption with.
They even took professional pictures together, announcing the coming birth of their little girl.
Laura flew home, got Matt and Hudson and returned to Virginia in the last week of November to be there for the birth of their little girl.
That's when things started becoming very strange, very quickly.
Jones went into labor at home.
Her husband started driving her to the husband.
She wasn't going to make it.
The baby was coming.
Laura was on the phone with her.
She heard Jones describing the blood and the pain.
The Traytes were at the hospital. They knew an ambulance had reached Jones, but they didn't know where she was.
Then she arrived.
On foot.
In clean clothes.
With no baby.
The Traytes knew what had happened. They had been scammed.
What happened? Why did it happen like this? What is the truth in all of this? What happened to Elizabeth Jones?
Chuck Slemp, the special prosecutor for the case, joined the show today to explain it all.
The OC Register's Keith Sharon outlined their entire adoption story in "Death of a unicorn: Couple endures emotional crime in bizarre botched adoption"
He also explained what ultimately happened to Jones in "Woman who faked pregnancy, promised adoption indicted on nine felony counts"