Pod Insights Scamfluencers Natalie Cochran: The Pharmacist Femme Fatale Part 1 | 183 About this episode Natalie Cochran seems to have it all: a stable career as a pharmacist, a loving husband, and two kids. But when she ditches her job to become a “government contractor” – and suddenly starts raking in cash – her life starts looking a little too good to be true. Behind the scenes, Natalie is running an elaborate con: one with fake government contracts, fake cancer, and a real trail of victims. When her house of cards starts to fall, Natalie will make a devastating choice that will turn her dream life into a nightmare.
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0:00 Sarah Hagi? Audible subscribers can listen to all our episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.
0:14 Sarah Hagi? Sachi, have you ever watched a movie and just been like so inspired it changed your life? Oh, for sure. What was it? Uh, probably that Helen Keller movie they kept making us watch in junior high. How did it change your life? Learned a lot. Okay, we'll talk about that later. I mean, the real answer's not better. It's probably RoboCop. Yeah, okay, that makes a lot more sense. RoboCop makes sense. For me, it was like Carrie the Spy, maybe. Oh, yeah. Because I was like, okay, that's me. I need to be meddling in writing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lizzie McGuire movie, maybe. True. Swan Princess, that was profound. She rejects him. It's a great movie. You're really showing yourself right now. I really appreciate it.
0:59 Sarah Hagi? I know who I am. Well, today, I'm going to tell you about a woman who, after watching a movie, felt so emboldened to change the entire course of her life, leading to, you guessed it, a very elaborate Ponzi scheme.
1:17 Sarah Hagi? It's a gray overcast day in February 2019. 38-year-old Michael Cochran is working from home in a small town in West Virginia when he hears a knock at the front door. Michael isn't expecting anyone, but he's not concerned. He's used to friends and neighbors stopping by. Michael is athletic and conventionally handsome, with brown hair and a magnetic smile. On the surface, he's living the American dream. He and his wife Natalie run a successful government contracting business. They have two kids, a big two-story house, and a large manicured lawn. They're beloved members of the community and are sponsoring an upcoming bingo fundraiser for youth sports.
2:00 Sarah Hagi? Their donation: several semi-automatic rifles to use as prizes.
2:06 Scaachi Koul? Sure. I don't see anything wrong with this.
2:09 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, I think that's perfect for youth sports.
2:13 Scaachi Koul? They have to learn hand-eye coordination somehow.
2:15 Sarah Hagi? Yep. But when Michael opens his front door, he doesn't see a friend or neighbor. Instead, there's an employee from the sewer utility company here to turn off the water because Michael and Natalie haven't paid their bill. This is the last straw for Michael. Their company has been bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars. But for the past few months, he and Natalie have been having cash flow problems. Michael thinks it's ridiculous that they're technically worth millions of dollars but don't have the cash to pay their sewer bill. Natalie handles all of their finances, so when she gets home, Michael confronts her about the unpaid bill. With her soft brown hair and heart-shaped face,
2:58 Sarah Hagi? Natalie looks like the sweet girl next door. She says that she's handled it. The water won't be shut off. Things have been tough lately, but she reassures Michael it will all be taken care of soon. She says she'll book them a flight to Virginia the next day so they can meet with the bank in person and sort things out together.
3:20 Sarah Hagi? But none of that is true. Michael doesn't know it, but Natalie has been letting Michael believe that he's rich from running a government contracting business. In reality, it's a Ponzi scheme. Natalie has been stealing from their friends and family for months. Michael's questions threaten to reveal the truth. So tomorrow, Michael won't be boarding a plane to Virginia. He'll be in the ICU, thanks to his loving wife.
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5:25 Sarah Hagi? From Wondery, I'm Sarah Haggie.
5:27 Scaachi Koul? And I'm Saachi Cole.
5:28 Sarah Hagi? And this is Scamfluencers.
5:38 Sarah Hagi? Natalie Cochran seems like she had it all: a good job as a pharmacist, a loving husband, and two kids. But then, she quit her job to become a government contractor and started raking in dough, or so she claimed. Behind the scenes, Natalie was running a classic Ponzi scheme: scamming friends and family with fake contracts, fake government emails, and even fake cancer. But when the walls start closing in, lies alone won't be enough to save her. So Natalie makes a fateful, fatal choice that ruins her dream life forever. This is Natalie Cochran, The Pharmacist's Fatale, Part 1.
6:23 Sarah Hagi? It's 1998 and 17-year-old Natalie Jessup is working the cash register at Dick's Sporting Goods in Beckley, West Virginia. As the youngest of three siblings, she's used to being coddled. But Natalie's working hard to make some extra cash before she starts college next year. It's a basic day in retail until she looks up from her scanner and sees a cute 17-year-old boy walk in. It's Michael Cochran. Natalie smiles at him and they flirt it up while she checks him out. After that, Michael seems to find excuse after excuse to visit Natalie at Dick's. And these two opposites attract. Natalie is her high school's valedictorian and wants to study piano and broadcasting.
7:06 Sarah Hagi? Michael is a hunky athlete who got his first set of barbells when he was just 10 years old. By now, he plays football, baseball, and basketball, and power lifts. Natalie and Michael quickly become high school sweethearts. They're so committed to each other that Natalie turns down a full ride to Concord College. Instead, she takes out loans and follows Michael to West Virginia University, where he studies computer management and she goes into pharmacy studies. Natalie is head over heels for Michael, and the feeling is mutual. He proposes in 1999, when they've known each other for less than two years. Michael's mother, Donna, urges them to slow things down, but they get married less than
7:50 Sarah Hagi? six months later while they're both still in college.
7:53 Scaachi Koul? I mean, Sarah, you know how I feel about marriage. Marriage while in college? No, no, no. Bad idea.
8:01 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, I really don't think it's a good idea for them. Five years later, in 2005, Natalie graduates with a doctorate in pharmacy. Just a year later, she gives birth to their first child, a daughter. At this point, Michael is working in IT while Natalie is a full-time pharmacist. The family settles down in Daniels, West Virginia, near their hometowns. And about two years after that, Natalie gives birth to their son. Over the next five years, Natalie and Michael become deeply involved in their local community. They're regulars at church, and Michael starts coaching youth baseball. Natalie becomes a youth sports league treasurer. They soon become the it couple of West Virginia youth sports.
8:47 Scaachi Koul? That's the most tragic sentence I've ever heard in the English language. It couple of West Virginia youth sports, it's a tough one.
8:55 Sarah Hagi? Listen, I'm taking any it couple status I can.
8:58 Scaachi Koul? You're right. I should be so lucky.
9:00 Sarah Hagi? Yes. They become especially close with Michael's co-coach, Chris Davis, and his wife, Jennifer. The two couples have a lot in common. Their kids are similar ages, they're all church-going Christians, and they love hanging out. They even go on vacations together. But it's not all fun and games. They really show up for each other. When Chris and Jennifer's son is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Natalie goes above and beyond to support them. By now, she's become a pharmaceutical expert in diabetes, and she helps them navigate how to live with the disease. Natalie even gets local businesses to sponsor a 5K to raise money for diabetes research. By all accounts, Natalie and Michael are living the dream.
9:45 Sarah Hagi? But Michael yearns for more. Natalie later says that Michael wanted to live a more fabulous life than their dual incomes can afford. And soon, Natalie and Michael will find the inspiration to change their lives and their income bracket from a movie.
10:06 Sarah Hagi? It's 2017, and Natalie and Michael are sitting down for a movie night at home. Tonight, they're watching War Dogs. Sachi, have you heard of this movie?
10:15 Scaachi Koul? I think I saw it. Jonah Hill's in it, and there's lots of guns.
10:19 Sarah Hagi? That's basically it.
10:20 Scaachi Koul? OK, great.
10:21 Sarah Hagi? It's directed by Todd Phillips, the guy behind the Hangover trilogy and Joker, and is loosely based on a true story. In the movie, Miles Teller and Jonah Hill play two young hustlers who land a $300 million Pentagon contract to arm US troops in Afghanistan. They don't have any real experience, but during the war, the government was desperate for cheap weapons. So the two undercut their competition, win the bid, and get filthy rich. As the trailer says...
10:53 Speaker 05 They called guys like us war dogs, bottom feeders who make money off of war without ever stepping foot on the battlefield. It was meant to be derogatory, but we kinda liked it.
11:04 Sarah Hagi? The scheme does not go well for the characters. They end up arrested by the FBI for fraud. But instead of viewing the movie as a cautionary tale, Natalie and Michael decide they should become war dogs too.
11:20 Sarah Hagi? They said, "Woof woof, Sachi."
11:22 Scaachi Koul? They said woof woof. This is like the argument people make about why we shouldn't have satire, because people will believe it. Like when Jonathan Swift was like, "We should eat children. Someone's gonna eat a baby." And everyone would be like, "Who would be so foolish? We found them."
11:36 Sarah Hagi? Yes.
11:36 Scaachi Koul? "We found the two people who would read a modest proposal and eat a baby."
11:39 Sarah Hagi? Absolutely. And there actually isn't a crazy barrier to entry to become a war dog. All open government contracts are posted online, and anyone can apply for them. These contracts generally cover a range of government needs, from guns for the military to uniforms for TSA officers. The average contractor makes around 8% profit, which adds up pretty quickly when the contracts are worth millions of dollars. Within a year, Natalie and Michael open two companies: Tactical Solutions Group and Technology Management Systems, or TSG and TMS. The field is crowded, so Natalie gives the couple an advantage by naming herself
12:23 Sarah Hagi? the 51% majority owner of both companies. This means the companies qualify as woman-owned and can fill diversity quotas. Natalie also says she's a quarter Cherokee, which is a lie.
12:38 Scaachi Koul? Sarah, let me get out our ScanFlenser's bingo board. Uh, faking indigenous ancestry? Right in the middle.
12:45 Sarah Hagi? Yes, and also further proof that, uh, diversity quotas kind of benefited the worst people at times.
12:53 Scaachi Koul? That's how we got here.
12:54 Sarah Hagi? Well, Natalie tells Michael his job is to find contracts for them to bid on. After that, she'll handle the bidding, the money, and all of the administration. In theory, this is a lot of work, but Natalie doesn't plan to do any of it. We don't know why exactly, but it seems like Natalie never even tries to run a legitimate business. Maybe it was too hard, maybe she didn't have the patience. Either way, she chooses to just lie instead. Once the companies are up and running, Natalie needs seed capital in order to turn the contracts into big business. And while she could try to find outside investors, that would be hard.
13:38 Sarah Hagi? So instead, she turns to her family, including her parents and sister who happily invest. Michael's mother and stepfather invest as well, along with people in Natalie and Michael's community. One of these investors is Toni McCall. Toni is a beautiful blonde in her early 50s, whose son plays in the youth baseball league. She's going through a tough time. She recently lost her husband to leukemia. Michael has become a surrogate father figure to her son. Natalie shows Toni a contract TSG wants to bid on and pitches her on becoming an investor. Natalie's pitch is convincing. She uses real government contracts, but doctors of paperwork,
14:23 Sarah Hagi? changing the identifying numbers and inflating the promised returns. She also tells Toni that she has to decide on the spot because Natalie likes to bid at the last second. This way, no one can swoop in and undercut her bid. Toni wants to help her friends, so she agrees and ends up investing over a quarter of a million dollars.
14:48 Scaachi Koul? I don't have any friends that want to help me that badly.
14:50 Sarah Hagi? Never.
14:51 Scaachi Koul? Do you?
14:52 Sarah Hagi? No, but also maybe we're not asking.
14:54 Scaachi Koul? I would never ask.
14:55 Sarah Hagi? I would never ask. And thanks to her family and friends like Tony, Natalie is raking it in. But instead of building real businesses, she doubles down on fake it till you make it with no intention of ever making it. She wants her companies to look like legit, smart investments. So she starts fabricating contracts. A couple of months later, Natalie leaves her pharmacist job and stops teaching college classes. That makes it seem like the companies are big moneymakers when in reality, they're just churning out whatever investors are willing to put in. At some point, Natalie and Michael also buy billboards to advertise a business featuring Bible verses and guns.
15:39 Sarah Hagi? But Natalie needs more cash to keep things going. In theory, she can use money from new investors to pay out old ones in a good, old-fashioned Ponzi scheme. Except Natalie never seems to seriously consider paying out any of her investors. She just lets everyone believe they're going to strike it rich, including Michael. And while Michael has no idea what's really happening, he's more than happy to share in the spoils.
16:09 Sarah Hagi? It's May 2018, about six months after Natalie quit her job. And Michael is excited. He and Natalie have just bought a 1965 Shelby Cobra. Sachi, not only is that a car, it's a very nice car. An original Cobra in perfect condition sells for between $500,000 and $5 million. Can you describe this photo?
16:33 Scaachi Koul? Oh, yeah. It's these two twerps wearing golf clothes, I guess, standing outside in front of a very expensive-looking Batmobile. As you know, Sarah, I do not know cars, but it does look like it probably costs a lot of money.
16:48 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, it is just such a big purchase that's so obviously expensive. And also, none of their investors have been paid back. So not very subtle. This car is a big purchase, and it's just the beginning. They renovate their house, buy a trailer, multiple motorcycles, a few more cars, and of course, a boat. The family takes a trip to Paris. Michael buys some recreational vehicles and an airplane hangar. He's been working on getting his pilot's license and dreams of expanding their business into aviation one day. But Michael isn't totally selfish. He's excited to give back to their community. When he goes out for dinner with friends and family, he always picks up the check.
17:33 Sarah Hagi? He takes his niece to Disney World. He donates a weight room to a local middle school. And when he learns a local youth pastor is on the verge of homelessness, he puts him up in one of the family's investment properties. Up to this point, Michael has been under the impression that their personal and professional relationships are totally separate. But in August 2018, he learns that not only have a bunch of their friends and family invested, but they're owed almost $250 million. Michael is upset. He wants to pay up. He decides he wants to be more involved in the business.
18:12 Scaachi Koul? That is so much money. It's so much money to get from like your friends and your family and people in your community. Their PowerPoint pitch must have been very persuasive.
18:24 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, I mean, it is staggering. And in early September, Natalie shares bad news. The government is auditing their business. She shows Michael emails from a woman at the Federal Reserve named Betsy Britland. Betsy promises she's doing everything she can to get TSG's funds released. Natalie starts spending a lot of time on the phone with Betsy trying to get things figured out. And this seems to be enough to convince Michael that things will be okay.
18:54 Scaachi Koul? He is so enthralled in the life that they can have, that they are having, that he wants this to be real so badly. But it is bananas that he finds out that they've taken $250 million from everybody they know. And then he's like, "I should be more involved." And then he's like, "Well, it's okay. She made some calls."
19:15 Sarah Hagi? I know, right? Well, Natalie assures him that as soon as the audit is over, they're gonna get even more money. So they buy new storage for their truck and spend over $14,000 on earrings from Kay Jewelers. Michael is confident in their business, and he's excited to get more involved. But his newfound enthusiasm just pushes his wife deeper into a corner.
19:40 Sarah Hagi? About a year after Natalie started taking people's money, her investors come looking for big payouts. We don't know why she let her victims to expect a large return so quickly. Maybe she just didn't think much about it. But instead of paying people, Natalie complains about the audit and then distracts them with stories about all the amazing things she and Michael are going to do with their portion of the profits. Like buying a town in Africa, which she says is going to be their mission in life.
20:11 Scaachi Koul? Buying it for what?
20:13 Sarah Hagi? You don't understand. There are just towns in Africa that anyone can buy. They're for sale.
20:18 Scaachi Koul? Is it like how you can buy a star? Like you can buy a star in the sky and name it after you? Is that what you're describing?
20:25 Sarah Hagi? I honestly think so. And you know, if you're hearing that from someone, that's kind of the first red flag, buying a town in Africa, I'd say. And in some cases, Natalie can make convenient excuses or convince people to reinvest their supposed earnings. But the government audit is by far her best scapegoat. And Sachi, you've probably already guessed this, but Betsy from the Federal Reserve isn't real. Natalie made her up. Meanwhile, Natalie needs more cash, so she takes out additional loans. And she decides to go after new investors, like Michael's best friend, Chris. That fall, while the audit is supposedly underway, she and Michael run into Chris at church.
21:10 Sarah Hagi? Michael seems more sold on the business than ever because shortly afterward, he's the one who pitches Chris on an investment opportunity, a contract for dental labs on military bases. Chris is interested, so Natalie swoops in to hammer out the details. According to Chris, Natalie tells him he can't see any of the paperwork because the contract is related to the military. She also tells him other friends have already invested, but unless they raise more money soon, everyone will lose out. Chris agrees to give them over a half a million dollars.
21:47 Scaachi Koul? I couldn't guilt a friend into buying me a meal. These people are throwing out so much.
21:55 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, I need to know what the income of this town is because that is truly crazy. And of course, Natalie doesn't use any of this money to pay out their investors. Instead, she steps up her spending. Natalie later claims that the real reason she spent all of this money was to keep Michael happy. She alleges that life with Michael was difficult and that he wasn't afraid to express his dissatisfaction with Natalie and their life. She says Michael was happiest when he was rich, implying that she basically started scamming people to make him happy. Years later, in court, Natalie alleges that Michael was physically and emotionally abusive, including taking a sledgehammer to their furniture. And she says that Michael gave her K earrings
22:40 Sarah Hagi? as an apology for trying to run her over with a truck. Her own therapist suggested that Natalie has PTSD from a history of domestic violence. For what it's worth, while people have admitted that Michael could be authoritative and domineering, there's little corroborating evidence suggesting he was abusive or violent. It's just Natalie's word, and she lies so often that it's hard to know when she's telling the truth. Michael may have had his flaws, but investigators later conclude he didn't know anything about Natalie's Ponzi scheme. This is partly because of Betsy. Sure, Betsy isn't real, but she is a strong piece of evidence that Michael was in the dark.
23:23 Sarah Hagi? If he knew Natalie was lying to everyone, why would she need to show him fake emails? And why would he spend all day looking for contracts if he knew they never got one?
23:34 Scaachi Koul? All of this hinges on like an absence of proof.
23:37 Sarah Hagi? Mm-hmm.
23:38 Scaachi Koul? There's a lack of information from and by both of them, and so all of this is getting even more muddled. Obviously, there's like a lot of confusion about what is happening in this marriage, but like the reality is that they are getting millions of dollars from their friends and funneling it into their lifestyles and spending all of this money.
23:59 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, and you know what? Whatever was happening between Natalie and Michael, someone outside of that marriage should have probably been asking questions. As it is, Natalie holds on to the audit story for a couple of weeks as an excuse, but she can't do that forever. So on October 25th, 2018, she tells Michael that the audit is complete and they'll get their money on October 29th. But of course, this is impossible. There is no government payout coming. Natalie has created a web of lies to explain the lack of funds, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to keep her scheme going, including murder.
24:42 Sarah Hagi? Ghosts aren't real. At least, that's what journalist Tristan Redmond always believed. Sure, odd things happened in his childhood bedroom, but ultimately, he shrugged them off. Until he discovered that he wasn't alone, that everyone who lived thereafter him also had bizarre experiences they couldn't explain.
25:00 Speaker 04 And it gets even weirder. It just so happens that his wife's great grandmother was murdered in the house next door. Is this ghost somehow connected to her murder? He decides to go where no son-in-law should, digging up a cold case and asking questions that nobody wants answered. Like, could his wife's great-grandfather have gotten away with the perfect crime? This is a podcast about family secrets, overwhelming coincidence, and the things that come back to haunt us. For the best bingeable series like Ghost Story, listen to the Audible True Crime Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can get all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.
25:42 Speaker 04 Journalist Tristan Redman goes where no son-in-law should ever go, deep into his wife's family history, digging up the cold case of who murdered her great-grandmother. Because, I should mention, he thinks the murderer might actually be the beloved family patriarch. For the best bingeable series like Ghost Story, listen to the Audible True Crime Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
26:11 Sarah Hagi? It's October 2018, and Michael has been hearing the same story from Natalie for weeks. The audit is holding up their payments. So when she finally tells him that it's over and the money will come in on October 29th, he's thrilled. But that day comes and goes, and there's no money. In the days that follow, Michael feels awful, not just because of the delay. He starts feeling really sick. And on October 31st, he checks himself into the hospital. The doctors can't figure out what's wrong with him, so he's discharged, but he doesn't improve. Turns out, Michael hasn't been feeling like himself for a while. He's been confused, agitated, and feeling dizzy.
26:55 Sarah Hagi? He even tells a friend he thinks he's being poisoned. Michael feels like he's losing his mind. For example, one day in mid-October, he found himself sitting in a Panera Bread with no memory. of how he got there. Michael's alarmed because, among other things, he hates Panera Bread. Michael has trouble remembering simple things like the hat one of his friends wears every single day. After getting home from the hospital, Michael's symptoms get worse. He's vomiting and short of breath. He asks Chris to bring over an oxygen tank, but it doesn't help him. Michael thinks he might have been exposed to something while working on one of his
27:37 Sarah Hagi? investment properties, so he tells Chris to take him back to the hospital. And this time, Michael is kept overnight. At the hospital, Michael is scared, even worried he might not survive. So when his kids visit, he goes out of his way to be kind and tells them what he appreciates about them. At some point, he's prescribed seizure medication for supposed exposure to black mold. Chris later says Natalie was the only person communicating with doctors, which means Michael's friends and family generally have to rely on her word that he's been having seizures and that black mold is to blame. But later, some of Michael's friends, as well as some journalists following the story,
28:21 Sarah Hagi? will theorize that Natalie was actually poisoning Michael. We don't know if that's the case, but the evidence looks pretty sketchy.
28:31 Scaachi Koul? It's not looking good for not being poisoned by your wife, I gotta say.
28:36 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, dicey at best. Well, eventually, Michael is discharged from the hospital and starts focusing on his recovery, but he has other problems. The government still hasn't paid TSG, which means his mother, best friends, and loads of their community are still waiting on their money. Michael isn't doing well physically, and the added stress isn't helping. Then the bill starts coming due. In early December, a local bank informs Michael and Natalie that their accounts are being closed. Michael is furious. They run a successful business. How dare they try to shut them down? So he heads to the bank and starts angrily demanding answers.
29:19 Sarah Hagi? The tellers try to get Michael to calm down, but he won't listen. Luckily, one of the employees knows Michael, so they call Chris, who manages to deescalate the situation and keep Michael from getting himself arrested. Michael wants answers. And Natalie is seemingly out of excuses. But she's about to get a reprieve from the very entity at the heart of her scam: the federal government.
29:46 Sarah Hagi? The entire time Natalie has been complaining about problems with government payments, Congress has been arguing about the same thing. They failed to approve a budget before the 2018 holiday break. So on December 22, the federal government partially shuts down. This is a huge disaster for the millions of people who work for the government. But it's great news for Natalie. Since the government can't pay anyone for contracts, she has a legit excuse for why no one has their money. Still, the shutdown doesn't remove all of Natalie's problems. For example, she still has holiday shopping to do. She's been raiding TSG's accounts to pay for things, but in December of 2018,
30:31 Sarah Hagi? she allegedly turns to a new source of funds: the Shady Springs Youth Baseball League. Remember, she's a treasurer, so she can easily access their accounts. She reportedly spends over $1,000 at Dunham's and Dick's Sporting Goods and over $2,000 on Yeti coolers. Now, in theory, these are places where she could be buying supplies for the league. But she also spends $400 on bows and arrows, which you definitely can't use in baseball. No one seems to notice any of this, so Natalie keeps using the baseball account into the new year. She even uses it to have a meal at the Olive Garden.
31:12 Scaachi Koul? I would also do that.
31:16 Sarah Hagi? It's a great place to spend your money.
31:17 Scaachi Koul? It's better than $400 on bows and arrows.
31:20 Sarah Hagi? I agree. It goes somewhere. Throughout January, Natalie is in a holding pattern with the shutdown. But she knows that whenever the shutdown ends, her investors are going to expect to get paid. So she gets desperate and decides to pivot to another classic scamfluencer's tactic: telling everyone she's been diagnosed with cancer. And not just any cancer. Leukemia, just like her friend Toni's husband.
31:50 Scaachi Koul? Okay, so just to be clear, she is faking having a very specific type of cancer around her friend, whose husband died of it.
32:00 Sarah Hagi? Yes, that is exactly what she's doing. And the same friends Natalie is stealing from start driving her to fake doctor's appointments, cooking the family meals, and making T-shirts in support. They even get their bone marrow tested to see if they're a match. Everyone rallies around Natalie, except for her friend Toni. Toni is familiar with the disease, so when Natalie says her cancer is stage three, Toni is immediately suspicious. Because she's used to seeing leukemia classified by types, not stages. Here's Toni describing another one of Natalie's lies on 2020.
32:40 Speaker 06 She told us that she was losing her hair from the chemo she was taking. And she flips her hair over, and she has a perfect dime-sized circle where she has shaved a spot in her hair. And if you lose your hair from chemo, you don't see 5 o'clock shadow. What woman would shave a spot on their head to say, "Look, I'm losing my hair"?
33:07 Scaachi Koul? I fundamentally don't understand what the fuck this woman is thinking. She has never tried to run a legitimate business. She has taken millions of dollars from everybody she knows. She is telling these lies to try to divert scrutiny, but the lie she's telling is easily provable that she does not have cancer. This is not how cancer works. And she's looking this person in the eye and telling them a lie about something that they are intimately familiar with. It's so dumb.
33:36 Sarah Hagi? It's really insane. And Natalie's lie is shaky at best, but even Toni isn't willing to outright accuse Her friend of fraud, especially with so many other people rallying around her. Still, Natalie is on thin ice. She's been telling different people different stories, and it's only a matter of time before they start talking to each other. But when it comes to seeing through her lies, her biggest threat is inside her own home.
34:06 Sarah Hagi? While Natalie is fighting her fake cancer, Michael is fighting the rest of the world to protect his business, especially after the government shutdown ends in late January, and they still don't have their money. But Natalie has good news. They're actually going to get extra money because the payment is so late. Their personal profit will be $2.8 million. This is life-changing money. Now, instead of being frustrated, Michael is pumped. He tells Chris he'll be able to start a youth hunting camp and build even more baseball fields. But on February 4, Natalie tells Michael there's a new issue with Bank of America. And whatever the problem, it's holding up hundreds of millions of dollars,
34:51 Sarah Hagi? not just for them, but for everyone in the community. Michael doesn't understand what's going on. He believed Natalie every step of the way, but this is getting ridiculous. They need to fly to Virginia to meet with their banker in person. The next day, the sewer company employee shows up and tells Michael the family's water is about to be shut off. This only underscores how serious their problems are. Natalie tries to calm Michael down by telling him to buy the helicopter he's been eyeing. But no luxury purchase is enough to subdue Michael, and he's determined to get answers. He thinks he's gearing up for a fight against the bank, but the real battle is closer to home
35:35 Sarah Hagi? with the woman he believes is the love of his life.
35:41 Sarah Hagi? It's February 5th, the same day the Cochrans almost got their water turned off, and the day before they're supposed to fly to Virginia to talk to the bank. But instead of coming clean, Natalie finds another reason to stall. She goes to the doctor complaining of flu-like symptoms unrelated to her fake cancer. She tests negative for the flu and strep, but the doctor gives her a steroid shot anyway. At 6:30 a.m. the following day, the day they're supposed to fly to Virginia, Natalie texts the flight company and cancels their trip. She's just too sick to travel. Michael is not happy about the cancellation and tells her to reschedule the flight for the following day.
36:25 Sarah Hagi? And if she's too sick to travel, he offers to go with Chris instead. After all, Chris is a lawyer and can help him get to the bottom of things. Instead of rebooking their flight, Natalie texts Jennifer, Chris's wife, and shares that she and Michael are both sick. She says the doctor put her on such a high dose of steroids that she has to start taking insulin, and adds that she'll have to order a vial. This is like, illness mad libs. Now she's diabetic. Yep. Now, you may remember that Chris and Jennifer's son is diabetic. Natalie was the expert who helped them understand his disease and medication, so she knows Jennifer has insulin at home.
37:09 Sarah Hagi? They're close friends, so it's natural to assume that Jennifer might offer to bring Natalie some of their insulin supply. And sure enough, later that morning, Chris drops off a flu care package at Natalie's front door, including Propel Vitamin Water, Diet Coke, and a bottle of insulin. Chris doesn't know it yet, but inside this care package is a perfect murder weapon.
37:40 Speaker 05 ...onto the I-10 in New Orleans. He checks his mirrors. The lane is clear. And then, boom. Impact. A pickup truck, seemingly out of nowhere, scrapes down the side of his 18-wheeler. Multiple passengers inside. One man flees the scene. And the driver of the pickup? He doesn't seem all that upset. It didn't feel like a regular accident, because it wasn't. Across the city, truckers are getting sideswiped, all on the same stretch of the same freeway. And behind many of the cases is one person, a Hollywood stunt woman turned personal injury lawyer named Vanessa Moda. This podcast is a story about fake accidents that lead to real consequences and a scheme that ends in betrayal and murder.
38:25 Speaker 05 Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
38:40 Sarah Hagi? Hey, I'm Cassie Depeckle, the host of Against the Odds from Audible Originals. In each episode, we share thrilling true stories of survival, putting you in the shoes of the people who lived to tell the tale. In our latest series, we track the story of Hugh Glass, the real-life revenant that inspired the 2015 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1823, Glass was brutally mauled by a grizzly bear in present-day South Dakota and left for dead. His survival depended on trekking through 350 miles of wilderness alone with grave injuries. But he was driven by his thirst for revenge. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Against the Odds early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.
39:32 Sarah Hagi? It's February 6, 2019. Michael is upset that Natalie canceled their flight to Virginia. He's eager to visit Bank of America and finally get to the bottom of all their financial problems. But then, something happens. We don't know the exact order of events, but we do know that Natalie and Michael are home alone after their kids leave for school. And we know that somehow, Michael ingests benzodiazepines. These drugs, like Valium or Xanax, usually help calm people's anxiety or fight depression. But Michael is allergic to them. Thanks to this allergic reaction, Michael could become dizzy or confused, or maybe even pass out after ingesting them.
40:16 Sarah Hagi? After that, Natalie injects him with insulin. Sachi, are you familiar with how insulin works and why diabetics need it?
40:24 Scaachi Koul? Honestly, not really, but I would love for you to explain it to me.
40:27 Sarah Hagi? All right. Well, basically, if someone has diabetes, it means their body isn't very good at controlling blood sugar. Sometimes this means their blood sugar gets too low, which means they need to ingest more sugar. Other times, it means their blood sugar gets too high, and in that case, they take insulin to bring it down. But if you give insulin to a non-diabetic person, it can lower their blood sugar to dangerous levels. And if this happens, their body could shut down. Natalie is a diabetes expert, so she knows that if she gives Michael enough insulin, he could die if he doesn't get treatment in time. She also knows that the body metabolizes insulin really quickly, which means it's
41:10 Sarah Hagi? very hard to test for, like, say, in an autopsy. With her plan underway, Natalie is now in a tricky position. She has to appear to be a concerned wife who wants to help her husband, but she can't let anyone take him to the hospital, because if he gets treated, her plan could unravel fast. A lot of what Natalie does next is pretty chaotic and not the smartest course of action for an aspiring murderer. For example, she starts texting people like Jennifer this photo with no context.
41:48 Scaachi Koul? Sachi, can you describe it? So this appears to be a photo of her husband on the floor, looking unconscious. I would say that getting this "no context" would be pretty scary. I mean, I don't know if she's trying to establish an alibi, but this doesn't seem super effective. Yeah, I mean, he's passed out on the floor. It's crazy to get a message like that, "no context." With context, it's crazy. Yeah, it looks like she's gonna drag this body somewhere.
42:16 Sarah Hagi? Well, Natalie gives people a few different explanations for what happened to Michael, but her main story is that Michael must have had another seizure. She says that Michael has had seizures before and usually just sleeps them off. She claims that after Michael's black mold-related illness, he said he hated hospitals and never wanted to go to one again. And on top of all this, she tells people she's monitoring his blood pressure and pulse, and everything seems fine. She's Michael's wife and a pharmacist, so everyone seems to believe her.
42:52 Sarah Hagi? Instead of taking Michael to the hospital, Natalie calls a few of his contractors and asks them to move him to the couch so he can "sleep it off." Natalie also invites over a friend who happens to be a state trooper. And this friend brings over his wife, a physician's assistant, to help. Later, Natalie is able to use their jobs to boost her credibility. She claims that a state trooper and physician's assistant both saw Michael and thought he was fine. But the reality is that her friends are very worried. They tell her to take Michael to the hospital, and she declines, saying, "Michael would be furious if she did that." Eventually, they leave her alone with him,
43:34 Sarah Hagi? assuming that she's taking care of Michael and trying to respect his wishes.
43:40 Scaachi Koul? I mean, I would also probably do the same. You know, like if I went to someone's house and their spouse was like, "No, no, no, I got it." I'd probably trust them. What else are you gonna do?
43:49 Sarah Hagi? Yes. It's also like, you don't really know what people are like in their home. Like, it's hard to push back on that, especially if you're just friends. It's not like they're family or anything.
43:58 Scaachi Koul? Mm-hmm.
43:59 Sarah Hagi? Once everyone is gone, Natalie gets to work on the next phase of her plan. Chris receives a text from Michael that says, quote, "Think I caught what Nat has. Just gonna lay at home and watch TV." Natalie knows how to get into Michael's phone, so journalists and prosecutors later speculate that she sent this and other texts pretending to be him. Meanwhile, Michael has been passed out on the couch for hours. When their kids arrive home from school, Natalie realizes that Michael has wet himself. She has her daughter get a fresh change of clothes, and Natalie changes him. And Natalie eventually decides to bring Chris in. When he walks through the door and sees how poorly Michael is doing,
44:44 Sarah Hagi? he takes charge and tells Natalie they're going to the hospital. As the sun sets, Natalie piles into the back of Chris's car, holding Michael. When they get to the hospital at around 7:00 PM, Michael is put on a ventilator. Tests reveal that his blood sugar is dangerously low, but none of the medical professionals can explain why. Michael, once healthy and fit, has suddenly become a medical mystery, and Natalie has no intention of helping anyone solve it.
45:18 Sarah Hagi? Michael's mother, Donna, doesn't hear anything about her son's medical emergency until 10:30 PM, over three hours after Michael is brought to the hospital. Donna has long, straight, gray hair and glasses. She's sitting at home, having a normal evening, when suddenly Natalie texts her a picture of Michael on a ventilator with no additional context. Understandably, Donna is panicked and she has a lot of questions. What is going on? Where is Michael? And when can she see him? Natalie tells Donna the doctors don't know what's wrong, and it doesn't look good. She also says that Donna can't come until visiting hours the following day.
46:02 Sarah Hagi? The next morning, Donna races to the hospital. But when she arrives, she- She learns that Michael isn't there. Natalie sent her to the wrong hospital.
46:14 Scaachi Koul? Oh my god, this woman is a supervillain. This is so evil.
46:19 Sarah Hagi? So incredibly evil. And eventually Donna does make it to the right hospital and finds her way to Michael's room, where she takes up vigil at his bedside. She's shocked to see Natalie in the corner, plugging away over her laptop. According to Donna, Natalie told her she was busy working on the government contracts. When Donna finally talks to the doctors, things get even worse. They tell her they don't think Michael will make it. Donna is devastated, and she's clinging to whatever hope she can find. She wants to give Michael some time to see if he'll recover, but Natalie has power of attorney, and within a few days, she decides to take him off life support.
47:03 Sarah Hagi? Everyone comes to say their goodbyes. But when the tube is being pulled, a miracle happens. Donna says that Michael sits up on his own and opens his eyes. She's overcome with joy at the thought that Michael might actually live. But then, she looks over at Natalie, and she notices that Natalie doesn't seem excited at all. Instead, she looks horrified.
47:29 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, because she couldn't get away with all the evidence now if he wakes up and tells everybody what she did.
47:36 Sarah Hagi? Well, Michael might be awake, but he isn't able to speak. And soon enough, he falls unconscious again. Donna wants the doctors to run an MRI to see if Michael is really brain dead. But Natalie overrules her again and moves Michael to hospice without telling her. On the evening of February 10, Donna gets a call from a preacher who tells her he's about to give Michael his last rites. She rushes to hospice and helplessly watches as her son dies a few hours later, at just 38 years old.
48:12 Sarah Hagi? Donna is devastated, while Natalie seems more focused on preparing the necessary funeral arrangements. And that's when Natalie hits Donna with another gut punch. Donna isn't allowed to invite anyone to her own son's funeral. Donna is slowly starting to realize that her sweet daughter-in-law might not be as nice as she puts on. But she has no idea how horrible Natalie is truly willing to be.
48:42 Sarah Hagi? For years, Natalie has enjoyed holding herself and her husband up as pillars of the community. But rather than having a big funeral so the whole community can mourn Michael, she decides to move quickly and privately. Michael's death is ruled as "natural causes", and for whatever reason, no one performs an autopsy. Critically, Natalie decides not to have him cremated. The funeral is held two days after Michael's death. It's a private, closed-casket ceremony that lasts for less than five minutes. It has a tiny audience of just Donna and her husband, Michael's stepfather, as well as the rest of Natalie's close circle.
49:26 Sarah Hagi? Natalie gaslights everyone into believing this is what Michael would have wanted. She says that, of course, they know Michael would want the funeral to be held quickly, and basically dares them to contradict her. According to Donna, Natalie doesn't shed a single tear. The community is ready to rally around Natalie and the kids. They think she's a grieving widow, and no one suspects she's been robbing them blind. But she owes them money, and sooner or later, they will ask questions. For now, Michael's death looks like a heartbreaking tragedy. And Natalie is going to milk it for all it's worth, even when... And the authorities start circling.
50:11 Scaachi Koul? Follow Scamfluencers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free by joining Audible.
50:22 Sarah Hagi? This is part one of Natalie Cochran, The Pharmacist Femme Fatale. I'm Sarah Haggie.
50:28 Scaachi Koul? And I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at [email protected] . We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Jessica Farish's reporting for The Register Herald, the 2020 episode Small Town Big Con, and interviews conducted by the Creepalacha Podcast.
50:48 Sarah Hagi? Rachel Borders wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Haggie. Eric Thurm is our story editor. Fact checking by Gabrielle Jollet. Sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Augustine Lim. Our music supervisor is Scott Velazquez for Fries on Sync. Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock. Our senior managing producer is Callum Cluse. Stephanie Jens is our development producer. Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller. Our producer is Julie McGruder. Our senior producers are Sarah Enni and Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marshall Louie, and Erin O'Flaherty for Wondery.
51:39 Speaker 05 Imagine you're reading Pride and Prejudice, except you're not reading it. Harris Dickinson and Marissa Abella are reading it to you on Audible. Her barbs sting you. His coldness sends a shiver up your spine. Your heart aches. Your ears burn. You yearn for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to profess their undying love for one another. You can't bear it any longer. Well, maybe a chapter longer. Performance is so good, you'll give love a second chance. Audible. Stories that speak to you.
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