Love, Janessa

204

Kaitlyn Braun, a pregnant young woman in crisis, takes dozens of birth workers through an escalating series of disasters – rape, baby loss, and even a coma. One by one, the doulas struggle to support her and grieve with her, and even save her life as they’re led down a distressing path. And then the truth comes out.

In this six-part true crime series, Sarah Treleaven untangles a complex web of lies and deception to ask who Kaitlyn really is and why she did the things that she did. Cases like these puzzle legal experts and raise intricate moral and ethical questions. This is not your average con. Kaitlyn is not your usual scammer.

Kaitlyn's Baby is Season 2 of The Con — a podcast exposing the art of deception — from CBC and the BBC World Service. Season 1 - the critically acclaimed catfishing quest, Love, Janessa, launched in January 2023.

Content warning: The latest season of The Con contains references to medical emergencies, including baby loss. We also deal with sexual assault and there is some strong language.

Recent Episodes

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Recent Reviews

madpoli

Bit disappointing

Only listened to season one. Great pacing. Nice narrative style. But the ending was no ending at all, rather anticlimactic
fjouxetvllub

Not worth it

This podcast is a scam. The episodes are only 10-15 minutes if you factor in the ads. Listen to the story somewhere else and save yourself the frustration.
patawren

Vet much?! NOT!

What ever happened to due diligence? Who diagnosed still birth? I started laughing listening whilst on my park podwalk. However the audio etc is well done.
Fooemery

Super interesting

I’m not sure why this podcast gets some bad reviews – I almost wonder if Kaitlyn is behind them? Because I find this podcast gripping. It’s super interesting and very well produced.
idsissylala

Too woke right from the start

Within the first few minutes I noticed the narrator speaking about Douglas taking care of ‘pregnant people.’ Then in another sentence she talks about the ‘pregnant woman.’ Only woman can get pregnant, and she knows that .
aaaaaaa28ok

Another podcast did it better…

Something Was Wrong podcast covered this story a long time ago and I’m pretty sure they broke the story. Go listen to that season instead.
Iwanttobelieve👽

Gripping, factual

Thorough reporting- questions asked and answered, good audio quality, absolutely gripping content.
eddieG9999

Episodes too short, not enough investigation

Episodes annoyingly short and not enough investigation into why the doulas didn’t sanity check or check with other doulas when “pink” flags were waving - let alone red ones. Were the doulas getting paid for their visits? For 9+ days on the phone? Aren’t there best practices for the profession? And what about privacy laws for medical patients? Don’t doulas consult or work together with medical professionals? So many unanswered questions.
parsleyaddams

Unique.

I’m an experienced doula who has helped train other doulas so I listened with interest. I can see how new doulas could be so taken in. I can see how experienced doulas might be taken in at the outset. Eventually I would think their experience with ppl and their profession would kick in. But I do wonder at the doulas who spent 9 days intensively supporting her. That is an inordinate amount of time for any client going through childbirth.
khcrjgu.

Sad

This podcast tries its best to be compelling. Yet I couldn’t shake the sickening feeling of disgust over the effort put into painting this person as a cut and dry criminal and to relish her demise. She is clearly severely mentally ill. I wish society could realize we need to be treating people rather than incarcerating them. It’s not entertainment it’s just sad.
Let me post1

Episodes are too short

Story is interesting but the episodes are way too short at times.. some are only about 17 mins, plus a ton of ads. I kinda forgot about this show for a couple weeks bc it just wasn’t enough to feel hooked
helen jeong

This draaaaags

The show stretches each, minuscule event into an entire episode without much development or resolution.
MissMeeLei

"Pregnant People"

Stopped listening at pregnant "people". Give me a break. Stop devaluing the experiences of women by making their title and experiences as pregnant women and mothers worthless with vague pandering nonsense.
Reporter in New York

Binge-worthy, must listen

I’m an investigative reporter/producer and this podcast was excellently executed. I binged the entire thing and have never heard a con quite like this. Truly original and takes your breath away. Bravo to the entire team - fantastic work.
Warchild09

Yawnnn

Short episodes, some where nothing happens, and full of annoying, loud ads. Interesting story that could have been better researched. I feel bad for the victims who collaborated to make this terrible podcast
Mrsanderson08

Not very investigative

We get it, Kaitlyn knew what she was doing was wrong. But why were so many doulas so completely railroaded? What other industry trains people to have no boundaries, no sense of their own humanity and its limitations? How are you not asking those questions?
Marcia X3

Wildest Podcast Ever

Listening to this podcast was an emotional journey filled with unexpected twists and turns. I found myself completely immersed, needing to listen to every episode back to back. It left me with a complex mix of emotions. The abusive behavior exhibited by Kaitlyn's narcissistic and histrionic personality is unparalleled. WILD. The entire podcast was wild.
Neko21asu

Mind blowing story

That first episode hooks you in and there is no turning back.
PeteyLuna

You lost me at pregnant people

You lost me at pregnant people. Dishonest from the start
disapointed murderino

I want to like it

Both the story and storytelling are compelling, wonderfully researched and produced. BUT…. Each episode is so short and sometimes, nothing really happens. I can’t help but wonder if the episodes have been shortened to get a longer season/more advertising in there. What could have been a 3-4 part series, is not an entire season of episodes barely 20 minutes. Not sure it’s been worth it.
Route66cali

Great

Loved it and to show you how screwed up the scam artists are I post on Instagram and the threads about this show and all the red flags and people still hit me up
Justgivememycoffee

Episode length

Waited a week for a 17 minute episode? They’re getting shorter and shorter. Starting to lose interest. Something Was Wrong covered this story in MUCH greater length and detail. Disappointed as the season goes on
0929b

Ok Season

I’m usually a big fan of CBC + BBC podcasts. This season is not it. The whole story does not feel well researched, and feels surface level with too short of episodes
Alba Varden

It’s ok

Really dragging this out episodically. Could’ve been told in 3-4 eps.
sastrauss

12 mins

each WEEKLY episode is 12 mins long? why?
HausdeGus

Season One - A bit too Close to Home

The Janessa story hit harder than I was prepared for. I was almost a romance scam victim a few years ago. I was to the point that I almost sent “him” stuff when the messages started going off. I started doing some research and found the FB account of the person in the photos…a service member. I immediately reported the account to the app admins and posted on a scam victim website. It was hard because you DO get caught up in this parasocial relationship with the person on the other side of the screen. It broke me for a while, but it also made me more cognizant of other scams and schemes. Thank you for reporting on this crazy, emotionally charged topic.
KathieJo1946

Simple…

Not one person checked the babies pulse! Kathie RN for 44 years…
catgouge

boring

yawn
Gisellee C

offensive

this is offensive and not good
MsDantie

Season 1, love Janessa

Expertly and gracefully framed and narrated. Hannah is a deft interviewer who knows how to get folks to speak honestly and clearly! She navigates a lot of difficult and tricky territory so well and with so much important detail. This was a great binge, and it was wonderful to hear the real Janessa/Vanessa speaking for herself in the last few eps!
Trae Young Man

Host is weird

The host comes across as self-serving. In every episode there is a moment where she says something smug or off putting. In the last episode her tone was that of someone almost relishing how unsettling the scam was. This was editing, too. She cuts off a victim to say “that lasted about two days” almost like she meant that to be comedic. Fun story. Decent reporting with the victim interviews. Obviously, script and story could have been handled beautifully in an hour episode or two but the podcast is the host’s hustle so she has to stretch out the release schedule to try to get money. Also, this took her a year and a half to produce? You really can’t tell based on the product. It’s decent. But definitely does not feel like a year and a half of reporting, writing, and editing. If it was, then the writer is awfully slow and mediocre.
Podcast Listener 333

Unethical Reporting

I think it’s cruel to exploit someone with an obvious mental illness.
Tornado mouth

I don’t know

I do not know this I shouldn’t be not this. My mom would kill me cause I’m just a kid like she would kill me. She does not want me watching these and I just watch one and I already hate it.
blade run

For real?

Really ? As a Nurse I’m shocked that it took so long for Dula to figure it out!!!
Engman19

Kaitlyns baby

A story about a dula that finally gets to play victim at the expense of her mentally ill patient. This story is pointless and mind numbing. Maybe they will do a follow up with a podcast about the one other time that she got to play the victim when the painters didnt finishing the job after getting paid in full. Literally one of the least interesting or important stories ever told.
homebirther

Erasing women

Immediately the host erases birthing women by saying doulas serve “pregnant people” but then goes on to say they’re not there for the baby, their focus is the “WOMAN.” You don’t say! Don’t erase women in a podcast about PREGNANCY. Love, an offended, homebirthing WOMAN.
reviewer48620

What?

Very well produced, but I really don’t understand how this could possibly happen to this extent. Why was this doula on the phone for days at a time? Why would she not send someone to the hospital? Why was she not calling the hospital directly? I understand empathy and the delirium of lack of sleep, but I don’t know how a doula could be fooled by this, to this extent. Not sure if it’s responsible to platform this.
Midwestgal1174

I don’t get it….

I don’t understand how people are duped like this. You’re doing all of this over the phone??? You’ve never met this woman and believe everything she’s saying? This is self inflicted trauma for being stupid, good grief!
ShoppyLady

THE COVERAGE OF THIS STORY WE ALL WANTED

Oh my gawd. There was another podcast about this woman and it was painful to listen to but such an intriguing story that I begrudgingly listened to. Thank you for the comprehensive details and telling of this, for the clean audio product, and for the neutral and gentle interviews of her victims.
Courtneypaige1

Pay wall problems

Was loving the pod until I realized the rest of the episodes were behind a PAY WALL. Ridiculous Editing my rating because I jumped the gun and didn’t realize the episodes come out weekly but you can pay to listen early.
K73Marr

Ok

Good podcast but I can't believe I have to pay or wait months to listen to the entire thing when the episodes are only 15-30 min ... not worth it
MorganSchrad

Taking Credit

As another commenter mentioned this story was originally presented by Tiffany Reese on “Something Was Wrong” (for free might I add). I feel as though that should have been credited to some degree. Tiffany Reese also places heavy emphasis on uplifting survivors and presents these stories to educate people. I would suggest checking out her series.
Syd98765

Terrifying, psychologically gross story. Really well reported & told.

This story literally made me feel sick at points listening to it, and I would say I’m pretty numb to true crime stuff. Something about these crimes is just so viscerally WRONG. Probably has something to do with the gender dynamics of it all, but we don’t have time to get into that here. Narration & interviews were very well done. Effective storytelling that’s easy to follow. I didn’t feel like there was any fluff—which is really saying something for a true crime podcast. I’m still thinking about it 24 hrs later.
CMG212

Come On

The biggest take home here is that doula education needs to be standardized. The extent to which they these individuals think extremely fake or obviously unrealistic events are “normal” is truly alarming. Particularly the first “phone based” doula…in no universe would those events occur while a patient is just casually talking away on their earbuds. Scared for the actually pregnant people who trust them….
Pumpkin Ravioli

Yeah doulas are definitely not medical professionals

A midwife would have known this was sketchy immediately
Kaitlynnwaslying

Waiting for the next episode!

A truly horrific and traumatic story if it were true, but even worse because it’s been made up. Every episode pulls you in more and more with unexpected turns and lies
Dreamkar

Very Well Done

Well produced, interesting content. I could listen to the narrator speak all day. Her tone and delivery are perfection.
Raveka

Really, how did this even happen…

Doulas provide a valuable service but their willingness to believe this ludicrous story as long as they did suggests the limitations of their knowledge base.
RachMB67

“Love, Janessa” - Such a Well-Rounded Story with a Wonderful Ending.

Outstanding story telling and intriguing insight to a horrible con. Just finished the last episode and absolutely adore Vanessa. She is so straightforward but understanding, seems like someone I would be friends with and just seemed so kind and has a such a positive and warm disposition as heard through this last episode especially. (Couldn’t figure out how to write a review for the previous season, my apologies)
Coco DeLuca

READ THIS

You Guys need to know the truth sorry not sorry but YALL SUCK🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣