The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened to Ty and Bryn? (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
I chose to barricade
because I was afraid for my life.
Basically, it was an impulse decision.
Like, if we're doing it,
we needed to go now.
I run downstairs.
I go into our food source.
Granola bars, ramen noodles.
I brought in a lot of clothes, my Xbox,
my guitar.
I had an emergency ladder in that room.
I had a fire extinguisher in that room.
[Brynlee] We ran downstairs.
We grabbed boards.
[Ty] We had 2-by-6s 'cause I knew
I needed to barricade the door.
Took the plank.
[mimics nail gun]
And then we were in.
At this point,
the court is trying to force me
and my sister to live with my father.
And I just did not want
to leave my mother's house.
This is for real, guys.
This is for real.
I mean, I don't think…
I would cut a hole in this closet
just to be able to get
to the bathroom if it wasn't real.
[Zahrt] I came home,
and when I went
to take them up something,
I realized they were barricaded.
[Brynlee] I remember her coming upstairs,
knocking on the door,
trying to open it
but then realizing it was locked.
They basically told me
they weren't coming out.
[Ty] I've been going through
this court case since I was ten years old,
and I need to alert people on the record
that I'm calling out for help.
Here we go.
The court thought that
this was my last opportunity
to have a relationship with
my biological father again.
So they're putting me
through this reunification process.
This is the real reason I am terrified
for my life if they take me.
[Brynlee screaming]
[Brynlee] Going to a reunification camp
with no contact from my mom for 90 days.
Me and him both were really,
really scared.
They were just
in a complete state of panic.
[gentle music plays]
- [Brynlee] Look. [mutters]
- Holy crap, the police just arrived.
[Zahrt] They're upstairs, so…
[police officer] Are they
in the same room together, or…?
[Zahrt] Yeah.
[knocks on door]
[Ty] Hello.
[Zahrt stammers] This is Mom.
The police are here.
[police officer] Hey Ty, can you open
the door so I can talk to you?
[Ty] Can we talk like this, please?
[police officer] Nah, it's easier to talk
with the door open.
[Brynlee] Mister police?
Don't do anything to us.
We're just very scared.
[police officer] I'm not gonna do anything
to hurt you guys,
but I do have to take you to your dad.
The judge did sign that order.
So I need you guys to
open the door and come with me.
The order does let us use reasonable force
to get you guys out of the house.
[Ty] They were right there.
They were just about to take us.
And then they decided not to.
[police officer] Hey, Ty? Brynlee?
I talked to my lieutenant,
The don't want us kicking in doors,
and dragging you guys out of the house
'cause that's not really fair, okay?
- [Ty] Okay, thank you guys.
- Thank you for being nice.
[police officer] No problem.
- You guys have a good night, okay?
- [Ty] You too.
[police officer]
Hope you get stuff figured out.
[Ty] My emotional state was swinging.
How long am I gonna be in this room?
How long am I gonna last?
[Brynlee] We didn't know how long
we were gonna be in there.
It just made us feel like we were alone.
[Ty] I knew the court wasn't gonna listen.
Uh, as long as I was live-streaming,
I wouldn't be taken.
That's when I started going live
every single day.
I would get up
and then sit at my computer.
The reason why we are barricaded
in here is because
they can force us to our father's house.
I had, I think, a total of 400 people
the first day.
This will now be day two
of us just being locked in here.
Me and my sister,
us just trying to stay safe.
I chopped a hole through the bathroom.
It's too small for me.
And yeah.
So, in here we got a little, like,
cooking area right here.
And then our bathroom.
[Brynlee] Every day felt like a loop.
Today is day three of me
being locked in my bedroom.
[Brynlee] Taking pictures with my camera.
I remember there as being a routine.
I would do the dishes in our sink,
and every morning
I would make myself ramen.
Brynlee, flip the pancake.
- [Brynlee] Okay.
- I'm live again.
I just reset my live stream, guys.
Hello, guys. Welcome back.
We're live again.
It's now been day six, almost seven,
that they have not taken me, the police.
[Zahrt] Nothing I could say or do was
making them feel comfortable.
Even to come out
and just be in the living room.
I-I eat when my parents bring me food,
and they put it outside the door.
As far as food, fuck, yeah,
I sent my kids food.
I wasn't gonna let them starve.
Food was just delivered to us.
[Zahrt] I would get them Subway.
I would smash it down,
and I would shove it under the door.
[Ty] I streamed 24-7. Never stopped it.
I was up until, like, 3:00 a.m.
And about 50 people that were living in
Australia would watch me during the night.
And then the people that were in America
would wake up and watch all the time.
Hey, Cincinnati, Ohio, Kentucky.
Thank you guys for all joining.
Thank you for the 268 people in here.
2,000 people are watching right now.
Hi. I just got my first little delivery.
The only thing that could fit
under the door was stickers.
The school does know I'm not attending.
- [Brynlee] They're pretty worried.
- They are worried.
[Brynlee] The hardest thing was, for me,
hearing my mom's voice,
and I'd stick my finger through the door.
And I remember my mom would hold
my fingers and she would just rub 'em.
And that's how we would hug.
[Zahrt] I would just sit
outside their door and just talk to them,
try to get them to open their window,
try to get them to get some exercise.
Life in the barricades, it's hard.
I'll say that.
It's hard not seeing people
and not leaving.
Before that, I was never on TikTok.
That is just…
I'm way more of an introvert.
That's just not my personality.
For some reason,
they don't want me to stay with my mom.
They're trying to get my dad his rights,
'cause he never was convicted.
I saw the comments pouring in, like,
"Is this real? Is this kid for real?"
If you guys don't believe me,
I completely get it.
The court isn't even believing me.
It was a mixture of panic
but also mama bear.
And so that's when I got on TikTok.
Hey, everybody.
I've promised I would be real
with everybody, and this is real.
I am still trying to be a mom and…
be there for Ty and Bryn.
I have not left the house in four weeks.
For like, the first month,
it was so incredibly hard.
Ty and Bryn are on Twitch.
Uh, if you don't know how to find them
on Twitch, there is a video on my page.
[Ty] I streamed nonstop.
I had, like, 8,000 people
watching or something.
Thank you, guys all for this…
so many comments,
and they really help
more than you'll ever know.
[Brynlee] I don't know when it clicked
for Ty, but I remember
sitting there one day, and I was like,
"We have this set
of people that are here for us,"
because they watched every live stream,
even through the night,
just to make sure we were safe.
[Ty] I'm just one little voice,
but then once it turns
into 50,000 voices, 100,000 voices,
that's where it changes.
[Zahrt] We kind of had almost a miracle.
Our story just was one that
people were interested in.
[Dreyfus] For the last three years,
I've been focusing on stories
in family court.
And those who have been silenced by
systems that are bigger than they are.
And frequently, that is kids.
I found Ty and Brynlee's case on TikTok.
When I first met Ty,
he was desperate to speak for himself,
to tell the world in his own voice
what he was up against
and why he felt the court system
was silencing him.
We have, like, a full barricade
in front of our door, like this.
It's all boarded up.
[Dreyfus] While the story
that he was presenting
to many people might
have seemed unbelievable,
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
At that point in time, I had spent
months reporting on
how parental alienation
was being used as an argument in courts
to influence custody decisions.
Now, when a child comes forward and says,
"I've been abused,"
you have a couple of options.
You can either believe
they're telling the truth
or you can believe that there's somebody
convincing them to not tell the truth.
The hardest thing about it is just
people not believing you
and then thinking
you're just going insane.
[Ty stammers] DCFS did believe us.
- They have the footage--
- Yeah, DCFS did.
[Dreyfus] What stood out to me about Ty
and Bryn's case was that there was
a finding by Child Protective Services
that abuse was chronic and severe.
And then all of a sudden,
the focus in the courtroom
shifted from abuse to parental alienation.
[Brynlee] People are starting
to kind of accuse our mom.
But people just try
to change the blame all the time.
[Dreyfus] There was a ticking time bomb.
The judge in Provo had given police
permission to take these kids using
reasonable force from their home
and return them into their dad's care.
These kids could only resist for so long.
After Hannah Dreyfus
came in with ProPublica,
it went all across the country.
According to ProPublica, the Utah's
Division of Child and Family Services,
they found that in 2018, both siblings…
And it just got crazy, crazy, really fast.
[Jolleen] At one point, one of our sons
went in and said,
"You guys only know half of the story.
You don't know the whole story."
And they published
his address and his name.
Jessica started posting so many
TikTok videos, one after another.
And they were, in my view, horrific.
Some of the TikToks
are a little diabolical.
I'll be honest, I probably could have
toned it down a little,
but also I was going
through active trauma.
Bitches ain't shit
And they ain't sayin' nothing ♪
A hundred motherfuckers
Can't tell me nothing ♪
[Zahrt] I'm sure I made mistakes,
and for those I can apologize, um,
but I don't have regrets.
Jessica was seen as responsible for
the kids being barricaded in their room.
Good morning, everybody.
This morning we've got muffins,
pistachios, Ty's protein shake.
If you're thinking I'm Wonder Mom and got
up this tired and made muffins, I did not.
Make-ahead meals are the best thing.
[Dreyfus] She was gathering a following.
She put a TikTok shop together,
where she was selling product.
This viral TikTok shop jumper is awesome.
People threw heavy accusations
at her for allowing her kids
to publicize this court case
in the way that she did.
[Ty] T his legal bill I saw was $25,000.
My mom has never been the type of
person to beg or take help from anybody.
Please go on my links and check
the ways that you guys can support.
[Jolleen] The psychological abuse that was
going on with those children in that home
was horrible.
Like, when I'd go to bed, I'd turn on
the Twitch and see how the kids were.
It was kind of nice
to hear their voices and stuff,
but there were times
when they were fighting.
[Ty] Oh, my gosh.
No way. You did push it under there.
[Brynlee] No, I… no.
They were siblings locked in
a room in a horrible situation,
and they should not have
to go through this.
[Brynlee crying] Why is life so cruel?
We are doing a call for action.
We have a protest coming up at the
Utah State Capitol two weeks from today.
Please come help us
support Ty and Bryn's army.
[Jolleen] Jessica's followers were
streaming protests at the Capitol,
at Michelle Jones's office.
[journalist] You know what they say
about it on-on the Internet?
Mm-hmm. I used to watch it all the time,
but then I just, like… I'm tired of this.
Michelle Jones, are you watching this?
We're coming for you next, sweet cheeks.
I've had it with your shit.
I've had it with your lies.
They had rallied just kind
of crazy people that were
ready to fight and defend Ty and Brynlee.
[protestors chanting] Tell the truth!
You know, it's really
tempting to get into the battle.
You know, it's just hard enough on my son
that he didn't want to be in the fight.
He's not a fighter.
Unless you guys do something now to fix
this situation, we are coming for you.
Psychologically,
it's… it's taken its toll on him.
And that's why I'm here and he's not here.
When somebody is attacking your child,
that's when Mama Bear steps up and says,
"No, you're not going to do that."
The protest at the Fourth District
Court in American Fork happening today
in support of two children
fighting against the court-ordered
reunification with their father.
The people of Utah were upset.
Two years ago,
my dad went to jail for domestic violence.
…go back with my abusers.
[Dreyfus] What I saw happening was that
kids were taking to TikTok
to challenge an authority that many
assumed could not be challenged.
We need to let this court know
that their actions are not okay.
It was a moment of seeing
how powerful could social media be.
We at that time really thought
that the court system would work,
that they would see what was going on.
But after the social media got involved,
they cowered.
The judge and the commissioner cowered.
[protestors chanting] Fire Judge Pullan!
Fire Judge Pullan!
[Zahrt] When two kids feel strong enough
to barricade in a bedroom,
trial is what we will have to face,
and that is what we will do.
We're just getting here to court, um, terrified.
Please pray for us.
[clerk] The Honorable
Judge Pullan presiding.
[Judge Pullan] Thank you very much.
Mr. Wilkinson, you may call
your first witness.
Your Honor,
we call Brent Larson to the stand.
[Judge Pullan] If you… Mr. Larson,
if you would face the clerk,
raise your right hand,
take an oath to tell the truth.
Do state your name for the record.
My name is Brent Joel Larson.
[Wilkinson] And why are you here at court?
I'm here fighting for my kids.
And why are you here for your children?
I feel like, uh, they're in harm.
- [Wilkinson] How do you know Bryn Larson?
- Um, from seeing her in my office.
And what did Bryn disclose to you?
Um, that he had repetitively
placed his fingers
inside her vagina to apply ointment
in places inside her,
not just on the outer portion of her.
Cassandra, where do you work?
I work for the Department
of Health and Human Services.
Do you recall
which findings were supported?
I remember there was
a lewdness finding that was supported.
There was an emotional abuse
finding that was supported,
um, and I think the rest were unsupported.
There's been a lot of talk about
substantiated findings by DCFS
and I think that's often misunderstood.
When they have a forensic interview,
they're asked to tell the truth,
and that's the best that we can do.
Even with supported DCFS findings,
I needed proof of him doing it in the act.
And that almost never exists.
I'm innocent until proven guilty,
and nobody has found me guilty.
I've been innocent of everything.
Who do you know?
Brent Larson.
I was his second wife, now ex-wife.
[Jolleen]
The trial was really difficult for BJ,
and it was especially difficult
when Sandy had come in.
He was very hard on Ty.
His father would laugh at him
if he cried a lot of times and mock him.
Because he's a boy.
Did he call him sissy?
Sissy or similar names
of that nature, yes.
No, BJ was never
emotionally abusive to Ty.
You know,
wanting to make him a man or whatever,
you know, and it's like, no,
he was a good dad.
He was a good example of a dad for Ty.
[judge] Who will we be
hearing from first this morning?
[clerk] We'll hear from a child, Ty.
[Christensen] You've said that your father
abused you when you were a child?
[Ty] Yes.
Physically, mentally and sexually.
[Christensen]
And how did he physically abuse you?
[Ty] Touching me in my bed at nighttime.
[Wilkinson] Ultimately,
sometime in April of 2019,
you confronted your father
during an ACAFS visit, correct?
[Ty] Correct.
- You said some pretty harsh things.
- [Ty] Yes.
He actually told me straight up,
"I am not scared of you anymore.
My mom said I can tell you
whatever I want."
[Wilkinson] Mr. Lilly reinforced
that he was proud of you for doing that.
[Ty] He was proud that I was able
to stand up for my feelings.
The trial was brutal, and I basically
felt like I was interrogated.
[Wilkinson] In sessions,
Mr. Lilly would ask you
to try to remember memories, correct?
[Ty] Yeah.
[Wilkinson] He'd tell you there are
more memories for you to remember.
[Ty] He never told me that there was
more memories to remember.
[Wilkinson] Okay.
[Ty]
It's just that I would always tell him,
I feel like there's something
that I'm not remembering.
And he would try to help me by, like,
by drawing, by listening to music,
by just trying to work that side
of the brain to try and get them out.
[Wilkinson] Tell me what positive memories
you have of your father.
[Ty] Not many.
[Wilkinson] Well then, it should be easy
for you to remember the few.
[Ty] This trial's for sure a game.
It's a game being played
with my life on the line.
[Wilkinson] What consequences
did you give Ty
for refusing to participate
in the therapeutic parenting?
I didn't give Ty consequences
at that time.
[Zahrt] Can I ever fully say
I did not drive
a wedge between the kids
and Brent by reporting abuse?
But that was never my intention.
You want this case to trend, correct?
To get awareness, sure.
[Wilkinson] You've made negative comments
about Brent in the TikTok, correct?
I don't think they're negative.
- Because they're true?
- I… Truthful.
So something, if it's truthful,
it can't be negative, in your mind.
Sometimes the truth is unflattering,
Mr. Wilkinson.
[Judge Pullan] Is that a yes?
I don't know what he's talking about,
so I can't--
[Judge Pullan] Ask the question again.
[Wilkinson] Are your parents also
paying your attorney's fees?
Yes.
In fact, if it wasn't for my parents,
we wouldn't be here.
In terms of meeting his financial needs,
do you know how he is meeting those?
We have been helping him with that.
He struggles. He struggles really a lot.
As far as him working
and being able to function out,
you know, where we live,
it was not a possibility.
[Wilkinson] And are you willing
to continue to provide financially
for the children
if they're in his custody?
Yes, we are.
[Wilkinson] Mr. Larson,
I know it's been a difficult process
over the course of the last five years.
Is there a reason
you haven't just walked away?
There have been many times
I've thought that, to be honest with you.
But the real reason is these kids cannot…
they cannot grow up thinking
that their father abused them
in all these horrific ways,
and they're all untrue.
- [phone ringing]
- [Dreyfus] Jessica?
[Zahrt] Hey, how are you?
[Dreyfus] So, I'm sitting in front
of the 124-page order,
and it's granting you full custody,
but Brent is still given visitation.
Yeah.
[Dreyfus] The judge has come
to the conclusion
that there wasn't enough evidence
that Brent sexually abused Ty and Bryn,
and you interfered
with the reunification therapy
and encouraged the barricade.
I didn't even know the barricade was
going to happen in the first place.
[Dreyfus] Yeah.
[Zahrt] Today is rough.
It's heavy.
It feels like a punch in the gut.
I do think it is worth noting to the kids
that it's better than it could have been.
[sniffles] Yeah.
[dramatic music plays]
[Zahrt] Hello.
- [Jagger] Hi, Mama.
- [Zahrt] Hi.
[Zahrt] I think Brynlee is going
to take it the hardest.
[Brynlee] Yay, packages!
- Did you have fun?
- Yep, I had fun seeing Grandpa.
I know.
[Zahrt] With Ty,
I feel like it's going to be a huge blow,
so I'm not sure how they're
going to respond or take it.
Sometimes I think the universe
hits you with something
because it has to,
because it makes a bigger impact.
I just have to hold on to faith for that.
I have to.
[Ty] When are you going to tell me?
[Ty crying]
[sniffles]
Your dad did not get custody.
I still have custody.
- Okay.
- Okay?
- Okay. [sniffles]
- [Ty] But?
Supervised visitation
starts this Thursday.
[Ty] Nope.
No. [sniffles]
- Let me continue.
- No.
- No, I know, but let me just--
- No, you are not.
- Just listen to Mother right now, okay?
- No, I can't.
[Ty] Brynlee, just be quiet.
Can I just, I just have to--
I have to at least tell you--
[Brynlee] No.
- [Zahrt] Hey, hey, hey.
- Leave me alone.
Hey, I know, but you can't run away.
- I have… I know, listen.
- I need to go outside for a second.
- [Aaron] Just a second.
- I know. Listen…
- No. No, I'm leaving right now.
- I know, okay? I haven't read…
[Zahrt] Brynlee, you can't run away.
You can go up to your room
and have as much space as you need, okay?
[Brynlee crying]
[Ty] We should have ran away
at the very beginning.
This isn't something we can
just run away from, though.
You can.
[Zahrt] Today is when they are supposed
to have their first supervised visit
since the barricade with their dad.
Ty has been very sick this week
with anxiety and shaking and nausea.
Right now Ty, is giving indications
that he's not going to go.
Bryn is on the fence.
I'm proud of you for being willing to go.
I don't really want to go.
- I'm still so proud of you.
- [sighs]
I'm doing it for Ty.
Oh.
Let me go check. I thought
I heard a car door. Let me see.
Okay, it looks like he's gonna come here.
[Zahrt] Are you okay to get in
with your grandma and grandpa?
[Zahrt] Hi. Hi, how are you?
[police officer]
Hey Bryn, do you remember me?
So, we're just trying to figure out
what's going on.
My brother's not coming. [sniffles]
Okay. Where
Is he home?
- [Zahrt] Yeah, he's home.
- Okay.
He's also feeling sick. Lately
[Zahrt]
He locked himself in the bathroom, so
[Zahrt] You would think
trial would've improved
the whole situation for everybody,
and it just didn't.
For several months,
Bryn decided to cooperate with visitation.
And, you know,
some visits I think were okay.
It was just up and down, roller-coaster.
One visit would be really good,
and if it was really good,
then the next visit was not.
[Brent] Do you want to walk up there
with me, Mom?
[Jolleen] No, just stay here.
[Jolleen]
But if you cannot remove the child
from the source
that is causing the problems,
you know,
it turns out the same every time.
- Hello.
- [Brent] Hi there.
So supposedly, she's saying
she's not coming.
[Brent] Okay.
[Jolleen] I don't know what the answer is,
and how you get these children away
from these toxic parents.
I don't know.
All I wanna do is just get out of this
and become a freaking adult
and do my own thing.
So I just turned 17 two months ago now.
Um, which my emancipation hearing
was on my birthday.
Ty filed for emancipation,
which means he's trying to
essentially divorce his dad and I
and be on his own.
I'm currently in the process
of moving out.
He just packed up
and announced he was leaving.
I'm moving out of my house to save myself
and to prove to the court
that I can live on my own.
I begged him, like, ugly-cry sobbing.
But I knew there was nothing
I could do to keep him here.
Ty and I were, like, really best buddies,
and then he left.
I started crying. I was so sad.
Yeah, it's been really tough.
[Dreyfus] What I saw in Utah
was two battles being fought.
One was the personal battle
of Ty and Brynlee.
On the other hand, I saw
the battle of larger systemic change.
[prosecutor] Our sincere intent is
to recognize and prevent harm to children.
The courts have been used as a weapon.
Children have been leveraged
and manipulated by parents on both sides.
I'm representing myself
and my little brother.
This program required my sisters
to be forced under great duress.
They ordered my children
immediately turned over
to their abuser
for an indefinite reunification.
- Go ahead.
- Um, my name is Ty Larson.
Uh, I actually have been
a victim of this court system.
I am currently still battling
the court system today.
Children are not responsible for this.
No, the children love their dad.
They've been taught not to love their dad.
They're victims of it
just like BJ is a victim of it.
And so many other people
all around the world are victims of it.
My name is Jolleen Larson.
Um, It's horrible, the stories that
have been told here
about true child abuse.
We've been living this battle
in the family court system.
My son was falsely accused
of sexually abusing his children in 2018.
I wanna speak for
the falsely accused parents.
[victim] I saw, um, my ex-wife
uh, increasingly pitting
the children against me.
[Zahrt] What I really think
is happening is
you're having this situation where people
are in the most vulnerable position
they could ever be in in their life.
You're breaking up a family.
We were told early on
that family law is a joke.
They don't try to solve problems.
They wait for you to either run
out of money or age the children out.
Sometimes,
winning means getting custody of the kids.
Sometimes, winning means just
keeping your ex in court
until they are so down and out
that they can't defend themselves anymore,
let alone pay the rent.
We still owe over $300,000 in legal bills.
I will be paying on that for…
probably the rest of my life.
We still have legal bills, but we stayed
in the fight because we love the children.
But there's no easy out.
Having children, getting married,
having a job, buying a house,
it's We do it all so,
"I'm gonna give my kids this."
And you take away the kids,
and then you have to, like,
"What's my life worth?"
"The best interest of kids"
is what you hear over and over again.
"Fighting for the kids."
But the thing that can
frequently get overlooked
are the kids.
[Ty] So, the same day I moved out,
I filed emancipation papers.
I graduated early.
I got a job at a fast-food restaurant.
I could have supported myself
with rent for, like, six months.
But I felt really lonely, honestly.
It was the loneliest
I've ever been in my life.
I… I started coming back home,
and I just never left.
And this is where I stay.
It's, uh, almost like
a three-section old room.
My guitars here, my main guitars I play
on a consistent basis, on this side.
[Jolleen] He's a good student.
He's a smart kid.
Uh, but he wasn't ready to live on his own
and be emancipated,
so the judge ruled against it.
But Ty never came to another visit.
I'm still working through stuff.
My therapist is amazing.
Uh, he's-he's awesome.
He actually knew my old therapist,
JP Lilly.
I have a shelf pretty much dedicated to
JP Lilly with all the stuff he's given me.
He's the person
that sparked confidence in me.
[sighs]
Knowing you had somebody right there
[sniffles] He showed me the strength
that I knew I never had.
[Ty] A lot of the other stuff
I went through last year,
like all the feelings, the emotions,
the breakdowns, the panic attacks,
even the trauma, the trauma itself,
the key where we disclosed,
I can recall two events, and that's it.
My brain has fogged that out.
But I'm doing so much better.
My psychologist now,
he has a different mindset of,
"All right,
let's start picking up these pieces
and let's start realizing
you're not as broken as you think."
[Dreyfus] There are a lot of kids
who will spend
many years into their adulthood
trying to make sense
of what their parents put them through
and what the court system
put them through.
But in the case of Ty and Bryn,
it wasn't an ending that
the family could have predicted.
It wasn't an ending I predicted.
[Jolleen] You ready to do this, BJ?
[Zahrt] We ended up filing
another petition for custody.
And when we went to mediation,
Brent voluntarily relinquished
his parental rights to Ty and Brynlee.
When we went to mediation, I was there,
my husband was there,
and BJ said, "I fought a good fight.
It's-It's done."
It came from completely out of left field.
I never saw it coming.
You know, we love the kids.
We want the kids to be
a part of our lives,
but this is torture for them,
along with us.
I have seen people get driven
into the ground, and they're just like,
"I can't stand to watch my child
be ripped apart anymore,"
and for their sake.
So, it's really Solomon's baby.
It's like, don't cut them in half,
and I'll give them up.
BJ signing away his children
was because he loved them.
[sniffles]
It kind of reminds me
of the script from Solomon. [chuckles]
Where you can cut the child in half,
you know,
and we were splitting the kids in half.
We're trying to get them, and it's like,
no, at some point you love your child,
you let them go.
At least they live. [chuckles] You know?
I can't imagine that
that was easy for him.
[gentle music plays]
I hold gratitude
and love in my heart for that.
So Aaron wrote some letters to Ty
and Brynlee, and we're going to put
together their little boxes before
we go over and decorate at the park.
"Dear Ty, sitting here writing this
letter to you, I am full of emotions.
I am truly blessed…
to have been able to have been
in your life these last 13 years.
I would love nothing more
in this life than to have… [sniffles]
…you as my son and to be your father.
I would like to adopt you.
I hope you are as excited as I am
and your mother is about this.
I'm so grateful that Aaron is there
to support Brynlee and Ty.
You know, he's been a stable figure
for them and has been a father to them.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey, Mom.
Can we go for a quick walk?
Will you come with me?
[Aaron] "Dear Brynlee, your heart is
so big, it is so natural to you
to want to help out
and lift those that are down.
You have grown into such an amazing
and beautiful young woman.
I love you with all of my heart
and look forward to the future
we have as a family."
Do you remember when
Brynlee was in preschool,
what she wanted to be when she grew up?
- Caterpillar.
- She did wanna be a caterpillar.
I was great.
Could've been great, you know.
- [Ty] What do caterpillars do?
- [Brynlee] They just sit there.
- Exactly, there's no--
- They turn into butterflies.
[Zahrt] Can you say you're a butterfly?
I'm a bluff-ly.
[Zahrt] A butterfly?
- Hi!
- Hello, hello.
[Brynlee] There's balloons
with happy faces on them.
[Aaron] Fancy seeing you guys here.
Oh, I hope Ty and Brynlee are happy.
[Aaron] Wanna open up that?
- [Ty] I got a letter.
- [Brynlee] So did I.
[Jolleen] I hope sometime in the future
that they would see this
and understand our love for them.
Whether we're a part of their lives
in the future or not,
we just hope that they heal
and they live a good, happy life.
[gentle music plays]
[Jolleen] Are you ready to do this, BJ?
[Brent] Yes.
Hi. My name is BJ Larson.
I believe I speak for most fathers
when I say we would go to any length
to protect our children.
- [Brent] Say hi.
- Hi.
I fought with all my heart.
And with the thought of not
being able to give my kids
the childhood they deserve
is often more than I can bear.
Ya!
[Brent] I never could have imagined
that signing a piece of paper
would be the hardest thing
I would ever do.
[Ty] Wanna see me standing, Grandma?
But I did it for them.
In and out, huh?
[shrieks]
[Brent] I could no longer watch
my children endure more pain
for something they did not
and could not control.
[kisses]
If they ever hear these words, I need them
to know that I never stopped fighting,
I never stopped loving,
and I never once stopped believing
that they deserve more than what
this broken system put us through.
Not a single day passes
that I do not think of my children
and what should have been.
My greatest hope is that one day
we will have the opportunity
to reconnect and continue writing
new chapters in our family's story.
I love you, Ty and Bryn.
[music fades]
[uplifting music plays]
Yum. [chuckles]
Its mouth just fell off.
He's very cute.
- Skittle Littles?
- [Zahrt chuckles]
[Brynlee] There's only two left.
- Love you too.
- Yeah.
[Zahrt] Have fun. Bye!
[music fades]