- Single mum Stacey went on several dates to find the perfect partner who would support her family, when she came across charming medical student, Justin
- The pair married in 2018 and welcomed two children, but for years he was hiding a sinister secret
- It wasn’t until detectives discovered a camera in Stacey’s home that she found out her husband was a monster
As Stacey Rutherford watched her husband Justin splashing in the pool with their kids, she smiled.
She had a lovely house, four beautiful children and was married to a doctor. She was living the dream.
But Stacey’s life hadn’t always gone to plan.
She’d been blindsided when her first marriage fell apart in 2007.
Becoming a single mum with two kids, she never imagined having to start her life over. But eventually, she felt ready to open her heart again.
Wanting to keep her children safe from harm, she carefully scrutinised every man she dated.
None of them were good enough.
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Then in 2015, aged 30, she met charming medical student Justin Rutherford through a mutual friend. He was dedicated to helping others and great with her kids, so Stacey fell hard.
She helped support him through medical school and, after moving in together, the pair went on to welcome two children of their own.
In 2018, they tied the knot in an intimate ceremony, surrounded by their immediate family.
Purchasing a beautiful five-bedroom home – with a pool, movie theatre and tons of video games – it was every kid’s dream. And Stacey was only too happy to have her children’s friends over. She loved playing hostess.
But when Stacey arrived home from work one day in August 2021, she was horrified to find detectives raiding her house.
They explained that one of her children’s friends had noticed a faint blue light on what looked like a black phone charger plugged into a socket in the bathroom. Concerned it may be a concealed camera, the boy had told his mother, who advised him to bring the device home and they informed the authorities.
Shockingly, the camera data card contained 2822 videos and 1400 photos dating back to 2018 of people showering, and going to the bathroom or changing clothes. Stacey reeled wondering who would do such a thing.
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But when she was shown a photo of a hand, which police believed belonged to the person who’d set up the camera, Stacey shuddered.
She recognised the wedding ring immediately, as she’d been the one to place the band on her husband’s finger just three years prior.
Justin had built a career around caring for people. Had he really been living a double life all along?
But that wasn’t all.
Police explained that a child alleged that Justin had sexually assaulted him during a sleepover.
Stacey could scarcely believe that the man she’d loved, trusted and had children with would betray her and her family in such a twisted wicked way.
It turned out she’d been married to a master manipulator – a monster who preyed on children.
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Heartbreakingly, her son Tyler, then 16, divulged he’d been abused too, starting when he was 11 years old.
It felt like the end of Stacey’s world.
As police gathered evidence against Justin, he fled the country. But he didn’t stay hidden for long.
Two months later, when Justin returned to Dulles International Airport, in Virginia, US, police were waiting to arrest him.
Justin Rutherford faced multiple charges, including rape, sexual assault and invasion of privacy, among others.
Awaiting trial, he knew his life had imploded.
Desperate to escape his fate, the disgraced doctor wrote to a close friend, shockingly attempting to orchestrate Tyler’s murder.
He included a floor plan of the house, Tyler’s schedule, and the make of his car, suggesting Monday evening would be the best time for the hit, as the teen would be home alone.
Thankfully, the letters were intercepted before anything could materialise.
But it did little to help Justin’s case.
Finally, in May 2023, Justin Rutherford, then 36, appeared in the Berks County Courthouse.
He pleaded guilty to rape of a child, rape of an unconscious person, sexual abuse of children and invasion of privacy.
Reading aloud her victim impact statement, Stacey said, ‘Our home was supposed to be a place where our children felt safe from monsters like you. You are pure evil.’
She went on. ‘You chose to give my child a life sentence when you put your hands on him. Why do you deserve anything less than spending the rest of your miserable life in jail?’
Next, Tyler bravely took the stand. He hadn’t prepared anything, but felt compelled to face his abuser. ‘You had me at my lowest. I was a little boy,’ he said. ‘Then you could manipulate me. Now I’m a grown man. I’m just as big as you, and I’m not scared.’
Judge Eleni Dimitriou Geishauser sentenced Rutherford to at least 26 years and 10 months, with a maximum of 70 years, in prison. He must also serve 12 years of special probation on release.
For the attempted murder-for-hire plot, he received a sentence of five to 10 years, to be served concurrently.
In 2025, Stacey and Tyler bravely shared their story on the true-crime docuseries, Betrayal: Under His Eye.
‘There’s a lot of shame and guilt,’ Stacey told Fox News, explaining she never saw any red flags in Justin’s behaviour.
‘You always think, as a mum, if you know your kids so well, and you’re so close to them, how did you not see that something was broken?’ adding that her guilt never goes away.
She also cautioned others to be mindful of who they let into their homes, and the importance of having tough conversations with loved ones.
‘It’s not only creepy weirdos who molest kids. This stuff goes on inside good homes.
‘It can happen anywhere. It can happen inside your home. I never thought something like this would happen to me,’ the brave mum warned.
Tyler, now 20, hopes his story will encourage other victims to come forward.
‘He built that connection with me, made me trust him and made me love him. And I did. It was hard to learn that all of that was years and years of manipulation.
