This was posted on Courtney Smith's Facebook.
"I feel the need to speak up about this latest issue with Zach and his accusations against a friend of mine. First off, please don’t believe anything he puts out there. He is completely untrustworthy and unstable and I should know since I’ve dealt with him for so long. His attacks against Tom and Michelle Herman aren’t really about Tom, but about Michelle and her friendship with me. He can’t attack her directly, so he has to use her family to try to hurt her.
To begin with, we became close after she left Ohio State and I felt more comfortable confiding in her because Tom was no longer Zach’s superior. At that point in 2015, I confided in her about the physical abuse, among other things that were going on. Because it was the right thing to do, she then passed that information onto Shelley Meyer. They cut off all contact with Zach and once Zach learned of her role in exposing things to Shelley, he became enraged with her. The threats against them began then and because he wanted to isolate me from anyone who could help, any contact with her fueled his rage even more. Michelle never backed down to him and was a constant source of support while I tried to piece my life back together. So much so, that she loaned me money over a year ago to stay in nursing school when I was drowning in legal debt from the divorce.
It is beyond unfair for them to face attacks for simply trying to ensure my safety and the safety of the people that were still on staff at OSU. Neither Michelle or Tom ever spoke to Brett McMurphy about anything that had to do with Zach. That lie was just another one of Zach’s delusions and an attempt by him to damage their reputation. I am the only person that has ever spoken to Brett. For the most part, they have simply remained supportive of my attempts to rebuild my life.
I feel terrible that Michelle has now become his target, but unfortunately that is usually the case for anyone who tries to intervene in domestic abuse situations. However, Michelle is one of the strongest people I know and I know she will carry on as always by caring for and supporting her family and being a great friend."
"I feel the need to speak up about this latest issue with Zach and his accusations against a friend of mine. First off, please don’t believe anything he puts out there. He is completely untrustworthy and unstable and I should know since I’ve dealt with him for so long. His attacks against Tom and Michelle Herman aren’t really about Tom, but about Michelle and her friendship with me. He can’t attack her directly, so he has to use her family to try to hurt her.
To begin with, we became close after she left Ohio State and I felt more comfortable confiding in her because Tom was no longer Zach’s superior. At that point in 2015, I confided in her about the physical abuse, among other things that were going on. Because it was the right thing to do, she then passed that information onto Shelley Meyer. They cut off all contact with Zach and once Zach learned of her role in exposing things to Shelley, he became enraged with her. The threats against them began then and because he wanted to isolate me from anyone who could help, any contact with her fueled his rage even more. Michelle never backed down to him and was a constant source of support while I tried to piece my life back together. So much so, that she loaned me money over a year ago to stay in nursing school when I was drowning in legal debt from the divorce.
It is beyond unfair for them to face attacks for simply trying to ensure my safety and the safety of the people that were still on staff at OSU. Neither Michelle or Tom ever spoke to Brett McMurphy about anything that had to do with Zach. That lie was just another one of Zach’s delusions and an attempt by him to damage their reputation. I am the only person that has ever spoken to Brett. For the most part, they have simply remained supportive of my attempts to rebuild my life.
I feel terrible that Michelle has now become his target, but unfortunately that is usually the case for anyone who tries to intervene in domestic abuse situations. However, Michelle is one of the strongest people I know and I know she will carry on as always by caring for and supporting her family and being a great friend."
