An Arizona woman lied about becoming pregnant with “The Bachelor” Season 26 star Clayton Echard, using a fake ultrasound image and “fabricated a pregnancy video” to make that bogus claim, authorities said Tuesday.
Laura Michelle Owens, a 34-year-old Scottsdale resident, faces a seven-count indictment stemming from her allegedly false testimony that she was pregnant by Echard, prosecutors said.
Between May 2023 and June 2024, “Owens altered an ultrasound image, fabricated a pregnancy video, and lied multiple times under oath,” according to statement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Owens “originally filed a lawsuit seeking child support from Echard, then dropped her claim, alleging she’d had a miscarriage,” prosecutors said.
Owens, the daughter of famed radio personality Ronn Owens, could not be immediately reached for comment by NBC News on Wednesday.
Echard, the star of “The Bachelor’s” Season 26, could not contain his glee in a video statement he posted on Tuesday.
“This nightmare is over,” he said. “I am so ready to not have to think about this anymore. I want to say thank you to (Maricopa County Attorney) Rachel Mitchell and the investigators for serving up justice. I want to thank my lawyers. They’ve been incredible standing by my side.”
Echard’s “Bachelor” season aired on ABC in 2022 and ended with the former University of Missouri football player dramatically shifting gears.
He picked nurse Gabby Windey and flight instructor Rachel Recchia for the final, but changed his mind to pursue the departed Susie Evans.
Echard and Evans were romantically linked until breaking up in fall 2022.
Echard said the legal fight with Owens lasted two painful years.
“This is just such a weight lifted off,” he said Tuesday. “We are so, so thankful, and thank you all for your support. I have not been this happy. This is a weight of two years lifted off my shoulders.”
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