IT’S not often that two ex-wives come together to take down their mutual former husband – but Athena Klingerman and Amber Rasmussen believed it was a matter of time before he hurt someone.
And they weren’t wrong – as Brandon Johnson is now facing a 10-year prison sentence for a shocking rape plot against another ex.
Athena was Brandon’s first wife[/caption]
While Amber became his second wife – but the pair began to work together to expose him[/caption]
He is the subject of the podcast Ex-wives Undercover – where Athena and Amber grew a following of thousands as they put together evidence of their mutual ex-husband’s affairs, scams and abuse.
Athena was in a relationship with Brandon between 2007 and 2012, and has a daughter with him, while Amber dated him from 2013 until 2019.
The women were introduced when Amber took on the role of step-mum to Athena’s daughter.
They recall how Brandon would often try to pit them against each other.
But once Amber left her cheating ex they decided to work together to unearth his sick lies, and expose how cheating was by no means his worst crime…
Second time lucky?
Amber went viral for a social media video, labelled “who the f**k did I marry?”
In it, she said: “Isn’t it amazing the things we find out about our husbands once we file divorce?”
Amber claimed Brandon often went away on work trips, something she rarely questioned until after the marriage broke down.
But she says she later discovered Brandon’s Bumble dating profile, which he was using secretly while they were together.
Bizarrely it featured an image of him with his wife, where he had scribbled Amber’s face out.
She also alleged he used a fake name, going by Bradley, a name that was close to Amber’s heart.
“That’s actually my dead nephew’s name,” she explained.
Soon after they divorced, Amber alleges that a woman who was dating Brandon during their marriage reached out to Athena.
“[The woman] had some questions, things weren’t adding up.
“Apparently my husband was going by a fake name, he told her he was a multi-millionaire who had homes all over the world, that he was actually looking for property in Norway and was gonna move there… and he has never been married, nor had any children,” she claims.
Amber claims he also told his new lover he was a psychologist which was “100% all lies,” and had taken her away for a week long getaway on the same dates Amber believed she was on a business trip.
“Three days into the trip, he ghosts her,” Amber alleged.
“He finally text messages her a couple of days later and said it’s his mum and that he was in a car accident … and was in a coma.”
“The truth was that he flew back to his wife,” Rasmussen said, pointing to herself.
The truth was that he flew back to his wife.
Amber Rasmussen
Not only does she believe he cheated, but Amber accused Brandon of being a “con man” and of embezzling money in another TikTok video, saying, “He was charged with 13 counts of felony theft.”
When she finally decided to leave the marriage, she showed The Daily Dot court documents of the divorce which claimed Brandon failed to turn up to court and was due to give Amber a monetary award.
The Daily Dot verified that a person by the same name was hit with 13 first-degree charges for theft over $5,000 between 2015 and 2019.
According to the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office’s website, where these charges are listed, Brandon was found guilty.
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
First love
Athena, his first wife, also shared her experience with the con artist with whom she shares a daughter, Sydney.
Speaking on her podcast, she claimed she overheard Bradley cheating on her via an accidental phone call the night before her own baby shower.
Waking to a call at 3am, she said she overheard Brandon’s antics in Las Vegas, after he butt-dialled her by mistake.
“I figured he was calling me because he had got back to his hotel room,” she explained.
“I answered the phone to say ‘Do you miss me already?’ there was no response. I realised he had pocket-dialled me.
“He starts flirting with one of the girls and asks if he can kiss her, he does, then his friend teases them about holding hands.”
Athena claims she stayed on the phone for three hours, hearing her fiance cheat on her before hanging up and texting him, saying she had heard everything and was splitting up with him.
But when he saw her text, he threatened to throw himself off a balcony, so she stayed with his.
For two years, Athena says their relationship became steady and relatively happy.
But just before the wedding, she claims she noticed his old ways come back as his temper flared and he tried to swindle a cheaper wedding behind her back.
During the process of trying to leave him, Brandon would put tracking devices on my vehicles, he would stalk me, harass me.
Athena Klingerman
Just five weeks after the wedding in 2011, and after four years together, Athena discovered he had a burner phone to message other women – and dumped him.
She claimed: “There were so many horrible and disgusting things, that I would soon discover about my now husband, from lying cheating, scamming innocent people.”
She even claimed that he had lied about going to work when they were together.
The mum alleged he pretended to go to work for two months despite being fired.
For Athena, this was her breaking point, but she claimed Brandon repeatedly threatened to kill himself and followed her around town.
“During the process of trying to leave him, Brandon would put tracking devices on my vehicles, he would stalk me, harass me, he would follow me and find me anywhere, and everywhere I went,” she alleged on TikTok.
“He even paid men off to stop talking to me,” she claimed.
She ended up having to file a restraining order against him after he allegedly attempted to break down the door of their home.
In 2019, the order was granted.
Coming together
Meanwhile, Amber divorced Brandon after finding his girlfriend on a secret Facebook account he had created.
According to Amber, Brandon claimed he was being framed, but Amber soon discovered his affair wasn’t a secret, as his family had already met the other woman.
It was then that she decided to “team up” with Athena.
“What we uncovered together because she had some information and I had some information … was even more than we ever expected. It’s just crazy, crazy stuff,” Amber told KOIN.
Together, they filed a domestic violence order violation against Brandon.
He showed up ready to rape, kill, kidnap, all three, or a variety of three.
Kassie Cardullo
Both women had protective orders against their ex-husband which he failed to adhere to and pleaded guilty to that in court.
After this court battle, the women decided to tell their story to the world and start their podcast.
“We came together… to protect other women and protect my young daughter, and then it really took off when we lost my sister Jessica this past May due to an act of domestic violence,” Athena told KOIN.
The Daily Dot, who reported on the crazy story, spoke with Johnson several times, both in-person at the El Dorado County jail and through follow-up correspondence via the jail’s inmate communications system, NCIC, to get his side of things.
Johnson denied most of the allegations made by Klingerman and Rasmussen, saying the women are using “20% of what is true,” namely his infidelities, to shill “80%” of “trash” accusations. He added that he’s “not the monster they [Athena and Amber] make me out to be.”
However, Brandon is currently facing prison and entered a 10-year plea deal after he was finally arrested after breaking into another ex’s home with the intent to rape her.
“He showed up ready to rape, kill, kidnap, all three, or a variety of three,” Deputy District Attorney Kassie Cardullo said at his arraignment, reports Sacbee.
The court report revealed that his ex-girlfriend and a male friend were talking in her bedroom when Brandon suddenly appeared in the doorway.
After threatening to kill them both, he choked his ex-girlfriend and held her down before attempting to use a Taser on the male friend and then attacking him with a knife, cutting him on the forehead.
While the two struggled, the ex-girlfriend called the police. The male friend eventually subdued Brandon and forced him out of the house.
The court documents state he then retrieved a crowbar from his truck, but the male friend grabbed it from him.
Brandon reportedly tried to flee from the police, but they eventually caught and arrested him.
When Brandon’s truck was searched they found zip ties configured like handcuffs, handcuffs, a wig, nearly $2,000 in cash, a night vision monocular, and a knife, according to authorities.
Cleaning staff at the guest house where Brandon was staying found more zip ties attached to the bed and to an ottoman at the foot of the bed. The ex-girlfriend later found multiple bottles of cleaning supplies stashed in her garage.
Athena and Amber continue to expose their story and those of other survivors, with a view to helping more women escape abuse.
