'This nightmare is finally over': Bachelor star Clayton Echard reacts as radio icon's daughter is indicted on fraud charges after falsely claiming he made her pregnant with twins

Former Bachelor star Clayton Echard, aged 32, had been accused by 34-year-old Laura Michelle Owens of impregnating her with twins.

But, after a judge ruled her claims to be fake she was indicted in Arizona, United States, earlier this month on a number of felony fraud charges.

Investigators found that Owens, who is the daughter of radio legend Ronn Owens, had gone to extreme lengths to manipulate Echard, who shot to fame when he appeared on hit dating shows The Bachelorette in 2021 and then The Bachelor in 2022.

Laura Owens had originally filed a paternity suit against Echard in 2023, seeking child support, saying that she had become pregnant with his twins, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in a news release on Tuesday (May 6).

Echard, who was a contestant on The Bachelorette in 2021 and then selected to star as The Bachelor in 2022, always denied Owens’ allegations. He said that their intimacy only went as far as oral sex and did not include intercourse so he could not have made her pregnant, according to the indictment.

Owens then dropped her claim, alleging she’d had a miscarriage. Her testimony was brought into question by Judge Julie Mata of Maricopa County Superior Court after Owens “made several inconsistent statements during a paternity hearing” involving Echard, according to the indictment.

Fighting back against the ruling, Owens argued that she had provided positive at-home pregnancy tests, a urine test from an urgent care facility and a blood test from a laboratory, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

She also accused the judge of being influenced by Echard's fame. “It seems clear to me that Judge Mata would not have allowed this case to go on if Clayton had not been a former Bachelor star,” Owens wrote. Because Clayton had a high-profile status, Judge Mata seemed determined to drag this case out.”

But Judge Mata, who said the claims she made were fraudulent and baseless, accused Owens of a pattern of deception. She also awarded Echard attorneys' fees and referred the case for criminal prosecution by the county attorney’s office in 2024.

Investigators found that between May 2023 and June 2024, Owens had faked key evidence, including altering a sonogram and creating a fake pregnancy video. She was also found to have lied several times under oath, investigators said. It was determined by prosecutors that she deliberately planned to defraud Echard by faking her pregnancy.

Earlier this week, a grand jury indicted Owens on one count of fraudulent schemes, one count of forgery, four counts of perjury and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

Owens has not yet publicly commented on the indictment, but Echard took to Instagram to post a video to his fans where he “thanked God” for the decision by the grand jury and said “this nightmare is finally over.” He added that it felt as though a weight which had been on his shoulders for two years had been lifted.

“Justice has finally been served!!” he wrote in the caption of the video. “Thank you all for your continued support in helping me seek justice. It has been a long, tiresome road, but we have reached the end point of where we hoped to be. It’s nothing but celebratory dance moves for the foreseeable future from here on out.”