Everyone deserves to tell their story—even if it begins with a prison break.
When Toby Dorr helped convicted murderer John Manard escape from a Kansas prison in 2006—by smuggling him out in a dog crate—the world rushed to judge.
She became a headline. A cautionary tale. A punchline.
The middle-aged woman seduced by a younger inmate.
But she was also something else: a woman in crisis, searching for connection, purpose, and—ironically—freedom.
After release from prison, Toby decided to tell her version of the story. In her memoir Living with Conviction, Toby reclaims her narrative with vulnerability and truth.
Her book explores the emotional terrain few are brave enough to navigate—how a life of people-pleasing and self-abandonment can lead even the most rule-following among us to make unimaginable decisions.
The story behind the story
Before the escape, Toby was a 48-year-old mother, wife, and church-going cancer survivor.
She volunteered at the prison through a dog rehabilitation program, where inmates trained rescue dogs to improve their chances of adoption. That’s where she met John Manard—then 27 and serving a life sentence for murder. What started as a conversation turned into emotional dependency. And then, an escape plan.
She reflects on the emotional isolation that led to her decision, the fallout that followed, and the long journey to rebuild her life after serving her 27-month sentence in federal prison.
“I wasn’t trying to escape with him. I was trying to escape myself.”
She writes openly about how a life of playing by the rules left her feeling invisible—and how breaking all of them, while catastrophic, forced her to finally face herself.
In my interview with Toby on Read and Write with Natasha, she spoke candidly about how the need to be seen and heard drove her to make choices that changed her life forever.
We talked about what it’s like to reclaim your story after becoming a media spectacle—and how writing her memoir was both an act of healing and an act of courage.
Since her release, Toby has become a voice for second chances. She speaks. She writes. She mentors women who are trying to find their way back from their worst mistakes.
She hosts a podcast called Fierce Conversations, where she interviews people who have rebuilt their lives after crisis.
This is what redemption sounds like.
🎧 Don’t miss this fascinating conversation.
You can listen to the full episode on Read and Write with Natasha:
📺 Or watch the full interview on YouTube below:
Toby’s story reminds us that every story deserves to be told, no matter how it begins—even with a prison break.
Her story also reminds us that our worst mistakes don’t define us.
What we do next does.
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