Cory Riley stood by Amanda during her cancer scam: here's where he is now – and what he knew

If Amanda Riley is the clear villain of Scamanda, then her husband Cory Riley is the new BBC documentary's biggest mystery.

Throughout Amanda's fake cancer journey, Cory was there. He attended the church fundraisers she was heavily involved in, spoke openly about her 'illness' and remained publicly loyal even after investigators began questioning whether she had ever been sick at all.

Cory has never been charged with a crime, but to this day, viewers are left asking the same question: was he another victim of Amanda's lies, or did he know more than he ever admitted?

Here's everything we know about Amanda Riley's husband, Cory, and where he is now...

Long before Amanda Riley became known for faking cancer, she entered Cory's life through his family, which at the time included his wife, Aletta, their daughter Jessa and Aletta's daughter, Jaymie, from a prior relationship.

According to Scamanda, Amanda was a teenager when she was hired to teach dance Jaymie dance from home, given Jaymie had actually undergone treatment for cancer and was immunocompromised.

Despite an age gap of around 12 years, Cory decided to leave his wife, Aletta Bernal, and pursue a relationship with Amanda. The pair eventually married and Amanda went from being a trusted figure for Jessa and Jaymie, to becoming Jessa's stepmother.

Aletta later claimed Amanda and Cory worked together to paint her as an unstable parent during a lengthy custody battle. In the documentary, she says they portrayed her as a "one-night stand rather than a wife", despite the couple having been married for more than four years.

Eventually, Cory and Amanda won full custody of Jessa for a period of time.

According to people interviewed in the documentary, Cory's father died by suicide when he was young. Former mentor Jack York, who knew him through a mentoring programme, described Cory as a child who was "always having a smile".

Jack also recalled that when Cory later reconnected with him that he seemed completely "enamoured" with Amanda and didn't mention his marriage to Aletta at all.

This isn't known for sure. Publicly, Cory was one of Amanda's biggest supporters. When Amanda claimed she had Hodgkin lymphoma in 2012, Cory stood beside her as church members raised money, organised fundraisers and prayed for her recovery. Amanda regularly referred to him as "the husband of all husbands" and told supporters she couldn't survive without him.

Even when questions began swirling around Amanda's claims, Cory remained firmly on 'Team Amanda', according to Scamanda host Charlie Webster – but investigators weren't convinced it was that simple.

Detective José Martinez, who helped investigate the case, says in the documentary that he believes Cory genuinely thought Amanda was sick at first, but that he feels Cory must have figured out the truth at some point.

"I believe at some point Cory believed Amanda was sick," Martinez says, before adding that proving exactly when that changed would be "difficult".

Despite years of investigation, prosecutors have never proved that Cory knowingly participated in Amanda's fraud. He has never been arrested or charged.

Amanda's former friend Lisa Berry told the court that she believed the couple had "manipulated [mine and my husband's] emotions to get what they wanted – attention and money".

Meanwhile, Aletta has remained outspoken about the impact the scandal had on her family, describing the entire ordeal as "truly a nightmare".

Even after Amanda pleaded guilty and admitted she had never had cancer, Cory appeared to remain supportive.

According to Charlie Webster, who conversed with Amanda while she was in prison, Amanda later claimed that some of the money she raised through her fake cancer story had actually been spent on Cory's divorce proceedings, child custody case and child support payments.

For years, the couple stayed together despite the criminal case. That changed in January 2024, when Cory filed for divorce.

According to People, he is believed to be living in Austin, Texas, where he is raising the two sons he shares with Amanda. He has never publicly addressed the fraud allegations, the podcast or the BBC documentary.

One of the saddest revelations in Scamanda comes from Cory's daughter, Jessa, who says she has not seen her father "for a long time" and that she believes he was aware of his wife's lies.

Speaking on the podcast, she said neither Cory nor Amanda had ever properly apologised to her for what happened. "He was very – I want to say 'not himself' – but I think I don't really know who he is as a person," she explained. "He kind of just looked numb all the time... He was always taking us everywhere, he was always going to the gym.

With my dad, he'd always just kind of be like, 'Oh, you know, Mandy's sick, and we can't do this.' They would take us to the hospital, almost to kind of prove there was something wrong with her."

Nobody else has ever been charged in connection to Amanda's case.

Watch Scamanda on BBC iPlayer now, or listen to the podcast of the same name on your preferred audio platform