Yet according to the letter, the nude photos were not only wanted by Zacharias; they were invited. And they were the culmination of months of emails, phone calls, gifts, and other advances by a man who "sensed" Thompson's "deficit and used it to his own end."

As reported in Part One of this series, both Thompson and her husband, Brad, signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Zacharias in 2017. And even though Zacharias reportedly broke that agreement, the Thompsons have not spoken publicly because of the NDA. The Thompsons told me earlier this year that they feared if they broke the NDA, Zacharias (and now his heirs) might sue them.

However, Lori Anne's 2016 letter was written and sent by the Thompsons to third parties before the Thompsons signed the NDA with Zacharias. Brad Thompson also reportedly wrote and sent a letter at the same time, which was given to me in a single PDF document with Lori Anne's letter.

The third parties never published the letters and the letters have remained secret until now.

Last week, the letters came to me through a trusted source and I have confirmed their authenticity with the Thompsons' counselors, Jerry and Denise Basel, who also have a copy of the letters.

I sent the letters to RZIM for comment last week, but RZIM has not responded.

The Roys Report also has obtained numerous documents corroborating the narrative in the Thompsons' letters. These include Lori Anne Thompson's cell phone records, showing numerous calls to and from Zacharias, as well as shipping receipts of gifts from Zacharias to Lori Anne.

The documents were sent to me by Lori Anne's sister, Tamara Battiste, a former missionary and critical care nurse in North Carolina. Battiste said Thompson gave her the documents four years ago in case something happened to Thompson.

Battiste said she is releasing the documents now "because I want to see my sister freed from the shame and the torment of being painted as the perpetrator in this scenario. It's time."

On May 21, 2020--two days after Zacharias' death--Thompson posted a video to her blog, pleading with the Zacharias family to release her from her NDA. Thompson said she signed the NDA "under excruciating circumstances" and that she and her husband "have nothing that we do not wish disclosed."

Thompson said to date, she has received no response from the Zacharias family to her request.

The Early Stages

The Thompsons wrote in their letters that they met Zacharias at a businessman's luncheon in 2014 where Zacharias spoke.

Brad Thompson said he had sponsored a table at the luncheon, adding that Zacharias was "a hero" to him, and he "was very proud" to have a picture taken with Zacharias between him and his wife at the event.

Lori Anne wrote that at the meeting, Zacharias suggested the three stay in touch and directed his assistant to get the Thompson's contact information and give them his.

This led to subsequent email correspondence, which Lori Anne wrote was intermittent at first. She added that the emails between her and Zacharias initially included Brad. Zacharias asked both of them about their stories, she wrote, but "Brad is not much for communication and did not ever follow through with (Zacharias') interest."

Lori Anne, on the other hand, wrote that she slowly began sharing her life with Zacharias. This included stories about her childhood and the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she had suffered at the hands of her father.

As a result of the abuse, Thompson wrote she had "one place where heartache has reigned, where the past has constantly crept into the present to haunt, hunt and deeply hurt. I have longed to be loved like someone's daughter. It is safe to say that my daughterhood and my body have always been literally and figuratively up for grabs."

Over time, Thompson wrote that she and Zacharias, who's more than 30 years her senior, developed a relationship "in which I felt honoured and delighted in. This was nourishment to a very deep place in me. . . . I trusted him, his experience was vast, his opinion important, his favour and friendship an unspeakable gift to me."

In June of 2015, Thompson wrote that Zacharias invited her and Brad to join him at a fundraising event in Toronto. The night before, she wrote that the couple ate dinner with Zacharias and his wife. "It seemed that our friendship was flourishing," Thompson wrote. (Zacharias mentioned this dinner in his 2017 statement to Christianity Today, but said the dinner was after the event, not before.)

"Shift to Secrecy"

In her letter, Thompson said that she couldn't imagine why someone like Zacharias would be taking such an interest in her. She wrote that she emailed Zacharias in October 2015, asking him what he was getting out of the relationship.

The letter states that in his response, which Zacharias asked Thompson to keep confidential, Zacharias divulged that his marriage was "more of a business partnership" and that "he was profoundly alone." Thompson wrote that Zacharias added that her "emails were a connection and a kindness that he enjoyed immensely."

At that point, Thompson wrote that she felt a "shift to secrecy" and didn't share Zacharias' email with her husband.

In January of 2016, Lori Anne wrote that Zacharias professed his love for her during a phone call. (In Zacharias' lawsuit against the Thompsons, Zacharias claims that Lori Anne expressed her love for Zacharias "and then began making sexually suggestive statements.")

"I couldn't believe what I had heard . . ." Thompson writes. "I distinctly remember thinking--I wanted you to love me like a daughter." Yet Thompson said she didn't reject Zacharias. "To reject him would be to destroy the intimate fatherly friendship we had, the one I had longed for my whole life. I couldn't do it, I just couldn't."

Thompson said Zacharias requested that she begin using a BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app for iPhone to communicate with him for "his safety and protection." Calls initiated from the BBM app are not traceable.

According to cell phone records Thompson's sister, Tamara Battiste, sent to me, Zacharias called Thompson twice from his cell phone in February 2016. (A separate, independent background check on Zacharias confirmed the cell phone number belonged to him.)

It also shows an outgoing call from Thompson to Zacharias' cell phone on February 10. That call was at 11:34 a.m. and lasted 7 minutes. At 11:41 a.m.--immediately after the previous call ended--Thompson received a call noted in the call records as "INCOMING ZZ," which lasted 35 minutes.

Thompson's sister, Tamara Battiste, claimed that all calls designated "INCOMING ZZ" were from Zacharias' encrypted BlackBerry. She said often these calls would be requests to contact Zacharias through the BBM app on Thompson's phone.

I called Thompson's cell phone company, Telus, and asked what the code "INCOMING ZZ" means. A representative said "ZZ" is the code used for incoming calls that are not recognized by Caller ID.

Sexting & Phone Sex

Thompson wrote that Zacharias would ask what she's wearing when they'd communicate, and Thompson would send him a picture of her with her clothes on. Zacharias called these photos "his vitamins for the day," she wrote.

According to Thompson's letter, Zacharias then asked for a photo of her with her jacket off and one in her "night clothes."

"I stupidly shared that I did not wear night clothes," Thompson wrote, "which is . . . what led to the first photos being sent without clothes on. Still, I covered up my breast with my arm and hid my pubic area with my legs."

She said Zacharias also expressed that he wanted to meet in person for "an intimate sexual encounter." "Since we were 'in love,' it would be one time at least, for 'the heart,'" she recounted.

Thompson wrote that Zacharias called her in March 2016 when her family was in Florida and the two engaged in "sex over the phone." Thompson wrote that she "was overwhelmed by his words," adding that she is "terribly ashamed now" about the encounter and finds it the "hardest part to process."

Thompson's cell phone records show several, short incoming calls from Zacharias' cell phone throughout March.

However, there are eight short "INCOMING ZZ" calls to Thompson's cell phone in Florida from March 16--March 25. There's also one call from Thompson to Zacharias' cell phone.

Thompson wrote that she sent the first "full nudes" to Zacharias via BBM on or near the time of his 70th birthday.

"In this circumstance, as in all future times," she wrote, "pictures flowed one way--from me to him. He acknowledged that it was something that I did for him, that it was not for me and he was very grateful."

Thompson said Zacharias sent her gifts of two necklaces with crosses on them and two scarves from India around this time.

This is corroborated by a shipment invoice I received dated May 12, 2016, and apparently signed by Zacharias.

You can see the original story with all its links and attachments here: https://julieroys.com/ravi-zacharias-groomed-woman/