The Unwitting Mistress
Before the lawsuits, the investigations, and the courtrooms, there was a relationship built on trust - and a story Leigh Ann Hood says she didn't yet know was being written around her.
Every case has an origin. This one began years before the first lawsuit was filed.
What started as a professional relationship would gradually become personal, intertwining business, trust, money, and promises of a future. Leigh Ann Hood says she believed she understood the relationship she was entering. Years later, she would come to question how much of what she'd been told was ever true.
And on June 4, 2021, for reasons she couldn't fully explain at the time, she pressed record.
That decision would matter. This is where the story begins.
2018
The Reconnection
While working as a real estate appraiser, Leigh Ann Hood reconnects with Daryl Selzer through a commercial broker.
The two had met previously under circumstances Hood says she intends to discuss separately. At this point, however, their renewed connection is professional.
2019
The Working Relationship
Early 2019
Daryl reaches out to Leigh Ann about assisting his company with appraisal work.
What begins as a professional relationship continues over the next several years and eventually creates an opportunity for Leigh Ann to move beyond real estate appraisal and into a new business venture.
2020
A New Business Opportunity
Late 2020
Daryl asks Leigh Ann whether she has contacts in the septic and well industries in Montgomery County. She does.
He then asks whether she has ever considered commercial construction.
Leigh Ann is candid about her experience: she knows how to operate a business, but she does not have a background in construction. Still, she agrees to explore the opportunity.
The two begin meeting about upcoming local projects.
Those conversations become the foundation for what would eventually become Leigh Ann's own construction business, Prime Development Group, LLC.
2020
Business Becomes Personal
December 2020
As Leigh Ann is navigating the end of a brief marriage, she notices a change in her relationship with Daryl.
According to Leigh Ann, their communications begin extending beyond ordinary business matters. Daryl calls and texts more frequently and begins asking about her personal life.
Leigh Ann says she initially tries to maintain professional boundaries. She also says Daryl begins confiding in her about his own marriage, telling her that he and his wife were unhappy and had discussed the possibility of separating.
At the time, Leigh Ann viewed many of those conversations through the lens of friendship. Looking back, she interprets this period differently.
The distinction between business relationship, friendship and emotional intimacy was beginning to blur.
2021
The Lines Begin to Blur
January 2021
As Leigh Ann's new business begins gaining momentum, she says Daryl's attention toward her becomes increasingly personal.
Their conversations provide an outlet for both of them to discuss their lives and frustrations, but Leigh Ann becomes concerned that Daryl may be developing feelings beyond friendship.
At the same time, their professional relationship continues.
Business and personal trust are becoming increasingly intertwined.
2021
The Flowers
February 14, 2021
On Valentine's Day, Daryl sends Leigh Ann flowers.
For Leigh Ann, the gesture confirms what she had already begun to suspect: the relationship was no longer purely professional.
She says their meetings continued under the umbrella of business, but increasingly took on a personal dimension. Leigh Ann was focused on establishing her company and says she did not want the complications of a romantic relationship - particularly with a married man.
According to Leigh Ann, Daryl continued telling her that his marriage was unhappy and that both he and his wife wanted out.
She remained skeptical.
But as the months passed, the emotional connection between them continued to deepen.
2021
The Promise of a Future
June 2021
By June, Leigh Ann's divorce is final.
According to Leigh Ann, Daryl tells her that he loves her and wants a future with her.
Leigh Ann acknowledges that her feelings had grown as well, but says she made one boundary clear: she would not become his mistress or pursue a relationship while he remained married.
Daryl, she says, told her that he and his wife were meeting with a therapist and discussing separation.
Leigh Ann would later come to question the truth of many of the representations she says were made to her during this period.
And something in her told her to start keeping a record.
2021
She Presses "Record"
June 4, 2021
Leigh Ann records a telephone conversation with Daryl.
She says the call followed Daryl telling her that he and his wife had attended therapy and discussed separating.
At the time, Leigh Ann says she could not fully explain why she felt compelled to preserve the conversation.
But she did.
And from that point forward, she began recording their conversations.
Those recordings would create a contemporaneous record of a relationship that Leigh Ann says she would eventually come to understand very differently.
THE RECORD BEGINS HERE.
The Story Isn't Over
What began as a professional relationship became something far more complicated - intertwining trust, business, money, personal promises, and allegations that would ultimately extend far beyond the two people at the center of it.
The recordings began in 2021.
The lawsuits would come later.
And years after the first chapter of this story was written, the legal fight continues.
With trial currently scheduled for October 2026, more of the record has yet to unfold. As proceedings continue, The Dirty Docket will document significant developments, court filings, testimony, evidence, and outcomes as they become part of the public record.
Because some stories don't end when the truth begins to surface.
Sometimes, that's when the real story begins.
Stay tuned.