Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case of … spinoff series has kicked off with a bang — rather, a Bam. Bam Margera, to be exact. The first episode of the docuseries, which premiered on Monday, January 13, explored former stunt pro, skateboarder and Jackass alum Brandon Cole “Bam” Margera’s path to sobriety and his controversial guardianship.

Bam Margera, the Britney Spears of ‘Jackass’

The episode opened with police outside of a residence in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Bam walked out of the home and was greeted by an unnamed woman. He immediately became agitated and stormed up to her, saying, “Why do you suck so bad? Why are you so evil?” She tried to ask how she was evil, but another woman interrupted by telling her to “stop.”

“Please do me a favor and back up,” she told the first woman. “You did this on purpose. I don’t trust you either.” The second woman described Bam as “my boyfriend” and told him to get in the car before telling the first woman to “go” once more.

In another scene, legal expert and narrator Beth Karas described Bam’s story as one about “the right to make your own decisions.” She first recalled the controversy surrounding Britney Spears’ conservatorship and the #FreeBritney movement, describing the pop star as being “trapped” and “living in a cage” while her guardian made decisions for her.

Beth then explained that Britney is not the only celebrity to have experienced an oppressive conservatorship or guardianship, and a clip was shown of Bam describing himself as the “Britney Spears of Jackass.”

What Happened to Bam Margera?

Bam is most known as a skateboarder, stunt performer and one of the stars of the early 2000s MTV series Jackass. He later got his own show, Viva La Bam, which aired for five seasons from 2003 to 2006.

Bam’s former Jackass costar Stephen Gilchrist Glover, a.k.a. Steve-O, was interviewed during the doc, explaining that he has known Bam for more than 20 years. The stunt performer and comedian revealed that, at the start of Bam’s career, he was successful as a skateboarder and “wasn’t interested in substance abuse at all.” Though Steve-O struggled with drug and alcohol addiction at the time, he said he and Bam ultimately reversed roles.

The doc described a 2023 incident where Bam was arrested for public intoxication at a Thai food restaurant in Burbank, California. Police said at the time that he was “drunk in public and unable to take care of himself.”

Steve-O admitted that Bam’s struggle with addiction has been “hard to watch.”

“People love a comeback story so much, but is that point going to come or is he going to be dead first? I don’t know,” he said.

Bam Margera’s Family Sought Help

According to the doc, in 2021, Bam’s family attempted to have an intervention. However, he refused to accept their help. They turned to a woman named Lima Jevremovic, a “Hollywood entrepreneur who was working in the addiction and recovery industry.” It was revealed that Lima was the woman attempting to speak to Bam at the start of the episode.

Lima explained that she started a small business called Aura, “a virtual reality software company with a focus on treating drug addiction. The VR software is designed to track progress, according to Lima, and “predicts if someone is at risk to harm themselves or someone else.” Lima revealed that she became the legal guardian of a woman named Amanda, who struggled with drug addiction, and began treating her with the VR technology.

Lima said she became Bam’s guardian in June 2021. “I became the guardian because nobody wanted to be the guardian,” she explained. “Nobody wanted to be the bad guy that had to say, ‘No,’ or, ‘You have to do this.’ They kept saying, ‘Bam holds grudges and it would ruin our personal relationship with him.’”

Lima revealed that she got a one-year temporary guardianship of Bam and became close to him, describing it as a “mother-son relationship.”

Steve-O was initially supportive of the conservatorship, knowing that it would keep Bam out of trouble. However, when asked by a producer how that has “really worked out,” Steve-O only replied, “Uhm.”

Bam Faced More Legal Trouble Under His Conservatorship

Beth revealed that Lima placed Ben in a traditional treatment facility that used her Aura technology. However, he left the center in 2022 and “assaulted his brother, threatened his parents, and it was clear he was using again,” the legal expert continued, noting that it didn’t look good for the guardianship.

Lima met with Bam’s mom, April Margera, who said she felt conflicted because she wanted her son home, but “he has to understand what he agreed to. I’m scared because it’s just so out of control.”

At a property that Bam was leasing to brother Jesse, whom he allegedly assaulted, the former skateboarding pro spray painted a fence to send a “message.”

“I’m writing a message to my fake brother. I own castle Bam. And big brother f–ked me up the ass,” Bam said. He also said he could knock his brother out with one punch.

When asked about his guardianship, Bam told a producer, “Guardianship? Well, I’m the Britney Spears of Jackass. Lima is very sweet with all her stuff. And she totally helped me, phenomenally. But every 911 call is her telling the police, ‘You have to make Bam think we’re on his side.’ If she were on my side, she would tell the police, ‘Tell Bam we’re on his side.’”

Inside the #FreeBam Movement

The internet quickly picked up on Bam’s experience in his guardianship coinciding with his legal troubles, and reactions flooded social media. One Princeton, New Jersey-based YouTuber named BJ Courville described herself as the “leader of the #FreeBam movement.” BJ said she found Lima’s actions “very odd” and claimed she “doesn’t really have the credentials to be doing what she is doing.”

BJ also pointed out that Lima said Bam is in a guardianship and not a conservatorship, which BJ claimed was the “same thing.” Beth explained that there is a difference between the two terms — a guardian has control of a “person’s medical care and living arrangements,” while a conservator has financial control. Beth also pointed out that because Bam is a celebrity, it would be a “huge win” for Lima’s company if her software successfully treated him.

Lima explained that she entered the mental health sphere to help her two sisters, who struggled with mental health issues and drug addiction after they experienced alleged sexual and physical abuse from a family member.

“Rather than raising money for my own sisters to get treatment, I thought it would be a more neutral path to take if I helped a stranger I did not know,” she said, referring to Amanda. Though Lima described Amanda’s treatment as a “success story,” it was later revealed that the woman passed away.

Beth revealed that she found a complaint about Aura, which she believed to be about Amanda’s case, but the names were redacted. The report stated that Aura’s tech was being used on “vulnerable people against their will who will meet the same fate.”

BJ claimed that she saw no evidence of Aura working, adding, “The issue with me is not the software; the issue with me is corruption and lies.”

BJ explained that she saw Lima read Amanda’s autopsy report on a YouTube channel. Lima stated that Amanda’s cause of death was a seizure disorder, which the woman never struggled with prior to being homeless, so they believed that it was “post traumatic epilepsy.”

However, BJ claimed that she requested the autopsy report and did not see any mention of a seizure disorder, with the report allegedly saying Amanda died of “cardiac arrhythmia.” Beth explained that Lima said she received the information in an email from the coroner.

BJ Courville Vs. Lima Jevremovic

Lima revealed that she was doxxed due to the traction that BJ’s YouTube videos about Aura gained. Lima’s mother stated that their family is always “on the run” because of the hate messages they receive.

Beth confirmed that “Amanda had a drug in her system for epilepsy or seizures,” adding that she didn’t know if “we can conclude Lima is lying.” Meanwhile, Steve-O agreed that BJ seemed “a little dangerous,” claiming that she seemed to “plant dangerous ideas” in Bam’s head during an interview one day. These ideas may have caused him to turn against Lima and his family.

Beth revealed that it was possible Lima’s sisters were in their own conservatorships. She explained that there was a recent “domestic violence incident” involving her sisters, Dahlia and Dia. A clip dated December 6, 2022, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, showed Lima’s mother claiming, “She choked me.” Dahlia claimed her mom was trying to kill her and resurrect her. She also alleged that her mom sex trafficked her.

“It didn’t seem right to me, It didn’t seem right to a lot of other people,” BJ said, noting that police did not investigate the incident.

Lima claimed that her sister saw a video of BJ talking about sex trafficking and went into a “psychosis,” believing that she was a victim.

Bam Margera’s Guardianship Is Over

Bam’s temporary guardianship ended in July 2023, but Lima remained close to his family and accompanied them in court over his brother’s assault. He pleaded not guilty to assault and terrorist threats. He was also ordered to do drug and alcohol screenings and was released on his own recognizance. There was no guardianship established.

“I do think Bam needs to be in a guardianship, because he doesn’t think anything he’s doing is wrong,” Lima said.

The scene from the start of the episode was shown again, with Lima claiming April called her to say that Bam was coming over to her house and threatened to “crash through the gate.” She brought police to “keep the peace.” However, Beth found this odd, because Bam was already there and appeared to be peaceful.

Beth theorized that Lima was trying to get Bam back into court so that she could become his guardian again.

It was revealed that, in May 2024, Dahlia checked herself into a facility in Long Beach. She disappeared three weeks into her stay and was later found by a private investigator in a full psychosis.

A title card at the end of the episode revealed that Aura has ceased operations. Lima filed a libel lawsuit against BJ, which is still pending. Bam pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for the altercation with his family at home and was later arrested again for violating his probation in September 2024. He was ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.