This episode was sponsored by Best Fiends and Scary Time Podcast by Indie Drop-In Network. Then-Griffin Police Department officer Matthew Boynton was arrested on July 28, 2017, for giving a false statement to his own department stating he was not i. Jessicas only diagnosis was acute stress disorder, which, the evaluator wrote, occurs when an individual is exposed to actual or threatened death. The evaluator added that her symptoms are normal and to be expected through circumstances such as hers.. She was watching a cartoon about a lion. At 12:54 AM, Matthew's phone received a text from Jessica's phone that read like a suicide note. To obtain the search warrant, a lieutenant submitted a sworn statement explaining that there was probable cause that Sanders had been involved in two commercial burglaries; later, the lieutenant said that this was the result of a cut-and-paste error.). Jessicas recovery was so swift that people at the hospital called her the miracle child. Although her skull had been fractured, neither bullet had penetrated it. Earlier that night Jessica's husband Matthew headed to Waffle House for a late . But the sheriff still loomed large in their relationship. by | Jun 16, 2022 | digestive system pogil answer key | lyudmila ignatenko second child | Jun 16, 2022 | digestive system pogil answer key | lyudmila ignatenko second child . Shortly after Jessica was hospitalized, her aunt Kathy took a photograph of a C-shaped bruise on the back of Jessicas head, and she shared it with the G.B.I. According to the order, which Matthew had petitioned the court to issue, probable cause exists that Family Violence has occurred in the past and may occur in the future. Jessica was ordered to have a psychological evaluation. In the spring of 2019, child-protective services closed the case and recommended, based on reports submitted by the childrens psychologist, who had seen the boys for twenty-five sessions, that they no longer spend time with Matthew. I actually called them. Jessica had pale-green eyes, a melodic voice, and blond hair that hung down her back like a slab of wood. Jessica thought that Matthew, who was baby-faced but muscular, looked rich; he wore Ralph Lauren boots and collared shirts from Hollister. He was Spalding County. Right, she said, nearly whispering. At just 3 years old, she was abandoned by her parents, along with her brother and sister and grew up on a farm with her mother's adoptive parents. When the roles were reversed, fathers lost custody in only twelve per cent of cases. Hankinson briefly paused during the hearing to see if any statutes said that attempted suicide was a form of child endangerment. Dusty approached a group of Griffin police officers and asked whether Matthew had shot her sister. There is no public record of the proceeding, but the grand jury chose not to indict Matthew either for making false statements or for violating his oath. You are your own person. One witnessJessicas neighbor Megan Browningwould like to speak to you anonymously in chambers, because she is afraid., Judge Hankinson seemed to find the idea so novel as to be humorous. One woman said that he would drive to her house and shine the lights of his patrol car into her windows. I think weve got the right to confront and cross-examine anybody thats gonna be offering testimony, Owen said. ). She and the boys planned to move into her sister Dustys house on Friday, April 15th, and the next week she would begin working at a chiropractors office. Its just a hobby, he said. Yates then abruptly ended the interview by stating he would not answer any further questions at that time, but that questions could be emailed to him. Twice, Matthew called the police on Jessica, for yelling or cursing or poking his chest. Especially because of my children. She started crying. Jail trustiesmodel inmates who did menial jobs at the sheriffs officetold him that theyd spent two weeks destroying paperwork, at the previous administrations instruction. Like Intown Atlanta News Now onFacebook | Follow us onTwitter. In all my years in law enforcement, when someone shoots himself in the head its one and done, Jessica Whitehouse, a deputy there at the time, told me. Sanders deleted his Facebook account, his primary method of communicating with sources and reporting his findings. Please provide the following Jessica could not come within three hundred yards of Matthew or her children. I searched the file, looking at every page, and there is not an oath of office in the file. You know you cant give a sworn statement and lie on it. Crying, Matthew set his body armor, badge, and police radio on the table in front of him, and agreed to resign from the department. Although its possible that Jessicas head hit the wall after she shot herself, there was no blood on the wall or on the clothes in the closet. He had filed nearly a hundred Open Records Act requests about Jessicas shooting, and he shared what he learned with Jessicas family, as well as with The Grip. She was quickly erased from the promotional images and her profile was deleted from the NBC10 website. She had both of the boys packed and ready to go, Dusty said. Just before 2 a.m. on April 15th, Wendell Beam asked the sheriff of Pike County to send officers to the house. Her relationship with Matthew is far from perfect and he seems to be pretty controlling. Eric Paul. Beam dropped the matter. She speaks lovingly of her children and the need to and desire to see them.. Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. In May, 2017, they broke up. Haha Im sorry I didnt think about that lol, he wrote. Anybody that went against him would be eliminated. Whitehouse said that Beam seemed concerned, but he said that shed have to write down her complaint. When I asked Jessica why she never left the house when she lived with Matthew, she explained, We lived in an apartment complex with a playground. Loneliness is part of the 55 absolute best gifts for. This is Jessica Lester's story of survival. He received a text from his wife Jessica that said "I can't do this anymore. Matthew and the boys temporarily moved in with Courtney Callaway, the dispatcher he was dating. Like Piper, Whitehouse was afraid to follow through. Yates had lost his previous job, in 2014, as chief of the police department in Jonesboro, Arkansas, after he called a local reporter smelly and said that dealing with her was like trying to pick up a dog turd by the clean end. She resigned, citing the level of stress and anxiety created by a public official who commands a small army., Within two hours of Sanderss Facebook comment, Yates informed Sanders that his private Facebook messages would be made accessible to any persons interested in the entire scope of your actions, activities, motives and history. He added, This material will be released in the interest of transparency and context. The department had obtained the messages a year earlier, as part of the investigation into Jessicas gym bag. Uruguay's real-life persecution of the outside world, lacey has. I was scared to death, because I couldnt find him, that she would shoot me, shoot him, and then kill herself.. (The purposes of such a sweeping request were never clear. "It was determined that he knowingly provided a false statement relating to the property in question and his possession of (it)," Natale said in a release.l Center. She (Lenhard) said as long as we can prove where it came from.. According to a police report, Jessica was very reserved and appeared to be upset. She said that the officers recommended that she not yell at Matthew. Will Sanders, the truck driver, reached a similar conclusion. Thats the game here, he said. All rights reserved. Sanders offered Willey a hundred and twenty dollars to sneak into Matthews utility closet and get Jessicas bag. Nothing will prepare you for what happens to this young couple. Check out this great listen on Audible.com. ), After several months, a male officer told a captain in Internal Affairs that he didnt understand why Whitehouses complaint had been ignored. She silently surveyed the walls, where her family had taped pictures of her sons. 00:50:40; What would happen if you were being abused by your spouse and he just happened to be a police officer? Mon - Thurs. By Rachel Aviv. I mean, I walk past it. She suspected that there had been a physical altercation leading up to the gunshots. 2023 Cond Nast. Early that morning, Matthew was interviewed by Chris DeMarco, a G.B.I. S6-E54 Jessica Lester and Matthew Boynton. did not record any interviews with Jessicas family or friends. I dont doubt the findings of the G.B.I., he told me. My mother and sister were brutally murdered in Dec 1986 in the same town. Willey contacted Jessica on Facebook and warned her that Matthew was not taking good care of the children; they were subsisting, she said, on cheese puffs, Fudge Rounds, corn dogs, and Mountain Dew, and sleeping at odd hours. In reference to my wife. He explained that she was having suicidal thoughts and she told me to take care of the boys. Matthew is challenging the ruling in court. The shooting is the subject of CNN's hourlong episode of "Real Life Nightmare," which airs 8 p.m. Saturday. In 2016, something terrible happened to Jessica Boynton, a 19-year-old mother of two. As for when the case file was submitted to the Cokers office, Yates said, It was submitted after we concluded it and finished our paperwork. Her husband, Matthew Boynton, was at a nearby restaurant when he got a text from Jessica that read like a suicide note. The G.B.I. On his way, at 12:54 a.m., he said, he received a text from Jessica: I cant do this anymore. In July, he was charged with two felonies: making false statements and violating his oath of office. By then, Beams reputation had been muddied by the Gibson investigation, and he had been voted out of office. She was wearing fluffy slippers. Something had happened to the mama lions cubs, Kathy said. The first officer she saw in the parking lot was Beam. He never let me go anywhere without me sharing my location with him. She said that, when they talked about what happened to Jessica, he laughs about it. He claimed to have personally insured Beams election. Blame the warm weather, The Jolt: Busy, long day at the Georgia Legislature. Justice for Jessica needs to happen ASAP. Number 12 on Wrights list was Boyntons oath of office. Please tell them I love them everyday. Unable to obtain further information through the previously agreed upon interview, The GRIP on April 26 submitted Open Records requests to Cokers office and the city of Griffin. Her family wondered if this was her way of escaping the relationship. As it became clear that Gibsons activities could be criminal, the G.B.I. Somebody that shoots themself in the head means business. Thats what I told yourThats what I told the sheriff today, he said. Matthew, who had been restored to patrol duty, carried a new service gun and wore his uniform, and was accompanied by Beam. It was shortly after we concluded the case.. This is not the first time I have had suicide thoughts. And he said, Its a damn shame she didnt do it right the first time. She added, He doesnt refer to her as, like, human. At first he lied, but within fifteen minutes he acknowledged that hed known about Jessicas bag all along. Karen, I am working on Matthew Boyntons case and according to your check list, there is a lot missing. Jessica . Here, 3 Crime Scene Specialists from the Region 10 (Atlanta) Office are processing a vehicle for a local agency." I made sure that I had another party with me, to insure the accusations wouldnt be made, Matthew said later. Support Jess Boynton through cancer treatment. Jessica, who was in tenth grade, was less popular. Few states mandate that custody evaluators have domestic-violence training; judges often characterize the allegations as mudslinging and focus not on their veracity but on which party appears to be the better parent. Her relationship with Matthew is far from perfect and he seems to be . Upon learning of the missing oath, The GRIP on April 24, submitted an Open Records request to Spalding County Magistrate Court, where judges swear in new officers of the Griffin Police Department by administering the oath of office. Her neurosurgeon, Paul King, told me, It seemed most likely that someone else shot her., Jessica had an intracranial-pressure monitor inserted into her brain, to measure swelling, and she was put in a medically induced coma. Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. But a psychiatrist who assessed her for depression apparently saw no need to give her a diagnosis or refer her for treatment. Jessica was found with a gunshot wound in the closet of the couple's bedroom. Intent: The Tex McIver Case. Murder + Horrific = Murderific. In Jessicas first three weeks in the hospital, he visited her once, accompanied by Beam, who wore his uniform and carried his gun. Occasionally, Jessica still reflexively asked Jacob for permission to do things like visit her grandparents or go to the store. Then-Griffin Police officer Matthew Boynton was arrested on July 28, . Like seriously, Gibson got away with slapping a secretary on the back of the head!? But there are almost no empirical studies examining the prevalence of this sort of abuse today. I hold up the white flag., Jessicas older son often cried and clung to her when Matthew picked him up on Fridays, and in the summer of 2018 he complained that his father had hurt him. Matthew was called in for questioning. Im not well connected with anyone. She decided to resign instead. Follow. Jessica Lester started dating Matthew Boynton when she was fifteen. A few months after the wedding, Denise and Amy went out for lunch. From her porch, Jessicas neighbor Megan Browning saw Jessica and Matthew return home. Sought were all email communications, notes, memos, records, reports, text messages and any additional information pertaining to providing the District Attorneys Office with the oath of office of Matthew Boynton, formerly of the Griffin Police Department. If you dont want to be with me anymore, Jessica texted him, Im not going to stay here and play house. Matthew, who had begun spending his free days with Callaway, told her, Its not gonna work for us. A fence separates their house from an open field, where nine cows and two donkeys graze. Newlyweds Jessica and Matthew Boynton seemed like the picture-perfect coupleuntil the young mother is found unresponsive & covered in blood inside her locked bedroom closet. Follow. Her aunt Denise, a public-school teacher, said that, at the wedding, there was just this sadness in her eyes, like, Im done. She had the demeanor of a child who had promised herself not to cause trouble or draw attention to her own feelings. The inability to pinpoint the source of Gibsons dominanceand of Beams capacity to shield other menseemed only to feed the drama and paranoia. When Jessica graduated from high school, her grandparents held a party for her and projected a movie on the side of their barn. It was the first time anyone had spoken with her at length about the night of her injury. She said shed called and they cant find it. to say that he had the original document. The police asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Jessica Lesters friends persuaded her to date Matthew Boynton, a boy in the eleventh grade, by saying, If you dont like him, you can always break up. He was the grandson of the sheriff of Spalding County, where they lived, an hour south of Atlanta, and his friends were football players and cheerleaders. Jessica was neither dead nor shot in the head. The mother of two young boys, . When she survived, a troubling story emerged. Matthew Boynton allegedly deprived ex-wife Jessica Lester of her belongings and lied to the authorities about doing so, Griffin police Lt. Michael Natale said in a statement. is going to do it. He believes that the only two people who know the answers are Jessica and Matthew, and Jessica will never be a reliable source, given her traumatic brain injury, and Matthews account cant be trusted. After informing Jessica Lester that her ex-husband, former GPD officer Matthew Boynton, would not be tried on a felony charge of violating his oath of office because the oath could not be located by that same agency, The GRIP obtained a copy through the submission of an Open Records request to Spalding County Magistrate Court, where the oath of office is administered to new GPD officers. So there was really no need for me to leave. Soon after, Yates sent to Coker via text message a photograph of Boyntons oath. She now works for 6ABC Action News. Intent: The Tex McIver Case. In the spring of 2013, when she was sixteen and had dated Matthew for a year, she took her grandparents into the kitchen, closed the door, and told them, apologizing, that she was pregnant. The rest of us enjoyed her graduation party, Martha, her grandmother, said. When The GRIP attempted to schedule a time to meet for an interview, Yates said, It wont be tomorrow because my day is pretty much booked, and I dont feel comfortable doing a sit down interview with you unless I have my camcorder going., The GRIP readily agreed to comply with Yates desire to record the interview, but Yates then said, Like I said, you have the same offer you always have. I have been suffering for a while now and no one has noticed. Her parents had abandoned her when she was three, along with her sister and brother, and she grew up on a farm with her mothers adoptive parents. I would fight you tooth and nail defending it. But, after receiving thousands of documents from Sanders, Martha stopped driving through Griffin, because she was afraid. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Name: Stanley J Weber, Phone number: (985) 624-5161, State: LA, City: Mandeville, Zip Code: 70448 and more information Wouldnt listen to anybody.. In 2012, Piper complained to Beam, and he said hed look into the accusations, if she put them in writing. its a bunch of good ole boys its terrible that no one cares all they are there for is a pay check. Delmont, Matthew F . No one responded to Marthas letters. I Grace Garvey. Police find and verify Jessica is alive at the scene, and she is rushed to The program is hosted by reporter Brendan Keefe who discusses the case that would change . Its always more exaggerated every time. She felt uncomfortable that Matthew told Beam every detail of his life, but that the conversations were all confidential.. She said we needed to know what kind of kid he was. Even Gibsons lawyer, Phil Friduss, seemed at a loss to explain whether Gibson had controlled the county, as so many people believed. Sources: https://www.newyorker . She was sure that if she didnt comply he would arrest her. Lester, Natasha; MacManus, James; MacNeal, Susan Elia; Marra, Anthony; Martin, Madeline; Matzen, Robert D. . She said that Matthew told her she wasnt related to them by blood. What would happen if you were being abused by your spouse and he just happened to be a police officer? He didnt find any, and dismissed the protective order. Last summer, the sheriff of Los Angeles County, Alex Villanueva, articulated a common justification for not considering domestic violence as a concern: in defending his decision to employ a deputy who had been accused of stalking and physically abusing his ex-girlfriend, he told a local reporter that it was a private relationship between two consenting adults that went bad. The violence was seen as unrelated to job performance, an activity that could be understood only within the context of a relationship. She was told that, to prove that a crime had been committed, the district attorney needed to establish that the oath of office had been administered to Matthew. Jessica Lester was found unconscious in her Griffin home from what police thought was an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He concluded that Jessica had shot herself in the head, though he indicated that his assessment would have been more definitive had there been a photo of Jessicas wound before shed had surgery. Jessica could see her children for only four hours on Sunday afternoons. Jessica Lester, who at the time was in a coma fighting for her lifea bag she had packed, . Jessica Boynton, a 19-year-old mother of two young boys, was discovered April 15, 2016, with a bullet in her head lying in a pool of blood in a locked wardrobe closet inside the Griffin, Georgia . 0 likes, 0 comments. Jessica had to wean her baby before starting the job, so on Thursday night she and Matthew drove to Walmart, to buy formula. Never, she said. She believes that she and Matthew must have fought in the closet, and she never made it outside. Take care of the children. According to Jessica Lester, Boyntons ex-wife who filed a police report that ultimately led to Boyntons arrest, she became aware of this development during a meeting with representatives of the Griffin Judicial Circuits District Attorneys Office. Have you ever had any thoughts about hurting yourself? Coleman asked. In December, 2016, Jessica filed a report with the Griffin Police Department, saying that Matthew hadnt returned her belongings. Shes a grown lady, the lieutenant told him. Gibson routinely said to female colleagues, Shut your cock garage. He told a secretary that she should wear a cowbell around her neck, so hed always know where she was. In the nineteen-nineties, researchers found that forty-one per cent of male officers admitted that, in the previous year, theyd been physically aggressive toward their spouses, and nearly ten per cent acknowledged choking, strangling, or usingor threatening to usea knife or a gun. Bad decisions, he said. Custody (full? 1,082 following. And then I started thinking, Well, why did I even come to you? she said. In the past thirty years, the criminal-justice system has become more responsive to domestic violence, but family courts have been largely insulated from this cultural change.
March 11, 2023