Police departments have become more attentive to officers use of excessive force on the job, but that concern rarely extends to the home. After Jessica had been in the hospital for a month, her doctors tried to transfer her to a rehabilitation program, but she didnt have insurance, so she was discharged to the care of her grandparents. She notified a local truck driver named Will Sanders, who had a reputation as a freelance investigator. ..I asked her if it could be found, would she be able to use it? Lester said. did not record any interviews with Jessicas family or friends. But otherwise, he said, Im doneIm out. She was watching a cartoon about a lion. the epic story of African Americans fighting World War II at home and abroad / Matthew F. Delmont. In the spring of 2016, less than six months after the wedding, Jessica discovered that Matthew was having an affair with Courtney Callaway, a dispatcher at the Spalding County sheriffs office, a mile away from the Griffin Police Department. 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 . That isnt the first time thats happened., Asked if Lenhard had elaborated on efforts to locate Boyntons oath of office, Lester said, She just said that shed called, and they said they didnt have it. ), In a private Facebook message, Willey complained to a friend that Matthews demeanor was emotionless but very authoritative. She had learned about Jessicas shooting after probing stories were published by Sheila Mathews in The Grip, a free newspaper in Spalding County, and aired on the Atlanta television station 11Alive, reported by Brendan Keefe. Sanders deleted his Facebook account, his primary method of communicating with sources and reporting his findings. But the factors that lead to abuse at homecoercion, authoritarianism, a sense of entitlement to violenceare also present in the work that police officers do on the streets. Beam dropped the matter. In 2016, something terrible happened to Jessica Boynton, a 19-year-old mother of two. The first officer she saw in the parking lot was Beam. He asked me to go get it out before, and I told him, Youre going to have to.. View Jessica Boynton results in Georgia (GA) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The first read, Im checking with Karen to see if in all her files she has a copy, and the second stated, Karen thinks she put one in the file she is checking (sic).. But a Griffin city official said that the document couldnt be found. Raisa Habersham is the Intown Atlanta hyperlocal reporter for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. 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. I Grace Garvey. I think weve got the right to confront and cross-examine anybody thats gonna be offering testimony, Owen said. I was wondering why, but then it came to pass that her husband was a police officer and his granddaddy was the sheriff, so I understood.. In a composition notebook, Jessica documented the times she assumed Matthew had been with his girlfriend, and she jotted down notes for the lawyer. Matthew was called in for questioning. In reference to my wife. He explained that she was having suicidal thoughts and she told me to take care of the boys. Matthews wedding ring had a blue stripe, to signify he was in law enforcement. A few months after the wedding, Denise and Amy went out for lunch. The rest of us enjoyed her graduation party, Martha, her grandmother, said. A nurse told her shed been in an accident. She was sure that if she didnt comply he would arrest her. Please provide the following I hope those stories went too far, he said, referring to the notorious Wood Chipper. Thats something that yall would have to figure out., The G.B.I.s theory of Jessicas shooting depended on her being suicidal, but she gave no indication of being depressed. 10 mos. Like a car accident? she asked. SMHBRING IN FBI. Dusty asked him where Jessica was, and he said that she had been taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. The GRIP is continuing to work this story and will report additional information as it becomes available. This is Jessica Lester's story of survival. Sweet Jesus, reading this has made my head implode. Although Gibson had been indicted on fourteen charges, he was allowed to plead guilty, in June, 2017, to only two, for violating his oath of office, and he was granted first-offender status. The chief would eventually like to get his officer back, as well as his service weapon back, DeMarco told Matthew. Less than a week after Jessica emerged from her coma, DeMarco and another G.B.I. In December, 2016, Jessica filed a report with the Griffin Police Department, saying that Matthew hadnt returned her belongings. . The idea that domestic violence is bad for kids still has not sunk init sometimes barely makes a dent in a case, she said. Twice, she later testified, Gibson choked her. She did not want to have anything to do with it.. This episode was sponsored by Best Fiends and Scary Time Podcast by Indie Drop-In Network. 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. The 20-year-old says he s heading to Waffle House for a late night food run with on-duty cop and best friend, Officer Joshua Guthrie--leaving his . Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. Soon after, Yates sent to Coker via text message a photograph of Boyntons oath. Murder + Horrific = Murderific. Like, he talks about her as if shes nothing., As Willey was moving out of Matthews house, she again came across the gym bag of Jessicas clothes. Shes a grown lady, the lieutenant told him. 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. 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. I would respectfully decline the interview.. Only the pillow under her head was bloody. Coker did not call that day, nor has he responded to multiple subsequent requests for an interview. Like Intown Atlanta News Now onFacebook | Follow us onTwitter. In this episode, we discuss the toxic relationship between a couple, affairs, abuse, and a police officer who is a suspect in his wife's shooting. Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com, The Jolt: Behind the scenes of the Buckhead City defeat, Kirby Smart: No culture problem, no policy change as a result of fatal crash, House panel passes bill to allow inspection of Georgia ballots, OPINION: Fani Willis blasts GOP move to rein in local prosecutors, Class 3A: Semifinal coverage from Fort Valley State, MARTA unveils revised Atlanta expansion plan, Construction Readys CareerEXPO is March 9, 10, Itchin mad about the early pollen in Atlanta? Jessicas grandparents live on two hundred acres of farmland in Pike County, a twenty-five-minute drive from her apartment. Nothing will prepare you for what happens to this young couple. 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. Thats what I told yourThats what I told the sheriff today, he said. In an interview with the police, she said that she found him intimidating. This is Jessica Lester's story of survival. Photo credit: The GRIP. I hugged her and said, Its going to be O.K. And she said, No, and looked at her husband. (Amy did not want to comment for this article, explaining in an e-mail, I have tried to remain neutral in this very serious situation.). Ive always been such a firm believer in our justice system, she said. Join our naturalist on a short walk and learn about the history of the once-prosperous town of High Falls. Jessica had to wean her baby before starting the job, so on Thursday night she and Matthew drove to Walmart, to buy formula. $100. Blame the warm weather, The Jolt: Busy, long day at the Georgia Legislature. When Willey asked Matthew about it, she said, he told her he intended to burn the bag, which Jessica had packed one night when she was planning to leave him. He spoke about how he gambled with a mythical figure known in the sheriffs office as the Wood Chipper, because, supposedly, he had used such a device to kill a woman. She could now recall that after she returned from Walmart she went to her closet to put her shoes on, because she needed to walk the dog. Uruguay's real-life persecution of the outside world, lacey has. There are too many useless words thrown in, she said. Matthew was now dating Shelby Willey, a young mother who had recently separated from her husband. Finally, she just said why dont we set up a meeting, so you can ask about whatever you want to know, Lester said. They find a gun under her, and there is blood pooling around her head from what they assume to be a gunshot wound to the head. Jessica could not come within three hundred yards of Matthew or her children. Shes just a piece of shit, Jacob clarified. You do whatever you want to do. The lead teacher at the day care where Jessica worked had also found her unnecessarily deferential. 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.). Coker did agree with Lenhards assessment that a charge of violation of oath of office a felony would require the prosecutor to establish the oath had been administered, which would necessitate production of the oath. Her ex-husband and former Griffin police officer Matthew Boynton was investigated in the case, but was only charged with making false statements and violating oath. Check out this great listen on Audible.com. . Follow. 1,423 Followers, 1,082 Following, 1,354 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from jessica boynton (@gessieboy) gessieboy. In this episode, we discuss the toxic relationship between a couple, affairs, abuse, and a police officer who is a suspect . Leigh Goodmark, the director of the Gender Violence Clinic, at the University of Marylands Carey School of Law, speculates that one reason for the dearth of research is a reluctance to fund a study that will bring attention to an uncomfortable dilemma: that, as Goodmark says, those policing the crime and those committing it are often the same person.. This is a listing of articles Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boynton Cleared In Wifes Shooting But Still Lost His Job easiest After . The Griffin Police Department had not received any complaints about Matthews use of force, but Darrell Dix, a former lieutenant, told me that he and some of his colleagues worried that Matthew had a domineering and one-dimensional approach to his work, which could provoke fights and scuffles. He had not learned that there is a human side of this, too, Dix said. agent, Jared Coleman, interviewed her as she lay in her hospital bed. A deputy named Misty Piper said that, after Gibson repeatedly pressured her to have sex with him, she acquiesced, because she felt that, if she defied Gibson, she would meet a similar fate. In many other cities, domestic violence seems to be treated as similarly insignificant. -00:0028:48. The mother of two young boys, . Theres no second shot. report" 5 . This year, an independent panel found that the typical penalty for New York City police officers found guilty of domestic violencesome had punched, kicked, choked, or threatened their victims with gunswas thirty lost vacation days. It was shortly after we concluded the case.. After the visit, Matthew, who had been placed on administrative leave, was interviewed again by DeMarco. Murder + Horrific = Murderific. Take care of the children. 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. Bad decisions, he said. Shes offended by the idea that she would have composed something as syntactically messy as the suicide text she is alleged to have written. King told me, Youd think it would have been simple enough to put bags on her hands and test them for gunshot residue. 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. 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. The Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings, The Terrifying Car Crash That Inspired a Masterpiece. Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. A different metaphor.. I actually called them. ), After several months, a male officer told a captain in Internal Affairs that he didnt understand why Whitehouses complaint had been ignored. Cases like thiswe dont usually have someone to talk to like you, because youre not here, Coleman told her. 121 Spring St., ICD Realty Trust and Kenneth Barnard to Davide M. and Victoria L. Ferrari, $350,000, May 26. Jessica and Matthew Boynton pose for a wedding photo. In Jessicas first three weeks in the hospital, he visited her once, accompanied by Beam, who wore his uniform and carried his gun. Just before 2 a.m. on April 15th, Wendell Beam asked the sheriff of Pike County to send officers to the house. The agents who wrote the report seemed indifferent to the dynamics of Jessica and Matthews marriage, as if the subject were a private matter that didnt merit discussion in an official investigation. She had both of the boys packed and ready to go, Dusty said. No one responded to Marthas letters. I dont doubt the findings of the G.B.I., he told me. Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. An Open Records request for the digital report on the photo Yates sent Coker indicated the photograph was taken at 3:19 p.m. April 26, less than 24 hours after The GRIPs interview with Coker. Why did you write the damn statement? a sergeant asked him. She became dead seriousId never seen her so serious, Denise said. Difference between non-contested & adultery divorce? she wrote. In an email dated Oct. 20, 2017, from Cokers Chief Investigator John Wright to Lt. Karen Yancey, who at that time headed the GPDs Criminal Investigation Division, Wright requested not only the oath be made available, but numerous additional pieces of evidence, as well. Donate now. What would happen if you were being abused by your spouse and he just happened to be a police officer? She silently surveyed the walls, where her family had taped pictures of her sons. Matthew Boyntom deserves to be thrown in prison and left there to rot. Like many docile, self-effacing women, Jessica has some hidden pockets of pride, and one of them is her skills as a writer. In May, 2017, they broke up. 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. I made sure that I had another party with me, to insure the accusations wouldnt be made, Matthew said later. She finished her high-school coursework online, and almost never saw her friends or family. No signup or install needed. Is she gonna wear a mask or. When she survived, a troubling story emerged. Bring the little ones for a story every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. to hear Sam's favorite tales. You are your own person. Cokers office, however, produced records indicating his staff spent more than six months attempting to obtain Boyntons oath from the Griffin Police Department. I was trying to figure out when Matthews court case was going before a grand jury, Lester said. In the police body-cam videos, the dog is still wearing his leash. Martin wrote, Nothing found, to which Yates replied, Thanks., Martin sent two additional messages to Yates. Murderific True Crime Podcast. Matthew and the boys temporarily moved in with Courtney Callaway, the dispatcher he was dating. Murder + Horrific = Murderific. Ad Choices. Its always different. For a time, Sanders thought that the source of Gibsons power might be connected to the Dixie Mafia (a gang based in the South), or a gambling ring, or some hidden knowledge that afforded him a lifetime of leverage over Beam. Lester recovered from the shooting but doesnt remember any of it. ). 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. 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. She now lives two hours north of Griffin, with her fianc, Jacob Boyack, a high-school classmate, in a small yellow house with black shutters and an American flag hanging from the front porch. Please wear sturdy shoes. Here lately I have not been able to recognize the person I see in the mirror. In an analysis of more than two thousand family-court opinions from the past decade, Joan S.Meier, a professor at George Washington University Law School, found that, in sixty-four per cent of cases, courts did not accept the story of a mother who said she or her children had been abused by her husband, even when evidence corroborated the claim. Jessica Barden (born 1992) Mischa Barton (born 1986) Matthew Beard (born 1989) . Sanders said that he no longer goes anywhere unarmed. Not long afterward, she saw Matthew walk briskly to his truck. $50. Sources: https://www.newyorker . 1,423 followers. 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 . In this episode, we discuss the toxic relationship between a couple, affairs, abuse, and a police officer who is a suspect in his wife's . There is one major problem though. Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us. Her relationship with Matthew is far from perfect and he seems to be pretty controlling. I didnt think about getting any other clothes., G.B.I. (Through his lawyer, Gibson told me that the headlock-and-Taser incident was all in good fun; most of the other allegations were untrue and are otherwise embellished.). What would happen if you were being abused by your spouse and he just happened to be a police officer?  Jessica and Matthew started dating in high school and she got pregnant ends up with 2 young children, at a young age. Jessica Boynton says she's 'free as a bird' . Sanders said, I think the city thought this would be business as usual, until a local reporter and a loser truck driver got involved.. I mean, I walk past it. Mathews, the publisher of The Grip and its only reporter, submitted an Open Records Act request to the magistrates court, where judges swear in new officers. Murder + Horrific = Murderific. No, that doesnt ring right, Martha told them. Matthew is challenging the ruling in court. As it became clear that Gibsons activities could be criminal, the G.B.I. its a bunch of good ole boys its terrible that no one cares all they are there for is a pay check. The Officer's Wife: With Brendan Keefe, Jessica Noll, Will Johnson, Matthew Boynton. September 30, 2019. 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. Jessica reported what he said to child-protective services, who helped arrange for the boys to see a child psychologist. Mike Yates, the chief of the Griffin police, told me in an e-mail that Matthews case had nothing to do with domestic violence. Her husband, Matthew Boynton, was at a nearby restaurant when he got a text from Jessica that read like a suicide note. My mother and sister were brutally murdered in Dec 1986 in the same town. She said, Do me a favor. No, I cant even get it out of the case, she said. I dont think the text was quite that literal, Jacob said. sounds like the same ole corrupt police dept its always been either they are covering up for each other or they dont do their jobs all they worry about are drugs dont get me wrong drugs are bad but it seems like if it doesnt involve drugs they are not interested in it my mother and sister were brutally murdered 30 yrs ago and no one has ever been arrested and when we ask about the case all they want to do is ask the same ole questions we have answered over and over thdy wont tell us what has been done to find out they treated us like crap, [] https://the-grip.net/2018/05/15/missing-evidence-jeopardized-felony-case-against-matthew-boynton-for… []. At the store, they got into a fight, and when they left Jessica said she didnt want to get into the car. Absolutely, Matthew said. . Footage reportedly shows a Griffin, Georgia, police officer come home to find his wife with a gunshot wound to the head.. Matthew Boynton, 20, discovered his wife Jessica, 19, lying in a pool of blood in a closet.Barely clinging to life, Jessica spent three weeks in a coma before waking up, according to 11alive.. But there are almost no empirical studies examining the prevalence of this sort of abuse today. 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. Jessica Lester, who at the time was in a coma fighting for her lifea bag she had packed, . An associate of Lesters soon contacted The GRIP, seeking assistance in locating Boyntons oath. However, with the later discovery of previously-unknown evidence, it evolved into an . But a psychiatrist who assessed her for depression apparently saw no need to give her a diagnosis or refer her for treatment. My mama told me stories about going to lunch with my father and his friends in the sixties, he said to me. 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. 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. Why is he getting so much protection and coverage? the agent said. 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. I asked her who they are, and she said the Police Department. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. A male sergeant saw the exchange and told Beam, who provided Gibson with what he called undocumented counselling. Two years later, Gibson slapped a secretary on the back of the head, telling a male officer, Im gonna show you how we take care of these secretaries. Although the secretary complained to Beam about Gibsons behavior, Gibson was never disciplined. Jessica gave him her old cell phone and notebook, and he keeps them in a safe at a location that he wont disclose, along with a shrink-wrapped box containing all the documents he collected. If you do wear makeup and fix your hair, youre a whore., Beam asked Whitehouse to meet him at a park on the outskirts of Griffin. Although the hospital had placed her under constant observation after she was admitted, the precautions were removed after she regained consciousness. Jessica told me, Id probably go to jail before Id put the boys back in a situation where Matthew could even think about doing anything to them.. I guess she felt like Matthew could have picked anybody, and for some reason he picked me, her sister, Dusty, said. Did this license lead Alex Murdaugh to commit fraud after fraudand then kill his wife and son? It breaks my heart! she wrote. I guarantee you he wont a hundred per cent say what happened, he said. Follow. looked into the allegations. In the Puerto Rico Police Department, ninety-eight police officers were arrested for domestic violence between 2007 and 2010; three of them had shot and killed their wives. I already know it wont.. S6-E54 Jessica Lester and Matthew Boynton. Jessica was neither dead nor shot in the head. 15 talking about this. When she asked Matthew about the shooting, nothing adds up, she wrote to another friend on Facebook. They recorded interviews with eight Griffin police officers, some of whom Matthew considered good friends; one informed the agents that Matthew was telling me how she kind of acts crazy sometimes when she dont get her way. The G.B.I. Nothing will prepare you for what happens . The police asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He had a reputation for being kind and personable but also passive, indecisive, and resistant to change. Especially because of my children. She started crying. But Jessica Boynton, 34, was excited for Thanksgiving. I would have written, I cant do this anymore comma. She said she would have put a period after the line about taking care of the boys, rather than letting one sentence run into the next. Name: Stanley J Weber, Phone number: (985) 624-5161, State: LA, City: Mandeville, Zip Code: 70448 and more information (Matthews lawyer said, in an e-mail, The ultimate aim of both the GBIs investigation and the grand jurys inquiry was to find the truth. (She and Callaway, Matthews ex-girlfriend, couldnt be reached for this story. It interests me on a psychological level. He had conducted his own canvass of Jessicas apartment complex; retraced Matthews journey to the Waffle House, timing the drive with a stopwatch; and got permission from the new tenants of Jessica and Matthews apartment to inspect the holes in the closet. Jessica and Matthew moved into a house across the street from the sheriff, Wendell Beam, and his wife. Jessica's maiden name was changed from Lester to Seewald. Dont make me laugh.. Lester, Natasha; MacManus, James; MacNeal, Susan Elia; Marra, Anthony; Martin, Madeline; Matzen, Robert D. . Intent: The Tex McIver Case. She said shed called and they cant find it. She found that, when a mother accused a father of domestic abuse or child abuse, she lost custody to the father in twenty-eight per cent of cases. Violation of his oath of office one of two felony charges for which the Griffin Police Department in 2017 arrested Matthew Boynton, one of its own officers was reportedly at risk of being dismissed because his sworn oath of office, the signed document, could not be located.
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