In the police body-cam videos, the dog is still wearing his leash. ! his girlfriend texts him. Statements from Jessica Boynton and Matthew Boynton are logged into evidence," said a statement written by Yancy March 13. He reads another text from his girlfriend, while driving 90 mph. She told the agent, they were at home when they argued about his girlfriend and the photo that Jessica found on his phone that night. No. So there was really no need for me to leave. Jessica thought that Matthew, who was baby-faced but muscular, looked rich; he wore Ralph Lauren boots and collared shirts from Hollister. So were going to try to expedite this as fast as possible, and, when I say expedite, I mean the next few weeks. DeMarco assured Matthew that his phone, which had been seized during the investigation, would be returned. Family grieves death of their 22-year-old son after Gwinnett County double shooting, Online petition to deannex the City of South Fulton has hundreds of signatures, Veterinarian shares summertime safety tips for pets, Who shot the officer's wife? He's meeting his buddy at the local Waffle House. Jones eyes a small child sleeping on a bottom bunk bed in the back bedroom. I dont think the text was quite that literal, Jacob said. Jessica could never quite explain whythere was no proposal, just an understanding that there was too much momentum to break up. I never wanted to hurt myself before, she said, going on to say that shes never handled a gun, nor shot one. It was almost like her personality got squished out of her.. Custody (full? It doesn't sound like anything I would say. 11Alive reached out to Officer Matthew Boynton, however, phone calls were not returned. I didnt know if it was an active scenario, he later told investigators. He later tells investigators that he heard Tyler crying, and then, POP-POP!. Credit: GBI/Griffin Police Dept. Just before 2 a.m. on April 15th, Wendell Beam asked the sheriff of Pike County to send officers to the house. One of the neighbors said that, not long before he heard the gunshots, he also heard some banging, like she was banging on the door or something.. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. We will not be swayed by hearsay, false rhetoric or sensationalism in a manner that would cause harm to the innocent, he wrote. 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. "That was when approximately 24 minutes into the conversation, his demeanor changed and everything flipped," she recalled. to say that he had the original document. It was like she needed permission for everything, she said. Still peering down at his phone, Matthew also sends a text to his girlfriend, a Spalding County dispatcher. Four months later, he was hired as a reserve officer in Braswell, Georgia, a community of four hundred people. Wheres my baby? Jessica asked, once her breathing tubes were removed. 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. I mean, I'm sure there's a plausible explanation to it without trying to come up with some sort of, you know, theory that, 'Oh, he has to be here in the kitchen answering these text messages.'". "Police department!" 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. It felt like he was just a ticking time bomb, she told the police. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. Did he cause his estranged spouses injury? It was like he was spitting in my face, she said. Get off of me! she screamed. I mean, I walk past it. Officers rush to the scene to find Jessica Boynton inside a locked closet, with an apparent gunshot wound to her head. One of about 70 messages they exchange throughout the night. The police were notified of said "shooting" by Jessica's then husband Matthew Boynton. But I never look in it.. Jessica was the kind of intuitive mother who predicts a babys dangera fall, a spilled drink, a choking hazarda few seconds before it happens. Matthew, grandson of then-sheriff of Spalding County, texts a fellow Griffin Police officer. reports, Matthew said. While sifting through pages and pages of the report, a GBI evidence photo caught her attention. At first he lied, but within fifteen minutes he acknowledged that hed known about Jessicas bag all along. No. The fact that they dont believe that she did this to herselfI think theyre not taking it seriously, Owen said. The babys muffled cry echoes, getting louder as the officers sweep their guns back and forth, searching for the shooter. It was Im going to lock people up. 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. Like Piper, Whitehouse was afraid to follow through. I was scared to death, because I couldnt find him, that she would shoot me, shoot him, and then kill herself.. In early May, after three weeks in a coma, Jessica began to regain consciousness. She became dead seriousId never seen her so serious, Denise said. Im only concerned with the G.B.I. She has a tendency to brush over painful experiences. He did not explain why hed earlier sent word that Jessica was dead. She said we needed to know what kind of kid he was. Its a question 11Alive investigators asked a few months ago, when Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boyntons wife, Jessica, allegedly shot herself in the head with his service weapon, inside the master bedroom closetlocked from the inside. underwear and dental retainer belonging to his now-former wife, Jessica Lester, . 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. The neighbor saw Matthew leaving the apartment for dinner with a coworker. Thats what I told yourThats what I told the sheriff today, he said. "Well listen, if you're going to start quoting, you gonna start recording these things, you need to let me know ahead of time before you do, before I'm starting answering questions," DeMarco ordered the reporter. Early that morning, Matthew was interviewed by Chris DeMarco, a G.B.I. In July, he was charged with two felonies: making false statements and violating his oath of office. She agreed, and in May, 2017, Sanders dropped off the bag at the Griffin Police Department. Haha Im sorry I didnt think about that lol, he wrote. She said, Do me a favor. 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. The police asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Matthew testified that Jessicas grandparents were not blood-related, and could not be trusted with the children. 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. Matthew was now dating Shelby Willey, a young mother who had recently separated from her husband. By then, Beams reputation had been muddied by the Gibson investigation, and he had been voted out of office. Law enforcement was in his genes. Matthews childhood dream was to work in law enforcementa career inspired by his grandfather, who had helped bring him up following his parents divorce. But otherwise, he said, Im doneIm out. The "Sex and the City" alum, 56, took . Jessicas grandparents, who are Baptist, were willing to help her bring up the child, but Jessica decided to settle down with Matthew, her first boyfriend. 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. The July 29 arrest of former Griffin Police Department Officer Matthew Boynton stemmed from a theft report filed Dec. 19, 2016, by his former wife, Jessica Lester. And, unfortunately it appears those questions will never be answered," Mathews said. Im, like, You dont have to ask me, he said. Matthew makes it home, jumps out of his truck, races through the breezeway of his apartment building and bolts up the stairs. He was charged with theft a year later but was released on bail and has never been in jail. I would have written suicidal thoughts, not suicide thoughts., She told me that she couldnt imagine using a clich such as I have not been able to recognize the person I see in the mirror., I dont generally even look in the mirror, she said. Just one minute later, Matthewcalls 911, reaching Spalding County dispatch. Police found Jessica Boynton in the closet of her home with a gunshot wound to the head, and a police issued firearm in her hand. A few months after the wedding, Denise and Amy went out for lunch. Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us. 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. In isolated, poor regions of South Carolina, coming from an lite familyoffereda feeling of impunity. In December, 2016, Jessica filed a report with the Griffin Police Department, saying that Matthew hadnt returned her belongings. And Jessicas trauma surgeon was not interviewed by the GBI until July 20. There are a lot of questions that I would love to have answered. Dispatch notifies Spalding County Sheriff Wendell Beam, Matthews grandfather,and police notify Jessicas family that she has died. And if shes capable of attempting to take her own life, theres a chance that she might do something to these children.. You cant force her into the truck. (Matthew refused to comment for this story.). 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. I hope he goes to jail for this shit, she said. 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 wore hand-me-downs and liked to take nature photographs. And that's all I needed, so I was on cloud nine.". She was wearing fluffy slippers. No one responded to Marthas letters. Matthews father and stepmother visited the next week. | Examine the evidence yourself. About See All. "I left the location, I'm back en route, I'm on Carver Road right now. I didnt try to brush off anything. Check out the page. Any weapons inside the house? the dispatcher inquires. 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. She rebukes the text message that was sent from her phone to Matthews that night and said she didnt have a lock on her phone, so anyone couldve sent it. She had a job interview and it was going to be her first step to freedom. He bangs on the locked closet door. But did something else happen that spring night in 2016? You find plenty of reasons to leave nowI know that, Jacob teased her. 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. Jessicas grandmother, Martha, said that initially she had trusted Wendell Beam, whom her husband had known for years, and the G.B.I.s investigative process. Jessica was found with a gunshot wound in the closet of the couple's bedroom. The officers found a police-issued .40-caliber Glock belonging to Matthew under Jessica's body. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. 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. On a hospital-admission form, Jessica was described as a 19 year old reported to have shot herself in the right skull. But Vernon Henderson, a trauma surgeon for more than two decades, who treated Jessica, wrote that her injury did not fit with that description; neither of her hands had any evidence of any gunpowder stippling. And her wound was on the top of her skull, which suggested that she would have had to hold the gun above her head, pointing downwarda very unusual direction in which to point the gun at ones self with the intention of committing suicide, Henderson wrote. Jessicas grandmother made an appointment with a lawyer who could help her file for divorce. He didnt find any, and dismissed the protective order. They rented an apartment in Griffin, in a complex of beige two-story buildings surrounding a swimming pool. Matthew called a Griffin police lieutenant for advice. Like a car accident? she asked. She speaks lovingly of her children and the need to and desire to see them.. That piece of evidence was a photo showing Matthew's cell phone next to the microwave inside the apartment. Jessicas grandparents hoped that this development would help their case. she asked. 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. However, the GBIs own photographs, search warrant and evidence log all corroborate that the officers phone was on the kitchen counter after Matthew had already left the apartment. Jessica Boynton says she's free as a bird'. King told me, Youd think it would have been simple enough to put bags on her hands and test them for gunshot residue. The glowing yellow and black, blocked-letter Waffle House sign illuminates his truck as he drives by, turning around to head back home. I believe I just heard a shot fired coming from my residence. And in both instances, he was cleared of wrongdoing.), That Matthew had found himself in a troubled relationship did not surprise Dix. She spoke to the GBI, from her hospital bed. She silently surveyed the walls, where her family had taped pictures of her sons. 2023 Cond Nast. "You know, you're trying to match up times of where he is getting these text messages or how he's responding to them, that he has to be in the kitchen. Jail trustiesmodel inmates who did menial jobs at the sheriffs officetold him that theyd spent two weeks destroying paperwork, at the previous administrations instruction. Is she gonna wear a mask or. Sanders deleted his Facebook account, his primary method of communicating with sources and reporting his findings. She said that all she could remember about that night was that shed gone to Walmart. After getting home around 10:45 PM, a neighbor heard a gunshot from the Boynton home. At the time of the shooting Jessica was looking to make a new start for herself and two young sons. Because if you go to the photographs that are part of your investigative case file, there's a photograph after the evidence report for his cell phone" she said. GRAPHIC WARNING: Jessica Boynton, 19, was found lying in a pool of blood in a locked wardrobe in the home she shared with her husband Matthew Boynton in Griffin, Georgia back in April. Ashley Dunn, the lead teacher in Jessicas classroom, said, We were all, like, You can do an awesome job working with ten two-year-olds but you cant see your own kids? On weekends, Dunn sometimes asked Jessica to babysit for her own children. I want you to make sure that Jessica is going to be O.K., because hes going to hurt her.. Whitehouse didnt understand why she was being directed to basically a hiding spot. She recorded the conversation on her phone, so that investigators could look for clues if she disappeared. Matthew has never been charged in this case, nor has anyone else, and it was labelled as closed. Armed with body camera attached to their uniforms, the officers burst through the door, quickly passing Matthews phone, a black and grey Verizon LG smartphone, on the kitchen counter. In December, 2014, Jessica had a brief affair and got pregnant again. With his gun raised and arms poised, he holds his weapon out in front of him with both hands. Dusty asked him where Jessica was, and he said that she had been taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. Martha worried that Jessica had lost her feistiness. On April 15, 2016, in the town of Griffin, Georgia. The psychologist wrote, of the older son, I asked him if he has been happy or sad. Matthew wore a titanium wedding ring with a blue stripe, to signify that he was in law enforcement. Sheriff Beam can carry a weapon, he said. Her aunt Kathy, who lives on the farm, said, With Jessicas family background, there was probably just a feeling of Oh, Ive finally found someone who loves me.. In April 2016, hours after an argument with his wife Jessica, Griffin, Georgia police officer Matthew Boynton radios for assistance and reports hearing two gunshots coming from inside his home. "Well, how do you come to that conclusion?" After he serves a three-year sentence and finishes his probation, his record will be wiped clean. The men would sit down, and the women would stand behind their men. Lowry wanted to put witnesses on the stand who would testify that Matthew had been psychologically abusive. With their guns drawn, the officers checked every room in the house. . Ill go ahead and tell you that the boys deserve more structure and more care and love which Im almost positive YOU have. By then, the boys were spending half their time with each parent, switching houses on Fridays. Marc, we hope to see you at Reunion. Everyone said, Beams grandson will get off, she went on. So Im trying to hurry up and get back home, just to make sure that nothing is going to happen to them., Six minutes later, Matthew reported on his police radio that he had heard two gunshots as he was walking up the stairs to his apartment. Like many docile, self-effacing women, Jessica has some hidden pockets of pride, and one of them is her skills as a writer. Only eight were fired. Recent signers. But according to Mathews, that was not the last number dialed, so it could not have just been a redial accidently called through the evidence bag. Am I recording it? She wanted to elaborate on what shed witnessed, but the agents left after eight minutes and never came back. Jessica Lester started dating Matthew Boynton when she was fifteen. 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.
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