A few months after the wedding, Denise and Amy went out for lunch. Jessica would not touch a gun, she said. Nothing will happen to the kid.. She wouldnt have done that to them. The officers told Dusty she needed to either calm down or leave the property. The agency deferred to its chief medical examiner, who spent ninety minutes on the case and never examined Jessica. "Police department!" agents canvassed the apartment complex and discovered that Megan Browning and her fianc and a couple that lived next door to Jessica were the only neighbors who had heard gunshots. At the Griffin Police Department, concerns about domestic violence have apparently been so slight that in 2018 the department hired an officer whose personnel record showed that he had recently been accused by his childs mother of threatening her with a gun. In response to 11Alives questions about the case, the GBI said, We are confident in the investigation that was conducted., RELATED: Jessica Boynton says she's free as a bird', MORE | Watch the Facebook Live with Brendan Keefe. 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. They have won. Dusty approached a group of Griffin police officers and asked whether Matthew had shot her sister. He assigns another officer to standby at the door until the rest of the apartment is cleared. Ha! A different metaphor.. 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. In response to The GRIP's objection, the city of Griffin produced four records - a photograph of Matthew Boynton identified as Boynton.png, a photograph of Sanders identified as sanders.png, a screen shot of a private Facebook message identified as chat.png and a Word document composed of those three elements identified as will.docx. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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. The following year, Gibson put a female colleague in a headlock and held a Taser against her temple. | Examine the evidence yourself, calls 911, reaching Spalding County dispatch. Behind the closet door: Crime Watch Daily investigates the Jessica In September, 2016, the G.B.I. 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. I dont doubt the findings of the G.B.I., he told me. You do whatever you want to do. The lead teacher at the day care where Jessica worked had also found her unnecessarily deferential. Law enforcement was in his genes. They rented an apartment in Griffin, in a complex of beige two-story buildings surrounding a swimming pool. 8,897 people like this. 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. When Jessica graduated from high school, her grandparents held a party for her and projected a movie on the side of their barn. Jones passes by a framed portrait hung on the wall. It was the first time anyone had spoken with her at length about the night of her injury. 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. At first he lied, but within fifteen minutes he acknowledged that hed known about Jessicas bag all along. Who shot Jessica Boynton? A new podcast investigates | king5.com (She and Callaway, Matthews ex-girlfriend, couldnt be reached for this story. 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.. I believe I just heard a shot fired coming from my residence. "That's the way we're gonna play this game, Sheila. And then I started thinking, Well, why did I even come to you? she said. Jessica had to wean her baby before starting the job, so on Thursday night she and Matthew drove to Walmart, to buy formula. Browning, who sometimes socialized with Jessica and Matthew, cried throughout her interview. Matthew Boynton, 21, had just started work as a Griffin police officer. Matthew claims this was around 1 a.m, but the neighbors . The Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings, The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders. "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. Willey had seen a copy of Matthews sworn statement in his car, and she was disturbed that he was lying straight to everybodys face, she later told the police. At the recommendation of the captain, and with Beams approval, an outside agency investigated Gibson and concluded that he was a predator. In the spring of 2015, Beam allowed Gibson to retire, keeping his pension. He would flash his lights and pull her over, and force her to have sex with him. "Well, how do you come to that conclusion?" 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. Griffin Police officer Matthew Boynton cleared in wife's - YouTube Police and Officer Boynton claimed that Jessica tried to kill herself but after Jessica awoke . The rest of us enjoyed her graduation party, Martha, her grandmother, said. "That was when approximately 24 minutes into the conversation, his demeanor changed and everything flipped," she recalled. Earlier that night Jessica's husband Matthew headed to Waffle House for a late-night bite with a fellow officer, leaving his service weapon . underwear and dental retainer belonging to his now-former wife, Jessica Lester, . He had control of Spalding County, she said, referring to Gibson. Jessica could not come within three hundred yards of Matthew or her children. 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. Not long afterward, she saw Matthew walk briskly to his truck. A Griffin Police Officer's wife herself, the reporter called DeMarco, on Sept. 28, the investigator who was in charge of the investigation for the GBI, to question him about the case and the photo that nagged her, and that for her, called into question how anything they investigated was trustworthy. Denise was on a science-curriculum committee with Matthews stepmother, Amy, a teacher in the same district. Bad decisions, he said. Have you ever had any thoughts about hurting yourself? Coleman asked. 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.). King told me, Youd think it would have been simple enough to put bags on her hands and test them for gunshot residue. In December, 2016, Jessica filed a report with the Griffin Police Department, saying that Matthew hadnt returned her belongings. She said that all she could remember about that night was that shed gone to Walmart. she asked. Early that morning, Matthew was interviewed by Chris DeMarco, a G.B.I. They were becoming estranged, and when something h. By then, Beams reputation had been muddied by the Gibson investigation, and he had been voted out of office. I never wanted to hurt myself before, she said, going on to say that shes never handled a gun, nor shot one. If that's what you want to do. Like a car accident? she asked. The next door neighbor interview was conducted after Matthew returned to full duty. I know that we got into an argument, but that's about all," she said, not remembering much of what had happened on April 15. So there was really no need for me to leave. I was scared to death, because I couldnt find him, that she would shoot me, shoot him, and then kill herself.. They say she tried to commit suicide but, there is more to the story. Earlier that night Jessica's husband Matthew headed to Waffle House for a late-night bite with a fellow officer, leaving his service weapon . A few days later, Kathy noticed Jessica crying. She had a job interview and it was going to be her first step to freedom. Somebody that shoots themself in the head means business. In 2012, Piper complained to Beam, and he said hed look into the accusations, if she put them in writing. Her marriage had been crumbling, and she and her husband of six months Matthew Boynton, 20 . In early May, after three weeks in a coma, Jessica began to regain consciousness. The secretary whom hed slapped in the head was asked to type his resignation letter. The notification was made following an April 15, 2016, shooting incident - ruled by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to be a suicide attempt - at the home of Jessica Boynton and her now-estranged husband, Griffin Police Department Officer Matthew Boynton. No. Haha I'm sorry I didn't think about that lol he sends to her after receiving a text from her--moments following his text from his wife. She said, Do me a favor. Matthew and Callaway broke up a few weeks later. Previously city included Delray Beach FL. But there are almost no empirical studies examining the prevalence of this sort of abuse today. Jessica Boynton was found in a closet bleeding out. The older boy was asleep in his bedroom, and the baby was in his own room, crying in his crib. There are too many useless words thrown in, she said. His phone was given to someone else at Griffin PD, they put the phone in the thing because they knew GBI wanted it, and that's where we're gonna be while he was taken to the police department. All rights reserved. Why did you write the damn statement? a sergeant asked him. Her DNA had been found on the gun, which was to be expectedshe had been lying on it. Martha was initially skeptical when Jessica got involved with another man who assumed the role of protector. We will not be swayed by hearsay, false rhetoric or sensationalism in a manner that would cause harm to the innocent, he wrote. . Im only concerned with the G.B.I. But DeMarco insisted to Mathews during their phone conversation, that the timeline was not relevant. Here lately I have not been able to recognize the person I see in the mirror. (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.). I was scared to death, because I couldnt find [Tyler]that she would shoot me, I mean shoot him, shoot me, and then kill herself.. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. To text back long story I'll tell you later.. Its one of their owna police-issued .40-caliber Glock. I mean, I walk past it. 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. Am I recording it? I would have said, I can't do this anymore, comma, take care of Tolin and Tyler, period. I would have said, suicidal not suicide thoughts.. (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. Both couples said that the shots occurred around 11 p.m.not at 1 a.m., when Matthew had reported them. Underneath her . The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. Matthew and the boys temporarily moved in with Courtney Callaway, the dispatcher he was dating. Uh, just my service weapon, he responds. Where is Matthew Boynton now? - Fdotstokes.com Can a new approach curb domestic homicide? 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. Occasionally, Jessica still reflexively asked Jacob for permission to do things like visit her grandparents or go to the store. 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. What if Your Abusive Husband Is a Cop? | The New Yorker 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. ). 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. But I never look in it.. 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. DeMarco told Matthew that his clothes might need to be collected as evidence. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. And in both instances, he was cleared of wrongdoing.), That Matthew had found himself in a troubled relationship did not surprise Dix. She finished her high-school coursework online, and almost never saw her friends or family. My understanding of the laws of physics is that one person cannot be in two places at the same time," Mathews said in an interview with 11Alive. I dont know what she is capable of, Judge., Jessicas family agreed to pay a hundred dollars every Sunday so that her visits could be observed by another armed law-enforcement agent. Jessica and Matthew moved into a house across the street from the sheriff, Wendell Beam, and his wife. 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. Please tell them I love them everyday. But Matthew said that hed raise the child as his own. Jessica Boynton was initially . SHEILA A. MATHEWS ::: 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. 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.. In April, 2018, nine months after Matthew was charged, Jessica called the Spalding County district attorneys office to ask why Matthews case hadnt been presented to a grand jury. At the time of the shooting Jessica was looking to make a new start for herself and two young sons. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. 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. 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. In an interview with the police, she said that she found him intimidating. He asked me to go get it out before, and I told him, Youre going to have to.. 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. 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. Matthew testified that Jessicas grandparents were not blood-related, and could not be trusted with the children. Mathew, a then police officer raced home only to hear 2 consecutive gunshots. He's meeting his buddy at the local Waffle House. Woman shot in head says cop husband staged her 'suicide' Twice, she later testified, Gibson choked her. She agreed, and in May, 2017, Sanders dropped off the bag at the Griffin Police Department. They're saying it was self-inflicted, she said. Police Interrogation and Confession of Matthew Boynton, Wife - YouTube 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. No, never. If you perceive yourself as being country and rough, then youre a dyke, she said. 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. Police investigate further and find a gun underneath Jessicas limp body. Then-Griffin Police officer Matthew Boynton was arrested on July 28, . They decided to get married. matthew jessica boynton now - Weird Things Thats the game here, he said. provided images. The officers found Jessica in her bedroom closet, unconscious and lying on her side, her head on a bloody pillow. 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. Then he called E.M.S. "How did his phone get in there? ), After several months, a male officer told a captain in Internal Affairs that he didnt understand why Whitehouses complaint had been ignored. Matthew, who had been restored to patrol duty, carried a new service gun and wore his uniform, and was accompanied by Beam. Jessica Lester's friends persuaded her to date Matthew Boynton, a boy in the eleventh grade, by saying, "If you don't like him, you can always break up . The G.B.I. And its inside that closet, where police found her seemingly shot in the head, laying on top of her husbands service weapon. 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. Contact Justice for Jessica on Messenger. By Rachel Aviv. . The air is thick with the trepidation, as officers approach the locked closet. 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. After you got on the radio and you were outside communicating on the radio, you never went back in to actually check, check on the kids, the agent questioned Matthew about once he removed himself from the apartment. During the investigation, Jessicas sons were permitted to stay with her full time. With his gun raised and arms poised, he holds his weapon out in front of him with both hands. No one responded to Marthas letters. The idea that domestic violence is bad for kids still has not sunk init sometimes barely makes a dent in a case, she said. According to the report, GBI investigators never conducted a re-canvass of the apartment complex, and did not talk with the immediate next door neighbor for four and a half months, despite reports from other residents that they heard a single gunshot hours earlier than the officers call claiming shots had been fired. 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. Ive never, ever wanted to hurt myself before., Do you think Matthew was incapable of doing this?, Honestly, I dont know, she said. Immediately following that flip, Mathews said, DeMarco asked if she was recording their conversation. And that's all I needed, so I was on cloud nine.". Jessica Boynton says she's free as a bird'. Gibson had worked in the sheriffs office for twenty-eight years, and he cultivated an aura of invincibility. After Gibson left, citizens came forward to say that they, too, were terrified of him. Jessica was still missing her orthodontic retainer. Jacob is gentle and jovial, articulating emotions that Jessica herself struggles to name. He did not explain why hed earlier sent word that Jessica was dead. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. A phone that text messages were sent and received to/from following his recollection of hearing,POP-POP! and running out of the apartment. Ad Choices. After Jessica was shot, Matthew, then-20, was back on duty with his gun on his hip, before key interviews were conducted and the GBI director wrote an official letter about the cases conclusion, stating that the shooting was ruled a suicide.. 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. Her marriage had been crumbling, and she and her husband of six months Matthew Boynton, 20 . Jessica Lester started dating Matthew Boynton when she was fifteen. She was wearing fluffy slippers. And its assigned to Matthew. Like many docile, self-effacing women, Jessica has some hidden pockets of pride, and one of them is her skills as a writer. For the next three and a half weeks, Jessica remains in a coma with a traumatic brain injurytubes protruding from her brain to alleviate pressure and fluid. Matthew Boynton is the grandson of Sheriff Beam. It doesn't sound like anything I would say. Jessica was found with a gunshot wound in the closet of the couple's bedroom. Shes just a piece of shit, Jacob clarified. Jail trustiesmodel inmates who did menial jobs at the sheriffs officetold him that theyd spent two weeks destroying paperwork, at the previous administrations instruction. Who shot Jessica Boynton? A new podcast investigates | kiiitv.com Two shots had been fired. Her limp body is on the floor, just behind the door. 11Alive - BREAKING | Matthew Boynton, who was under - Facebook And he called the girlfriend, so Mays said to Mathews. With their guns drawn, the officers checked every room in the house. The neighbor saw Matthew leaving the apartment for dinner with a coworker. She said we needed to know what kind of kid he was. Furthermore, she said, there were too many errors and discrepancies for her to have sent a text like that. She was leaving her husband of just six months. Everyone said, Beams grandson will get off, she went on. We put it on the counter to take a picture of it," he confirmed to Mathews. Jessica could never quite explain whythere was no proposal, just an understanding that there was too much momentum to break up. He calls out for Jessica, but no answer. No. Its just a hobby, he said. It was Im going to lock people up. Recent signers. Jones checks on a locked closet door between the master bedroom and hallway, across from the bathroom. 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. Four of her grandchildren had taken target-shooting classes together, but Jessica had refused to participate. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. But now he resorted to a more mundane theory about the culture of power. Is that what you're saying?" provided images. In May, 2017, they broke up. Jessica Boynton was married to Matthew Boynton, a local police officer and grandson of the county sheriff. That is where her memory ends. After she came out of her coma, Denise had had to buy her new clothes. If the phone was found by the GBI in the kitchenif the phone is on police body camera footage sitting on the counter by the microwave, and he was outside never returning insidehow is it possible for Matthew to text his girlfriend, while he's calling in shots fired while outside of the apartment? 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. 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. Do you think Matthew did something? he asked her bluntly. September 30, 2019. Earlier that night Jessica's husband Matthew headed to Waffle House for a late-night bite with a fellow officer, leaving his service weapon . Three days after she left the hospital, a deputy from the Pike County sheriffs office delivered a Family Violence Protective Order. They wanted me to come back Friday for orientation for the job, she said. 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. Jessica, then-19, had just put her two young sons to bed and was getting her clothes ready in the closet for the next day. She became dead seriousId never seen her so serious, Denise said. I was going to report this, but, like he said, who will they believe? Another woman, who used methamphetamine, said that sometimes Gibson followed her as she drove. 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. After the visit, Matthew, who had been placed on administrative leave, was interviewed again by DeMarco. For a while, he put clear tape on the doors of his house and car, so he would know if anyone had sneaked inside. She walked with a limp and struggled with headaches, short-term memory lapses, ringing in her ears, and numbness on the left side of her body. They had wiped stuff off the computers, Dix said. What Happened to Jessica Boynton? Grisly Truth Could Have Been Covered Credit: GBI/Griffin Police Dept. One woman said that he would drive to her house and shine the lights of his patrol car into her windows. Hardheaded. Justice for Jessica - Facebook She concluded that shed chosen the wrong tactic. agent, Jared Coleman, interviewed her as she lay in her hospital bed. 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. He later tells investigators that he heard Tyler crying, and then, POP-POP!. After they were married, her grandmother said, it was almost like her personality got squished out of her., Photograph by Danna Singer for The New Yorker. Georgia cop charged with making false statements - ajc When I asked about her mother, who lived nearby, she said, mildly, that she had tried to reconnect with her several times over the years, but her mother didnt seem interested. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. And Jessicas trauma surgeon was not interviewed by the GBI until July 20. Chris DeMarco, GBIs assistant special agent in charge, arrives on the scene and meets with Griffin Police Chief Michael Yates for a briefing.