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. In Jessicas first three weeks in the hospital, he visited her once, accompanied by Beam, who wore his uniform and carried his gun. 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. I love you and the boys., A minute later, Matthew responded to a joke from Callaway. 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.). Matthew and Callaway broke up a few weeks later. One woman said that he would drive to her house and shine the lights of his patrol car into her windows. But asking those questions resulted in a threat. Jessica had to wean her baby before starting the job, so on Thursday night she and Matthew drove to Walmart, to buy formula. When facts are wrong, evidence altered to fit theories and threats made, how does the GBI remain the last word on the case? Jessica, who still has no memory of what happened that day, states that Matthew is the only one who knows the truth. 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. She just said that she's been experiencing suicidal thoughts right now, she told me to take care of the boys. And if shes capable of attempting to take her own life, theres a chance that she might do something to these children.. The agent had that phone, I think DeMarco, Chris DeMarco had the phone and they was [sic] trying to get in the gate, and, uh, he accidentally hit, I guess, the last number dialed, called or whatever. Everyone said, Beams grandson will get off, she went on. They have won. Matthews case was presented to a grand jury in July, 2018. Philip Stinson, a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University and one of the few scholars who has studied the issue, reached a similar finding: one in five officers arrested for domestic violence nationwide had also been the subject of a federal lawsuit for violating peoples civil rights. Especially because of my children. agents asked if she had ever handled Matthews gun. As it became clear that Gibsons activities could be criminal, the G.B.I. the GBI agent posed a return question. Bad decisions, he said. Recent signers. They were becoming estranged, and when something h. Updated: 11:14 PM EDT July 28, 2017. I dont doubt the findings of the G.B.I., he told me. 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.. Furthermore, she said, there were too many errors and discrepancies for her to have sent a text like that. But DeMarco insisted to Mathews during their phone conversation, that the timeline was not relevant. Now for a pleasant, modest entry into retirement in Toronto.". But Griffin Police Chief Michael Yates said, Officer Boynton was not the shooter and trusts the investigations outcome. 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. Sanders offered Willey a hundred and twenty dollars to sneak into Matthews utility closet and get Jessicas bag. She's having suicidal thoughts," he calmly says about Jessica to the dispatcher. And then I started thinking, Well, why did I even come to you? she said. Somebody that shoots themself in the head means business. Get off of me! she screamed. Her marriage had been crumbling, and she and her husband of six months Matthew Boynton, 20 . The subsequent investigation was short-lived, with it having been deemed a "civil matter.". Matthew Boynton is the grandson of Sheriff Beam. Only eight were fired. He assigns another officer to standby at the door until the rest of the apartment is cleared. In September, 2016, the G.B.I. And, unfortunately it appears those questions will never be answered," Mathews said. At the time of the shooting Jessica was looking to make a new start for herself and two young sons. . Jessica Boynton was married to Matthew Boynton, a local police officer and grandson of the county sheriff. And that's all I needed, so I was on cloud nine.". Mike Yates, the chief of the Griffin police, told me in an e-mail that Matthews case had nothing to do with domestic violence. Matthew makes it home, jumps out of his truck, races through the breezeway of his apartment building and bolts up the stairs. 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. Underneath her . His flashlights beam reveals a smiling family of four. On his way, at 12:54 a.m., he said, he received a text from Jessica: I cant do this anymore. Matthew and the boys temporarily moved in with Courtney Callaway, the dispatcher he was dating. Jessica reported what he said to child-protective services, who helped arrange for the boys to see a child psychologist. At 12:54 AM, Matthew's phone received a text from Jessica's phone that read like a suicide note. She silently surveyed the walls, where her family had taped pictures of her sons. At the time of the shooting Jessica was looking to make a new start for herself and two young sons. Less than a week after Jessica emerged from her coma, DeMarco and another G.B.I. GBI begins interviewing neighbors and Matthew interviews with the GBI later that morning. Dispatch notifies Spalding County Sheriff Wendell Beam, Matthews grandfather,and police notify Jessicas family that she has died. 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. Credit: GBI/Griffin Police Dept. Community. Here lately I have not been able to recognize the person I see in the mirror. Matthew wore a titanium wedding ring with a blue stripe, to signify that he was in law enforcement. I mean you can't prove that," DeMarco. But did something else happen that spring night in 2016? 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. But the report and follow-up interviews with the lead investigator make the case as clear as mud to one reporter in the small town where it happened. The Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Shootings, The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders. Sanders said that he no longer goes anywhere unarmed. DeMarco pressed Mathews. 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. But a psychiatrist who assessed her for depression apparently saw no need to give her a diagnosis or refer her for treatment. Indentations in the walls of Jessicas closet suggested that one bullet had been shot at an upward angleit entered the wall near the top of the closetand another bullet hit the wall near the floor. to say that he had the original document. After Gibson left, citizens came forward to say that they, too, were terrified of him. I mean he might have grabbed my arm before, but I don't think he would intentionally do anything to hurt mebut like I said, he's changed so much here, lately, she said. 9,226 people follow this. It was Im going to lock people up. No, I cant even get it out of the case, she said. Jessica would not touch a gun, she said. The chief would eventually like to get his officer back, as well as his service weapon back, DeMarco told Matthew. The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. For a while, he put clear tape on the doors of his house and car, so he would know if anyone had sneaked inside. A text message is sent to his phone from Jessicas phone. Contact Justice for Jessica on Messenger. We will not be swayed by hearsay, false rhetoric or sensationalism in a manner that would cause harm to the innocent, he wrote. Its always different. The idea that domestic violence is bad for kids still has not sunk init sometimes barely makes a dent in a case, she said. Boynton, who was . And its assigned to Matthew. Jessica didnt have her own credit card or car, so if she needed something from the supermarket she texted Matthew, who either took her to the store himself or asked Beam or his wife to deliver the item. All rights reserved. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Then he would handcuff me and put me on the hood of his patrol car and have oral sex with me, she wrote in a statement. Two months later, Jessica was hired as an assistant teacher at a child-care center in Griffin. Jessica was still missing her orthodontic retainer. The police asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. 11Alive reached out to Officer Matthew Boynton, however, phone calls were not returned. provided images. Officers rush to the scene to find Jessica Boynton inside a locked closet, with an apparent gunshot wound to her head. 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. 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. No it wasn't. | Examine the evidence yourself. reports, Matthew said. 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. 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.. My kids are at home with her, so I'm trying to hurry up and get back there., I'm driving. She was leaving her husband of just six months. I finally had the evidence that I needed that Matthew was cheating on me. 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. After getting home around 10:45 PM, a neighbor heard a gunshot from the Boynton home. It's a question 11Alive investigators asked a few months ago, when Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boynton's wife, Jessica, allegedly shot herself in the head with his service weapon, inside . Immediately following that flip, Mathews said, DeMarco asked if she was recording their conversation. No one responded to Marthas letters. He was Spalding County. 2023 Cond Nast. ), 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. No, never. Early that morning, Matthew was interviewed by Chris DeMarco, a G.B.I. I hope those stories went too far, he said, referring to the notorious Wood Chipper. The sheriffs department does not respond to incidents inside the Griffin city limits, and he was the only one from his office there. Why did you write the damn statement? a sergeant asked him. The air is thick with the trepidation, as officers approach the locked closet. Dusty asked him where Jessica was, and he said that she had been taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. 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. September 30, 2019. Jessica is placid and effortlessly polite, warm without being intimate. Just before 2 a.m. on April 15th, Wendell Beam asked the sheriff of Pike County to send officers to the house. They say she tried to commit suicide but, there is more to the story. She agreed, and in May, 2017, Sanders dropped off the bag at the Griffin Police Department. But she felt isolated. The psychologist wrote, of the older son, I asked him if he has been happy or sad. But otherwise, he said, Im doneIm out. 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. She said that Matthew told her she wasnt related to them by blood. And I could have been the next target.. Have you ever had any thoughts about hurting yourself? Coleman asked. The boys expressed fear of having any potential contact with their biological father, the psychologist wrote. looked into the allegations. We put it on the counter to take a picture of it," he confirmed to Mathews. We believe he is a danger to her, she told the judge, Tommy Hankinson. While sifting through pages and pages of the report, a GBI evidence photo caught her attention. According to Jessica Lester, Boynton's ex-wife who filed a . Beam dropped the matter. He had looked in the master bedroom, and when he didnt see the baby, who typically slept there, he ran outside. "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. Jessica and Matthew left their wedding reception, which her family hosted, after less than an hour. I didnt try to brush off anything. Why is he getting so much protection and coverage? the agent said. Hewrote a letter to Jessicas attorneyon June 10, in which he questioned the finding that Jessicas head injury was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, indicating that there was no investigation conducted by authorities at the hospital. There are a lot of questions that I would love to have answered. 11alive.com. 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, 2014, Jessica had a brief affair and got pregnant again. The secretary whom hed slapped in the head was asked to type his resignation letter. The next day, Yates texted the D.A. He didnt find any, and dismissed the protective order. Police and Officer Boynton claimed that Jessica tried to kill herself but after Jessica awoke . 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 . He did not explain why hed earlier sent word that Jessica was dead. At first he lied, but within fifteen minutes he acknowledged that hed known about Jessicas bag all along. It breaks my heart! she wrote. The "Sex and the City" alum, 56, took . Community See All. Uh, just my service weapon, he responds. Hardheaded. Can you please dispatch a unit out to my location? he said calmly. She became dead seriousId never seen her so serious, Denise said. It began as a visionary notionthat patients could die with dignity at home. Matthew, who had been restored to patrol duty, carried a new service gun and wore his uniform, and was accompanied by Beam. 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 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. You are your own person. Jessicas grandparents live on two hundred acres of farmland in Pike County, a twenty-five-minute drive from her apartment. Jessica Boynton, 19, was a stay-at-home mom to 8-month-old Tyler and 2-year-year old Tollin. It was like she needed permission for everything, she said. She made a full recovery, but doesnt remember a thing. They decided to get married. In December, 2016, Jessica filed a report with the Griffin Police Department, saying that Matthew hadnt returned her belongings. I just came up the stairs, two rounds be advised I smell gun smoke, and I cant get an answer at the door, he says out of breath and panicked. Griffin Police officer Matthew Boynton was cleared in his wife's shooting, but his interrogation still cost him his job. On April 15, 2016, in the town of Griffin, Georgia. 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. 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. I think the city thought this would be business as usual, until a local reporter and a loser truck driver got involved, Will Sanders said. 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. Chris DeMarco, GBIs assistant special agent in charge, arrives on the scene and meets with Griffin Police Chief Michael Yates for a briefing. 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. He's asked me to go get it out before. Matthew Boynton, 21, had just started work as a Griffin police officer. But a Griffin city official said that the document couldnt be found. However, with the later discovery of previously-unknown evidence, it evolved into an . 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. Never, she said. 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. Matthew sends another text to his girlfriend, a Spalding County dispatcher, Give me a few. Now itsa twenty-two-billion-dollar industry plagued by exploitation. Not now. Willey wanted to help Jessica because she was scared of Matthew, too. 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. If that's what you want to do. Jessica Boynton was found in a closet bleeding out. For their sons first Christmas, Matthew took Jessica to her grandparents housethe first time shed seen them in monthsbut before she opened her presents he told her that they had to leave. 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. You find plenty of reasons to leave nowI know that, Jacob teased her. Within three hours, she received a copy of Matthews official oath, which the D.A.s office had been trying to find for six months. Jessica Boynton was initially . | Examine the evidence yourself, calls 911, reaching Spalding County dispatch. She wore hand-me-downs and liked to take nature photographs. 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. If you perceive yourself as being country and rough, then youre a dyke, she said. Her head shaved. 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. Shes just a piece of shit, Jacob clarified. 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. Four months later, he was hired as a reserve officer in Braswell, Georgia, a community of four hundred people. . 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 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. In July, he was charged with two felonies: making false statements and violating his oath of office. That is where her memory ends. 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.
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