Alright, now that I’ve been verified I’ll try and provide some context as to what I think is going on.
First a little history: I met Amy in high school, we graduated together in 2000. We did things like hold hands and write each other letters. Her mother did not like me calling, so letters were our best option as not everyone had email in the 90’s.
Her home life was very rough, her father Clark was a physically abusive alcoholic who made a living as a trucker and her mother Jeannie homeschooled their 3 girls Jennifer, Amy, and Sarah. I heard countless horror stories from Amy about her mom and dad during our time together.
Strange things like her mom keeping dead birds in the freezer, not allowing numbing agents during dentist visits unless the kids could pay for it. Keeping tabs on how much money her children owed her for things that parent should provide. More than once her mother fled to Alabama by herself, one of those times taking Amy’s savings with her. This is anecdotal of course, as I only have Amy’s word as evidence. So, not a great home life. Fast forward to 2004, Amy and I reconnected before I moved to Flagstaff AZ, and after I moved we continued to write letters and talk on the phone. She moved to AZ a year later.
We were together for about 5 years out in AZ living in the Mesa/Tempe area. Amy got pregnant in 2007 and we had our son Garrett in 2008. her mother warned her that I might try and kill her during her pregnancy, because “some men just don’t want to be fathers” as soon as Amy got back from her maternity leave she was laid off from her job. They called it corporate restructuring, she was the only one from the phx office to be let go.
We moved to Avondale and I started as a student at UTI, working part time and going to school full time. Things fell apart, she became a different person. She made herself a bedroom in our walk in closet until she could find a new place to stay.
I helped her move to a new apartment in Tempe, she had hidden Garrett’s social security card from me and filed her taxes to get the child credit. I was upset, but hopeful that maybe some time apart was what we needed. I would come to her apartment and watch Garrett while she ran errands or did women’s group stuff with her church. She would never let me take him anywhere by myself. One morning I showed up to watch him and I had been out drinking with some friends the night before. I still smelled like booze, but was not intoxicated. I was at her apartment for about an hour and when she was leaving I swooped Garrett in for a goodbye kiss and she smelled it. This is where things started to get crazy. She said “you’re drunk” I told her that I wasn’t and explained why I smelled like alcohol. She grabbed Garrett from me and told me to leave. I decided not to argue with her, and I left. I felt that any police involvement could jeopardize my ability to see my son. After this she started making up excuses as to why I couldn’t see him. Once because I refused to tell her details about a court case I had with my apartment complex over some damage to a gate, she refused to let me come see him. I decided that she might just need some time to cool off, so I didn’t press her to see him for a few weeks. She stopped answering my calls, and on that Father’s Day I was served with a protection order. In it she alleged that I had shown up drunk to care for our son, alleged that I had sent her death threats, and accused me of copying her apartment key and breaking in. She accused me of drug abuse, I did 6 months of once a week random urinalysis and passed every one. None of these things were true. I immediately got a lawyer. I didn’t see garrett for a year after that. She would lie and refuse to cooperate with any co parenting initiatives. I eventually got supervised visitation, that cost me 75 dollars a visit. I did that for a year until I could no longer afford to live in AZ. I moved home to Ohio in 2011. The last time I tried to contact her was in 2011, she never returned my call but I did get a call from the Tempe police asking me to just leave her alone. She has kept her whereabouts hidden from me since the protection order. She would not even let my family see my son, she wanted to punish us. She has threatened my parents with this in a letter that they never shared with me until years after the fact. So, why does all of this matter?
After she was reported missing, I was contacted by the grandparents of Miles. His grandmother Donna told me that she had heard a whole lot about me during the two years her son and Amy dated. After she had miles she proceeded to try the same things she had successfully done with me. The lies, the withholding of the child, the court battles. She lost this time and had to accept 50/50 parenting. Maybe I needed a better lawyer.
She checked miles out of school early to go on a “camping trip” during her week, miles was missing from school for an entire week before his family found out. I believe that she has kidnapped miles and is on the run. She is mentally unstable and owns an unregistered colt .38 police+ revolver that she calls “hank” Miles grandma told me that miles has mentioned hank in the past so I assume she still has the gun and if she has deteriorated mentally to the point of kidnapping I fear that she would use it if approached by authorities. She has family in Alabama, and Ohio.
Her family believes everything she told them about me, so they probably believe everything she told them about Shawn. I do not trust them. I believe that they helped bankroll her side of our custody battle. Her mother would hide her.
this has been a long post, when I heard they went missing in the high desert I feared the worst. Once I spoke with miles grandparents I suspected foul play. Everything I know and they know has been reported to the Tempe police department.
-Justin