Found Safe WA - Ethan Robertson, 5, Abducted after mother was stabbed, Spokane Valley, 23 April 2019

I'm glad he let the boy go. Thank God.

 

Man accused of stabbing wife, abducting 5-year-old son in Spokane Valley discovered in Whitman County; son safely in custody
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After an hours-long standoff, Justin P. Robertson relinquished his son Ethan O. Robertson to law enforcement. Deputies are still working to bring Justin Robertson into custody.

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The Robertsons were going through a divorce and Melissa Robertson had obtained a temporary restraining order against her husband, according to court records.

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The restraining order, granted on March 12, suggests Justin Robertson had a history of making violent threats against himself and his family, including installing tracking devices on his wife’s car months earlier and following her to work.

On March 11, Melissa Robertson wrote that her husband said he “should’ve driven us in the car in the front of an oncoming semi truck.” Six days earlier, she said he held a knife to his neck and “threatened to end his life.”

[...]

In December, Melissa Robertson petitioned the court for an earlier restraining order, saying her husband had put a device in her car, according to court records. She found it after receiving an anonymous text message.

Records say the woman reported further instances of suicidal behavior. In November, during a family trip to Steptoe, Washington, he swerved toward oncoming semitrucks saying “are you ready?”

In a previous marriage that ended in 2011, his then wife wrote a declaration in Spokane Superior Court detailing similar behavior. She said he would often lose his temper, at times grabbing a kitchen knife and threatening to kill himself or his family.

“He has periods where he is irrational and aggressive and it frightens me,” the woman wrote, according to court records.

 

Suspect who prompted AMBER Alert has history of domestic violence, docs say
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In December, she told police that Robertson did not use guns or other weapons to threaten her, but he said he had a gun in their house, according to court documents.

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Robertson’s wife also submitted a parenting plan in Spokane County Superior Court on March 14. She suggested that Robertson should have no contact with his child, according to court documents.

According to the parenting plan, Robertson would need to be evaluated for a mental health disorder and continue all treatments in order to have contact with his son.

Robertson’s wife also filed for divorce on March 14, according to court documents.

[...]

 

Looks like the soon to be ex wife will have a major problem solved one way or the next. Glad the little guy appears to be ok.

 

Will Campbell on Twitter
Update: both Spokane County helicopters just took off and appear to be headed back to Spokane.

6:12 PM - 23 Apr 2019

Will Campbell on Twitter
A caravan of police vehicles just arrived back from the scene. The forensic unit headed that way moments ago. Still waiting on a PIO for an update

6:42 PM - 23 Apr 2019

Will Campbell on Twitter
Update: The standoff is over, said PIO Mark Gregory. That’s all the info he can give at the moment.
7:02 PM - 23 Apr 2019 from Washington, USA

 

Patrick Erickson KHQ on Twitter
UPDATE: Standoff with #AmberAlert suspect Justin Robertson is over. Deputies say Robertson is dead of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound. @KHQLocalNews

7:25 PM - 23 Apr 2019 from Liberty Lake, WA

 

I'm so glad the boy is safe, and hopefully his mother will be able to fully recover physically. I'm sure both the mother and son will have pschological trauma from this horrible event, and I hope they are both able to get counselling. I think LE did a fantastic job saving the boy.

 

Well done, LE! Now the healing can begin.

 

It will be difficult but they won't have to live in fear. I was single 20 years before I married my current husband. People thought it was because I was grieving for a deceased spouse. No, he was bipolar and severely abusive, which is why I purposely never had a child with him. He was always threatening to kill himself or me. I made it out alive, but that sort of trauma takes a long time to get past. May she heal fully and enjoy the blessing of her child.

 

APR 24, 2019
Washington man killed himself after stabbing wife, abducting son, authorities say
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Justin Robertson, who triggered an Amber Alert in Washington, Oregon and Idaho after authorities said he took the child, was found dead at a home in St. John, Washington, around 6 p.m. after apparently shooting himself, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. No one else was injured.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t given any information on the home where Robertson, 41, was found. Members of SWAT and a hostage negotiation team had been trying to get Robertson to come out of the home before he was found dead.

[...]

 

It is heartbreaking to know that so many women live in fear and then that some of them die at the hands of their partner - who they once loved and trusted.

I wish there were more good outcomes where the woman and the children survive and are freed from this life of horrible fear. I know we all wish this.

There are men who are in fearful domestic situations as well and I recognize this.

Public discourse on domestic violence is so crucial.

My heart goes out to everyone who is suffering through domestic violence as well as those who are now safe and are healing through their traumas.

 

i called that one. he was not going alive.

 

I know it, and I just about tagged you! MOO

 

he has severe issues man. his poor family.

 

Yes, I feel for them. And, poor Melissa - it sounds like she tried to do everything she could to keep Ethan and herself safe - restraining order, divorce, alarm system, and who knows what else. Sad, sad situation all the way around. I'm just so thankful that Ethan is safe. Poor little guy. MOO