Speaker 1: Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners.
Speaker 1: Please take care while listening.
Speaker 2: I got out and like stood by my car, and
Speaker 2: I put my hands together like in prayer emotion. I
Speaker 2: just said, God, please be with me. And I opened
Speaker 2: my eyes and I walked towards him and I yelled
Speaker 2: at him. I yelled so loud, I said, how fucking
Speaker 2: dare you. That's when he put his head down and
Speaker 2: he wouldn't look at me after that.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal. Episode two, Blood Ties,
Speaker 1: Ashley Lytton discovered her husband was in possession of child pornography.
Speaker 1: With the help of her sister Anna, Ashley contacted law
Speaker 1: enforcement and reported him on September twenty ninth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: It was how did I get here? Moment? For Ashley.
Speaker 1: Her life imploded. Her sense of safety for her children
Speaker 1: was gone. Like any of us in the wake of betrayal, grief, destruction,
Speaker 1: and heartbreak, you revisit everything.
Speaker 2: I was going through some of our old photos and videos.
Speaker 2: I came across one specific one where he was teaching
Speaker 2: her to ride the bike. As she was driving away
Speaker 2: for the first time. She was yelling back like daddy look,
Speaker 2: Daddy look, and he's kind of cheering her on.
Speaker 1: Jason's father shared the love of football with him, That's
Speaker 1: how they bonded, and Jason wanted to have that with
Speaker 1: his kids.
Speaker 3: And has been a Vikings fan his whole life.
Speaker 2: The story that I got was his father had gotten
Speaker 2: each one of his brothers a stuffed animal, and Jason
Speaker 2: happened to get the Minnesota Viking stuffed animal, and his
Speaker 2: brothers got two other teams, so their whole lives they
Speaker 2: cheered for those teams. I had been at work and
Speaker 2: he'd been home with the kids and the Vikings were
Speaker 2: going to play, and he had like a shrine of
Speaker 2: Viking stuff all over my living room.
Speaker 3: I mean he had.
Speaker 2: Jerseys laid out, he had stuffed animals, he had other memorabilia.
Speaker 2: Aveay was wearing one of his huge Vikings jerseys, and
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 1: Like, Uh, what are you doing.
Speaker 2: From that moment on, every time the Vikings played, everyone
Speaker 2: was decked down Vikings gear.
Speaker 3: That was our tradition.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't just a fan. Jason coached in the
Speaker 1: little league football community Julio. Heis lives in Ashley's neighborhood
Speaker 1: was his son's coach.
Speaker 4: Jason actually asked me to assist coaching.
Speaker 3: We just click football brought us clothes.
Speaker 5: He is very passionate and he actually really cared about
Speaker 5: the kids.
Speaker 3: Like they showed one how much he cared. It was great.
Speaker 1: Jason also played.
Speaker 6: Played flag football and when all the games.
Speaker 3: Of course, my son played with him too.
Speaker 6: Great athletic coach well.
Speaker 1: Jason was known for his love of football. Friends also
Speaker 1: found him hilarious. Ashley's friend Emmy.
Speaker 4: He was one of the funniest people I have ever met.
Speaker 4: You put Jason and my husband together and had a
Speaker 4: couple of cocktails in there. They would sing into a
Speaker 4: wooden spoon as they ran around the canche.
Speaker 3: They were just always so goofy.
Speaker 4: And he was kind of that guy pair with my
Speaker 4: husband that you know, reminded me that there are good men.
Speaker 3: They're still out there.
Speaker 1: Ashley had taken on adult responsibilities since she was a kid,
Speaker 1: taking care of her mother raising her siblings an early motherhood.
Speaker 1: She was ready for a partner, someone to help carry
Speaker 1: the weight.
Speaker 2: I think because I had spent so much my life
Speaker 2: being the person that had to be in charge and
Speaker 2: make the decisions. When Jason came along, I referred to
Speaker 2: him with everything everything I did. Even when we bought
Speaker 2: our house, I was like, listen, I don't give a
Speaker 2: shit what house we buy at this point, pick house.
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
Speaker 2: I don't care, like you know best, so you do it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1: In marriage, Ashley finally felt part of a team. She
Speaker 1: loved it, sharing coffee with Jason in the morning, family
Speaker 1: dinners in the evenings, when sports weren't taking the kids
Speaker 1: in three different directions. But after eight years of being married,
Speaker 1: their family dynamic started to change.
Speaker 2: From the outside looking in, we just had this picture
Speaker 2: perfect life, beautiful home, wonderful kids. Both of us have careers,
Speaker 2: we're both like semi young and in shape.
Speaker 1: But the reality was very different.
Speaker 2: Two years before COVID, Jason stopped interacting with us.
Speaker 1: Ashley's stepmother, Kathy TRIHILLO.
Speaker 7: He wasn't going to work and she was having money struggles,
Speaker 7: and they were kind of like living two separate lives.
Speaker 7: But you don't know what goes on in people's four walls.
Speaker 7: So you're like, you know, try and just to be
Speaker 7: supportive to Ashley.
Speaker 3: That's all, you know. We tried to do is be support.
Speaker 7: And she wanted to hang in there and keep it going.
Speaker 7: Then we were going to try to stand behind her.
Speaker 1: Jason was a talented tradesman. When he showed up for work.
Speaker 1: Jason's former employe or Steve Iihausen.
Speaker 8: He liked to take a lot of time off and
Speaker 8: he would say his children were sick or he had
Speaker 8: to go to school for something like that, and so
Speaker 8: he was using excuses that weren't true to take time
Speaker 8: off and do something for himself.
Speaker 9: It was actually putting their mortgage in jeopardy. And now,
Speaker 9: like in retrospect, I'm like, was he just staying home
Speaker 9: and watching all of this stuff?
Speaker 6: Just went work for a couple two, three weeks at
Speaker 6: a time. And I'm sure it was not because he
Speaker 6: didn't have any work. He just didn't want to go
Speaker 6: to work.
Speaker 1: Jason also lost interest in spending time with friends and family.
Speaker 1: Ashley's family enjoyed Jason's company. She comes from a big
Speaker 1: family with siblings, stepsiblings, nieces, and nephews. Any excuse was
Speaker 1: a good one for a family party and John Ashley's
Speaker 1: dad loved to host.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 6: He didn't come to our function, like, man, where's that
Speaker 6: guy oh Man.
Speaker 10: You know.
Speaker 1: He would tell her family he needed to go to work.
Speaker 1: He told work he was prioritizing family. Most times he
Speaker 1: was doing neither have.
Speaker 2: They had traveled a lot for her competitive soccer league,
Speaker 2: and he wouldn't come with us. We went to California,
Speaker 2: I went to Colorado, went to Las Vegas, went to
Speaker 2: Saint George. We went to all these places and he
Speaker 2: wouldn't go.
Speaker 1: So Ashley took the kids and left Jason behind.
Speaker 3: We used to do so much together.
Speaker 2: We did. We were active, we were outside, we were
Speaker 2: at the movies. We're at the aquarium, we were in
Speaker 2: the mountains, like we did things all the time with
Speaker 2: the kids.
Speaker 1: Ashley was determined to keep going.
Speaker 2: I was like, we can't wait for you to live
Speaker 2: life with us. We can't not do anything. So I
Speaker 2: just started leaving him. I'd like, if you want to
Speaker 2: come along with us, we want you to come, but
Speaker 2: we're not going to sit in this house and do
Speaker 2: nothing anymore.
Speaker 1: Eventually, Jason stopped bringing anything to the table, so I asked.
Speaker 2: Him for a divorce, and he told me that he'd
Speaker 2: give me a divorce.
Speaker 3: It's like, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2: You know, we cannot live like this anymore. But then
Speaker 2: COVID happened, and all of a sudden, my Jason came
Speaker 2: back and he was being the man of the house
Speaker 2: type of thing.
Speaker 3: He was taking charge, like we need to make.
Speaker 2: A plan, and we need to get food, and we
Speaker 2: need to make sure the kids are taken care of
Speaker 2: and you know, make sure that we're safe. I was like,
Speaker 2: all right, So we just didn't talk about it again.
Speaker 1: But as lockdown orders were lifted and life returned to normal,
Speaker 1: Jason withdrew again.
Speaker 2: He would kind of revert back to being a hermit.
Speaker 2: We walked on eggshells with him every single day. We
Speaker 2: did everything we could to like not piss him off.
Speaker 2: We did everything we could to just not be noticed
Speaker 2: by him. All of us did. But for the most part,
Speaker 2: Jason stayed in our bedroom.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't showing any interest in actually there. Jason
Speaker 1: stopped showing any interest in sex or intimacy.
Speaker 2: I thought it was me, and I thought, I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: I had three kids, so it's like a hot dog
Speaker 2: down hallway maybe, And so I was like, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to do this to myself anymore.
Speaker 1: Ashley sought help from a therapist and she learned that
Speaker 1: his behavior had nothing to do with her.
Speaker 2: I'd come to some self realization. I'm like, I am beautiful,
Speaker 2: I'm a good mom, and I'm a good wife, and
Speaker 2: this problem isn't me, it's him. At that point, I'd
Speaker 2: kind of reinvested my time with God, and so I
Speaker 2: was like, I made this covenant with my husband and
Speaker 2: with God that I was going to love him through
Speaker 2: sickness and health and he would never leave me. And
Speaker 2: so I had decided that I wasn't going to get divorced.
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm going to love him harder, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna love him more, I'm going to be there for him.
Speaker 2: I'm going to help him through this, and it's gonna
Speaker 2: be okay. That's what I thought. I just thought he
Speaker 2: was insanely depressed, and I wanted him to go see
Speaker 2: a therapist. He went to his general family doctor. He's
Speaker 2: diagnosed add He put him on adderall and I think prozac,
Speaker 2: and then like he thought he had it under control
Speaker 2: because he's like, oh, I'm not going to take it
Speaker 2: on the weekend, and that's why he was sluggish on
Speaker 2: the weekend.
Speaker 3: That's what he'd say.
Speaker 1: It's not a good idea to take a medication vacation
Speaker 1: when you're on prozac and adderall without a doctor's consultation.
Speaker 1: Jason continued to isolate himself and became hyper focused on
Speaker 1: a new hobby.
Speaker 2: I bought him a drawing table because he liked to draw.
Speaker 1: He would lose himself for hours in a sketch pad.
Speaker 7: I don't remember why we had stopped by, but we
Speaker 7: were outside and he was in the house and he said,
Speaker 7: I'm getting into drawing.
Speaker 3: Now, come in.
Speaker 7: I want to show you guys my drawings.
Speaker 3: I was like, go clean your back through, you know,
Speaker 3: think what are you doing? Why are you sitting here drawing?
Speaker 1: I was in my head.
Speaker 3: I was like, what is he doing?
Speaker 1: Anna thought his drawings were bizarre.
Speaker 9: He's showing me these drawings and I don't know if
Speaker 9: he had drew them himself, where he outlined them from
Speaker 9: a printed off image or something, but they were like
Speaker 9: highly sexualized characters, very seductive clothing, huge boobs, all women.
Speaker 9: I just remember thinking like, what the fuck, what is
Speaker 9: he doing? This is not normal to me, And I
Speaker 9: remember telling Ashley, I'm like, you need to tell him
Speaker 9: to stop showing people those.
Speaker 3: It's fucking weird.
Speaker 6: He wasn't helped Ashley with anything. She came over here
Speaker 6: and fixed her brakes, fix her tires, whatever was, you know,
Speaker 6: and he it was had some excuse.
Speaker 4: She worked over time, constantly, she changed jobs for a
Speaker 4: better opportunity. She gave and cave and.
Speaker 8: Cave and gave.
Speaker 11: Okay, so I've read through the initial report. I was
Speaker 11: hoping that maybe we could talk a little bit more
Speaker 11: in depth how it all came about.
Speaker 1: On a day that felt completely surreal, Ashley Linton was
Speaker 1: finally sitting at the Riverton police station. Her husband was
Speaker 1: at his brother's house hoping to hear from her. It
Speaker 1: was ten at night, but the officer in charge of
Speaker 1: special Victims wanted to talk right away. He had worked
Speaker 1: quickly at a secure search warrant an inventory what Jason
Speaker 1: had in the hidden file. Now Ashley sat across from
Speaker 1: the detective Jason Rue, in a small interview room.
Speaker 4: I went through.
Speaker 12: I went through probably about photos in that account that
Speaker 12: he told me about. I'm so disgusted this obviously serious stuff.
Speaker 11: Not only doesn't have child pornography on this thing.
Speaker 10: But he's produced it.
Speaker 12: Basically, you're outside doing something with your plants, and he.
Speaker 10: Walks into.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I assume she had a white shirt on, and
Speaker 12: so he's like, hey, where's your mom? And anytime she
Speaker 12: would turn around, he's going up so you can actually
Speaker 12: see her breasts of he sure multiple times, I'm so
Speaker 12: worried about my daughter.
Speaker 1: There were videos from their family trip to Disney as well.
Speaker 1: It was the only trip Jason had taken with his
Speaker 1: family in two years. Detective rou explains.
Speaker 10: The stepdaughter was getting out of the shower and told everyone, hey,
Speaker 10: don't look, and Jason had set up his phone to
Speaker 10: video record her coming out of the shower while she
Speaker 10: had no clothes on, and then he proceeded to act
Speaker 10: like he wasn't watching although he was recording her.
Speaker 1: Legally, a Veo was Jason's stepdaughter, but he had raised
Speaker 1: her since she was two years old. She called him dad.
Speaker 12: Is there had porn issues that you're aware of?
Speaker 7: Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Our whole marriage has been flooded with it. It was
Speaker 2: just always really awkward. I think we've had six, maybe
Speaker 2: five times in two and a half years, and I'm
Speaker 2: kind of like masturbating, like weird times, like with me
Speaker 2: and my daughter, my eight year old, Like she's left
Speaker 2: in our bed and he's like on the floor masturbating,
Speaker 2: looking at his mom and I'm like, what the fuck
Speaker 2: are you doing? Her family's here, like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1: Ashley revealed other upsetting details about her marriage to Jason.
Speaker 2: He had an affair amon me when I was five
Speaker 2: months hearty, right, young guest and the girl he had
Speaker 2: a fair with. I think she was eighteen, but I
Speaker 2: knew that she had just.
Speaker 5: Graduated, right she was.
Speaker 3: The was seven eight years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how'd you find out about that?
Speaker 3: He left his phone one time at home like an idiot.
Speaker 2: Anyway, she'd texted him, I'm like, so I'm excited to
Speaker 2: see you tonight, and he had come up with this huge,
Speaker 2: elaborate story meany he's a talker, he could he do
Speaker 2: you know that stupid saying he could sell eyes to
Speaker 2: Eskimos that that's him and uh, Anyway, saw I called
Speaker 2: her and I was like, do you know he's getting
Speaker 2: ready to have a baby and we're married and have
Speaker 2: two children, and she was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: The conversation turned to the messages Ashley had been receiving
Speaker 1: from Jason.
Speaker 2: I understand you're upset right now and don't want to
Speaker 2: see me I really want to talk to him, and
Speaker 2: you're ready. I won't hassle you after this text message.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry I've.
Speaker 2: Created this problem for our family. I love you, ash
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. I know I need help and I'm
Speaker 2: going to get it. I promise to work hard and
Speaker 2: make sure you're undertaken care of.
Speaker 1: But Detective Roo was skeptical about the tax from Jason
Speaker 1: concerning the images.
Speaker 10: In my opinion, it's someone who just got caught doing
Speaker 10: something they know is not just wrong but illegal. Starts
Speaker 10: going into manipulation, saying, you know, I'm sorry I did
Speaker 10: this to our family. I'm a bad husband. Nothing about
Speaker 10: the victim, nothing about the wife. It's all about I've
Speaker 10: been caught now. I need to say sorry and try
Speaker 10: to build this trust again. Later on, he says I
Speaker 10: will get the help. I need to quit ignoring my
Speaker 10: issues and so you know, he's throwing all these things
Speaker 10: out like negotiation. I will do this and I need
Speaker 10: to do this, and I'll do better if you don't
Speaker 10: say anything and just mean you do it together. That's
Speaker 10: how I read these sext messages.
Speaker 1: Once Ashley reported, the crime detective room moved quickly.
Speaker 10: We were able to get the correct paperwork to get
Speaker 10: a warrant to get into those photos a couple hours
Speaker 10: before he deleted.
Speaker 3: On them a.
Speaker 10: Few hours later.
Speaker 1: Yes, the police enlisted Ashley to help make the arrest.
Speaker 10: So basically, how it would be if we could get
Speaker 10: him somewhere where our guys can just.
Speaker 11: Bring him into me here interview him here.
Speaker 10: I'd like to do it tonight, to be honest, I
Speaker 10: just wondering if.
Speaker 12: There's maybe a way that we could get him do
Speaker 12: that leave the house and meet.
Speaker 3: You somewhere and just kinda pick him up, etc.
Speaker 2: Rather do that and go on his brother's door.
Speaker 1: The Riverton police weren't keen to arrest Jason at another
Speaker 1: police officer's house, and it's easy to see why there's
Speaker 1: a firearm on the premises. It's complicated, but Detective Rue
Speaker 1: was still irritated that Jason's brother didn't do the right thing.
Speaker 12: I don't care if your brother you're in law enforcement.
Speaker 12: That is a no noe like he He could get
Speaker 12: himself in some trou He.
Speaker 11: Should be their first brother.
Speaker 10: I'm cool with that.
Speaker 12: But on the way here to talk to us about it,
Speaker 12: you know, like you screwed up royally, and that's all
Speaker 12: that was gonna be happening to you.
Speaker 1: The plan was to get Jason out of his brother's
Speaker 1: house to a neutral meeting spot where he would believe
Speaker 1: he could make his case one on one with Ashley.
Speaker 2: I just told him, how about let's meet away from
Speaker 2: the house that I'll have.
Speaker 12: The kids too, Okay, yeah, tell me twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1: Ashley was setting him up to be arrested and I'm just.
Speaker 11: Gonna wait here.
Speaker 10: Okay, Well, they do that, and then once you get
Speaker 10: him to try to talk to him, see if he
Speaker 10: wants to talk to her out.
Speaker 1: I tried to imagine what Ashley was thinking driving from
Speaker 1: the Riverton Police station to the Walmart parking lot. It
Speaker 1: must have been the strangest drive of her life. It
Speaker 1: was eleven thirty pm.
Speaker 2: Jason pulls in and I could fill this like fire
Speaker 2: burning inside of me, thinking that he had filmed up
Speaker 2: my daughter's shirt and saw her bare breasts, our daughter's shirt.
Speaker 3: So I had this like flash. We're kind of parked where.
Speaker 2: People return their carts and there's like these big rocks.
Speaker 1: For a moment, she fantasized about vigilanti justice.
Speaker 2: In my head, it played out like i'might grab a
Speaker 2: rock and I'm gonna like smack him over the head
Speaker 2: and then he's gonna pass out, and then I'm gonna
Speaker 2: kick him really hard, and then I'm gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: like all these terrible, violent things.
Speaker 1: Ashley felt so sad for his victims.
Speaker 13: I wanted to like take his eyes away from him
Speaker 13: so he can never look at my daughter again, look
Speaker 13: at anybody's daughter again. All those little girls that I
Speaker 13: saw in those phoo everything, I just it was so awful.
Speaker 13: And so when I got out, I didn't grab a rock,
Speaker 13: thank god, but I just started hitting him and he
Speaker 13: just let me and he was like, what are you doing,
Speaker 13: ash what are you doing? And then the police pulled
Speaker 13: up right after and say it took him into custody
Speaker 13: right then, just like.
Speaker 1: That, it was done. He was on his way to
Speaker 1: the police station. His work truck was still sitting in
Speaker 1: the parking lot.
Speaker 13: You know, we're married, so this is my asset too,
Speaker 13: so I should probably make sure that I don't just
Speaker 13: leave it in the Walmart parking lot. But I didn't
Speaker 13: have anyone to drive it anywhere for me, so I
Speaker 13: called his brother. It's like twelve o'clock at night. At
Speaker 13: this point he was sleeping and he I was like,
Speaker 13: what did you do? What did you do? And I
Speaker 13: was like, I did what you couldn't do. I did
Speaker 13: what you were supposed to do that you didn't do.
Speaker 1: His brother agreed to pick up Jason's truck. Finally, after
Speaker 1: fourteen hours the hospital a police interview, the longest and
Speaker 1: most awful day of Ashley's life had come to an end.
Speaker 11: You have the writer in silent She didn't need to
Speaker 11: say anything to me.
Speaker 12: Anything you say Canada will be used against you in
Speaker 12: the court.
Speaker 11: You have the right to have a.
Speaker 1: Lawyer well being read his Miranda rights. Jason explained that
Speaker 1: he'd never been arrested. He was polite.
Speaker 11: Do you understand each of these rights?
Speaker 3: I've explained I did, okay.
Speaker 1: Detective Rude tried to engage Jason in a conversation about
Speaker 1: the charges.
Speaker 11: Ashley contacted me as I cause, you guys have had
Speaker 11: a pretty rough day today.
Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, So.
Speaker 10: That's some of the things that I was holding to
Speaker 10: talk to you a little bit about, trying to get
Speaker 10: better understanding of what that's been going on, things of
Speaker 10: that nature.
Speaker 11: I'm willing to talk to you about whatever if you are,
Speaker 11: but if you prefer not to, then we'll just end
Speaker 11: our conversation regardless of whether we talk or not. Tonight, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 10: Gonna have you booked into the Southern County.
Speaker 5: Jailice So as far as being just because I have
Speaker 5: no idea this process goes being booked into jailmen, Am
Speaker 5: I just gonna be stuck there?
Speaker 10: Or do ill some.
Speaker 11: Of the charges that I'll book you in on or
Speaker 11: they're a little hefty, Okay, So I don't know if
Speaker 11: they're gonna just be like, hey, you're out tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5: I just feel like, since I've never been in a
Speaker 5: situation before, I was like, almost rather have an attorney president.
Speaker 5: I don't want doing something.
Speaker 1: I'm okay, Okay, I understand Jason understood he'd be sleeping
Speaker 1: in a jails all that night no matter what he
Speaker 1: was behind bars. That was taken care of, But there
Speaker 1: were the kids and questions about where Dad was. It's
Speaker 1: hard to imagine a day like this managing putting one
Speaker 1: foot in front of another, let alone the micro and
Speaker 1: macro decisions that Ashley had to make for herself, her children,
Speaker 1: and the safety of others. The children in those photos,
Speaker 1: not to mention in the wake of incredible trauma. She
Speaker 1: had been in the er, the police station, and witness
Speaker 1: her husband be arrested, all in the same day. And
Speaker 1: then there was the weight of this. Her husband had
Speaker 1: violated her eldest daughter, an innocent kid who called him Dad.
Speaker 1: Ashley knew she had to face them, but the truth
Speaker 1: was too ugly to share. She wanted to protect them,
Speaker 1: especially a Veya, all while feeling as though she failed
Speaker 1: them already. For the night, keeping it simple felt like
Speaker 1: the right decision. She needed to buy time to find
Speaker 1: the words.
Speaker 2: All of us knew that Jason had been struggling with
Speaker 2: his mental health.
Speaker 1: The kids sought so when Ashley told the kids that
Speaker 1: Jason was seeking help for his mental health issues, it
Speaker 1: made sense to them. Besides, she was exhausted and didn't
Speaker 1: have much time to recover. The very next morning, Ashley
Speaker 1: had to make a big presentation for work. There was
Speaker 1: a lot riding on it. Anna went with Ashley so
Speaker 1: she wouldn't be alone. So soon after Jason's arrest.
Speaker 9: She hadn't told her boss what had happened, and I
Speaker 9: remember her like saying, I'm not going to let this
Speaker 9: ruin my fucking career.
Speaker 3: But I remember watching her do.
Speaker 9: The presentation and I was like, none of these people
Speaker 9: know what just happened to her, Like.
Speaker 2: Her life has blown up, and look at her.
Speaker 3: She was up there.
Speaker 9: Making jokes and just confident and trying to engage the audience.
Speaker 9: And these people had so much many questions for her,
Speaker 9: and she was just on it answering all these questions.
Speaker 9: And I remember thinking, you are a fucking badass, Like
Speaker 9: I do not know how you're doing this. Your husband
Speaker 9: is in jail right now.
Speaker 1: Jason had been disengaging from the family, isolating himself. Ashley
Speaker 1: had grown stronger and more independent.
Speaker 3: I still am so proud of her. I don't know
Speaker 3: how she did it.
Speaker 9: I really think something psychological like happened for her to
Speaker 9: do that.
Speaker 7: And.
Speaker 3: The work that she did the year prior, maybe that's
Speaker 3: what Maybe that's what got her through.
Speaker 1: Ashley felt strong enough to keep it all inside. She
Speaker 1: thought she could hold everything in. She was in protection
Speaker 1: and survival mode. But then there was this.
Speaker 3: Somebody texted her and said it's in the news and
Speaker 3: the man from Riverton has been.
Speaker 6: Arrested for one hundred counts of sexual exploitation of a
Speaker 6: miner after someone came forward after helping forty year old
Speaker 6: Jason Linton said up a Venmo account.
Speaker 9: And then she just let out this horrible, horrible scream,
Speaker 9: and I just remember looking at her, and her whole
Speaker 9: body was like shaky, almost like convulsync. I've never seen
Speaker 9: it before. And then she just was like rocking back
Speaker 9: and forth and like putting her head on.
Speaker 3: Her knees, like she looked like a crazy person.
Speaker 9: I don't even remember what I said to her to
Speaker 9: try to calm her down, Like I did not know
Speaker 9: what to do.
Speaker 3: And I've never seen my sister like that.
Speaker 9: I don't ever want to see her like that ever again,
Speaker 9: Detective Real.
Speaker 10: I try to prepare them a little bit for the
Speaker 10: next morning when they wake up, I'll let them know, like, hey,
Speaker 10: these cases, the news picked these cases up quick. In
Speaker 10: my mind, I'm talking to these victims and these family
Speaker 10: members and I'm explaining things. But sometimes when you're in
Speaker 10: that situation, most of it's maybe going over your head
Speaker 10: or in one and out the other. Just because you
Speaker 10: just got railroaded by your husband, you're so focused on
Speaker 10: I don't even know what's going on.
Speaker 1: Ashley was already managing the feelings of grief, anger, and betrayal.
Speaker 1: The added jame that came when Jason's crimes became public.
Speaker 1: It was unbearable when this hit.
Speaker 2: Any ounce of pride or ego that I had went
Speaker 2: right out the door.
Speaker 3: It was gone.
Speaker 2: I literally felt like I was just naked and there
Speaker 2: was nothing to hide. There's nothing to even try to
Speaker 2: explain away or make better. I was just like, okay,
Speaker 2: I understand.
Speaker 1: It didn't take long for the word to spread.
Speaker 9: Aveya found out from a friend's mom. She had called
Speaker 9: her and was like, did dad take videos on me?
Speaker 3: Or what happened?
Speaker 9: Because the news mentioned that he had taken I don't
Speaker 9: know if they said a video or videos of his daughters.
Speaker 1: Anna couldn't believe an adult would be so thoughtless with
Speaker 1: a veya.
Speaker 9: She's like, did your dad take videos of my daughter?
Speaker 9: That's how she found out.
Speaker 1: It was out her husband was that guy, the guy
Speaker 1: you warn your kids about. Her kids knew, her friends knew,
Speaker 1: everyone knew. There was no controlling it. It was a
Speaker 1: runaway train. On the next episode of Betrayal, all.
Speaker 3: Right, enjoying and I just somehow see him in his car.
Speaker 5: I called my mom.
Speaker 2: Because he's in the same area he drives in those
Speaker 2: same roads as every single day.
Speaker 1: Avail will have her day in court and Jason will
Speaker 1: try to remain a free man. As a disclaimer, Ashley
Speaker 1: told her story about her conversation with Jason's older brother
Speaker 1: to police, and it was included as part of the
Speaker 1: affidavit of probable cause that led to Jason's arrest. His
Speaker 1: older brother's conduct as a police officer was investigated by
Speaker 1: the authorities and ultimately it was determined that there was
Speaker 1: insufficient evidence of any violations of law by him. If
Speaker 1: you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team,
Speaker 1: email us at Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. That's
Speaker 1: Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. To report a case
Speaker 1: of child sexual exploitation, called the National Center for Missing
Speaker 1: and Exploited Children's cyber tipline at one eight hundred the Lost.
Speaker 1: If you or someone you know is worried about their
Speaker 1: sexual thoughts and feelings towards children, reach out to Stop
Speaker 1: It Now dot org. In the United Kingdom go to
Speaker 1: stop it Now dot org dot UK. These organizations can help.
Speaker 1: We're grateful for your support, and one way to show
Speaker 1: support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star
Speaker 1: reviews go a long way, A big thank you to
Speaker 1: all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts,
Speaker 1: a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with iHeartPodcasts.
Speaker 1: The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Facein,
Speaker 1: hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced
Speaker 1: by Kerry Hartman, also produced by Ben Fetterman, Associate producer
Speaker 1: Kristin Melcurie. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica
Speaker 1: Krinchech Special thanks to our talent Ashley Litten and production
Speaker 1: assistant Tessa Shieldtz. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Alvecchio.
Speaker 1: Trails theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by
Speaker 1: my Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.