May 25, 2023 • 30 mins
Ashley is interviewed by her local police department and finds out more about what her husband had been doing while isolating himself from the family. During a police interview, she learns devastating details about his crimes; the worst detail is that they involve her daughter.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners.
Please take care while listening.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I got out and like stood by my car, and
I put my hands together like in prayer emotion. I
just said, God, please be with me. And I opened
my eyes and I walked towards him and I yelled
at him. I yelled so loud, I said, how fucking
dare you. That's when he put his head down and
(00:32):
he wouldn't look at me after that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal. Episode two, Blood Ties,
Ashley Lytton discovered her husband was in possession of child pornography.
With the help of her sister Anna, Ashley contacted law
enforcement and reported him on September twenty ninth, twenty twenty one.
(01:10):
It was how did I get here? Moment? For Ashley.
Her life imploded. Her sense of safety for her children
was gone. Like any of us in the wake of betrayal, grief, destruction,
and heartbreak, you revisit everything.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I was going through some of our old photos and videos.
I came across one specific one where he was teaching
her to ride the bike. As she was driving away
for the first time. She was yelling back like daddy look,
Daddy look, and he's kind of cheering her on.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Jason's father shared the love of football with him, That's
how they bonded, and Jason wanted to have that with
his kids.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And has been a Vikings fan his whole life.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The story that I got was his father had gotten
each one of his brothers a stuffed animal, and Jason
happened to get the Minnesota Viking stuffed animal, and his
brothers got two other teams, so their whole lives they
cheered for those teams. I had been at work and
he'd been home with the kids and the Vikings were
(02:23):
going to play, and he had like a shrine of
Viking stuff all over my living room.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I mean he had.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Jerseys laid out, he had stuffed animals, he had other memorabilia.
Aveay was wearing one of his huge Vikings jerseys, and
I was.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Like, Uh, what are you doing.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
From that moment on, every time the Vikings played, everyone
was decked down Vikings gear.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That was our tradition.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And he wasn't just a fan. Jason coached in the
little league football community Julio. Heis lives in Ashley's neighborhood
was his son's coach.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Jason actually asked me to assist coaching.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We just click football brought us clothes.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
He is very passionate and he actually really cared about
the kids.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Like they showed one how much he cared. It was great.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Jason also played.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
Played flag football and when all the games.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Of course, my son played with him too.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
Great athletic coach well.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Jason was known for his love of football. Friends also
found him hilarious. Ashley's friend Emmy.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
He was one of the funniest people I have ever met.
You put Jason and my husband together and had a
couple of cocktails in there. They would sing into a
wooden spoon as they ran around the canche.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
They were just always so goofy.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And he was kind of that guy pair with my
husband that you know, reminded me that there are good men.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
They're still out there.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Ashley had taken on adult responsibilities since she was a kid,
taking care of her mother raising her siblings an early motherhood.
She was ready for a partner, someone to help carry
the weight.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I think because I had spent so much my life
being the person that had to be in charge and
make the decisions. When Jason came along, I referred to
him with everything everything I did. Even when we bought
our house, I was like, listen, I don't give a
shit what house we buy at this point, pick house.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't care, like you know best, so you do it.
It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
In marriage, Ashley finally felt part of a team. She
loved it, sharing coffee with Jason in the morning, family
dinners in the evenings, when sports weren't taking the kids
in three different directions. But after eight years of being married,
their family dynamic started to change.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
From the outside looking in, we just had this picture
perfect life, beautiful home, wonderful kids. Both of us have careers,
we're both like semi young and in shape.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But the reality was very different.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Two years before COVID, Jason stopped interacting with us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Ashley's stepmother, Kathy TRIHILLO.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
He wasn't going to work and she was having money struggles,
and they were kind of like living two separate lives.
But you don't know what goes on in people's four walls.
So you're like, you know, try and just to be
supportive to Ashley.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
That's all, you know. We tried to do is be support.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
And she wanted to hang in there and keep it going.
Then we were going to try to stand behind her.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Jason was a talented tradesman. When he showed up for work.
Jason's former employe or Steve Iihausen.
Speaker 8 (06:02):
He liked to take a lot of time off and
he would say his children were sick or he had
to go to school for something like that, and so
he was using excuses that weren't true to take time
off and do something for himself.
Speaker 9 (06:19):
It was actually putting their mortgage in jeopardy. And now,
like in retrospect, I'm like, was he just staying home
and watching all of this stuff?
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Just went work for a couple two, three weeks at
a time. And I'm sure it was not because he
didn't have any work. He just didn't want to go
to work.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Jason also lost interest in spending time with friends and family.
Ashley's family enjoyed Jason's company. She comes from a big
family with siblings, stepsiblings, nieces, and nephews. Any excuse was
a good one for a family party and John Ashley's
dad loved to host.
Speaker 7 (06:58):
Well.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
He didn't come to our function, like, man, where's that
guy oh Man.
Speaker 10 (07:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He would tell her family he needed to go to work.
He told work he was prioritizing family. Most times he
was doing neither have.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
They had traveled a lot for her competitive soccer league,
and he wouldn't come with us. We went to California,
I went to Colorado, went to Las Vegas, went to
Saint George. We went to all these places and he
wouldn't go.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So Ashley took the kids and left Jason behind.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We used to do so much together.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We did. We were active, we were outside, we were
at the movies. We're at the aquarium, we were in
the mountains, like we did things all the time with
the kids.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Ashley was determined to keep going.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I was like, we can't wait for you to live
life with us. We can't not do anything. So I
just started leaving him. I'd like, if you want to
come along with us, we want you to come, but
we're not going to sit in this house and do
nothing anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Eventually, Jason stopped bringing anything to the table, so I asked.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Him for a divorce, and he told me that he'd
give me a divorce.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
It's like, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
You know, we cannot live like this anymore. But then
COVID happened, and all of a sudden, my Jason came
back and he was being the man of the house
type of thing.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
He was taking charge, like we need to make.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
A plan, and we need to get food, and we
need to make sure the kids are taken care of
and you know, make sure that we're safe. I was like,
all right, So we just didn't talk about it again.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
But as lockdown orders were lifted and life returned to normal,
Jason withdrew again.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He would kind of revert back to being a hermit.
We walked on eggshells with him every single day. We
did everything we could to like not piss him off.
We did everything we could to just not be noticed
by him. All of us did. But for the most part,
Jason stayed in our bedroom.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But he wasn't showing any interest in actually there. Jason
stopped showing any interest in sex or intimacy.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I thought it was me, and I thought, I'm like, well,
I had three kids, so it's like a hot dog
down hallway maybe, And so I was like, I'm not
going to do this to myself anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ashley sought help from a therapist and she learned that
his behavior had nothing to do with her.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'd come to some self realization. I'm like, I am beautiful,
I'm a good mom, and I'm a good wife, and
this problem isn't me, it's him. At that point, I'd
kind of reinvested my time with God, and so I
was like, I made this covenant with my husband and
(09:42):
with God that I was going to love him through
sickness and health and he would never leave me. And
so I had decided that I wasn't going to get divorced.
I was like, I'm going to love him harder, I'm
gonna love him more, I'm going to be there for him.
I'm going to help him through this, and it's gonna
be okay. That's what I thought. I just thought he
(10:07):
was insanely depressed, and I wanted him to go see
a therapist. He went to his general family doctor. He's
diagnosed add He put him on adderall and I think prozac,
and then like he thought he had it under control
because he's like, oh, I'm not going to take it
on the weekend, and that's why he was sluggish on
(10:28):
the weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
That's what he'd say.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
It's not a good idea to take a medication vacation
when you're on prozac and adderall without a doctor's consultation.
Jason continued to isolate himself and became hyper focused on
a new hobby.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I bought him a drawing table because he liked to draw.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
He would lose himself for hours in a sketch pad.
Speaker 7 (10:49):
I don't remember why we had stopped by, but we
were outside and he was in the house and he said,
I'm getting into drawing.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Now, come in.
Speaker 7 (10:55):
I want to show you guys my drawings.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I was like, go clean your back through, you know,
think what are you doing? Why are you sitting here drawing?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I was in my head.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I was like, what is he doing?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Anna thought his drawings were bizarre.
Speaker 9 (11:09):
He's showing me these drawings and I don't know if
he had drew them himself, where he outlined them from
a printed off image or something, but they were like
highly sexualized characters, very seductive clothing, huge boobs, all women.
I just remember thinking like, what the fuck, what is
(11:29):
he doing? This is not normal to me, And I
remember telling Ashley, I'm like, you need to tell him
to stop showing people those.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It's fucking weird.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
He wasn't helped Ashley with anything. She came over here
and fixed her brakes, fix her tires, whatever was, you know,
and he it was had some excuse.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
She worked over time, constantly, she changed jobs for a
better opportunity. She gave and cave and.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
Cave and gave.
Speaker 11 (12:06):
Okay, so I've read through the initial report. I was
hoping that maybe we could talk a little bit more
in depth how it all came about.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
On a day that felt completely surreal, Ashley Linton was
finally sitting at the Riverton police station. Her husband was
at his brother's house hoping to hear from her. It
was ten at night, but the officer in charge of
special Victims wanted to talk right away. He had worked
quickly at a secure search warrant an inventory what Jason
(12:41):
had in the hidden file. Now Ashley sat across from
the detective Jason Rue, in a small interview room.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
I went through.
Speaker 12 (12:51):
I went through probably about photos in that account that
he told me about. I'm so disgusted this obviously serious stuff.
Speaker 11 (13:05):
Not only doesn't have child pornography on this thing.
Speaker 10 (13:08):
But he's produced it.
Speaker 12 (13:10):
Basically, you're outside doing something with your plants, and he.
Speaker 10 (13:16):
Walks into.
Speaker 12 (13:19):
Yeah, I assume she had a white shirt on, and
so he's like, hey, where's your mom? And anytime she
would turn around, he's going up so you can actually
see her breasts of he sure multiple times, I'm so
worried about my daughter.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
There were videos from their family trip to Disney as well.
It was the only trip Jason had taken with his
family in two years. Detective rou explains.
Speaker 10 (13:47):
The stepdaughter was getting out of the shower and told everyone, hey,
don't look, and Jason had set up his phone to
video record her coming out of the shower while she
had no clothes on, and then he proceeded to act
like he wasn't watching although he was recording her.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Legally, a Veo was Jason's stepdaughter, but he had raised
her since she was two years old. She called him dad.
Speaker 12 (14:18):
Is there had porn issues that you're aware of?
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Our whole marriage has been flooded with it. It was
just always really awkward. I think we've had six, maybe
five times in two and a half years, and I'm
kind of like masturbating, like weird times, like with me
(14:40):
and my daughter, my eight year old, Like she's left
in our bed and he's like on the floor masturbating,
looking at his mom and I'm like, what the fuck
are you doing? Her family's here, like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Ashley revealed other upsetting details about her marriage to Jason.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He had an affair amon me when I was five
months hearty, right, young guest and the girl he had
a fair with. I think she was eighteen, but I
knew that she had just.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Graduated, right she was.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
The was seven eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, how'd you find out about that?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He left his phone one time at home like an idiot.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Anyway, she'd texted him, I'm like, so I'm excited to
see you tonight, and he had come up with this huge,
elaborate story meany he's a talker, he could he do
you know that stupid saying he could sell eyes to
Eskimos that that's him and uh, Anyway, saw I called
her and I was like, do you know he's getting
(15:37):
ready to have a baby and we're married and have
two children, and she was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
The conversation turned to the messages Ashley had been receiving
from Jason.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I understand you're upset right now and don't want to
see me I really want to talk to him, and
you're ready. I won't hassle you after this text message.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I'm sorry I've.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Created this problem for our family. I love you, ash
I'm so sorry. I know I need help and I'm
going to get it. I promise to work hard and
make sure you're undertaken care of.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But Detective Roo was skeptical about the tax from Jason
concerning the images.
Speaker 10 (16:08):
In my opinion, it's someone who just got caught doing
something they know is not just wrong but illegal. Starts
going into manipulation, saying, you know, I'm sorry I did
this to our family. I'm a bad husband. Nothing about
the victim, nothing about the wife. It's all about I've
(16:30):
been caught now. I need to say sorry and try
to build this trust again. Later on, he says I
will get the help. I need to quit ignoring my
issues and so you know, he's throwing all these things
out like negotiation. I will do this and I need
to do this, and I'll do better if you don't
say anything and just mean you do it together. That's
(16:53):
how I read these sext messages.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Once Ashley reported, the crime detective room moved quickly.
Speaker 10 (16:59):
We were able to get the correct paperwork to get
a warrant to get into those photos a couple hours
before he deleted.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
On them a.
Speaker 10 (17:08):
Few hours later.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yes, the police enlisted Ashley to help make the arrest.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
So basically, how it would be if we could get
him somewhere where our guys can just.
Speaker 11 (17:21):
Bring him into me here interview him here.
Speaker 10 (17:23):
I'd like to do it tonight, to be honest, I
just wondering if.
Speaker 12 (17:26):
There's maybe a way that we could get him do
that leave the house and meet.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You somewhere and just kinda pick him up, etc.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Rather do that and go on his brother's door.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
The Riverton police weren't keen to arrest Jason at another
police officer's house, and it's easy to see why there's
a firearm on the premises. It's complicated, but Detective Rue
was still irritated that Jason's brother didn't do the right thing.
Speaker 12 (17:53):
I don't care if your brother you're in law enforcement.
That is a no noe like he He could get
himself in some trou He.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Should be their first brother.
Speaker 10 (18:01):
I'm cool with that.
Speaker 12 (18:03):
But on the way here to talk to us about it,
you know, like you screwed up royally, and that's all
that was gonna be happening to you.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
The plan was to get Jason out of his brother's
house to a neutral meeting spot where he would believe
he could make his case one on one with Ashley.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I just told him, how about let's meet away from
the house that I'll have.
Speaker 12 (18:25):
The kids too, Okay, yeah, tell me twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Ashley was setting him up to be arrested and I'm just.
Speaker 11 (18:33):
Gonna wait here.
Speaker 10 (18:34):
Okay, Well, they do that, and then once you get
him to try to talk to him, see if he
wants to talk to her out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I tried to imagine what Ashley was thinking driving from
the Riverton Police station to the Walmart parking lot. It
must have been the strangest drive of her life. It
was eleven thirty pm.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Jason pulls in and I could fill this like fire
burning inside of me, thinking that he had filmed up
my daughter's shirt and saw her bare breasts, our daughter's shirt.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
So I had this like flash. We're kind of parked where.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
People return their carts and there's like these big rocks.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
For a moment, she fantasized about vigilanti justice.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
In my head, it played out like i'might grab a
rock and I'm gonna like smack him over the head
and then he's gonna pass out, and then I'm gonna
kick him really hard, and then I'm gonna, you know,
like all these terrible, violent things.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Ashley felt so sad for his victims.
Speaker 13 (19:48):
I wanted to like take his eyes away from him
so he can never look at my daughter again, look
at anybody's daughter again. All those little girls that I
saw in those phoo everything, I just it was so awful.
And so when I got out, I didn't grab a rock,
thank god, but I just started hitting him and he
(20:13):
just let me and he was like, what are you doing,
ash what are you doing? And then the police pulled
up right after and say it took him into custody
right then, just like.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
That, it was done. He was on his way to
the police station. His work truck was still sitting in
the parking lot.
Speaker 13 (20:38):
You know, we're married, so this is my asset too,
so I should probably make sure that I don't just
leave it in the Walmart parking lot. But I didn't
have anyone to drive it anywhere for me, so I
called his brother. It's like twelve o'clock at night. At
this point he was sleeping and he I was like,
(20:59):
what did you do? What did you do? And I
was like, I did what you couldn't do. I did
what you were supposed to do that you didn't do.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
His brother agreed to pick up Jason's truck. Finally, after
fourteen hours the hospital a police interview, the longest and
most awful day of Ashley's life had come to an end.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
You have the writer in silent She didn't need to
say anything to me.
Speaker 12 (21:38):
Anything you say Canada will be used against you in
the court.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
You have the right to have a.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Lawyer well being read his Miranda rights. Jason explained that
he'd never been arrested. He was polite.
Speaker 11 (21:50):
Do you understand each of these rights?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I've explained I did, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Detective Rude tried to engage Jason in a conversation about
the charges.
Speaker 11 (21:58):
Ashley contacted me as I cause, you guys have had
a pretty rough day today.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Yeah, okay, So.
Speaker 10 (22:04):
That's some of the things that I was holding to
talk to you a little bit about, trying to get
better understanding of what that's been going on, things of
that nature.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
I'm willing to talk to you about whatever if you are,
but if you prefer not to, then we'll just end
our conversation regardless of whether we talk or not. Tonight, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 10 (22:24):
Gonna have you booked into the Southern County.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
Jailice So as far as being just because I have
no idea this process goes being booked into jailmen, Am
I just gonna be stuck there?
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Or do ill some.
Speaker 11 (22:37):
Of the charges that I'll book you in on or
they're a little hefty, Okay, So I don't know if
they're gonna just be like, hey, you're out tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I just feel like, since I've never been in a
situation before, I was like, almost rather have an attorney president.
I don't want doing something.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I'm okay, Okay, I understand Jason understood he'd be sleeping
in a jails all that night no matter what he
was behind bars. That was taken care of, But there
were the kids and questions about where Dad was. It's
hard to imagine a day like this managing putting one
(23:12):
foot in front of another, let alone the micro and
macro decisions that Ashley had to make for herself, her children,
and the safety of others. The children in those photos,
not to mention in the wake of incredible trauma. She
had been in the er, the police station, and witness
her husband be arrested, all in the same day. And
(23:33):
then there was the weight of this. Her husband had
violated her eldest daughter, an innocent kid who called him Dad.
Ashley knew she had to face them, but the truth
was too ugly to share. She wanted to protect them,
especially a Veya, all while feeling as though she failed
(23:56):
them already. For the night, keeping it simple felt like
the right decision. She needed to buy time to find
the words.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
All of us knew that Jason had been struggling with
his mental health.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
The kids sought so when Ashley told the kids that
Jason was seeking help for his mental health issues, it
made sense to them. Besides, she was exhausted and didn't
have much time to recover. The very next morning, Ashley
had to make a big presentation for work. There was
a lot riding on it. Anna went with Ashley so
(24:28):
she wouldn't be alone. So soon after Jason's arrest.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
She hadn't told her boss what had happened, and I
remember her like saying, I'm not going to let this
ruin my fucking career.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But I remember watching her do.
Speaker 9 (24:43):
The presentation and I was like, none of these people
know what just happened to her, Like.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Her life has blown up, and look at her.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
She was up there.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
Making jokes and just confident and trying to engage the audience.
And these people had so much many questions for her,
and she was just on it answering all these questions.
And I remember thinking, you are a fucking badass, Like
I do not know how you're doing this. Your husband
is in jail right now.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Jason had been disengaging from the family, isolating himself. Ashley
had grown stronger and more independent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I still am so proud of her. I don't know
how she did it.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
I really think something psychological like happened for her to
do that.
Speaker 7 (25:28):
And.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
The work that she did the year prior, maybe that's
what Maybe that's what got her through.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Ashley felt strong enough to keep it all inside. She
thought she could hold everything in. She was in protection
and survival mode. But then there was this.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Somebody texted her and said it's in the news and
the man from Riverton has been.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Arrested for one hundred counts of sexual exploitation of a
miner after someone came forward after helping forty year old
Jason Linton said up a Venmo account.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
And then she just let out this horrible, horrible scream,
and I just remember looking at her, and her whole
body was like shaky, almost like convulsync. I've never seen
it before. And then she just was like rocking back
and forth and like putting her head on.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Her knees, like she looked like a crazy person.
Speaker 9 (26:23):
I don't even remember what I said to her to
try to calm her down, Like I did not know
what to do.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And I've never seen my sister like that.
Speaker 9 (26:32):
I don't ever want to see her like that ever again,
Detective Real.
Speaker 10 (26:37):
I try to prepare them a little bit for the
next morning when they wake up, I'll let them know, like, hey,
these cases, the news picked these cases up quick. In
my mind, I'm talking to these victims and these family
members and I'm explaining things. But sometimes when you're in
that situation, most of it's maybe going over your head
(26:57):
or in one and out the other. Just because you
just got railroaded by your husband, you're so focused on
I don't even know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Ashley was already managing the feelings of grief, anger, and betrayal.
The added jame that came when Jason's crimes became public.
It was unbearable when this hit.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Any ounce of pride or ego that I had went
right out the door.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It was gone.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I literally felt like I was just naked and there
was nothing to hide. There's nothing to even try to
explain away or make better. I was just like, okay,
I understand.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It didn't take long for the word to spread.
Speaker 9 (27:49):
Aveya found out from a friend's mom. She had called
her and was like, did dad take videos on me?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Or what happened?
Speaker 9 (27:56):
Because the news mentioned that he had taken I don't
know if they said a video or videos of his daughters.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Anna couldn't believe an adult would be so thoughtless with
a veya.
Speaker 9 (28:06):
She's like, did your dad take videos of my daughter?
That's how she found out.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
It was out her husband was that guy, the guy
you warn your kids about. Her kids knew, her friends knew,
everyone knew. There was no controlling it. It was a
runaway train. On the next episode of Betrayal, all.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Right, enjoying and I just somehow see him in his car.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I called my mom.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Because he's in the same area he drives in those
same roads as every single day.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Avail will have her day in court and Jason will
try to remain a free man. As a disclaimer, Ashley
told her story about her conversation with Jason's older brother
to police, and it was included as part of the
affidavit of probable cause that led to Jason's arrest. His
older brother's conduct as a police officer was investigated by
(29:01):
the authorities and ultimately it was determined that there was
insufficient evidence of any violations of law by him. If
you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team,
email us at Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. That's
Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. To report a case
of child sexual exploitation, called the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children's cyber tipline at one eight hundred the Lost.
(29:25):
If you or someone you know is worried about their
sexual thoughts and feelings towards children, reach out to Stop
It Now dot org. In the United Kingdom go to
stop it Now dot org dot UK. These organizations can help.
We're grateful for your support, and one way to show
support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts
and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star
(29:46):
reviews go a long way, A big thank you to
all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts,
a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with iHeartPodcasts.
The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Facein,
hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced
by Kerry Hartman, also produced by Ben Fetterman, Associate producer
(30:09):
Kristin Melcurie. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica
Krinchech Special thanks to our talent Ashley Litten and production
assistant Tessa Shieldtz. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Alvecchio.
Trails theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by
my Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners.
Please take care while listening.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I got out and like stood by my car, and
I put my hands together like in prayer emotion. I
just said, God, please be with me. And I opened
my eyes and I walked towards him and I yelled
at him. I yelled so loud, I said, how fucking
dare you. That's when he put his head down and
(00:32):
he wouldn't look at me after that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal. Episode two, Blood Ties,
Ashley Lytton discovered her husband was in possession of child pornography.
With the help of her sister Anna, Ashley contacted law
enforcement and reported him on September twenty ninth, twenty twenty one.
(01:10):
It was how did I get here? Moment? For Ashley.
Her life imploded. Her sense of safety for her children
was gone. Like any of us in the wake of betrayal, grief, destruction,
and heartbreak, you revisit everything.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I was going through some of our old photos and videos.
I came across one specific one where he was teaching
her to ride the bike. As she was driving away
for the first time. She was yelling back like daddy look,
Daddy look, and he's kind of cheering her on.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Jason's father shared the love of football with him, That's
how they bonded, and Jason wanted to have that with
his kids.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And has been a Vikings fan his whole life.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The story that I got was his father had gotten
each one of his brothers a stuffed animal, and Jason
happened to get the Minnesota Viking stuffed animal, and his
brothers got two other teams, so their whole lives they
cheered for those teams. I had been at work and
he'd been home with the kids and the Vikings were
(02:23):
going to play, and he had like a shrine of
Viking stuff all over my living room.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I mean he had.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Jerseys laid out, he had stuffed animals, he had other memorabilia.
Aveay was wearing one of his huge Vikings jerseys, and
I was.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Like, Uh, what are you doing.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
From that moment on, every time the Vikings played, everyone
was decked down Vikings gear.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That was our tradition.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And he wasn't just a fan. Jason coached in the
little league football community Julio. Heis lives in Ashley's neighborhood
was his son's coach.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Jason actually asked me to assist coaching.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We just click football brought us clothes.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
He is very passionate and he actually really cared about
the kids.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Like they showed one how much he cared. It was great.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Jason also played.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
Played flag football and when all the games.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Of course, my son played with him too.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
Great athletic coach well.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Jason was known for his love of football. Friends also
found him hilarious. Ashley's friend Emmy.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
He was one of the funniest people I have ever met.
You put Jason and my husband together and had a
couple of cocktails in there. They would sing into a
wooden spoon as they ran around the canche.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
They were just always so goofy.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And he was kind of that guy pair with my
husband that you know, reminded me that there are good men.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
They're still out there.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Ashley had taken on adult responsibilities since she was a kid,
taking care of her mother raising her siblings an early motherhood.
She was ready for a partner, someone to help carry
the weight.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I think because I had spent so much my life
being the person that had to be in charge and
make the decisions. When Jason came along, I referred to
him with everything everything I did. Even when we bought
our house, I was like, listen, I don't give a
shit what house we buy at this point, pick house.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't care, like you know best, so you do it.
It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
In marriage, Ashley finally felt part of a team. She
loved it, sharing coffee with Jason in the morning, family
dinners in the evenings, when sports weren't taking the kids
in three different directions. But after eight years of being married,
their family dynamic started to change.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
From the outside looking in, we just had this picture
perfect life, beautiful home, wonderful kids. Both of us have careers,
we're both like semi young and in shape.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But the reality was very different.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Two years before COVID, Jason stopped interacting with us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Ashley's stepmother, Kathy TRIHILLO.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
He wasn't going to work and she was having money struggles,
and they were kind of like living two separate lives.
But you don't know what goes on in people's four walls.
So you're like, you know, try and just to be
supportive to Ashley.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
That's all, you know. We tried to do is be support.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
And she wanted to hang in there and keep it going.
Then we were going to try to stand behind her.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Jason was a talented tradesman. When he showed up for work.
Jason's former employe or Steve Iihausen.
Speaker 8 (06:02):
He liked to take a lot of time off and
he would say his children were sick or he had
to go to school for something like that, and so
he was using excuses that weren't true to take time
off and do something for himself.
Speaker 9 (06:19):
It was actually putting their mortgage in jeopardy. And now,
like in retrospect, I'm like, was he just staying home
and watching all of this stuff?
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Just went work for a couple two, three weeks at
a time. And I'm sure it was not because he
didn't have any work. He just didn't want to go
to work.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Jason also lost interest in spending time with friends and family.
Ashley's family enjoyed Jason's company. She comes from a big
family with siblings, stepsiblings, nieces, and nephews. Any excuse was
a good one for a family party and John Ashley's
dad loved to host.
Speaker 7 (06:58):
Well.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
He didn't come to our function, like, man, where's that
guy oh Man.
Speaker 10 (07:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He would tell her family he needed to go to work.
He told work he was prioritizing family. Most times he
was doing neither have.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
They had traveled a lot for her competitive soccer league,
and he wouldn't come with us. We went to California,
I went to Colorado, went to Las Vegas, went to
Saint George. We went to all these places and he
wouldn't go.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So Ashley took the kids and left Jason behind.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We used to do so much together.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We did. We were active, we were outside, we were
at the movies. We're at the aquarium, we were in
the mountains, like we did things all the time with
the kids.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Ashley was determined to keep going.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I was like, we can't wait for you to live
life with us. We can't not do anything. So I
just started leaving him. I'd like, if you want to
come along with us, we want you to come, but
we're not going to sit in this house and do
nothing anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Eventually, Jason stopped bringing anything to the table, so I asked.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Him for a divorce, and he told me that he'd
give me a divorce.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
It's like, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
You know, we cannot live like this anymore. But then
COVID happened, and all of a sudden, my Jason came
back and he was being the man of the house
type of thing.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
He was taking charge, like we need to make.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
A plan, and we need to get food, and we
need to make sure the kids are taken care of
and you know, make sure that we're safe. I was like,
all right, So we just didn't talk about it again.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
But as lockdown orders were lifted and life returned to normal,
Jason withdrew again.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He would kind of revert back to being a hermit.
We walked on eggshells with him every single day. We
did everything we could to like not piss him off.
We did everything we could to just not be noticed
by him. All of us did. But for the most part,
Jason stayed in our bedroom.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But he wasn't showing any interest in actually there. Jason
stopped showing any interest in sex or intimacy.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I thought it was me, and I thought, I'm like, well,
I had three kids, so it's like a hot dog
down hallway maybe, And so I was like, I'm not
going to do this to myself anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ashley sought help from a therapist and she learned that
his behavior had nothing to do with her.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'd come to some self realization. I'm like, I am beautiful,
I'm a good mom, and I'm a good wife, and
this problem isn't me, it's him. At that point, I'd
kind of reinvested my time with God, and so I
was like, I made this covenant with my husband and
(09:42):
with God that I was going to love him through
sickness and health and he would never leave me. And
so I had decided that I wasn't going to get divorced.
I was like, I'm going to love him harder, I'm
gonna love him more, I'm going to be there for him.
I'm going to help him through this, and it's gonna
be okay. That's what I thought. I just thought he
(10:07):
was insanely depressed, and I wanted him to go see
a therapist. He went to his general family doctor. He's
diagnosed add He put him on adderall and I think prozac,
and then like he thought he had it under control
because he's like, oh, I'm not going to take it
on the weekend, and that's why he was sluggish on
(10:28):
the weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
That's what he'd say.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
It's not a good idea to take a medication vacation
when you're on prozac and adderall without a doctor's consultation.
Jason continued to isolate himself and became hyper focused on
a new hobby.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I bought him a drawing table because he liked to draw.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
He would lose himself for hours in a sketch pad.
Speaker 7 (10:49):
I don't remember why we had stopped by, but we
were outside and he was in the house and he said,
I'm getting into drawing.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Now, come in.
Speaker 7 (10:55):
I want to show you guys my drawings.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I was like, go clean your back through, you know,
think what are you doing? Why are you sitting here drawing?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I was in my head.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I was like, what is he doing?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Anna thought his drawings were bizarre.
Speaker 9 (11:09):
He's showing me these drawings and I don't know if
he had drew them himself, where he outlined them from
a printed off image or something, but they were like
highly sexualized characters, very seductive clothing, huge boobs, all women.
I just remember thinking like, what the fuck, what is
(11:29):
he doing? This is not normal to me, And I
remember telling Ashley, I'm like, you need to tell him
to stop showing people those.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It's fucking weird.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
He wasn't helped Ashley with anything. She came over here
and fixed her brakes, fix her tires, whatever was, you know,
and he it was had some excuse.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
She worked over time, constantly, she changed jobs for a
better opportunity. She gave and cave and.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
Cave and gave.
Speaker 11 (12:06):
Okay, so I've read through the initial report. I was
hoping that maybe we could talk a little bit more
in depth how it all came about.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
On a day that felt completely surreal, Ashley Linton was
finally sitting at the Riverton police station. Her husband was
at his brother's house hoping to hear from her. It
was ten at night, but the officer in charge of
special Victims wanted to talk right away. He had worked
quickly at a secure search warrant an inventory what Jason
(12:41):
had in the hidden file. Now Ashley sat across from
the detective Jason Rue, in a small interview room.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
I went through.
Speaker 12 (12:51):
I went through probably about photos in that account that
he told me about. I'm so disgusted this obviously serious stuff.
Speaker 11 (13:05):
Not only doesn't have child pornography on this thing.
Speaker 10 (13:08):
But he's produced it.
Speaker 12 (13:10):
Basically, you're outside doing something with your plants, and he.
Speaker 10 (13:16):
Walks into.
Speaker 12 (13:19):
Yeah, I assume she had a white shirt on, and
so he's like, hey, where's your mom? And anytime she
would turn around, he's going up so you can actually
see her breasts of he sure multiple times, I'm so
worried about my daughter.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
There were videos from their family trip to Disney as well.
It was the only trip Jason had taken with his
family in two years. Detective rou explains.
Speaker 10 (13:47):
The stepdaughter was getting out of the shower and told everyone, hey,
don't look, and Jason had set up his phone to
video record her coming out of the shower while she
had no clothes on, and then he proceeded to act
like he wasn't watching although he was recording her.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Legally, a Veo was Jason's stepdaughter, but he had raised
her since she was two years old. She called him dad.
Speaker 12 (14:18):
Is there had porn issues that you're aware of?
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Our whole marriage has been flooded with it. It was
just always really awkward. I think we've had six, maybe
five times in two and a half years, and I'm
kind of like masturbating, like weird times, like with me
(14:40):
and my daughter, my eight year old, Like she's left
in our bed and he's like on the floor masturbating,
looking at his mom and I'm like, what the fuck
are you doing? Her family's here, like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Ashley revealed other upsetting details about her marriage to Jason.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He had an affair amon me when I was five
months hearty, right, young guest and the girl he had
a fair with. I think she was eighteen, but I
knew that she had just.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Graduated, right she was.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
The was seven eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, how'd you find out about that?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He left his phone one time at home like an idiot.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Anyway, she'd texted him, I'm like, so I'm excited to
see you tonight, and he had come up with this huge,
elaborate story meany he's a talker, he could he do
you know that stupid saying he could sell eyes to
Eskimos that that's him and uh, Anyway, saw I called
her and I was like, do you know he's getting
(15:37):
ready to have a baby and we're married and have
two children, and she was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
The conversation turned to the messages Ashley had been receiving
from Jason.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I understand you're upset right now and don't want to
see me I really want to talk to him, and
you're ready. I won't hassle you after this text message.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I'm sorry I've.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Created this problem for our family. I love you, ash
I'm so sorry. I know I need help and I'm
going to get it. I promise to work hard and
make sure you're undertaken care of.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
But Detective Roo was skeptical about the tax from Jason
concerning the images.
Speaker 10 (16:08):
In my opinion, it's someone who just got caught doing
something they know is not just wrong but illegal. Starts
going into manipulation, saying, you know, I'm sorry I did
this to our family. I'm a bad husband. Nothing about
the victim, nothing about the wife. It's all about I've
(16:30):
been caught now. I need to say sorry and try
to build this trust again. Later on, he says I
will get the help. I need to quit ignoring my
issues and so you know, he's throwing all these things
out like negotiation. I will do this and I need
to do this, and I'll do better if you don't
say anything and just mean you do it together. That's
(16:53):
how I read these sext messages.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Once Ashley reported, the crime detective room moved quickly.
Speaker 10 (16:59):
We were able to get the correct paperwork to get
a warrant to get into those photos a couple hours
before he deleted.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
On them a.
Speaker 10 (17:08):
Few hours later.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yes, the police enlisted Ashley to help make the arrest.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
So basically, how it would be if we could get
him somewhere where our guys can just.
Speaker 11 (17:21):
Bring him into me here interview him here.
Speaker 10 (17:23):
I'd like to do it tonight, to be honest, I
just wondering if.
Speaker 12 (17:26):
There's maybe a way that we could get him do
that leave the house and meet.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You somewhere and just kinda pick him up, etc.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Rather do that and go on his brother's door.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
The Riverton police weren't keen to arrest Jason at another
police officer's house, and it's easy to see why there's
a firearm on the premises. It's complicated, but Detective Rue
was still irritated that Jason's brother didn't do the right thing.
Speaker 12 (17:53):
I don't care if your brother you're in law enforcement.
That is a no noe like he He could get
himself in some trou He.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Should be their first brother.
Speaker 10 (18:01):
I'm cool with that.
Speaker 12 (18:03):
But on the way here to talk to us about it,
you know, like you screwed up royally, and that's all
that was gonna be happening to you.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
The plan was to get Jason out of his brother's
house to a neutral meeting spot where he would believe
he could make his case one on one with Ashley.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I just told him, how about let's meet away from
the house that I'll have.
Speaker 12 (18:25):
The kids too, Okay, yeah, tell me twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Ashley was setting him up to be arrested and I'm just.
Speaker 11 (18:33):
Gonna wait here.
Speaker 10 (18:34):
Okay, Well, they do that, and then once you get
him to try to talk to him, see if he
wants to talk to her out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I tried to imagine what Ashley was thinking driving from
the Riverton Police station to the Walmart parking lot. It
must have been the strangest drive of her life. It
was eleven thirty pm.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Jason pulls in and I could fill this like fire
burning inside of me, thinking that he had filmed up
my daughter's shirt and saw her bare breasts, our daughter's shirt.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
So I had this like flash. We're kind of parked where.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
People return their carts and there's like these big rocks.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
For a moment, she fantasized about vigilanti justice.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
In my head, it played out like i'might grab a
rock and I'm gonna like smack him over the head
and then he's gonna pass out, and then I'm gonna
kick him really hard, and then I'm gonna, you know,
like all these terrible, violent things.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Ashley felt so sad for his victims.
Speaker 13 (19:48):
I wanted to like take his eyes away from him
so he can never look at my daughter again, look
at anybody's daughter again. All those little girls that I
saw in those phoo everything, I just it was so awful.
And so when I got out, I didn't grab a rock,
thank god, but I just started hitting him and he
(20:13):
just let me and he was like, what are you doing,
ash what are you doing? And then the police pulled
up right after and say it took him into custody
right then, just like.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
That, it was done. He was on his way to
the police station. His work truck was still sitting in
the parking lot.
Speaker 13 (20:38):
You know, we're married, so this is my asset too,
so I should probably make sure that I don't just
leave it in the Walmart parking lot. But I didn't
have anyone to drive it anywhere for me, so I
called his brother. It's like twelve o'clock at night. At
this point he was sleeping and he I was like,
(20:59):
what did you do? What did you do? And I
was like, I did what you couldn't do. I did
what you were supposed to do that you didn't do.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
His brother agreed to pick up Jason's truck. Finally, after
fourteen hours the hospital a police interview, the longest and
most awful day of Ashley's life had come to an end.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
You have the writer in silent She didn't need to
say anything to me.
Speaker 12 (21:38):
Anything you say Canada will be used against you in
the court.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
You have the right to have a.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Lawyer well being read his Miranda rights. Jason explained that
he'd never been arrested. He was polite.
Speaker 11 (21:50):
Do you understand each of these rights?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I've explained I did, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Detective Rude tried to engage Jason in a conversation about
the charges.
Speaker 11 (21:58):
Ashley contacted me as I cause, you guys have had
a pretty rough day today.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Yeah, okay, So.
Speaker 10 (22:04):
That's some of the things that I was holding to
talk to you a little bit about, trying to get
better understanding of what that's been going on, things of
that nature.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
I'm willing to talk to you about whatever if you are,
but if you prefer not to, then we'll just end
our conversation regardless of whether we talk or not. Tonight, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 10 (22:24):
Gonna have you booked into the Southern County.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
Jailice So as far as being just because I have
no idea this process goes being booked into jailmen, Am
I just gonna be stuck there?
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Or do ill some.
Speaker 11 (22:37):
Of the charges that I'll book you in on or
they're a little hefty, Okay, So I don't know if
they're gonna just be like, hey, you're out tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I just feel like, since I've never been in a
situation before, I was like, almost rather have an attorney president.
I don't want doing something.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I'm okay, Okay, I understand Jason understood he'd be sleeping
in a jails all that night no matter what he
was behind bars. That was taken care of, But there
were the kids and questions about where Dad was. It's
hard to imagine a day like this managing putting one
(23:12):
foot in front of another, let alone the micro and
macro decisions that Ashley had to make for herself, her children,
and the safety of others. The children in those photos,
not to mention in the wake of incredible trauma. She
had been in the er, the police station, and witness
her husband be arrested, all in the same day. And
(23:33):
then there was the weight of this. Her husband had
violated her eldest daughter, an innocent kid who called him Dad.
Ashley knew she had to face them, but the truth
was too ugly to share. She wanted to protect them,
especially a Veya, all while feeling as though she failed
(23:56):
them already. For the night, keeping it simple felt like
the right decision. She needed to buy time to find
the words.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
All of us knew that Jason had been struggling with
his mental health.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
The kids sought so when Ashley told the kids that
Jason was seeking help for his mental health issues, it
made sense to them. Besides, she was exhausted and didn't
have much time to recover. The very next morning, Ashley
had to make a big presentation for work. There was
a lot riding on it. Anna went with Ashley so
(24:28):
she wouldn't be alone. So soon after Jason's arrest.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
She hadn't told her boss what had happened, and I
remember her like saying, I'm not going to let this
ruin my fucking career.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But I remember watching her do.
Speaker 9 (24:43):
The presentation and I was like, none of these people
know what just happened to her, Like.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Her life has blown up, and look at her.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
She was up there.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
Making jokes and just confident and trying to engage the audience.
And these people had so much many questions for her,
and she was just on it answering all these questions.
And I remember thinking, you are a fucking badass, Like
I do not know how you're doing this. Your husband
is in jail right now.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Jason had been disengaging from the family, isolating himself. Ashley
had grown stronger and more independent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I still am so proud of her. I don't know
how she did it.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
I really think something psychological like happened for her to
do that.
Speaker 7 (25:28):
And.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
The work that she did the year prior, maybe that's
what Maybe that's what got her through.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Ashley felt strong enough to keep it all inside. She
thought she could hold everything in. She was in protection
and survival mode. But then there was this.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Somebody texted her and said it's in the news and
the man from Riverton has been.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Arrested for one hundred counts of sexual exploitation of a
miner after someone came forward after helping forty year old
Jason Linton said up a Venmo account.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
And then she just let out this horrible, horrible scream,
and I just remember looking at her, and her whole
body was like shaky, almost like convulsync. I've never seen
it before. And then she just was like rocking back
and forth and like putting her head on.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Her knees, like she looked like a crazy person.
Speaker 9 (26:23):
I don't even remember what I said to her to
try to calm her down, Like I did not know
what to do.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And I've never seen my sister like that.
Speaker 9 (26:32):
I don't ever want to see her like that ever again,
Detective Real.
Speaker 10 (26:37):
I try to prepare them a little bit for the
next morning when they wake up, I'll let them know, like, hey,
these cases, the news picked these cases up quick. In
my mind, I'm talking to these victims and these family
members and I'm explaining things. But sometimes when you're in
that situation, most of it's maybe going over your head
(26:57):
or in one and out the other. Just because you
just got railroaded by your husband, you're so focused on
I don't even know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Ashley was already managing the feelings of grief, anger, and betrayal.
The added jame that came when Jason's crimes became public.
It was unbearable when this hit.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Any ounce of pride or ego that I had went
right out the door.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It was gone.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I literally felt like I was just naked and there
was nothing to hide. There's nothing to even try to
explain away or make better. I was just like, okay,
I understand.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It didn't take long for the word to spread.
Speaker 9 (27:49):
Aveya found out from a friend's mom. She had called
her and was like, did dad take videos on me?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Or what happened?
Speaker 9 (27:56):
Because the news mentioned that he had taken I don't
know if they said a video or videos of his daughters.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Anna couldn't believe an adult would be so thoughtless with
a veya.
Speaker 9 (28:06):
She's like, did your dad take videos of my daughter?
That's how she found out.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
It was out her husband was that guy, the guy
you warn your kids about. Her kids knew, her friends knew,
everyone knew. There was no controlling it. It was a
runaway train. On the next episode of Betrayal, all.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Right, enjoying and I just somehow see him in his car.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I called my mom.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Because he's in the same area he drives in those
same roads as every single day.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Avail will have her day in court and Jason will
try to remain a free man. As a disclaimer, Ashley
told her story about her conversation with Jason's older brother
to police, and it was included as part of the
affidavit of probable cause that led to Jason's arrest. His
older brother's conduct as a police officer was investigated by
(29:01):
the authorities and ultimately it was determined that there was
insufficient evidence of any violations of law by him. If
you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team,
email us at Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. That's
Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. To report a case
of child sexual exploitation, called the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children's cyber tipline at one eight hundred the Lost.
(29:25):
If you or someone you know is worried about their
sexual thoughts and feelings towards children, reach out to Stop
It Now dot org. In the United Kingdom go to
stop it Now dot org dot UK. These organizations can help.
We're grateful for your support, and one way to show
support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts
and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star
(29:46):
reviews go a long way, A big thank you to
all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts,
a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with iHeartPodcasts.
The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Facein,
hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced
by Kerry Hartman, also produced by Ben Fetterman, Associate producer
(30:09):
Kristin Melcurie. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica
Krinchech Special thanks to our talent Ashley Litten and production
assistant Tessa Shieldtz. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Alvecchio.
Trails theme composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by
my Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Andrea Gunning
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