October 16, 2025 • 51 mins
Claire thought she was meeting someone new when she was set up on a blind date — until she realized years later (and a wedding ring), Jake, was the same man she’d met briefly a decade earlier at a college bar, the “beautiful stranger” he never stopped talking about. Their love story came full circle: they built a life together, bought a home, and dreamed of their future.
But one tragic day changed everything. When Jake went to collect his belongings from his ex’s house, Claire got the call no one ever wants — he’d been shot. What followed was a nightmare: confusion, misinformation, and media headlines that painted Jake as a criminal instead of a victim.
Now, as he faces charges for trying to enter his own home, Claire speaks out about how the system — and the public — often treat people with a record as guilty until proven innocent. She shares how damaging false narratives spread online, how judgment replaces truth, and why justice should begin with facts, not assumptions.
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Follow Jae's husband Nicholas Ely on Facebook "More Than An Inmate" or the Facebook group "End Felony Murder Rule in Nebraska"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
My mom said that he heard me scream and she ran into my room
and I was on the floor and couldn't say anything.
But he's been taught. He's been taught.
(00:21):
Welcome to More than a Mate's Girlfriend.
I'm your host Jay. Welcome back for another episode
this week. I want to start and open up with
the question. Have we ever questioned the
media and what they're reporting?
Have you ever had an experience where you feel that maybe the
media was exaggerating or maybe they got some of the details
(00:44):
wrong? Just for perspective sake in
knowing what I went through, I was in a school shooting as a
teenager and while we were on lockdown, the media which we had
access to, the computers, we didn't have access to our
phones. And on the computers, they were
saying one thing about what was happening and really it was a
(01:07):
complete opposite. So they didn't have the right
information. They were pushing out
information that was inaccurate,scaring us and making us fearful
for our lives when in fact the shooter had been unalived many
hours prior and there was nobodyelse in the building.
But they made it sound a different way.
And to me that was eye opening and shocking.
(01:29):
And for the first time I thought, like the media is not
telling the truth. This is scary cause I've never
experienced that before. Well, our next guest, Claire has
had an experience with her and her loved one.
And it's twofold. The first one is that he is
saying one thing and the media is saying something completely
(01:50):
different. So Claire is here today to
clarify her side at his side of the story because it's being
portrayed very differently. The other thing that she's here
to talk about, which I think is very interesting, is the fact
when someone who has a history of crime all of a sudden becomes
the victim and the perpetrators don't have a history of crime.
(02:13):
And how once you're a criminal, you're always a criminal and you
carry that logo on your foreheadand you're automatically not
believed. You have to fight twice as hard
to get the justice that you deserve because you won't get it
immediately because of your record.
So I thought that was a really interesting topic as well.
(02:33):
Keep in mind our interview with Claire happened many months ago
in the spring or end of the winter, so there could have been
a lot going on since then. She did say in this interview
that the next court date was in December, so we will be
following up and we will be looking to see what happens with
(02:53):
her. She's a lovely woman, we love
her and their story is really cute, so I hope you guys enjoy
it. Hope you learn a little bit
about the media and what it's like to be a victim as a family.
I hope you enjoy it. Welcome, Claire.
(03:14):
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
So happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
You're welcome. Let's jump right in.
Can you take us back to when youfirst met your loved one?
Yes, my husband and I first met in 2014, so I was 19 years old
(03:35):
and he had just turned 21 years old.
We met in a bar called Reggie's in Tiger Land, which is a really
big spot off of LSU's campus forcollege kids.
Oh cool. And what were you guys like back
then? I was an undergrad student at
(03:56):
ull which is in life yet, and I was going for my nursing degree.
Jake was, I think, living his life to the fullest at this
point. He was working, but having a lot
of fun in life. I think at that point in life, I
was probably more structured just in the sense that I had a
(04:18):
routine and he was just kind of living by the wayside.
I was in school studying, but I mean, obviously still having so
much fun, too. But I would say very different
places in life, for sure, yeah. And So what attracted you to
him? So it's really funny because
when we talk about this meeting,he actually saw me first.
(04:40):
I actually didn't even catch a glimpse of him until he was like
right in front of my face. I had been at the bar with some
friends and he said he spotted me from across the bar and just
knew immediately that he had to talk to me.
If you knew my husband, he's a charmer.
(05:00):
He's very slick with it. And he walked up to me at the
bar and he told me he was going to buy me a drink.
And then we just started talkingfrom there.
There was a point where a male friend of my friend's boyfriend
tried to kind of cut in and tellhim like that I wasn't
(05:23):
interested or something. And my husband even at the time
did not take that very well-being told no.
And of course, I had told the other guy I was like, OK, you
don't need to speak for me. Like, I really don't even know
you like that. But there was a little bit of a
tussle. Oh my gosh.
(05:44):
That yes, words were exchanged and threats were made and I was
just like, Oh my gosh, let's just diffuse this.
And so I pulled him aside and I was like, I'm just going to meet
you over in the back, away from the little front guide that were
hanging with my group of friends.
And it was a very interesting first meeting for sure.
(06:06):
After that, we kept talking and it just went from there.
We left that bar and went to a different bar.
And then we spent the entire night together just hanging out
and doing young kid things, riding around, acting foolish.
But so much fun and definitely such a memorable meeting.
(06:29):
And then did you guys stay connected for a while?
So we did stay connected for a good while back.
At this time, Snapchat was the thing, so we were big on
snapping each other. So we did that.
We talked, we texted for a couple months back and forth.
We didn't live in the same city,so it was kind of like when I
(06:53):
was going out to Baton Rouge, I would text him and if he was
like going out for the night, hewould text me.
So it was just kind of back and forth thing.
But we eventually lost type a couple months down the line.
I think the distance was a fact.My husband seems to think he
probably got arrested and lost types, lost the phone and then
(07:18):
it just fizzled from. There and then how did you guys
just connect like that and when did?
You that it's so crazy the reconnection happened by total
happenstance. So I had started a new job and
one of the other nurses that worked there and I got really,
(07:38):
really close. We just clicked the right off
the bat. And at the time I was super
single. And I say super single because I
was like, so painfully single. Nothing on my plate.
I'm not really thinking about it.
But one day I was talking to this other nurse.
She was like, I don't understandhow you're single.
(08:01):
And I was like, oh, you know, that's just what it is.
And she was, Oh my gosh. So a day or two later she came
and was like, Oh my God, I have the perfect person to set you up
with. And I was like, oh really?
And I'm going to be honest, I was not really big on being set
up on blind date. It just kind of gave me the if
(08:24):
for some reason, I think the tender horror stories.
I wasn't big on dating app either, but she was so excited
to tell me about this guy she wanted to set me up with.
And there was like, okay, give me the rundown.
Who is he? What is he about?
And essentially she was like, he's this childhood friend of
(08:45):
her boyfriend. His name is Jake.
He's 28, he's from Baton Rouge, he works in construction, he's
so cute, he's funny. She was just convinced that we
would hit it off. And I was like, I need to see a
picture of this guy 1st. And you have to understand from
2014 to 2022, a lot of life happened and you definitely
(09:11):
don't look like you look at 21. So when I saw this picture of my
now husband, he looks familiar to me for some reason, but I
couldn't place it. And then I was just like, oh
whatever, He's so cute. I was like, Oh my God, yes, like
for sure, let's do it. Funny enough, at the time I was
(09:34):
a single mom. So Michelle called me one night
and was like, come meet us at this place.
It's one of those indoor golf places.
Oh cool. And it was a night that I had my
daughter, so I couldn't just pick, pick up and go.
So I ended up not going that night when they were out.
(09:54):
And later that evening, I got a Facebook DM from Jake saying you
bailed on me. And I was like, no, I didn't
explain to him. This was so last minute.
I was in a bind with a sitter. And he was just like, well,
we're going to have to reschedule.
(10:15):
I want to take you on a date. And that was it, push comes to
shove. And that's just like how he
started talking again, really. You still didn't know at this
point that you'd. Previously, no, no, not at all.
Neither of us had put it together.
He definitely didn't. And while I was like, OK, this
guy looks familiar to me, but who knows?
(10:36):
I had not pieced together that Ihad a whole little three months
kind of run date with him eight years ago.
So when did it click? Oh my God, when we were fully
together for a really long time and the way that it actually
clicked crazy enough was one dayI'm randomly going through my
(10:59):
phone purging stuff. I had a screenshot of a text
conversation and I was like, whois this?
I was talking to? And the number was saved under
JJAY, it wasn't saved under Jake.
And I was just like, who is this?
(11:20):
So of course, then I take to thecloud and pull up the whole text
message chain and I'm like, Oh my God, this is my husband.
And I don't know if it's a thought that goes through many
people's heads, but having to goback and read your 19, 10 year
(11:41):
old self try to flirt over the phone is the cringe.
Most unfortunate thing I've everhad to do.
I mean, at this time my husband was talking like a wannabe song.
I don't even know why I continued the conversation
because I was like, and I told him this, of course I was like,
(12:02):
what we're trying to do lots of acronyms.
One of my favorite things is nowit's a running joke.
He texted me that I was something special, but he said
you is some special. So now we just have this little
inside joke when we're just being kind of, I'm going to keep
(12:23):
seeing Corning. We just say use some festival.
That's awesome. But funny enough, this is
actually the craziest part of this whole story.
So him not realizing that I was me in that story, of course he
will tell you that he has told that story about this mysterious
(12:45):
blonde girl that he met at the bar and talked to for months.
He has told that story over and over and over again to people
talking about how this was his dream girl and now we're
married. Oh my gosh, you refound each
other. So I thought that was really
full circle and just really sweet that he had been telling
(13:07):
his side of the story and I had been telling my side of the
story about this random guy and this random craziest period of
my life that took place in BatonRouge.
And it turns out we were tellingthe two sides of the same story.
And I think that's really special that it was that pivotal
of a moment for both of us. You really don't hear that ever?
(13:28):
What a unique story. That's so cool.
I know. For whatever the hallmark.
Yeah, for whatever reason, it wasn't the time then and then
you guys reconnected, so. Right.
No, totally. Yeah, going back to that.
So you went on the blind date, obviously, eventually you went
and saw him. Yes.
So actually, before I ended up going on the blind date, we took
(13:51):
another little break because we still didn't live in the same
city. He was living about an hour away
from me. It was fine.
So we were talking back and forth, but we never got
together. We never hung out.
I think between my nursing schedule and his work schedule
and the fact that we both had kids, it was just hard.
(14:13):
And so it ended up not happeninguntil he reached out to me one
day and was like, hey, look, I think I'm going to give it
another try with my baby Mama. And he was very honest about it.
He was like, I think I just owe this to my kids.
So like, try again. And obviously, having been
(14:34):
married previously, I was totally understood.
And I was like, by all means, dowhat you need to do.
I wish you the best. We stopped on really good terms
of mutual respect and wanting the best for each other.
So he went and tried to do his thing.
And then about three months later, four months later, I got
(14:56):
a text that just said, well, I'msingle again.
And he took me on our first realdate.
And that's when we finally got together and spent the time
getting to know each other. We had had the conversation, had
the talking communication, but never the physical time.
(15:16):
Right. So you hit it off right away.
Oh my gosh, yes. We we absolutely hit it off day
one date one. It was honestly the best first
date I've ever had in my life. And honestly, I think that's why
it'll be the last first date I ever have in my life.
It was definitely not your typical first date, but I don't
think anything we do is typical.And I love that.
(15:40):
I think that that it's very telling of who we are and our
relationship and everything to have this unique story.
But yeah, we hit it off right away.
I think the fact that we had built a friendship when we had
talked so much before, there wasno awkwardness.
There was no silence. If you know my husband or I,
(16:03):
it's very hard to find some peace and silence.
But between what we had, there was no shortage of anything to
talk about. And I think the thing that was
really just so different than anybody I dated in the past is
he just was so brutally honest about everything.
And we kind of started dating ata time in our lives when we were
(16:26):
both really going through some tough stuff.
And I think that's a way that weclicked even more was maybe it's
trauma bonding. I don't know.
Maybe it's just being there for each other and like supporting
each other. But it was definitely special.
And at that point, did you know it all about his criminal
history? Because we were joking before
(16:47):
about when you were kids and he probably got arrested.
But did you have any clue? Date 1, he told me everything
about everything. Yeah, that's what I'm saying,
right? It's like he did not have to be
so honest with me on the 1st date, but he was.
He told me the good, the bad, the ugly.
Just probably way more than I probably wanted to know at the
(17:10):
time, but I think his honesty about everything is what really
brought our comfortability with each other to a whole different
level. Yeah, I totally agree with you.
Like my husband, obviously we'd met in very different
circumstances, but my husband was so vulnerable and I was like
freaked out almost about how honest and vulnerable.
(17:31):
Yes. Like men don't do this right?
Yeah, when I tell you he broughtout the childhood trauma, he
brought out all all this stoppedwhen it came to everything he
told me about. And I really was like,
intimidated at first because it was just so out of the ordinary.
Yeah, for sure. It was really just totally new
(17:53):
and different to me. But obviously I think I needed
new and different because obviously it works out for a
reason. Yeah.
Had you ever dated anybody who'dbeen incarcerated before?
Yes, I had. So actually my first husband had
a little bit of a past himself. And then funny enough, in
(18:15):
between my ex-husband and my current husband, I actually
dated a cop. And that was not the move.
That was not the move. I'm going to stress that so
much. That was not for me.
I'm so curious, it must be so different.
Oh my gosh. Well, it is.
It's just so funny because, to be honest, I think people who
(18:37):
have had run insurance with the law are more respectful of it
than people who haven't. And I think the thing that I
experienced with dating somebodyin law enforcement was the fact
that they really don't care. And I think things don't apply
to them. And that's scary to me.
So, yeah, and I'm not saying alllaw enforcement officers are
(19:01):
like that, but I think there were a lot of reasons we didn't
work. And obviously, thank God a lot
of those things came to light. But yeah, so I went from felon
to cop to felon. Wow, so obviously you weren't
intimidated by his record because you've dated someone
who's has a record? Before well, I shouldn't even
(19:22):
classify my ex-husband as a felon.
He did not have the history of the current husband does for
sure. OK.
It was like a singular episode compared to multiple prison
sentences. Yeah, we've had a couple mug
shots, a couple mug shots put onthe federal, on the national
news, things like that. So it was very different.
(19:43):
But I think in general, in life,it takes a lot to intimidate me.
So the history of it definitely didn't intimidate me, especially
since I knew it was all stuff from so long ago, OK.
And knowing that he wasn't living that way anymore, that
(20:04):
kind of made me more OK with. Dating.
And so at this point, you didn'treally anticipate him ever going
back to prison. No, I never wanted him to go
back to prison after that first date.
We literally were rarely apart. I'll preface that just so we
(20:24):
have some background. We were rarely apart.
We hit it off and we were just always together.
And I think we were Better Together.
And he livened me up a little bit maybe, and I kept him
grounded in a way that we were just really complementary to
each other. And we still are that way.
But I just think that the fact that we were together so much
(20:49):
made it all more of a shock whenthe shooting did happen because
it was like, OK, I spent every waking hour pretty much with
this person since it was it was almost like processing at death
because he was just gone. Yeah, So unexpectedly, so
(21:10):
unexpectedly. You guys are going strong,
Everything's going good. You're settled, you're together,
everything's good. And then this happens.
So walk me through that day fromyour perspective.
Oh my gosh, I remember this day like it was yesterday.
So crazy. So we had been at his mom's the
(21:30):
night before hanging out at the house, and she lives in a closer
suburb of Baton Rouge. We had just gotten a house out
here in New Orleans. But essentially he had been
trying for months and months andmonths to go to his old house to
try to get his stuff back from this ex of his.
And he was always met with a lotof resistance.
(21:52):
So she would just ghost him, ignore him, or tell him to screw
off. Just pretty much being spiteful
and she didn't want him to have his stuff back.
So the next morning came around and I drove out to my mom's
house, which is in another closer suburb of Baton Rouge.
(22:13):
And I was just hanging out with my family.
Him and his friends got the little trailer hooked up to the
truck and headed out to Baton Rouge essentially.
So I knew where he was going. I absolutely knew.
And like I said, we were rarely apart, so we had each other's
location. We were constantly texting.
We were very often on the phone Facetiming all the things.
(22:37):
So I was at my mom's for a whileand he let me know he was like,
we're going to be heading to thehouse, OK.
And I was like, OK, still hanging out with my family, but
keeping an eye on location because I did not feel good
about it at all. And I still had a bad feeling.
I don't know what it was. Call it intuition, God, whatever
(22:59):
you want to call it. I had a bad feeling that
something was going to happen. And it gets to a point where I'm
in my room at her house and I'm looking and Jake's location is
not working. And so then of course, I text
him, but it's not going through.The texts are turning green.
(23:23):
I'm calling him, he's not picking up.
I'm trying to update the location.
The location isn't working at this point, having a full blown
panic attack. He's just panicking, complete
panic. So then I texted his mom and I
was like, hey, have you heard from Jake?
He was going over to the house to get his stuff and I haven't
(23:47):
heard anything in a little while.
And so she called me and she waslike, Oh, well, I'm sure
everything's fine. He's probably just moving
furniture or dizzy, right? I'm losing my absolute mind.
This is crazy. So for background, Jake's mom
and dad are divorced OK and Jake's dad is remarried and has
(24:10):
been for a long time but his momand his dad don't.
Talk. OK, Fair.
So while I am on the phone with his mother I was telling her
look I just really don't have a good feeling about this.
I don't know why this is just soweird because and if he was busy
moving his location should be working.
His text should be fine like everything.
And in the middle of my thing that she says Oh my God, Jake's
(24:34):
daddy is calling me. And in that moment I just knew
that something had happened. Of course, I didn't know what
had happened, but all I could say was please call me back and
I'm going to try to get through this stuff crying.
(24:55):
I just said please call me back.And she just said I will.
And she hung up to take the other call.
And it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but it felt
like I was sitting there in silence for just a lifetime.
And she called me back finally. And the only thing I really
(25:20):
remember is she just said he's been shot.
And I just said what? And she just repeated herself,
he's been shot. And I truly believe I completely
blocked out in that moment. My mom said that she heard me
(25:43):
scream and she ran into my room and I was on the floor and she
was, of course, what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong?
And I just couldn't say anything.
But he's been shot. He's been shot.
Oh, gosh. And I was just like Jay cut
shot. I don't know.
At that point I didn't know anything.
(26:03):
I didn't know if he was dead, I didn't know if he was alive or I
didn't know anything. So that was just a blackout.
But I guess like fight or flightkicked in adrenaline.
I don't know what it was. Maybe it was God again.
But I just said I have the address.
I have to go to Baton Rouge because of course I knew.
(26:24):
All of this took place in Baton Rouge.
OK, So of course I'm thinking, well, dead or alive, he's going
to be at a hospital in Baton Rouge.
Threw on clothes. I got in my car and when I tell
you I made a 30 minute trip in about 15 minutes while I was in
(26:45):
the car, his brother called me to let me know which hospital he
was at. Once I found out which hospital,
I went straight there. When I got there, they had
called me again while I was still in the car to say they're
not letting anybody see him, there's nothing we can do, we're
leaving. And I said I'm not leaving.
(27:06):
So I still pulled up to the hospital anyway and I ran into
the emergency room and I was screaming.
I mean, I'm sure I looked like ahysterical lunatic because this
was the craziest thing I could ever imagine.
And I was just screaming. I said my boyfriend is here, I
need to see him. He's been shot.
And of course the nursing staff was no, he's not here.
(27:30):
First it was you can't see him. But then they were like, he's
not here. And of course, I knew why they
were doing that, being that my field of career, it's a
protection thing at that point. And of course, he tells me now
that he was in the back just asking for me and begging
somebody please call my girlfriend.
(27:51):
He knew I was going to be so worried.
And he was just begging everybody that he came across
like, please. I was able to get the
information that he at least wasalive of course and not gravely
injured, but that he was being arrested.
And of course I was like well heck, what do you mean he's
(28:14):
being arrested and for what? I'm like he's the one who was
shot clearly. Why of all people would he be
going to jail? They didn't give me any answers.
It tells me they came in, fuckedhim to the bed and told him very
little. Essentially it stems from this
(28:35):
ex-girlfriend claiming self defence, then claiming that Jake
went over to the house shooting,trying to kill them all.
This is very odd story of it's unfortunately the whole story is
just such a mess. It doesn't make any sense.
They're claiming self-defense but he was shot three times in
(28:56):
the back. It's just crazy to me.
So you're in the hospital and that's when they tell you that
he's actually arrested. No.
So I left the emergency room because they threatened to
arrest me. Oddly enough, they threatened to
arrest me. So I left the emergency room,
but I sat in my car in the parking lot for 8 hours.
(29:17):
I couldn't leave. I was distraught.
So this happened or at 9:30 ten in the morning and I sat there
until after 8:00 PM. And then I was just like, well,
what can I do? So I called Jake's stepdad and I
said I can't be by myself right now.
And he was like, absolutely, youare always welcome here.
(29:39):
So I went over there and all I remember doing was sitting in
the recliner in a day trying to process everything that
happened. And a lot of people were calling
me. But for whatever reason, it's
one number that wasn't saved in my phone was calling me.
It's Baton Rouge area code was calling me.
(30:00):
And I picked it up and I heard Jake's voice and she just said,
baby. And I really just remember like
breaking down and crying becauseI didn't know when I was going
to hear his voice again. And I just said, where are you?
(30:22):
And he said, they're taking me to jail.
This receptionist, just let me call you.
Oh my gosh. And I just remember saying, why
are you going to jail? And it was just so hard to have
the day that I had and then be hit with that kind of outcome.
(30:43):
I can't even imagine not knowingfor so long and then it's I'm
going to jail. I didn't even know.
I didn't even know. That's protocol that if for
safety reasons, they wouldn't tell you if someone comes in
with a gunshot wound if they're actually here.
Which makes. Sense, but that's horrifying.
For fact, and I mean they do that so that like if I was the
(31:03):
person who shot him, I'm not trying to go there to finish
them all off or something like that.
So that was why they did it. That's crazy.
But then they'll notify the dad,but they won't let him in.
No, nobody was able to see him at all.
Wow. So what actually happened?
What did he end up telling you? Are you allowed to tell us?
So he told me and what I very much believe is absolutely the
(31:26):
truth is he said he got to his house.
And you have to understand he had been going there for months
when the girl wasn't home to getsome of his things because like,
we have to remember here, this is his house.
Yeah, exactly. This is his home in his name is
owned by his father. She is nowhere on any of the
(31:50):
paperwork for this home. It was his house.
So he would go to the house whenshe wasn't home, use his key for
the door and let himself in, take his things.
I will say his belonging. Another thing will stress, he
had been doing this for a while,getting little by little what he
could. Then we found out that
(32:11):
apparently she had set up some security cameras, right?
And every time that he would go over to the house, she would
call the cops and say that he was breaking in the house and
stealing her stuff. In hindsight, we ended up
finding out about all these police reports of him breaking
into his own home, which makes absolutely no sense.
(32:33):
But yeah, the day of the shooting that essentially what
happened is when he got to the house, she had changed the
locks. And of course, he was like, what
the hell? So he's been knocking on the
door, knocking on the side door,going around the back.
So he went around the back of the house and there there's some
French doors that are leading into the living room from a
(32:55):
sunroom, right? Essentially, he said he was
trying to get into the living room through the French doors.
When he turned around, he got shot three times in the back.
And then, of course, he started running.
And now it's pretty much it. Essentially he went there to go
get his stuff and he was shot inside of his own home in the
(33:20):
back. How injured was he?
Because obviously he was able torun away.
He got hit in the shoulder blade, lower down around the
waist, like around his waistline, and then in the butt
cheek. By the grace of God, though,
when I was eventually able to get the records from the day of,
(33:41):
the Doctor Who released the records to me let me know that
he couldn't explain it other than a miracle that he is not
either dead or paralyzed becauseof the places where he had been
hit. One of the bullets, had his
shoulder blade not been in the exact position it was in, it
would have gone through his chest and the doctor said Jake
(34:02):
would have been dead before he hit the ground.
And then the other one that's a little lower that hit him a
little lower down in the back was so close to his spine that
he could have been a paraplegic.The only one that really wasn't
an issue was the one that hit him in the butt.
And so obviously he gets surgeryor whatever and then he goes to
(34:23):
jail and then you talk. So no, he doesn't even get
surgery, he is sent to jail withopen wounds and bullets in his
back. Yes, girl.
They do that. They sure do.
If they think that it is not life threatening, they will send
you to jail with whatever you came with.
Really. It's terrible.
(34:44):
Wow, I'm shocked. That's crazy.
Yeah. And then what happens after
that? Does the jail heal you?
Yeah, Oh, my God. First of all, health care in
prisons is absolutely deplorable.
And of course, me with my nursing background, I am so
afraid of infection. I'm like, God, you survived a
shooting, but watch you die fromsome ungodly unknown infection
(35:05):
that you get in a prison. So I was really worried about
that. So that's when I really started
advocating for him. Actually, I had absolutely no
problem calling the jail and letting them know that these are
open wounds and you better take care of them or you're going to
have a problem with me and I will show up.
I will show up. Yeah.
When he would tell me that they're not taking care of it
(35:27):
the way that they were ordered to, I would call up there, raise
some hell, and yeah, essentiallythe wounds closed.
So literally in one day, your life changed.
Oh my God. Within really a couple hours,
yeah, it was always together, just living our lives to just
(35:49):
everything was just up in flame,yeah.
How do you deal? Oh my God, Martini, no.
I think I am really blessed to have some really, really amazing
friends who have stuck by me through just obviously the
craziest stuff ever. I have a really amazing family,
(36:13):
and there was a period where I just needed to grieve and I had
to give myself that time, that grace, because I don't think I
would have been able to do it any other way.
But to be honest, the other thing was just having Jake still
almost losing him really put things into perspective of like
(36:37):
how much a person means to you. That's the only way I can say
it. Like he really was.
And I don't even know. He says I was what kept him
strong. But I'm like, Oh my gosh, no,
you kept me strong. And it's just.
It was like we were both doing it for each other.
(36:58):
Yeah, it brought you. But I mean, there was a really
dark time at the beginning of this incarceration where I could
feel him distancing himself fromme.
I'll say that at the time I didn't know it, but because I
wasn't familiar with jail life, so I didn't know that they could
call more than twice a day. I didn't know that there were
(37:21):
video visits. I didn't know how this went.
But essentially what had happened in the past for him
when he had gone away to jail iseveryone abandoned him.
And the way he tells me is he was thinking that I was going to
do the same. I mean, truly from having been
through it before, he, he was soprepared for me to be like, see
(37:45):
you later. I'm not interested in this
whatever. And we had this really tough
conversation one day on the phone and he was just like,
baby, you shouldn't have to waitfor me.
And I said what? I was like, what are you talking
about? And he said that's not fair for
you to have to put your life on hold for me.
(38:08):
And you have to realize we had only been together for six
months at this time. He was like, we haven't been
together that long. He was like, obviously I love
you more than anything. But he kept saying I don't want
anything to happen. I don't want to lose you, you
know, things like that. And I was like, what are you
talking about? He told me.
He didn't want me to tell him that I would stick this out and
(38:30):
essentially end up cheating on him.
Yeah, it's a huge fear. And which makes sense because I
later found out that one of the other times that he was
incarcerated, you know, the ex-girlfriend had actually slept
with a brother of his. Oh, gosh.
So there was a very dark and convoluted reason for him
(38:51):
feeling like that, right? And that broke my heart for him
because I think it really showedme that he had truly never had
anybody just love him and stick with him through everything.
And the. Saddest.
And I told him I was like, are you breaking up with me?
And he was like, no, but I don'tthink you want to do this.
(39:13):
And I was like, OK, well then I don't want to going to hear it
again. I said we were together when you
were out here, We're going to betogether while you're in there.
And I said, so unless you're breaking up with me, I love you
and shut up, right? Which is so.
Lucky, yeah. And he really does say that
(39:33):
there were times before all of this happened where he knew he
wanted to marry me, but he said that day really solidified it
for him. It's so sad because the more I
get to know my husband's friendsand their situations and
whatever and the amount of people that just get forgotten
is so heartbreaking. I remember.
(39:56):
Once. Yeah, one of his friends made a
comment and said out of sight, out of mind is real.
And yeah, and it's large percentages of people.
And then you wonder why they reoffend.
And absolutely, they don't have stability in their lives.
They don't have someone who's gonna stick by them.
And what you're saying is just not an anomaly, right?
(40:18):
So many of these guys and women will go through that where they
just get dropped the second something.
Happened, right? And he says he's never known
loyalty or law or anything like that before in his life.
So you did decide to get married.
Why while he was in? Jail.
We did. So really, we had been talking
(40:41):
about it. So he had asked me to marry him
right around Thanksgiving. So less than a month after the
whole shooting happened, she wasreally like, I want to marry
you, Will you marry me? And I was like, duh, if I'm
still here through this. Yeah.
(41:02):
You know, I was like, what else am I going to do?
So it just ended up being one ofthose things where he asked me
to marry him. And then my mom let me know that
she had a family ring for me, which was really special.
I was, of course, excited about that because I got to have a
ring, even though he didn't get to give it to me.
(41:22):
I got to have a ring that was special and still symbolize the
fact that he had asked me to marry him.
And we had always talked about, oh, we'll just wait till you
come home. Do it.
And he just called me one day and was like, bring them papers
up here today. I'm marrying you.
And I was just like, are you forreal?
(41:45):
And he just said, yes, do you want to do it?
And I was like, yeah, let's do it.
And that's just how it went. As simple as it is, that's just
how it happened. So I got all the papers, all the
licenses together, and a week later we were married.
Awesome. I really want to touch base on
(42:06):
his past and how it's affecting his case right now, because I
think that that's so important that people don't.
Realize. Oh yeah.
So. Totally.
I will start out by saying that I think were this somebody with
absolutely no criminal history, we'd be in a totally different
situation. He probably wouldn't even be in
jail. I don't even think he would have
(42:27):
been booked on anything. I don't know.
I mean, of course, I can't speakto that for sure, but I just
think that it would have been totally different.
And another thing is, I'll say in a conservative state, I hate
to play like the gender card, but when you have a girl who's
(42:47):
very unassuming, pretty, mild mannered, claiming all these
crazy things against a man who not only has a criminal history,
but you know, my husband is big and tattooed.
And when you think of victim in your head, I do not in any case
think my husband would pop up inanyone's mind.
(43:09):
I don't think I think he's a good victim.
I don't think he fits the bill physically, but also obviously
on paper very different. So honestly, I think it's really
hard when you have a girl who isnot only claiming some really
terrible things. I mean, I'm not saying that
(43:30):
should a situation like this happen to somebody in reality
that it shouldn't be handled properly.
But I think had my husband not, we had the history.
He put it in terms like this, which I love and I've used it so
many times since then. He said everyone else is
innocent until proven guilty. People like him are guilty until
(43:54):
proven innocent. And that struck with me because
I didn't realize how bad it was until we really have got into
the nitty gritty of this situation.
I know the court case is open and what not, but just for
everyone to kind of understand what was he facing in terms of
(44:15):
years because of this? So initially I will say his
charges were three counts of attempted murder, home invasion,
and let's see what else, child endangerment, because the day of
the shooting one of his childrenwere present and the felon in
(44:35):
possession of a weapon. So we started out with some
major crazy charges. Obviously it still never made
sense to me how he was facing attempted murder charges when he
was the one who got shot or how he was facing a home invasion
charge when it was his house. So there was a lot of just
craziness. But obviously attempted murder
(44:56):
carries like a 15 to 20 year sentence.
So we were facing some real serious time in the very
beginning before we really got into it and the earlier started
fighting. We were really looking at
possibly a 3040 plus year sentence.
Wow over this. Yeah.
(45:16):
Crazy. What has been the hardest part
for you? You know what I think the
hardest part for me really has been the fact that the people
who are responsible for this whole situation, the shooting,
Yeah, the allegation, it's the fact that they are living their
(45:37):
life like nothing happened. Having to be faced with that is
really, really difficult becauseto me, it's just so unfair.
You know, not only is it infuriating to see somebody go
to court and go to such extreme lengths to lie and just be
dishonest, but just the fact that then there are people who
(46:00):
like. It doesn't make sense to me that
they're even believing some of the things because there's just
some things that if something doesn't add up, you know, if the
math ain't mapping, it ain't mapping.
So to me it's, wait, how do you even believe some of these
things when other things that have been said directly
contradict that? So it's been really hard knowing
(46:24):
that the people that are responsible are allowed to live
their life when obviously I'm now living my life alone and
then my husband is living his life in.
Yeah. And it also takes.
So yeah. The actual victims, like you
said earlier, that are actually going through these things when?
Absolutely it is you guys, really.
(46:45):
There's so much fat absolutely around it, yeah.
It's so terribly detrimental to real victims having people claim
to be domestic violence survivors when that's just
blatantly not the case. Yeah, I am all for supporting
victims and finding them the help that they need and getting
injustice, but this just shows victims come in all shapes and
(47:09):
sizes and sometimes they look like a big, muscular, tatted man
with a criminal history. It doesn't always look like the
poor little girl who cries A boohoo story.
Yeah. And then I think objectivity is
very important in. Totally law.
Enforcement for that reason and the things that they're saying
in the media, everything that people are getting from the
(47:32):
media. What do you want to say to
people from your experiences about the media next time they
read an article? Yeah, I think one of the biggest
things that I've learned that the news, whether written news,
video news, whatever it is, I have truly learned that they
will take and run with anything that anybody speaks to them
(47:55):
without any base, without any evidence, without any anything.
Word of mouth, which I don't know, maybe I was kind of naive
and thinking that didn't happen,but I was just blown away at the
fact that they'll just take whatone person is saying and run
with it and smear it all over the news.
And I think the thing that everybody needs to know is there
(48:17):
are two sides to every story. And sometimes people are really
good at playing the victim and kind of living their life with a
victim mentality. And I think some people who
might be a little maybe narcissistic or have
(48:38):
narcissistic kind of sociopathictendencies are sometimes the
people who are the best at looking like victims.
And I saw this thing that a friend shared with me that
really hit home because obviously there are always two
sides to every story. And I don't think people should
(49:00):
make such harsh judgements untilthey hear both sides because
that's been our thing. We've really been silent up
until this point, and we kind ofleft it at that.
But the thing that my friend shared with me is it was just
like this little quote that saidno one plays the victim better
than the person who caused the damage.
(49:23):
And yeah, I mean, right. That was my reaction.
I was like, wow, this really hits home.
And when people have asked us, aren't you going to tell your
side of the story? We've always just said, God
knows, and that's enough. I agree.
And there will be a time and a place for the truth to come out.
(49:43):
And the truth is going to set usfree.
The truth is going to shed lighton everything and the true
character of all parties involved.
And I think that's just what we rely on and what we place our
hope in is that when the time isright, these things will come to
light. And the people who are actually
(50:03):
responsible and had bad intentions and had malicious
thoughts and just know that those things will work
themselves out really for. Sure, I agree.
I 100% agree. Just stay on the right track and
do the right thing. It'll all workout in whatever
way it's supposed to. Absolutely.
(50:23):
But your case is not done. So you're looking at December,
right? Yes, yeah.
So we have been continued to December 1st from 2025.
So we will need to do a follow up here because I'm sure people.
Are absolutely want to know how it is absolutely yes well and I
(50:44):
think a lot of people are gonna be looking for.
Yeah, follow-ups for sure. Thank you so much for coming on
and sharing it. I so appreciate your time.
Thank you so much mugger all your.
Time. Good.
Thank you. I appreciate too.
Take care, bye.
My mom said that he heard me scream and she ran into my room
and I was on the floor and couldn't say anything.
But he's been taught. He's been taught.
(00:21):
Welcome to More than a Mate's Girlfriend.
I'm your host Jay. Welcome back for another episode
this week. I want to start and open up with
the question. Have we ever questioned the
media and what they're reporting?
Have you ever had an experience where you feel that maybe the
media was exaggerating or maybe they got some of the details
(00:44):
wrong? Just for perspective sake in
knowing what I went through, I was in a school shooting as a
teenager and while we were on lockdown, the media which we had
access to, the computers, we didn't have access to our
phones. And on the computers, they were
saying one thing about what was happening and really it was a
(01:07):
complete opposite. So they didn't have the right
information. They were pushing out
information that was inaccurate,scaring us and making us fearful
for our lives when in fact the shooter had been unalived many
hours prior and there was nobodyelse in the building.
But they made it sound a different way.
And to me that was eye opening and shocking.
(01:29):
And for the first time I thought, like the media is not
telling the truth. This is scary cause I've never
experienced that before. Well, our next guest, Claire has
had an experience with her and her loved one.
And it's twofold. The first one is that he is
saying one thing and the media is saying something completely
(01:50):
different. So Claire is here today to
clarify her side at his side of the story because it's being
portrayed very differently. The other thing that she's here
to talk about, which I think is very interesting, is the fact
when someone who has a history of crime all of a sudden becomes
the victim and the perpetrators don't have a history of crime.
(02:13):
And how once you're a criminal, you're always a criminal and you
carry that logo on your foreheadand you're automatically not
believed. You have to fight twice as hard
to get the justice that you deserve because you won't get it
immediately because of your record.
So I thought that was a really interesting topic as well.
(02:33):
Keep in mind our interview with Claire happened many months ago
in the spring or end of the winter, so there could have been
a lot going on since then. She did say in this interview
that the next court date was in December, so we will be
following up and we will be looking to see what happens with
(02:53):
her. She's a lovely woman, we love
her and their story is really cute, so I hope you guys enjoy
it. Hope you learn a little bit
about the media and what it's like to be a victim as a family.
I hope you enjoy it. Welcome, Claire.
(03:14):
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
So happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
You're welcome. Let's jump right in.
Can you take us back to when youfirst met your loved one?
Yes, my husband and I first met in 2014, so I was 19 years old
(03:35):
and he had just turned 21 years old.
We met in a bar called Reggie's in Tiger Land, which is a really
big spot off of LSU's campus forcollege kids.
Oh cool. And what were you guys like back
then? I was an undergrad student at
(03:56):
ull which is in life yet, and I was going for my nursing degree.
Jake was, I think, living his life to the fullest at this
point. He was working, but having a lot
of fun in life. I think at that point in life, I
was probably more structured just in the sense that I had a
(04:18):
routine and he was just kind of living by the wayside.
I was in school studying, but I mean, obviously still having so
much fun, too. But I would say very different
places in life, for sure, yeah. And So what attracted you to
him? So it's really funny because
when we talk about this meeting,he actually saw me first.
(04:40):
I actually didn't even catch a glimpse of him until he was like
right in front of my face. I had been at the bar with some
friends and he said he spotted me from across the bar and just
knew immediately that he had to talk to me.
If you knew my husband, he's a charmer.
(05:00):
He's very slick with it. And he walked up to me at the
bar and he told me he was going to buy me a drink.
And then we just started talkingfrom there.
There was a point where a male friend of my friend's boyfriend
tried to kind of cut in and tellhim like that I wasn't
(05:23):
interested or something. And my husband even at the time
did not take that very well-being told no.
And of course, I had told the other guy I was like, OK, you
don't need to speak for me. Like, I really don't even know
you like that. But there was a little bit of a
tussle. Oh my gosh.
(05:44):
That yes, words were exchanged and threats were made and I was
just like, Oh my gosh, let's just diffuse this.
And so I pulled him aside and I was like, I'm just going to meet
you over in the back, away from the little front guide that were
hanging with my group of friends.
And it was a very interesting first meeting for sure.
(06:06):
After that, we kept talking and it just went from there.
We left that bar and went to a different bar.
And then we spent the entire night together just hanging out
and doing young kid things, riding around, acting foolish.
But so much fun and definitely such a memorable meeting.
(06:29):
And then did you guys stay connected for a while?
So we did stay connected for a good while back.
At this time, Snapchat was the thing, so we were big on
snapping each other. So we did that.
We talked, we texted for a couple months back and forth.
We didn't live in the same city,so it was kind of like when I
(06:53):
was going out to Baton Rouge, I would text him and if he was
like going out for the night, hewould text me.
So it was just kind of back and forth thing.
But we eventually lost type a couple months down the line.
I think the distance was a fact.My husband seems to think he
probably got arrested and lost types, lost the phone and then
(07:18):
it just fizzled from. There and then how did you guys
just connect like that and when did?
You that it's so crazy the reconnection happened by total
happenstance. So I had started a new job and
one of the other nurses that worked there and I got really,
(07:38):
really close. We just clicked the right off
the bat. And at the time I was super
single. And I say super single because I
was like, so painfully single. Nothing on my plate.
I'm not really thinking about it.
But one day I was talking to this other nurse.
She was like, I don't understandhow you're single.
(08:01):
And I was like, oh, you know, that's just what it is.
And she was, Oh my gosh. So a day or two later she came
and was like, Oh my God, I have the perfect person to set you up
with. And I was like, oh really?
And I'm going to be honest, I was not really big on being set
up on blind date. It just kind of gave me the if
(08:24):
for some reason, I think the tender horror stories.
I wasn't big on dating app either, but she was so excited
to tell me about this guy she wanted to set me up with.
And there was like, okay, give me the rundown.
Who is he? What is he about?
And essentially she was like, he's this childhood friend of
(08:45):
her boyfriend. His name is Jake.
He's 28, he's from Baton Rouge, he works in construction, he's
so cute, he's funny. She was just convinced that we
would hit it off. And I was like, I need to see a
picture of this guy 1st. And you have to understand from
2014 to 2022, a lot of life happened and you definitely
(09:11):
don't look like you look at 21. So when I saw this picture of my
now husband, he looks familiar to me for some reason, but I
couldn't place it. And then I was just like, oh
whatever, He's so cute. I was like, Oh my God, yes, like
for sure, let's do it. Funny enough, at the time I was
(09:34):
a single mom. So Michelle called me one night
and was like, come meet us at this place.
It's one of those indoor golf places.
Oh cool. And it was a night that I had my
daughter, so I couldn't just pick, pick up and go.
So I ended up not going that night when they were out.
(09:54):
And later that evening, I got a Facebook DM from Jake saying you
bailed on me. And I was like, no, I didn't
explain to him. This was so last minute.
I was in a bind with a sitter. And he was just like, well,
we're going to have to reschedule.
(10:15):
I want to take you on a date. And that was it, push comes to
shove. And that's just like how he
started talking again, really. You still didn't know at this
point that you'd. Previously, no, no, not at all.
Neither of us had put it together.
He definitely didn't. And while I was like, OK, this
guy looks familiar to me, but who knows?
(10:36):
I had not pieced together that Ihad a whole little three months
kind of run date with him eight years ago.
So when did it click? Oh my God, when we were fully
together for a really long time and the way that it actually
clicked crazy enough was one dayI'm randomly going through my
(10:59):
phone purging stuff. I had a screenshot of a text
conversation and I was like, whois this?
I was talking to? And the number was saved under
JJAY, it wasn't saved under Jake.
And I was just like, who is this?
(11:20):
So of course, then I take to thecloud and pull up the whole text
message chain and I'm like, Oh my God, this is my husband.
And I don't know if it's a thought that goes through many
people's heads, but having to goback and read your 19, 10 year
(11:41):
old self try to flirt over the phone is the cringe.
Most unfortunate thing I've everhad to do.
I mean, at this time my husband was talking like a wannabe song.
I don't even know why I continued the conversation
because I was like, and I told him this, of course I was like,
(12:02):
what we're trying to do lots of acronyms.
One of my favorite things is nowit's a running joke.
He texted me that I was something special, but he said
you is some special. So now we just have this little
inside joke when we're just being kind of, I'm going to keep
(12:23):
seeing Corning. We just say use some festival.
That's awesome. But funny enough, this is
actually the craziest part of this whole story.
So him not realizing that I was me in that story, of course he
will tell you that he has told that story about this mysterious
(12:45):
blonde girl that he met at the bar and talked to for months.
He has told that story over and over and over again to people
talking about how this was his dream girl and now we're
married. Oh my gosh, you refound each
other. So I thought that was really
full circle and just really sweet that he had been telling
(13:07):
his side of the story and I had been telling my side of the
story about this random guy and this random craziest period of
my life that took place in BatonRouge.
And it turns out we were tellingthe two sides of the same story.
And I think that's really special that it was that pivotal
of a moment for both of us. You really don't hear that ever?
(13:28):
What a unique story. That's so cool.
I know. For whatever the hallmark.
Yeah, for whatever reason, it wasn't the time then and then
you guys reconnected, so. Right.
No, totally. Yeah, going back to that.
So you went on the blind date, obviously, eventually you went
and saw him. Yes.
So actually, before I ended up going on the blind date, we took
(13:51):
another little break because we still didn't live in the same
city. He was living about an hour away
from me. It was fine.
So we were talking back and forth, but we never got
together. We never hung out.
I think between my nursing schedule and his work schedule
and the fact that we both had kids, it was just hard.
(14:13):
And so it ended up not happeninguntil he reached out to me one
day and was like, hey, look, I think I'm going to give it
another try with my baby Mama. And he was very honest about it.
He was like, I think I just owe this to my kids.
So like, try again. And obviously, having been
(14:34):
married previously, I was totally understood.
And I was like, by all means, dowhat you need to do.
I wish you the best. We stopped on really good terms
of mutual respect and wanting the best for each other.
So he went and tried to do his thing.
And then about three months later, four months later, I got
(14:56):
a text that just said, well, I'msingle again.
And he took me on our first realdate.
And that's when we finally got together and spent the time
getting to know each other. We had had the conversation, had
the talking communication, but never the physical time.
(15:16):
Right. So you hit it off right away.
Oh my gosh, yes. We we absolutely hit it off day
one date one. It was honestly the best first
date I've ever had in my life. And honestly, I think that's why
it'll be the last first date I ever have in my life.
It was definitely not your typical first date, but I don't
think anything we do is typical.And I love that.
(15:40):
I think that that it's very telling of who we are and our
relationship and everything to have this unique story.
But yeah, we hit it off right away.
I think the fact that we had built a friendship when we had
talked so much before, there wasno awkwardness.
There was no silence. If you know my husband or I,
(16:03):
it's very hard to find some peace and silence.
But between what we had, there was no shortage of anything to
talk about. And I think the thing that was
really just so different than anybody I dated in the past is
he just was so brutally honest about everything.
And we kind of started dating ata time in our lives when we were
(16:26):
both really going through some tough stuff.
And I think that's a way that weclicked even more was maybe it's
trauma bonding. I don't know.
Maybe it's just being there for each other and like supporting
each other. But it was definitely special.
And at that point, did you know it all about his criminal
history? Because we were joking before
(16:47):
about when you were kids and he probably got arrested.
But did you have any clue? Date 1, he told me everything
about everything. Yeah, that's what I'm saying,
right? It's like he did not have to be
so honest with me on the 1st date, but he was.
He told me the good, the bad, the ugly.
Just probably way more than I probably wanted to know at the
(17:10):
time, but I think his honesty about everything is what really
brought our comfortability with each other to a whole different
level. Yeah, I totally agree with you.
Like my husband, obviously we'd met in very different
circumstances, but my husband was so vulnerable and I was like
freaked out almost about how honest and vulnerable.
(17:31):
Yes. Like men don't do this right?
Yeah, when I tell you he broughtout the childhood trauma, he
brought out all all this stoppedwhen it came to everything he
told me about. And I really was like,
intimidated at first because it was just so out of the ordinary.
Yeah, for sure. It was really just totally new
(17:53):
and different to me. But obviously I think I needed
new and different because obviously it works out for a
reason. Yeah.
Had you ever dated anybody who'dbeen incarcerated before?
Yes, I had. So actually my first husband had
a little bit of a past himself. And then funny enough, in
(18:15):
between my ex-husband and my current husband, I actually
dated a cop. And that was not the move.
That was not the move. I'm going to stress that so
much. That was not for me.
I'm so curious, it must be so different.
Oh my gosh. Well, it is.
It's just so funny because, to be honest, I think people who
(18:37):
have had run insurance with the law are more respectful of it
than people who haven't. And I think the thing that I
experienced with dating somebodyin law enforcement was the fact
that they really don't care. And I think things don't apply
to them. And that's scary to me.
So, yeah, and I'm not saying alllaw enforcement officers are
(19:01):
like that, but I think there were a lot of reasons we didn't
work. And obviously, thank God a lot
of those things came to light. But yeah, so I went from felon
to cop to felon. Wow, so obviously you weren't
intimidated by his record because you've dated someone
who's has a record? Before well, I shouldn't even
(19:22):
classify my ex-husband as a felon.
He did not have the history of the current husband does for
sure. OK.
It was like a singular episode compared to multiple prison
sentences. Yeah, we've had a couple mug
shots, a couple mug shots put onthe federal, on the national
news, things like that. So it was very different.
(19:43):
But I think in general, in life,it takes a lot to intimidate me.
So the history of it definitely didn't intimidate me, especially
since I knew it was all stuff from so long ago, OK.
And knowing that he wasn't living that way anymore, that
(20:04):
kind of made me more OK with. Dating.
And so at this point, you didn'treally anticipate him ever going
back to prison. No, I never wanted him to go
back to prison after that first date.
We literally were rarely apart. I'll preface that just so we
(20:24):
have some background. We were rarely apart.
We hit it off and we were just always together.
And I think we were Better Together.
And he livened me up a little bit maybe, and I kept him
grounded in a way that we were just really complementary to
each other. And we still are that way.
But I just think that the fact that we were together so much
(20:49):
made it all more of a shock whenthe shooting did happen because
it was like, OK, I spent every waking hour pretty much with
this person since it was it was almost like processing at death
because he was just gone. Yeah, So unexpectedly, so
(21:10):
unexpectedly. You guys are going strong,
Everything's going good. You're settled, you're together,
everything's good. And then this happens.
So walk me through that day fromyour perspective.
Oh my gosh, I remember this day like it was yesterday.
So crazy. So we had been at his mom's the
(21:30):
night before hanging out at the house, and she lives in a closer
suburb of Baton Rouge. We had just gotten a house out
here in New Orleans. But essentially he had been
trying for months and months andmonths to go to his old house to
try to get his stuff back from this ex of his.
And he was always met with a lotof resistance.
(21:52):
So she would just ghost him, ignore him, or tell him to screw
off. Just pretty much being spiteful
and she didn't want him to have his stuff back.
So the next morning came around and I drove out to my mom's
house, which is in another closer suburb of Baton Rouge.
(22:13):
And I was just hanging out with my family.
Him and his friends got the little trailer hooked up to the
truck and headed out to Baton Rouge essentially.
So I knew where he was going. I absolutely knew.
And like I said, we were rarely apart, so we had each other's
location. We were constantly texting.
We were very often on the phone Facetiming all the things.
(22:37):
So I was at my mom's for a whileand he let me know he was like,
we're going to be heading to thehouse, OK.
And I was like, OK, still hanging out with my family, but
keeping an eye on location because I did not feel good
about it at all. And I still had a bad feeling.
I don't know what it was. Call it intuition, God, whatever
(22:59):
you want to call it. I had a bad feeling that
something was going to happen. And it gets to a point where I'm
in my room at her house and I'm looking and Jake's location is
not working. And so then of course, I text
him, but it's not going through.The texts are turning green.
(23:23):
I'm calling him, he's not picking up.
I'm trying to update the location.
The location isn't working at this point, having a full blown
panic attack. He's just panicking, complete
panic. So then I texted his mom and I
was like, hey, have you heard from Jake?
He was going over to the house to get his stuff and I haven't
(23:47):
heard anything in a little while.
And so she called me and she waslike, Oh, well, I'm sure
everything's fine. He's probably just moving
furniture or dizzy, right? I'm losing my absolute mind.
This is crazy. So for background, Jake's mom
and dad are divorced OK and Jake's dad is remarried and has
(24:10):
been for a long time but his momand his dad don't.
Talk. OK, Fair.
So while I am on the phone with his mother I was telling her
look I just really don't have a good feeling about this.
I don't know why this is just soweird because and if he was busy
moving his location should be working.
His text should be fine like everything.
And in the middle of my thing that she says Oh my God, Jake's
(24:34):
daddy is calling me. And in that moment I just knew
that something had happened. Of course, I didn't know what
had happened, but all I could say was please call me back and
I'm going to try to get through this stuff crying.
(24:55):
I just said please call me back.And she just said I will.
And she hung up to take the other call.
And it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, but it felt
like I was sitting there in silence for just a lifetime.
And she called me back finally. And the only thing I really
(25:20):
remember is she just said he's been shot.
And I just said what? And she just repeated herself,
he's been shot. And I truly believe I completely
blocked out in that moment. My mom said that she heard me
(25:43):
scream and she ran into my room and I was on the floor and she
was, of course, what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong?
And I just couldn't say anything.
But he's been shot. He's been shot.
Oh, gosh. And I was just like Jay cut
shot. I don't know.
At that point I didn't know anything.
(26:03):
I didn't know if he was dead, I didn't know if he was alive or I
didn't know anything. So that was just a blackout.
But I guess like fight or flightkicked in adrenaline.
I don't know what it was. Maybe it was God again.
But I just said I have the address.
I have to go to Baton Rouge because of course I knew.
(26:24):
All of this took place in Baton Rouge.
OK, So of course I'm thinking, well, dead or alive, he's going
to be at a hospital in Baton Rouge.
Threw on clothes. I got in my car and when I tell
you I made a 30 minute trip in about 15 minutes while I was in
(26:45):
the car, his brother called me to let me know which hospital he
was at. Once I found out which hospital,
I went straight there. When I got there, they had
called me again while I was still in the car to say they're
not letting anybody see him, there's nothing we can do, we're
leaving. And I said I'm not leaving.
(27:06):
So I still pulled up to the hospital anyway and I ran into
the emergency room and I was screaming.
I mean, I'm sure I looked like ahysterical lunatic because this
was the craziest thing I could ever imagine.
And I was just screaming. I said my boyfriend is here, I
need to see him. He's been shot.
And of course the nursing staff was no, he's not here.
(27:30):
First it was you can't see him. But then they were like, he's
not here. And of course, I knew why they
were doing that, being that my field of career, it's a
protection thing at that point. And of course, he tells me now
that he was in the back just asking for me and begging
somebody please call my girlfriend.
(27:51):
He knew I was going to be so worried.
And he was just begging everybody that he came across
like, please. I was able to get the
information that he at least wasalive of course and not gravely
injured, but that he was being arrested.
And of course I was like well heck, what do you mean he's
(28:14):
being arrested and for what? I'm like he's the one who was
shot clearly. Why of all people would he be
going to jail? They didn't give me any answers.
It tells me they came in, fuckedhim to the bed and told him very
little. Essentially it stems from this
(28:35):
ex-girlfriend claiming self defence, then claiming that Jake
went over to the house shooting,trying to kill them all.
This is very odd story of it's unfortunately the whole story is
just such a mess. It doesn't make any sense.
They're claiming self-defense but he was shot three times in
(28:56):
the back. It's just crazy to me.
So you're in the hospital and that's when they tell you that
he's actually arrested. No.
So I left the emergency room because they threatened to
arrest me. Oddly enough, they threatened to
arrest me. So I left the emergency room,
but I sat in my car in the parking lot for 8 hours.
(29:17):
I couldn't leave. I was distraught.
So this happened or at 9:30 ten in the morning and I sat there
until after 8:00 PM. And then I was just like, well,
what can I do? So I called Jake's stepdad and I
said I can't be by myself right now.
And he was like, absolutely, youare always welcome here.
(29:39):
So I went over there and all I remember doing was sitting in
the recliner in a day trying to process everything that
happened. And a lot of people were calling
me. But for whatever reason, it's
one number that wasn't saved in my phone was calling me.
It's Baton Rouge area code was calling me.
(30:00):
And I picked it up and I heard Jake's voice and she just said,
baby. And I really just remember like
breaking down and crying becauseI didn't know when I was going
to hear his voice again. And I just said, where are you?
(30:22):
And he said, they're taking me to jail.
This receptionist, just let me call you.
Oh my gosh. And I just remember saying, why
are you going to jail? And it was just so hard to have
the day that I had and then be hit with that kind of outcome.
(30:43):
I can't even imagine not knowingfor so long and then it's I'm
going to jail. I didn't even know.
I didn't even know. That's protocol that if for
safety reasons, they wouldn't tell you if someone comes in
with a gunshot wound if they're actually here.
Which makes. Sense, but that's horrifying.
For fact, and I mean they do that so that like if I was the
(31:03):
person who shot him, I'm not trying to go there to finish
them all off or something like that.
So that was why they did it. That's crazy.
But then they'll notify the dad,but they won't let him in.
No, nobody was able to see him at all.
Wow. So what actually happened?
What did he end up telling you? Are you allowed to tell us?
So he told me and what I very much believe is absolutely the
(31:26):
truth is he said he got to his house.
And you have to understand he had been going there for months
when the girl wasn't home to getsome of his things because like,
we have to remember here, this is his house.
Yeah, exactly. This is his home in his name is
owned by his father. She is nowhere on any of the
(31:50):
paperwork for this home. It was his house.
So he would go to the house whenshe wasn't home, use his key for
the door and let himself in, take his things.
I will say his belonging. Another thing will stress, he
had been doing this for a while,getting little by little what he
could. Then we found out that
(32:11):
apparently she had set up some security cameras, right?
And every time that he would go over to the house, she would
call the cops and say that he was breaking in the house and
stealing her stuff. In hindsight, we ended up
finding out about all these police reports of him breaking
into his own home, which makes absolutely no sense.
(32:33):
But yeah, the day of the shooting that essentially what
happened is when he got to the house, she had changed the
locks. And of course, he was like, what
the hell? So he's been knocking on the
door, knocking on the side door,going around the back.
So he went around the back of the house and there there's some
French doors that are leading into the living room from a
(32:55):
sunroom, right? Essentially, he said he was
trying to get into the living room through the French doors.
When he turned around, he got shot three times in the back.
And then, of course, he started running.
And now it's pretty much it. Essentially he went there to go
get his stuff and he was shot inside of his own home in the
(33:20):
back. How injured was he?
Because obviously he was able torun away.
He got hit in the shoulder blade, lower down around the
waist, like around his waistline, and then in the butt
cheek. By the grace of God, though,
when I was eventually able to get the records from the day of,
(33:41):
the Doctor Who released the records to me let me know that
he couldn't explain it other than a miracle that he is not
either dead or paralyzed becauseof the places where he had been
hit. One of the bullets, had his
shoulder blade not been in the exact position it was in, it
would have gone through his chest and the doctor said Jake
(34:02):
would have been dead before he hit the ground.
And then the other one that's a little lower that hit him a
little lower down in the back was so close to his spine that
he could have been a paraplegic.The only one that really wasn't
an issue was the one that hit him in the butt.
And so obviously he gets surgeryor whatever and then he goes to
(34:23):
jail and then you talk. So no, he doesn't even get
surgery, he is sent to jail withopen wounds and bullets in his
back. Yes, girl.
They do that. They sure do.
If they think that it is not life threatening, they will send
you to jail with whatever you came with.
Really. It's terrible.
(34:44):
Wow, I'm shocked. That's crazy.
Yeah. And then what happens after
that? Does the jail heal you?
Yeah, Oh, my God. First of all, health care in
prisons is absolutely deplorable.
And of course, me with my nursing background, I am so
afraid of infection. I'm like, God, you survived a
shooting, but watch you die fromsome ungodly unknown infection
(35:05):
that you get in a prison. So I was really worried about
that. So that's when I really started
advocating for him. Actually, I had absolutely no
problem calling the jail and letting them know that these are
open wounds and you better take care of them or you're going to
have a problem with me and I will show up.
I will show up. Yeah.
When he would tell me that they're not taking care of it
(35:27):
the way that they were ordered to, I would call up there, raise
some hell, and yeah, essentiallythe wounds closed.
So literally in one day, your life changed.
Oh my God. Within really a couple hours,
yeah, it was always together, just living our lives to just
(35:49):
everything was just up in flame,yeah.
How do you deal? Oh my God, Martini, no.
I think I am really blessed to have some really, really amazing
friends who have stuck by me through just obviously the
craziest stuff ever. I have a really amazing family,
(36:13):
and there was a period where I just needed to grieve and I had
to give myself that time, that grace, because I don't think I
would have been able to do it any other way.
But to be honest, the other thing was just having Jake still
almost losing him really put things into perspective of like
(36:37):
how much a person means to you. That's the only way I can say
it. Like he really was.
And I don't even know. He says I was what kept him
strong. But I'm like, Oh my gosh, no,
you kept me strong. And it's just.
It was like we were both doing it for each other.
(36:58):
Yeah, it brought you. But I mean, there was a really
dark time at the beginning of this incarceration where I could
feel him distancing himself fromme.
I'll say that at the time I didn't know it, but because I
wasn't familiar with jail life, so I didn't know that they could
call more than twice a day. I didn't know that there were
(37:21):
video visits. I didn't know how this went.
But essentially what had happened in the past for him
when he had gone away to jail iseveryone abandoned him.
And the way he tells me is he was thinking that I was going to
do the same. I mean, truly from having been
through it before, he, he was soprepared for me to be like, see
(37:45):
you later. I'm not interested in this
whatever. And we had this really tough
conversation one day on the phone and he was just like,
baby, you shouldn't have to waitfor me.
And I said what? I was like, what are you talking
about? And he said that's not fair for
you to have to put your life on hold for me.
(38:08):
And you have to realize we had only been together for six
months at this time. He was like, we haven't been
together that long. He was like, obviously I love
you more than anything. But he kept saying I don't want
anything to happen. I don't want to lose you, you
know, things like that. And I was like, what are you
talking about? He told me.
He didn't want me to tell him that I would stick this out and
(38:30):
essentially end up cheating on him.
Yeah, it's a huge fear. And which makes sense because I
later found out that one of the other times that he was
incarcerated, you know, the ex-girlfriend had actually slept
with a brother of his. Oh, gosh.
So there was a very dark and convoluted reason for him
(38:51):
feeling like that, right? And that broke my heart for him
because I think it really showedme that he had truly never had
anybody just love him and stick with him through everything.
And the. Saddest.
And I told him I was like, are you breaking up with me?
And he was like, no, but I don'tthink you want to do this.
(39:13):
And I was like, OK, well then I don't want to going to hear it
again. I said we were together when you
were out here, We're going to betogether while you're in there.
And I said, so unless you're breaking up with me, I love you
and shut up, right? Which is so.
Lucky, yeah. And he really does say that
(39:33):
there were times before all of this happened where he knew he
wanted to marry me, but he said that day really solidified it
for him. It's so sad because the more I
get to know my husband's friendsand their situations and
whatever and the amount of people that just get forgotten
is so heartbreaking. I remember.
(39:56):
Once. Yeah, one of his friends made a
comment and said out of sight, out of mind is real.
And yeah, and it's large percentages of people.
And then you wonder why they reoffend.
And absolutely, they don't have stability in their lives.
They don't have someone who's gonna stick by them.
And what you're saying is just not an anomaly, right?
(40:18):
So many of these guys and women will go through that where they
just get dropped the second something.
Happened, right? And he says he's never known
loyalty or law or anything like that before in his life.
So you did decide to get married.
Why while he was in? Jail.
We did. So really, we had been talking
(40:41):
about it. So he had asked me to marry him
right around Thanksgiving. So less than a month after the
whole shooting happened, she wasreally like, I want to marry
you, Will you marry me? And I was like, duh, if I'm
still here through this. Yeah.
(41:02):
You know, I was like, what else am I going to do?
So it just ended up being one ofthose things where he asked me
to marry him. And then my mom let me know that
she had a family ring for me, which was really special.
I was, of course, excited about that because I got to have a
ring, even though he didn't get to give it to me.
(41:22):
I got to have a ring that was special and still symbolize the
fact that he had asked me to marry him.
And we had always talked about, oh, we'll just wait till you
come home. Do it.
And he just called me one day and was like, bring them papers
up here today. I'm marrying you.
And I was just like, are you forreal?
(41:45):
And he just said, yes, do you want to do it?
And I was like, yeah, let's do it.
And that's just how it went. As simple as it is, that's just
how it happened. So I got all the papers, all the
licenses together, and a week later we were married.
Awesome. I really want to touch base on
(42:06):
his past and how it's affecting his case right now, because I
think that that's so important that people don't.
Realize. Oh yeah.
So. Totally.
I will start out by saying that I think were this somebody with
absolutely no criminal history, we'd be in a totally different
situation. He probably wouldn't even be in
jail. I don't even think he would have
(42:27):
been booked on anything. I don't know.
I mean, of course, I can't speakto that for sure, but I just
think that it would have been totally different.
And another thing is, I'll say in a conservative state, I hate
to play like the gender card, but when you have a girl who's
(42:47):
very unassuming, pretty, mild mannered, claiming all these
crazy things against a man who not only has a criminal history,
but you know, my husband is big and tattooed.
And when you think of victim in your head, I do not in any case
think my husband would pop up inanyone's mind.
(43:09):
I don't think I think he's a good victim.
I don't think he fits the bill physically, but also obviously
on paper very different. So honestly, I think it's really
hard when you have a girl who isnot only claiming some really
terrible things. I mean, I'm not saying that
(43:30):
should a situation like this happen to somebody in reality
that it shouldn't be handled properly.
But I think had my husband not, we had the history.
He put it in terms like this, which I love and I've used it so
many times since then. He said everyone else is
innocent until proven guilty. People like him are guilty until
(43:54):
proven innocent. And that struck with me because
I didn't realize how bad it was until we really have got into
the nitty gritty of this situation.
I know the court case is open and what not, but just for
everyone to kind of understand what was he facing in terms of
(44:15):
years because of this? So initially I will say his
charges were three counts of attempted murder, home invasion,
and let's see what else, child endangerment, because the day of
the shooting one of his childrenwere present and the felon in
(44:35):
possession of a weapon. So we started out with some
major crazy charges. Obviously it still never made
sense to me how he was facing attempted murder charges when he
was the one who got shot or how he was facing a home invasion
charge when it was his house. So there was a lot of just
craziness. But obviously attempted murder
(44:56):
carries like a 15 to 20 year sentence.
So we were facing some real serious time in the very
beginning before we really got into it and the earlier started
fighting. We were really looking at
possibly a 3040 plus year sentence.
Wow over this. Yeah.
(45:16):
Crazy. What has been the hardest part
for you? You know what I think the
hardest part for me really has been the fact that the people
who are responsible for this whole situation, the shooting,
Yeah, the allegation, it's the fact that they are living their
(45:37):
life like nothing happened. Having to be faced with that is
really, really difficult becauseto me, it's just so unfair.
You know, not only is it infuriating to see somebody go
to court and go to such extreme lengths to lie and just be
dishonest, but just the fact that then there are people who
(46:00):
like. It doesn't make sense to me that
they're even believing some of the things because there's just
some things that if something doesn't add up, you know, if the
math ain't mapping, it ain't mapping.
So to me it's, wait, how do you even believe some of these
things when other things that have been said directly
contradict that? So it's been really hard knowing
(46:24):
that the people that are responsible are allowed to live
their life when obviously I'm now living my life alone and
then my husband is living his life in.
Yeah. And it also takes.
So yeah. The actual victims, like you
said earlier, that are actually going through these things when?
Absolutely it is you guys, really.
(46:45):
There's so much fat absolutely around it, yeah.
It's so terribly detrimental to real victims having people claim
to be domestic violence survivors when that's just
blatantly not the case. Yeah, I am all for supporting
victims and finding them the help that they need and getting
injustice, but this just shows victims come in all shapes and
(47:09):
sizes and sometimes they look like a big, muscular, tatted man
with a criminal history. It doesn't always look like the
poor little girl who cries A boohoo story.
Yeah. And then I think objectivity is
very important in. Totally law.
Enforcement for that reason and the things that they're saying
in the media, everything that people are getting from the
(47:32):
media. What do you want to say to
people from your experiences about the media next time they
read an article? Yeah, I think one of the biggest
things that I've learned that the news, whether written news,
video news, whatever it is, I have truly learned that they
will take and run with anything that anybody speaks to them
(47:55):
without any base, without any evidence, without any anything.
Word of mouth, which I don't know, maybe I was kind of naive
and thinking that didn't happen,but I was just blown away at the
fact that they'll just take whatone person is saying and run
with it and smear it all over the news.
And I think the thing that everybody needs to know is there
(48:17):
are two sides to every story. And sometimes people are really
good at playing the victim and kind of living their life with a
victim mentality. And I think some people who
might be a little maybe narcissistic or have
(48:38):
narcissistic kind of sociopathictendencies are sometimes the
people who are the best at looking like victims.
And I saw this thing that a friend shared with me that
really hit home because obviously there are always two
sides to every story. And I don't think people should
(49:00):
make such harsh judgements untilthey hear both sides because
that's been our thing. We've really been silent up
until this point, and we kind ofleft it at that.
But the thing that my friend shared with me is it was just
like this little quote that saidno one plays the victim better
than the person who caused the damage.
(49:23):
And yeah, I mean, right. That was my reaction.
I was like, wow, this really hits home.
And when people have asked us, aren't you going to tell your
side of the story? We've always just said, God
knows, and that's enough. I agree.
And there will be a time and a place for the truth to come out.
(49:43):
And the truth is going to set usfree.
The truth is going to shed lighton everything and the true
character of all parties involved.
And I think that's just what we rely on and what we place our
hope in is that when the time isright, these things will come to
light. And the people who are actually
(50:03):
responsible and had bad intentions and had malicious
thoughts and just know that those things will work
themselves out really for. Sure, I agree.
I 100% agree. Just stay on the right track and
do the right thing. It'll all workout in whatever
way it's supposed to. Absolutely.
(50:23):
But your case is not done. So you're looking at December,
right? Yes, yeah.
So we have been continued to December 1st from 2025.
So we will need to do a follow up here because I'm sure people.
Are absolutely want to know how it is absolutely yes well and I
(50:44):
think a lot of people are gonna be looking for.
Yeah, follow-ups for sure. Thank you so much for coming on
and sharing it. I so appreciate your time.
Thank you so much mugger all your.
Time. Good.
Thank you. I appreciate too.
Take care, bye.
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