It appears it was self-inflicted. Since his bodycam wasn't charged, it doesn't record this call. ', Do you know how it was that you got shot?, Have you ever had any type of thoughts about hurting yourself?. He calls out for Jessica, but no answer. But the report and follow-up interviews with the lead investigator make the case as clear as mud to one reporter in the small town where it happened. She's got good pulse. Her ex-husband and former Griffin police officer Matthew Boynton was investigated in the case, but was only charged with making . The shooting occurred on the evening of April 14, 2016. Especially because of my children. So Crime Watch Daily went out and got one of the best in the business. I wouldn't trade those two boys for anything," she said, swiping away tears streaming down both cheeks. Her bright blues eyes glisten as they well with emotion. "You know, you're trying to match up times of where he is getting these text messages or how he's responding to them, that he has to be in the kitchen. Running across the parking lot and up the stairs, responding officers head toward the apartment. His flashlights beam reveals a smiling family of four. He's not a cop or even a private investigator. We heard something and said 'what was that', recalls Browning. I was at Atlanta Medical Center for a month. I didn't try to wash my hands, anything, because I knew GSR and all that would be involved.. He later tells investigators that he heard Tyler crying, and then, POP-POP!, Jones advises Matthew over the radio, Stay outside. "How did his phone get in there? I was scared to death, because I couldn't find [Tyler]that she would shoot me, I mean shoot him, shoot me, and then kill herself.. The devil is in the details. The ceiling fan's light shines down on Jessica's eyes. "They did not. Still peering down at his phone, Matthew sends a text to his mistress. But he's also texting her before he called 911," said Sanders. "I left the location, I'm back en route, I'm on Carver Road right now. Any weapons inside the house? the dispatcher inquires. Thats what we had to establish, Yates confirmed. Matthew claims they returned home just after 11 p.m. His proof? And he called the girlfriend, so Mays said to Mathews. Boyntons statement, dated Jan. 9, said, I was advised to complete a statement on a previous date by Lt. Yancey. | Examine the evidence yourself, calls 911, reaching Spalding County dispatch. But Griffin Police are treating this as a suicide attempt. Around 9 o'clock on the night of Thursday, April 14, 2016, Matthew Boynton calls a lieutenant on duty and reports Jessica is hitting him again. So I'm trying to hurry and get back home just to make sure that nothing's going to happen to them.. Jessica Boynton says she's free as a bird'. If the phone was found by the GBI in the kitchenif the phone is on police body camera footage sitting on the counter by the microwave, and he was outside never returning insidehow is it possible for Matthew to text his girlfriend, while he's calling in shots fired while outside of the apartment? But Jessica still can't remember what happened that terrible night in the closet, and she's says there is only one person with the answers. "He believed that the shots he heard fired were fired from his duty weapon," said Sheila Mathews, publisher of The Grip. He has been charged with false statements and writings and violating his oath of office. GBI agents, however, have closed her case. She found a photo on Snapchat of another woman wearing nothing but a towel, with the caption: Shower time.. His phone was given to someone else at Griffin PD, they put the phone in the thing because they knew GBI wanted it, and that's where we're gonna be while he was taken to the police department. Her head wound has soaked into the green and white pillow her head is resting onher blood is contained to that one stain and a few nearby drops. Are you having trouble breathing?'" DeMarco pressed Mathews. That piece of evidence was a photo showing Matthew's cell phone next to the microwave inside the apartment. I finally had the evidence that I needed that Matthew was cheating on me. "He believes that her injuries were consistent with blunt-force trauma," said Sheila Mathews. Am I recording it? Officer Adam Trammel reports to a non-emergency call from the Boynton residence at Ashford Place on Ashford Way, in Griffin, Ga. Its so obvious a coverup. And they said yes. Even though doctors were able to save her life, they couldn't save her from what was about to happen to her familylosing custody of her children. Its a question 11Alive investigators asked a few months ago, when Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boyntons wife, Jessica, allegedly shot herself in the head with his service weapon, inside the master bedroom closetlocked from the inside. She's having suicidal thoughts," he calmly says about Jessica to the dispatcher. But Yates told 11Alive, Matthew was not the shooter and trusts the investigation's outcome. And, she said, she wouldn't have told him that she loved him. It's possible, but I mean it's very doubtful, because he's never hurt me before. "I think I was hit over the head with something.". Do you think Matthew did something? he asked her bluntly. Yancy also requested that Boynton write a statement pertaining to the allegation. He also reported hearing two gunshots and. "She suspected Matthew was cheating on her and so she dug for information, and we found it," the neighbor said. To stage a suicide," said the neighbor. If not, get on a plane and go HOME.". provided images. [Im] gonna have to kick that door in Jones relays to the other officers standing on the other side of the closet, barreling through it in just two swift and deliberate kicks. Matthew begins calling his brothers in blue, telling them Jessica is physically abusing him -- not a standard way of reporting domestic abuse. However, he did not confirm that sequence. It's a question 11Alive investigators asked a few months ago, when Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boynton's wife, Jessica, allegedly shot herself in the head with his service weapon,. And Jessicas trauma surgeon was not interviewed by the GBI until July 20. He assigns another officer to standby at the door until the rest of the apartment is cleared. Boynton was placed on administrative leave Thursday, July 28, and the Chief said his intent was to terminate the officer, but Boynton resigned before that process could be completed. Yes, I didn't have time, you know with everything going on, I didn't think anything about getting any other clothes, so I didn't know if y'all would want these or not. GBI/Griffin Police Dept. Having previously learned of the new evidence that was turned in to the Griffin Police Department May 11 and the Internal Affairs investigation that resulted, The GRIP on July 7 submitted an Open Records request for information in the case. In partnership with Emergency-responders finally arrive and carry Jessica to a waiting ambulance. Just minutes after Jessica is airlifted to an Atlanta trauma center, Sheriff Beam asks deputies to deliver the devastating news to Jessica's family that she's dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. In response to 11Alives questions about the case, the GBI said, We are confident in the investigation that was conducted., RELATED: Jessica Boynton says she's free as a bird', MORE | Watch the Facebook Live with Brendan Keefe. He grabs his police radio, stationed and charging on top of the white microwave in the kitchen, and leaves his phone on the counter. Matthew Boynton interrogation video with Griffin Police Department. Dispatch notifies Spalding County Sheriff Wendell Beam, who is also Matthew's grandfather and police notify Jessica's family that she has died. He advised that he does not have any of the items listed in this report.. No it wasn't. The police officer's wife was found with a bullet to the head, lying in their closet. The quiet is broken when the baby begins to mumble from the other room. There were two bullets, on different walls inside the closet. I would have said, 'suicidal' not 'suicide thoughts.'. He changed clothes yet lied and said he did not. I left a message with the lady that answered for her to call me. I told him, 'You're going to have to go get it, because I can't get it out of the case. | Examine the evidence yourself. Matthew's mistress worked as a dispatch officer, reporting to Sheriff Wendell Beam, who just happens to be Matthew Boynton's grandfather. Crime Watch Daily reached out to Officer Matthew Boynton and got no response. He's asked me to go get it out before. Minutes later, at around 10:45 p.m., Jessica storms out. She made a full recovery, but doesnt remember a thing. "Being in the closet," said Jessica. Nearly four years later, questions persist about what happened to the young. But many believe Jessica holds the only key as to what really happened inside that closet. Strangely, they never test her hands for gunshot residue. "She logged on to his Facebook, we got his Facebook messages and printed them out and started reading the messages between him and the lady from the dispatch," said the unidentified neighbor. During my stay is when my personal belongings were taken and Matthew Boynton (3842) refuses to give them back, Lester stated. While sifting through pages and pages of the report, a GBI evidence photo caught her attention. Mass shooters. Cops finally reach that locked closet door. Once established as her personal belonging, this one piece of physical evidence contradicted Boyntons January written civil statement in which he denied possessing any of Lesters property. Womens clothing items and an orthodontic retainer turned in to the Griffin Police Department by Will Sanders has been established to have belonged to Jessica Lester, the former wife of Matthew Boynton. GRIFFIN, Georgia, April 15, 2016: Police are breathlessly racing to save a life. There was a question of what was and was not community marital property, so that took some doing to sort that out, also, Yates said, adding that many of the items reported as stolen including the clothing, computer and household items had been cited as community property during the couples divorce. Thank God she fought and he was in there with her. ! his girlfriend texts him. Jones shouts as he travels deeper insidehis weapon drawn. Sheila Mathews publishes The Grip, an independent newspaper in Griffin. He grabs his police radio from the kitchen counter and runs outside and makes a desperate call. He cautiously went into the residence to try to make sure that the children were OK. That bastard is so guilty every time they show the door knob and any badge that doesnt know that shouldnt have one. I'll be back there in about two minutes. He hears a baby crying as he carefully steps into the bedroom where a dark brown crib is situated. Updated: 11:14 PM EDT July 28, 2017. "The stuff that he was texting her was, you know, 'LOL's," said Sanders. However, Yates said, that's not that uncommon. Her head shaved. After establishing her retainer was not community property, Boynton was arrested on two felonies false statements and writings and violation of his oath of office. Please wear sturdy shoes. The other problem: she said she didn't know how to get his gun out of his holsternor has she ever held or shot a gun. Crime Watch Daily's security team tracked the email address, only to find it was from an anonymous server. I f***ing love her. Jessica is also slinging allegations at Matthew's brothers in blue at the Griffin Police Department, and Matthew's grandfather Sheriff Wendell Beam. 2023 Telepictures Productions Inc. It was sitting out in the open, caught on police body-camera when cops kicked in the closet door. Jessica Boynton was found shot in the closet with her. Earlier that night Jessica's husband Matthew headed to Waffle House for a late-night bite with a fellow officer, leaving his service. Stephen Kruspe, 65, appears at his first appearance before a judge after the March 27, 2017, shooting of his wife, Pamela, at a Boynton Beach assisted living facility. Inside their apartment Matthew Boynton hears crying. He's a truck driver. But they have no idea what's waiting for them behind a locked closet door. That bullet ends up toward the top left of the closet. And now Jessica is telling a completely different story. After getting Matthew's phone records, Sanders discovers during that same time Matthew was making calls to 911, he was texting his mistress. She had an appointment Monday.. Jessica Boynton, 19, was found lying in a pool of her own . Jones passes by a framed portrait hung on the wall. Who does the neighbor think sent that text message to Matthew's phone from Jessica's? I just came up the stairs, two rounds," Boynton says on the recorded call. Her husband is cheating on her with another woman, reveals Browning, who said, they called dispatch a few nights earlier because he took the kids. And the doctor in the emergency room didn't find any bullet holes. The neighbor says Jessica came over to her apartment with the kids, clearly upset about the fight. GBI conducts canvas and begins interviewing neighbors. "That was when approximately 24 minutes into the conversation, his demeanor changed and everything flipped," she recalled. After Jessica was shot, Matthew, then-20, was back on duty with his gun on his hip, before key interviews were conducted and the GBI director wrote an official letter about the cases conclusion, stating that the shooting was ruled a suicide.. A text message is sent to his phone from Jessicas phone. Sanders wants to know how Matthew was texting his mistress from this very phone if he never reentered the apartment. If someone from the GBI does not reopen this.. well, I have to get my ducks in a row before I open another huge can of worms.. He was there to tell the court that he wanted to keep Jessica away from him and their two sons, because he said, he feared for their safetybecause she allegedly fired his gun in the house while their boys were home. And, the first officer on scene, as recorded by body cam footage, was not interviewed by the GBI for months after the incident. Just one minute later, Matthewcalls 911, reaching Spalding County dispatch. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't try to brush off anything. She's even fighting with EMS, dude, the fellow officer tells Matthew. OMG this is a total disgrace to the Uniform.I have looked over several different articles and maybe im missing something here but, in all that i had seen it states that he was questioned in his wifes shooting what the hell folks.SHE WAS NOT SHOT!!!!! Griffin, Georgia is the kind of small Southern town where high school sweethearts stay married forever. This, Matthew says to Trammel, is the precursor to an argument the couple also had at Walmart later that night, just after 10 p.m. Once outside, he tells Trammel Jessica refuses to get into the car to go hometelling him she would find another way home and walked back into Walmart. What did Matthew do that he needed covering up? Agent DeMarco approaches Meagan Browning, who's joined by Eric Kshywonis, at 61 Ashford Waythe apartment just downstairs from Jessica and Matthew. And with that Matthew Boyton's questioning was over. "It doesn't sound like anything I would say," said Jessica Boynton. They are 50% more likely to commit police brutality. We're going to be doing that to do touch DNA on the gun, and um, and why we're doing that is obviously one to corroborate everything that's what believed happened, and that way it also, it also eliminates the possibility of her family saying, you had something involved in this, or whatever, the GBI agent said to him. The good old boys and his grandfather police chief should also get some time for covering up this crime. Law enforcement was in his genes. Jessica Boynton was initially . Barely clinging to life, Jessica spent three weeks in a coma before waking up, according to 11alive. The gun then landed underneath," said Tim Miley. And that's all I needed, so I was on cloud nine.". He then said the GBI has not indicated to him that the investigation will be reopened. The agent continues to interview Matthew, who's wearing a red hoodie, asking him if the clothes he was wearing were the ones he was wearing the entire night. "The Officer's Wife" is a new podcast that will examine the evidence in the 2016 shooting of a 19-year-old mother and ask: Who pulled the trigger? Reliving his steps inside the apartment after he heard gunshots fired, he says, My whole upper body went numb. This time for a DNA consent. It doesn't sound like anything I would say. He grabs his police radio, stationed on top of the white microwave in the kitchen charging, and puts his phone on the counter. And neither is Will Sanders, the truck driver spearheading the drive to get justice for Jessica. He was going to clean his gun and he asked me to go get it for him. Matthew immediately calls a friend at dispatch. You want to start recording me, and started quoting me, you'd better let me know ahead of time, or we're gonna have a problem. Uh, just my service weapon, he responds, ending the call just a minute later. He hears a baby crying as he carefully steps into the bedroom where a dark brown crib is situated. Her condition.. Any weapons inside the house? the dispatcher inquires. When asked to confirm that a July 26 appointment with Lesters orthodontist was pivotal in the Internal Affairs case, Yates said it was. His tone changes. Security camera captures the family walking in around 10:15 p.m. Six months later, everything would changefor everyone. What! "It was determined that he knowingly provided a false statement relating to the property in question and his possession of (it)," Natale said in a release .l Center. After just six months of marriage, the Boyntons' one-time neighbor says she saw their young love grow toxic. That was the best physical evidence that we had, Yates said. "To help cover his tracks.". Show the world how smart you are and uncover what the Wannabe investigative reporters couldn't figure out. While she places a blood pressure sleeve around her arm, an officer stands over her, shining a flashlight on Jessica's face, revealing that it's covered in blood. It seems both Matthew and Jessica were secretly stockpiling ammunition for a bitter custody fight. Like, how hours after the shooting, the phone was put into an evidence bag, sealed and logged into GBI evidence, it was still calling Matthew's girlfriend. He enters, checking the master bedroom. Matthew's hands were not tested for gunpowder either. I was excited I wasn't going to have to put up with him anymore because honestly I felt like his maid, and that's all I felt like.. Click here for "Trigger: The Last Word" | And we talk to Jessica Boynton again here: "Trigger: Free as a Bird" | Anda story when the officer was arrested and kicked offthe force (but not for shooting his wife ). On something like this, does it usually take a while?, Right now it depends on what happens with Jessica, too. Henderson said in the letter, that he did not believe that Jessica's head injury was the result of a gunshot wound, and furthermore, questioned how she got the injury at all. She's having suicidal thoughts," he says calmly to the dispatcher. But long hours on the force took its toll on his marriage. Matthew Boynton is clearly hysterical. "I can't do this anymore," the message read. But where's the second round? The agent asked her if she had ever held her husband's service weapon. The dispatch operator notified Matthew on Facebook, Browning says. "I would want to know how he did it and how does he live with himself every day knowing that he did something like this," said Jessica. "What you're saying to me, that's not, you know, I don't see anything he did wrong by saying that," Fred Mays told Mathews. "If he would have just been a regular person he would have been taken to jail," said Jessica. Matthew Boynton, 20, discovered his wife Jessica, 19, lying in a pool of blood in a closet. "I would not have said that to him," said Jessica. If I could have been there 10 minutes earlier I could have jumped in front of the gun and try to get it from her man., Where did she shoot herself at? The doctor believes Jessica's injuries may have been caused by blunt-force trauma. Hahaha you about have me a heart attack freak!! "No they did not because they assumed I was shot, because that's what Matthew said," Jessica said. No one may have ever done anything to question this case again if not for Will Sanders. But it's what those body cameras don't record that's raising eyebrows. "I don't really know what happened in the closet, I just know that I did not try to kill myself," said Jessica Boynton. Since the original publication of this story, 11Alive's Brendan Keefe and Jessica Noll have taken another look at the evidence in this story, and talk to one reporter who said she was threatened when she had questions about the investigation. Theres a lot of speculation and a lot of theory, but evidence is not there to cause me to do that., When told The GRIP had received information that the Griffin Police Department had contact the GBI Friday morning prior to Boyntons arrest, and asked the basis of that call, Yates said, That would be just to let them know what were doing.. A lot, she said, doesn't add up. A lot of times, what happens, especially if theyre involved in something very serious, they throw in the towel before it can go through the citys process of termination.. I told him, You're going to have to go get it, because I cant get it out of the case., Do you know how it was that you got shot?, Have you ever had any type of thoughts about hurting yourself?. Five days after his wife was shot, Matthew talked with the GBI again. He said the description of a self-inflicted gunshot wound didn't fit, noting her pristine and unmarked hands and calling it a very unusual direction in which to point the gun at one's self with the intention of committing suicide., First of all, the wound that she suffered was toward the vertex of her skull on the right side of her head; this would imply that she shot herself with a gun pointed downward near the top of her skull., The second most striking observation he said he made while assessing Jessica was neither of her hands had any evidence of any gunpowder stippling from gunpowder blowback.. That's what Jessica and Matthew Boynton thought would happen when they said "I do.". However, the GBIs own photographs, search warrant and evidence log all corroborate that the officers phone was on the kitchen counter after Matthew had already left the apartment. But what started as a mutual, friendly divorce soon turned nasty. It's one of their owna police-issued .40-caliber Glock. Matthew makes it back to the apartment before help arrives and hears baby Tyler crying -- and then heartbreak. At the time of the shooting Jessica was looking to make a new start for herself and two young sons. Matthew, 20, quickly called 911 and said he had received an alarming text message from his wife, claiming she was going to commit suicide, cops said. Less than a month after her hospital-bed interview, Matthew was verbally cleared by the GBI, according to his chief. Yates said, Yes, but that doesnt overcome the civil side of it whether it was or was not marital property, and even if it was, it would have been a misdemeanor as opposed to the two felonies..