WEBVTT
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Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas
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true crime podcast where we cover missing persons, unsolved cases,
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and the leading cause of homicide in the Las Vegas
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area domestic violence. I'm your host Sean and.
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I'm your co host John.
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This week, Crime Con, the world's largest true crime convention,
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is back in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace. Last week,
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the event coordinators reached out to us and offered us
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a spot on creator's row. This was a very welcome,
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last minute surprise, so we've spent most of this week
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getting ready for the event and also hosting several other
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family advocates at our house. This is very exciting since
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we cover local stories and have more than one hundred episodes,
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most of which are about unsolved homicides and missing persons
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stories right from our own backyard. We always want to
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take every opportunity to draw attention to these cold and
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unsolved cases, so If you're at the event this weekend,
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please come by our table. We'll have some giveaways and
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we're highlighting several of the stories we've covered over the years.
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One case that absolutely needs to be resolved is the
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murder of Tiffany Booth. We will have our wanted posters
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for Eduardo Clemente, who is still wanted in connection with
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her murder. Unfortunately, Tiffany's family was not able to make
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the trip to Crime Con this year, but we have
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free bracelets you can pick up and wear in her
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memory and to spread awareness about her case, and we'd
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love to see you this weekend.
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Last week, we brought you part two of our interview
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with Liz Ortenberger, a local expert on domestic violence. We
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discussed with her what we can do better to save
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lives and prevent domestic violence, both here and nationwide. The
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interview brought to mind one of the first cases we
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ever covered, the murder of Fukeo dej Odom and her
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three children. She was desperately trying to divorce her husband, Jason,
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who had a history of violence, child abuse, and death
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threats against her. She was doing everything possible to get
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her and her children away from him, and in June
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will hit the ten year anniversary of their deaths, and
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the issues we raised in this episode continue to plague
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Las Vegas.
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With the anniversary approaching, we wanted to dedicate this week
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to Fukeo and her children, and with seven thousand advocates, creators,
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and true crime listeners in town this week, we want
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to make sure she isn't forgotten and that we continue
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to press the justice system for changes so we can
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prevent these tragedies.
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So with that, we bring you this special remastered version
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of what happens when the System fails. Las Vegas, with
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its bright lights and big promises, is sometimes called the
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City of second chances. It's a city of endless possibilities.
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People come here from all walks of life, from all
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over the country in the world, looking for a fresh start.
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Many people think of Las Vegas as a giant neon
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reset button, a chance to start over.
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One of the most sobering facts about escaping domestic violence
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is that statistically, the most dangerous time for a survivor
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is when they leave the abusive partner. Seventy five percent
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of domestic violence related homicides happen after a breakup. We
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talked last week about how you often hear the question asked,
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or even ask the question to yourself, why don't they leave?
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This week, we talk about a case where a woman
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tried to leave, did in fact leave and sought help
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several times, but was hindered by the broken system.
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Tragically, her pleas for help to authorities and the system
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were simply rejected. She filed for an order of protection
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against a man with a history of violence so extreme
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that he put his then five year old daughter in
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the hospital at one point, but was denied.
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Welcome back to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true
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crime podcast with a focus on the complexities of domestic violence.
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I'm Sean, and with me, as always is the one
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and only John.
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I am the only John in the room.
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John. This week, like every week in Las Vegas or
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really anywhere in America, we had a lot of news
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related to domestic violence coming up. Later in this episode,
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we'll discuss a local case that deserves much more attention,
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the murder of Tabitha Tazi.
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But first we're going to focus on the tragic and
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avoidable story of fo Keo dej Odem and her family.
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Foukeo was murdered on June thirtieth, twenty sixteen, along with
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her three children, as a part of a horrific murder
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suicide committed by her husband, Jason Dejodom.
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Foukeo's story has been appearing in several major news publications
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this month, as these murders remain relevant in the context
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of a case coming before the Supreme Court that deals
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with with whether it's constitutional to remove guns from those
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who have orders of protection against them. Who will get
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into that, John, do you want to start us off
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with some information about Fukeo and her children?
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Sure? Fu Keo, who went by Gail at work. In
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twenty sixteen, she was thirty five years old. She was
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married to Jason, who was a couple of years younger,
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in two thousand, when they were ages twenty and eighteen.
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She was a huge Cleveland Cavaliers fan, specifically a Lebron
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James fan, remembering, of course, that the Cavaliers won the
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NBA Championship right around that same time June nineteenth, twenty sixteen.
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The family lived at the Tory Pines Condominiums here in
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Las Vegas, and she was a stylist at sport Clips
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and by all accounts she just lived for her children.
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Her children's names were Anrak Jason who went by AJ
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age nine, Zanajuk who went by JJ, age fourteen, and
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her one daughter, Dolivan Ariel, who was fifteen. All of
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her friends agree she was bubbly, friendly, a loving mother,
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and she lived for her children. Her coworkers described her
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as a prankster. She was always in a good mood
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and she never seemed to get let her situation get
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her down at work. Her co workers at sport Clips
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said that her kids would often join her at work
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and they were the best, most well behaved kids, so polite,
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so bubbly. Neighbors said they saw them playing outside a
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lot and said they seemed very happy. One said that
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she saw Foukeo walking with her kids every day, and
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sometimes they would go to a local park and have picnics.
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On Rock's teacher, the youngest described him as being caring
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and helpful, an overachiever, an excellent student, and a beautiful
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light in the classroom. They called him aj. He was
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great at math, and he was withdrawn from school in
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January twenty sixteen to be homeschooled. Dolivan was amazing and
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nice and gorgeous, and she always tried to make people
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happy and lit up a room with her beautiful soul. Obviously,
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these people are more than what happened to them, but
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unfortunately this is all we were able to find out
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about them. We posted some links to articles containing some photos,
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which normally we wouldn't really do, but since they're all gone,
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it's a nice way to see them, remember them and
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honor their memories.
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Now regarding Jason, Jason was thirty four at the time
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of his death. He was born in May of nineteen
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eighty two. According to court documents, Foukeo listed him as
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being unemployed. He has some criminal history, non domestic violence
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related criminal history. He was charged with felony, theft and
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forgery in two thousand and seven. He pled guilty to
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the theft and the forgery charge was dismissed, and he
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was on probation until twenty fourteen. So fo Keo and
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Jason got married in Franklin County, Ohio in the year
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two thousand. In her order of protection application, Foukeo reported
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that as of twenty sixteen, she had been with Jason
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for twenty plus years and living together with him for
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twenty years. So that means they'd been dating and living
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together since they were teenagers.
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In the show notes, one of the more chilling items
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you'll find is the actual order of protection request in
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Fukeo's own handwriting. When we read through it, we were
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at a loss as to how this thing fell on
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deaf ears as for his domestic violence related criminal history.
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In Ohio, Columbus police responded to a call and Foukeo
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told the police that Jason had been beating and kicking
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and choking their daughter, Dollivan. He put his daughter in
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the hospital and she was five years old. Foukeo herself
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suffered injuries to her head and neck from Jason punching
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her on that occasion. Ohio police declined to arrest Jason,
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and on their report it is listed and this is
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actually true as not a crime slash other service. They
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instead left fu Keo resources and information on protection orders.
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So five hours later, on that same night, Foukeo calls
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the police again to report that Jason is calling her
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because she left and saying things like something was going
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to happen to her because she left, And according to
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the police report, a friend tried to call Jason and
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get him to calm down, and the friend had told
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Fukeo that Jason said that if he did not find
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out where Fukeyo was, that he was going to kill somebody.
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The family moved from Ohio to Las Vegas in March
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of twenty fifteen, presumably after Jason's probation ended for that
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theft charge. We don't have any information on what might
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have happened in between two thousand and five and their
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move in twenty fifteen. According to their new Las Vegas neighbors,
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they were quiet couple and friendly. One neighbor said he'd
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seen Jason repairing a motorcycle in the parking lot of
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the complex and that they seemed like just an average family,
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and when they first moved in, they went around their
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apartment complex to meet people, to get to know their neighbors. Especially,
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they made it a point to get to know their
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kids' friends' parents, and to me, John, this gives me
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the feeling that they were trying to make a fresh start.
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They want to become part of their new community.
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And it also seems like as late as twenty fifteen,
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she was giving Jason every chance to be better. The
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couple separated on March twenty sixth, twenty sixteen, and Foukeo
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moved into her cousin's house. As I mentioned, there's a
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lot of detail in the order of protection and we
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will provide a link to that so you can read it.
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Shortly after. According to what Foukeo told coworkers, Jason took
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the three kids to Ohio without her permission and without
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even telling her, and when he finally came back with them,
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she had had enough and she filed for divorce shortly after.
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Yeah, on May twenty fifth, twenty sixteen, she files for divorce.
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In her divorce petition, she states there is domestic violence
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and child protective services involvement with her family. She requested
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sole custody of the three kids and wrote, quote, the
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father is a flight risk and the children need to
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be in my care for education purposes and stability. Father
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cannot hold a job end quote. According to the Las
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Vegas Review Journals, investigation police did respond to a domestic
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violence call at the family's apartment in early June of
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twenty sixteen, but there's no additional information that we were
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able to locate. The police withheld that information as part
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of an ongoing investigation. When this all happened.
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I'd like to talk about a few items from the
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June eighth order of protection, just to emphasize how shocking
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it was that it was denied by the family Court.
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So these are quotes from Fouquo from the petition in
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her handwriting. Throughout the marriage, the children's lives as well
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as mine have been threatened. Guns have been pulled out
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and pointed at our heads multiple times, he said me.
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Not returning home is not an option if anything were
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to happen to the children. I hope you can live
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with that. In the petition, she wrote on June seventh,
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just the day before she filed, Jason was calling her
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and sending harassing text messages. She told him to stop,
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and he ignored her. Then later that day at three pm,
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Jason showed up at her job and threatened to take
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the kids back to Ohio again and told her this
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will not end well.
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One thing I want to note that you and I
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talked about in a couple of places in her petition,
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as you said, is written in her own handwriting. It
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looks to me like there are two different people writing
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on her order protection petition, which means to me that
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she had someone's assistance and support and filing it. There's
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a couple like clarifying notes made as part of the petition,
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and I would have thought if she had help, that
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would have helped her get the relief she was asking for.
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But it looks to me that someone made a note
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on her paperwork that had the opposite effect.
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Yeah, I see that the threats were made in two
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thousand through two thousand and seven when we were living
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in Ohio. So it's written as if it was written
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by her, but it is written in what is clearly
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different handwriting. It's right after the part where she says
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guns have been pulled out and pointed at the kids' heads.
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So we have a Huffington Post article that explains the
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situation and why the order of protection was denied by
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Amy Maston, who is still currently serving as Clark County