Preamble:
When Jessica woke up in a hospital bed, the first thing the police said to her amnesia was, "Someone tried to murder me", the onlookers couldn't help but wonder, whether this seemingly ordinary family really hides a shocking secret?
A small ordinary American family, an ordinary police husband, a 19-year-old wife, and two young children. However, in the middle of the night in April 2016, the sound of gunfire shattered the peaceful life, and when the police arrived at the scene, the young woman, Jessica, was dying in a pool of blood. After miraculously waking up, Jessica asserts that she was murdered by her killer. While her amnesiac brain was still struggling to recount what had happened that night, the police quickly concluded that it was a suicide attempt triggered by domestic violence.
Many people are asking, is this ordinary family really as simple as it seems? Does Jessica's miraculous awakening and firm first sentence of "I was murdered" reveal the shocking secrets behind this family and the whole case to people? As Jessica's husband, Matthew, all kinds of strange actions on the day and after the crime, is he hinting to everyone that he is the mastermind behind the whole case?
Back in time 4 years ago, when love came to knock on the doors of the youthful hearts of young boys and girls, did they expect that only 4 years later, love has become synonymous with control and violence.
When love came, Jessica was a 16-year-old high school student
In 2012, 16-year-old Jessica was still in high school, and by chance, she met Matthew, who was two years older than her. Matthew had already joined the police academy at that time, wearing a uniform, and in the eyes of Jessica, who lacked fatherly love, Matthew was like a harbor to rely on. Adolescent girls may always have fantasies about heroes of all kinds. Jessica's attachment psychology is certainly due to the lack of fatherly love, but it has also become one of the main reasons why she can't extricate herself from falling in love with Matthew.
Although the family conditions are average, Matthew's gentle and considerate personality quickly impresses Jessica. The two quickly fell in love and began living together in less than a year. It's not uncommon to start living together at this age, and it's important to know that the relationship between them can be described as lightning and flint.
Perhaps too young, Jessica soon became pregnant in 2013. An unexpected child panics the two of them, but Matthew keeps Jessica gently and eventually convinces her to keep the child. Young and impulsive, the unexpected pregnancy has caused a lot of shock to the two, but Matthew's gentleness and sense of responsibility have also made Jessica have a more affectionate attachment to him.
With the birth of the first child comes the burden of life
In 2014, the couple's first child, Torin, was born. A family was born. For Jessica, who was only 17 years old at the time, being a mother for the first time may have been full of apprehension and anxiety in her heart. And Matthew, from a young man with ambition for love, began to learn to shoulder the burden of the family at the moment the child was born.
The birth of Tollin made Jessica, who was only 17 years old, suddenly transform from a girl to a mother. However, faced with a baby in need of a formula diaper and increasing expenses, Matthew and Jessica begin to realize how heavy life can be. For young couples like them, who are still young, lack the ability to work independently, and have limited financial resources, the birth of a baby is the last straw that crushes their finances.
Although Matthew has joined the Force, he has limited income when he joins the Force. The two began to quarrel over family matters, and Jessica often complained that Matthew was not a good breadwinner as a husband and father. Matthew would also be unhappy with Jessica's spending of money and the way she educates her children. The trivial matters caused by financial pressure are like a fuse, igniting the fuse for the young couple to break out into a quarrel.
The neighbors began to hear their yelling and arguing on a regular basis, and even had to call the police on a few occasions. Perhaps, the sweetness of love at the beginning has been replaced by the burden of life, and the change in family status and responsibilities has also caused a rift between the couple. They are too young and dependent on each other to reconcile their relationship.
Finally, with the help of Matthew's grandfather, an old police officer, Matthew got his wish for a promotion and a salary increase, and the family's financial conditions improved slightly. However, Matthew's temper seems to be more pronounced as a police officer. His grandfather's help has temporarily alleviated the financial pressure faced by Matthew, but the identity and professional environment of this job have also made his already radical personality even worse. As a wife, Jessica has nowhere to talk in the face of her husband's increasing domestic violence, so she can only choose to endure it silently.
As time passed, quarrels and betrayals further exacerbated the tension in their relationship
In 2015, Jessica and Matthew officially entered the palace of marriage. However, I don't know if it's because the grudge is too deep, or because the personalities really don't get along, the relationship between the two has not improved in any way because of marriage. Matthew would sometimes lash out for no apparent reason and hit Jessica and her son.
Jessica also often mocks Matthew for his work and personality. The bleakness and indifference of married life have made this already precarious small family even worse. Matthew's violent tendencies are exacerbated by the high-stress job of being a police officer, and Jessica's problems are becoming more apparent — she may be suffering from postpartum depression.
Gradually, Matthew began to restrict Jessica from going out and contacting friends. Jessica felt like she was trapped in a cage, and her resentment with Matthew was even greater. Matthew's severe desire for control leads him to demand all the details of Jessica's whereabouts and friends. This undoubtedly made Jessica, who was already sick at home, even worse - she was deprived of her last freedom physically and mentally.
With the accumulation of this relationship, both began to have the idea of having an affair. At first, Jessica only occasionally complains to her friends, but gradually she gets to know a car mechanic named Charlie. The two quickly fell in love. The family torture Jessica faces makes her subconsciously seek another harbor. And Charlie's appearance became the best way for her to seek liberation both mentally and physically.
A quarrel over the purchase of milk powder became their final showdown
However, the redemption of marriage did not happen. Jessica discovers that Matthew has actually been having an affair with a female colleague at a police station. The two had another big quarrel over this. Matthew is not only violently controlling Jessica, but he is also out and about to carry out crazy betrayal. This is undoubtedly the final blow to this already precarious family marriage.
On April 14, all signs of a peaceful life were gone. On this day, Matthew took Jessica and the child to the supermarket to buy milk powder. At first, they maintained a superficial calm, but soon the two quarreled again over the question of what brand of milk powder to buy. For any normal couple, arguing about the brand of milk powder can be described as ridiculous. But these two individuals, who have broken down at all levels, choose to infinitely magnify this irresolvable contradiction to the extreme.
"I've had enough of this life!" Jessica rushed out of the supermarket with the baby in her arms. This is undoubtedly her final verdict on the failure of this marriage. The pain and suffering of married life has deeply eroded Jessica's final bottom line as a human being, and she chooses to end it all with action.
Matthew drove them home. After leaving Jessica at the door of the house with the child, Matthew drove away alone. We don't know what Matthew really thought in that moment. Does he, like Jessica, think that this marriage has come to an end? What an unfathomable turning point will Jessica and Matthew's lives usher in after this night?
Matthew's erratic behavior that night baffled investigators
In the wee hours of the morning, Matthew suddenly received a message from Jessica on his phone. The content in it reveals a deep disappointment with life and expresses despair of ending one's own life. This undoubtedly confirms that Jessica's mental state at that time was on the verge of collapse.
However, what is even more puzzling is that Matthew's reactions after reading this message are not like a normal person. He didn't rush home to check on the first place, but replied to his lover's message before calling the police in the restaurant, claiming that he had heard gunshots at home. This series of strange practices made the police extremely suspicious of him.
When the police arrived at Jessica's home, a sharp bullet had pierced the 19-year-old woman's skull. She collapsed in a pool of blood with a suicide note and pistol at hand. We don't know if Matthew returned to the scene for some specific purpose between the time he received Jessica's desperate message and when police finally found her near-dead. Everything that happened in the middle is the most critical clue of the whole case.
Even in such a critical situation, she survived and miraculously woke up three weeks later. However, due to brain trauma, she has lost all memories of what happened that night. We don't know what a different direction the case would have taken if Jessica had been able to fully recall the tragedy of that night.
"Someone is trying to kill me!" was the first thing she said to the police after waking up. The tone and content of this sentence are revealing to everyone the terrible secrets hidden behind this seemingly simple family.
The truth of the puzzling "suicide" case remains a mystery to this day
Matthew later returned to work in the Force. It wasn't until a few years later, when he was briefly imprisoned for falsifying evidence, that he said goodbye to the work of the police force. However, he was never identified as having anything to do with Jessica's shooting. All these years have passed, and the red blood has long since dried. But Jessica is still haunted by this bizarre shooting.
Her physical and mental wounds have not healed to this day. The truth has been hidden in this way, how can we assert that this is just a simple case of domestic violence? Jessica's first question after waking up is "Who wants to kill me", her intuition is clearer than anyone else's, and her testimony is the truth that we cannot easily deny.
This seemingly closed case still arouses countless suspicions among the people. Jessica's experience, her husband Matthew's bizarre behavior, all make people doubt the secrets of this family and the truth of this murder. A lot of the details were actively obscured, and many of the questions were answered incredibly.
A mother, when her life was in danger, thought that "someone is going to kill me". This has to make us wonder if her instincts are pointing to the family's more terrifying secrets. She probably knows a lot more than we think.
Can the police's swift verdict of "suicide" really convince the public? The first thing this woman said to the police when she stood up was "Someone tried to kill me"? Are there more hidden secrets behind this shooting? What truth did Jessica try to tell us on the night of the crime? Whether Matthew was involved? All the questions still linger in people's minds......