Living with a charge the evidence couldn’t support – part 1B

Publishers  Note: This is the second half  and the continuation of part 1A that was featured last week. Long continues with the events that set the stage for the next 10 months that followed.

Q – Questioner/ Interviewer

A – Davis Long

AVA – Alleged Victim/Accuser

[Q: What happened on May 4, 2025?]

A: That Sunday afternoon, it was earlier, sometime I think between 2:00 and 2:30 PM, my mother-in-law came to our house to bring [AVA] home after he had spent the weekend in Kansas turkey hunting.

I went downstairs to open the door and greeted both of them. Nothing felt off. They both came in, she went upstairs and he carried in his hunting gear and set it down by his room. I cleared some pillows on the couch so my mother-in-law could sit next to my wife, and I sat on the other side.

We all visited and [AVA] told us about the hunting trip and about how he had gone out to the cabin at the lake and shot turtles with his .22 revolver. My wife talked with her mom for a few minutes. At least two or three times, she mentioned that we were waiting on the kids to clean their rooms so we could all go get ice cream at the Scoop.

Q: Why was he shooting turtles?

A: I think they said the turtles are a nuisance. Maybe target practice, I didn’t catch the reason. I just remember trying to picture what that looks like.

After a short while, my mother-in-law stood up and said to my wife, “Let’s you, me, and [AVA] go to Sonic and get some ice cream.”

Immediately, something felt off because we had just been talking about all of us going to the Scoop. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

They left and about maybe four or five minutes later, they were back.

I went to the door to let them in and said to my wife, “That was quick.” She came inside and told the two little kids to get their shoes on. I saw my mother-in-law opening the back doors of her Navigator, so I started putting my shoes on. While tying them, I asked my wife, “Are we all going to get ice cream?”

She said, “No.”

At that point, she was upstairs down the hall next to the kid’s rooms. I walked up to her and asked what was going on. She looked at me and said, “You’re lucky I don’t kill you right now.”

Q: How did that make you feel?

A: I was mortified. Completely speechless. I had no idea what or why she was so angry. I thought maybe I had said something wrong. I kept asking what was going on.

She just told me to stay away from the kids.

Q: Could the little kids have heard her say that to you?

A: They could’ve, they were both standing right next us.

Q: What were you thinking?

A: I didn’t know what to think, I was clueless.

I went outside to talk to my mother-in-law, clearly something was wrong and I thought she would shed some light on what just happened.  She told me to get away from her. I stepped back and kept asking “what is going on?” The only thing she said was, “You know what you did.” When I asked what she meant, she said nothing.

I went back inside and asked my wife again what was happening. All she would say over and over was, “You know what you did.” I kept telling her I didn’t know what she was talking about and repeatedly asked her to explain. She wouldn’t.

Everything dissolved into chaos, just like that. All of a sudden my kids were being taken away from me, and no one would tell me why. I didn’t know what was happening. No one was talking to me. I was becoming terrified. At one point, I genuinely feared they were being kidnapped; I didn’t have information on anything.

As they left, I tried calling the police non-emergency line, I was very rattled and kept mis-dialing so finally I had to just tell SIRI the number to dial but I can’t remember if I got through or not. I decided to drive straight to the police station.

When I arrived, they were already there. I met my wife in the parking lot, and we sort of argued as we walked inside. I was desperate to understand what was happening, and she refused to tell me anything.

When we got to the front window, my wife told the dispatcher there she wanted to make a report about me. We were immediately separated. I was told to wait outside.

While I waited, I called my mom and a family friend, trying to explain what had just happened and asking what I should do. A few minutes later, my wife came out of the station to the parking lot and went over to the Navigator, got [AVA] and brought him into the station.

Eventually, an officer came out and asked me about my relationship with [AVA] what our day-to-day life looked like. I made a statement about our routines: taking him to school, picking him up, asking him about chores, inviting him to hang out upstairs, come play on the trampoline and so on, just normal family interactions.

Q: How did he usually act when you asked him to be part of the family?

A: Usually pretty neutral, sometimes a moody teenager, but the response was typically good I think.

At some point shortly after, the officer told me there were allegations that I had sexually abused [AVA].

For a moment I had trouble processing what I was hearing.

I remember asking a bunch of questions trying to gain any clarity and then eventually I asked if I was under arrest. They said no, that I was free to go, but that a detective would be contacted and they would be in touch.

Q: Who told you that?

A: It was Officer Grall I believe.

I went home. When I got there, I saw my wife loading the younger kids’ car seats into my mother-in-law’s Navigator. She put the kids in the vehicle, and they left.

So there I am alone with my wife in the house hoping that maybe now we could talk.

Q: Did you and your wife talk?

A: No, I kept pleading with her to tell me what was happening and to not take my kids. To just talk to me. This was already traumatizing. I repeatedly told her I had not sexually abused [AVA] and asked why anyone think that or would say something like that. I kept asking her why she wouldn’t talk to me. She didn’t respond. She silently packed overnight bags for herself and the kids, along with her work equipment.

The only thing she said to me was to ask where our son’s tablet was. I told her I thought it was at the newspaper and that I would try to find it.

That was the last thing she said to me before she left.

I left too. I drove aimlessly for a while, processing. Then I passed the police station and saw both her and my mother-in-law’s vehicles there. I pulled in the lot waited for minute, then decided to go inside, knowing a detective was supposed to on their way.

They let me in and took me to an interview room. I kept asking what was happening. The detective, Frank said he didn’t really know yet and that it was unusual to have the entire family at the station like this.

He told me he couldn’t say anything until I signed my rights. I asked if I needed a lawyer. I had always heard that you should have an attorney, no matter what; I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. He told me that if I wanted one, I could call one, and he left the room.

I tried calling the only attorney I had saved in my phone, but she didn’t answer.

When the detective returned, I asked if I could walk away if I became uncomfortable or something along those lines. He said yes. I signed my rights.

Immediately after I did, he told me that [AVA] had accused me of raping him five times.

I was absolutely blind sided and in disbelief. I was not expecting that. Up until then I had never questioned reality. Actually for me, this is point where reality took an intermission for the next 10 months. Because what follows these first couple of days becomes more difficult to make sense of.

I kept asking how, why, anything to understand what was happening why that would even be thought. I asked if this was coming directly from [AVA]. The detective said yes: “A 16-year-old boy is saying that you raped him.”

It took me a minute after hearing something like that but oddly, part of me felt a tiny moment of relief because I knew that never happened and there would be nothing to show that it ever had. I believed it was about to be over very quickly. I kept thinking there couldn’t be evidence of something that didn’t happen, that doesn’t make sense. But at the same time, I was horrified and really distressed because of what was being said.

Q: Did you not think it was a good idea anymore to try to have a lawyer present?

A: For me in that moment, I felt it was unnecessary. I felt that this was going to fall through any second and I didn’t need to concern myself with going through that process. So I told the detective that I was ready to go and willing to answer anything. I had nothing to hide and I was starting to feel a little bit better.

He asked if I did it. I said, “No.”

He also asked if there was anything that could have happened that could be misconstrued. I said, “No.” I don’t know if I actually said this but I remember thinking I’ve never even had an accidental ‘weird’ hug or anything that would remotely be interpreted as sexual or inappropriate.

At one point, I asked him how I was supposed to prove something I didn’t do. He replied, “If you didn’t do it, you didn’t do it.” Later, he told me he had hundreds of people sit in that chair and tell him the same thing. It felt like his mind was already made up.

During that conversation he also mentioned we could always do a lie detector and I said something like ‘lets go hook me up.’ I guess I thought the police station had one on hand.

Q: Did they have one?

A: No, I mean I never saw one.

Q: Were you curious why he was offering something they did not have?

A: I didn’t have a chance to think about that until later.

And honestly at that moment I was a little excited because I knew if they put me through the test and then put [AVA] through the test this could be over right now and then we focus on the real issues that need addressed.

He told me the next steps would be an appointment with Children’s Division the following day, May 5, and then I would be back for another interview with him. I asked about my kids. He told me that for now, I could not see them, and to avoid putting them in states custody, they would remain with their mother. I left shortly after that.

Q: When he mentioned to avoid putting the kids in state’s custody, did it take you by surprise?

A: Yes actually, hearing that was disturbing.

Q: What were you thinking as you were leaving the station?

A: I didn’t know what to think, I was so lost. I was really torn up during that interview, I was worried, confused, very upset. I had so much dumped on me in just a matter of what seemed like minutes. So when I left there I kind of knew what the next steps were going to be with children’s division and more interviews, knowing that made me a little more relieved I just knew I needed to get through the night and everything would be back to normal.

But then I went home to a silent house.

I tried calling my wife a couple of times, but I knew tensions were high and I didn’t want to overwhelm her. At 7:55 p.m., I sent her a text: “Can I talk to you and/or the kids tonight?” She didn’t reply.

I spent the rest of the evening on the phone with family and close friends, replaying what had happened and trying to understand what I was supposed to do next.

The next day, May 5, all hell broke loose.