Jarrett Weaver promises to change
Drugs and alcohol lead to more violence
On January 31, 2008, the emergency order of protection that prohibited Jarrett from contacting Kelsi expired. That very day, he began sending her flowers, cards and his love notes. He was living with his parents and promised to change, seek counseling, go to Alcoholics Anonymous and attend church.
Debra made it very clear
to Kelsi that she did not condone Jarrett’s behavior, he was no longer welcome at their house, and begged her not to go back to him. But Jarrett worked hard to convince Kelsi that he had changed. On April 1, 2008, Kelsi went to live with him in his parents’ home. She was still working and going to school. Jarrett also had a job.
In May 2008, the county attorney’s office called Kelsi at Ector County Abstract, where she worked, about testifying in the case against Jarrett from when he assaulted her in December. She was afraid to go voluntarily, but said she would testify if subpoenaed. Kelsi never heard from the county attorney again.
On May 22, 2008, while Kelsi was not home, Jarrett overdosed on hydrocodone, an opioid, and alcohol. An ambulance rushed him to the emergency room.
Assaulting friends
Jarrett’s drug and alcohol use grew worse. Late at night on June 18, 2008, he came home drunk and stoned, and got into an argument with his parents. Scared, Kelsi went to sleep on the couch, but he coaxed her back into the bedroom. She saw that Jarrett had a bag of Xanax in his jeans pocket. The next morning, Kelsi got the drugs out of her husband’s pocket, gave them to his father and told Jarrett she was leaving him for good. Jarrett’s parents told him that he could no longer live in their home.
Later that day Jarrett called Kelsi at work, saying she needed to leave
immediately to sign a lease for an apartment. Kelsi did not want to live with him in an apartment, so she refused, which infuriated him. On June 19, 2008, Jarrett showed up at her job at Ector County Abstract, threatened to get her fired and tear the place down. When Kelsi left to file a report with the Odessa police, Jarrett tried to run her car off the road with his truck. Terrified, Kelsi went to stay with her parents in Iraan, Texas, 90 miles from Odessa.
On Friday, June 20, 2008, Jarrett was at a friend’s apartment partying—two other men and the girlfriend of one of them were there. When everyone else fell asleep, Jarrett held the woman down and attempted to rape her. One of the other men came to her rescue, and Jarrett turned on him, beating him so badly that he had to go to the emergency room. The man and woman both filed police charges against Jarrett. The next day, Jarrett left Kelsi a voicemail, saying he injured a gay guy who tried to grab him. Kelsi spoke to the friends who told her the true story.
That night, Saturday, June 21, 2008, Kelsi got a phone call from Jarrett’s mother. Kelsi’s two pet Chihuahuas, Sugars and Jasmine, were still in the Weaver home, and Jarrett threatened to beat up his father unless they handed the dogs over to him. The Weavers called the police, and the police let Jarrett take the dogs. All through the next day, Jarrett called Kelsi at her parents’ home. His message: If Kelsi didn’t return his call, she would never see her dogs again.
Domestic violence agency
Kelsi and her mother, Debra, spent all day on Monday, June 23, 2008 trying to get an order of protection against Jarrett Weaver. They made three trips to the police station. They went to the courthouse. Finally, they went to a domestic violence agency for help. Kelsi was asked to fill out a questionnaire about Jarrett’s behavior. Jarrett, in the meantime, had gotten fired from his job because he threatened a co-worker.
According to Debra, the counselor looked over the questionnaire, shook her head and said, “Kelsi, he’s beyond the typical abuser that we deal with. He is at high risk of committing homicide in the future.”
Kelsi didn’t believe it. “Jarrett would never do that to me,” Kelsi said. “Maybe my mom, but not me.”
That’s when Debra decided to get a license to carry a concealed weapon.
Kelsi asked what had happened to the state’s case against Jarrett from when he assaulted her in December. The counselor made some calls, and found out that the county attorney tried to serve the subpoena at the apartment that Kelsi had vacated. They did not make another attempt, even though they had an alternate address and knew where she worked. Because Kelsi did not show up to testify at the hearing, the case was dropped.
Throughout the day, both Kelsi and Debra received numerous calls from Jarrett on their cell phones, which they ignored. At 12:39 a.m. on June 24, 2008, he left a threatening message on Debra’s phone, and another at 12:50 a.m. He also left two threatening messages on Kelsi’s phone, claiming he would hurt her dogs if he didn’t hear from her.
Debra and Kelsi filed harassment complaints against Jarrett and played the messages for the police. Later they went back to the domestic violence agency to tell the counselor about the threats. Debra played her messages. But when Kelsi attempted to play hers, they were gone.
“Does Jarrett have the password to your voicemail?” the counselor asked.
Debra saw the look on Kelsi’s face, and it spoke volumes. Jarrett had set up her voicemail account, so of course, he had the password. In fact, that explained why Kelsi rarely returned phone calls from messages left on her cell phone—Jarrett was erasing them.
Kelsi and Debra went back to the police department to pick up copies of the reports they’d filed earlier in the day. They told the police where Jarrett was, and that he was in possession of drugs, hoping he’d get arrested. He was not.
A few days later, Kelsi and her family learned that the county attorney would not reopen the assault case from December against Jarrett Weaver.
Making excuses for Jarrett Weaver
Throughout the summer, Kelsi was essentially homeless. Between work and taking classes, she stayed with her grandmother and friends during the week, and with her parents in Iraan on the weekends. All of her clothes were in the trunk of her car.
“We were griping at her,” Debra said. “Kelsi’s car was torn up inside and out, she still had bills from the apartment, Jarrett was charging stuff on her Sam’s Club card, she was in debt from the car title loan, and she was homeless. Kelsi was trying to stay on friendly terms with Jarrett, hoping that he’d help pay the bills. She thought he was going to get arrested any day, so she was seeking legal counsel on obtaining a divorce and making plans to get out of Odessa.”
Jarrett was not arrested. He also refused to give her a divorce, and there was no order of protection. Yet Kelsi made excuses for him.
Debra remembered: “Every time we would talk to her about Jarrett, she said, ”˜I can handle him. I know how to handle him.’”
Kelsi accompanied Debra to a funeral in late July. Debra was telling friends what her daughter had been going through. The conversation went like this:
“He beat her face in,” Debra said.
“He didn’t beat my face in; it wasn’t that big of a deal!” Kelsi interrupted.
“Kelsi, he did too, and the police must have thought it was a big deal because they arrested him and he sat in jail for it!”
“When that happened in December, we were drinking,” Kelsi explained. “Me and the other girls got up and started dancing. There was one guy and six girls, and Jarrett got upset. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”
“He was doing more than drinking; he was taking Xanax that night too!”
Although Kelsi was not living with Jarrett, she was in touch with him. She told Debra that Jarrett had “found Jesus” once again and was going to counseling, working two jobs and taking a welding class.
One of his jobs was at the place where Debra’s son worked, who told her that Jarrett was doing “much better.”