My 14-year-old Son Beat His Stepmother Unconscious At Her Own Wedding. My Entire Family Disowned Him Until He Showed Us What Was On His Phone. Now She Is Trying To Frame Me For A Felony To Keep Us Quiet?

Under Investigation

The detective sat across from me, watching my face carefully. He explained they found these during their search of Lauren’s phone after her arrest. He asked me directly if I had given Lauren permission to discipline my son physically. Then he asked if I had given her permission to engage in sexual contact with him as a form of teaching or punishment.

I told him absolutely not and that I had never sent those messages. I demanded to see my phone records from the carrier to prove it. He said they would need to keep my phone for comparison and forensic analysis.

That’s when it hit me that I wasn’t just there as a witness anymore. They were investigating me as a possible accomplice. They took me to another room where a technician photographed my hands from every angle. Then they rolled each finger in ink and pressed them onto cards.

The technician explained they needed to rule me out as an accomplice to the crimes. The word accomplice made my stomach turn over. Lauren was trying to drag me down with her by making it look like I knew and approved of what she was doing.

For the next 3 hours, they asked me question after question about my relationship with Lauren. When did we first meet? How often did we communicate? What kind of conversations we had? Whether I knew about her methods with my son? They wanted to know every detail about our interactions.

They asked if I had ever discussed discipline strategies with her. They asked if I had noticed any changes in my son’s behavior. They asked why I hadn’t come home sooner if I suspected something was wrong. Every question felt like a trap.

Finally, they let me leave, but they kept my phone and told me not to leave town. I walked out of the station feeling like the walls were closing in.

Hiring Casey

I drove straight to the law office of Casey Maple Grove, who my friend had recommended. Casey took one look at my face and immediately cleared her schedule. She sat me down in her office and had me go through everything from the beginning.

I told her about the wedding and what my son revealed, and now these fake messages. Casey started typing rapidly on her computer while I talked. She immediately filed preservation orders with all the major phone carriers and social media companies.

She explained that Lauren probably used spoofing apps or edited screenshots during those 10 minutes she was in the bathroom. Casey said we needed to get the actual phone records from the carrier to prove the messages were fake. She also filed requests for Lauren’s search history to see if she had looked up how to fake text messages.

Casey told me not to talk to the police again without her present. She said Lauren was clearly trying to muddy the waters and create reasonable doubt for her own defense.

The CPS Interviews

The next morning, Derek Oakidge from CPS showed up at my friend’s house where we were staying. He needed to interview both boys separately as part of the official investigation. He was gentle with them but very thorough in his questions.

He had my son go through everything that had happened with Lauren from the beginning. My son told him about the first time she came into his room at night. He described how she would wait until Conrad was asleep. He talked about the threats she made if he told anyone. Derek wrote everything down carefully and had my son sign each page.

Then Derek interviewed Tommy separately in another room. The little boy was scared, but he told Derek about the times Lauren came to his room. He showed Derek the bruises that were still healing on his legs. Derek took photographs of every mark and documented their size and color.

“Something feels really off about Lauren’s bathroom trip. 10 minutes is a long time to just sit there while police are coming. Her mom’s reaction about ‘not again’ and therapy makes me wonder how many times this woman has done this before to other kids.”

He had a nurse practitioner come to do a full physical exam on both boys. After the interviews, Derek sat down with me to explain what would happen next. He was implementing a safety plan that would allow me supervised contact with both boys while the investigations continued.

I would have to meet with them at the CPS office with a social worker present. It felt humiliating to need supervision to see my own son, but I agreed immediately because their safety was all that mattered.

Derek explained that the criminal case against Lauren would move forward regardless of what happened with the investigation into me. He said the boys’ disclosures were credible and consistent with abuse. The physical evidence on Tommy supported their statements. But he also warned me that Lauren’s defense attorney would probably try to use those fake messages to claim I was involved, or at least negligent.