Introduction
If you found me on Threads and followed along as I posted my story there, you already know this, but for those who do not use Threads, or if you were not following along when I originally posted my story there, I’ll explain a bit.
Threads is an app connected to Instagram and Facebook that is very similar to Twitter, with the focus on sharing written posts, and encourages users to write “Threads”, or longer posts broken up into shorter segments.
I’d only lurked on Threads before, often clicking on post teasers that I couldn’t resist in my other social media feeds, but after reading others’ posts it felt like a somewhat welcoming and safe place to share my story, and begin getting some of what my family and I had been through over the last 5 years out of my head. I made an anonymous profile, and started writing.
At first, I felt like I was typing into the void, but I quickly started gaining followers, and ended up with over 4,000 people following along, and over 6 million views on my posts. Everyone was invested and impatient to find out what came next. A lot of them commented often, sharing their insight, outrage, and personal experiences. It became a little community.
After it was completed, I decided I would feel more comfortable archiving the posts on Threads, and moving them to a more private place. I had wanted to create a space where I could focus on writing, which I’d realized as I crafted the Threads posts how much I loved, so this more personal site seemed like the perfect solution.
The following is my story, as originally shared on the Threads app. Each post is numbered, and was shared chronologically over the course of several weeks. Keep in mind that as I was writing each post, I was limited on the amount of characters I could use, so I had to get a bit creative at times. Also remember that some posts were written one right after the other, and some were written hours or even days apart, so there may be some repitition or the flow might not be what it would be if you were reading a book.
Please keep in mind that it’s important that I ensure the privacy of all involved. All names have been changed and identifying details have been altered without compromising the integrity of the story. Some posts may be edited slightly from the original for clarity, fixed typos, or for increased privacy, but remain as close to the original as possible. You can view my disclaimer here.
(Originally posted on Threads 5/30/25) Seems like as good a time as any to start spilling five years’ worth of neighbor drama tea onto the internet. I won’t be using actual names or identifying info, not because I want to be anonymous (I honestly don’t), but because I’m not trying to get sued. Feel free to share your own experiences or thoughts along the way. My hope is that we can get some help making sense of it all, and somewhere on the other side of this is justice, healing, and peace for my family.
CHAPTER ONE
1. A little backstory… My now ex-husband, who I’ll refer to as Chad, and I met in 2005 right after I graduated high school. I got pregnant 6 mths later, then got pregnant again when our daughter was 12 weeks old. We got married because what else do you do when you get pregnant on accident twice and have to prove yourself to your family? We bought our house in 2009, getting very lucky to find a great deal in a great neighborhood, in the town I had grown up in.
2. We went on to have two more kids, I worked from home and homeschooled the kids, and we would live a very normal, quiet life. I was a young mom whose life revolved around my kids and life at home, and back then, most of my friends didn’t have kids and lived a very different life than I did so it could get a bit lonely. When we got new next door neighbors in 2013 who were also young parents with two kids close in age to my younger two, I was so excited.
3. The mom, I’ll call her Kellie, and I quickly became friends, often hanging out with our kids outside in the evenings. We were different people in a lot of ways, but had enough in common to form a bond. Chad and Kellie’s husband, who I’ll call Stanley, or Stan for short, also became friends. Over the years we would all celebrate holidays together, pet sit when we vacationed, took the kids to events together, etc. Their two daughters and my youngest daughter and son were very good friends.
4. In 2017, a couple, who I’ll call Keith and Regina, moved in across the street from us. I will never forget our neighbor group text, which included my ex and I, Kellie and Stan, and several other neighbors directly around us, analyzing all the people that came to look at the house and hoping they were going to be good people. They looked to be about my age, at the time they had no kids, and were moving here from out of state. We were all excited to welcome them into the fold.
5. We all got to know Keith and Regina, and they fit right in, playing with our kids, bringing over food to share, and sitting with us as we talked about everything under the sun. We even built a shared garden space between my front yard and Kellie and Stan’s, with garden boxes, a rocked area, chairs, and a firepit.
That space became our regular gathering spot. Other neighbors would join us, and there were always kids running around. It was idyllic. Or so I thought.
CHAPTER TWO
6. Flash forward to 2020: Things were weird for my family, and everyone, due to the pandemic. I hadn’t hugged my parents or seen most of my extended family in months. My kids were stuck at home, missing out on their normal activities. My friends were taking precautions seriously and I hadn’t seen many of them in a long time. It was isolating and stressful for a lot of people, and we were no exception. Thankfully, we had a close group of neighbors that we could step outside and socialize with.
7. Chad and I had been having issues for quite some time. Nothing crazy or provocative. We had grown apart, and there were personal things and negative patterns of his that I was having a hard time with. I certainly wasn’t perfect either. It had become clear over the years that things were not going to change, and after one particular incident in July 2020 that was witnessed by my close childhood friend I’ll refer to as Vada, and my children, I knew that it would be best for everyone to end the marriage.
8. Chad was content with things as they were, but he was aware of the issues I was having with our marriage and knew I was not. He did not want to divorce, and I felt after so many years of marriage and 4 kids to consider it wasn’t a bad idea to go about things slowly, so we settled on a 6 month separation. I had never made a full time income and I wasn’t making much at the time so financially I was taking a huge leap of faith in knowing I would just figure things out, and the separation would give me time to do that. It was truly the scariest, bravest thing I had ever done but I could feel peace pulling at me from the other side.
9. My friend Vada, and her husband “Sid”, had been in the process of divorcing since the beginning of the year but were still living together and NOT enjoying it. She had offered to help in various ways after the incident in July, and Sid was a friend of Chad’s and also worked with him. So, long story short, Vada and her 4 year old son moved in with me, and Chad moved in with Sid. It was unconventional, but there was room for all the kids at each house and it worked well financially for everyone.
10. There were so many unknowns and challenges, especially with the added weight of the pandemic. My main focus was my kids, and Chad and I were seemingly doing our best to prioritize them and co-parent in a healthy, respectful way, and maintain open communication. It wasn’t easy. Nothing about that time was. But I truly believed that with the love and support of our family and friends, including our neighbors, we’d find our way through it. Unfortunately, I had no idea how quickly that support system would begin to unravel.
CHAPTER THREE
11. In October 2020, we had the details of our separation worked out. We had only told my parents and a few close friends so far. Since our neighbors were such a big part of our daily lives, I knew it was going to affect them as well and they should know what was going on. Chad and I talked about needing to tell the neighbors, and I knew he needed a support system, so I encouraged him to sit down with Stan and Keith and talk to them about it, which he did.
12. I planned to do the same with Kellie and Regina. I was completely overwhelmed with all the life changes we were going through, guiding my kids through creating a new normal with me and with their dad, the unknowns to come, and of course regular mom responsibilities and life in general, so talking with them wasn’t my main priority, but they were good friends and I knew they would be a part of my support system, as well as my kids’, so I was looking forward to finally sitting down with them.
13. When Chad told Keith and Stan about the separation, I had been out taking a walk at the park with my mom. I had set out dinner for my oldest daughter to get started, and called to check in with her.
“Mom, Kellie and Regina ordered us pizza for dinner…” She sounded confused, and so was I. My neighbors and I had always texted each other before we gave each other’s kids so much as a popsicle. It was a week night so everyone hanging out and having pizza was weird. told her to put the food back in the fridge, and joined them for pizza in Keith and Regina’s house at Chad’s insistence once I got home.
14. Over the next few days, Kellie and Regina both reached out to me via text. Kellie expressed surprise but let me know if I needed anything at all to let her know, and she would love to talk soon about everything.
Regina sent me a very long, supportive text. It read, “I really want to listen to your concerns and understand what you’re feeling and what you have been feeling through all of this. I know it’s something that needs to be internalized but sometime it’s difficult to navigate through…”
15. “…thoughts and feelings on your own. You have a strong support system that you can utilize, you’re smart, resourceful and strong so there’s no doubt that you can’t do anything by yourself. If you’re feeling scared, confused, or alone on decisions, I wish that you feel comfortable and safe enough to reach out to me; I don’t ever want you to feel attacked or threatened by my advice or my presence bc it is not my intent. It may be selfish of me to ask, but can we talk in person sometime today?”
16. It was a sweet text, and I let her know I appreciated it and that I was busy but we would talk soon. I was a bit thrown off by her saying she didn’t want me to feel attacked or threatened by her advice or presence. It was a weird thing to say considering I wasn’t asking for or needing advice, and would have never been threatened by her presence, but I wrote it off. Later that week, in mid October, I texted her and Kellie and said I had time to sit and talk. This is where things got really weird.
CHAPTER FOUR
17. I went out to the front yard garden between our yards, like I had done so many times before.
Kellie was already out there, and Regina joined us soon after. My younger kids and Kellie’s kids were running around playing. We started talking, and I immediately noticed that something was off. I began to give them a brief, lighthearted version of events. I told them I didn’t want to speak badly about Chad, and Kellie cut me off.
“We weren’t going to let you say anything bad about him anyway.”
18. I heard a record screech in my head. My nervous system short circuited.
WHAT?!
Not only were these women my friends and had told me they wanted to be there for me, but they had no idea what, if anything, was going on behind closed doors. For all they knew, we were separating because he was abusive.
I was shocked and confused, but tried to continue the conversation with them anyway. As I continued, their tones were cold and judgmental.
19. They began questioning me.
They seemed oddly focused on Vada and her moving into my home, and Chad moving in with Sid. I tried to explain as best and as appropriately as I could, emphasizing that things had been pretty rough for awhile and this was difficult but necessary, for all of us especially the kids. They kept cutting me off. It felt like an interrogation, and there were no right answers.
I went silent, and eventually got up and walked into the house. I was in shock, and hurt.
20. I called Chad and told him what had happened. He seemed confused as well, and said he had no idea what their problem was.
He had recently gotten Stan a job working with him, so he said something to him about it and I got a text from Kellie a short time later, saying that she was sorry they had upset me, they just wanted the best for our family, and that after speaking with Stan, she felt it was best if she stayed out of it.
Again, WHAT? Stayed out of it?! I hadn’t known she was even in it.
21. My emotions were all over the place as it was, with Chad actively moving out that same weekend, and everything that comes with that, and I honestly couldn’t handle whatever the heck was going on.
I sat down on my kitchen floor and shed a few tears as I tried to gather myself. My older daughters, who were 13 and 14 at the time, were concerned so I explained what was going on. They were as confused as I was about Kellie and Regina’s sudden attitude shift towards me.
22. A short time later, my daughters, we’ll call them Savannah and Riley, went out to get their younger siblings for dinner.
A few minutes later, I got another text from Kellie. It read, “I understand you’re really upset and I’m sorry for asking questions but I don’t appreciate Savannah and Riley coming out here “mean mugging” me. Chad asked us to be nice to you, which we have, but we aren’t getting that in return and it’s not fair.”
23. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. He had asked them to be nice to me?! Why on earth would he have needed to ask my friends to be nice to me? Mean mugging? This woman knew what significant, serious things were happening in mine and my daughters’ life at that very moment, knew their father was actively moving out, their mom was inside crying because of her, and this was her focus? It was all too much. I asked Chad to please go out and speak to them and figure out what was going on.
24. Chad was still seemingly also confused about their behavior and agreed to go outside, where Kellie, Stan, Regina, Keith, and another neighbor, an older lady we will call Sandra, were all sitting in the garden. He was out there for quite some time.
When he finally came back in, he said, “They’re saying they didn’t say anything out of line and don’t know why you’d be upset. And… Regina said she can prove it because she recorded your all’s conversation on her phone if I want to listen to it.”
25. “SHE DID WHAT?!” I yelled. I felt a rush of anger, betrayal, but most of all, confusion. Why on Earth would she have ever felt the need to record our conversation? What did she think I was going to say? This woman had helped Riley make me a birthday cake months earlier. My youngest daughter colored her pictures to hang on her refrigerator almost every day. She was my friend. Chad had no explanation and said he hadn’t listened to it. I wished he had, and I told him so.
26. Over the following days, I couldn’t stop wondering how in the world something so significant, personal, and serious as my separation had turned into this bizarre drama involving my neighbors. Their actions had obviously caused additional strain between Chad and I as we were trying to navigate things as best we could. I felt strongly that he must have said something to them to cause them to start acting this way toward me, but he continued to deny it.
CHAPTER FIVE
27. Regina didn’t say a word to me despite me clearly being upset with her. She didn’t offer an explanation, or an apology. Instead, the morning after the secret recording, she posted a graphic on Facebook about toxic positivity, and shared something on Instagram about narcissists. Not her normal social media fare, it was clearly targeted at me.
28. It was a lot harder of a pill to swallow that Kellie would have been involved in the recording or had ill intent. In my weakened emotional state, I rationalized that there was clearly a misunderstanding between she and I, and Regina was just insane.
I was still hurt and confused, but when Kellie apologized and said she had no idea about the recording and insisted she didn’t know what Regina was thinking, I believed her.
29. Kellie and I didn’t talk much in person for the rest of October and early November 2020, but we texted about a few things.
She asked if Vada’s son would be at our house on Halloween so she could include candy for him in a gift bag.
She asked if I was okay with her clearing dead plants from our garden boxes.
She let me know my dog had gotten out and she put her back in the yard.
I hadn’t forgotten about what had taken place, but I responded back to her as normally as I could and was hopeful we could move past it and rebuild our friendship over time.
30. It was the height of Covid and my dad had underlying health issues, so when my mom would come over we would stay outside in the front yard and we would talk. It became incredibly clear that Regina was purposefully coming outside while we were out there, ignoring me but on more than one occasion greeting my mom, who she had met many times, in a passive aggressive way as she walked past my house or checked her mail. My mom knew what had happened with the recording and the way she and Kellie had acted towards me, and was disturbed and uncomfortable by this.
CHAPTER SIX
31. One evening towards the beginning of November, I got a text. It was confirmation of a sign up for Adam and Eve Adult Store text alerts. Not something I had signed up for.
32. The next evening, Vada got a text from a long distance number, saying they were a man named John.
“John” stated they were looking for a cougar, inquired about her friends’ relationship statuses, asking if any of her friends aren’t satisfied with their relationship, and when asked who gave him her number, they answered Kellie, giving her last name as well.
We couldn’t figure out why the messages felt so personal, or why Kellie would have given the person Vada’s number. We weren’t sure if it was even true that Kellie had given them the number, or if the person was trying to create drama. Anything was possible.
33. I had seen Kellie and Regina hanging out together over the last few weeks to not trust her at all, or feel comfortable questioning her about these texts. Vada and I also thought there was a chance Regina was somehow behind them due to the way things were worded, or it was even Kellie herself. We found it disturbing but slightly entertaining. We were both already dealing with so much, we had to find humor in these strange circumstances.
Vada posted screenshots of the texts on her social media, making fun of the texts themselves, and not mentioning Kellie or anyone else.
34. She had blacked out Kellie’s name in the screenshots, but when Stan saw them, he told Chad that Kellie had also received strange texts, and that evening, when Chad was at the house getting some of his stuff, Kellie texted me and asked if “just me, you, Chad, and Stan” could talk outside. I said sure, and we went out and sat in the garden.
35. Kellie then told me that she had gotten some similar texts. She never showed them to me or told me what they said. She then admitted she had given Vada’s name and number to the person, because she had thought it was “someone” in my house sending the texts, and wanted to see what they would say.
It was a clear confession and I probably should have been more angry, but because of the personal nature of the texts, the way things had taken place, and the ongoing lack of clarity as to what was even happening between us, something still felt off. I told her that it definitely was not anyone in my home, and she seemed to agree that she knew that now.
36. I really couldn’t understand why we were even sitting there talking about prank texts during a time when Chad and I were dealing with so much already. Kellie could have easily texted me or Vada and said, “Sorry, I thought you guys were messing with me and I gave some weirdo Vada’s number.” Why this big production of a sit down conversation?
I tried to take this time to appeal to Kellie and Stan, to get them to understand how weird everyone had been, that strange things were happening to us at an already stressful time and it needed to stop. Unfortunately, during the entire conversation that evening I felt like I was talking to a brick wall.
37. I also thought it was odd that they were involving Chad. He had made it clear to me he wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on between all of us, despite the fact that he seemingly had started it all with whatever he had told them about our separation.
When I told Kellie about the Adam and Eve text I’d gotten, and how weird Regina had been towards me, the coming outside and making my mom uncomfortable, she acted confused and said she was pretty sure Regina wanted to be friends.
38. I laughed when she said that.
I reminder her that Regina’s behavior was not only strange and offensive, but she had never apologized or offered an explanation for recording our conversation or talking to me the way she had that day in the garden, and she had my phone number. I’m a pretty reasonable person and she could have reached out at any time and I would have been glad to talk it out, but she hadn’t.
Kellie nodded and said something like, “Hmm, yea I guess.”
39. Kellie then got emotional, and through tears she told me that she had been frustrated because I hadn’t come to her and talked to her about what was going on sooner, I assume in my marriage, and she really wanted to be there for me and my kids, especially Savannah and Riley, as they go through our separation, because she had been their age when her parents had divorced and she knew how hard it was. It tugged at my heartstrings a bit and I told her they, and I, could definitely use support.
40. I left the conversation confused, but also thinking maybe some of Kellie’s behavior could be explained by a bit of jealousy that she and I had been such close friends yet she was unaware of the issues in my marriage that led to our separation, which Vada was clearly aware of before she was. If so, it was immature behavior for sure, but we’re all human and this logical explanation made me feel a little better.
41. The following day, I reached out to Kellie and commiserated about the prank texts as an olive branch. She still did not show me or detail a single text she’d gotten, but when I sent her a screenshot of Vada’s conversation with the person, she said it was the same number. She then said they were working with the phone company to figure out who it was, she had given them a police report and it would take 5-10 days.
42. I didn’t think much of any of it. When she said police report, I figured it was just a quick one she’d filled out online, and I doubted she would get any information since I’d already done my sleuthing and figured out the number was through a company that ports phone numbers through a VPN. I figured she would reach out once she heard back, either way. I was still unsure of who could have been the culprit and if she was being competely honest with me about it all.
She never mentioned the texts again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
43. Not only did Kellie not mention the texts again, but despite having made her emotional plea to be there for my kids and I, and my texting her to try and bring a bit of normalcy back to our friendship, she left me on read and remained distant and didn’t text me again until November 26, 2020, when she wished me and my family a happy thanksgiving. Then again on December 7, asking if I was still in my line of work because she had a job to pass on to me if so, and I responded and thanked her. To be fair, I didn’t reach out to her much either. I thankfully had a handful of friends and family that were loving and kind and weren’t treating me strangely, so I was focusing on those relationships instead.
44. Meanwhile, my separation with Chad quickly turned into a decision to divorce in mid November 2020. Things were not going well. In my opinion he was behaving very immaturely, and I knew there was absolutely no chance that even with all the therapy in the world I would ever feel differently. I wanted to be friends and become amazing coparents together, but there was nothing romantic between us and there hadn’t been for quite some time. I was also quite frustrated with his behavior, including how he had handled what was going on with the neighbor.
45. Regina had said during that recorded conversation, “6 months for a separation is a long time, I’d think someone would know whether they wanted to be in a marriage or not way sooner than that.” Well yes, but I was dealing with a man who was struggling with his emotions, had been lashing out at me and disrespecting my need for space, and who I was genuinely scared to be honest with. He ended up getting angry pretty quickly that I didn’t want to have a physical relationship during the separation, and said, “We might as well just go ahead and divorce, then.” I was relieved, and agreed.
46. Chad immediately signed up for dating apps and started talking to other women. We were open with each other about it, and I had no judgment. Without a true emotional connection in our marriage for as long as it had been, I think the idea of each of us moving on was much easier for me than it would have been if our relationship had ended suddenly.
I hadn’t intended on dating anyone right away. Honestly, modern dating culture seemed terrifying, and I wanted no part of it. Besides, I couldn’t imagine anyone being interested in a divorcing, homeschooling mom of four who definitely did not have her shit together. But life has a funny way of unfolding, whether you’re ready for it or not.
47. A close childhood friend of mine and Vada’s, “Lindsey”, and her husband, had a friend I’ll call Luke. Luke had grown up with Lindsey, and she knew him well. He lived near Lindsey and her husband, and spent a lot of evenings hanging out with them on the weekends. I had met him a few months prior, and considered him an acquaintance since he spent so much time with my good friends, but that was as far as it went until he asked why the heck Vada was living with me, and we got to talking more.
48. Luke and I talked for a few weeks, getting to know each other. After he came over to hang out with Vada, Lindsey, and I, my hesitation melted away. It was fast, but after feeling so emotionally empty in my relationship for years, it was a welcome change. As I worked through my divorce, he kept me positive, was understanding, patient, and supportive, and made it so much easier for me to navigate.
Unfortunately, he quickly became a target of Regina.
CHAPTER EIGHT
49. One Saturday afternoon, just a week or so after Luke and I had started dating, he came over to my house and we ran to the store. When we got back, there was a water main being repaired in front of my house and he had a pretty big truck, so we drove past the house and turned around, so he could pull into the driveway.
As we got out of his truck and began walking towards the house, we heard a woman’s voice shout passive-aggressively, “HEYYY WHAT’S UPPP?!”
50. I immediately knew it was Regina, who I had seen sitting on her porch next to Keith when we had pulled in. As unhinged as she had been, I honestly couldn’t believe she was now yelling at me and my new boyfriend, who had close to zero idea what was going on with any of them. I realized that she probably had no idea about the divorce, and thought she had “caught” me doing something, probably excited to have proof of whatever bizarre theory that was fueling her behavior.
51. I absolutely could have (and should have, looking back) confronted her. But I was so overwhelmed with how weird they were being, and I am not a confrontational person at all, especially back then. Instead, I immediately told Chad, who I had already told about my new relationship, what she had done, since he was still in communication with them and had been going to their house to hang out regularly, often taking my younger kids over with him. He was annoyed, but said he would ask Keith about it.
52. A few days later, I went to Chad’s house so that we could wrap our kids’ Christmas presents. It felt like something we should do, in the spirit of positive coparenting. Luke had told me to tell Chad he’d love to meet up and get a beer with him at some point before he meets our kids, which I passed along. Chad seemed to like the idea of that, and he then spent some time making sure I knew about all the women he had been talking to, showing me their dating profiles. Eventually, I asked him what Keith had said about Regina yelling at us. “He said she told him she had been out front playing with the dog and saw you all circling the neighborhood suspiciously. Multiple times.”
53. I told Chad that Keith was lying to him. He had been sitting right next to Regina and knew that wasn’t true. I pointed out that it was pretty messed up of someone who claimed to be his friend to lie to him about something so dumb, and that their behavior was creating a lot of unecesssary stress for me, as well as Savannah and Riley, who were old enough to be aware of everything. He shrugged it off that night, and continued to spend time with them in the months following, even inviting them to a get together at his and Sid’s place.
54. With Regina and Keith’s behavior and lies, all of the neighbors continuing to spend time together as well as with Chad, and the lack of any meaningful communication with me, I had completely lost hope and trust in Kellie. The last straw was her texting me over a month after our last conversation, to say that Stan would be taking down the two planter boxes on their side of our front yard garden space and putting up a “little fence so your rocks don’t spill out”. I didn’t respond.
CHAPTER NINE
55. The following month, on my birthday, Regina texted me for the first time since her fake supportive text before the conversation recording incident. She said, “Happy Birthday!” with a string of party and birthday emojis. I was so confused. There was no way she was serious. I don’t even know how she knew it was my birthday since I had her blocked on Facebook. I shouldn’t have replied, but I went ahead and simply said, “Thank you”. I soon found out why she had said it, and what the joke was.
56. About an hour after I received Regina’s text, there was a knock at my door. I answered it, several kids in tow. It was a police officer.
“Your neighbor Kellie said she received a prank phone call in the middle of the night that seemed to have come from your daughter’s phone.”
Riley immediately spoke up from behind me. “That was me. I was on a group Facetime call with my friends and we were trying to decide who else to add. I joked about adding Kellie and accidentally clicked her name. I didn’t think it even rang.”
57. I couldn’t believe they had gone to the police over an accidental phone call made by a 13 year old to a woman she had known for years. Riley had been a friend to their kids, spent the night in their home, and more. The officer gave her a quick lecture about not prank calling people and I assured him it wouldn’t happen again. Considering Chad and Stan worked together, it was crazy to me that Stan wouldn’t have just said, “Hey, Riley called Kellie’s phone last night, can you ask her about it?”
58. Riley and I told her dad what had happened, and he asked Stan about it. Stan’s response was something along the lines of, “We didn’t know it was Riley (apparently she and her friends were using a group calling app that used email addresses or something), we just told the investigator we’ve been working with since Kellie got the prank calls in November about it, and they traced it to her.” I didn’t buy any of it. They had officially crossed a new line.
59. That night, Vada texted me from her room. She had sent a screenshot. On the screen, there was a notification that was circled. It read, and I’m laughing as I type this, “Kellie (Last name), one of your contacts, is on Instagram as yo_bawz_stink. Would you like to follow them?”
It was not a username Kellie would have normally chosen, and due to the timing, we were sure she had made the account to either stalk or troll us. She deleted it almost immediately, probably after realizing anyone with her number could see it.
CHAPTER TEN
60. Over the next few months, Chad and I were working through our divorce agreement. We had agreed to keep things simple and self-file, but before I even had time to get the paperwork filled out, Chad texted me one evening in early December and asked if he could stop by. He presented me a stack of papers for me to sign, claiming it would “make things easier”.
Chad had hired Stan’s father as his lawyer, and had filed for divorce.
The document was full of spelling errors. The kids’ birthdays weren’t even correct. As frustrated as I was with him doing this, I tried to work with him directly. I didn’t have a lot of extra money and didn’t want the process to become negative or complicated for either of us. But it quickly became clear that it wasn’t in my best interest, and with the encouragement of my parents and friends, I hired my own lawyer.
61. Things had gotten a little tense between us as we worked through things. Sid had gotten into a relationship with a woman who he wanted to move into his home, and told Chad he had a month to move out, so Chad had found an apartment just a few minutes away from my house. but for more than a month hadn’t wanted to have the kids stay with him overnight. However, he kept insisting we have 50/50 custody in our legal agreement. It was wearing me down, and I was ready for it to be settled so we could all move on.
Just as I thought the neighbors had decided to leave me alone, I got a text from Chad.
62. The text read, “You need to tell Luke not to mean mug my lawyer again.” The day prior, Luke and my kids were getting to know each other, and we all left to go get ice cream. Stan’s mother, a loud, nasty woman that I had never cared for, was talking, so we all looked over as she and Stan’s father were walking toward Stan and Kellie’s porch with them. Luke had no idea who they were, and had simply maintained eye contact as they all stared in our direction, his mother gesturing our way.
63. Not only had Stan and Kellie take an innocent glance from Luke personally and assumed he had ill-intent, but they had shared this wildly false impression with Chad, involving themselves in our divorce in a way that could harm our coparenting, in an attempt to create animosity between Luke and Chad when none existed.
64. And then… Stan put up security cameras. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to monitor what’s going on around their home. But, one of these cameras was mounted on the corner of their home, away from their own yard. They hadn’t dismantled their planter boxes like Kellie had said they would, so in theory they could have been watching that area. However, the angle of the camera was blatantly pointed at my driveway and the side of my house, and was less than 20 feet away so every conversation we had as we got in and out of our cars or in our front yard could most likely be heard by them, loud and clear.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
65. It was early Summer 2020. We were still working through our divorce, Vada and her son still lived with me, and Luke was continuing to get to know my kids. We all loved him and things were going great in that department. Savannah was really wanting a cat for her birthday, so we decided to go to a few rescues around town. As we left, I noticed Kellie, Stan, Regina, and Keith sitting together in chairs in Kellie’s front yard. A few hours later, after arriving back home, I noticed that I had gotten a strange text while we were out that I hadn’t paid attention to.
66. The text said, “OnlyFlings: Your verification code is: 9710 Reply with STOP to this message to stop receiving further notifications.” I then noticed that I’d simultaneously gotten an email that read, “Welcome to OnlyFlings. Activate your account and start looking for hotties! Username: (myname)girl3908”.
I was fuming. I texted Chad, and asked him if he knew anything about why I was getting signed up for weird dating apps. I had felt strongly since the beginning that he had said something that had caused the sudden shift in their behavior towards me. I was angry about it, and I needed him to realize how serious what was happening was and put a stop to it.
67. Me: “I’m asking if you or one of your friends thought this was funny because you’ve made everyone think I cheated on you.”
Him: “I never said you cheated on me.”
Me: “Somehow it’s been implied, there’s no other explanation.” His next words were jaw dropping.
68. Him: “My exact words are you had someone lined up. That it was on the edge of cheating but was not legit cheating. And that we agreed to separate if we had feeling for some one els and that’s what you did.”
I would think that when you think something like that is happening with your spouse and you’re separating, you bring it up. He had never once accused me of cheating on him, and I had never told him I wanted a divorce because of someone else. I had no idea where this was coming from. And Luke and I hadn’t even started talking until AFTER the neighbors started acting insane. It immediately became clear that me moving on quickly with Luke had played perfectly into a storyline that I had no idea about.
Me: “But that’s not true AT ALL. Not even close to the truth.”
Him: “What ever I’m not talking about it. By the way, I got this earlier.” He sent a screenshot from a text that Regina had sent him timestamped a short time before I got the OnlyFlings signup.
69. I was absolutely reeling from Chad’s admission, but that went out the window when I looked closer at Regina’s text to him. She had sent him a screenshot of a text she had received, sent to her and a group of other numbers and email addresses, with a link to a long URL that contained the words singlegirl and then a jumble. It was clearly spam, and looked similar to texts that I and plenty of other people I know have received before.
70. Regina then said to him, “I got this right after I was outside and “Ella” (our then 6 year old) was talking to me. I’m tired of receiving these texts and emails. Please tell (my name) and your older children to stop harassing me or I will be pressing charges on them.”
71. I asked Chad what texts and emails she was talking about. “I told you before that she blames you for her texts. As does Kellie.”
No he hadn’t. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him so. He then said, “Like I said before I’m done. I don’t associate anymore with them. I’m not sure why she texted me about it. I never responded.”
72. I couldn’t believe he not only didn’t seem to plan on telling me about it, but wasn’t going to defend them. “She’s threatening to press charges against your daughters. You want the cops showing up again and traumatizing your kids? What is wrong with you?” He then doubled down, saying, “I have nothing to do with this shit”, that I enjoy “playing this shit against me and the kids”, he’s “not your bodyguard”, and “I don’t want to be in the middle of your beef anymore.”
73. I had been trying to keep things as normal as possible for Ella and my 8 year old son “Jack”. They were allowed to play with Kellie’s daughters outside, and although I wasn’t letting them go to Regina and Keith’s house any longer, I had never told them not to speak to them. Regina’s assertion that I was sending texts to her in retaliation for speaking to Ella was ludicrous and it was clear she had signed me up for OnlyFlings due to the timing. Funny enough, Kellie was the only one who had been sitting outside at the same time this all took place that knew my email address.
74. A few days later, I got an email that I had been signed up for something called the GoSmart Relationship Counseling Newsletter. Of course. I know that hearing all of this, it’s easy to think about how I should have handled it, and I want to go back as the person I am now, but at the time, it all felt overwhelming, confusing, and I just wanted peace.
At that time, I truly felt that at some point, someone was going to realize that they were in the wrong. They would apologize and explain themselves, and it would stop.
As much as this is a tale of neighbor drama, this is also a story of personal growth and gaining strength through tough situations.
75. A few weeks later, I stepped onto my porch and called Vada’s son inside. At the time, Kellie and Regina were sitting together in the side yard garden. As I was standing on the porch, I heard Regina raise her voice and loudly yell, “Great parenting! Mom of the year!”
I was shocked. I shouted back, “Really? In front of the kids?” Regina laughed and yelled back, “Yes! In front of the kids!” My kids, who had been playing in the front yard, looked at me, wide-eyed.
Later that night, Kellie texted me and said it had been uncalled for and wouldn’t be “allowed” to happen again. I told her that I appreciated that.
76. A few weels later, I got yet another text alert. This time, it was a code to confirm my OkCupid account.
CHAPTER TWELVE
77. One evening, Luke was over and we were making dinner while the kids played outside. Savannah came in and said a few of the boys that had been playing with my kids had been over near Regina and Keith’s, and she was pretty sure she saw one of them run over and draw on their siding with sidewalk chalk. She was worried, for obvious reasons. I went outside and spoke to the boys. They had no idea about the issues we had with the neighbors, so I just asked them to please stay away from their house.
78. Not long after, we were all sitting down to eat dinner when Regina appeared at my living room window, peering in through the screen. She walked up to the front door, and shouted, “Knock, knock!”
I stepped out onto the porch, followed by Luke, Savannah, and Riley.
“Riley just encouraged that boy over there (she gestured to a kid who was standing nearby) to draw a pen15 on my house with chalk!” She was practically shaking, her voice elevated. By now she had backed away to the driveway.
79. There were so many things going through my head. After everything she had said and done, she was standing on my driveway freaking out at me over… chalk? That someone else’s kid had drawn with? Riley immediately told me she hadn’t told him to draw anything and I began to defend her, telling Regina to please calm down. Her voice became shrill and hysterical as she said, “You need to raise your kids right! You need to stop pretending she’s so innocent!” We were all completely taken aback.
80. Savannah spoke up and calmly told Regina that she had been outside and Riley had not been anywhere near the boy when he drew on Regina’s house. Regina raised her voice even more and said, “I am not going to argue with a child!” Luke and I both told Regina that she was not going to speak to Savannah that way, and she could say whatever she wanted. My blood was boiling as I asked Regina what the hell her problem was, and why she had been acting insane for the last 8 months.
81. “ME?! INSANE?!” She looked at me with a look of shock and anger as I went on to say, “Yes, you’re crazy, and now you’re blaming Riley for something she didn’t do, again.” Just then, Keith walked over and stood at the bottom of the driveway, calling Regina to him. Luke went in and got a wet rag to give to the boy, and told him he needed to walk over and clean up what he had drawn, which he did. Regina walked back to her house with Keith, without another word to us.
82. The next day, at Riley’s urging Chad let me know he had asked Stan to see the footage from his security camera that was taken when the drawing happened, and confirmed that it showed clearly that none of our kids were ever near Regina’s house.
That evening, Riley got a text from a boy who lived in our neighborhood. He and another kid had been standing on the sidewalk around the utility box that was located on the edge of our shared garden space, when Kellie came outside and approached them.
83. She asked the boys if they had been involved in “the pen1s drawing”. They told her no, and she said, “Good, don’t hang out with them, they’re trouble, and they get in trouble with the cops a lot.” The boy who texted Riley felt very strongly that due to Kellie’s tone and hand gestures, she was speaking specifically about Savannah and Riley. Notably, the only time either of them had been “in trouble” with a police officer was when Kellie herself called them, over an accidental phone call.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
84. After months of unprovoked harassment, shouting at me, attempting to intimidate my mom and Luke with her passive aggressive greetings, false accusations against us, directly causing strain in my co-parenting relationship as well as Savannah and Riley’s relationships with their father, and myself, Luke, Vada, and all the kids consistently choosing the high road and having done absolutely nothing in retaliation in hopes things would get better, I received a cease and desist letter from Regina.
85. The letter came via certified mail, addressed to me only. It was on a local law office’s letterhead. It read:“RE: CEASE AND DESIST HARASSMENT Dear (My Name), This letter serves as documentation of a pattern of harassing activities that began on October 19th, 2020. This letter is notice to you that you must immediately cease and desist these harassing activities against and towards me, including, but not limited to, the following:…”
86. “Ms. – and her children have been defaming my character and using slander towards my professional name. She continues to harass me by signing me up for explicit emails and has given my number and email address to third parties to contact me for s3xual solicitation. She encourages her children to harass me on my walks around the neighborhood and stalk my whereabouts. Your actions are unwanted, unwelcome, and have become unbearable to me. Your actions also infringe upon my right to…”
87. “…remain free from harassment. As a result of your harassment, I have suffered in the following ways:
– Substantial harm to my professional reputation
– Substantial harm to my personal character –
– Emotional distress
– Property Damage
I demand that you cease and desist from this activity immediately. If you fail to cease and desist, I will be forced to take appropriate legal action against you and will seek all available damages and remedies. Sincerely, Regina (Last Name)”
88. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. How do you cease and desist existing and leaving someone alone? We hadn’t done anything at all that was alleged in her letter. Riley and Savannah had ended up behind her on a walk one time, but that’s because they live in the same place in the neighborhood. Were they supposed to stay indoors at all times? And property damage? Was she talking about the sidewalk chalk? I shared the letter with Luke, my friends, my mom. Everyone had the same reaction… WTF?
89. At the time I received the cease and desist, Chad and I were finally about to finalize our divorce. My lawyer had been recommended by a friend, but he ended up being not so great and it was like pulling teeth to get him to move things along. Plus, I had very limited funds. Even bringing up the cease and desist and having to explain all of that and possibly pay for whatever he recommended felt out of the question for me at that time, but of course looking back now, I should have responded to it.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
90. A few months later, Vada and her son moved into a new home and then Luke moved in with the kids and I. We had accepted that we would have to continue living in my home for awhile longer, and told the kids that we were lucky we weren’t as miserable as our neighbors seemed to be, we couldn’t change what had happened or control them, but we could continue being good people, taking the high road, and focus on moving forward and living our lives in a positive way.
Per usual, our happiness and lack of response was triggering for them, and I soon got a letter from our HOA.
91. The HOA letter said that they had been made aware that my family has “a number of chickens and ducks as pets” and that I needed to get rid of them. We did have chickens and ducks, for 6 years at that point. In fact, Kellie and Stan had some too that they had recently rehomed. We had plenty of space for a coop and good-sized chicken run, and I loved my little foray into urban homesteading. The kids helped with the chicken duties, and Ella in particular was very fond of them.
92. Our HOA had always been more of a concept of an HOA. Collecting their dues but never enforcing any rules. So, I’d gone with the city’s laws on chickens, and they allowed a certain amount. The only people who knew we had gotten ducks were Kellie, Stan, Regina, Keith, and our neighbor Sandra. They had all seen many pictures over the years of the kids with the chickens, Ella carrying them around calling them her babies. I ignored the letter and kept them for another few years without issue.
93. Regina had waved at Luke and shouted him at him a few times over the previous months, but once he moved in, Keith and Stan took to staring him down from their porches or front yards as he would walk from his car to the house, or walk out into the yard. Several times, when he looked over due to their staring, Keith waved at him and gave him a smirk. Stan and Kellie also took to staring down my kids and I every time we were outside. They still do.
94. Luke may have waved back once but outside of that, he never responded to them. This was totally against his nature. He was angry about the way they were acting and he wanted to confront them. But, as you’ve probably gathered, I am extremely nonconfrontational, and was afraid of making things worse. Our plan was to get the house fixed up and move the next year. Until then, ignore them. He honored that wish, but looking back I definitely should have let him handle it however he saw fit.
95. Thankfully, the rest of 2021 was uneventful as far as the neighbors went. We kept to ourselves and focused on fixing up the house. When we had bought it, it was intended to be a starter home, but with Chad’s cycles of poor financial decisions and many incomplete projects, we were never able to move. It’s a fairly small 3 bed 1.5 bath. It has a basement with a few rooms that we use as bedrooms, but even so, we needed more space and dreamed of a bigger yard, maybe even some land.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
96. I need to back up to mid 2021 because I forgot about the Reddit posts. Not sure how I could forget about those. Chad had started dating a woman that I’ll call Clementine. I tried to stay out of his personal life and truly wanted him to find someone and be happy. But, this one had me concerned from the start. He had met her online and taken Ella and Jack with him to meet her for the first time. Then, a few days later she had added Luke on Facebook which we found odd.
97. I had seen enough to be concerned, so when Chad asked me what I thought about her watching the younger kids while he was at work, I decided to do a background check. I didn’t find a whole lot… an arrest at some point the year prior on unknown charges was the highlight. I started clicking around the site, putting in various names for fun. I did my own name, and scrolled down. In the “May Live Nearby” section, there were a bunch of names. At the top was Keith.
98. I clicked on Keith’s name. Nothing interesting, until I got down to the social profiles section. Usually there’s just a few emails or social media links for people, but his also had a username listed. It was kind of weird, and curiosity got the best of me. I googled it. The first thing that popped up was a Reddit post, and I clicked on it, and then went to the posts under that name. I started looking through. I quickly came upon one posted just a few weeks prior.
99. His comment read, “After years of simping for his wife, my neighbor was kicked out of his own home and given divorce papers. She was banging some other guy while her husband was at work all day. Yes she’s a trashy person. But he’s just as much at fault because he married a basic white girl and offered to be her provider. Of course she jumped at the opportunity. But eventually she figured out with alimony and child support, she didn’t need to stay married to keep his money.”
100. I scrolled a little further and found another comment:“For example, 34 year old former Chad is confused when his trophy wife cheats on him because 34 year old Chad is now a fat blue collar guy and they both got married strictly based on looks? Then gets upset when she divorces him and demands alimony and child support for the 4 kids? Wtf did you think was gonna happen when you married a shallow skank?”
101. It’s important to mention, Keith used the name Chad in his comment, I didn’t change it. And now you know why I chose that as his name here.
I had so many thoughts. Is this what Chad had told everyone? I sent screenshots to Chad, explaining how I came upon them. He said he had no idea where he had gotten any of that from. If that was true, why is this what Keith and most likely the other neighbors thought of me? And to be posting about it months later, even anonymously, was so creepy.
102. I was fed up. I unblocked Keith and Regina on Facebook and posted the screenshots of his comments, along with an impassioned post detailing what my family and I had dealt with for the last year, and demanding that it stop. I had some hesitations in posting. I knew he would wonder how I found his Reddit profile. And he had some other comments that I found distasteful that I knew would upset Regina if she dug around, and for some reason I felt bad about that despite everything. But, I had to do something.
103. I wasn’t totally sure they would see the post, but I made it public and hoped for the best. The support I got from my family and friends after they read about what we had been dealing with was well worth it, even if it never made it back to them. However, sure enough, a few days after I made the post, they had both blocked me. I’m pretty sure Keith’s Reddit profile was deleted at some point because I checked to make sure you guys couldn’t google his posts to find him, and I didn’t see it.
104. I’m happy to say that ever since I made my post, to this day, Keith and Regina have completely stopped the staring and waving, there have been no more cease and desists, no more false accusations from them, and they seem to be pretending we don’t exist as far as I can tell. I sure wish the same could be said for Kellie and Stan.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
105. The last few months of 2021 were peaceful. Luke had proposed on Christmas morning, surrounded by the kids. We were working on the house. Coparenting was going much better. In Spring of 2022, we found out we were expecting a baby. We were happy to be adding to (and completing!) our family. Luke had quickly stepped into a supportive, loving caregiver role with my kids, and I was excited that he was going to get to experience having his own. The kids were over the moon.
106. Even with everything that had happened, we were still allowing Ella and Jack to play outside with Kellie and Stan’s daughters. Not in their yard, and they clearly couldn’t come into ours, but they had a couple kids that they all played with a few houses down. My kids needed friends and we wanted to keep things as normal as we could for them. This had seemingly gone okay, until June 2022 when they came home after playing, looking upset.
107. They proceeded to tell me, “Mom, ‘Violet’ and ‘Ava’ said you’re scared of their mom. And they said their uncle just became a police officer and they’re going to call him to arrest us because our family has been doing stuff to them. They said Riley and Savannah put screws in their tires and Riley was standing on their porch in the middle of the night and they have it on camera.”
108. For obvious reasons I’d had to explain to Ella and Jack a lot of what had happened. They knew, at their own age-appropriate comprehension level, what had taken place, and that what their friends were claiming wasn’t true, and they told them so. I was angry that they were having to hear these things while they were just trying to have fun, and especially from their friends, in front of other kids. Their playing with them dwindled, and eventually they didn’t play with them at all any longer.
109. Around that same time, and for months following, Riley and Savannah told me multiple times that when they would walk to their friend’s house that was around the corner and up the street, as they passed Kellie and Stan’s house, they would see Stan standing inside, watching them out his window or patio door. This was often at night. They were pretty sure at least once that he was taking a picture or video. They had done nothing to deserve being watched like that, and it obviously made them feel very uncomfortable.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
110. We had another peaceful few months. We welcomed our baby girl, who I’ll call Junie, that Winter, and were looking forward to listing the house soon. Outside of the weird allegations they were apparently making about us to their kids, we hadn’t seen or heard a thing from Kellie and Stan for quite some time… until May 2023.
111. One morning, with coffee in one hand and Junie in the another, I glanced out our back window, and did a double take. There was something on our fence. I walked outside to inspect it closer. Sure enough, at some point during the night, Stan had screwed about 25 fence boards into the privacy fence between our backyards, about 3 feet higher than the existing fence. There were a handful of screws that were sticking through to our side.
112. It really shouldn’t have surprised me, but I couldn’t believe the audacity of him to attach things to the fence without permission, making it look horrible, and creating a safety hazard with the screws on our side. I wondered if they were trying to prevent us from seeing into their backyard, if they didn’t want to see our house, or both. I did some research and it seemed what he did was a civil issue, but I also knew it was taller than what city code allowed, so if we wanted, we could try reporting it.
113. Outside of the fence addition, we hadn’t had any issues for a bit, and we honestly didn’t hate the privacy their ugly fence gave us, so we decided to let it go for the time being.
114. The following month, Luke was walking up our driveway when he glanced over and noticed Stan staring at him from his front yard, as usual. He had enough, and instead of ignoring him as he always had, he stopped.
“Can I help you with something?” Luke asked him. Stan was caught off guard, and sputtered, “Savannah was standing on my driveway at 5am.”
115. Savannah had walked past Stan’s house the night before, on the sidewalk, to visit a friend up the street. But that had been at 10pm. We knew when and where she was going, and that she had come back shortly after. We also had our own camera at this point. Besides, she was 16, not some unsupervised young child. If she had truly been standing on the sidewalk that runs through his driveway at 5am, it wouldn’t have been any of his concern. Luke responded, and simply said, “No she wasn’t.”
116. Stan then shook his phone and said, “I have it on video.” Luke replied calmly, “I don’t think so.”
Stan then backtracked. “Well it was one of the girls.” He didn’t even know who it was. It could have been anyone standing there, including any of the other kids or teenagers in the neighborhood, or any of the dozens of people who take walks at all hours. But he had concluded that it was Savannah or Riley, and it made him angry enough to stare down a grown man he’d never spoken to before.
117. Luke had been waiting for an opportunity to confront Stan. He had been raised in a very no nonsense, stand up for yourself, shut down the bullshit immediately kind of way, and these people were harassing his fiance and kids. My reluctance to engage with them drove him crazy and he wanted a good, old-fashioned duke it out session with both Stan and Keith at this point.
118. But, he loved me enough to stick to our plan to remain calm, and said, “Neither of the girls were on your driveway at 5am. We don’t care what you’re doing. We leave you all alone. NO ONE IN OUR HOME WANTS ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF YOU.”
Luke left Stan stuttering on his porch, and walked into our house, telling me what had happened. We were disturbed at Stan’s paranoia, but Luke was glad he had hopefully shut it down, at least a little bit, and I was thankful no one got throat punched.
119. A few months passed. We had finished doing what we could to fix up the house to get it ready to sell, which sadly included taking down our chicken coop and sending the chickens and ducks off to live with friends. Unfortunately, the market was insane, and after 7 rejected offers and two buyers falling through for reasons out of our control, we decided we needed to take a break to regroup, and took the house off the market.
120. The chicken coop had stood a bit taller than our privacy fence, so it had partially blocked the view between our yard and Kellie and Stan’s, at least what was left after Stan added his fence board creation. With the coop gone, there was a bit of space where the view was now unobstructed.
Stan couldn’t have that. Yet again in the cover of darkness, he attached another 25 or so fence boards into our fence, this time with over 20 screws sticking through.
121. At this point, all we could do was laugh. We felt so defeated in not being successful in finally moving away from all of this and getting a new home where we could finally just feel peace and live our life. It was honestly a bit devastating for Luke and I. But we knew we had to stay positive, especially for the kids. Our mantra had become something like, “Stay kind, live your life, hold onto the truth, and let the universe sort the rest out.”
122. As crazy and unwarranted as their actions clearly were, it was a lot for me to process, accept, and figure out how to handle correctly. I still struggle with it. I had been lucky enough to have a fairly drama-free life until this all started. Great for me, except it left me unprepared for handling true conflict, and seeing through fake people disguised as friends. I knew I needed a mindset shift, so I ordered a big middle finger flag from Amazon, and we hung it up in the backyard.
123. The flag felt a little like we were instigating, which was the opposite of what I wanted to do, but seeing it blowing in the wind higher than Stan’s fence boards brought me peace, and the kids thought it was funny. Kellie, Stan, and their ugly fence could absolutely fuck off.
We left it up until I felt it had served its purpose. I had hoped that with it having been so long since anything negative had happened, they had gotten the message and we could just live our lives.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
124. Our nice stretch of peace ended in the Fall of 2023. Savannah’s boyfriend Brent lived out of town at the time, and had come for a visit. They were going camping, and they and Riley were excitedly packing his car up. It was dark out, close to 10pm. I had been sitting on the front porch watching them, and suddenly heard a loud honk. I stood up and heard the honk again, and saw Stan’s work truck headlights flash. His truck was parked in the street, about 15 feet behind Brent’s car and where the kids were loading up.
125. I stood there watching as the truck honked and the headlights flashed again. The kids had stopped what they were doing and were standing by the car looking frustrated. It honked and lit up a fourth time. I was furious. They had been happily getting ready to go do something fun, minding their own business. Now they were annoyed, uncomfortable, and being reminded of everything that had happened prior. I quickly walked over in view of their security camera. The honking stopped.
126. They went back to packing the car, and as they went inside, Luke walked out. I told him what had happened and he went and sat down on the hood of Brent’s car, shaking his head in anger. We heard a noise coming from the side of Kellie and Stan’s house, in their side yard. It sounded like a person moving around. Luke said loudly, “If someone has a problem then they are welcome to come out here and talk to me like a grown adult. But leave my fucking kids alone.”
Of course, nobody came out.
127. In October 2023, Ella was walking down the sidewalk when she passed Kellie and Stan’s daughter Ava, who was walking the opposite direction with another neighbor. Ella looked at Ava and said hi to her. Ava was 2 and had just moved in when Ella was born. They had truly been the best of friends. I have the cutest pictures of them holding their chickens, building blanket forts, splashing in the pool at Great Wolf Lodge. Ava’s response to Ella? “I’m not allowed to talk to you.”
128. One evening the next month, there was a knock at the front door. It was Kellie and Stan’s daughter, Violet. I was a bit shocked to see her. It had been so long since I’d seen their kids up close or spoken to them, and she looked so much older. I missed them and had always hoped they were doing okay, despite what I’m sure their parents had put into their heads about me.
“Our chickens got into your backyard. Would you mind if I went and got them?” she asked.
129. I had every right to be mean about it. Hell, I think at this point I could have justified cooking their chickens for dinner. But I’m not them. “Sure,” I said. I smiled at her. “Let me open the gate for you.” I went around and opened the gate, noticing the chickens pecking at the lettuce in my garden box. I went back inside, and she spent a few minutes getting them back into their yard, then left. The one and only normal interaction I’d had with them in several years, and ever since.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
130. Towards the end of 2023, Savannah was 17 and had recently gotten her driver’s license. Luke had bought her an older but still in great shape car, and we tried not to worry too much as she began driving herself around. It was nerve-wrecking for us, but we were excited for her newfound independence and so was she. One night, around 10pm, she was on her way home from a work meeting. As she turned onto our street, she realized that Kellie and Stan were behind her in their mini van.
131. We had a pretty short driveway with a sidewalk that runs through it, a mailbox on the street that cannot be blocked, and a neighbor on the other side of us that parked in front of their house. So, limited space. Often, the best place for Savannah to park was on the street, right next to our driveway. To face the correct direction, she would pass our house (and Stan and Kellie’s, which is on the corner), stop at the stop sign, do a u-turn, and then drive back to the front of our house and park.
132. Savannah didn’t think much of them being being behind her. She proceeded to drive down the road, and then got to the stop sign and did her u-turn as normal. As soon as she turned her car and began to press the gas to straighten out and drive the 100 feet to park, she realized that Kellie and Stan had stopped right in front of her, with the back half of their van sticking out into the street and blocking the lane she was in. She slammed on her brakes and thankfully, didn’t hit them.
133. She sat there for a second, and then slowly pulled around them and parked her car. She watched as they pulled into their driveway, and then the whole family got out of their van, and went inside. She was very shaken up. Had she not reacted as quickly as she had, she most definitely would have hit them. She knew I was in bed already so she texted me and told me what happened. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
134. That day, I posted a screenshot of Savannah’s text to me about what had happened on my personal Facebook. Besides the post I’d made the year prior about Keith’s Reddit posts, I had posted a few other things mentioning the harassment we had been dealing with. When this all began, I had instinctively gotten more private on social media, and preferred to stick to posting my “highlight reel”, sharing pictures of the kids for friends and family who don’t live close by, or connecting with friends I don’t see often. But, it was impossible to not want to share some of these serious things we were dealing with, even if only to have those that care about our family to become aware.
135. It was impossible not to go through what we were and not want the people in my life to have some idea about it. It wasn’t like we were showing up to family get togethers and announcing how mean our neighbors were, to receive validation and support. It felt a bit isolating at times, and compounded the weirdness of the entire situation. Posting about some of it made me feel less alone in what we were dealing with, and I think I had a subconscious wish that someone who knew them would see it and stand up for us. I had shared a photo of the ugly fence addition at some point, and made a Reel of myself watering our flowers in the side yard garden while panning up to their camera, with the song, “Somebody’s Watching Me” playing.
136. When I posted about what happened to Savannah, I mentioned in the caption a few other things that had happened, including the fence. In response to a friend essentially offering to come beat them up, Luke commented and said something along the lines of, “Stepdad has hands and they’re about to find out why you don’t mess with my kids.” Obviously at this point if he was going to punch anyone he would have done it, but he was justifiably angry and needed to vent.
137. A week after the car incident, Jack and Ella came inside, looking both concerned and amused. After months of not really having any kids to play with any more, they had finally found a few that weren’t already friends with Violet and Ava. They had been outside playing with one of them that I’ll call Landon. “Mom, Landon ding dong ditched Kellie and Stan a few days ago…” I was annoyed that their new friend was doing things like this, but more so concerned about where this was going.
138. “Kellie and Violet came outside when they saw him yesterday and started yelling and cussing at him. Kellie told him he better not do it again or she’s going to call the cops. And she said that he should stay away from us because we vandalized her property and put nails in their tires and that the police had been involved with us.”
139. I knew I needed to hear this directly from Landon. The few interactions I’d had with him had been interesting. Before he had become friends with my kids, he had once knocked on my door to let me know they had left a scooter on the sidewalk and he had almost tripped on it. Recently, he had gone into our basement and saw Riley’s LED lights and tapestry in her room and ran out of the house yelling about not wanting to be around demons. He was unhinged, but the kid did not bullshit.
140. Jack went and got Landon, and I walked outside, admittedly purposefully standing on the driveway where Stan’s camera had a clear view. “Would you mind telling me what Kellie said to you yesterday?”
“She said she was going to call the cops on me if I ding dong ditched her house again. And then she said that I shouldn’t hang out with Jack and Ella because they put nails in her tires and vandalized her property. And that the cops had been here a lot. I don’t think she wants them to have friends.”
141. This made the third time over the course of three years, that we know of, that Kellie or her daughters had spoken to kids that live in our neighborhood and who my kids were friends with, and made completely false, outrageous claims about them and their family, and discouraged their friends from spending time with them. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again… Even if whatever it was that made them start hating me was true, my kids and even Luke did NOT deserve the way they were being treated.
CHAPTER TWENTY
142. The next month, in January 2024, for the first time since 2021, I got a text from Kellie.
“Stan is grabbing our cushion that flew in your driveway from the storm.”
This woman did not text me when my children supposedly put nails and screws in her tires, or about any of the unknown issues she clearly had with me and my kids, but she was texting me about a cushion? As if we even cared? I didn’t respond.
143. In early Spring, Stan and Kellie finally took down the garden boxes on their side of our front yard garden. True to her original text several years prior, they removed the rocks from their side, and put a strip of wood in the ground to hold ours in. They had continued to maintain their boxes, growing various flowers and vegetables in them throughout all of this, while I hadn’t been able to bear stepping foot into that space since the day Regina recorded our conversation, so ours had been taken over by weeds. Symbolic, I suppose.
144. I had come up with the idea for the garden. Not to brag, but to explain why it was such an emotional thing for me. I love the idea of using unconventional spaces to grow food, and we needed a space to gather. The building of that space, planning what we’d grow, taking care of the plants, harvesting… it was so fun, and Kellie and I, and our kids, had all seemingly enjoyed it for the few years it was in it’s glory. In our neighborhood, we were “the people with that front yard garden”.
145. Kellie hadn’t done much gardening, if any, when we started, but by the second year of the garden she had gotten pretty into it. At some point after we stopped speaking, she had branded herself a full blown homesteader, growing plants and vegetables in her backyard, and she had started to sell baked goods from her house and at markets. Her social media page had popped up for one of the kids and they’d taken a look and shown me. Good for her, I thought. At least she’s doing something positive.
146. When they took their boxes out, we were happy, and decided to fix up our side. Luke and his friend ripped out our old boxes that were starting to fall apart, and built a new box. Savannah picked out some flowers to add, and she put some strawberry plants in too. We were reclaiming our space, and hoped this meant they would remove their security camera, since they had no reason to monitor that little section of their yard any more.
Instead, they angled it up and at our house even more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
147. By Spring 2024, Riley had gotten her license too, and Luke had gotten another great deal on a car for her. That made four cars we needed to park at our house every day. In addition, Riley had a boyfriend that visited regularly, and Savannah’s boyfriend Brent had moved to town and was over often. Between the various work schedules and activities, where everyone parked was always something we had to figure out each day.
148. Most days, I’d park in the driveway, with Riley behind me, Luke would park in the street in front of our house, and Savannah would park in the street on the other side of the driveway. When we had visitors, we would either squeeze them into the driveway or behind Luke, or they would park behind Savannah on the street. It wasn’t ideal, and the parking was something I’d been worried about when we decided to hold off on moving, but we were making it work.
149. One evening, I walked through the gate and into the front yard to water the flowers in the garden box. As I looked up, I saw a car parked in the street, right behind where Savannah normally parked, and the front half would have been in the way of anyone trying to park behind her. I didn’t recognize it at first, but then I realized it was a car that Kellie and Stan owned but rarely drove. They had lined the front bumper up perfectly with where their properly line would be if it extended into the street.
150. I laughed as I took a picture and sent it to our family group text. Of course Kellie and Stan had been taking our parking personally. I pictured Stan in his house, pacing back and forth every time Brent came over and parked in the road with his back bumper hanging across their invisible property line. It was hilarious. It was also a little disturbing, but at this point all we could do was try to find humor in their insanity. Unfortunately, after the following day that became more difficult.
151. The white car was still there around noon the next day, when Savannah arrived home from work. She was both amused and annoyed with what they had done, and rather than pulling around their car and backing in to her usual spot, she pulled up directly behind it instead. She felt like she was making a point, not only that they were being ridiculous, but also that they didn’t own the public road.
152. Savannah had told me where she parked and I laughed, but told her she probably shouldn’t have done that. A part of me was proud of her small act of rebellion, but I didn’t want the kids to do anything to provoke the neighbors or give them a reason to get upset, even if it was over something silly. My fears were confirmed when I stepped out of the shower and Riley opened the bathroom door. She looked upset.
“Savannah and Kellie are outside arguing, you need to get out here.”
153. I had never gotten dressed so fast in my life. As I quickly ran a brush through my hair and scooped up Junie, I asked Riley what was going on.
“Savannah was going to go to the store and she went to leave and couldn’t because Kellie had blocked her in. Then Kellie came outside and started teasing her about it and now they’re yelling at each other.”
154. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for whatever I was about to walk out to. If I dealt with conflict well, I would have already lost my ever loving shit on these people. Ella had split her head open falling into the window sill when she was 3 and I was as calm as can be, but someone angry with me? No thank you. I’ll lay awake at night 2 years later wishing I had been able to think fast enough to say the right thing in the moment. This time though, I was surprisingly calm.
155. I walked outside and took in the scene. There was Savannah’s car behind Kellie and Stan’s, parked on the street with all 4 tires on the pavement, and then Kellie’s behind it, pulled so close to Savannah’s back bumper that it looked like the cars were touching. Kellie was standing in her front yard, one hand holding her keys and the other on her hip, her head bobbing around with her words. Savannah was about 10 feet from her on the sidewalk, her responses angry but measured.
156. Jack and Ella were standing wide-eyed in our front yard, and Riley had stopped next to me. On Kellie’s front porch, her mother, who we will call Lisa, was standing, with Violet next to her. Lisa was holding up her phone, taking a video of them. Odd to record your 30-something-year-old daughter bullying a 17-year-old after blocking her car in Lisa, but okay then. I handed Junie to Riley and started filming with my own phone, stepping a few feet closer and stopping in the middle of my driveway.
157. Savannah had never really liked Kellie, always feeling that Kellie disliked her and treated her differently than the other kids. And looking back, she was absolutely right to feel that way. Between that and everything Kellie and Stan had put us through, she had been rightfully angry, and until now I had kept her from standing up to them the way she wanted to. I gently waved at her to take a step back away from their yard, and gave her a nod and a smile.
158. At first, I stood silently as they went back and forth. A lot of it is a blur but I’ll tell you what I remember. No way in hell am I watching the video, thinking about it is triggering enough. Savannah began calling them out on everything they’d done, demanding to know what is wrong with them and why they had been acting insane for 4 years. Kellie was clearly overwhelmed, giving short responses and refusing to answer her questions, deflecting each time.
159. When Kellie said they parked their car on the street because we kept parking in their grass and it made Stan mad, I interjected. We were careful not to do that, even in our own yard. I knew that was a lie.
“Let’s stop making stuff up, Kellie. How about you tell me why you’ve been harassing my family for years. Do you not understand the effect this has all had on my kids?!” She looked at me like I was the crazy one.
160. “What do you mean?! YOUR kids have made MY kids cry! And the kid across the street isn’t even allowed to play with your kids any more.” I laughed. What?! The kid across the street had turned into a bully in his own right and we had stopped letting Ella and Jack play with him months ago. I told her this, and she looked confused. Then I said, “This is the first time I’m hearing that my kids have made yours cry.” I’m sure they had, her kids were the whiniest kids I’d met in my life.
161. Kellie looked at me accusingly. “Well what was I supposed to do? I’m sure you wouldn’t have done anything anyway!”
“Uh what? Of course I would have. My kids aren’t allowed to be mean. I would have appreciated knowing there was an issue so I could have addressed it with them.”
Kellie looked at me, surprised, like this was a new concept. I was getting frustrated at her deflection of the way more serious issues at hand.
162. Savannah and I both mentioned their screwing fence boards into our fence, to which she replied that it was “all we could do because of the economy”. I asked her why she was telling neighborhood kids that my kids put screws and nails into their tires.
“Who said that?!” She looked incredulous, and denied it when I explained. This back and forth when on for 10 minutes or so, voices raised and emotions high. Kellie was talking in circles but Savannah and I were able to get a lot out. Whether she processed anything we said to her at all is debateable.
163. By this point, Luke had called me after getting a text from Riley, so she had taken over filming on her phone, and he was listening to what was going on. Lisa had walked over to Kellie and was trying to calm her. I’d been around Lisa many times and I’d found her nice. She was big into her family, and her church. We had been Facebook friends until she unfriended me back when this all began. I had held out hope that if she found out what had been going on she would talk some sense into her daughter and son in law.
No such luck.
164. At some point, Savannah or I said something that triggered Lisa. All the sudden, rather than trying to calm Kellie she looked furious. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes, then yelled,“WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT SAVANNAH ABUSED VIOLET? THAT TIME IN THE YARD THAT THEY HAVE ON VIDEO?”
Savannah and I, shocked and confused, both exploded at her, “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”
Lisa shook her finger at me. “You know what I’m talking about!” I sure as hell did not, and knew without a doubt this was another lie her daughter and son in law had told.
165. I again asked her what she was talking about, and she repeated that I knew.
“No I don’t! You can’t accuse my daughter of abuse and not explain to me what you’re talking about!” I was beyond furious. I racked my brain trying to figure out what she could be talking about. Savannah was also asking her, and she wouldn’t respond. As she was saying this, Kellie was visibly uncomfortable and tried shushing her.
166. Lisa continued to refuse to answer, and kept walking back and forth from the porch to the yard. She had stopped filming and was talking on the phone. She waved her hand toward the security camera on the corner of the house and looked at us.
“Stan is watching all of this at work on the camera!”
“Of course he is,” I responded. I couldn’t believe she felt the need to say this, as if we would be intimidated. She kept telling Kellie they should call Kellie’s brother, who had recently become a city cop.
167. There was more back and forth between Savannah and Kellie, and then I asked her if she could please explain to me what was wrong with her, why she had started acting this way towards me after we had been friends for so long.
She gave me a knowing look. “You know.” My head could have exploded. No I didn’t. But right before I could demand another answer, Riley grabbed my arm.
“Mom, the cops are here.”
168. I turned around, expecting to see Kellie’s brother. He wouldn’t have had jurisdiction, since we live in a town within a larger city and we had our own local police. But I wouldn’t have put it past them to have him stop by to intimidate us. Instead, there were two police cars parked in front of my house, and the officers were walking toward my kids and I. They were immediately aggressive and condescending to Savannah and Riley, and then to me when I tried to explain what was going on.
169. I couldn’t believe how they were acting towards us, especially the girls. If anyone in this situation needed their assistance, it was us. I kept trying to explain, but they kept cutting me off. After a few minutes, they looked confused.
“The call we got said that there were teenagers brawling in the street and grown women standing around watching them. We thought the kids were fighting, that’s why we approached you all the way we did. Not sure why that’s what we were told, sorry.”
170. I couldn’t understand how even a passerby could have misconstrued the situation that badly, and immediately thought Lisa or Stan had called and told them that, because the real reason would have made Kellie look bad. Or, Regina, who was home at the time and definitely watching. The officers spoke to each of us, told us to leave each other alone, and made Kellie move her car. I told them that we’d been dealing with harassment from them for years.
They suggested we write them a letter.
171. A letter. If only these people were reasonable enough to be affected by a letter.
At some point, Luke had heard enough, and he and his work partner had began heading to our house. Unfortunately, they pulled up just a few minutes after the police left and Kellie and Lisa had retreated into their house. He was disappointed, wishing he had the opportunity to speak his mind to them and explain things himself to the officers.
172. That evening, my family and I talked about what had taken place. Our takeaway, besides the fact that what Kellie had done was immature and uncalled for, and she and Stan had instigated the entire thing by parking their car there initially, and then blocking Savannah in, was that they were delusional. Not only had they claimed we parked on their grass and used that as their reasoning, but everything that had been said by Kellie and Lisa during the altercation was false, or made no sense.
173. We had addressed the sudden change in demeanor four years prior, the lies Kellie and her daughters had told the neighborhood kids about my kids vandalizing their cars, the fence addition, and more, and we had gotten no explanation, deflection, denial, and excuses. I couldn’t get over Lisa loudly proclaiming that Savannah had abused Violet. Abused. Such a strong word that carries incredibly negative, concerning, even vile weight. And she had said it so matter of factly.
174. The only thing we could come up with, based on her referring to the yard and them having a video, was something the older kids and I vaguely remembered, that had happened years ago. I couldn’t really remember many details, but I knew I had taken screenshots of what Kellie had texted when it happened, because I had found it strange even back then, so I looked to see if I could find them. When I read over it, a wave of emotions passed through me. How could I have forgotten this?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
175. The incident that I am certain her mom was referring to happened in November 2017. As I looked over the screenshots I had, I remembered everything that had taken place and how I’d felt about it back then. It I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Holy shit,” I said out loud. “They’ve always been crazy.”
176. Back in 2017, Savannah was 11, Riley was 10, and Jack was 5. Kellie and Stan’s daughter Violet was about 7, and their daughter Ava was 5. There were also a group of kids that lived around us that played with all of them, including Savannah and Riley’s close friend “Allie”, her younger sister, and several others. It was amazing to have so many kids around, and they had a lot of fun. A common place for them to play was in the area between my front yard, and Kellie and Stan’s, where we later created the shared garden.
177. One evening, Kellie had left for a few hours, and during that time, Stan had been home and all the kids had been playing outside as usual. At some point after she arrived home, she sent me a text. “Do you know anything about the fighting game the kids were playing?” I had no idea where this was going. I responded, “I walked out earlier and Violet and Jack were wrestling around. I think Savannah was the referee. Seemed like they were having fun but I told them to stop. Why?”
178. Kellie texted back. “Stan was watching them out the window. They were having some kind of fighting ring. Savannah was holding onto Violet while Jack punched her. And then he pulled Ava’s hair. The girls both got hurt and were really upset.” If this was true, obviously I was concerned. I called them in and talked to each of them. All three gave me the same story.
179. The kids explained that they had all been pretending they were having a wrestling match. The bigger kids were the refs, and the younger kids were the fighters. The refs would stand with the fighters in the corners, holding them back until it was their turn to go. Then the kids would wrestle around and “fight”. Not the best idea but sounded pretty typical of kids, and completely innocent. I then asked them about Violet and Ava getting hurt, and said Stan had seen their fighting game and was upset.
180. They were all confused as to why Stan would have been upset. Violet had been having fun, and Jack explained that at one point he had been sitting in the wagon with Ava, and he had reached for her jacket and his hand had caught her hair. I responded to Kellie, explaining what the kids told me. I told her that I couldn’t imagine Savannah holding onto Violet to let her get punched, or Jack punching anyone repeatedly the way she described, but that I’d told them not to play that again.
181. Kellie’s response completely threw me for a loop.
“Stan took a video,” she texted. He took a video? Of the kids playing? What had led him to do that? Why not go outside to watch them or check on what was going on? I asked her to send it to me.
182. Kellie sent the video. I’m pretty sure I have it saved somewhere but I can’t find it. From my memory, Stan was standing in the girls’ bedroom, watching the kids through the mini blinds, and had pulled a blind slat down to create a space to film through. The video showed exactly what my kids had described. They were all playing, laughing, maybe getting a little too rough at times so there were some raised voices. Ava had started crying like Jack explained.
183. At no point had Savannah, or any of them for that matter, held onto Violet so that the other kids could punch her. I don’t know what Kellie thought my reaction to that was going to be. Her husband was secretly filming my kids playing out the window, making a big deal out of nothing and accusing them of hurting his kids, and the “proof” she had sent me proved that he was overreacting more than anything else. I remember questioning the sanity of both of them at that time. It was so weird.
184. I had brought the entire situation up to Chad at the time, in 2017, filling him in on what happened. He agreed it was pretty strange. We all moved on from it, at least I thought we had.
Back to 2024. We were glad to have solved the mystery, although the extent of their delusions, to have taken the kids’ innocent game and turned it into abuse, and then stated it as fact to Kellie’s mom and who knows who else, was very upsetting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
185. We were incredibly frustrated and bounced between taking some kind of action, and continuing to try and keep peace while we bided our time and then hopefully moved far away from them. I had kept documentation of everything that had taken place since it all started. I had done my research on the law, talked to friends and family that were police officers, and considered our options. So much was hearsay, or completely impossible to prove. The rest were civil issues and we would have to sue them, and we didn’t exactly have suing money laying around. We tossed around the idea of sending our own cease and desist, but I wanted a lawyer to look over it, and again, money.
186. We thankfully have plenty of family and friends that balanced out the craziness. Nobody else had issues with us or our kids, and the handful of people that we shared some of this stuff with as it happened were always as baffled as we were. This helped to quiet my inner voice that would ask me, “Are you SURE you aren’t the crazy one? Do you actually deserve this?” It also made it easier for us to push this all to the side, keep moving forward, and focus on what we knew our reality was.
187. When we had decided we needed to pause our plan to sell the house and move to a new home, it was incredibly difficult. We had been looking forward to a fresh start, not only because it meant getting away from these people, but also because we had hoped to find something that better fit our growing family. I would be remiss to not also point out that Luke had been a trooper, moving into the house I’d shared with Chad, with the plan to GTFO within a couple years.
188. He had replaced missing gutters, repaired soffits where squirrels were literally crawling into our roof, regraded the yard after taking down the pool Chad had insisted we buy despite the apparent lack of funds to fix all the other things (RIP pool but a good move to sell the house), installed a sink in our 1/2 bath since Chad had removed ours when we replaced flooring but never put it back. My favorite was when he replaced the door to our basement that Chad had punched and left gashes in.
189. Luke had also stepped up as a father figure to all my kids, treating them as his own, and had proven to be an amazing dad to Junie. When we decided to stay in the house a little longer, he had taken the opportunity to change career paths, which meant taking a pay cut, but would put us in a much better place financially after a few years. I had also started a small side business making some handmade items and baked goods in 2023, and we had planted a big garden in our backyard that we loved spending time tending to.
190. Despite our efforts to focus on the positive, we were living with daily reminders of everything that had taken place with the neighbors and the stress they had caused us all. We could never just exist in our own space. Every time we stepped into our backyard, there was the ugly fence, with the screws sticking through. We couldn’t stand on our driveway or even in our front yard without feeling that we were being watched and even listened to by their camera.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
191. One evening in the middle of Summer 2024, not much more than a month after the car blocking incident, I was standing behind the garden box in our front yard garden, watering the flowers and strawberries that Savannah had planted. Luke and the younger kids were in the backyard, playing and pulling weeds. Luke came out of the gate and walked down to where I was, standing in the garden. We chatted for a minute, and then he said, “Just so you know, I’m mooning their camera.”
192. He turned to show me. Sure enough, he had pulled his shirt up a bit and his backside was exposed. I glanced around, making sure nobody was outside. I didn’t see anyone.
“If they’re going to watch everything we do, then I’m going to give them something to look at.” He’s a pretty skinny guy so it was far less offensive than it could have been, but still. As funny as it was, I knew we weren’t dealing with rational people. I sprayed him with the hose and told him to stop.
193. I finished watering, and we walked back into the backyard. About 15 minutes later, we were standing by our pepper plants, discussing what we were going to make with them, when I heard a man’s voice at our gate. My heart sank. I already knew, without seeing them, who they were and why they were there. I walked over to the gate, and opened it. There stood two police officers.
“Can we talk to your husband?”
194. I let the officers into the backyard, and Luke walked over. “I’m sure you know why we’re here.”
“No, I do not,” Luke responded. He wanted to hear them say exactly what Kellie and Stan had told them.
“Your neighbors said you were out front with your pants down showing your butt, facing their property with their kids out there seeing it. They’re pretty upset.” Here we went again.
195. Even before the officers showed up, Luke had regretted mooning their camera. As much as they deserved it, we had done well to not lash out at them or give them any actual reason to be angry, and had tried to be good examples to our kids in doing so. But today, he had let his emotions get the best of him.
I obviously wished he hadn’t done it, but I hadn’t blamed him a bit. I had hoped that if they saw what he did when they checked their footage, they would be shocked enough to realize maybe they were in the wrong, even a little. Unlikely, but I could dream.
196. Of course that’s not what happened. They had apparently been watching us out there in real time, considering how quickly they called the police. I was sure there hadn’t been anyone around, especially kids. I had seen some playing across the street, pretty far away, but not close enough to have seen what Luke was doing. If there had been any nearby, they had to have been around the side of their house or something. I would have seen them and Luke wouldn’t have done what he did. I was sure of this, because unlike them, we do our best not to traumatize children.
197. We tried to stay calm as we explained what happened to the officers. Luke owned up to it immediately, but made it clear that it was directed at their camera that had been pointed at our house for over 2 years, and he had definitely not seen any kids around. I explained that they had been harassing us in various ways since 2020. Signing me up for dating apps, making up lies about our kids, the fence. I could tell they were annoyed with us, assuming it was a bunch of excuses.
198. Luke and I were both as calm as we could possibly be, but our emotions were running high. We knew that to them, Kellie and Stan were the victims of this crazy neighbor who was showing his butt to their children. The cop I’m going to call Officer Cooper, because he was an Anderson Cooper lookalike if Anderson was a bit of a jerk with a buzz cut, looked at Luke. “I saw the video. It was clear as day. The reasons don’t matter, you can’t do what you did and that’s what I’m here to deal with.”
199. He directed Luke to go inside and get his ID and meet him out front so he could issue him a citation. Luke agreed and went into the house, making a comment about being glad to go out front, implying he wanted to have a word with Stan. I could tell the officers were alarmed, and I quickly reassured them he wasn’t going to do anything.
“You all don’t understand. We have been dealing with so much from these people. Luke has been an absolute saint dealing with them. He did what he did out of complete frustration. He doesn’t deserve this.”
200. Officer Cooper looked slightly sympathetic as I spoke, and looked at the fence. After about 30 seconds he cut me off. “I would agree the camera and this fence was provocation. But it’s not a punishable offense. What your husband did is, so that’s what I’m going to deal with today.” That was as far as he got, and we walked into the front yard, where Luke was standing.
201. We stood in the side yard. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kellie and Stan on their porch. I had noticed her nieces had been over earlier, playing with her kids outside, and their dad’s (Kellie’s brother, not the cop) car was in their driveway. We were told to stand and wait while they went to talk to Kellie and Stan again to find out “what they want to do”. They walked back over to us after a few minutes and Officer Cooper looked at Luke.
202. “They aren’t really sure, they said they’ve had issues with you all for awhile…”As soon as he said that, Luke and I both started talking. Anderson cut us off.
“Whoa whoa whoa. You know what, you all don’t listen very well. You need to be quiet and listen. I only have 15 minutes to deal with this.” That pissed us off but we knew enough to shut up.
“He (meaning Stan) said he might just want to have a conversation with you. Do you think you can stay calm and do that?”
203. So Stan was trying to look rational. Interesting. I knew from experience that talking to he and Kellie was like talking to a brick wall, and I knew Luke had A LOT he would like to say to him. I wasn’t sure how that would go. The officers had made it clear they had no interest in hanging around to help mediate, and made it clear that they were concerned about them talking. Luke sat down on the ground and said, “Absolutely, I’ll sit right here, criss cross applesauce. Tell him I’d be glad to talk.”
204. Officer Cooper looked down at him, and said, “I’ll be right back.” He spoke with Stan and Kellie for what felt like more than the 15 minutes he said he had. Then he finally walked back over to us. “They’re just asking that you don’t speak to them and stay off their property. And they will do the same. Like I told them, with something like this they have a year to change their mind about filing a complaint so you just need to leave them alone and let us know if there’s a problem.”
205. Luke and I were relieved at the conclusion, but we both felt defeated. He was disappointed in himself for making such an out of character, rash decision. I was angry that he had been pushed to that point in the first place, partly blaming myself for forcing him to always keep quiet and never confront them when they had clearly deserved it. We went inside and reassured the kids, who were in the living room waiting and worried. He was honest with them about what had happened, and told them he messed up. We had a good talk and decided we needed to double down on our efforts to move as soon as we could.
206. A few days later it was the Fourth of July. Normally we would have lit some fireworks off at the end of our driveway, but this year we went to the other side of the yard, as far away from Stan and Kellie’s as we could get. We were doing our best to continue living our life and ignoring them, making sure we gave them no reason to change their minds about filing charges on Luke. The fact that they had this kind of power over us felt surreal after everything they had done.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
207. Around mid-July 2024, the kids and I dropped Savannah’s car off at a shop in a nearby town to have the windows tinted, as an early birthday present for her. It was ready to be picked up that evening, so when Luke got home from work, he and Savannah left to go pick it up. A few minutes after they left, I got a phone call from Savannah. As soon as I answered, I could hear her crying.
“Mom, they’re arresting Luke.”
208. My heart sank, and a rush of panic went through me. “What?! Where are you? What are they saying!?” They couldn’t have been far. I looked out the window as I spoke. Regina was sitting on her front porch, her daughter, born just a few months before Junie, playing at her feet. I stepped outside. “Right before we pulled out of the neighborhood, about 7 cop cars pulled up behind us with their lights on. One of them came up and told Luke that they changed their mind and he was under arrest.”
209. She was speaking quickly, and I could tell she was trying to hold it together. She continued, “They had him get out and searched him and put handcuffs on him. They let him keep his phone. Hang on.”
I heard voices in the background, and Luke telling someone it was fine for her to drive our car home .“I’m going to drive home, I’ll be there in a minute.”
210. We got off the phone, and I quickly told Riley what Savannah had said. She had come outside when she heard my raised voice on the phone. We couldn’t believe what was happening. It had been three weeks. We hadn’t done anything to cause them to change their minds, so had they waited on purpose? How did they know Luke was leaving the neighborhood? It wasn’t a time he normally would have gone anywhere. Were they going to come here and arrest him at our house but were told he had left?
211. I was thankful it hadn’t happened in front of Ella and Junie, and that Jack was at camp for the week and wasn’t home to worry. My heart was breaking for Luke. Thankfully this wasn’t something he or I had ever been through, but it meant I had no idea what to expect or how the process worked. I had entered into flight or flight mode, choosing fight and trying to take things one second at a time. I needed to make sure the kids knew that everything was going to be okay.
212. Savannah arrived home a few minutes later. She was still crying. I gave her a hug and told her how sorry I was that she had gone through that. She went over what happened again. She said the officer had complimented her for staying calm. And then she said that when they had left earlier, she had noticed Kellie and Stan outside, cleaning out their car. She figured they had seen them leave and had updated the cops on where Luke was.
213. “Luke told me that Riley and I should go pick my car up. He called the shop and told them he was getting arrested so we might be a little late.” Of course he was worried about Savannah getting her car. I had completely forgotten what they had even been leaving to do. I asked the girls if they felt up for that. They were shaken up, but said they could, and left. I did my best to finish getting dinner together, despite not being hungry at all. About 30 minutes later, my phone rang. It was Luke.
214. I hadn’t expected to get a call from him so soon, especially from his own phone. I remembered Savannah saying he had kept it, but I hadn’t thought he would be allowed to use it.
“Hey, babe.” Not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t for him to sound so normal.
“Hey! Are you okay? Where are you at?” Like I mentioned before, I had no idea how any of this worked.
“I’m fine. Actually, hang on a second….” He switched over to FaceTime.
215. His face appeared on the screen, and he pulled the phone back so I could see more. He was sitting on a bench in a room with ugly fluorescent lighting. There was a wall of chainlink fence behind him, and as he angled the camera down, he held up his arm, his wrist handcuffed to the fencing.
“They let me keep my phone while I wait for booking but then they’ll take it.” He then gave me a small smile. “They got what they wanted I guess.”
216. He asked me if the girls had gone to get Savannah’s car, and then I asked him what had happened.
“We were almost out of the neighborhood and all the sudden a bunch of cops with their lights on were behind us. Had to be at least 4. I pulled over and that officer that had been at our house came up and said Kellie and Stan had changed their minds and pressed charges. They let me give my wallet and keys to Savannah. I asked if I could drive her back home first but they wouldn’t let me.”
217. He continued. “I talked to Officer Cooper quite a bit on the way here. He apologized. Said he was sorry he hadn’t made sure things were resolved that day. He thinks I should be out of here tonight or tomorrow.” There was a lot of noise in the background. Luke said he should go so he didn’t waste his phone battery, and would call me back once he got through booking and could make a phone call. I was relieved to have talked to him, but I still felt like I was living in a dream.
218. I explained to Ella what happened, and at some point, Riley and Savannah had gotten back home. They were all very upset. I did my best to reassure them, but I could tell they were worried. I had texted a friend of ours and told her what was going on because I didn’t want to worry our families and I didn’t know who else to tell. I realized I didn’t even know what the charges were, so she was having a friend that worked at the jail keep an eye on the intake information.
219. Around 8pm, she texted me a screenshot of his booking information, and mugshot. My heart sank. He looked so sullen. His long hair was around his face, having had to take off the hat he was wearing. A short time later, she texted me again, this time with his charge updated. By this time I had found the corrections website myself and had been refreshing it every so often. There were two charges listed: Disorderly Conduct, and Harassing Communications. Thankfully both misdemeanors.
220. I got a call from a long distance number and answered. I heard a recorded voice say, “This is a call from the (County Name) Jail. Your call is recorded and may be monitored.” Luke came on the line.“Might not be till tomorrow that I get out. There’s a lot of people here. I’ll keep you updated though.” He described the room he was in, and said there were gross sandwiches he could eat but he probably wouldn’t. He was in an orange jumpsuit, had on prison slides, the whole nine yards.
221. We didn’t talk long, but he called me back every so often to check in.The kids and I were doing our best to go through the motions of the day, but our sense of safety was totally thrown off. Savannah had asked Brent to come over and stay at our house that night, and his presence helped ease our minds a bit. I paced around, waiting for the call from Luke that he was being released, drinking decaf to trick my mind into feeling awake as it got later and later.
222. Finally, around 2:30AM, he called me and said he was being released. I left right away, and drove the 25 minutes to pick him up. I looked ahead to the city skyline I was driving towards, something I’d always found so beautiful, especially at night. I was on my way to pick up my husband from jail. What a strange feeling. The roads were quiet, almost eerily calm. The silence would have normally been enjoyable, but it just amplified the weight of everything that was happening, and the uncertainty of what was to come.
223. Luke was waiting outside the building when I got there. He got in the car, and for the most part we rode home in silence. We were exhausted, mentally and physically. I wouldn’t have blamed him a bit if he had called into work that day, seeing as he had to be up around 5am. But instead, he slept for a few hours and got up and went to work like normal. He told his boss and a few coworkers what had happened and they thankfully all found it ridiculous.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
224. Luke had been given a court date in several days, where he would be arraigned. At first, we hadn’t thought he needed a lawyer. In his mind, he had done what he was being charged with, so he would enter a guilty plea, and probably get a fine. While he was at work I had done a bit of research on his charges, and realized that even with them being misdemeanors, there was potential jail time. We had no way of knowing how the prosecutor and judge would handle it. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would look like for our family, or what that would mean for his job.
225. I shared this with him, and he agreed it would be a good idea. We were worried about the financial aspect, but this wasn’t something to take a chance on. He told me to find him a lawyer. I spent a few hours asking around and looking up reviews. I landed on a highly rated local criminal defense practice and within a few hours, we had a phone call with a lawyer who said she would meet us at the courthouse for his arraignment.
226. We explained to the lawyer, who I’ll call Shelly, that there had been ongoing issues with the “victims,” as they were being referred to. I asked if it would be helpful to share the information we’d documented. She said yes, so I spent the next day going through the notes I’d been keeping since 2020. I revised them to reflect more of Luke’s perspective, so they’d be more relevant to the current issue, and printed out photos of things like the camera, the fence, and Savannah’s blocked-in car.
227. Luke’s paperwork said for him to be at the courthouse at 9am.The last time we had been there was a few years prior, when we got married. We had planned on waiting until we moved and hoped to have the space for a lowkey backyard wedding with family and friends, but halfway through my pregnancy with Junie, we decided we wanted to be married when she was born, so we had a short and sweet courthouse ceremony. Hopefully someday, we’ll be able to follow through with our original wedding plans.
228. Shelly had said we could get there at 10am to avoid waiting, and she would meet us outside the courtroom then, but there was no way we were taking any chances. We got there before 9, notes tucked into a manila envelope, Luke and I both full of nervous energy but staying pretty quiet. We made our way into the huge courthouse building and walked down the long hallway, passing where we had gotten married. Finally we found the room where he was supposed to be, and took a seat on a wooden bench.
229. The judge called people up one by one, lawyers spoke, lots of paperwork exchanging hands. It felt so casual. A teenage girl pled guilty to shoplifting from target. An elderly lady had written bad checks. A teenage boy was reprimanded for driving recklessly. At some point, a friendly looking guy in a suit that had been walking around speaking to various people called Luke’s name. “Hey I’m the prosecutor, will you have a lawyer representing you today?”
230. Luke answered him, and told him she would be there at 10. The prosecutor asked her name, and Luke told her. He nodded, quickly jotting down some notes. “Okay, I’ll check back in with you shortly!”
It was getting close to 10, so we decided to go wait in the hallway outside the courtroom like Shelly had instructed. There were plenty of benches nearby, but we were too nervous to sit. Instead we stood, watching for Shelly to arrive and taking in everything around us.
231. If I hadn’t been there because my husband was arrested, I would have been having the time of my life. I’m a true crime junkie and intrigued by all things legal, so watching the hustle and bustle of lawyers, paralegals, clerks, law enforcement, crime victims, and criminals was a much needed distraction. The people watching was top tier. Even so, we were both getting more and more nervous as 10am came and went, and we hadn’t seen Shelly.
232. Around 10:25, we saw someone who vaguely resembled the headshot on Shelly’s website bio walking in our direction. We glanced at each other. Surely this woman, in her mid 50’s with brassy blonde hair, no makeup, in flip flops and a well-worn floral dress that looked like one you’d see on a rack at a mega grocery store, was not his lawyer. She stopped at a group of people sitting nearby and began talking to them. Whew. We both laughed in relief, and went back to looking for Shelly.
233. We had a few more false alarms as people approached and then passed us by. Just as I was raising my phone up to give Shelly a call, the woman in the floral dress spun around and made eye contact with us.
“Are you Luke?!” I heard him groan under his breath, and I squeezed his hand. So this was Shelly. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. We introduced ourselves, and Luke briefly explained why he was there.
“I’m going to go talk to the prosecutor. You guys wait here and I’ll be right back.”
234. We watched Shelly walk away, in the direction of the prosecutor’s office. We had new concerns, and were hoping that the saying “you can’t always judge a book by its cover” was true in this case. Lord knows I had realized I wasn’t always the best judge of character after everything that had happened, but first impressions are important and Shelly reminded me of a cat lady that had spent a long day by the pool and was on her way to Bingo.
235. After what felt like an hour, but was probably more like 20 minutes, Shelly came back. “I looked over everything and talked to the prosecutor. I think I’ve already got them dropping the harassing communications charge. This is harassing communications.” She held up a middle finger. “I don’t think that applies here at all. Obviously we’ll have to discuss the rest but I say we plead not guilty today and go from there.” Luke agreed, and we walked back into the court room.
236. We had only been sitting down for a few minutes when they called Luke’s name. Shelly walked to the middle of the courtroom, in front of the judge, and Luke followed her. The judge greeted them and looked over the file in front of her. She asked him how he wanted to plead, and he responded not guilty. She told him he’d be assigned a date for a pretrial conference, and between now and that date, he was to have no contact with the victims. He agreed, signed a piece of paper, and that was it.
237. Shelly exited the courtroom and Luke and I followed. We stood in the hallway, where she told us that once she got to the office, she would call us to get payment over the phone, and that Luke would be getting email updates about his case. As she had explained when we first spoke, it was one flat fee for her services until sentencing, unless it went to trial. It was a lot of money for us, but the amount seemed reasonable for the guidance and peace of mind we were getting.
238. Shelly asked Luke to explain a bit about what had actually happened. He went over it, and then explained that there had been ongoing issues for quite some time. He turned to me and I continued, giving her the rundown. When I told her about Kellie’s accusations against the kids and how she had lied about them to other kids in the neighborhood, she interrupted and exclaimed, “I’d call CPS! An adult harassing children!” I was shocked at that suggestion. I knew I would never do that, but it was nice that for once, someone else with some kind of authority was outraged.
239. We talked for a few more minutes, then she asked me if I had brought the notes about the harassment. I handed her the envelope and told her to sit down with a cup of coffee when she read it. She laughed and said she would look over it all tomorrow, and add anything she felt was relevant to Luke’s case file. “Don’t worry too much guys,” she said, as she walked away. I felt bad about my initial judgment of her. If she wanted to be a flip flop wearing lawyer, so be it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
240. The wheels of justice turn slow, and this was no different. Luke’s pretrial conference was scheduled almost 2 months after his initial court appearance. It felt like such a long time to have to wait and wonder what was going to happen. We were still worried, but the idea that Shelly was reading about everything we had been through and might be able to weigh in and present it to the prosecutor as part of the case gave me hope. All we could do was wait, and hope for the best.
241. It took a few weeks, but Luke finally got an email letting him know that there had been an update to his case file. Sure enough, when he checked it, someone had uploaded all of the pages I had given Shelly. It was a small victory, knowing the prosecutor and hopefully Kellie and Stan would be seeing all of the things they had done to us in black and white, and some understanding and empathy might finally be found.
242. Life goes on, and throughout this time we were just as busy as ever. Savannah had graduated high school, Riley entered her senior year, Luke was well into his new career, I was working hard on our new business, and we had also found out my dad had cancer and would be having surgery. I had no doubt that Kellie and Stan were enjoying knowing what we were being put through. We couldn’t wait to get this all behind us so we could move forward and fully focus on the things that truly mattered.
243. In the email about Luke’s next court date, it had said he didn’t need to be there. I texted Shelly the day before.
“Hi, I just wanted to check in and make sure that Luke does not need to be at the pretrial conference tomorrow. And if not, we wanted to know if he needs to be available to discuss things at any point. He will be at work but can make arrangements if needed.”
She responded and said, “No he does not. I’ll have more info tomorrow.”
244. She was clearly keeping things brief but I figured I’d push my luck and ask her one more question.
“Ok thanks. Is it a possible outcome that things will be resolved tomorrow? Not sure how this works and want to manage our expectations.”
“Yes it is possible.” I left it at that, and we crossed our fingers and said a prayer that the next day we would get some good news.
245. Luke had been incredibly strong through all of this. He had always told the kids that actions have consequences, and he was fully ready to face his. I knew deep down he had to be anxious. We both were. Not just about the outcome, but the insanity of the situation. The fact that it ever got this far. The money we had to spend. The stress it was causing the kids. It was a lot, on top of the demands of every day life.
246. The time of Luke’s pretrial conference came and went. He was at work that day and told me he’d let me know as soon as he heard anything, but when he got home that afternoon, he still hadn’t heard a word. Shelly hadn’t told us when we would hear from her, and she seemed very busy, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Looking back, I don’t know why we didn’t give her a call to check in, but I think deep down we were afraid of bad news, or of annoying the person we were depending on to help us.
247. The following morning, I texted Shelly.
“Good morning, just checking in about Luke’s hearing yesterday.” I was mad about the lack of communication, but her response made up for it.
“It went well. They are likely going to dismiss it. They need to reach out to the victim first.” I wasn’t sure what role the “victim” played in the decision, but this seemed like great news. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt my entire body relax. I sent a screenshot to Luke.
248. I responded to Shelly with, “That is great news!” No further response from her. I had so many questions. Why, how, what made them decide that, did they read over the notes, what did she think about everything? I figured I would discuss it with her in person at Luke’s next court date, which was scheduled for the following month. More waiting.
249. Luke’s next pretrial conference was scheduled for mid-October 2024. We were cautiously optimistic that it would be dismissed, but we knew better than to get our hopes up. A week or so before the court date, Luke got a phone call. It was a man who introduced himself as a lawyer at the same practice that Shelly worked at.
She had been fired.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
250. The lawyer, who I’ll call Robert, said that Shelly had a lot of open cases and he had been tasked with taking over quite a few of them. Luke was welcome to find another lawyer if he wanted, or for no additional cost Robert would represent him and see it through. Luke got off the phone with him and told me what was going on. Part of me wasn’t surprised at all but I still couldn’t believe our bad luck. We quickly discussed the options, and decided to stick with Robert.
251. Luke and Robert set up a time to talk the following day, since his next court date was fast approaching. We got nervous when he was 30 minutes late in calling. But once we finally connected, we started to breathe a little easier. Robert was upbeat and talkative, reassuring us confidently. He admitted they’d thrown a lot at him all at once and he hadn’t gotten much farther than Luke’s case summary, but he seemed unfazed, and promised that he’d be ready.
252. The morning of Luke’s pretrial conference, we arrived before 9am. Unlike Shelly, Robert said he liked to get there as early as possible. Luke and I stood outside the courtroom, waiting nervously. Robert had asked us to meet him there at 9 and it was 9:10. So much for being punctual.
I heard someone clear their throat, and instantly recognized the sound. Kellie used to do it constantly, a mix of allergies and nervous habit. I looked up, and sure enough, there she and Stan were, about 30 feet away.
253. They didn’t seem to notice us. They looked annoyed yet determined, as they spoke to each other in hushed voices and then made their way down the hallway. I suppose it made sense that they were there, but it was still a bit startling. I made eye contact with Luke and nodded in their direction. He glanced over at them and laughed, making fun of the jeans and T-shirts they had on. It was a sharp contrast to everyone around us. They would have fit right in with Shelly.
254. About 10 minutes later, a guy around our age walked towards us. He had on a suit, no flip flops in sight.
“Hey, are you Luke?”
Luke introduced us, and Robert shook our hands.
“I apologize for being late, but I went ahead and met with the prosecutor. They’re going to dismiss the charge after 6 months of no contact. How does that sound?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Luke agreed, and Robert said they just needed to go in front of the judge to have her sign off on it.
255. We immediately walked toward the courtroom. As we passed through the first set of double doors, Robert said quietly, “They brought up parking. They don’t want you all parking in front of their house. Obviously that’s legal and has nothing to do with this so don’t worry about it, I just wanted you to know it was brought up.”
Seriously? Luke and I laughed. I asked Robert if he had read the notes that Shelly had added to our case file about the things we had dealt with. He said he hadn’t.
256. Of course he hadn’t. It was too much to explain as we were walking into the courtroom, and Luke and I were both concerned about what Stan and Kellie might try to do while the no contact order was active. I quickly said that they had been harassing us for a few years, which is what led to why we were there today, and we were worried it would continue. Robert said, “If that happens, let me know. We can always file a protective order on them at the review hearing.” That gave us a little reassurance, and we entered the courtroom.
257. The judge went over the rules of the order. Luke and anyone associated with him were to have no contact with Kellie and Stan, had to stay off their property, could not text or call them, could not post on social media about them, could not harass them in any way. Luke agreed and signed a paper, and was done. As we exited, Robert asked if we had any questions. All I could think to ask at the time was if it would violate the order if our whole family dressed up like prisoners for Halloween.
258. Ultimately, we decided against the prisoner costumes. We wanted to find the humor in the situation, to show that despite everything they’d put our family through, we were still standing, with our humor intact. But it wasn’t worth the risk of it being taken the wrong way. More than anything, we just wanted to move on and pretend like they didn’t exist.
259. I had questions, and I still do. We had seen Kellie and Stan walking ahead of us as we left the courthouse, and they were clearly unhappy. Had they not wanted his charge to be dismissed? How much of a say did they have? Did they have to be there to agree to something, or were they there to argue it? And if they were there to argue the dismissal, how could they possibly think he deserved anything more than they had already put him and our family through?
260. I also wondered if they had been shown the documents that we had provided Shelly about everything we had been through the last few years, or if the lack of charges being pursued meant it wasn’t relevant. I had seen the notes in the casefile myself, so I knew they were there, but even Luke’s own lawyer hadn’t read over them. I had held out hope that if they saw everything written out, something would click and they would realize how wrong they had been, but, no such luck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
261. Living under a no contact order with the people you’re supposed to avoid right next door is as stressful as it sounds. Knowing how unreasonable they were, we second-guessed everything we did, worried that an accidental glance or misstep would result in more legal trouble for Luke. Riley’s cat ran into their yard and we had to lure him back with treats. Their chickens flew over the fence and into our backyard, and I left them there until they went back on their own, unsure of what to do.
262. It was absolutely wild to us that after all of the waving and shouting at Luke, false accusations against our kids, prank texting and dating app signups, damaging our fence, almost causing Savannah to wreck, and watching our every move since 2021, we were being forced to live this way. I wondered how things would have been different if we had gotten legal help years sooner, or if one of the police officers had taken the time to truly listen. But, hindsight is 20/20 and all we could do was move forward.
263. One night in mid-December, around 9pm, Junie had just fallen asleep and Luke and I were in bed watching TV, close to falling asleep ourselves. All the sudden, we heard a loud metal bang that came from outside the house. I got up to see what it was, and as I opened my door, Ella opened hers too, and said, “Someone just ran into Luke’s truck.”
264. Unfortunately Luke and I were no strangers to car accidents. Savannah had totaled her car not long before when a lady ran a red light, and Riley had been hit in the Lowe’s parking lot over the summer. We had just finished rebuilding Savannah’s car and were in the process of getting a new title for it when this happened. Luke and I threw on hoodies and shoes, and headed outside. A woman and her daughter were standing outside of their car, the front end pretty badly damaged.
265. Thankfully they were both okay. Luke’s truck had been parked in front of our house, and the lady said she had seen what she thought was an animal but was actually a football in the grass across the street, and gotten distracted. We think it’s more likely she was texting and driving. She apologized profusely, and we reassured her that it was alright. We were frustrated, but what can you do? She had called the police already, so we stood there waiting, examining the damage and taking photos.
266. About 10 minutes later, two police cars pulled up, lights flashing. The officers got out and made their way over to us.
One of them was Officer Cooper. He gave us a pleasant but somewhat subdued greeting, clearly remembering Luke and what had taken place just a few months before. We discussed what had just happened, and he got to work writing a report. There was some down time as we all waited for the tow truck to arrive to pick up the woman’s car, and he walked back over.
267. “So… how are things going? I mean with….” He gestured toward Kellie and Stan’s house. If I had been the only one standing there, I would have told him about Luke’s charges being dismissed, the no contact order, and asked him a few questions. But I could tell Luke didn’t want to get into it, and I understood.
“It’s going great. I just stay in the house and keep to myself,” Luke said jokingly.
“Ah man. Hate to hear that.” He laughed a little. “But I’m glad things are going okay.”
268. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but he picked up on Luke not wanting to discuss it further, so he changed the subject and we stood in our front yard making small talk for a bit. At one point, I glanced over towards Regina and Keith’s house. Their light was off but they were obviously watching, with their blinds raised. I pointed it out to Luke, and he gestured in their direction as he made a comment about hoping they’re enjoying the show. The blinds closed.
269. At some point while we were still outside waiting, Riley came home from work. She parked her car on the other side of the driveway and as she was getting out, I noticed Officer Cooper looking over at her.
“Is that the one…” he started, and trailed off. ‘Is that the one that was there when I arrested you?’ is what he was going to say. He sounded concerned. Sad, almost. Finally someone with a touch of conscience, I thought. We knew what he was asking, and told him that no, that was our other daughter, and he nodded.
270. It was such a brief, chance encounter with Officer Cooper, but it did make me feel a little better that he seemed to understand the unfortunate nature of the situation that he had been forced to be a part of.
CHAPTER THIRTY
271. During the period of the no contact period, we were very busy as usual, with family activities, Luke’s new job, the kids’ schooling, chasing around a toddler, and continuing to work on building our little family business.
272. Luke’s court review was set for mid-April and we were so happy it was almost over. I had the date marked in my calendar, not just so we wouldn’t forget, but because it felt like a finish line.The date represented the line between before, when we were bound by someone else’s version of the truth, and after, when we could finally act on our own terms, without the constant fear of being punished for existing.
273. Robert had let Luke know he didn’t need to be at the courthouse for the review and he would let him know how it went. Luke seemed pretty confident that it would go smoothly, and I was trying to think positively as well. That afternoon, Luke got a call from Robert. The judge had signed off on the dismissal. He would be getting paperwork within the month that allowed him to do things like have his mugshot removed from the internet. The sun seemed to be shining brighter all the sudden. It was over.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
274. The day after the no contact order ended, I felt a shift within me. It had been building for some time, but this was palpable. For years, I held back. Not just with this situation but life in general. I was scared of confrontation, of being misunderstood, of being disliked. I had always done the best I could at the time, but if I had spoken up sooner, or taken action against even one of the many things our neighbors had done, maybe my kids wouldn’t have had to endure so much. Maybe Luke and I wouldn’t have, either.
275. I also reflected a lot on how this all had affected me. I noticed that I’ve developed trust issues with people that I never had before. I’m weary of people’s intentions. I tend to assume people don’t like me now rather than assume they do. I have a visceral reaction to even the slightest lie or sign of manipulation. It’s been difficult going through this at the same time I’ve needed to get to know a whole new set of friends and family with Luke.
I also wonder how much of that my kids have picked up on as well. There is so much good in the world, and I want them to know and feel that.
276. As much damage as it caused, some good came from it too. I’m a stronger person now. Things that would’ve crushed me before, whether it be judgment, or rude strangers, don’t affect me the same. I’m more grounded. And I have more grace for others, too, because you never really know what someone’s carrying.That afternoon, sitting with everything we’d been through, I decided to take a small step toward standing up for my family, and I emailed our town code enforcement officer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
277. It hadn’t been entirely unprompted. That morning, it had finally started to warm up outside and Junie and I were in our backyard. She was running around, exploring. She kept going over to the fence, wanting to see through because there were chickens on the other side. And every time, I would feel a rush of panic because she was now at forehead level of the sharp end of about 12 of the screws that Stan had used to secure his fence boards.
278. When he got home from work, Luke cut the ends of the screws off. It was an easy fix, but the issue remained the same. We had worked hard to make our backyard a refuge, a place where we could be outside and enjoy our home. We enjoyed the privacy we had because of the boards he had added, but there is a right and wrong way to go about it. This wasn’t okay, it never was. I hadn’t done anything about it when I should have, but better late than never.
279. Our local code enforcement website directs you to either report an issue on a map, call, or send an email. An email sounded like the best option to me, because I wanted to give a little context and knew it would be easier to understand if he could read it and refer back if needed. I’m going to refer to the code enforcement officer as Tim Miller. I started the email, “Hi Tim, I’m hoping to get your input on an issue with our neighbors that I believe falls under code enforcement.”
280. I then explained about the fence, the height being taller than code allows, the lack of permission, the safety hazard. I added that they had chickens, which had lead to a rat infestation in our backyard that we had been dealing with for awhile. I closed it with, “Due to some pretty significant ongoing harassment from them, we don’t feel safe addressing this with them directly, and would really appreciate any guidance or assistance you can offer…”
281. “…We’re hoping the fence can be inspected, and if it’s found to be in violation, that the added boards can be removed and they can pursue a more appropriate and legal privacy solution.”
I attached a few photos of the fence, and hit send. It was a Friday when I sent the email, so I knew it would be a few days before I heard back. I felt pretty good about it and looked forward to Kellie and Stan hopefully being held accountable for something, finally.
282. The next day, just two days after the no contact order ended, Luke was driving to the end of our street when he noticed Kellie’s minivan was behind him. He pulled up to the stop sign to turn left, waiting his turn. Kellie pulled up quickly behind him, then went around him to turn right. She didn’t pause for the stop sign, slamming on her gas and pulling out in front of someone who luckily didn’t hit her, her tires screeching. Then she floored it.
“Well, guess she’s mad,” Luke thought.
283. A few days later, I got an email from Tim Miller.
“Please call me at City Hall so we can discuss this matter and get some more information.”
I hesitated. For several days. As much as I felt strongly about them having consequences for their actions, I was also worried. Kellie’s wild driving gave us more of a laugh than scared us, but it was still a reminder of how unhinged they were.
284. When I told Luke about my reservations, he agreed. As frustrated as he was with them, their reaction was a huge unknown. He left it up to me. I contemplated some more. The following Tuesday, around 9am, there was a knock on my door. I looked out and saw a car parked in front of the house with a city seal on it that read Code Enforcement. I answered the door.
285. “I’m Tim Miller with Code Enforcement. I’m dealing with some issues with your neighbors, and I remembered your email… would it be okay if I went into your backyard and measured the fence?” I was so curious about what the issues were, but it didn’t feel right to ask. Tim was strictly business. But as I answered a few of his questions about the fence, and told him about how they had my husband arrested for mooning the camera they had pointed at our home, I’m pretty sure I saw a twinkle in his eye.
286. I told Tim he was welcome to go into the backyard. I got our dog into the house, and then watched him out of our kitchen window. I took a video, so I could send it to Luke and the kids. I watched him measure the fence, and then he took a few photos, some of the entire fence addition, and a few up close of the screws they were still sticking through towards the top. He walked back through the gate and knocked on the front door.
287. “Well, the code allows for privacy fences to be 8 feet and that is well over. And there’s a rule about proper materials and craftsmanship being used, but it can be subjective. The safety concern of the screws are more of a civil issue.” I glanced across the street, fully aware that Regina was home and had her windows open. There was no doubt she was trying to listen and had told Kellie who was here. I would have sounded crazy shushing this man, as much as I wanted to.
288. He continued, “I took some photos, I’m going to send them to the county attorney and let him decide how to handle it.”
The county attorney? That seemed extreme and not the normal protocol but what do I know?
“Now, do you know how many chickens they have?”This man was on a mission. It had never occurred to me to look over the fence and count them. “I have no idea. Honestly I don’t mind the chickens at all, we used to have them too.”
289. “Okay well, code says they’re allowed 6 and a rooster.”
I genuinely felt like Tim was hoping they had too many chickens.
“The main issue with the chickens is the rats that we can’t seem to get rid of, that are eating the chicken feed, and they don’t seem to be doing anything about it. They chewed up our greenhouse, ate all our tomatoes last year, got into our shed…”
290. Tim broke his poker face for a split second and looked sympathetic.
“I could get them on unsanitary conditions, but they’d have to let me in their backyard and they’re not going to do that.”
Definitely not, I thought. Our cable and internet wires run into a box in the most unfortunate spot in Kellie and Stan’s backyard. Any time we have an issue the cable worker has to knock on their door to go back there, and over the last few years they had started simply ignoring them.
291. I’ve had to explain to a handful of technicians that our neighbors hate us, when they were confused as to why Kellie, who was clearly home, wouldn’t answer her door. We currently have a spliced wire buried in our backyard since they couldn’t get access. I digress.Tim went on, “So, I can’t do anything about the rat issue, but you can try contacting animal control if you want. I’m going to go get this sent to the attorney and see what he says…”
292. “…and I’ll be out later today to cite them for the other issues we’re having.”I said, “The reason I hadn’t contacted you back about the fence was because they’re very unreasonable people and I’m worried about retaliation. I’m glad you came out because him doing that is not okay, but I’m concerned.”Tim again looked sympathetic. “If it comes up, I’ll tell them that when I came out to look at their property, I saw the fence and asked to measure it.”
293. I knew there was only a small chance that Regina hadn’t seen and heard enough to know that wasn’t the case, but I appreciated his offer. I went in the house, feeling like the universe had just delivered us a gift. Finally. I wished I had taken the step to follow through all the way with my initial effort to report them, for self-improvement’s sake, but it didn’t truly matter. All that mattered was that on some small scale, Kellie and Stan were being held accountable for something.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
294. I sent the video I’d taken to the group text I had with Luke, Savannah, and Riley, and I sent the other to my friend Sarah, who had been one of the few people that knew everything we had dealt with and would certainly want to know about this development.
Luke and the kids responded excitedly. Sarah messaged me back and said, “Omg! I see her out there looking.”
What?! Sure enough, when I zoomed in I saw Kellie, barely visible above the fence, her face twisted in anger and confusion.
295. I played the video again, looking closer this time. I saw Kellie come out of her back door onto her patio, looking completely shocked and furious. She walked closer to the fence, and it appeared she was holding her phone up. The video ended.
This honestly sent me into a fit of laughter. I took a screenshot of her face and sent it to the group text. They had the same reaction. Normally I’d feel mean making fun of someone having a hard time, but not in this case.
296. Unlike Kellie and Stan, we don’t have the time or desire to watch our security cameras all day, so we had no idea if and when Tim showed back up to issue their citations. With him mentioning having the county attorney look at the fence issue, we weren’t sure whether that was being addresed at the same time or not. We figured we would find out eventually.
A week or so passed without having seen Tim again, and the fence being untouched. I got curious and got on the code enforcement website.
297. I clicked on the report map, and typed in Kellie and Stan’s address. Sure enough, there was a report listed.
“Business Activity in Residential Area” it said. The reporter was marked as Tim Miller, and the date was several weeks prior. It had been marked as acknowledged, with a follow up comment stating a notice of violation had been sent.
Interesting, I thought. This was not what I’d been expecting.
298. I knew Kellie sold baked goods out of her home and at markets. She and Stan had recently built an admittedly adorable self-serve stand that they had put in their side yard, near the street corner. She stocked it regularly and people would stop and get items from it all the time. Despite everything, I had thought it was a great idea. Even Luke had commented about her seeming to doing a good job with her business.
299. I figured it had to be about her stand. I hadn’t realized there was anything wrong with what she was doing and made a mental note to check the rules about things like that later, since I also sold handmade items and baked goods from my house.
As I glanced back at the map, I realized the location had jumped to Kellie and Stan’s house when I’d done the search. There was a colored dot on it, showing a report had been made. Right next door was my house, with a colored dot on it too.
300. I clicked on my house.
“Business Activity in Residential Area” was the title. Underneath the title, it read, “Running a gift shop/business in a residential neighborhood.” In the information section, it said it had been reported by an “Anonymous Source”, at 7:05pm the day after Tim Miller had come to my door. It was marked as “open”, and the comment below said it had been assigned to code enforcement.
I can’t say I was surprised, but it didn’t make me any less frustrated.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
301. First things first, I hopped on my dusty old second Facebook account from years ago. Kellie had me blocked on social media, but I was curious to see if there was anything being said about the situation on her business page. Sure enough, there were a handful of posts about the citation and being told she had to close down her business. Her followers were understandably upset and left comments making it clear that they felt what was happening to Kellie was unfair. Many of them lived in our neighborhood.
302. I noticed immediately that she was maintaining her sweet business persona and making a clear effort to not blame anyone publicly. She said that having her stand and operating her business out of her house was against code, and mentioned having gone to a city council meeting to try and have them override code enforcement, and had failed.
303. There were a few comments that stood out to me, and made it clear that Kellie had spoken to them privately, and blamed someone specific for her business being closed. She had stated that someone had to have reported her or it wouldn’t have been investigated, and a woman responded and said, “Some super petty person with no life. Women are meant to support each other. Not do the opposite.” She then commented again, and this time tagged our town’s mayor, asking, “Can these attacks be prevented?” How ironic.
304. The same woman commented again further down. “If they won’t let you do pick up orders from your house, I’ll gladly turn in the other people doing the same thing you’re doing and make sure the mayor is being fair.”
My gosh, this lady.
305. Someone then asked, “Who is going to investigate to make sure this doesn’t seem like a biased case where she was singled out because she was becoming more popular in her business?”
I kept scrolling. Someone else said, “I’m guessing I know who it was. Your business was growing too fast. Same person who also has a stand.”
It said “Page Replied Privately” under that comment.
306. We had recently put a shelf on our front porch so that it was easier for me to put my customer’s orders out for porch pickup. A porch stand, if you will. They were clearly talking about me. I knew it, and anyone who lived in our neighborhood did too.
Another commenter said that it was pathetic for Tim Miller to devote his time and energy to shutting down a service that benefits a neighborhood community. Kellie’s response made me laugh a bit.
307. She said, “It’s a lot more than that. When I proved him wrong about the stand, he started coming after my whole property. Our vehicles, basketball goal, where our trash cans are. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I can’t believe how much he’s been here.”
Tim Miller was doing the Lord’s work.
I decided I needed to do some research, since obviously there was an issue with selling items out of your house and unlike Kellie, I don’t think I’m above the law.
308. We had done all of the things we thought we needed to do when setting up an official business, but after some reading I realized we needed an additional business license for our town, which I immediately applied for.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
309. Nobody would have cared if I hadn’t been reported. Just like Kellie claimed. But now that I had been, I felt I had no choice but to stop selling on marketplace and offering item pickups. Thankfully we had begun selling at the farmer’s market right before this happened, but the porch pickups had brought in a small but very helpful income for our family. This was a pretty big blow, and it was all stemming from Kellie thinking I reported her stand.
Funny how she didn’t mention the fence in her tirade.
310. The next day, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post in our private subdivision group. A woman had shared a post that I couldn’t see, and her caption read, “I am so sad to hear that our community’s beloved pick up stand is gone.” She had tagged Kellie’s page. I didn’t think much of it. I knew people were upset it closed. I would have been too, if I were them. I scrolled down to read the comments. There were three. The first two expressed sadness. The third made my mouth drop.
311. A woman I’ll call Marla Vendaris said, “Her neighbor reported her. Apparently they don’t get along. Saw them argueing in front of their houses quite a few months ago. People are mean!”
Besides the fact that I had no idea who this woman was, the way she matter of factly stated it was me, to a group full of over 300 people who would easily know exactly who she was talking about, and who were clearly upset about the stand being closed, was insane.
312. Kellie hadn’t come out and accused me outright of causing her business to be shut down. But, it was notable that she had made multiple comments making it clear someone had reported her, and then allowed several people to make thinly veiled references as to who it might have been without correcting them. And, it was very obvious based on their comments that she had spoken to some of them privately and told them exactly who it had to have been.
313. It was crazy to me that she would think I reported her for doing something I was doing too.
I believe that Tim Miller had seen her stand on his own and was just doing his job, maybe with a little spite due to what I’d shared with him already. I’m sure her and Stan’s knowledge of what they and Regina and Keith had put my family through over the years also contributed to her paranoia in making assumptions.
314. As frustrated as I was in reading the comments on Kellie’s page, I didn’t feel the need to take action. However, when I saw the comment by Marla Vendaris on the post in our neighborhood group, I felt differently. Something about this woman that I’d never met, stating matter-of-factly to people living in my neighborhood that it was my fault their beloved stand was gone, really made me mad and I knew I needed to say something.
315. I commented on the post.“Neighbor here. Please do not make assumptions and false allegations about me, especially to a bunch of upset people who live in my neighborhood. That’s a dangerous thing to do, and concerning to my family and I. I love our neighborhood and have lived here and raised my children here peacefully for over 16 years now. We have unfortunately had issues with our neighbors, however I did not, and would never, report her stand…”
316. “…I think it is a positive asset to the community and I think she’s doing an amazing job with her business and should be allowed to continue however she wants. I didn’t know there was an issue with yard stands and porch pickups until someone reported mine in retaliation, thinking I reported the one in question. I’m not mean at all actually, so if anyone wants to discuss this further, please feel free to message me privately.”
317. Savannah was very frustrated by Marla’s comment. She had sent her a message privately, letting her know that we had ongoing issues with Kellie that were pretty serious, and that she was mistaken about my reporting her. Marla never read her message.
318. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like my response in that private group was not enough. I was sure that there were people who were now looking me up, thinking I was the crazy lady who couldn’t handle Kellie’s success and saw her as competition. It made me feel very vulnerable. I decided I needed to post something on my business page.
319. I’d always been hesitant to talk about our neighbor drama publicly, even in person, so posting on the business page, where so many family and friends followed us, felt uncomfortable. We had never wanted to seem dramatic or risk being misunderstood, so we kept most of it to ourselves, outside of the few posts I’d made here and there. Even those who were aware of some of the issues we had, rarely brought it up, probably trying to be polite, but it made me feel like most people wouldn’t care.
320. It’s also worth mentioning that there were long stretches between the drama and weirdness where things were quiet and almost normal, so it never felt like constant chaos. Looking back at everything as it’s written out now, it’s wild how much actually happened. With all that in mind, I knew I needed to defend myself, my family, and my business that I had worked so hard to build, and I was done worrying about what anyone would think about it. I started typing.
**POSTS 321-328 detail my business page post that has been deleted now but still lives in internet archives, so I’m leaving it out here. In the post, I explained a bit about what had happened with the reporting and false allegations, that it absolutely wasn’t me and that despite everything my family had been through the last few years including harassment of my children and having my husband arrested for mooning a security camera pointed at our house, I would not have reported her business.**
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
329. I felt good about the post. Luke told me I had said everything very well. He was uncomfortable at me mentioning the mooning because it wasn’t something that most of the people who know us were aware of and it’s something he regrets, but we agreed that we needed to acknowledge the only thing we had actually done “wrong”.
330. We had just finished dinner that same day when I saw that I had received a text. I picked up my phone and looked at it. It was from Kellie.
“If you would like to let me know what screws are poking thru our shared fence, the one we both paid for, I would be more than happy to back them out a little bit.”
I guess she had seen my post. The fact that her one and only response to me was to offer to back out screws that she had been made aware of on at least 2 prior occasions was very telling.
331. I didn’t respond. An hour later, my friend Sarah, who by now had joined the neighborhood group so she could let me know if there were things being said that I couldn’t see, texted me a screenshot. It was a comment Kellie had left on the same post I’d commented on. I took a deep breath, and read it out loud to Luke.
332. It said, “A few things I need to address…
1. I spoke with the Mayor yesterday. We’re working towards a solution to get the farm stand back. She’s been very understanding of the situation and helpful!
2. Marla, I’m so sorry that you had to see that while driving by. Let’s not point fingers, I don’t want that. It doesn’t matter who reported me, what’s done is done.
3. To my neighbor, there have been wrongs on both sides. We will discuss this in court, again.”
333. You would think I wouldn’t be shocked at anything these people do or say anymore.
Court?! AGAIN?! What in the world did she mean by that? What was court before? Luke getting his charges dismissed? We had never even spoke to them in court, in fact we wouldn’t have even known they were there if we hadn’t seen them in the hallway.
It felt very much like a threat, and after I read her whole comment a few times it was clear she was panicking and desperate to lower my credibility after being called out.
334. The way she started off sweet but then threatened me was hilarious, but it also really disturbed me. Not to mention her stating she didn’t want to point fingers but had all but encouraged it on her business page for days. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Marla Vendaris. All the sudden, I had the feeling that there were missing puzzle pieces and I needed to find them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
335. The next day, I started by looking back over the code enforcement reports. Mine still looked the same. On Kellie’s, there was a new comment. It said, “What a shame someone felt the need to hurt somebody else’s passion. Maybe she needs the money. She isn’t hurting anybody. So mean.” The name of the commenter was Donna Hartford.
I immediately recognized the name. I’d seen her posting on our neighborhood group and local Nextdoor page for years. The true definition of a nosey Karen.
336. I then looked closer at Marla Vendaris’s social media profile. There were no personal photos, and it had been created in December 2020, right around the same time I started experiencing issues with our neighbors, which gave me pause. But it was regularly updated and full of political posts that were the complete opposite of Kellie’s, and way too extreme to be Regina’s. I don’t count it out, but I wasn’t too sure it was either of them.
337. I was curious to know where she lived in the neighborhood, so I did a reverse address search. Nothing. I googled her name. Nothing. Marla Vendaris clearly didn’t exist. I looked back at her social media. She had posted two reviews, both bad. On one of them she was complaining about some retail shop not even located in our town, and there was a comment under it, agreeing that the place was terrible. The commenter’s name was Donna Hartford.
338. I looked at Donna’s social media profile. She shared quite a few political posts but kept it toned down. I remembered seeing her comment on some of Kellie’s business posts, unhappy about the business closing. She had gone so far as to find the code enforcement report and comment on it. Donna and Marla had both referred to the reporting of the business as “mean”. I was pretty sure that Donna was Marla Vendaris.
339. Something was bothering me. I knew that I’d had some kind of issue with Donna before but I couldn’t remember what it was or if it was just something I’d seen her say online. But then it hit me. I searched the neighborhood group for Donna’s name. Sure enough, there it was. The street parking. How could I have forgotten about the street parking?
340. Years prior, Chad had a work truck that he had to park on the street because it wouldn’t fit in the driveway. There were a few people who posted about how annoying the street parking was, and specifically mentioned his truck. We explained our parking situation. They didn’t care. Funny enough, someone called code enforcement and we got a warning, except it said that to park legally on the street all 4 tires had to be on the road, so he had to move it even further into the street.
341. There were a few weeks where someone would honk every time they passed our house, usually at night. And then the truck got egged several times. One of the people who were complaining, a man who still lives a block away, sent a letter to Chad’s work, complete with a photo of the truck parked in the street. The other person who commented relentlessly, complaining and arguing, was none other than Donna Hartford.
342. I hadn’t even remembered a lot of this until I re-read the posts. Had Donna seriously held a grudge for 8 years because we wouldn’t move our truck out of the street for her, and jumped at the opportunity to use her fake account to accuse me of having Kellie’s business shut down? Had she talked to Kellie privately beforehand or was she inserting herself? It seemed nuts but her involvement made no sense.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
343. Between everything that had taken place over the previous week, realizing I had yet another unhinged enemy in my neighborhood, and a feeling that I was still missing something, I decided to do what one of the police officers who had been out during the car blocking incident had mentioned off-handedly. I submitted an open records request with our local police department for any police reports associated with our address and Kellie and Stan’s.
344. I had been feeling a bit uneasy when Kellie had said “see you in court”. Obviously, I knew we hadn’t done anything wrong, but with her delusional thinking I knew filing a lawsuit full of false accusations wasn’t above her, and we would then have to fight it. Plus, if Stan‘s dad was involved, they had a lawyer at their disposal. A seemingly bad one, judging by the paperwork I had to keep correcting during our divorce, and comments Chad had made after the fact, but a lawyer nonetheless.
345. When the police officer had mentioned to me that I could request police reports, it was a quick response to me telling him that Kellie kept making accusations against the kids that weren’t true. I hadn’t thought much about him saying that, because why would I need reports about things that I was already aware of? They had called about Riley’s “prank call” back in 2021, someone had called when Kellie blocked Savannah’s car in, and then, of course when Luke mooned their camera.
346. But now, with everything that was happening, I liked the idea of having all of the documentation I possibly could, just in case. Plus, I had thought about it more and realized there could be something in the report that would prove Kellie’s mom Lisa had made the phone call to police during the car blocking incident, lying and stating that the girls were fighting, that had caused them to be so aggressive with them when they arrived.
347. It had said it would take 3-5 business days and then they would email me any results. On day 2, I had another thought. I submitted a separate open records request to code enforcement for anything related to Kellie and Stan’s property and mine. Around day 4 of waiting, I got an email.
“Attached are copies of the CAD runs we have. Please be advised we can only go back 2 years in that system. Also attached are reports associated.”
I clicked on the first one.
348. It didn’t seem that they were in any particular order. The first one was an incident report from the end of February of this year. Definitely not something I had been aware of. The caller on the report was listed as Kellie. As I read down the page, I burst out laughing. Under the comments, it said, “Caller’s chicken has went into neighbor’s backyard but she has a no contact order against them.”
349. I woud say I couldn’t believe she called the police over a chicken, but I’d be lying. Of course she did. No contact order or not, if she had texted me the same way she did before Stan walked over to get a blown away chair cushion from our driveway, I would have gladly put the chicken back over the fence.
On to the next report. Mid April of last year. The car being blocked in.
350. The initial caller was listed as a neighbor, with the phone number redacted. The first comment from dispatch read, “Two teens female, 2 adults female. Teens yelling and shoving adults.” We knew something like this had been said due to the demeanor of the officers when they arrived, which they had explained and apologized for. If this caller was truly a neighbor, how could they have misconstrued the situation that badly? Everyone was standing far apart, voices only slightly raised.
351. There was another caller listed as Kellie’s maiden name. This was odd since it wasn’t her last name, or her mother’s, and Kellie hadn’t made a call. The comments said they received “2-3 calls same issue”. Again, there was no physical fighting, no screaming. So strange.Then another call. The comment for this one says, “(Name Redacted) called as well req officers to trouble w/ neighbor who’s daughter parked in their yard.” This one had to be Stan, watching from work on his camera.
352. So we had mystery callers making up complete lies to the police. Nice. It made sense now why the officers weren’t really interested in hearing what we had to say. We were the troublemakers. And somehow, Savannah parking on the public street had turned into her parking in their yard, and Kellie having a problem with me, “the neighbor”.
Notably, none of the calls mentioned the grown adult starting the entire thing by blocking the teenage neighbor’s car in.
353. I moved onto the next report. This one was from December of 2023. Another one I wasn’t aware of. The caller was Kellie. The comment said, “Req to see an officer in ref to ongoing issues with neighbors harassing them. Says they have now made threats online. Problem neighbor at (and then a redacted address that I assume is mine).”
The notes then show an officer went to their home, where they showed him a previous incident report and he told them how to file a criminal summons.
354. I was beyond confused about that one, not only about whatever harassment and online threats she was referring to, but also about the previous incident report she had apparently showed them.
I looked at my notes regarding that time period. Earlier that year, Stan had become increasingly paranoid about Riley and Savannah, watching them walk up the street out his window at night, and making that bizarre claim to Luke about them being on his driveway at 5am.
355. That Spring and Fall, Stan had drilled his fence boards into our fence. Someone had beeped Stan’s truck horn at the kids repeatedly as they packed to go camping. And last but not least, the day before this report was made, Stan and Kellie had stopped their van in front of Savannah as she drove, almost causing her to wreck into them. I then looked at my social media to see if I could find this supposed threat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
356. It took some scrolling, but I got to the date in question. It was the day I had posted a screenshot of Savannah’s text to me from the night before, her upset and telling me what had happened with Stan and Kellie and how she had almost ran into them. I’ve referred to the post here before. In my caption I had expressed my frustration over what my family had been dealing with the last few years, making reference to the fence, false accusations, etc. and how it was now affecting my kids.
357. I scrolled down and found Luke’s comment. As I’ve mentioned here before, in reference to a few people up in arms, he said something along the lines of, “Well, stepdad has hands and they’re about to find out why they need to leave my kids alone.” It was seemingly made in response to a friend’s comment about offering to come pay them a visit.
Sure, he was implying he wanted to beat them up. A lot of people reading what they had done to Savannah probably did. But it was obvious that it was just an angry parent venting after someone put his daughter in danger.
358. My social media was private, so someone had to have shown them my post. I figured out quickly that it had to be Kellie’s sister in law, Stacey. Stacey was the only person in Kellie’s circle of family and friends that hadn’t unfriended me pretty quickly into this whole mess. I had always liked Stacey, and I had held out hope, especially knowing how often Kellie had badmouthed her, that Stacey was quietly on my side, if there were sides to be taken. No such luck. I promptly blocked her.
359. I scrolled to the next report. The mooning, from mid summer 2024. This one also had a separate page attached with more in depth information. I started with the incident report. Kellie was the caller. The dispatch note says, “On-going dispute with neighbor. Neighbor came outside with pants down, in front of caller’s children and other neighborhood children. Advises they believe subject did this intentionally due to on-going issue, has gone back inside now.”
360. I continued reading, moving onto the victim information and investigative report. The victims were listed as Kellie, and Kellie’s brother. This is the brother married to Stacey. I knew her brother’s kids had been at her home that evening, and the brother had been there when the police arrived. The synopsis stated, “Defendent exposed his buttocks to the listed victims in an attempt to cause alarm and harassment to the victims.” Uh, not quite.
361. I then read the investigation report. It stated that Kellie told them she and her family have an on going harassment issue with their next door neighbors, and a few minutes ago, Luke had walked outside near the property line, exposing his buttocks. Kellie then stated that she and 5 children under the age of 12 were all in the front yard when it happened, within 25 feet of the incident.
I paused and got out my tape measure, extending it 25 feet. There was no way on Earth. I had been standing out there the entire time. No one was anywere near him.
262. It then said Kellie has a surveillance camera on the side of her house that captured the exposure, and it clearly shows Luke walking around with the rear of his pants pulled down, at one point bending over with his buttocks facing Kellie and the children, as well as facing the camera.
Or just the camera, but who cares about the truth here.
Kellie then said that her daughter witnessed Luke’s naked buttocks. First it was her and the kids, then it was just her daughter. Pick a lane.
363. It said that Kellie called her brother to the scene, and he advised the officers that his children witnessed the incident. Interesting. If they did, they witnessed it from far away across the street or were hiding around the other side of the house. I would have seen them myself otherwise.
The officers said they made contact with Luke and he stated to them that the exposure was an accident, but expressed a lot of emotion and anger towards his neighbors for the ongoing harassment towards his family as well.
364. An accident? He had not told them that. He had owned up to it and explained that nobody had been outside and it was directed at their camera due to it being pointed at his home for several years, and that after multiple incidences of harassment of his wife and kids he got fed up and made a bad decision. I had said the same. Not a single thing in the report mentioned any of this. It concluded with the officers saying they spoke with the families to see if they agreed with prosecution, via a citation. “The parents” agreed that at that time they didn’t want to prosecute Luke for causing “alarm and continued harassment” towards them.
365. The last sentence read, “The family advised that they have an attorney and on going civil case against Luke and his wife and they want to confer with their attorney before proceeding further on the criminal charges.”
…An ongoing civil case?
366. I’m not sure how one can be involved in a civil case and not know, unless she meant that Stan’s dad was keeping a list of all the things that we supposedly did to them, and he was waiting for something that was actually legitimate.
367. The next report was from 3 days after the mooning incident. It says that Kellie’s brother, the one who had been present when the police were there, was requesting to talk to an officer with reference to the incident that had occurred. There are no other comments on it. Luke wasn’t arrested until 21 days later.
CHAPTER FORTY
368. I got to the final report. It was from the beginning of November 2020.
2020?! I thought back. On this day, Chad would have moved out less than a month before. Vada and her son were living with us. Luke was barely a blip on the radar. Kellie and I were in a weird spot because of how she and Regina had acted about my separation a few weeks prior, but we were still speaking, and I hoped we would sort things out.
369. The report was an actual police run, so it was in a slightly different format. It said that at 2pm, dispatch received a call from Kellie that was categorized as harassment.
The narrative states, “Officers received dispatch run of harassing communications reported by listed subject. Listed subject stated that they have been in a dispute with the neighbor Aubrey Covington over vandalism to their vehicles.”
I paused, more confused than I’d ever been.
…I’m Aubrey Covington.
370. It continued, “The listed subject states that Covington is the mother of two juveniles who they suspect did the vandalism and have recently been receiving threatening texts and calls during the middle of the night from Aubrey Covington. Subject is working with the phone company to determine the owner of the unknown number.”
I could barely process what I was reading. Vandalism to vehicles? Threatening texts and calls? FROM ME?! There wasn’t an ounce of truth to any of it.
371. I had never been told about vandalism to their vehicles, nor have Riley or Savannah ever been blamed for any vandalism. Stan and Chad still worked together during this time. Wouldn’t he have said something?! I wondered if this was why Kellie kept telling everyone my kids put nails in their tires.
Her claiming we were in an ongoing dispute made me laugh a bit. This dispute must be like the ongoing civil case we’re having.
372. I wanted to know exactly what was going on the day the report was made. First, I looked back at my notes about everything that had taken place since October 2020. I scanned to November. Several days before, I had been signed up for the adult store text alerts, and Vada had received the weird texts from “John”, who claimed to have gotten her number from Kellie. Several hours before Kellie called the police, Vada had posted screenshots of the prank texts on social media.
373. Then, a few hours after Kellie made the police report and told them her menagerie of lies, she asked if Chad and I could sit down and talk to her and Stan, where she said she had gotten prank texts too, and admitted to giving the prank texter Vada’s name and number, claiming she thought it was someone in my house. Never once did she mention the police report about harassment, or vandalism, or the fact that we were “in a dispute”.
I then looked at my text messages with Kellie from that time.
374. They were pretty normal. As I’ve mentioned before, a few weeks earlier she had asked whether my friend’s son would be at our house for Halloween so she could make him a treat bag. A week before, asking if I was okay with her clearing the dead plants from the garden. A day after, us talking a bit about the prank texts and her saying the phone company was supposed to get back to her. A few weeks later wishing me a happy Thanksgiving.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
375. It was unsettling to read, knowing what she had secretly claimed to the police. But for some reason, it made me feel better.To see in black and white that she was apparently batshit crazy and had been the entire time brought me comfort and resolve that I didn’t know I needed.
In the back of my mind, I had always wondered if maybe, somehow, this truly was all my fault. That I was the problem and I just didn’t know how. That I’d missed something. Now I knew, it was never me.
376. A few days after I received the police reports, I got an email about my open records request related to code enforcement at mine and Kellie and Stan’s addresses. I wasn’t sure what all would be included, if anything. Just like with the police reports, my main goal was to make sure I had all the information I could get, that I was legally entitled to. To my surprise, the file contained quite a few pages.
377. The first few pages were of the reports that had been made for each of us regarding our businesses, similar to what was viewable on the reporting website. Mine was first. There wasn’t much there that I hadn’t seen. The first thing was that the report had been made on an iPhone.
Next, I noticed that at the bottom where there were comments, Tim Miller had marked the case as closed just one day earlier, and commented, “Owner has a city business license.”
378. It could be wishful thinking, but it felt very much like a wink and a nod from Tim, and an f you to Kellie.
I looked at the report for my address on the website, and it said the same. I felt a little weight off my shoulders, knowing that the issue was resolved, and publically, for that matter. Small victories. I was angry that I had been reported. Losing income at a time when we were already stretched thin was hard, but deep down I knew we’d find our way through it, like we always have.
379. I moved on to the report for Kellie. Again, not much new. The reporter was listed as Tim, like it had been online. Based on all the dates, my theory is that after receiving my email and despite me not calling him about it after he told me I should, Tim went out to check Kellie’s property anyway, and noticed her selling things out of her home. As it’s his job to regulate things like that, he acted accordingly. In her world, I bet that does equate to reporting her business.
380. All of the rest of the pages were emails, between Tim and Kellie and Stan’s lawyer, AKA Stan’s dad. I’ll call him Frank. It began with Frank emailing Tim, because he had hung a door hanger card on “his clients” door requesting for them to set up a time with him to inspect their property. Frank told Tim to contact him to set up the inspection.
381. It seems the inspection happened, and a few days later, Frank let Tim know that his clients were applying for a city business license. He then asked Tim to explain some of the local regulations that he felt were contradictory. Tim responded and explained the local rules and ordinances, as well as why what Kellie was doing went against them. He then told Frank that per his inspection, Kellie and Stan had multiple property maintenance violations that needed to be addressed.
382. He mentioned where their trash cans were kept, having vehicles with expired tags, and the placement of their basketball goal. Frank responded by saying he would be discussing the violations with them, and then brought up Kellie’s business again, asking if she would be allowed to do it if she changed this and that. Apparently Tim had told her she could still temporarily operate while he investigated certain laws, which had confused her.
383. Tim again explained what the laws were, and why she couldn’t continue what she was doing. They went back and forth several more times. Finally, Tim ended his email with, “Any further questions on this matter please contact our city attorney.” So this is where the city attorney had come in. Tim had already been through it with these people and was done with their nonsense by the time he came to measure the fence. He wanted all the evidence against them that he could get.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
384. After the police reports I’d read, I had fully been expecting upsetting surprises in the code enforcement documents, and was relieved that instead, I’d just gotten more proof that Kellie and Stan have a raging case of My Daddy’s A Lawyer syndrome.
I still carried the weight of five years’ worth of confusion, hurt, and anger. But I was done letting the opinions and actions of people who never truly valued me, and who seemed to thrive on lies and chaos, chip away at my self worth, or make me shrink just to keep the peace.
385. I had spent the last 5 years being forced to deal with these people for reasons I may never understand, and worry about things that I never should have had to.
What all of these people had done was wrong. It didn’t matter their reason. Even if Chad had told them I was crazy and cheated and left him for another man. Nothing could justify their behavior, especially considering how it affected my kids.
386. I had also spent the last five years falling in love with an incredible man, raising my beautiful kids, and building a full and busy life filled with good things. We added to our family, and are watching the most adorable little girl, blissfully unaware of any of this, grow and thrive. Together, my family dreams of moving to a home where we can live in real, lasting peace.
I knew what was real. I knew what wasn’t. I refused to be a victim. And I was going to talk about it.
387. A few weeks after I read those reports, in the middle of June 2025, I sat down and opened up the Threads app, staring at the new account I’d created. I laughed at the Mister Rogers picture I’d found for the avatar. It was perfect
.I wanted, and needed, to share my story. And maybe find some clarity along the way.
“Even if no one reads it, it will still help you,” I said to myself. I opened up a new thread, took a deep breath, and started typing.
The End, for now.
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