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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome to Season 10, Episode 237 of Sword and Scale.
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a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real I hate doing this sort of thing because you're adults and you know what you're getting into
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but this is a true crime show and occasionally there are trigger warnings that are worthy of
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being stated, this is one of them. I don't think an episode has affected me this much ever.
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On this show, we tell stories of human brutality and the unbelievable crimes that evil people commit.
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We cover in great detail the horrible things most people don't even want to talk about.
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We tell the stories of the victims who had the unfortunate bad luck of crossing paths with a killer.
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Usually those victims are no longer alive to share their tale. But today's episode is a little different.
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Today, we want you to meet Megan Rose Hyatt. Megan was a victim, but today, she's definitely a survivor.
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Megan today is very different from the Megan she was seven years ago. The Megan who existed back then was just like most middle-class girls in America.
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She was open-hearted, bright, and bubbly, a naive people-pleaser. You might even see a bit of yourself in young Megan.
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Today, Megan is on crutches, about to go into yet another surgery for her mutilated leg.
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She's missing an eye. She's seen death and faced it head on. But she is one of the strongest people we've ever come across.
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What Megan lived through is unfathomable. It's also one of the most brutal cases of domestic violence that we've ever heard.
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Today, Megan will tell you her story. My name is Megan Rose Hyatt, and I'm from Jacksonville, Florida.
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I have a twin brother named Tyler. I am the oldest by 15 minutes. I feel like that needs to be noted that I am the oldest.
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I lived in the same bedroom for 21 years in this quaint little house on Maple Road.
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And my parents, Melissa and my dad, Jimmy, they were just loving and encouraged us in everything.
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They later divorced when we were 12, and that was kind of traumatic. But we got through it. Me and my brother got through it.
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Despite the divorce, Megan had a beautiful childhood. It was everything I could have dreamed of in a childhood.
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Like, my parents, my church, my friends. Like, looking back on my childhood, it was the best.
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and I wish often that I could return to it. The Hyatt family were, and still are,
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members of the Church of Latter-day Saints. In other words, Mormons. I still go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Used to be known as the Mormons. I feel like there are churches for everybody and you have to find the one that fits you best.
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And this just happens to fit me and my family best. And my dad was, he was a priesthood holder and he loved everybody in the
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church. He actually got baptized when I was five years old. So he wasn't a member until I was five
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years old. And I, I really admired that because he didn't, my dad didn't ever do anything half-ass.
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Like he put in 120% all the time. And when he decided to take on Christ and God and have a faith, he did it right.
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He did it. He went in 120%. Megan and her father, Jimmy, were extremely close. She was a daddy's girl.
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Megan grew up idolizing her father so much that she wanted to mirror his career footsteps When I was 12 I wanted to be a civil engineer My dad was a master of all trades
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He worked in construction, specifically HVAC, most of my life. And I wanted so much to be in the construction world
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because my dad was in the construction world. And I'm like, I told my dad I wanted to work in construction,
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and he was like, no. until I came up with wanting to be a civil engineer. And he's like, that's perfect.
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Not only was Megan inspired by her father's ability to work with his hands and fix any mechanical issue that was thrown his way,
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but he also possessed a calmness and spirituality that she looked up to. He had thyroid cancer.
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And after that, everything kind of changed. He was very calm. He was very peaceful.
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but he never was very confrontational my whole life like he didn't like to get mad and
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so when he became really calm like nothing bothered him after his thyroid cancer
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was removed like that was he just became wiser I don't know if he was just kind of having like a midlife crisis as far as like what he really wanted out of life
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and you know the cancers him having cancer you know change that and open those opened his eyes
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and he realized you know like why am I gonna get an attitude with anyone it might he went from
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you know like just normal like disagreements in life with other people to he was just all
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encompassing and loving of everybody being freed from cancer gave Jimmy a new respect for life
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that he instilled into his children and anyone around him. He was a loving father who tried his best to teach his children moral values,
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independence, and spiritual hope. He would read the scriptures every night and pray as a family.
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My dad really went all in. He didn't take anything lightly, but that commitment that he made,
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He really committed to it and really surrounded our family in Christ and in Heavenly Father.
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And he really instilled faith in us so much so that that is all that really matters to me is my faith in Heavenly Father and God now.
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I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't have that faith. Being raised all the S, Megan wasn't really allowed to date as a teenager.
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By the time she was 20, she had only dated two guys, one of which broke her heart and left her quite scattered and broken.
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In June of 2014, Megan would meet the man who would change her life forever. And it all started with Plenty of Fish.
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I got on Plenty of Fish and I was having a hoe phase. I was just, I wanted free food.
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Like, I was going on dates. I was in a hoe phase, like, just to be completely honest.
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Like, I look back and I'm like, wow, I did a lot in that time and none of it was productive.
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Megan was on Plenty of Fish having fun. She went on lots of dates and enjoyed being courted.
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Then she met Gawain Rush Wilson. Me and Rush talked on Plenty of Fish. We messaged each other in the dating app for three weeks
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before we even met. And I thought that was like, I thought that was kind of cool. Like he wasn't in
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a rush. He really wanted to get to know me. He really wanted, he really cared about creating a
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relationship with someone. And that's something I admired because that's not something I was doing.
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And that's not something these other guys on Plenty of Fish that I was messaging were doing.
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Megan was surprised and enamored with Rush's patience and flirting. Plus, he was older, and judging by his online pictures, he was just her type.
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He was 27 when we met. We were six and a half years apart. And he is over six feet tall, black, very slender, very, like, lanky, but still had muscle.
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He was Jamaican, so he had a little accent. Though they hadn't met in person yet, Megan got to know Rush as they chatted, and everything she found out about his life and career impressed her.
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Rush was born in Jamaica, and he and his mom and his sisters migrated here when he was eight years old.
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They moved to New York City. They lived in the Bronx. And then Rush wanted U.S. citizenship, so he joined the military.
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His first station was Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, and his second station was NAS Jax, which is in Jacksonville, Florida.
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And he was in Jacksonville between those two bases for seven years. He did go on a lot of deployments, but he was mainly in the Jacksonville area.
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Growing up in a military town, Megan loved a man in uniform. Who was this tall, dark, handsome helicopter mechanic who wanted to take her out on a date?
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Megan had high hopes for a future with this perfect stranger. He's looking for something serious.
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Like that's, ultimately that's the end game. That's what I want. Megan and Rush finally met in person.
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After working a long shift at a hookah bar Megan went home took a quick shower and then went to meet Rush at his naval base at 2 a It all felt very exhilarating and taboo
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And I parked in this parking spot, in this little, like, parking lot, and one of his friends who was on duty with him came and picked me up in this truck
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and got me on base and took me to the helicopter hangar. And I was like, what is going on here?
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Like, I didn't realize he was, like, on duty. And so I get there, and he's in his blues, and he looks divine.
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I was like, dang, he's a lot hotter than what he is in the pictures. Those don't do him justice.
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Rush greeted Megan with a warm smile. Maybe it was the naval base, his uniform, his accent, or all of it swimming together.
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but she was pretty smitten and then so we sat down in this desk area in front of the hangar
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and we just sat there and chatted and then he showed me the helicopters like I actually got
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in a helicopter and now I'm mind you I do not think this was what he was supposed to be doing
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I think he could have gotten in a lot of trouble because of it but I was just like so like taken
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back like, oh my gosh, he works on these helicopters and really taken back by him.
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We sat in front in the office until seven o'clock in the morning. Mind you, I got there at two
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and was there until seven when he was relieved of duty. And then he drove me back to my car
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and the car wouldn't start. When they realized that Megan's car battery had died,
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Rush acted like a gentleman and took care of everything. It was pouring down rain, and I just thought it was the...
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I was like, he saved my life. That's what I thought. Immature Megan was, oh, he jumped in my car.
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He's my Prince Charming. That was our first date, and we spent every single day together after that.
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Things would move very quickly for the couple. so quickly that young, vulnerable Megan
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barely had a chance to look around her and observe exactly what was going on beneath Rush's pristine surface.
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20-year-old Megan Rose Hyatt had met her Prince Charming, Rush Wilson. Rush worked in the military as a helicopter mechanic.
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He was tall, dark, handsome, and the most impressive man Megan had ever met. After sweeping her off her feet on their first date, they became an instant couple.
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He was everything at first. Everything. He marked all the boxes. He was looking to buy a house.
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He had his two cars paid off. He had a motor start girl paid off. He had money in his savings account.
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He was charming. He was just checking off. He was educated. He had a nice job with benefits.
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Everything that you ideally would look for long term in a marriage, he was just checking off every box.
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Rush and Megan had only been dating for a month and a half before he invited her to move in.
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I moved in in end of July, beginning of August. I lived in the spare room. So in the spare room was all of his ex-wife's belongings.
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And I didn't know why, but she left everything behind and just peaced out. And at that time, I didn't think it was weird, but I did at the same time, but I didn't want to dive into it.
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And I didn't want to be overly curious and hurt his feelings or open old wounds.
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Megan didn't want to pry. As much as Rush impressed her, he also intimidated her in a strange way.
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He was so much more mature than she was. He had an ex-wife, a career, a home, two cars, while Megan was just starting her adult life.
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So he said I could move in and have all my stuff in the spare bedroom and we would, you know, sleep in his bed.
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But all my stuff needed to go in there and that I needed to get rid of his ex-wife's belongings.
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Megan didn't know it at the time, but Rush's ex-wife's things were abandoned in a spare bedroom
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because she had fled after Rush chased her and her toddler out of the house with a hammer.
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Rush's ex-wife was in hiding, and she didn't want him to know where she was. oblivious to all of that
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Megan packed up all Rush's ex-wife's belongings and slowly got rid of it all before she officially
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moved in herself I move in I'm cooking dinner every night, making him breakfast, getting up
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before I have to go to work and making him coffee and packing his lunch and making sure
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he had everything he needed for the day like really like kind of like housewife stuff like I was just going all in I wanted him to just not I wanted him to think that I was perfect
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Realistically, was I? No, but I wanted him to think that I was perfect and I was worth his time.
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Everything seemed to be going swimmingly. Megan played housewife and then continued to work her own jobs while Rush served in the military.
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but the bliss didn't last long. After about a month of living there, there was a night he didn't come home. Didn't come home at all. Didn't answer my text messages.
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I literally didn't know if he was dead or alive. I was kind of worried, but I didn't have anybody
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else's contact information for them to check and see if he was alive. So I just sat on the couch
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awake all night, just rummaging over my feelings and my anxiety of what's going on, why is this
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happening? Megan sat biting her nails, imagining the worst case scenarios of what could have
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happened to Rush. Her thoughts were interrupted at sunrise when Rush strolled in the front door,
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like nothing had happened. And then he shows up at six o'clock in the morning, and he's like,
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hey, and I'm like, hey, I thought you were dead. Like, I didn't know if you were alive or not.
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Text message saying you are alive would be kind of, you know, that would be nice or I'm
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not coming home. That is when things started to get weird. Over the next little while, Rush's behavior started to become more and more questionable.
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And that started to happen a lot where he would just disappear for a day or two.
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And I'm living in his house. He's not even coming home to get clothes or food or anything. He's just gone. I wanted a man's love and approval so much that I dealt with other things that realistically I wouldn't put up with now.
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Regardless of Rush being gone without explanation, their relationship continued on.
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Rush decided he was going to buy a house, and the couple moved that fall. October 18th is when we moved into the house in Oceanway.
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And when he was looking at houses, he would take me along with him to see what I liked about the house and what I didn't like about the house.
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So I thought that we were more serious. I was like, oh, he's including me on this huge transaction. Like, this is a huge life choice, and he's including me, which I thought was so, I just thought that was so attractive. I was like, oh, he must really love me. And we picked out a house. It was a five-bedroom, three-bath, three-and-a-half bath. It was a two-story house. It was beautiful.
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They signed the paperwork for the new house on October 15th, which was Megan's 21st birthday.
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It felt like a gift. But just as Rush brought Megan's spirits up with the new house, they were crushed when his mother and sisters came to visit.
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And then his family comes for a weekend. technically he said we were not together because he was afraid of what his family would say about
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me being a white girl so realistically like they knew but rush was just trying to like not have an
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issue with his mom according to megan rush's mother was very unimpressed that he had decided
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to shack up with a white girl instead of a jamaican woman turns out racism is alive and well
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Just not the way you think. Rush was very close to his mother. He was the only boy with two sisters, and according to Megan, no woman would ever be good enough for her only son.
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Rush's mother had become very protective and involved with her only son after she split up with his father.
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Rush never accepted any olive branch his father extended. Rush did not like his father.
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From what I understand, it's because of the way he treated his mother. But then I wonder if Rush was the way he was because of his father.
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Rush helped his mother out, sending her money and supporting her in any way that he could.
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Which Megan didn't mind, but whenever Rush's family paid a visit, Megan said things were uncomfortable.
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His life was centered around her and her approval and her opinions and her wants and her desires
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and was very controlling when it came to relationships. But she lived in New York City.
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So when she was gone, it really wasn't there wasn't any control there because she was in
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New York City. So there wasn't that control. But when she came, it was just overwhelming.
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That weekend that they were in town, they left on Sunday night. Monday morning, I realized that I hadn't had a period.
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So I went and I took a pregnancy test. I got off work, went and bought one, came home, took it,
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and within seconds, that double line lit up. Like, there was no waiting five minutes.
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So I found out I'm pregnant. The news was shocking. Megan had just turned 21. She had only known Rush for five months.
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I was scared shitless. I was scared shitless. I didn't think I was ready to be a mom.
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This is not something I wanted at this moment in time. But I, talking to my dad,
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I knew that what was meant to be was meant to be. And when he found out I was pregnant, he was like, you and Rush are a team now.
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You have to be a team. You have to talk, communicate, grow together. But he was all about us being a team and being the best parents that we could be.
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Regardless of her father's positive and uplifting reaction to the pregnancy, Megan was nervous to tell Rush the news.
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she knew that when he came home from work he would want his 30 minutes to decompress
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rush had a strict rule that megan was not to bother him after work until he had some time to
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relax alone so i sat down on the couch and mind you his sister kim is still there his younger
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sister and his mom already flew back home but kim is still there and i was like hey kim have you
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heard from Rush? Like, when is he getting home? And she's like, oh, he's on his way. I'm like,
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okay. And he gets there. And I'm like, time is passing by too slow. But he gets, he walks in
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the door and I'm like, hey, can you come upstairs? I really need to talk to you. No, Megan, you know,
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it's my 30 minutes. I'm like, no, I really need to talk to you. Like, I really need you to come
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upstairs. And he's like, no, Megan, it's my 30 minutes. You know, like, basically, you know,
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the rules, like he's, you know, in charge of me or something. And I threw the pregnancy test at him.
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Megan waited for Rush's reaction. Surprise, shock, disbelief, joy. Not exactly. He gets so pissed off and he walks through the front door, slams it, and is screaming at the heavens,
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Why God? Why me? And I was taking back. I was like, what? and so I'm sitting there crying like hormones are in full effect and his sister Kim is like what
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just happened and she walked outside and he told her and then I'm sitting here crying on the couch
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like I'm about to just like if this is how he felt then I'm gonna go back home and live with
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my dad and I'll just do it there and we can co-bear it but like and then he walked inside
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he was calm and he's like okay this is what it is it's okay you know he was just like I wasn't
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expecting it this soon in our relationship. And so, you know, and he calmed down, but I was still like taken back by how he reacted
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in those first few moments. Megan's pregnancy was in full swing. She was scared, but she also knew she had the love and support of her family, especially
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her father. As the idea of being a mother settled in Megan's brain, she went to the doctor for
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an ultrasound and soon found out some even more shocking news. They did the ultrasound.
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They're looking and there's like, oh, here you are. Here's baby. Here's the baby. And I'm like,
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are you sure there's not a second one in there? Because in the waiting room, I just felt like
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I was going to have twins and everything was going to be okay. Like everything is going to be okay.
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And you're going to have twins. And I was like, I really firmly believe that. And so when we went
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in there and they're like, well, let me check around. And they're like, oh, yep, here's baby
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number two. And in my head, I'm like, I told you, I told you. Megan and Rush were going to have twins,
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two identical baby girls. But as Megan's pregnancy progressed and fall turned to winter,
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Rush continued his strange behavior. He would be out all night or leave for days. He would insist
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that Megan allowed him to go through her phone. Things became strained in January,
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and Rush told Megan they weren't together anymore romantically. He no longer thought of her as his girlfriend,
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but he still wanted to continue living together. Let's just try to be roommates and co-parent in the same home for our children.
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And it wasn't ideal. It wasn't what I wanted. But at the same time, I wanted my children to have a mother and a father that loved them and cared for them.
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And I also didn't want Rush to not experience everything that I was experiencing.
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Things started to deteriorate between the couple. Rush was clearly sleeping with other women behind her back.
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Megan was lonely. Rush was gone all the time. She was his roommate, after all. so she would casually message other men for a little confidence boost.
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No harm, no foul. When Rush found out that I was messaging other men, he lost it.
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He lost it. And so I called my dad and said, look, I'm moving out. I need your help.
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Megan's father, Jimmy, came over and helped his pregnant daughter pack her bags and go home.
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My dad helping me move out that day and walking through Rush's house was apparently the biggest disrespect in the Jamaican culture to him.
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That my dad was stomping around his house, taking his woman from him. The couple stayed apart for a while until surprisingly it was Rush's mother who convinced him to save the relationship.
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And that his mom was telling him basically, what did you expect? You're not treating her the way she deserves to be treated.
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She's the mother of your children, and you are treating her like shit. That Valentine's Day, Rush asked Megan out to dinner.
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He apologized for his behavior and promised that he would be everything she needed in a partner He even made their love official on Facebook
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How romantic. He puts me on Facebook and announces to the world that we're having twins and that we're together.
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He told me that the reason he blew up is because he didn't realize how much he loved me.
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and so that on February the 14th on Valentine's Day that's why you know it's the day of love he
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wanted to show me how much he really loved me and wanted to be with me so I moved in I moved back in
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that night talking to myself you know oh this is going to be different this time is going to be
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different now he really loves me now he now he's aware of his feelings like he's not running away
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from them. That's what I, in my immature mind, that's what I thought. Megan may have been immature,
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but she was also pregnant. She had a stake in his game, and she was willing to try and make it work.
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Rush gave her every reason to believe that he had changed. The couple set up a nursery for the
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babies, stocked up with years worth of clothes, toys, and diapers, and they decided on baby names.
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Then, in her third trimester, Megan was put on immediate emergency bed rest. I am not supposed to be cleaning. I am not supposed to be cooking. I literally am told to
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stay on the couch, laid up, or in the bed, laid up. I am not supposed to do anything.
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Their heart rates were deselling every time I would get up and start moving, and then my blood
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pressure would elevate. The twins were stressed, and I needed to relax. Megan took it easy from then
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on and went to the doctor every week for fetal monitoring. During one visit when she was 33 weeks pregnant, she was told she had to deliver the babies.
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Like, right now. Megan was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section. The babies would be seven weeks premature.
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We met on June 8, 2014, and we brought our girls into this world on June 8, 2015, exactly a year later.
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The birth of our twin girls was a whirlwind of happiness and joy, despite the chaos that the surgery had brought.
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Rush gets there, he changes into his gear that they give him at the hospital. We get into the room to do the C-section, and they're born.
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They're born. There was Hayden Rose Wilson, and there was Kayden Reese Wilson. The couple called the girls by their middle names, Rose and Reese.
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Megan was in love the minute she met her beautiful babies. They were the loves of my life.
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I love them so much. and they were beautiful and tiny and they were in preemie clothes and they were so delicate
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but their snuggles they were the best and they were in the NICU. Reese was in the NICU for 21 days.
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Rose was in the NICU for 28 days mainly just because of their size. They were so small they
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had to be on a feeding tube and basically we were just trying to get them to five pounds
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so that they could be transported home. Reese got to go home first while Rose had to stay at the NICU.
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Then something amazing happened. In the NICU, when Reese went home and Rose was there by herself,
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she gained two and a half pounds in one week. And all the nurses were like, she wanted to get home to her sister.
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she did not want to be away from her sister because we thought she was going to be in the NICU for another month.
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Twins are pretty incredible, huh? You hear those stories about couples in their 90s
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who've been married for 60 years and then the husband dies and the wife follows.
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But imagine the bond you'd have being in the womb with someone. It's almost psychic in nature.
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Rose and Reese needed one another. They were all each other knew. That is, until they were born and put on their mother's chest.
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Speaking of which, Megan was so in love with her daughters, she adored being a new mom.
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I loved it. I loved it. I loved being with my daughters. and I loved I I would do different activities with them to build their eyes sight and the colors and
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I would put on different tv shows like I would put on um planet earth and they would just watch
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it with all the colors and the sound and it was a very soothing show the way the guy talks I was
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doing all these different things I was playing with them I would rotate them through different
00:35:34
sections of this giant living room. I loved being a mom. Honestly, during that time, that was my true,
00:35:42
my true calling was being a mom. The babies were growing healthier each day and developing
00:35:49
little personalities The first stuffed animals I bought them were from Carter and it was the last two one the last two girl toys it was a beautiful fox and a beautiful owl and i was like these are perfect for them little did i know how perfect they would be
00:36:12
reese she was our little owl she would just observe and watch and she would coo and she was
00:36:23
just so, just so calm all the time. So, so calm and just love to look around and see what was going
00:36:32
on. She loved to hear her voice. She was my calm baby. Rose, she was definitely like a fox.
00:36:41
She was feisty. She wanted food when she wanted it. She wanted to watch the fan when she wanted
00:36:48
And she was very demanding, complete opposite of Reese. I mean, she was just I loved all she was spicy and I loved it.
00:36:58
I loved that they were so different. But yet when you would put them in the crib, they would talk to each other all night.
00:37:07
They would sit in the crib in the morning and just coo and talk to each other. They wouldn't cry for me to come get them.
00:37:13
They would just sit there and talk to each other and hold hands. and I mean they were doing that at five months old.
00:37:19
Like they loved each other. Megan watched with awe and amazement as her twin girls developed a bond
00:37:26
just like she had with her own twin brother. It was a blessing and she felt lucky every day
00:37:34
despite the fact that things with Rush were becoming increasingly worse. When he was angry Rush would call Megan fat.
00:37:44
He'd insult her skills as a mother. Rush would tell Megan she was ruining his life.
00:37:51
Everything would be better if she would just back off. So Megan would pull away.
00:37:57
Then Rush would complain that she was ignoring him, not tending to his needs. She was abandoning him.
00:38:07
The turmoil was endless. About how I'm not a good mom, and then it's I'm not doing enough, but then it's I'm doing too much.
00:38:15
I'm doing too much, but then it goes back to you're not doing enough. Nothing was ever perfect.
00:38:23
Nothing was ever good enough for him. The fights escalated. Rush didn't just yell or slam doors.
00:38:32
He started throwing things at Megan. Little things like a glass photo frame. Another time he threw a coffee table across the room
00:38:41
and the ceramic bowl on top smashed into a million pieces. He goes outside screaming after he did that
00:38:50
and I just went and got a broom and a dustpan in the trash can. I, I, I can't even tell you why I didn't react to that,
00:39:01
but I just shut down. Rush's anger became more and more unpredictable as babies Rose and Reese grew.
00:39:11
There were so many happy, tender moments. Rush was a good father and he loved his baby girls, but his anger and mood swings were too much to dodge unscathed.
00:39:25
On Facebook, though, Rush would post pictures of the babies and Megan professing his love for his family.
00:39:34
I wanted to say a special thank you to my best friend, lover, and mother of my kids.
00:39:40
Even though you went down two spots in my heart, being third is still a good spot.
00:39:47
Can't wait to see what the future holds. This happy image that Rush boasted on social media was nothing close to the truth.
00:39:57
Me and Rush were in an argument, and I was sitting in the rocking chair pumping breast milk,
00:40:06
and I was like, I can't deal with your attitude anymore. It's so overwhelming. I can't handle this
00:40:14
anymore. Why can't you be like you were when we first met? And he sat down on the pedestal and
00:40:22
pulled the rocking chair so fast and was screaming at me in my face saying, if I leave again, I'm
00:40:29
going to regret it. He'll never take me back if I leave again. If I leave, I'm destroying our family.
00:40:38
And I was like, okay, okay, I'm not going to leave. I'm not going to leave. Well, then he throws me on the bed. Like I get up to like, go check on the girls because I hear them
00:40:49
in the, in their nursery, which was right across the halls from our bedroom. And he's like, where are you going? And I'm like, I'm going to go check on the girls. He's like,
00:40:59
no, come here. He grabs my wrist, throws me on the bed, and then proceeds to rape me.
00:41:05
And I didn't even fight. I just laid there. And he's trying to call my dad so my dad could hear what he was doing to me.
00:41:19
Megan was at her lowest point. She had been sexually humiliated by Rush, the man she was supposed to be able to trust
00:41:28
she was mortified I didn't speak to anybody for days three days on November 13th I called my dad
00:41:38
and he had been he was worried because I called I hadn't called Rush had called but it looked like I had called
00:41:46
Rush called him three times in a row and he thought there was an emergency and I told him why he had three missed calls And I told him why And what Rush was doing to me And my dad proceeded to cry
00:42:07
And tell me what abuse is. And he's like, Megan, if you don't leave now, it's just going to get worse.
00:42:15
I took a break and I just prayed to the Lord and asked him. sorry and just asked him what what i needed to what i needed to do to protect my girls and to
00:42:28
protect me with all this new information that i didn't necessarily believe but my gut was telling
00:42:33
me it was true and so i called my dad and said dad i need you to get here in the next 30 minutes
00:42:40
i'm starting to pack our things we're gonna leave megan knew she had to go she had the support and
00:42:47
love of her family and friends. She would be okay. The girls would be safe. She just had to try to peacefully
00:42:57
co-parent with Rush the best she could. But for now, for today, she needed to get the hell
00:43:05
out of the house before things got any worse. And Megan had no idea how bad things
00:43:15
could really get. The End abusive relationship with her military boyfriend, Rush Wilson.
00:43:52
After Rush had raped Megan, she decided that was enough, and she had to get out.
00:44:01
After confirming her dad was on his way, Megan asked her friend Sarah to also join them for
00:44:09
an extra set of hands. Rush was at work at his naval base. If they all worked together quickly,
00:44:15
they could have Megan and the girls out before he got home. And we put their car seats in our car and my purse in our car and their diaper bag in
00:44:25
the car. And Sarah is trying to calm them down, but they need to eat. They haven't had their food, their bottle yet.
00:44:33
But I'm trying to get everything before Rush comes home. But Rush is blowing up my phone, telling me not to leave, that he knows I'm leaving and
00:44:41
to just stay until he gets there so that we can have a conversation. and to not make this decision on my own.
00:44:49
Rush was texting Megan. Move into your mom's house. I'll come see the kids on the weekend if you want me to fuck off.
00:44:58
And fuck you. I'll stay out until your dad and mommy come fucking get you. I need a woman.
00:45:06
I'm sick of wifing a child. Rush kept calling Megan, but she didn't pick up. He kept calling.
00:45:15
She ignored him. His messages became more frantic, more scared. It was as if he knew that she was ready to go.
00:45:28
Yeah, this relationship is not for me. I don't care if you leave. All I ask is that you leave a note saying you left and leave everything I bought.
00:45:39
Take whatever you came with. Please don't take anything I paid for. That's when Megan finally texted back that she was leaving.
00:45:49
She couldn't do it anymore. So, you really gonna leave? You really done? Megan, I'm calling you back.
00:46:00
Please don't. Let me take the time to come home. I want a chance to talk. This is our life, Megan.
00:46:09
Don't make this decision on your own. Megan, her father Jimmy and her best friend Sarah
00:46:16
kept packing and getting baby Rose and baby Reese ready to go then they heard something at the door
00:46:25
and he walks in and he's in his dress he's in his khaki top and his black pants with his black shiny shoes
00:46:32
that like just click on the floor and he takes off his khaki top in the kitchen and he puts his phone down there
00:46:41
He tells my dad, hey, Jimmy, do you mind if you go outside so me and Megan can have a conversation?
00:46:51
And I say, yeah, the girls need to eat anyway, so I'll make their bottles real quick.
00:46:56
I made their bottles. And we sat down in the living room that was in the front of the house.
00:47:03
And we sat there. And he proceeded to ask me a series of questions. Are you for real?
00:47:11
Do you remember what I told you that if you left again, you would be ruining our family and I would never give you another chance?
00:47:19
Are you sure you want to do this? So the truck is packed. You're really going? And I said, yes.
00:47:27
Rush stood up immediately. His face turned to stone. So I have Rose in one arm and Reese in the other arm.
00:47:36
he goes and he shuts the front door and heads to the closet that has the ar-15 in it
00:47:41
he looked at me and he said i'm gonna show you what over is bitch i'm gonna show you
00:47:50
and i'm gonna kill your dad and you're gonna watch i'm gonna take everything from you and you're gonna watch me do it
00:48:00
I then had the girls in my arms and I'm screaming, Dad, run, Dad, run, don't come in, don't come in,
00:48:10
please run, call 911, and what does any dad do? He ran through that door. He ran through that door and Rush riddled him with bullets.
00:48:25
And my dad kept getting up and getting up and getting up, And I'm like, why won't he just stay down?
00:48:30
Why does he keep getting up? And I get from one couch to the next. And my dad's in the doorway.
00:48:38
And that's where the bullets are. And I'm trying to figure out how to get the girls out.
00:48:42
And then I look at Rush. And he looks at me. And he points the gun at me. And he shoots me once in the stomach.
00:48:49
And I touch my stomach. And I can feel blood rushing down my body. And I look at him.
00:48:56
And I'm like, he just fucking shot me. And then he riddled me with bullets. Rush shot Megan again and again and again.
00:49:08
Then when he was done inflicting the bullets on the mother of his babies, he turned the gun towards his five-month-old daughters.
00:49:19
The girls were shot in the middle of the back of their head. She did it on purpose.
00:49:24
they had to wear bonnets at their funeral because of the bullet holes in the back of their head.
00:49:32
Reese laid on the couch, her little arms and legs stretching and squiggling, unaware of the violence going on around her.
00:49:42
Rush rolled her over and shot her execution style, blowing his daughter's fragile skull wide open.
00:49:51
her brains exploded onto her shoulders and the couch cushions as Megan screamed in agony watching
00:50:00
her baby girl die Rush did the same to baby Rose while she was clutched in her mother's arms
00:50:09
then he turned the gun back to Megan he shoots me in the leg so I fall down and I'm just being screamed at play dead play dead play dead and I just lay there
00:50:23
and I have one of my daughters in my arm lifeless and I have one of my daughters on the couch
00:50:34
that fell on the couch when I fell back lifeless my dad is screaming in agony and then Rush goes outside and shoots off the gun.
00:50:46
So I thought he killed Sarah too. But Rush had not killed Sarah. Sarah had fled down the street with her cell phone and called 911
00:50:57
as she ran away from the distant sound of Rush's AR-15. Jacksonville, number one, 950.
00:51:06
Hello? Yes. I think, um, I think my friends, there's like a domestic violence thing going on at their house.
00:51:15
Yeah, and I think I just ripped and shot. You what? You think I just ripped and shot?
00:51:21
Give me the address. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm trying to find, I'm trying to find the address.
00:51:28
Where did they live at, ma'am? As Sarah frantically tried to find the address in her phone, Megan was bleeding to death.
00:51:37
in her living room, next to her dead baby daughters and her dying father. As she laid on the ground clinging to life, Rush walked back inside.
00:51:51
And then proceeds to come inside, stand over me and commit suicide. In one final act of unspeakable violence, Rush stood over the woman he claimed to love,
00:52:03
put the gun to his chin and pulled the trigger. He blew his head off and fell backwards towards the couch
00:52:12
that was spattered with his baby's blood and membranes. Just try and put yourself in Megan's position for a minute.
00:52:24
Really think hard about this. Your five-month-old baby girls have just been murdered in front of you by their father.
00:52:33
Then he shoots you and stands over you and blows his head off. Your father is down the hallway.
00:52:42
You can hear him trying to stay alive. You can hear him gasping, but you can't move.
00:52:49
When I know Rush is dead, I tell my dad how sorry I am. How I didn't know this was going to happen and how sorry I am.
00:52:57
And he asked me where the girls are and I told him they were dead. And my dad told me that he wasn't going to make it and that he was going to watch over them.
00:53:11
That he was going to watch over them. And I sat up and I was shot in the wrist so I couldn't get up and my leg was riddled in pieces.
00:53:24
And I didn't really know how I was going to get to a phone. But I heard Rush's phone ringing in the kitchen and I knew that was too far.
00:53:33
My phone was in Sarah's car, and there's no way I'm making it outside. And then I saw my dad's phone.
00:53:38
So I lift my leg to as much forward as I can, and I butt scoot. I butt scoot to my dad's phone, and I call 911.
00:53:50
911. My boyfriend shot me my twin my dad and my boyfriend please come He did what ma He shot us Where he at now ma He shot himself
00:54:06
He shot himself, too? Yes, please, ma'am. I've been trying to call him to the phone for 15 minutes.
00:54:12
My dad is standing here bleeding out and bleeding out, and I think my best friend's been bleeding out,
00:54:17
and my kids are dead. He shot everybody in the house? Yes. How many people, ma'am?
00:54:27
I don't know if you're telling me. I've already said... And then I tried to lay on my dad to create pressure so he's not bleeding out anymore.
00:54:41
But every time I tried to lean on him, he would scream in agony. And then the police showed up.
00:54:50
And my dad took his last breath. Listen to the next clip carefully. When the police officer enters the home, he's so shocked and terrified by the carnage, he yells to everyone to stay back.
00:55:05
Ma'am? I'm ready to get your phone. Where? I'm ready to get your phone. Where? Everybody's dead.
00:55:14
Oh my God. Oh my God. We have the crime scene photos from this day. and believe me, you do not want to see them.
00:55:27
I could barely do it, in fact. I think I saw one photo and closed the window immediately.
00:55:34
Now imagine what Megan saw, what Megan knows and what she will never forget for the rest of her life.
00:55:44
Rush wanted to show her the definition of the word over. He wanted to keep her suffering until her dying breath.
00:55:56
What a disgusting, inhumane thing to do to another person. And the EMTs loaded me on this yellow tarp, put me in the ambulance and took me away.
00:56:10
And that was just, I was awake every single second until they put me out with anesthesia.
00:56:19
Megan was put under so doctors could tend to her various wounds. She underwent five surgeries.
00:56:29
Megan bled out three times on the operating table. She had lost an eye in the shooting.
00:56:37
Her leg was shattered. It would be a miracle if she ever walked again. But none of that mattered because her father was dead
00:56:47
and her baby girls were dead. In the LDS, the Latter-day Saint religion, we believe in priesthood blessings,
00:56:57
which is basically where you pray upon someone and you listen to the Spirit and you pray upon them.
00:57:07
And when I woke up, I asked if I had missed my dad's funeral. And they said no, that they were waiting for me to wake up.
00:57:21
And I asked if I had missed my daughter's funeral. And they said no, we were waiting for you to wake up.
00:57:34
And then I looked at my mom and I was like, I need the bishop to come give me a blessing.
00:57:40
I need to know if what I saw was real. I just can't believe it. I need the bishop to come and pray upon me
00:57:55
so I know what to do from here on. The funeral for baby Rose, baby Reese, and Jimmy Hyatt happened a few weeks later.
00:58:06
And then November 23rd is the funeral day. and we bury the girls and my dad, and the girls are next to my dad, and they were buried in little
00:58:21
bonnets because of the bullet holes, and they had the most beautiful bishop dresses, and
00:58:32
and I held their hands, which is kind of symbolic because when they were in the NICU,
00:58:39
I couldn't hold them for three days and Reese for five days. So I welcomed them into this world by holding their hands.
00:58:50
And holding their hands was how I showed them love at first and just, and then as I said goodbye to them, I held their hands.
00:59:03
So I welcomed them into this world by holding their hands. and I let them know how much I was going to miss them while I was here on earth.
00:59:12
Anyone that has had to bury a child, when you can't hold them anymore. For me, I was going back from Reese and Rose.
00:59:22
I was going back and forth holding their hands, and then I had to have this moment.
00:59:27
I had to have this moment with myself where I had to be like, you know what? I can't stay here forever.
00:59:34
so I need to let go of their hands and I need to let them go but I know that God has my back
00:59:40
and I know that they're fine and I know that they're safe and I know that they're with Heavenly
00:59:45
Father and I know my dad is watching over them in heaven I know these things and this is this
00:59:53
is just their physical body and one day one day I see them again but for now I have to say goodbye to their bodies And I think that was the hardest thing out of this whole situation was having to say goodbye to them
01:00:09
Since Rush killed himself after committing the murders, there wasn't much of an investigation.
01:00:16
But they did search the house and document the crime scene. When the detectives went through the house, and they went through everything, they asked if I knew about this weapon or that weapon or this weapon or that weapon, and that they were hidden all over the house.
01:00:37
From machetes to hunting knives to other guns, all kinds of weapons hidden. There were so many weapons.
01:00:46
They were taken back. why was this weapon taped to the couch? Who really lives in this much fear?
01:00:55
Paranoid or not what Rush did was absolutely sorry demonic it was unexplainable he wanted to inflict as much pain on Megan as he possibly could was he always this evil and I
01:01:29
and he was just trying to hide it and then it just it just escaped all at once I wrestled with
01:01:35
the fact that he was bipolar and unmedicated I found that out later on and I I honestly
01:01:46
I think I know that wherever he is now that he is immensely regretful of the decisions he made
01:01:58
and that nothing will ever change the damage that he did and nothing will ever take away the fact that he
01:02:10
murdered three people and And nothing, nothing in my head will ever explain. If you can understand why he did what he did, then you, you have some issues.
01:02:28
Because I cannot understand why anyone would take a life of a little child, let alone two five-month-olds.
01:02:36
Not surprisingly, Rush had a history with the law, and it wasn't just traffic violations.
01:02:44
In 2013, Rush strangled and beat his ex-girlfriend after she refused to have sex with him before work.
01:02:55
When she tried to call the police, he broke her phone and tore off her clothes. She ran outside with her 8-year-old daughter and got help from a neighbor.
01:03:06
They reported the incident and Rush was arrested for domestic battery. He was forced to take domestic violence awareness training courses through the U.S. Navy.
01:03:18
A lot of good that did. In January of 2014, six months before Rush met Megan on Plenty of Fish, another relationship ended in violence.
01:03:29
A fight between Rush and an estranged girlfriend of his escalated to a physical fight.
01:03:36
She carried a small gun for protection, and when he lunged at her, she shot him in the groin.
01:03:43
She was looking at very serious assault charges and jail time, until the prosecution dove into Rush's criminal history.
01:03:52
Rush's ex-wife, the one whose belongings Megan had to dispose of before she moved in, was still in hiding.
01:04:00
she wouldn't speak with the media even after Rush was declared dead but Megan didn't know any of this
01:04:11
of course how would she she was 20 years old when she met Rush practically a teenager
01:04:21
the damage that Rush did is something that I have to fight with internally because I have to be honest to myself,
01:04:33
but I also can't let myself get so poor, miserable, Megan. I had three choices when I woke up at the hospital
01:04:42
and as I walked through this earth. One was commit suicide. The stats on a parent that has lost a child tragically,
01:04:54
I think it's over 75% in the first five years. so I could have committed suicide and no one would have blamed me.
01:05:02
The second option was poor, pitiful Megan. Woe is me, Megan. The rest of my life, just wanting a pity party,
01:05:11
not doing anything to better my life, not doing anything, just living life until I die as miserable,
01:05:17
and no one would have blamed me. But then the third option was to take our story
01:05:25
and use it to spread domestic violence awareness. Take our story and make sure that another mother
01:05:31
doesn't have to go through what I went through and what my mother went through. Rush's murderous, cowardly act of filicide, patricide,
01:05:41
and domestic violence didn't just affect the family he tore apart. His actions made unforgettable waves
01:05:50
to many who witnessed what happened. one of the police officers I friends with most of the people most of the rescue team and the police officers that were there One retired He was like I done I can say anything else
01:06:05
I'm retired the next week. One of the police officers will never take a house call ever again.
01:06:12
They literally sit in an office. There's a firefighter, a rescuer, that has such severe PTSD that he cannot function.
01:06:24
There's another rescuer who actually lives one street over from the house where everything happened.
01:06:30
And his wife, who was there with the newborn baby. And they can't walk down that street anymore.
01:06:37
And I remember seeing them walk down that street with their stroller and their children.
01:06:44
And they can't even walk down that street anymore. my brother my brother doesn't have his best friend
01:06:55
he doesn't and he needed my dad and he doesn't have that my brother lives with me and my now husband
01:07:07
and it's very hard to watch him knowing why he is the way he is And he just... He hates the world.
01:07:24
Megan and her brother miss their father every single day. Megan can't help but wonder how life could have been different had she known who Rush really was.
01:07:36
But she couldn't have stopped this. Megan was the last in a long line of Rush's female targets.
01:07:44
that's the thing with domestic infusers is you never know when their breaking point is
01:07:51
is it with you is it after what is it we have to be diligent and actually know who we're with
01:08:00
to protect ourselves if you knew that all you had to do was go look up their records
01:08:07
and you can do it for free from the the county's records and that you could save yourself so
01:08:14
much turmoil and heartache and possibly save your life if he's a domestic violence abuser,
01:08:21
wouldn't you want to? Megan attributes her recovery to her faith. She knows God kept her alive
01:08:30
for a reason. Not everybody has faith. Not everybody believes in God, but that's how I'm
01:08:37
surviving, is my faith. That's how I get through every single day, is my faith. Where I am now,
01:08:44
Versus where I was seven years ago. November is seven years. I would have first graders.
01:08:52
My kids would be in first grade. They would be in ballet and gymnastics. And they would have a whole life.
01:09:01
And that was stolen from them. Rush stole so many things that day. He stole Megan's father from her family.
01:09:10
He stole his baby daughter's lives. He played God and wanted to shake the world into darkness.
01:09:19
But faith, family, therapy, and love have gotten Megan to where she is today. She has left Florida for Texas.
01:09:30
She's in school full-time and works in the healthcare field. She hopes to one day have children again after her final round of surgeries
01:09:41
with the lovely man she's now married to. He is the best thing that ever happened to me.
01:09:47
When he came into my life, I was so depressed and so miserable, and I wasn't showering, and the joke is,
01:09:57
I loved you when you were smelly. And so he has showed me so much love and care that I never thought I'd ever experienced.
01:10:09
I didn't even think it was real. So who I thought was my Prince Charming and Rush, who ruined my idea of a relationship,
01:10:20
my husband is my Prince Charming. Rush changed Megan's life forever, but it wasn't the way he intended.
01:10:31
I was awake every single second until they put me out with anesthesia in the trauma room.
01:10:40
And I knew I was going to live. And I knew now that I had a purpose. And that purpose was to share our stories so that women understand how bad it can get and how severe domestic violence is.
01:10:55
And you don't have to be physically hit. I was never physically hit. I had things thrown at me, but actually his hands coming in contact with my body to physically hit me, that never happened.
01:11:06
But he tried to kill me, and he killed my family. And he wanted to take everything from me and make me watch.
01:11:14
So for the past seven years, I have been in therapy. I have come up with the right amount of anxiety and depression meds.
01:11:25
I'm still having leg surgeries to this day. but I know I have a purpose, and I know why I'm here.
01:11:34
It's taken years of mental anguish and therapeutic work, but Megan says she's finally at a place where she can forgive Rush for all that he did.
01:11:48
Megan has made it her life's work to survive and tell her family's story. She wants the memory of her daughters and her father.
01:12:00
to live on. She survived that day to stand as a message to other women suffering like she was.
01:12:10
And that message I bring to you today. You out there, you know who you are. You are not alone.
01:12:22
there is help available the world is full of good people who want to help you reach out to them
01:12:35
do it today I forgive you and I love you as a child of God and I know I know that
01:12:44
I know that he's sad about the decision he made but I forgive you. Thank you for joining us once again If you like the show we have something called Plus You can find it at sword and skill dot com slash plus Please subscribe if you can Until next time
01:13:40
Stay safe. Hi, my name is Jennifer Lopez. I have to tell you, fuck me, man. I just listened to episode 230 and fucking masterpiece.
01:14:20
Just say this deserves the highest award possible. And by the way, you ruined all other podcasts for me
01:14:29
because this is the only one that just has everything. So thank you for your work.
01:14:35
Love you. Appreciate you. I've been listening to her for years now. Do the best.
01:14:39
Bye. you