The Murder of Jeffrey Dryden: The Grim Truth Surrounding Male Domestic Abuse Read Online Free PDF

advantage of him with all her womanly attributes, threats and
even blackmail.
    Thus, that night that Jeff went to go
see Chiquita to break off the sex only relationship, she threatened
him with the truth. Telling Jeff she had grown tired of living with
her mother and wanted to move out and that he was going to move in
with her, he was going to take care of her.
    He would do all this and more while she
stayed home and did whatever she wanted to. From time-to-time, she
would be there for him to love physically. Allowing both of them to
feed their own sexual beasts, but if he ever decided to leave her,
to abandon her she would be forced to call his employer and let
them know all about his yearning addiction and perhaps, if need be,
even inform the cops of his stash.
    In Jeff’s mind, this threat was grim.
“He worried about his two previous possession charges and how the,
‘Three Strikes Law,” would send him to jail for the rest of his
life or at the very least he would lose his job and be unable to
get another one” Jason stated. “Chiquita took full advantage of
this fear every time she beat him, every time he got it in him to
leave only to be shot down time and time again.” He
added.
    Though I could understand Jeff’s fear
about losing his job, the one thing that I found sadder than
anything else was his fear of the Three Strikes Law. There were
several things that I found quite disturbing when I heard this from
Jason, several thoughts which ran through my mind that really made
me depressed.
    The first thought was that the Three
Strikes Law only applied to convicted Felonies of VIOLENT crime,
the personal use of Marijuana is a misdemeanor charge not a felony,
thus, the Three Strikes Law does not apply. The same is true with
Possession of Marijuana though there is Jail time of up to a year
with this charge it again would not enact the Three Strikes
Law.
    Furthermore, and even more sad is that
the “Three Strikes Law,” is not practiced in the state of Michigan
and thus even if Jeff’s previous charges were Felony charges, he
wouldn’t go to jail for life if Chiquita called the cops and told
them he was using it for his personal use. Sadly Jeff’s fear was a
fear based, and produced from the ideals and “truth” brought about
by a Mediated Culture.

CHAPTER 5:
    JULY 20, 2010
    The Long Gaze
    Around 11 am the next morning, I found
myself standing with my mother on the porch of her house. Oddly,
though it was Tuesday, the neighborhood seemed quiet, almost
surreal.
    If ever there was a time in my life
that I thought her smoking was a good thing, it was at that very
moment, as it was quite apparent she hadn’t slept due to the events
of the previous day and that the stress of it all was breaking her
down both physically and emotionally.
    Looking at her face as she continued to
gaze out across the street, I could see a slight redness in her
eyes. The resonance of tears continuously being shed; a slight,
abrasive, almost crackling of her voice as she spoke, a sign of
sorrow in her heart, which continued to build deep
inside.
    “ Have a rough day?” I asked
being my sarcastic self. “Yesterday,” she spoke softly as she gazed
at the empty house across the street, her eyes not really fixed on
anything noticeable, anything direct. “Yesterday we went to order
the coffin for Jeff… needless to say Paula didn’t take it well… but
what mother would, what parent would in the same situation?” She
asked, not really expecting an answer to her question as she took a
long drawn out inhale on her cigarette, allowing the smoke flavored
nicotine to reach deep inside, filling her with the fix, the
trivial want of ease she needed at that moment.
    “ That girl… that girl needs
to pay for what she’s done… all the pain she’s caused,” she hissed
only to hush her words, stopping mid-thought as if trying to force
herself not dwell on such things, at least not for the time
being.
    “ Later that day… after…,”
she