Voice: These litigants were together for five years, engaged with twins, but they liked to drink a lot together. And she says he often got very drunk and very angry. It all came to a head at a sci fi convention when the subject of cheating came up. Something they were both very familiar with. Let's listen.
JM: Okay, now the door was open, he's standing just outside the door. What is behind him?
MP: a balcony
JM: Where'd the ring go?
MP: He says it went down, downstairs.
JM: Where did you see the ring go?
MP: I saw it land here (points to her chest), I aimed it right at his chest.
JM: But he didn't then go to look for it. He didn't bend over?
MP: He didn't do anything that I recall, I just remember turning around grabbing some of my stuff and I remember him saying to the officer “can I go down and look for it.” They went down to look for it and
JM: So it's not made up that the ring went overboard.
MP: well, you never know..
JM: No, I do know, because if he's saying “can I go down and look for it” they've all just looked down at the floor and it's not there.
MP: Yeah
JM: Then what happened?
MP: From that point, I packed the rest of my stuff in clear bags and he decided he was gonna leave, he left me and two of his other friends in Atlanta, um, early in the morning he drove home just after that happened. And luckily I had enough money in my account to rent a car.
JM: So you drove the car from Atlanta to?
MP: To our house, where he was
JM: Which is where?
MP: in Orlando.
JM: And then when you get there what happens?
MP: And then after that, got in the car, he followed me to the airport to turn it back to the rental car
JM: No, no no no, wait, what happened. Don't skip that. You get to the house, it's now the next day
MP: We get to the house, everything's fine. He's crying, I'm crying, he's sorry, I'm sorry. He's sitting on the floor, I'm sitting on his lap. That was really all that it was. We brushed it under the rug and I stayed with him for a few more months after that until we got into another argument and I mentioned that I might move out, to a friend, in the heat of the moment which I wasn't planning on doing. A couple weeks were going by, he was going out of town, got wind that I was (uses hands to make quotation marks) talking about moving out, which I wasn't and
JM: No, you said you were.
MP: No, I wasn't moving out,
JM: No, but you said that you had said that you were.
MP: Oh yeah, no, well I was talking to a friend and I was like “well maybe I should just move out, you know, this isn't going to work, we keep trying, we keep doing this we're in and out, in and out”
JM: It's clearly not gonna work, it's clearly not gonna work, it's clearly not gonna work.
MP: Yeah, obviously not, so
JM: By the way, this is not for the sake of the kids. This is because you're like drugs to each other, you're addicted to each other. But this is a very, very bad idea. Because it is not good for children to grow up in this kind of conflict. It is very very bad for them.
MP: Oh, absolutely not
JM: It is so much better for them if each of you move on, and have a sane, mature adult relationship with another human being than it is for you two to continue to do this
MP: That's all that I want, I agree 100%
JM: And I'm not talking about the dress-up
MP: Yeah
JM: You don't have a single picture (to DS)
MP: We've been apart now...
JM: I'm not gonna friend you on Facebook, I want a picture here, go ahead.
MP: I don't, so anyway we returned the car, I stayed with him, oh go back we had another argument which, of course, that's bound to happen, just swept that one under the rug, here comes another one. He was going out of town for a bachelor party, so to be in control of the situation, to make sure that I wasn't leaving, he himself went to U-Haul, rented a U-Haul, .packed most of my belongings, most of the kids' belongings into a U-Haul and dropped me off and the three kids, cause I have an 11-year old prior to a two-bedroom house.
JM: Who's two-bedroom house?
MP: My mother's, just dropped us off with the U-Haul with some of our stuff and said “here you go” and left.
JM: Actually that was sort of helpful because if you were gonna move out for real, then he moved you out.
MP: Well, um, yeah, it got everything started
DS: The reason I got the U-Haul was because I came home from work on two different occasions and she had took the kids and left and took a bunch of my property as well. So I wasn't gonna have her move out a third time
MP: That was after the Craigs list ad where he mailed pictures of himself to other people
JM: Wow! Wow, it just doesn't end with you two.
MP: It doesn't
JM: So tell me about the ring going over board
DS: She threw the ring and it bounced over the railing and down nine floors. I looked over the railing and I tried to keep an eye on the ring
JM: could you see it? What do you mean you tried to keep an eye on it?
DS: I tried to see where it landed
JM: You could actually see in the dark?
DS: It was the hotel lobby, it was all lit up
JM: Oh it's an atrium
DS: It's an atrium, yes
JM: So it's a corridor, there's open air, so it's open, but it's covered and it's going down nine flights, ten flights.
DS: Yes, there's about 500 people down in the lobby
JM: Good God above, so did they know what was going on
DS: No we were nine flights up
JM: Yeah, but still, there's a commotion going on. You don't think everyone in the atrium is looking up “ah, it's raining a diamond ring”. Were you able to find the diamond ring?
DS: No
JM: Do you tell her “you've got to pay me for the ring?”
MP: No
DS: Well she said she was gonna pay me back with her tax return.
JM: So you tell her you're gonna pay me for the ring?
DS: Yes, and she says “well I need to get my *advertiser censored* redone, it's been eight years
(MP laughs sarcastically)
JM: “I need to get my *advertiser censored* redone, so I don't have any money for the ring?”
MP: No, shakes her head, smiling
DS: Then she ends up buying some spray tanning equipment to start a spray-tanning business and um.
JM: but according to you she says I'll pay you back for the ring
DS: Yes
MP: And according to you what?
MP: No ma'am, he said that maybe when we get our tax returns, he would pay for half, I would pay for half and we can get the engagement ring back. But at this point, we split up, went our separate ways, obviously we're not getting back together the engagement ring, unfortunately was a loss
JM: What theory do you have that he doesn't see a penny for any of this, is what? that you gave it to him?
MP: I threw it at him, I gave it to him.
JM: He should have been a better catch?
MP: Yeah, he should have been, and he shouldn't have put his hands on me and he shouldn't have put his hands on me prior. He shouldn't have left me 3 or 4 times over the past year and a half that we've been together. Took my own truck and left me at Sea World, that was another one. For reasons I don't deserve. It's been a helluva roller-coaster ride and it's poison and we're done. He doesn't deserve it.
JM: Really, this time you're really done?
MP: Yes.
JM: What's going on with visitation with the kids?
MP: He's not taking his visitation right now.
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