Frequent lurker here but I think I've followed community guidelines...
I don't think I saw anywhere that JA said that they had no contact. I watched an interview where he said that the situation was unsafe due to ML's declining mental health, which tells me that he may have been trying to support or get help for ML. Abusive relationships are so hard to deal with and JA may have had a hard time completely breaking free when their mental health was in such a quick decline. When I watched the interview I really saw someone who was trying to not say much but gave some hints to why he left. He said "dangerous" at least once in regards to him living in the house. I don't know if he was trying to support an insanity claim or if he was trying to say that the person he married did not always act like the person he is today.
I do think that he was trying to distance himself from it. With the connection to the bear / leatherman community I think that there is also an underlying fear the of homophobia that may be connected to him now that his personal sexual preferences are out in the open. So I think this whole situation and the ex's responses are SUPER complicated. Wrapped up in his own personal experiences with the suspect, his response as a potential abuse survivor and his overall concern as a gay man who is connected to this horrific crime. I'm a PhD candidate who studies gender and sexuality in the Detroit area. There are very accepting areas in communities across the state, but there are far more that tend to swing conservative when it comes to underground queer communities.
My biggest concern with this whole case is what this means for Kevin and justice. I am happy that the judge is trying to shut down an insanity defense at the get go and that the media has reported on this in a balanced way, as to not bias potential jurors. I am super worried about the media reporting on the suspect's lifestyle, and in turn Kevin's, as an oddity. I actually think that JA coming out and showing himself as a normal member of the community is helpful in this regard. The one video of him talking to a reporter walking through his salon does this and could be useful to the state. Video here -
Estranged husband of suspect in Bacon murder speaks out