Hello,

My name is Gina, or Leah, depending on which part of my life you knew me from. Gina is a domestic violence survivor, nurse, and mother. Leah is my middle name and she is the woman who kept Gina hidden for the last six years because she was afraid for her life, and the life of her other son.

I met my now ex-husband Travis in 2012, we got pregnant in January 2013, and married in May of 2013. It was supposed to be the beginning of a beautiful life.

On October 1st, 2013 at 6:15pm, Brielle Paisley Carlson was born to excited parents, Travis & Gina Carlson and older brother Joshy who was 7 at the time. Mom and dad decided mom would work part time after baby was born because daddy was always working as a K9 police officer.

It happened so slowly I didn’t realize it, he started picking on me for not doing enough, doing too much, what I would say, who I would say things to, accusations that I was cheating, calling me crazy, the gaslighting… I literally started therapy because he had me questioning my own reality. It was never physical, always emotional/mental/financial abuse.. I would have to beg for money to get groceries and tell him everything I was going to get so I didn’t get a penny more than what I needed. There is so much more, so many little things.. oh! ..there was that time he shot a gun at my feet.. and the list goes on ad-nauseum…

Then the rumors started coming about him cheating on me and asking for sexual favors from women to get out of traffic infractions.. I started doing my own digging on his past and found out that he’d worked at & been fired from a handful of police departments before he even met me.

Summer of 2014, he was fired from his job as a police officer and his POST (police licensure) license revoked. We separated and filed for divorce. During this time he repeatedly stalked me, harassed me, and spewed absolute untrue vitriol through the courts. I was afraid they would believe him.

They didn’t, and in 2016 I was awarded primary custody and primary residential responsibility of our daughter with him having every other weekend visitation.

In summer 2019, as I am caring for my actively dying mother, my ex husband kidnapped our daughter, took her across state lines and refused to return her, threatening my life from behind a badge.

They will say it’s because I had a drinking problem. But I had already gone to treatment, realized I had a problem and started intensive outpatient therapy and attending AA meetings. The therapist said I had PTSD from the abuse and that is likely why I started drinking, to cope. I have been in recovery for almost 5 years, and I take good care of my mental health now.

His mother tried to have me committed. Against my will. And the state caseworker who got the case, threw it out as frivolous, and told me that my ex‘s mother told her “she’s never gonna be able to find her (my daughter) where I have her.” This is a pattern, I have no doubt that she will attempt to hide our daughter again.

When he took our daughter, no one would believe me that our daughter was in danger. I tried calling the police in my city, his city, my county, and his county and every one of them told me it was a “civil” matter. When I reached out to DHS, they said the same. I was stuck, I had no idea where our daughter was, I was being threatened, & grieving my mom, the only family I ever had.

It was a soul crushing time. If I had to describe it, it felt like someone poured tiny shards of glass over my heart, stinging pain with each beat as long as I am apart from her. A peice of my soul is missing and has stayed missing these past 6 years.

These past 6 years I have continued my sobriety journey. I am the secretary for my home A.A. group & chair meetings every week. It’s not a chore or “I have to go to a meeting,” I am filled with so much joy giving back to those that suffer like I once did. I have the most wonderful therapist whom I’ve been working with for 5 years. My Joshy has done wonderfully academically, he graduated high school with honors. Now he attends OU on partial scholarship; he is majoring in aerospace engineering! I am so so so proud of him, despite our challenges, he worked so hard and earned that seat at college! My ex husband taking Brielle definitely affected Josh. At first he would constantly worry about his sister, but nowadays it hurts him to talk about her. He went to therapy from 2021-23, he said it helped but wanted to stop his junior year of high school.

I also started a facebook group back in summer of 2019 dedicated to Brielle. Over the past 6 years I have made hundreds of entries; I post memories, photos, and sometimes I just write to her. All of this so that she knows that we didn’t abandon her, we love and miss her every single day.

I encourage you if you’re reading this to look up our case in the state of North Dakota to verify that what I’m telling you is the truth.

Last week my ex husband was arrested on 13 criminal charges, 3 felonies, that he committed while working as a Benson County Sheriff's deputy. Several of these charges are sexual in nature. I am so relieved that he is finally being held to account for his corruption, because this has been going on for decades.

Click this link for the latest news article about his arrest: BENSON COUNTY DEPUTY ARRESTED ON 3 FELONIES

We have spent the last 6 years in fear of him finding us.. but we can finally come out of hiding and try to get our little girl back! I have spent the last 5 years in therapy and attending AA meetings in preparation for the day that we could finally come for her…

SoooOOooo here’s where I ask for money:

We will need to file an emergency custody order in the county that our custody agreement is held, Cass county, ND. The lawyer we had a consultation with said this could range anywhere from $3500-10k… depending on how much they will fight back.

His mother and grandmother are his enablers and have lots of money for lawyers to make up whatever story he wants and will stop at nothing “to win.” How do you think he’s managed to not get charged prior to this?

My ex is currently on house arrest for the 13 criminal charges brought against him while he was working as a Benson County Sherriff’s deputy on July 24, 2025.. but our daughter could also be in Minnesota with her grandmother. Grandma will likely be trying to hide her, & there may be a need to hire a private investigator to find her. The cost of this is around $5-10k.

We are desperate to just find out if our little girl is safe! I can only imagine how scared she is right now.

…if you can’t give, just know we are so grateful you came & read our story! The insurmountable weight that has been lifted from my chest just for sharing my truth, out loud, is crazy! So many victims of domestic violence never get to share their story because they’re still in hiding… & to them I say: I see you.

Please leave an encouraging message or share the link, any interaction helps.

Brielle, I know you’re only 11, but if for some reason you are reading this, we love and miss you so so much, we haven’t stopped missing you baby girl! It’s been so hard to be apart from you, but I’ve kept a memory book that I wrote to you nearly every day in since we last saw you. I can’t wait for you to see it and know that even though we were apart, I never didn’t think about you. Everything is going to be okay baby girl.

i am also sharing screenshots of conversations I’ve had with a few people who have spent time with Brielle over the last 6 years have contacted me since the story broke (7/24/25) & are also concerned for our daughters safety.

With love,

Gina, Josh, & Bean(Brielle’s dog)