This story is going to sound made up. Or possibly like the plot of a Lifetime movie. Unfortunately, this is the reality of my sister’s family’s lives for the last four years. Serious health issues, financial issues, infidelity, betrayal, a hit man hired on the dark web, an FBI investigation, trial, mental health issues, suicide attempts, suicide completion and child loss. So many traumatic and heartbreaking events have occurred, and I just want to tell their story in hope that I can help give them some relief.

Event 1: In 2021 my sister, Jamie was living in Idaho with her husband of 20 years and three of their four children, Riley 19 Abigail 17 and Jack 9. Spring of 2021, a local sheriff knocked on their door to tell them that a credible threat had been made to the life of their 19 year old daughter, Riley. Someone had hired a hit man on the dark web to have her killed. After some investigation by the FBI, the person that ordered the hit was a man named Scott Berkett. Scott was Riley’s very first and only dating experience. He had (allegedly) assaulted her. She had broken things off and he wanted her gone. The subsequent investigation and trial engulfed their lives for some time. The result, Scott plead guilty and was sentenced to 5 years. He ultimately served 3.

Event 2: The fear of what would happen when Scott was released was, at times, overwhelming so they began making plans to move out of state, back to Arizona to be closer to family. In the summer of 2022, they sold their home and moved to Arizona. Jamie’s then husband decided to stay behind until they could find a new home in Arizona and a suitable job replacement. In January of 2023, a week before closing on their home, her then husband of 23 years informed her he would not be joining them. It was later determined that he had met a woman online from another country and had been having an online affair for months. He had also been sending money from their account and buying gifts. This was discovered on social media. Jamie had to tell her 3 adult daughters. She didn’t want them to find it, and it was everywhere. The girls were of course devastated. For the next year, they watched their father via social media accounts of the new woman in his life. There were screenshots of conversations, their father telling this woman how he was going to build a family with her and her children, videos of gifts arriving at her doorstep, a trip to the Philippines and a proposal. Posted all over social media. All the while, no visits to Arizona to see them, no gifts sent, just a few phone calls or texts.

Event 3: On January 16, 2024, Jamie was on her way home from work and got a call from her son Jack. He was home with his sister Abigail, then 20. Jack was frantic saying that Abigail was not awake yet and wouldn’t answer her bedroom door. It was 330 in the afternoon, not like her. Jamie attempted to call Abigail’s phone many times, no answer. She made it home, managed to open Abby’s door, but it was too late. Sometime much earlier in the day. Abilgail had taken her own life. I won’t go into that day too much as I wasn’t there and it is Jamie’s story to tell.

I went to Jamie’s house a few days later to help with arrangements. I see her dining table covered with photos of her daughter. She created a memorial video, then wrote and delivered her child’s eulogy. 

Our family watched as she planned services for her child at the same table, she was interviewing for jobs. Jamie didn’t have a career, she had a retail job. She was trying to keep her home for her children and knew there was not enough money coming in. She had been applying for positions daily. If an interview or an evaluation came through on a position, she had to do it. Regardless of the fact that she had just lost her child.

Through family and friends, we were able to pull together enough funds to cover services and burial for Abigail. Once Jamie secured a higher paying job, she was able to keep her home and manage daily finances, though by then, she had to utilize credit cards to make up some of the difference, that included mental health services for her and her children, time off work for obvious reasons and just simply not enough money to survive. She has since began working a second job to get clear of that debt and save up to pay for a headstone for Abigail.

There have been more setbacks along the way. Jamie’s oldest daughter, Jo 27 has many health issues that inhibit her form working a full time job. Jo suffers from epilepsy that has resulted in scar tissue on her temporal lobe affecting her ability to obtain new information and regulate her emotions. She has had surgery on both knees to repair shallow caps, she has gastrointestinal issues that are still under investigation as well as new medical issues that just arrived in the past week resulting in ER trips. She does not have medical insurance, Jamie is paying cash for treatments, medications and testing. Most recently, they are investigating a possible tumor.

No one would blame her for completely shutting down and falling apart, but my sister did not do that, she keeps going. Once the headstone is paid for and she can find solid financial ground, she has so many plans to use her daughter’s stories to help others. She is in the beginning stages of developing some materials for suicide prevention and mental health services in Abigails name. She is telling both Abby and Riley’s stories everywhere she can with hope that it will help someone or keep others safe. She needs a little help.

My goal is to raise enough money for her to be able to purchase a headstone for her little girl and cover medical expenses for her eldest daughter. If we can raise more so that she can breathe a little, maybe have a few extra moments in her day to grieve the loss of her child or fund some of her ideas for suicide awareness and prevention, that would be such a blessing! For now, the immediate need is just surviving uninsured medical bills and keeping her head above water. Please help if you can and tell her story, you never know who you could help by simply sharing an experience.

One of Jamie’s favorite quotes currently is from Jordan Peterson “Do not underestimate the hole your absence would leave” Share that with others. We need each and every one of you.