All she wanted was to divorce her cheating husband and continue raising her children on her own. For a moment, it seemed like she would be able to finally have peace. Though her husband had been fighting dirty in divorce court. Things finally settled down as the divorce proceedings were close to ending. It was evident that Jennifer was about to get what she was asking for – custody of her children and the family property. However, her estranged husband had other plans.
Jennifer tried to live her life as normal as possible to protect her children from the negative effects of divorce. She maintained the same routine with them even though it was hectic doing it alone. On that particular day, she had about a thousand items on her to-do list but she was determined to make things work. She dropped her kids off at school then rushed back home to pack her clothes and head to another city where she had a doctor’s appointment.
“I just dropped the kids off. I’m headed back home. Hopefully, I won’t get any traffic along the way.” She messaged a friend while still in the school compound and then drove away.
As luck would have it, the road was clear which was unusual for that time of day.
“Heaven must have heard my request.” She said to herself as she drove with a huge smile on her face.
She got to her house in less than thirty minutes and went straight to her bedroom where she was supposed to start packing her clothes. However, her loved ones didn’t see or hear from her after that.
A few hours later, the nanny arrived at home with the children in tow but there was no sign of Jennifer. She was supposed to be back by that time and it was unlike her to be late, especially when it involved her kids.
Concerned, the nanny called the doctor’s office to check whether Jennifer was still there.
“Hello, I was just wondering if Jennifer is still at your office.” She said.
“Let me check our records.” The receptionist said. “It appears like she didn’t come to her appointment.”
“Okay, thanks.” The nanny said then hung up.
She knew that something was wrong so she called two of Jennifer’s close friends to ask them for help.
The two friends arrived at the house just a few minutes after the nanny called and immediately noticed a few red flags that made them alert the police. Apart from the missed doctor’s appointment, Jennifer’s car was still in the garage which meant that she hadn’t left the house for the scheduled trip. Additionally, Jennifer had told her friends about the messy divorce proceedings that she was facing and how her husband had been threatening her so she was concerned that he may have done something to her.
Her husband, Fortis, was no angel even during their marriage. He was a notorious cheater and everyone knew about his habits. At the beginning of their marriage, he was still seeing his ex-wife but after some time, that relationship ended and the couple enjoyed a somewhat happy marriage. They were blessed with 5 children, a thriving business and a beautiful home in an affluent neighbourhood.
Then, a few years later, Jennifer discovered that Fortis was back to his cheating ways. She tried to make things work but it was difficult. Fortis became controlling and threatened her more frequently. She finally packed her belongings, took her kids and initiated the divorce process.
The divorce and custody proceedings were very contentious. Fortis didn’t want to accept that Jennifer would have custody of the children and it was turning him into an even more violent man.
“I demand full custody of my children.” He exploded in the courtroom.
“Calm down, sir.” The judge said.
“I won’t calm down until you give me my children.”
He got so heated that he had to be escorted from the courtroom several times. He was also not allowed to see his children without supervision due to his outbursts.
On the day of the disappearance, police went to her house following the call from her friends. They searched every room to see whether there were any signs of an invasion or a scuffle. Nothing was out of the ordinary in the whole house but as the police officers prepared to leave, they noticed a handbag in one of the rooms floors that looked out of place.
They looked through the house again to see if they had missed anything. They noticed that the Range Rover had blood stains on the front of the car as if it had hit something. There were small blood stains on the kitchen floor and the garage door as well.
“We need to investigate the husband.” One of the officers said after realizing that they might be dealing with a murder case.
The police were aware of the messy divorce that the two were going through and knew that such events usually bring out the worst in people. So, they were highly suspicious of Jennifer’s husband based on his behaviour during the divorce proceedings.
He arrived at the police station and played the role of a concerned husband really well.
“Do you have any information about my wife?” He asked the officers.
“Actually, that’s why we asked you to come here. We need your help with the investigations.” The officer responded.
“Of course, what do you need?”
“We need to see your phone.”
Fortis cooperated and handed the officers his phone. However, everything changed when his lawyer arrived. He asked for the phone back and told his client not to speak to anyone.
“You need a warrant to search my client’s phone.” He said.
The officer later obtained the warrant and retrieved the phone. They then traced his location and at first, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
On the day that Jennifer went missing, he had spent most of the day at home. However, he made many stops around his location in a very random and bizarre way. Knowing that nothing is ever random, investigators started visiting the areas and obtaining CCTV footage.
In every footage, they saw Fortis and his side chick driving around town and dropping trash bags at random spots. Police were able to recover the trash bags and what they found was horrific. There were bloody clothes, gloves, zip ties, cleaning items and modified license plates.
The items were sent to the lab for testing and the results confirmed that the blood belonged to Jennifer. Based on the amount of blood, they knew that Jennifer was deceased and the case turned into a murder case.
Finally, the police obtained CCTV footage from Jennifer’s neighbour to explain how she went missing and how her husband was involved.
They saw her driving back home from dropping her kids that morning, then leaving around 10.30 am which was later than the time she should have left for her appointment. Additionally, it was difficult to see the driver of the car.
Moments later, her husband is seen driving past the house in an old pickup truck that belonged to one of his employees.
Another neighbour noticed something unusual as well that day.
“I saw smoke coming from different chimneys which didn’t make sense since it was in the middle of the day and the temperature was warm enough.” He testified.
The police were able to match the time when the old pickup truck arrived at the house to when the smoke was seen on the CCTV footage.
The owner of the truck also testified saying, “When Fortis brought back the vehicle, it had been cleaned thoroughly. He also advised me to sell it soon when it still had value and to change the seats since they were worn out. He even offered the seats to a wrecked Porsche Cayenne that he owned.”
The police had solid evidence connecting Fortis to the crime but they still didn’t have Jennifer’s body and didn’t know how Fortis gained access to the home.
On CCTV footage, they spotted him riding a bike towards Jennifer’s house. They suspected that he hid somewhere close by and waited for Jennifer to return home when he ambushed her in the garage, killed her, cleaned the crime scene and then drove away with the body.
Two men who were on their way to a fishing spot made a discovery that would finally seal the case. They found a deep hole in the middle of the field and since it was in an unusual place they alerted the police. However, they didn’t find Jennifer’s remains in the hole. Instead, another person who was involved in Jennifer’s disappearance emerged.
One of Fortis’ business partners was a member of the club where the hole was found and when he was questioned, he revealed that he was the one who had Fortis’ phone on the day of the disappearance and took a call for him to make it seem like Fortis was at home the whole time.
Though there was no body, Fortis was charged with murder while the other two were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. They all paid their bail and were set free. However, during one of the court proceedings, Fortis failed to show up.
“Where’s Fortis?” His lawyer asked Fortis’ girlfriend.
“He’s coming in a different car.” She answered.
When it was clear that Fortis wasn’t showing up in court, police officers went to look for him and found him sitting asphyxiated inside his car. They performed life-saving first aid and he was taken to hospital where he died two days later.
Even in his death, he maintained that he was innocent according to a note that police found in his car which read:
“I refuse to spend even an hour in jail for a crime I did not commit.”
Fortis’ accomplice and former lover stood trial and the prosecution had the task of proving that she was guilty. They presented arguments that she was angry with the way her man was being treated in the divorce and custody battle and that she was willing to go along with his horrible plans. They found a piece of evidence that sealed her fate. The police found a piece of paper on which the pair had written down the story they would tell when asked about the day of the disappearance.
Though Fortis wasn’t prosecuted for his crime, there was relief that at least the other parties were found guilty. The children were taken to their grandmother but had to live the rest of their lives as orphans because of their father’s actions. They also couldn’t say goodbye to their mum since Jennifer’s body was never found.
This story is based on Beyond Evil‘s video.
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