Episode 237

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Oh Hello, and welcome the season ten,
episode two thirty seven of A Sword and Scale, a show that reveals
if the worst monsters are real. I hate doing this sort of thing because
your adults and you know what you're getting into. But this is a true
crime show, and occasionally there are trigger warnings that are worthy of being stated.
This is one of them. I don't think episode has affected me this
much ever. On this show, we tell stories of human brutality and the
unbelievable crimes that evil people commit. We cover in great detail the horrible things
most people don't even want to talk about. We tell the stories of the
victims who had the unfortunate bad luck crossing paths with a killer. Usually those
victims are no longer alive to share their tail. But today's episode is a
little different. Today we want you to meet Megan Rose Hyatt. Megan was
a victim, but today she's definitely a survivor. Megan today is very different
from the Megan she was seven years ago. The Megan who existed back then
was just like most middle class girls in America. She was open hearted,
bright and bubbly, a naive people pleaser. You might even see a bit
of yourself in young Megan. Today, Megan is on crutches, about to
go into yet another surgery for her mutilated leg. She's missing an eye.
She's seen death and faced it head on, but she is one of the
strongest people we've ever come across. What Meghan lived through is unfathomable. It's
also one of the most brutal cases of domestic violence that we've ever heard.
Today, Megan will tell you her story. My name is Megan Rose Highet
and I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. I have a twin brother named Tyler.
I am the oldest by fifteen minutes. I feel like that needs to be
noticed that I am the noticed. I lived in the same bedroom for twenty
one years in this quaint little house on Map Road, and my parents,
Lissa and my dad Jimmy. They were just loving and encouraged us in everything.
They later divorced when we were twelve, and that was kind of traumatic,
but we got through it. Me and my brother got through it.
Despite the divorce. Megan had a beautiful childhood. It was everything I could
have dreamed of in a childhood, like my parents, my church, my
friends. Like looking back on my childhood, it was the best and I
wish often that I could return to it. The Hyatt family were and still
are members of the Church of Latter day Saints, in other words, Mormons.
I still go to the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints used
to be known as the Mormons. I feel like there are churches for every
bunny, and you had to find the one that fits you best. And
this just happens to fit me and my family best. And my dad was
He was a priesthood holder, and he loved everybody in the church. He
actually got baptized when I was five years old, so he wasn't a member
until I was five years old. And I really admired that because he didn't
My dad didn't ever do anything half ass, like he put in one hundred
and twenty percent all the time, and when he decided to take on Christ
and God and have a faith, he did it right. He did it.
He went in one hundred and twenty percent. Megan and her father,
Jimmy, were extremely close. She was a daddy's girl. Megan grew up
idolizing her father so much that she wanted to mirror his career footsteps. When
I was twelve, I wanted to be a civil engineer. My dad was
a master of all traits. He worked in construction, specifically HVACT most of
my life, and I wanted so much to be in the construction world because
my dad was in the construction world. And I'm like, I told my
dad I wanted to work in construction, and he was like, no,
until I came up with wanting to be a civil engineer, and he's like,
that's perfect. Not only was Megan inspired by her father's ability to work
with his hands and fix any mechanical issue that was thrown his way, but
he also possessed a calmness and spirituality that she looked up to. He had
thyroid cancer, and after that everything kind of changed. He was very calm.
He was very peaceful, but he never was very confrontational my whole life,
Like he didn't like to get mad. And so when he became really
calm, like nothing bothered him after his diroid cancer was removed, like that
was he just became wiser. I don't know if he was just kind of
having like a midlife crisis as far as like what he really wanted out of
life, and you know that cancers, him having cancer, you know,
change that and open those opened his eyes and he realized, you know,
like why am I gonna get an attitude with anyone? It might He went
from you know, like just normal like disagreements in life with other people too.
He was just all encompassing and loving of everybody. Being freed from cancer
gave Jimmy a new respect for life that he instilled into his children and anyone
around him. He was a loving father who tried his best to teach his
children moral values in dependence and spirit dual hope. He would would read the
scriptures every night and pray as a family. My dad really went all in.
He didn't take he didn't take anything lightly. But that commitment that he
made, he really committed to it and really surrounded our family in Christ and
in Heavenly Father, and he really instilled faith in us so much so that
that is that is all that really matters to me, is my faith in
Hevenly Father and God. Now I wouldn't be where I am now if I
didn't have that faith. Being raised allD s Megan wasn't really allowed to date
as a teenager. By the time she was twenty, she had only dated
two guys, one of which broke her heart and left her quite scattered and
broken. In June of twenty fourteen, Megan would meet the man who would
change her life forever. And it all started with Plenty of Fish. I
got on plenty of Fish and I was I was having a hoe phase.
I was just I wanted free food, like I was going on dates.
I was. I was in a hoe phase, like just to be completely
honest, Like I looked back and I'm like, wow, I did a
lot in that time, and none of it was productive. Megan was on
plenty of Fish having fun. She went on lots of dates and enjoyed being
courted. Then she met Gawayne Rush Wilson. Me and Rush talked on plenty
of Fish. We message each other in the dating app for three weeks before
we even met, and I thought that was like, I thought that was
kind of cool. Like he wasn't in a rush. He really wanted to
get to know me. He really wanted he really cared about creating a relationship
with someone. And that's something I admired because that's not something I was doing,
and that's not something these other guys on Plenty of Fish that I was
messaging were doing. Megan was surprised and enamored with Rush's patience and flirting.
Plus he was older, and judging by his online pictures, he was just
her type. He was twenty seven when we met, we were six and
a half years apart, and he is over six feet tall, black,
very slender, very like blinky, but still had a muscle. He was
Jamaican, so we had a little accent, so they hadn't met in person
yet. Megan got to know Rush as they chatted, and everything she found
out about his life and career impressed her. Rush was born in Jamaica and
he and his mom and his sisters migrated here when he was eight years old.
They moved to New York City. They lived in the Bronx, and
then Rush wanted US citizenship, so he joined the military. His first station
was Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, and his second station was n AS Jacks
which is in Jacksonville, Florida. And he was in Jacksonville between those two
bases for seven years. He did go on a lot of deployments, but
he was mainly in the Jacksonville area. Growing up in a military town,
Megan loved a man in uniform who was this tall, dark, handsome helicopter
mechanic who wanted to take her out on a date. Megan had high hopes
for a future with this perfect stranger. He's looking for something serious, like
ultimately, that's the end game, that's what I want. Megan and Rush
finally met in person after working a long shift at a hookah bar. Megan
went home, took a quick shower, and then went to meet Rush at
his naval base at two am. It all felt very exhilarating in Taboo.
And I parked in this parking spot, in this little like parking lot,
and one of his friends who was on duty with him, came and picked
me up in this truck and got me on bass and took me to the
helicopter hangar, and I was like, what is going on here? Like
I didn't realize he was like on duty. And so I get there and
he's in his blues and he looks divine. I was like, dang,
he's a lot harder than onny years in the pictures, those don't do them
justice. Rush greeted Megan with a warm smile. Maybe it was the naval
base, his uniform, his accent, or all of it swimming together,
but she was pretty smitten. And then so we sat down in this desk
area in front of the hangar and we just sat there and chatted, and
then he showed me the helicopters, like I actually got in a helicopter.
And now I'm mind you, I do not think this was what he was
supposed to be doing. I think he could have gotten in a lot of
trouble because of it. But I was just like so like taken back,
like, oh my gosh, he works on these helicopters, and really taken
back by him. We sat in front in the office until seven o'clock in
the morning, mind you. I got there at two and was there until
seven when he was relieved of duty. And then he drove me back to
my car and the car wouldn't start. When they realized that Megan's car battery
had died, Rush acted like a gentleman, took care of everything. It
was pouring down rain, and I just thought it was the I was.
He saved my life, Like that's what I thought. Like immature. Megan
was, Oh, he jumped in my car like he's my prince charming.
That was our first day, and we spent every single day together after that.
Things would move very quickly for the couple, so quickly that young,
vulnerable Megan barely had a chance to look around her and observe exactly what was
going on beneath Rush's pristine surface. Twenty year old Megan Rose Hyatt had met
her prince charming, Rush Wilson. Rush worked in the military as a helicopter
mechanic. He was tall, dark, handsome, and the most impressive man
Megan had ever met. After sweeping her off her feet on their first date,
they became an instant couple. He was everything at first, everything.
He marked all the boxes. He was looking to buy a house. He
had his two cars paid off, he had a motorcart girl paid off.
He had money in the savings account. He was charming. He was just
checking off. He was educated, he had a nice job with benefits,
everything that you ideally would look for long term in a marriage. He was
just checking off every box. Rush and Megan had only been dating for a
month and a half before he invited her to move in. I moved in
and end of July beginning of August I lived in the spare room. So
in the spare room was all of his ex wife's belongings. I didn't know
why, but she left everything behind and just pieced out. And at that
time I didn't think it was weird, but I did at the same time,
but I didn't want to dive into it, and I didn't want to
be overly curious and hurt his feelings or open old wounds. Megan didn't want
to pry as much as Russian pressed her. He also intimidated her in a
strange way. He was so much more mature than she was. He had
an ex wife, a career, a home, two cars. Well,
Megan was just starting her adult life. So he said I could move in
and have all my stuff in the spare bedroom and we would you sleep in
his bed, but all my stuff needed to go in there, and that
I needed to get rid of his ex wife's belongings. Megan didn't know it
at the time, but Russia's ex wife's things were abandoned in a spare bedroom
because she had fled after Rush chased her and her toddler out of the house
with a hammer. Russia's ex wife wasn't hiding, and she didn't want him
to know where she was. Oblivious to all of that, Megan packed up
all Rusha's ex wife's belongings and slowly got rid of it all before she officially
moved in herself. I move in. I'm cooking dinner every night, making
him breakfast, getting up before I have to go to work, and making
him coffee, and packing his lunch and making sure he had everything he needed
for the day, like really like kind of like housewife stuff. Like I
was just going all in. I wanted him to just not I wanted him
to think that I was perfect realistically was I know, But I wanted him
to think that I was perfect and I was worth his time. Everything seemed
to be going swimmingly. Meghan played housewife and then continued to work her own
jobs while rush served in the military, but the bliss didn't last long.
After about a month of living there, there was a night he didn't come
home, didn't come home at all, didn't answer my text messages. I
literally didn't know if he was dead or alive. I was kind of worried,
but I didn't have anybody else's contract information for them to check and see
if he was alive. So I just sat on the couch, awake all
night, just rummaging over my feelings and my anxiety of what's going on?
Why is this happening? Megan sat biting her nails, imagining the worst case
scenarios of what could have happened to Rush. Her thoughts were interrupted at sunrise
when Rush strolled in the front door like nothing had happened. And then he
shows up at six o'clock in the morning and he's like hey, and I'm
like, hey, I thought you were dead, Like I didn't know if
you were alive or not. Text message saying you are alive would be kind
of you know, that would be nice, or I'm not coming home.
That is when things started to get weird. Over the next little while,
Russia's behavior started to become more and more questionable, and that started to happen
a lot where he would just disappear for a day or two and I'm living
in his house, like he's not even coming home to get clothes or food
or anything. He's just gone. I wanted a man's love and approval so
much that I dealt with other things that realistically, I wouldn't put up with
now. Regardless of Rush being gone without explanation, the relationship continued on.
Rush decided he was going to buy a house and the couple moved that fall.
October eighteenth is when we moved into the house in Ocean Way, And
when he was looking at houses, he would take me along with him to
see what I liked about the house and what I didn't like about the house.
So I thought that we were more serious. I was like, Oh,
he's including me on this huge transaction, like this is a huge life
choice and he's including me, which I thought was so I just thought that
was so attractive. I was like, Oh, he must really love me.
And we picked out a house. It was a five bedroom, three
bath, not three and a half bath. It was a true story house
was beautiful. They signed the paperwork for the new house on October fifteenth,
which was Megan's twenty first birthday. It felt like a gift, but just
as Rush brought Megan's spirits up with the new house, they were crushed when
his mother and sisters came to visit, and then his family comes for a
weekend. Technically, he said we were not together because he was afraid of
what his family would say about me being a white girl so realistically like they
knew, but Rush was just trying to not have an issue with his mom.
According to Megan, Rush's mother was very unimpressed that he had decided to
shack up with a white girl instead of a Jamaican woman. Turns out racism
is alive, and well, just not the way you think. Rush was
very close to his mother. He was the only boy with two sisters,
and according to Megan, no woman would ever be good enough for her only
son. Russia's mother had become very protective and involved with her only son after
she split up with his father. Rush never accepted any olive. Branch's father
extended Rush did not like his father. From what I understand, it's because
of the way he treated his mother. But then I wonder if Rush was
the way he was because of his father. Rush helped his mother out,
sending her money and supporting her in any way that he could, which Megan
didn't mind. But whatever Russia's family paid a visit, Megan said things were
uncomfortable. His life was centered around her and her approval and her opinions and
her wants. And her desires and was very controlling when it came to a
relationship Chips. But she lived in New York City, so when she was
gone, it really wasn't There wasn't any control there because she was in New
York City, so there wasn't that control. But when she came, it
was just overwhelming. That weekend that they were in town. They left on
Sunday night. Monday morning, I realized that I hadn't had a period,
So I went and I took a pregnancy test. I got off work,
went and bought one, came home, took it, and within seconds that
double line lit up like there was no waiting. Five minutes so I found
out in pregnant. The news was shocking. Megan had just turned twenty one,
she had only known Rush for five months. I was scared shitless.
I was scared shitless. I didn't think I was writing to be a mom.
This is not something I wanted at this moment in time. But I
talking to my dad and I knew that what was meant to be was meant
to be. And when he found out I was pregnant, he was like,
you and Rush are a team. Now you have to be a team
you have to talk, communicate, grow together. But he was all about
us being a team and being the best parents that we could be. Regardless
of our father's positive and uplifting reaction to the pregnancy, Megan was nervous to
tell Rush the news. She knew that when he came home from work he
would want his thirty minutes to decompress. Rush had a strict rule that Megan
was not to bother him after work until he had some time to relax alone.
So I sit down on the couch and mind you, his sister,
Kim is still there, his younger sister, and his mom already flew back
home, but Kim is still there. And I was like, hey,
Kim, have you heard from Rush? Like when is he getting home?
And she's like, oh, he's on his way. I'm like okay.
And he gets there and I'm like time is passing by too slow. But
he gets He walks in the door and I'm like, hey, can you
come upstairs? I really need to talk to you. No, Megan,
you know it's my thirty minutes. I'm like, no, I really need
to talk to you, Like I really need you to come upstairs. And
he's like, no, Megan, it's my thirty minutes, you know,
like basically you know the rules, like he's you know, in charge of
me or something. And I threw the pregnancy test at him. Megan waited
for Russia's reaction surprise, shock, disbelief, joy, not exactly. He
gets so pissed off and he walks through the front door, slams it and
is screaming at the heavens, why God, Why me? And I was
I was taking back. I was like what. And so I'm sitting there
crying like hormones are in full effect. And his sister Kim is like,
what just happened? And she walked out siding he told her, And then
I'm sitting here crying on the couch like I'm about to just like if this
is how he felt, then I'm going to go back home and live with
my dad and I'll just do it there and we can copear it. But
like, and then he walked inside. He was calm, and he's like,
Okay, this is what it is. It's okay. You know.
He was just like I wasn't expecting it this soon in our relationship, and
so, you know, and he calmed down, but I was still like
taken back by how he reacted in those first few moments Megan's pregnancy was in
full swing. She was scared, but she also knew she had the love
and support of her family, especially her father. As the idea of being
a mother settled in Megan's brain, she went to the doctor for an ultrasound
and soon found out some even more shocking news. They did the ultrasound,
there looking and there's like, oh, here, here's the baby. Here's
the baby. And I'm like, are you sure there's not a second one
in there? Because in the waiting room, I just felt like I was
going to have twins and everything was going to be okay, Like everything is
going to be okay, and You're gonna have twins. And I was like,
I really firmly believe that. And so when we went in there and
they're like, whoa, let me check around, and they're like, oh,
yep, here's baby number two. And in my head, I'm like,
I told you, I told you, Megan and Rush, we're going
to have twins, two identical baby girls. But as Megan's pregnancy progressed and
fall turned to winter, Rush continued his strange behavior. He would be out
all night or leave for days. He would insist that Megan allowed him to
go through her phone. Things became strained in January, and Rush told Megan
they weren't together anymore romantically. He no longer thought of her as his girlfriend,
but he still wanted to continue living together. Let's just try to be
roommates and co parent in the same home for our children. And it wasn't
ideal, it wasn't what I wanted, But at the same time, I
wanted my children to have a mother and a father that loved them and cared
for them. And I also didn't want Rush to not experience everything that I
was experiencing. Things started to deteriorate between the couple. Rush was clearly sleeping
with other women behind her back. Megan was lonely. Rush was gone all
the time. She was his roommate after all, so she would casually message
other men for a little confidence boost, no harm, no foul. When
Rush found out that I was messaging other men, he lost it. He
lost it, and so I called my dad and said, look, I'm
moving out. I need your help. Megan's father, Jimmy, came over
and helped his pregnant daughter packer bags and go home. My dad helping me
move out that day and walking through Russia's house was apparently the biggest disrespect in
the Jamaican culture to him, that my dad was stomping around his house taking
his woman from him. The couple stayed apart for a while until surprisingly,
it was Russia's mother who convinced him to save the relationship, and that his
mom was telling him basically, what did you expect. You're not treating her
the way she deserves to be treated. She's the mother of your children,
and you're you are treating her like shit. That Valentine's Day, Rush asked
Megan out to dinner. He apologized for his behavior and promised that he would
be everything she needed in a partner. He even made their love official on
Facebook. How romantic he puts me on Facebook and announces to the world that
we're having twins and that we're together. He told me that the reason he
blew up is because he didn't realize how much he loved me, and so
that on February the fourteenth, on Valentine's Day, that's why you know,
it's the day of love. He wanted to show me how much she really
loved me and wanting to be with me, so I moved in. I
moved back in that night, talking to myself, you know, oh,
this is going to be different. This time is going to be different.
Now he really loves me. Now, now he's aware of his feelings,
like he's not running away from them. That's what I in my immature mind,
that's what I thought. Megan may have been immature, but she was
also pregnant. She had a stake in his game, and she was willing
to try and make it work. Rush gave her every reason to believe that
he had changed. The couple set up a nursery for the babies, stocked
up with years worth of clothes, toys, and diapers, and they decided
on baby names. Then, in our third trimester, Megan was put on
immediate emergency bedrest. I am not supposed to be cleaning. I am not
supposed to be cooking. I literally am told to stay on the couch,
laid up, or in the bed laid up. I am not supposed to
do anything. Their heart rates were descelling. Every time I would get up
and start moving in then my blood pressure would elevate. The twins were stressed
and I needed to relax. Megan took it easy from then on and went
to the doctor every week for fetal monitoring. During one visit, when she
was thirty three weeks pregnant, she was told she had to deliver the babies
like right now. Megan was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C section.
The babies would be seven weeks premature. We met on June eighth,
twenty fourteen, and we brought our girls into this world on June eighth,
twenty fifteen, exactly a year later. The birth of her twin girls was
a whirlwind of happiness and joy, despite the chaos that the surgery had brought.
Rush gets there, he changes into his gear that they give him at
the hospital. We get into the room to do the C section, and
they're born. They're born. There was Hayden Rose Wilson, and they were
Caden Reese Wilson. The couple called the girls by their middle names, Rose
and Reese. Megan was in love the minute she met her beautiful babies.
They were the loves of my life. I love them so much. And
they were beautiful and tiny, and they were in premy clothes, and they
were so delicate, but their snuggles. They were the best, and they
were in the Nike. Reese was in the nick for twenty one days.
Rose was in the Nike for twenty eight days, mainly just because of their
size. They were so small they had to be on a feeding tube,
and basically we were just trying to get them to five pounds so that they
could be in they could be transported home. Reese got to go home first,
while Rose had to stay at the NIICU. Then something amazing happened in
the Nike. You went and Reese went home, and Rose was there by
herself. She was She gained two and a half pounds in one week,
and all the nurses were like, she wanted to get home to her sister.
She did not want to be away from her sister because we thought she
was going to be in the Nikki for another month. Twins are pretty incredible,
huh. You hear those stories about couples in their nineties who've been married
for sixty years and the husband dies and the wife follows, But imagine the
bond you'd have being in the womb with someone. It's almost psychic in nature.
Rose and Reese needed one another. They were all each other knew,
that is until they were born and put on their mother's chest. Speaking of
which, Megan was so in love with her daughters. She adored being a
new mom. I loved it. I loved it. I loved being with
my daughters and I loved I would do different activities with them to build their
eyes, sight and the colors, and I would put on different TV shows
like I would put on Planet Earth and they would just watch it with all
the colors and the sound, and it was a very soothing show, the
way the guy talks. I was doing all these different things. I was
playing with them. I would rotate them through different sections of this giant living
room. I loved being a mom. Honestly, during that time, that
was my true my true calling was being a mom. The babies were growing
healthier each day and developing little personalities. The first stuffed animals I bought them
were from Carters and it was the last two one, the last two girls
toys. It was a beautiful fox and a beautiful owl, and I was
like, these are perfect for them. Little did I know how perfect they
would be. Reese, she was our little owl. She would just observe
and watch and she would coo, and she was just so just so calm
all the time, so so calm, and just loved to look around and
see what was going on. She loved to hear her voice. She was
my calm baby Rose. She was definitely like a fox. She was feisty.
She wanted food when she wanted it. She wanted to watch the fan
when she wanted it. She was very demanding, complete opposite of Reese.
I mean, she was just I loved all she was spicy, and I
loved it. I loved it that they were so different, but yet when
you would put them in the crib, they would talk to each other all
night. They would sit in the crib in the morning and just coo and
talk to each other. They wouldn't cry for me to come get them.
They would just sit there and talk to each other in hold hands and I
mean they were doing that at five months old, like they loved each other.
Megan watched with awe and amazement as her twin girls developed a bond,
just like she had with her own twin brother. It was a blessing end.
She felt lucky every day, despite the fact that things with Rush were
becoming increasingly worse. When he was angry. Rush would call Megan fat,
you'd insult her skills as a mother. Rush would tell Megan she was ruining
his life. Everything would be better if she would just back off. So
Megan would pull away. Then Rush would complain that he was ignoring him,
not tending to his needs, he was abandoning him. The turmoil was endless
about how I'm not a good mom, and then it's I'm not doing enough,
but then it's I'm doing too much. I'm doing too much, but
then it goes back to you're not doing enough. Nothing was ever perfect,
nothing was ever good enough for him. The fights escalated. Rush didn't just
yell or slam doors. He started throwing things at Megan, little things like
a glass photo frame. Another time he threw a coffee table across the room
and the ceramic bowl on top smashed into a million pieces. He goes outside
screaming after he did that, and I just went and got a room in
a dustpan, in the trash can. I I can't even how you why
I didn't react to that, but I just shut down. Russia's anger became
more and more unpredictable as babies rose and Reese grew, There were so many
happy, tender moments. Rush was a good father and he loved his baby
girls, but his anger and mood swings were too much to dodge. Unscathed.
On Facebook, though, Rush would post pictures of the babies and Megan,
professing his love for his family. I wanted to say a special thank
you to my best friend, lover and mother of my kids. Even though
you went down two spots in my heart, being third is still a good
spot. Can't wait to see what the future holds. This happy image that
Rush boasted on social media was nothing close to the truth. Me and Rush
were in an argument and I was sitting in the rocking chair pumping breast milk,
and I was like, I can't deal with your attitude anymore. It's
so overwhelming. I can't handle this anymore. Why can't you be like you
where when we first met? And he sat down on the pedestal and pulled
the rocking chair so fast and was screaming at me in my face, saying,
if I leave again, I'm gonna regret it. He'll never take me
back if I leave again. If I leave, I'm destroying our family.
And I was like, okay, okay, I'm not gonna leave. I'm
not gonna leave. Well, then he throws me on the bed. Like
I get up to like go check on the girls because I hear them in
their nursery, which was right across the house from our bedroom. And he's
like, where are you going? And I'm like, I'm gonna go check
on the girls. He's like, no, come here. He grabs my
wrist, throws me on the bed and then proceeds to raid me. And
I didn't even fight. I just laid there and he's trying to call my
dad so my dad could hear what he was doing to me. Megan was
at her lowest point. She had been sexually humiliated by Rush, the man
she was supposed to be able to trust. She was mortified. I didn't
speak to anybody for days. Three days on November thirteenth, I called my
dad and he had been He was worried because I called. I hadn't called
Rush had called, but it looked like I had called. Rush called him
three times in a row, and he thought there was an emergency. And
I told him why he had three miss colls and I told him why and
what Rush was doing to me, and my dad proceeded to cry and tell
me what abuse is. And he's like, Megan, if you don't leave
now, it's just gonna get worse. I took a break and I just
prayed to the Lord and asked him sorry, and just asked him what I
needed to do, what I needed to do to protect my girls into protecting
me with all this new information that it didn't necessarily believe what my gut was
telling me it was true. And so I called my dad and said,
Dad, I knew you to get here. In the next thirty minutes.
I'm starting to pack our things. We're going to leave. Megan knew she
had to go. She had the support and love of her family and friends.
She would be okay, the girls would be safe. She just had
to try to peacefully coparent with Rush the best she could. But for now,
for today, she needed to get the hell out of the house before
things got any worse, and Megan had no idea how bad things could really
get. Megan Hyatt was a new mother of twin baby girls in an increasingly
abusive relationship with her military boyfriend Rush Wilson. After Rush had raped Megan,
she decided that was enough and she had to get out. After confirming our
dad was on his way, Megan asked her friend Sarah to also join them
for an extra set of hands. Rush was at work at his naval base.
If they all work together quickly, they could have Megan and the girls
out before he got home. And we put their car seats in our car
and my person in our car and their diaper bag in the car, and
Sarah is trying to calm them down, but they need to eat. They
haven't had they haven't had their food their bottle yet. But I'm trying to
get everything before Rush comes home. But Rush is blowing up my phone telling
me not to leave, that he knows I'm leaving, and just stay until
he get the stairs so that we can have a conversation and to not make
this decision on my own. Rush was texting Megan, move into your mom's
house. I'll come see the kids on the weekend. If you want me
to fuck off and fuck you, I'll stay out until your dad and mommy
come fucking get you. I need a woman. I'm sick of wifing a
child. Rush kept calling Megan, but she didn't pick up. He kept
calling. She ignored him. His messages became more frantic, more scared.
It was as if he knew that she was ready to go. Yeah,
this relationship is not for me. I don't care if you leave. All
I ask is that you leave a note saying you left, and leave everything
I bought. Take whatever you came with. Please don't take anything I paid
for. That's when Megan finally texted back that she was leaving. She couldn't
do it anymore. So you're really going to leave, You're really done,
Megan. I'm calling you back. Please don't let me take the time to
come home. I want a chance to talk. This is our life,
Megan. Don't make this decision on your own. Megan, her father,
Jimmy, and her best friend Sarah kept packing and getting baby Rose and baby
Reese ready to go. Then they heard something at the door and he walks
in and he's in his dress. He's in his khaki top and his black
pants with his black shiny shoes that like just click on the floor, and
he takes off his khaki top in the kitchen and he's like, he puts
his phone down there, tells my dad to hate Jimmy. Do you mind
if you go outside? So me and Megan can have a conversation. And
I say, yeah, the girls need to eat anyway, so I'll make
their bottles real quick. I made their bottles and we sat down in the
living room that was in the front of the house, and we sat there
and he proceeded to ask me a series of questions. Are you for real?
Do you remember what I told you that if he left the end,
you would be ruining our family and I would never give you another chance.
Are you sure you want to do this? So the truck is packed,
You're really going? And I said yes, Rush stood up. Immediately his
face turned to stone. So I have Rose in one arm and Rees in
the other arm. He goes and he shuts the front door, and it
heads to the closet that has the R fifteen in it. He looked at
me and he said, I'm gonna show you whatever is, bitch. I'm
gonna show you, and I'm gonna kill your dad, and you're gonna watch.
I'm gonna take everything from you, and you're gonna watch me do it.
I then had the girls in my arms and I'm screaming Dad, run,
Dad, run, don't come in, don't come in, Please run
call nine one one, and what does any dad do? He ran through
that door. He ran through that door, and Rush riddled him with bullets,
and my dad kept getting up and getting up and getting up, and
I'm like, why won't he just stay down? Why does he keep getting
up? And I get from one couch the next, and my dad's in
the doorway and that's where the bullets hard. I'm trying to figure out how
to get the girls out, and then I look at Rush and he looks
at me, and he points the gun at me and he shoots me once
in the stomach. And I touched my stomach and I give him feel blood
rushing down my body. I didn't look at him, and I'm like,
you just fucking shot me. And then he told me with bullets. Rush
shot Megan again and again and again. Then when he was done inflicting the
bullets on the mother of his babies, he turned the gun towards his five
month old daughters. The girls were shot in the middle on the back of
their head. She did it on purpose. They had to wear bonnets at
their funeral because of the bullet holes in the back of their head. Rhes
laid on the couch her little arms and legs, stretching and squiggling, unaware
of the violence going on around her, Rush rolled her over and shot her
execution style, blowing his daughter's fragile skull wide open. Her brains exploded onto
her shoulders and the couch cushions as Megan screamed in agony, wh her baby
girl die. Rush did the same to baby Rose while she was clutched in
her mother's arms. Then he turned the gun back to Megan. He shoots
me in the legs. So I fall down, and I'm just being screamed
at. Play dead, play dead, play dead, And I just lay
there and I have one of my daughter's in my arm, lifeless. And
I have one of my daughters on the couch that fell on the couch when
I fell back, lifeless. My dad is screaming in agony. And then
Rush goes outside and shoots off the gun. So I thought he killed Sarah
too, But Rush had not killed Sarah. Sarah had fled down the street
with her cell phone and called nine one as she ran away from the distant
sound of Rush's aar fifteen jack well number one night. Well, I think,
my friend, there's what a domestic violence thing going on at their house.
Yeah, and I think I just gunshot you. What do you think
of shot? Give me, Chris, I'm sorry, I'm trying to find
I'm trying to find that, ma'am. Sarah frantically tried to find the address
in her phone. Megan was bleeding to death in her living room, next
to her dead baby daughters and her dying father. As she laid on the
ground clinging to life, Rush walked back inside and then first seeds to come
inside, stand over me and commit suicide. In one final act of unspeakable
violence, Rush stood over the woman he claimed the love, put the gun
to his chin and pulled the trigger. He blew his head off and fell
backwards towards the couch that was spattered with his baby's blood and membranes. Just
try and put yourself in Megan's position for a minute. Really think hard about
this. Your five month old baby girls have just been murdered in front of
you by their father. Then he shoots you and stands over you and blows
his head off. Your father is down the hallway. You can hear him
trying to stay alive. You can hear him gasping, But you can't move
when I know Rush is that, I tell my dad how sorry I am?
Oh, I didn't know this was going to happen, and I was
sorry, Iam, and he asked me where the girls are, and I
told him they were dead. And my dad told me that he wasn't gonna
make it and now he's gonna watch over them, and that he was gonna
watch over them. And I sat up and I was shot in the wrist,
so I couldn't get up, and my leg was riddled and in pieces,
and I didn't really know how I was going to get to a phone.
But I heard Rush's phone ringing in the kitchen, and I knew that
was too far. My phone was in Sayer's car and there's no way I'm
making it outside. And then I saw my dad's phone, so I lift
my leg too as much forward as I can, and I bought skew.
I butt skow to my dad's phone and I call nine one one shot me.
Oh, my dad made what he shot up? Where's he at?
Now? Man? He him? He shot himself too. I'm trying to
cling to the funk human. My dad was saying him leaving out and moving
out, and I think my breathmen parents leaving out when he bird good,
he shot everybody in the house. Yes, how many people, ma'am?
I don't know. If you're calling you out, I've already said. And
then I try to lay on my dad to create pressures so he's not bleeding
out anymore. But every time I tried to lean on him and he won't
scream in agony. And then the police showed up and my dad took his
last breath. Listen to the next clip carefully. When the police officer enters
the home, he's so shot and terrified by the carnage. He yells to
everyone to stay back now or anybody's days. We have the crime scene photos
from this day, and believe me, you do not want to see them.
I could barely do it. In fact, I think I saw one
photo and closed the window immediately. Now imagine what Megan saw, what Megan
knows, and what she will never forget for the rest of her life.
Rush wanted to show her the definition of the word over. He wanted to
keep her suffering until her dying breath. What a disgusting, inhumane thing to
do to another person. And then the EMTs loaded me on this yellow tarp,
put me in the ambulance and took me away. And that was just
I was awake every single second until they put me out with anesthesia. Megan
was put under so doctors could tend to her various wounds. She underwent five
surgeries. Megan bled out three times on the operating table. She had lost
an eye in the shooting, her leg was shattered. It would be a
miracle if she ever walked again. But none of that mattered because her father
was dead and her baby girls were dead. And in the LDS, the
Latter Day Saint religion, we believe and priested blessings, which is basically where
you prey up on someone and you listen to the spirit and you prey upon
them and you And when I UM, when I woke up, I asked
if I had missed my dad's funeral, and they said now that they were
waiting for me to wake up. And I asked if um, if I
had missed my daughter's funeral, and then they said, no, we were
waiting for you to wake up. And then I I looked at my mom
and I was like, I need the bishop to come give me a blessing.
I need to know if what I saw was real, I just can't
believe it. I need I need the bishop to come and pray upon me
so I know what to do. From me here on a few role for
baby Rose, baby Reese and Jimmy Hyatt happened a few weeks later. And
then November twenty third, just a funeral day and we bury the girls and
my dad and the girls are next to my dad, and they were buried
and little bonnets because of the bullet holes, and they had the most beautiful
bishop dresses. And and I held their hands, which is kind of symbolic
because when they were in the Nike you I couldn't hold them for three days
and Reese for five days. So I welcomed them into this world by holding
their hands. And holding their hands was how I showed them love at first
and just and then as I so goodbye to them, I held their hands.
So I welcome to them into this world am I holding their hands?
And I let them know how which I was going to miss them. Wallow
seat on earth anyone that has had to bury a child when you can't hold
them anymore. For me, I was going back from recent rows. I
was going back and before pulling their hands, and then I had to have
this moment. I had to have this moment with myself where I had to
be like, you know what, I can't stay here forever, so I
need to let go of their hands, and they need to let them go.
But I know that God has my back, and I know that they're
fine, and I know that they're safe, and I know that they're worth
heavenly father, and I know my Dad is watching over them in heaven.
I know these things, and this is this is just their physical body,
and one day, one day, I'll see them again. But for now,
I have to say goodbye to their bodies. And I think that was
as hard as saying out of this whole situation, was having to say goodbye
to them. Since Rush killed himself after committing the murders, there wasn't much
of an investigation, but they did search the house and document the crime scene
when the detectives went through. When the detectives went through the house and they
went through everything, they asked if I knew about this weapon or that weapon,
or this weapon or that weapon, and that they were hidden all over
the house from machetes to hunting knives to other guns. All kinds of weapons
hidden. There were so many weapons they were taken back. Why was this
weapon taped to the couch? Who really lives in this much fear? Paranoid
or not? What Rush did was absolutely sorry, demonic. It was unexplainable.
He wanted to inflict as much pain on Megan as he possibly could.
Was he always this evil when I and he was just trying to hide it?
And then it just it just escaped all at once. I've wrestled with
the fact that he was bipolar and unmedicated. I found that out later on,
and I honestly I think I know that wherever he is now, that
he is immensely regretful of the decisions he made, and that nothing will ever
change the damage that he did, and nothing will ever take away the fact
that he murdered three people, and nothing, nothing in my head, will
ever explain. If you can understand why he did what he did, then
you you have some issues, because I cannot understand why anyone would take a
life of a little child, let alone two five month olds. Not surprisingly,
Rush had a history with the law, and it wasn't just traffic violations.
In twenty thirteen, Rush strangled and beat his ex girlfriend after she refused
to have sex with him before work. When he tried to call the police,
he broke her phone and tore off her clothes. She ran outside with
her eight year old daughter and got help from a neighbor. They reported the
incident, and Rush was arrested for domestic battery. He was forced to take
domestic violence awareness training courses through the US Navy. A lot of good that
did. In January of twenty fourteen, six months before Rush met Megan on
Plenty of Fish, another relationship ended in violence. A fight between Rush and
an estrange girlfriend of his escalated to a physical fight. She carried a small
gun for protection, and when he lunged at her, she shot him in
the groin. She was looking at very serious assault charges in jail time until
the prosecution dove into Russia's criminal history. Russia's ex wife, the one whose
belongings Megan had to dispose of before she moved in, was still in hiding.
She wouldn't speak with the media even after Rush was declared dead. But
Megan didn't know any of this, of course, how would she. She
was twenty years old when she met Rush, practically a teenager. The damnage
that Rush did is something that I have to fight with internally because I I
have to be honest to myself, but I also can't let myself get so
poor, miserable Magan. I have three choices when I woke up at the
hospital and as I walked through this earth. One was committing suicide. The
stats when appearing that has lost a child tragically. I think it's over seventy
five in the first five years. So I could have minute suicide and no
one would to blame to me. The second option was poor, pitiful Megan,
woe is me, Megan, the rest of my life, just wanting
a pity party, not doing anything to better my life, not doing anything,
just living life until I die as miserable, and no one would have
blame to me. But then the third option was to take our story and
use it to spread domestic violence awareness. Take our story and make sure that
another mother doesn't have to go through what I went through and what my mother
went through. Russia's murderous, cowardly, active philicide, patricide and domestic violence
didn't just affect the family, he tore apart. His actions made unforgettable waves
to many who witnessed what happened. One of the police officers and friends with
most of the people, most of the rescue team, and the police officers
that were there. One retired. He was like, I'm done. I
can't see anything else. I'm retired. The next week, one of the
police officers will never take a house call ever again. They literally sit in
the office. There's a firefighter, a rescuer now has such severe PTSD that
he cannot function. There's another rescuer who actually lives one street over from the
house where everything happened, and his wife who was there with a newborn baby,
and they can't walk down that street anymore. And I remember seeing them
walk down that street with their stroller and their children, and they can't even
they can't. They can't even walk down that street anymore. My brother,
my brother doesn't have his best friend. He doesn't and he he needed my
dad and she doesn't have that. My brother lives with me and my now
husband, and it's very hard to watch him, knowing why he is the
way. She's just he hates the world. Megan and her brother missed their
father every single day. Megan can't help but wonder how life could have been
different had she known who Rush really was. But she couldn't have stopped this.
Megan was the last in a long line of Russia's female targets. That's
the thing with domestic abusers is you never know when their breaking point is?
Is it with you? Is it after? What? Is it? We
had to be diligent and actually know who we're with to protect ourselves. If
you knew that, all you have did you was go look up their records
and you can do it for free from the counties records, and that you
could save yourself so much turmoil and heartache and possibly save your life. If
he's a domestic balanced abuser, wouldn't you want to? Megan attributes her recovery
to her faith. She knows God kept her alive for a reason. Not
everybody has faith, not everybody believes in God. But that's how I'm surviving
is my faith. That's how I get through every single day is my faith.
Where I am now versus where I was seven years ago? November is
seven years I would have first graders. My kids would be in first grade,
they would be in ballet and gymnastics, and they would they would have
a whole I think that was stolen from them. Rush stole so many things
that day. He stole Megan's father from her family. He stole his baby
daughter's lives. He played God and wanted to shake the world into darkness.
But faith, family, therapy, and love I've gotten Megan to where she
is today. She has left Florida for Texas. She's in school full time
and works in the healthcare field. She hopes to one day have children again.
After her final round of surgeries with the lovely man, she's now married
too. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. When he
came into my life, I was so depressed and so miserable, and I
wasn't showering. And the joke is I loved you when you were smelly,
and so he has showed me so much love and care and I never thought
i'd ever experienced. I didn't even think it was real. So who I
thought was my prince Charming and Rush, who ruined my idea of a relationship.
My husband is my prince charming. Rush changed Megan's life forever, but
it wasn't the way he intended. I was awake every single second until they
put me out with anesthesia in the trauma room, and I knew I was
going to live, and I knew now that I had a purpose, and
that purpose was to share our stories so that women understand how bad it can
get and how severe domestic violences. And you don't have to be physically hit.
I was never physically hit. I had things thrown at me, but
actually his hands coming in contact with my body to physically hit me, that
never happened. Would you try to kill me? And he killed my family
and he wanted to take everything from me and make me watch. So for
the past seven years, I have pen in therapy. I have come up
with the right amount of anxiety and depression moves. I'm still having leg surgeries
to this day. But I know I have a purpose and I know why
I'm here. It's taken years of mental anguish and therapeutic work, but Megan
says she's finally at a place where she can forgive Rush for all that he
did. Megan has made it her life's work to survive and tell her family's
story. She wants the memory of her daughters and her father to live on.
She survived that day to stand as a message to other women suffering like
she was and that message I bring to you today. You out there,
you know who you are. You are not alone. There is help available.
The world is full of good people who want to help you. Reach
out to them. Do it today. I forgive you and I love you
as a child of God. Did I know? I know that. I
know that he's sad about the decision he made, but I forgive you.
Thank you for joining us once again. If you like the show, we
have something called plus. You can find it at Sword and Scale dot com
slash plus. Please subscribe if you can. Until next time, Let stay
safe bike. My name San for Locas Papa. How you fuck me an?
I can listen to episode ten thirty and fucking master can just say this
year the highest award possible. And by the way, you ruined oh other
podcasts for me because this is the only one that just so it has everything.
So thank you for your work, Love you, Appreciate you. I've
been listened U for years now. You're the best fight the