02/04/2026
The First Case
Section 1: Background of the case.
It was Veteran’s Day, Wednesday, November 11, 1998, when things began to unfold in my life leading to what I have been doing for other people for almost 28 years. I was seven years into my second marriage with a 2-year-old son and I had two sons from my first marriage. Four months earlier I retired from the Army and was in the first semester of Law School at Ole Miss.
That morning, I attended my two classes then met my wife, our two-year-old, and my ten-year-old in Oxford. I had found a new house that was a few weeks from being finished that I wanted her to look at. We met the builder and the agent at the house we both liked it and signed a contract to buy the house. We went to lunch together. Afterwards I had one more class, so she and the boys drove back to our home in Bartlett, TN while I went back to campus. I drove home after class and walked in the door around 4:00 pm.
Shortly after I got home, I was in the garage when I heard the phone ring. I opened the back door and picked up the phone. As I put the phone to my ear I heard a lady saying “Ms Whitlock we received approval on your application, we need you to come by the office to sign your lease, pay your security deposit and your first months rent, and pick up your keys. I hung the phone up and walked to our bedroom where my wife was.
Jesus Christ himself could have told me what I was just before hearing, and I would have looked him square in the eyes and said no way. As I walked into our room, I asked what the call was about. With absolutely no idea that anything was wrong I heard the words “I’m not happy and I want a divorce”. I was caught by complete surprise which left me confused and hurt.
Two days later she tells me that she wants me to take my ten-year-old with me to Oxford and enroll him in school there. No more discussion this is what I’m going to do, and he needs to go with you. So, I called the agent in Oxford to tell her what was going on and asked for help. Fortunately, someone else wanted the house we had signed the contract on, and she had a client who had a tenant in a two-bedroom cabin who was dropping out of school and wanted someone to take over their lease.
By Monday of the following week, we moved into the cabin and Brandon was enrolled in school. Every lawyer will tell you the first year of law school is hell. I do not think it is anything someone can understand what it is like without experiencing it. I went through some physically and mentally demanding training during my military career, but law school was a different kind of challenge.
A classmate, Chris B, became a very good friend. He, his wife, and their two children lived close to our cabin. Chris would come study with me, but he also spent a lot of time listening and talking to me. He and his wife would ask Brandon and I to join them for dinner. We got through exams that first semester and we continued to get together through the break to hunt, try to stay on top of the reading assignments for the second semester.
In January classes resumed with the same pace as the first one. After class Chris and I would study and we joined a couple study groups. Every other Friday I would meet Brandon’s mother in Grenada so he could go for visitation with her. On Friday February 12, 1999, Chris rode with me to meet Brandon’s mother. Driving back North on intestate 55 I was venting to Chris about how hurt and upset I was about the separation. I remember saying to him I wish I could figure this out. As we got close to the Batesville exit, he suggested we continue driving to her apartment in Germantown, TN to see if we can figure things out.
Section 2
Surveillance Notes:
Update coming soon