I dated Amanda Houmiel starting in the quarter 3 of 2013. We met at the Orange Park Mall. She was selling me her pills and I immediately fell in love. This is where the story goes hokey.

Unable to speak or think is how I felt when I first met her. But looking back at it now, it’s a little more real. I was meeting her to buy her pills. Opioids for sure, but she mentioned she had Adderall as well. It was a match made in heaven. Man, that was a good night. But I digress.

She invited me to go into the mall with her to pick out some clothes. Recently out of a long-term relationship, I was on the rebound, so to speak. Jumping at the opportunity, I followed her in. We chatted and had a nice time. She mentioned she was married at the mall. In hindsight, I probably should have stopped right there. Now 13 years on, it’s a pain that never leaves me.

Sometime soon maybe that night, I’m not sure. But, I ended up over at the house she was staying at—Shelby’s house, with a very angry man named Chuck. She offered to give me a massage and I said ok. Welp, within 30 seconds Chuck busted in and violently kicked me out of the house. He yelled but never touched me thankfully. I rode away on my motorcycle.

One or two days later, Mandy moves into my house. Stupid in hindsight. But what can I say—I’m a nice guy. The offer was the extra bedroom. But it never turned out that way. Not to my doing. But who knows what she tells people. We took a photo that night. This is when things get weird. We have a whirlwind of a relationship and it ends right about here.

Long story short and a lot of drama and trauma later, we decided to sleep one night together. Amazing considering we were sleeping opposite schedules: the 12 hours she slept was the 12 hours I was awake, and vice versa.

I took care of Kaylen for the rest of the night until she finally fell asleep again. I took her to her bed and kissed her on the forehead good night.

I struggled with reporting the incident. During this time, the child's adoptive father came and retrieved the youngling with a court order.

When I mustered the will to call the authorities, I mistakenly called DCF (Department of Children and Families). They said since the child was no longer in the state and therefore not in danger of Mandy hurting her again, they would not pursue a criminal case.

The statute of limitations on child abuse with grievous bodily harm in the state of Florida is unlimited. I called the Clay County Sheriff's Office after losing sleep on the subject for 3 months. It was 13 years later, but the statute stands. The CCSO deputy told me they would not pursue a case cause there was no way to investigate after 13 years. I asked him about the DCF call and response and he had nothing good to say.