The Murder of Jeffrey Dryden: The Grim Truth Surrounding Male Domestic Abuse (5 page)

“
Tony is over there now
making sure they don’t try and take the rims off Jeff’s car and to
clean out the rest of Jeff’s stuff from the apartment before they
come back.” She added. “Alone?” I asked only to get a confirmation
to my question.

Obviously, Eric, Jim and I quickly
drove to Jeff’s apartment after hearing that Tony went up there by
himself. Were we looking for a confrontation? Secretly maybe, more
so, however, we wanted to make sure that our family did not have to
go through another loss so close together by the hands of this
family.

When we arrived there however, Tony was
nowhere in sight, nor was Jeff’s car. This left us a bit concerned
as we drove aimlessly around the lots of the apartment complex,
that was until we received a call from mom informing us that Tony
was now back home and had taken whatever was left of Jeff’s
belongings with him.

After we returned home, my mom told us
that Chiquita’s family had taken all of Jeff’s clothes, this
included all his skateboarding hoodies which Jason wanted to have
as a way of carrying his brother with him, as well as what they
might have buried him in. A few months later, after Jeff had been
buried and Chiquita charged with the crime of 2nd degree murder,
Tony received a call from one of Chiquita’s family members,
demanding that he return his cocktail table. To which, Tony
replied, “First give me back my son!” It is my understanding that
this individual continued to call, each time getting the same
response until he eventually gave up.

After going through all this, I had to
wonder what values Chiquita was taught as a child. Most parents
want nothing more than the best for their children, teaching them
morals and values, the difference between right and wrong, but what
about her family.

Be it ever so true that there is not a
family that is beyond the scope of perfection, but with that said,
what kind of morals does a family have in teaching their children
when they take from the dead, take from those they have killed and
show no true remorse for their family’s actions? Eventually this
was something that her family continued to answer time, and time
again with the result always being the same immoral, unethical
choice.

The flames of
Hatred?

By this time it was quite apparent who
were the supporters of Chiquita as apposed the friends and family
of Jeff, the real and ONLY victim in all this. Strangely enough
however, some of my own family members felt that I was doing
nothing more than adding to the flames of hatred. Fueling the rage
of sadness and for a while, I thought maybe I should just stop
commenting, stop saying what came from my heart. Stop venting; stop
the desire to inform all those that would listen, all those that
had the ability to read, about the kind of person my cousin
was.

I wanted others that were totally
neutral, totally vacant of any bias to take a moment to know the
truth, to know that Jeff was murdered, to know that this was not
some damn accident, nor did I want them to allow; let them even
begin to consider; to think that Jeff was the abuser in this
relationship.

I didn’t want Jeff’s name, his life to
be trashed or dishonored. His legacy tarnished by a killer and her
family’s quest to get their guilty family member free no matter who
or what they had to say or do in order to do it and as such,
stopping was not an option as I would hope someone would do the
same for me if the situation ever came.

Ask Yourself
This…

Before I go any further, I want to
define a few words that have been and will be stated throughout the
last chapter and into the several chapters to come in what I have
dubbed the “Posting Wars.” Several members of Chiquita’s family,
and friends, keep referring to her as a “victim,” that both
Chiquita and Jeff were “victims” of circumstance in this alleged
“accident.”

To be fair, there are those of us
(including myself) in several posts that will openly call Chiquita
a “Murderer,” a “Killer.” Thus, I feel it best to define the
terminology of these words as well as the definition of the word
“Accident,” in our modern, laymen society so everyone can fully
understand what these terms are and realize who is truly the
victim; who is truly the murderer in this case.

According to the online version of the
American Heritage Dictionary, (Farlex, 2011) a victim is; (1) a
person who is harmed or KILLED by another; (2) a living person or
creature sacrificed during a religious rite and; (3) a person who
SUFFERS injury, LOSS, and/or DEATH of a VOLUNTARY UNDERTAKING. In
the same dictionary, an “Accident,” is defined as: (1) an
unforeseen event or one without an apparent cause.

A murderer is defined to mean, “Anyone
that commits the act of murder.” Thus, looking up the laymen’s
(non-legal, non-technical) meaning of the word murder, the American
Heritage Dictionary, (Farlex, Murder, 2011) defines the act of
murder to mean: (1) The killing of one human by another, especially
with premeditated malice; (2) To Kill Brutally or inhumanly; and
(3) to put to an end; to destroy.

When reading the “Posting Wars,”
segments that follow in these chapters keep these definitions in
mind every time you read someone stating that Chiquita was also a
victim in all this and ask yourself, “Was she killed by another
person,” “did she suffer a loss and/or death to herself by a
voluntary undertaking?” Did she “Brutally kill another human being,
putting an end to his life?” To some, these questions may seem
childish or pedestrian to ask but as you will see in the coming
wars, the definition as to what truly is a “Victim,” is highly
skewed by those defending their murderous family member.

The Posting wars Part
3

Shortly after 10 am that morning, after
I woke up and began to read Mlive.com (the local news website), I
read the following article written by John Agar of The Grand Rapids
Press and instantly posted it on the site all the comments thus far
had been written on, the article read as follows:

Woman, 21, to be arraigned on murder
charge for stabbing death of Wyoming man

WYOMING -- Chiquita Renae Fizer, 21,
was arraigned today on a second-degree murder charge in Sunday's
stabbing of Jeffrey Scott Dryden. Fizer was ordered held without
bond at her arraignment before District Judge Steven
Timmers.

Police said Sunday's killing appears to
have resulted from a domestic disturbance outside of Crosswoods
Apartments, 917 44th St. SW. Police responded to a 2:45 a.m. call,
and found the victim had been stabbed in the neck. He died at the
scene, outside of his apartment building.

This of course did not sit well with
Chiquita’s family as a woman calling herself Lois Lane made the
first comment of the day by stating (remember everything is
word-for-word as it was spelled out by the authors):

“
Wow i wasn’t going to
comment on here especially because of how embarrassing some of you
are acting! Everyone will have their own opinion about the
situation and nothings ever going to change. Instead of acting so
childish and arguing why can’t we just mourn! Prey for both
families and be civilized! I love my cousin with all my heart and
know as well as the rest of my family and our friends that she
would never do something of this nature. We can have all these
harsh words and point the finger but that solves nothing! Both
families have lost something and gained nothing! Arguing and
calling people murderers is not going to reverse the situation at
all. No one was there to know what truly happen mistakes are made
every day! You all are acting like she woke up in the morning and
decided to end 2 lives his and hers so instead of sitting here
arguing back and forth over something that’s not in NOBODYS control
on here is dumb and we should jus pay our respects and move
on!”

Move on she says… even now as I read
these words by her again it infuriates me. Kind of simple minded to
think that one could move on, mourn so easily as if all one has to
do is flick a switch, and never feel the loss again. Never see the
visions of his face dancing around in our heads whenever we see his
brothers or sister, but I made a comment back to this woman later
on, and I made sure to post it in this section of the posting
wars.

“
Everyone always says, ‘I
know they would never do something like this,” Elizabeth Slater
stated as an almost immediate response. This was followed by one of
Chiquita’s family members that went by the name Paula Anderson,
Anderson came off kind of nice at first expressing her views but,
as stated before, used words incorrectly with what we now know are
their correct definitions. In addition, as you will see for
yourself you have to wonder if Anderson has multiple personalities
with the two posts she made, one right after the other. In her
first post, Anderson writes:

“
Listen, everyone is
hurting-yes! However, to get on this site and make an ass out of
yourself saying foolish things is unspeakable and down right
"ugly.” I met Jeff and he seemed like a very nice young man! But my
niece is a very nice young woman as well, so why don't we all just
move out the way and let the families of theses "two" victims (A
person who is harmed or KILLED by another… how is she a victim?)
deal with what needs to be delt with and instead of passing
judgement on either part, why don't we just "shut up" and give our
support to each family like we claim we are doing! No one here is
to blame! Accidents (An unforeseen event… was it unforeseeable when
she plunged the blade into the back of his neck?) happen and so it
did here as well. God has a way of showing up and showing out in
everyone's life and we are not all in control of our situations or
circumstances, so to be really thorough and honest, it may seem
like this is helping and that we are doing this for the families.
However, if you all are smart as you sound here- you'll focus on
the families and their grieving (sic) time! (Again with the whole,
“Grieving time,) I love my neice (sic) and will be here for her
through this!!!love you Chiquit.

In Andersons second post that was time
stamped a few seconds after the above post, she stated: “I love you
Chiquita!!!! Auntie got your back!!!!! We ain't giving up no matter
what baby url. Your mom says she loves and we are doing all we can
to get you up and outta there as soon as possible. Fuck tha ones
who point tha finger-Bless the ones who don't!!!! Now
what??!!”

I find it hard to see any faith in a
person using the words “fuck” and “bless” in the same sentence,
maybe it’s just me, but if my pastor said something using those two
words in the same sentence I think I would need to switch churches
right away.

Sara K, stated a few moments later, “I
hope they lock her up for good. Taking someone's life has NO
excuse. A young man is dead now and it is so tragic :( Paula, the
ONLY one making an ASS out of herself is you and Tiff.” After
Sara’s statement, a few people felt that both sides (yes even
including me) were being less than adult about the situation and
thought we needed to hold our tongues. A part of me understood
where they were coming from but again, a bigger part of me just
couldn’t do that, apparently neither could several others. Tara K,
Posted a comment to Jeff and his family, stating good things about
him when she wrote: “You will be GREATLY missed Jeff!!! I know Jeff
and I know he is a very nice person always has been a good guy
since the day i met him. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the
family! Please let us know if you need anything!!!”

Though the postings were short that
day, by the end of it I had seen enough and, as stated above, had
to have my say as well, it was here that I made my statement,
finishing the day’s comments by writing:

“
Grieving time? (this was
in reference to the Chiquita’s family members that thought we
should all just be grieving as stated before). It is not that
simple... Grieving time is going to be as long as it takes to
convict... then and only then can the family as a whole grieve, as
the actions of that night are going to be brought up at every stage
of this trial. This was not an accident as some like to think as
the charges say otherwise.

According to Michigan case law, a
conviction of second-degree murder requires: (1) a death, (2)
caused by an act of the defendant, (3) with malice, and (4) without
justification or excuse, People v Goecke, 457 Mich 442, 463-464;
579 NW2d 868 (1998). See also e also, People v Mayhew, 236 Mich App
112, 125; 600 NW2d 370 (1999). The offense of second-degree murder
does not require an actual intent to harm or kill; rather, it is
sufficient that the defendant intended to do an act that is in
obvious disregard (with accordance with the ‘Reasonable Person
standard,’) of life-endangering consequences.

I stated that although she might not
have woke up planning to kill Jeff that morning. The fact that she
was an adult of sound mind, and knew full well that stabbing Jeff
in the neck with a knife was in all reasonable standards, the
intent to do an act that was in obvious disregard of human life…
thus, Chiquita was not a victim.

She did not suffer, was not harmed or
killed by another, she was not sacrificed during a religious rite…
she did not suffer injury, loss or death by her voluntary
undertaking. Chiquita Fizer was not and is not a victim in any
sense of the defining word. Nor was this an accident. This was not
an, “Unforeseen, unexpected event.” Nor was it an event without an
apparent, obvious cause, as the definition of what an accident
states.