The Murder of Jeffrey Dryden: The Grim Truth Surrounding Male Domestic Abuse (6 page)

This was murder and Chiquita was/is the
Murderer. Chiquita brutally killed another human being when she
took that blade into her hands that morning. She is the definition
of a Killer not a victim and no one… no one will ever be able to
prove or say otherwise no matter how much they want to perverse the
words to fit with the refracted, obscured meaning of
reality.

At the end of the third day, a section
of the evening paper… the section young adults never read. The
section middle-aged people fear to gaze their eyes upon, and yet
the elderly turn to right away. The obituary section of the paper
read:

DRYDEN - Jeffrey Scott Dryden, age 28,
of Wyoming, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, July 18, 2010. He
was preceded in death by his father, Kenneth; and his grandparents,
Clarence and Mildreth Levett. He will be dearly missed by his
mother, Paula (Tony Leverich) Dryden; twin brother, Jason; sister,
Jillian; and brother, Joshua; aunts, Sharon Evans, Linda (Ron)
Irons, Peggy Levett, Roxanne (Jim) Guild, Peggy, and Sandy;
grandmother, Gale Dryden; stepsisters, Lynn Leverich and Jennifer
Leverich; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Jeff
worked for Compx, in Byron Center, for many years. He graduated
from Lee High School in 2000. Funeral services will be held
Thursday 3:00 p.m. at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Home
(Grandville), 4145 Chicago Drive with Pastor Dennis Gilbert
officiating. Interment Resurrection Cemetery. In lieu of flowers,
those who wish may make memorial contributions to the family to
assist with funeral expenses. Relatives and friends may meet the
family Wednesday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and Thursday, one hour
prior to the service, at the funeral home. Condolences may be sent
online at www.mkdfuneralhome.com. Matthysse Kuiper
DeGraaf

CHAPTER 6:

AUGUST 2009 – JULY 9
2010

Outwardly, they gave the appearance
that they were an interracial couple, however, had you been a
neighbor, unknown to the truths of such blackmail, hearing Chiquita
screaming and yelling at Jeff every day, you would have thought
their alleged relationship was destined to fail.

“
Over the months that
followed, Jeff had said they were arguing several times a day,”
Jason said as he spoke of his twin brother’s relationship with his
alleged girlfriend and eventual murderer. “He hated going home to
her; he always wanted to just hang out with me and the wife, or
other members of the family.”

It was late August of 2009 when things
violently escalated and Chiquita went after him with a knife for
the first time. “Chiquita had chased Jeff down with a steak knife
during an argument about him wanting to hang out with his family
more as she had started telling him who he could hang out with,”
Jason said. “She forced him into a corner when she chased him onto
the second story balcony, leaving him to either fight or jump,
Jeff, being the person, the man that he was, didn’t like
confrontation.” Jason whimpered as he swiped one of his hands
across his face, wiping away some tears with the back of his hand,
“Needless to say the jump resulted in him breaking his
ankle.”

“
They separated for a week
after that and Jeff decided not to file charges for fear of what
she would do, however, Chiquita again threatened to go to Jeff’s
employer if he did not take care of her. Though we pleaded with him
not to go back as she would only hurt him again, the fear of The
Three Strikes Law, she kept calling and threatening Jeff to give
into her demand and they were back together once more.” Jason
sighed; his top lip began quivering ever so slightly as his eyes
glassed over, “Things only got worse from there on.”

“
Though they had constant
fights almost daily, it wasn’t until March of 2010 that she again
came at him with a steak knife, this time hitting her mark when she
slashed a deep wound across his right arm.” Jason said.

Because of all the shouting and
screaming going on during this altercation, neighbors next door had
called the police, and upon arrival found Jeff bleeding from his
right arm, resulting in them charging her with domestic assault
against Jeff, even without his consent.

According to court records, Chiquita
was charged with domestic assault. She pleaded guilty in April to
the charges and was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 24
hours of community service. Furthermore she was ordered to have no
other contact with Jeff, however this changed later on.

In April, Chiquita began contacting
Jeff by phone and text, tormenting him with the threat of losing
his job and his freedom, she demanded that he go to the court and
have the order of no contact removed, which sadly, at the dismay of
his family, he did.

“
He was more afraid of
losing his family, his freedom, (what little he had) of being able
to see us than he was being cut by her again,” Jason said. “He went
back to the court and got the order removed and later moved back
into the apartment with her, back into her control once more,”
Jason wept, as he looked away, gazing out at the river where we
sat.

“
A week,” Jason forced
himself to speak as he looked back at me, “A week before he was
murdered by her,” Jason sighed, “Jeff arrived back at the apartment
and found her having sex with another white dude,” he breathed
deeply. “It was this I think that finally sealed the deal in his
mind, the idea that he deserved so much better.” He said. “So I
helped him out and fixed him up with a really nice girl about a
week later… on July 17th, the night before his murder.”

CHAPTER 7:

THE WARS CONTINUE

Though I wasn’t online for the better
part of the next few days, due to the visitation and funeral, the
posting wars continued when Sara Lynn (one of Jeff’s friends)
wrote:

“
Really?! What’s done is
done, Jeff is gone! He was a great person, and we had a lot of fun
times together! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! My husband was best friends with
him for a long time and we did everything together! None of this is
going to bring him back! Let the courts decide! I want justice for
Jeff, and his life was cut way too short! As angry as we are, both
families are hurting! Let’s respect BOTH families and CUT THE CRAP!
GOD is the final judge and that is all that matters, HE knows the
truth! Jeff rest in peace! Bottom line, the families DO NOT NEED TO
SEE THIS, ENOUGH!”

Oddly enough, the family at the time
was more than happy to see that there were people standing in for
them as well as defending Jeff. In any event the posting wars
continued on and later that day one of Chiquita’s cousins wrote,
“DAS A SHAME ALL YALL DOIN DIS SHIT IT WAS A MISTAKE BUT YALL GONE
GET IT YALL KEEP TALKIN SHIT ON HERE AND WATCH YO MOUTH TALKIN TO
MA CUZIN”

Later that same day some light was shed
on the true abuse Jeff had been subjected to when a woman named
Candice, a sister to one of the neighbors that lived next to Jeff
and Chiquita stated, “my sister lived next door to them for a long
time and I have seen that chick scream and yell and hit him. I know
she has stabbed him before and I was so sorry to hear that this is
how it all ended...I didn’t know Jeff but unfortunately, I wasn’t
surprised. I hope his family will be able to recover from this...
it’s so sad.

With that statement made Chiquita’s
family and friends went on the offensive once more and showed their
true colors, when they began responding to anyone that had anything
to say otherwise about their innocent family member. The first to
strike was a woman that went by the name, L. Badbody when she
stated, “IMA TELL U LIKE THIS, CANDICE U DONT KNOW WHAT THE FUCK U
TALKING ABOUT U WATCH WHAT U SAYING ABOUT MY COUSIN BECAUSE U DONT
KNOW HALF OF THE STORY AND U DIDNT KNOW HER SO DONT SPEAK UP ON HER
LIKE THAT JUST BECAUSE UR SISTER STAYED NEXTDOOR, WHAT SHE CALLED
AND TOLD U EVERYTHING THAT WENT ON? THAT'S WHAT BLACK PEOPLE
PROBLEM THEY NOISY !!!! BITCH”

To which Candice responded, (with the
same spirit I would have if that was directed toward me) “do any of
these women have an education???? maybe less time online and more
in school would help you express "yo self" better-so us English
speaking people can understand your rambling-you're giving us black
women a bad name-that girl was a psycho and a time bomb waiting to
go off-you all knew it.

Interestingly to note, the next comment
made was by a man by the name of Isaac, who stated simply,
“Chiquita never said anything about having a BF,” this is
interesting for quite a few reasons. One, in a previous chapter
Jason (Jeff’s twin brother) stated in his interview with me that a
week or so before his murder that Jeff came home only to find
Chiquita in bed having sexual relations with a white male (oddly
enough it was around this same time that Jeff paid around $300.00
to have her hair extensions put in). Had Isaac been that unknown
white man he would have already known that Chiquita had a
Boyfriend, as Jeff had kicked the person out of the apartment at
that time.

Secondly, if Chiquita was really in a
meaningful relationship with Jeff as she later describes in a
following chapter to one of the detectives, why did Isaac not know
about it, as it seems just from his comment that Chiquita and him
had been talking frequently and in depth.

Lastly, and this of course is just
speculation on my part, but it seems odd that Isaac was so
surprised about Jeff being her boyfriend that he needed to make a
comment on it. The only reason to me that he would do so was
because Chiquita had already started stringing him along as a
potential backup to the backup guy she was caught by Jeff having
sex with.

Before writing this book I made several
attempts to get ahold of Isaac and ask him first-hand as to how he
knew Chiquita, yet all my attempts to make contact with him were
ignored, thus it is only through circumstantial evidence this
little notation was made. In any event, this was just a side note
that I wanted to make people aware of, as I believe a lot more was
going on than Chiquita was letting anyone, including her family
members, know about her true actions.

As stated above, Candice made a
comeback statement literally insulting (justifiably in my opinion)
the use of Ebonics on the posts, to which the family responding
back in kind. A woman by the name of Shanti (who had tons to say)
responded by stating. “OK, PUNCTUATION, GRAMMAR ETC.. IS SO BEYOND
THIS SITUATION SO ALL THESE RACES ASS WHITE PEOPLE (just to note,
Candice said she was black when she made the comment about grammar)
CAN STOP TRYING TO PORTRAY ALL BLACK PEOPLE AS BEING STUPID.. NOW
NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK WENT DOWN IN THERE HOME SO ALL THESE
COMMENTS STATING HE WASN'T HAPPY AND HE WAS BEING ABUSED BY
CHIQUITA.. WELL HE SHOULD HAVE HAD ...ENOUGH FUCKING SENSE TO GET
THE FUCK OUT OF DOGE WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED KICKING HIS
ASS.”

“
CANDICE:

DO YOU KNOW CHIQUITA FIZER?
ANSWER:NO

HAVE YOU EVER SPOKEN WITH HER ABOUT
JEFF ANSWER:NO

WHO GIVES TWO FUCKS ABOUT WHAT YOUR
SISTER TOLD YOU.. AND AS FAR AS YOU FEELING COMFORTABLE WITH SAYING
WHATEVER TO WHO EVER YOU WANT, I FEEL AS THOUGH THAT IS A FALSE
COMMENT, I'M ALMOST CERTAIN THAT YOU WOULD BE QUIET AS A CHURCH
MOUSE IF ANYONE OF MS.FIZERS FAMILY MEMBERS EVER APPROACHED ON THE
COMMENTS YOUR CLAIMING YOU FEEL COMFY ABOUT SAYING... NOW YOU AND
YOUR SISTER CAN GO AHEAD AND GOSSIP AMONGST YOUR SELVES ALL DAY
LONG BUT GETTING ON HERE TALKING ABOUT IT INST A GOOD IDEA ON YOUR
BEHALF (sounds like a threat) SO... I HAVE TO TELL YOU! AND ANOTHER
THING SHE WASN'T A TICKING TIME BOMB THE COLUMBINE KIDS WERE
TICKING TIME BOMBS SO YOU CAN KEEP YOUR LITTLE STUPID EXAGGERATING
COMMENTS TO YOUR SELF BETTER YET TELL THEM TO YOUR SISTER SINCE YOU
GUYS LOVE TO GOSSIP,”

SARA KWEKEL: (made the comment that,
“if Chiquita killed Jeff she deserves to go to jail”) WHY WOULD YOU
BE WISHING BAD THINGS ON HER.. WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU ANSWER: NOBODY
THAT MATTERS.... YES, ITS VERY SAD WHAT HAPPEN BUT IM ALMOST
CERTAIN THAT YOU WOULD BE UPSET IF SOMEONE WISHED SOMETHING BAD
UPON ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS IF THE SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT..
I CANT EVEN CUSS YOU OUT LIKE I WANT TO BECAUSE IM JUST ANNOYED BY
YOUR IGNORANT ASS COMMENT.. JUST GO TO HELL FOR THAT.. DAMN YOU
JUST PISS ME OFF”

After her sweet and kind comments were
made, quite a few people had to add to her statements. A man by the
name of Joey stated, “Nobody said a thing about the black people,
except for Tiffany... a black person. Odd, I must say. I was noting
the ignorance that is displayed when people feel the need to type
with caps lock on, write incomplete sentences, misspell common
words like "racist" etc. I see you've reinforced that. Thank
You.

This was followed by Sara Lyn who
stated, “I am just going to say one thing. The least racist people
I know are Jeff's family and friends! We could care less if your
orange and spotted! How on God’s green earth did a murder turn into
a "race thing??" Seriously?!! What is the point in it?! And no we
are not racist; we simply could not read what they were trying to
say!”

Sara Kwekel responded back by stating,
“She KILLED someone! How is this EXCUSABLE in ANY WAY? I've had
PLENTY wished upon my family, I have been spoken of negatively by
the public on this very site for things my ex-husband did. Been
there done that. However, I do not let people's comments get under
my skin as you do. People will always talk trash, but how you
handle it shows how you are as a human being. And you don't seem to
be much of one by how you speak. I would hate to see how you carry
yourself in person. It’s probably a pathetic sight.”