I Returned from My Mother’s Bedside and Found My Wife Locked in Our Basement – Our Daughter Had Locked Her In…

I asked the question that had been haunting me.

“did she know? jennifer did she know what Kyle was doing was fraud?”

Patricia opened the evidence file.

“based on the emails and texts we’ve recovered yes she knew she helped him recruit investors including two of her co-workers from her accounting firm she created fake financial statements for the fund she was an active participant”

My daughter wasn’t a victim of her husband’s scheme. She was a co-conspirator.

The bail hearing was painful. Jennifer’s lawyer argued for release pending trial: no criminal record, ties to the community, low flight risk despite the Portugal thing.

The Crown argued the opposite: clear flight risk, destruction of evidence, ongoing danger to Margaret.

The judge sided with the Crown. Bail denied.

Jennifer and Kyle would remain in custody at the Toronto South Detention Center until trial.

I attended that hearing. I sat in the back row and watched my daughter in an orange jumpsuit plead with the judge for release.

She cried, she apologized, she said she’d made a terrible mistake. When she saw me, she tried to mouth something.

“dad please”

I stood up and walked out. I couldn’t look at her.

The criminal case moved forward, but I wasn’t content to wait for justice from the courts alone. I hired a lawyer, Christopher Walsh, a partner at a firm that specializes in elder law and estate litigation.

His advice was clear.

“thomas you have grounds for a civil suit sue them for everything they’ve taken plus damages for what they put Margaret through even if they don’t have assets now they might in the future inheritance earnings property lock it down”

I filed suit two weeks later: Jennifer Holloway and Kyle Morrison, defendants.

Claims: financial exploitation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty. Damages sought: $175,000 in stolen funds plus $200,000 in additional damages for Margaret’s suffering.

But there was more to do. I contacted the College of CPAs of Ontario.

Jennifer had used her credentials as an accountant to lend legitimacy to Kyle’s scheme. Her co-workers from the accounting firm had trusted her professional judgment.

She’d violated every ethical standard of her profession. I filed a formal complaint.

Within a month, Jennifer’s CPA license was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal trial. If convicted, she’d be permanently disbarred.

She’d never work as an accountant again. That should have felt satisfying.

It didn’t. It just felt necessary.

The months that followed were a blur. Margaret’s Alzheimer’s worsened.

Stress accelerates cognitive decline, her neurologist told me. She stopped asking about Jennifer, which was somehow worse than the questions.

It was like her brain had erased her daughter as a protection mechanism.

I hired a full-time caregiver to help with Margaret while I dealt with the legal proceedings. The bills were piling up: medical expenses, legal fees, the mortgage payments on the HELOC we never wanted.

We were drowning financially, and the people responsible were sitting in jail awaiting trial.

The preliminary hearing happened in January, five months after Margaret’s rescue.

I testified. I walked the court through finding Margaret, through discovering the documents, through realizing what they’d done.

Jennifer’s lawyer tried to paint her as a victim too, manipulated by Kyle, desperate for money, suffering from her own mental health issues.

It was garbage, and the judge saw through it.

“miss Holloway,” the judge said. “you are a trained accountant you understood exactly what you were doing you exploited your mother’s cognitive vulnerability for financial gain there is no mitigating factor that excuses that.”

The case was bound over for trial. Trial date set for June, eight months after the nightmare began.

But before the trial, something unexpected happened. Kyle’s lawyer approached the Crown with a deal.

Kyle would plead guilty to all charges and cooperate fully in testifying against Jennifer in exchange for a reduced sentence.

He’d testify that Jennifer had been the mastermind, that she’d planned the whole thing, that he’d just gone along with it.

It was a coward’s move, throwing his wife under the bus to save his own skin. But Patricia Chen called me to discuss it.

“if Kyle testifies we have an airtight case against Jennifer his testimony combined with the evidence guarantees a conviction and a strong sentence what do you think?”

“will he serve time?” I asked.

“yes we’re offering 8 years with eligibility for parole after serving 2/3 he’ll be in prison for at least 5 years realistically longer”

“and Jennifer?”

“without the deal she’d face trial and there’s always risk with a jury but with Kyle’s testimony we’d push for the maximum 12 years”

I thought about Margaret, still asking sometimes why Jenny doesn’t call. I thought about those fourteen days in the basement.

I thought about the life savings gone, the home equity gone, the trust gone.

“take the deal,” I said.

Kyle pleaded guilty in February. The sentencing hearing was brief.

He expressed remorse. I’m sure his lawyer wrote every word.

The judge was unimpressed.

“mr morrison you participated in a scheme that targeted vulnerable elderly individuals including your own mother-in-law you prioritized profit over human dignity 8 years in federal prison”

One down. Jennifer’s trial began in June. It lasted three weeks.

The Crown presented the evidence: the POA fraud, the bank transfers, the basement, the texts planning the Portugal escape.

They called Margaret to testify. That was the hardest day of my life, watching my confused, diminished wife try to explain what had happened to her.

She kept getting mixed up, forgetting details, asking if she could go home.

Jennifer’s lawyer tried to use that confusion to suggest Margaret couldn’t be a reliable witness. But then the Crown played the video.

The police had taken video of the basement the day they’d executed the search warrant.

That dark, cold space. The bucket. The thin blanket. The scratches on the door where Margaret had tried to claw her way out.

The jury watched in silence. Two of them were crying.

Kyle testified next. He laid out the entire scheme: how Jennifer had approached him with the idea, how she’d researched the POA laws, how she’d found the notary who wouldn’t ask questions.

How she’d planned the timeline around my trip to Vancouver.

“it was all her,” he said. “i just did what she told me to do.”

Even if that was partly self-serving, the evidence backed it up.

Jennifer’s laptop showed she’d been researching power of attorney, elder exploitation, and countries without extradition weeks before my mother’s stroke. She’d planned this.

Jennifer took the stand in her own defense. It was a disaster.

She tried to claim she’d been trying to help us, that Kyle had manipulated her, that she’d never meant to hurt anyone.

The Crown destroyed her on cross-examination.

“miss Holloway you texted your husband ‘she’ll forget give it another day the confusion helps’ you were referring to your mother what were you hoping she’d forget?”

Silence.

“miss Holloway you locked your mother in a basement without food or water for 14 days you stole her life savings you planned to flee the country and you want this court to believe you never meant to hurt anyone?”

Jennifer broke down crying. The jury was unmoved.

Deliberations took four hours. Guilty on all counts.

Sentencing was two months later. I submitted a victim impact statement, five pages detailing what this had done to Margaret, to me, to our lives.

How we’d lost not just our money, but our sense of safety, our trust, our family.

Margaret tried to submit one too, but her Alzheimer’s made it impossible. Her neurologist submitted a letter instead, documenting how the trauma had accelerated her cognitive decline.

The judge read through everything, then she looked at Jennifer.

“miss Holloway you are an educated intelligent woman you understood the vulnerability of your mother’s condition and you exploited it without conscience you betrayed not just her trust but every standard of human decency this court sees no mitigating factors jennifer Holloway you are sentenced to 12 years in federal prison”

I exhaled. It was over.

But it wasn’t, not really. The civil suit settled a month later.

Jennifer and Kyle were jointly liable for $375,000. Of course, they don’t have that money.

The court put liens on any future assets, wages, or inheritance. If they ever have anything, we’ll get it, but realistically we’ll never see that money.

The restitution order from the criminal case says they owe us $175,000 plus interest. Again, good luck collecting.

The house, we managed to refinance the HELOC into our mortgage, but we now have payments for the first time in twenty years.

We’ll be paying this off for the rest of our lives.

Margaret’s care costs are climbing as her Alzheimer’s progresses. Insurance covers some of it, but not all.

I’m looking at possibly selling the house within a few years to afford memory care.

Jennifer is at Grand Valley Institution for Women, about an hour west of Toronto. She’ll be eligible for parole in eight years.

Kyle is at Joyceville, a medium security prison near Kingston. His parole eligibility is in five years.

I haven’t visited; I won’t visit. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a daughter anymore.

People ask me sometimes if I regret pursuing the charges so aggressively. If I wish I’d tried to work it out as a family.

If I think 12 years is too harsh. Here’s what I tell them.