I thought I’d never uncover why everyone accused me of touching my daughter

The Investigation Begins

The judge studied the photos on Bella’s phone for a long time before looking up. “I’ve heard enough for now, and I’m ordering a 15-minute recess,” she said.

She stood up, and everyone else scrambled to their feet. “All parties will remain in the courthouse and available,” she added.

She walked out through the door behind her bench, and the bailiff followed. My lawyer immediately pulled me toward the corner of the courtroom, away from everyone else.

“This is going better than I expected because Bella speaking up changes everything,” he said. He was talking fast and quiet while watching my ex-wife and her lawyer across the room.

“The judge can see through this emergency custody grab now that your daughter explained what really happened,” he added. I could hear my ex-wife and her lawyer arguing in harsh whispers near the other door.

“You said we had to stick to the plan!” her voice carried even though she was trying to be quiet. Her lawyer shushed her and pulled her further away, but I could still see them gesturing at each other.

The 15 minutes felt like 15 hours, but finally the bailiff called us back to order. The judge came back in, and we all stood until she sat down.

“I’m ordering an immediate investigation by child protective services that will evaluate both households,” she said. She looked directly at my ex-wife when she said this.

“I’m also appointing a guardian ad lightum to represent the child’s interests separately from either parent,” she added. My ex-wife’s lawyer started to object, but the judge cut him off with a sharp look.

“Furthermore, I am denying the request for emergency custody transfer at this time,” she stated. Relief flooded through me so hard I almost fell over.

“However, I am scheduling another hearing in two weeks to review the findings of these investigations,” she said. She looked back and forth between me and my ex-wife.

“I am warning both parties that any harassment or contact outside official channels will be considered contempt of court,” her voice got harder on those last words. “Any violation will result in immediate consequences including possible jail time.”

My ex-wife opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but her lawyer put his hand on her arm. “This hearing is adjourned,” the judge said.

She banged her gavel and stood up to leave. We waited until she was gone before gathering our stuff and heading for the door.

Bella stayed pressed against my side as we walked through the courthouse hallway. The second we got in my car, she completely fell apart.

Her whole body shook with sobs, and she couldn’t catch her breath. I pulled her across the center console and held her while she cried into my shirt.

“You were so brave in there, baby,” I said. I rubbed her back while she sobbed harder.

“I’m so proud of you for speaking up and telling the truth,” I added. She cried for 20 minutes straight before finally calming down enough to put on her seat belt.

The Evidence at the Door

We drove home in silence except for her occasional hiccups from crying so hard. That night after Bella went to bed, I heard something outside.

When I looked through the window, I saw someone at our front door. I grabbed my phone and started recording while creeping toward the door, but whoever it was had already left.

There was another poster taped to our door, and this one made my stomach drop. It had a photo of Bella’s bruised face from earlier with “Like father like daughter” written underneath.

It was in that same fancy pen with hearts dotting the eyes. I ripped it down and went straight to the garage to grab my toolbox.

I spent the next three hours installing security cameras I’d bought months ago but never put up. The whole time I kept checking over my shoulder and jumping at every car that drove by.

Around midnight I called my lawyer, even though I knew it was too late. He picked up on the third ring sounding tired, but when I told him about the new poster with Bella’s photo, he woke up fast.

He told me to take pictures of everything and save the poster in a plastic bag for evidence. He said he was already working on getting a restraining order against my ex-wife based on what Bella said in court, but this new poster would help our case.

The next morning my phone rang while I was making breakfast. It was Aaron Dunn, the principal at Bella’s school.

He said he’d heard about what happened to Bella and wanted to discuss her safety at the school. He was setting up new protocols and asked if we could meet that afternoon.

Bella didn’t want to go back to the school, but I convinced her to come to the meeting so she could hear what the principal planned to do. We sat in his office while he explained that he’d assigned Bella a safe room she could go to anytime she felt unsafe.

He gave her a special orange pass that let her leave any class without asking permission. He showed us the room, which had a couch and books and a phone that went straight to his office.

He seemed really concerned about what happened and kept apologizing that it happened at his school.

The Guardian and the Investigator

Three days later I was washing dishes when someone knocked on our door. It was Josephine Watts, the guardian at Lightum the judge had appointed.

She was younger than I expected, with kind eyes and a soft voice that made Bella relax a little. She spent two hours talking with Bella alone in her room while I waited in the kitchen trying not to pace.

I could hear their voices but not what they were saying. Every few minutes I’d hear Bella laugh, which made me feel better.

After they talked, Josephine came out and asked to see the rest of our house. She took photos of Bella’s room, the kitchen, and living room, and even looked in our fridge and pantry.

She checked that Bella had clean clothes and school supplies and a working computer for homework. She seemed happy with what she saw and told me she’d be visiting Bella’s mother’s house next.

She couldn’t tell me what she and Bella talked about, but she said Bella was very mature for her age. A few days after that, my lawyer called to say he was hiring a private investigator named Seth Kramer to figure out who was putting up the posters.

Seth used to be a cop and knew how to track down evidence like where the paper came from and who bought those fancy pens. He came to our house to look at the posters I’d saved and took pictures of the handwriting.

He said the pens looked expensive and there were only a few stores in town that sold them. About a week later Seth called with news.

He’d tracked down the art store downtown that sold those exact pens and got their security footage from the day before the first posters appeared. The footage showed a woman who looked exactly like my ex-wife buying three of those pens.

He also found footage from a gas station camera near our neighborhood showing her car at 2:00 a.m. the same night we found the first batch of posters.