In the summer of 2005, a depressed Jocelyn Earnest decided not to make the annual trip to Canada with the Kerns family. Instead, over the Fourth of July weekend, her sister, Laura, came to visit, and together they went for a drive out to the house on Smith Mountain Lake.
They stopped the car on the opposite shore, giving them a good view of the house Wesley had built—and of Wesley and Shameka Wright, carrying candles out onto the deck, then dancing to music only the couple could hear.
Laura could almost hear the crashing sound of her sister’s heart breaking. But it still wasn’t enough to convince Jocelyn to leave him.
“Laura, I am 70 percent sure that I want a divorce but I’m not ready to give up yet. I could forgive him if he would come back to me and help rebuild a life for the two of us,” Jocelyn told her.
Seeking comfort, serenity, and security—and a respite from reality and its ugly truths—Jocelyn changed her plans and raced to join the Kernses deep in the Canadian woods.
When she returned home from the trip, she honed her focus on work and staying fit. She lost a lot of weight and got very thin—one of the typical reactions of a wife who sees all her dreams for the future crumbling before her eyes.
She still heard from Wesley, who sent an occasional email asking her out, flirting with her, and leading her on. Although they were living separate lives in different homes and Wesley had obviously moved on with a new relationship, he did not want Jocelyn to do the same. He wanted her to continue to believe they had a future. And it worked. With each contact, Jocelyn’s hope sprouted new wings and took temporary flight only to crash and burn once again.
One such email Wesley wrote said that he was “on the absolute edge of committing suicide.” He complained about losing contact with his old friends and expressed a desire for Jocelyn to be set for life financially. He wrote that his feelings for her had returned when he restarted his career in Chesapeake. He said that he often drove past her house but had no intention of doing her any harm. “You are an incredible person—one that I am so very proud of . . . To see the hurt that I caused you is the most painful of all.”
Jennifer told her that the reason for Wesley’s emails was simple. “He is just keeping tabs on you and your activities because he is a control freak. He wants to keep the wool over your eyes while he is hiding his assets and establishing his financial future.”
Still, Jocelyn resisted the advice of friends and family and her own common sense. She took no steps to end the marriage that was causing her so much pain.
She did start counseling, in the hopes that it would help her adjust and cope with the intense self-anger she felt for allowing herself to be controlled and manipulated for such a long time, and had her first session with Susan Roehrich, on July 13, 2005. In August, Jocelyn wrote in her journal: “If I am ever found dead, my killer is my cheating husband. Know that he killed me, because I would never kill myself. My guess is he shot me and then killed himself.”
• • •
When he moved to Chesapeake to take the position as assistant principal at Oscar Smith Middle School, Wesley rented a room in a home owned by Neil Phillips and his wife, Linda. He told the landlord that he was taking a new job in Chesapeake and his wife would be joining him as soon as he was sure the job would work out and he found a place for them to live. The Phillipses never met Jocelyn; it was Shameka who helped Wesley move in, and who came to visit every other weekend.
Wesley soon became an unsettling tenant. When he habitually left the front door open, Linda spoke up about it. On one occasion, she followed him upstairs and Wesley went ballistic, cursing and shouting. He threatened to break her hand by slamming it in the door.
Linda later told WVEC TV news that Wesley “didn’t like women who had any ability to assert themselves. He liked them very mousy and quiet . . . He was very vindictive. When you crossed him, he would get back at you whatever way he could.”
In November 2005, the Phillipses had an argument that was overheard by Wesley. Afterward, Wesley told Neil, “Bitches like my wife and your wife should be dead.”
That comment disturbed Neil. He’d had enough. He wrote an eviction letter, asking Wesley to pay his last month’s rent and leave. Wesley said, “If you give me any trouble, I will get even with you.”
Wesley moved out on December 1 without paying for November, so the Phillipses kept the security deposit instead. In his vacated room, they found dirty dishes, empty beer bottles, a badly soiled mattress, and Wesley’s initials carved into the windowsill. And for some reason, he’d also flipped over the plastic floor mat under the chair at the desk so that the pointy side faced up.
• • •
In late summer 2005, Jocelyn had led a company-wide challenge for Genworth Financial, where new hire Marcy Shepherd was the training leader. As a result, the two women spent a lot of time together, working long hours. Occasionally, they went out after work for a drink or a bite to eat, and despite the stressful project with its tight timelines, there were moments of unabashed fun.
Jocelyn was also very focused on getting fit at this time, and walking was part of her regimen. Marcy joined her in this exercise—their favorite variation was a three-mile circuit in Wyndhurst, a section of Lynchburg. They talked at length on these walks and often in great depth.
Before long, Marcy had fallen in love with Jocelyn. During a telephone call in late October, Marcy asked, “If I kissed you, would you kiss me back?”
That December, after the Genworth Christmas party, Marcy gave Jocelyn a ride home back home, and Jocelyn invited her inside. As they sat on the couch talking, Marcy leaned over and they shared a kiss. Afterward, they decided it was not a good idea. They were both still married and neither one wanted to violate their vows. The physical side of their relationship never went any further.
• • •
Separated from Wesley, Jocelyn grieved the loss of the relationship. At one point, she hired a private investigator who wrote her depressing reports about Wesley’s continuing relationship with Shameka Wright. Jocelyn knew there was little hope of resurrecting their connection, but still she hesitated to pull the trigger and file for divorce.
Then, on an evening in March 2006, Jocelyn called Jennifer and asked her to accompany her on a drive out to the Smith Mountain Lake house. When they reached the lake house, they saw cars in the driveway and recognized one of them as Wesley’s vehicle. Jennifer parked by the mailbox, then they walked down the driveway to the house. The shades were not pulled down all the way, giving them a clear view of activity inside.
They saw Wesley brushing his teeth and washing his face. Then he turned toward the bathtub and handed a towel to a black woman who rose up from the water. She then brushed her teeth and the light went out in the bathroom.
As the couple moved into the master bedroom, Jocelyn and Jennifer moved around the deck to keep them in view. Jocelyn was cursing under her breath as she watched them climb into bed.
“If that doesn’t prove to you what’s going on, I don’t know what will,” Jennifer said.
“I know. I needed to see this and I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
Jocelyn and Jennifer sat down side by side on some exposed boulders, watching the couple making love—although it took them some time to understand what they were seeing, given the pale illumination. When they did, Jocelyn grew angrier. “This is it. I’m done. I’m over this.”
“How badly do you want him to know that you know?” Jennifer asked.
“Real bad,” Jocelyn said.
“You want to knock on the door?”
“Fuck the door. I’m going to the window.”
“Then, I’m going with you.”
Jocelyn stood up and walked over to the house. Jennifer followed her onto the small deck by the bedroom. Jocelyn raised her hand and rapped hard on the window. She shouted, “I see you Wesley Earnest.”
Jocelyn started to walk away, then turned back and banged on the window again. “Hey, how’s it going?”
The two people in the bed sat up in surprise. Then the woman rolled over on her side. Wesley swung to the side of the bed and hung his head and shook it from side to side.
The women outside waved and smiled at the pair. “Having fun?” Jocelyn shouted. “Enjoy!” With that parting word, Jocelyn ran back to the car.
When Wesley turned on the light, Jennifer went out to the car. “You need to write this all down, Joce.”
“I can’t. I have to drive. You write it down.”
As they drove away, Jennifer pulled an envelope out of the glove compartment and wrote down the time and the date. She’d never written up anything like this before, but she drew on her training as a nurse, and so described the scene in clinical language: “Observed an undulating motion in a silhouette caused by moonlight coming down through the window.”
Jennifer ached for the pain Jocelyn was feeling but thought that this was what her friend needed: a stark confrontation with the truth in order to move on with her life. And it seemed she was right—the change in Jocelyn’s attitude was instantaneous. She had been sad and a bit lethargic. After this confrontation, she was proactive and energetic, moving forward with everything she had neglected—including finally filing for divorce.
In the divorce paperwork submitted to the Bedford Circuit Court that June 2006, Jocelyn cited Wesley’s ongoing relationship with Shameka, and in addition to adultery, she also alleged cruelty, desertion, and separation in excess of one year. Paragraph five of the complaint stated that “in 2004, the defendant began spending considerable amounts of time away from home. Frequently, your plaintiff did not know where the defendant was. The defendant often told your plaintiff that he was at their lake house in Moneta, Virginia, but plaintiff would call or go to the lake house only to find that the defendant was not there. When he was home at 1482 Pine Bluff Drive in Lynchburg, Virginia, defendant was wooden, distant, and uncommunicative.”
Wesley told his attorney, Richard Cunningham, that the complaint shocked him and that the allegations in it were “preposterous.” They filed a counterclaim stating that the allegations contained in paragraph five were denied. “The defendant affirmatively states he has a class A contractor’s license and undertook the building of the house at Smith Mountain Lake for which the parties received an occupancy permit on August 12th, 2004. In order to obtain the tax benefits, the parties had to declare said home as their principal residence. Defendant commenced residing in said home, but plaintiff refused to do so, claiming she did not want to drive that far to work. Defendant further affirmatively states that it was the plaintiff who was wooden, distant, and uncommunicative. She refused all acts of intimacy and spent an exorbitant amount of time in her place of employment.”
In response to Jocelyn’s allegation that her husband was spending a considerable amount of time with Shameka Wright and would not answer when she asked him if he was having an affair with that woman, Wesley stated that the “defendant admits spending time with a friend, Shameka Wright. Plaintiff did ask the defendant whether or not he was having an affair with Shameka Wright, at which time he denied any such affair.”
Wesley also denied the statement about Jocelyn not knowing where he was during nonwork hours by saying, “It was the plaintiff who spent less and less time at the marital house, which was now the lake property . . . Defendant did not conceal his whereabouts . . . Any lack of knowledge on the part of the plaintiff was due to her lack of interest in the defendant and her work schedule.”
Wesley went on to complain about Jocelyn not attending after-school events with him, and about her solo trip with the Kernses to Canada in 2005. He defended himself on the adultery charges claiming that “plaintiff has continuously encouraged defendant to engage in sexual intercourse with others since she did not want to have an intimate relationship with him.” Finally, he accused Jocelyn of “willful and constructive desertion.”
He also filed a motion of relief requesting that he be granted exclusive use of the lake house, that Jocelyn provide temporary spousal support, and that $100,000 be deposited in an escrow account to cover the loan made to them by his father.
The interaction between Jocelyn and Wesley had gone wrong some time ago, but now it was about to turn very ugly. Jocelyn would no longer go along to get along. She raised her objection to his solution to financial issues, determined not to let him “get his way for once.” She knew he really wanted the lake house, but she wanted the house sold—it was his “love nest with Shameka,” and she found it intolerable that he should be allowed to keep it.
She refused to talk with Wesley any longer about anything. She insisted that the lawyers handle all communication. She changed the locks on the house and installed a security system. And she continued seeing her counselor because she enjoyed the empowerment she realized she was getting from her sessions.