iChat — April 27, 2016
“Things Feel So Broken”
Archive ID: 20160427-CHAT-01
Artifact Date: April 27, 2016
Artifact Type: Digital Communication / Apple Messages-iChat Transcript
Evidence Category: Relationship Context / Parenting / Relationship Distress / Whereabouts Check-Ins
Status: Preserved / Public Redacted Copy
Context
This April 27, 2016 Apple Messages/iChat record documents an ordinary afternoon with the children alongside growing concern about the condition of my marriage.
During the afternoon, I was walking with the children. I sent Kyle five photographs from the outing, told him we were taking breaks, and later explained that we had stopped at Wendy’s so one child could rest and the children could have a snack. Kyle responded, “Looks like fun.” He also asked whether we had made it home and later asked, “Home yet?”
By early evening, the conversation shifted from ordinary family life to relationship distress.
At 6:24 PM, I asked:
“How sad would it be that we move here and then we end up getting divorced?”
When Kyle asked where that came from, I answered:
“Just that things feel so broken...just laying here thinking about everything.”
“I don't think you and I have ever been this distant.”
Within minutes, I softened what I had said, suggested that perhaps it was “just a phase,” apologized after Kyle said he was bummed, and later wrote, “I love you babe!!”
The record is preserved as contemporaneous evidence of ordinary parenting and family activity existing alongside serious relationship instability one day before the April 28 communications.
Public Redacted Transcript
Page 1 of 2
Public redacted transcript, page 1 of 2. April 27, 2016 Apple Messages/iChat messages documenting a walk with the children, five photograph attachments, rest and food stops, and routine questions about whether I had returned home.
Page 2 of 2
Public redacted transcript, page 2 of 2. The conversation shifts from ordinary family communication to my concern that the marriage felt broken and unusually distant.
An Afternoon With the Children
At 3:05 PM, Kyle asked:
“How's the walk?”
I replied:
“Fine!!”
“Battery is low.”
“Forgot to charge my phone.”
“Nope we are great!!”
Between 3:06 PM and 3:12 PM, I sent three photographs from the walk:
IMG_3375.jpeg
IMG_2401.jpeg
IMG_0529.jpeg
I then wrote:
“Already taking lots of rests!!”
Photograph 1
First photograph sent during the April 27, 2016 walk with the children.
Photograph 2
Paved walking path bordered by trees, landscaping, and a roadway.
Photograph 3
Third photograph sent during the walk, immediately before I wrote that we were taking lots of rests.
Still Walking
At 4:23 PM, Kyle asked:
“Did you make it home?”
I had not.
At 4:31 PM, I sent two more photographs:
IMG_0580.jpeg
IMG_5796.jpeg
I then wrote:
“We are still walking...we went to Wendy's!!”
“So [REDACTED - MINOR’S INFORMATION] could rest and the kids had a snack!”
Kyle responded:
“Looks like fun”
Photograph 4
Fourth photograph sent during the April 27 outing while we were still walking.
Photograph 5
Fifth photograph sent during the April 27 outing, immediately before I explained that we had stopped so one child could rest and the children could have a snack.
Whereabouts Check-Ins
The transcript contains more than one question about whether I had returned home.
At 4:23 PM:
“Did you make it home?”
At 5:36 PM:
“Home yet?”
I answered:
“Yes!”
The exchange continued with Kyle asking whether the walk had been hard and whether the children were sleeping. I explained that one child had been too small to comfortably walk that far but too big for a stroller.
These messages document the routine practice of communicating about my location and return. This entry does not assign a motive to those questions. Standing alone, they are consistent with ordinary family communication. Their archival significance comes from preserving the communication pattern as it actually occurred.
Ordinary Family Conversation
Later, the conversation turned to something as mundane as missing chocolate-chip cookies.
We discussed how many had been left and which child might have eaten them.
That ordinary domestic exchange matters as context because the conversation then shifted almost immediately into something much more serious.
“How Sad Would It Be…”
At 6:24 PM, I wrote:
“How sad would it be that we move here and then we end up getting divorced?”
Kyle responded:
“Wtf”
“Where did that come from”
I answered:
“Just that things feel so broken...just laying here thinking about everything.”
“I don't think you and I have ever been this distant.”
Those statements preserve my contemporaneous assessment of the relationship on April 27, 2016.
I was not describing the marriage years later with the benefit of hindsight.
I was writing, in real time, that it felt broken and that we had never felt this distant.
Retreat and Repair
Immediately after raising the possibility of divorce, I began softening what I had said:
“Crazy!!”
“Maybe it's just a phase!!”
Kyle replied:
“Great well now I'm bummed”
I responded:
“Oh ok!”
“Sorry.”
Twenty minutes later, I wrote:
“I love you babe!!”
Later that evening Kyle wrote:
“Omega with love”
I answered:
“Good cause I need a break.”
The archive preserves this entire sequence, not only the statements about divorce.
It shows concern about the marriage followed almost immediately by an attempt to restore connection.
“Eating a Burrito Supreme in Peace”
The complete April 27 source record continues later that night.
At 10:08 PM, I wrote:
“In the Taco Bell parking lot!!”
“Eating a burrito supreme in peace!!”
“:)”
“This is my new hangout!!”
Kyle replied:
“Good enjoy👍”
This final exchange gives additional context to my earlier statement that I needed a break. It documents me sitting alone in a parking lot eating before the conversation ended for the night.
Analysis
April 27 is an important contextual record because it preserves two realities at the same time.
The first is ordinary family life.
I was walking with the children, taking photographs, monitoring whether a young child needed rest, stopping for food, and communicating with Kyle throughout the day. Five contemporaneous photographs survive alongside those messages.
The second is significant relationship distress.
That same evening, I spontaneously raised the possibility that we could end up divorced and wrote that things felt “so broken” and that we had never been this distant.
This transcript should not itself be characterized as an abusive exchange.
Its evidentiary value is chronological and contextual. It documents what daily family life looked like immediately before the April 28 escalation, while also establishing that serious concern about the marriage was already being expressed in contemporaneous communications.
Archive Note
This artifact is preserved as relationship, parenting, and chronological context.
Names and identifying information belonging to minors have been redacted from the public transcript. The underlying source material is preserved separately.
Five image attachments are identified in the source transcript and the corresponding photographs are presented separately in this entry:
IMG_3375.jpeg
IMG_2401.jpeg
IMG_0529.jpeg
IMG_0580.jpeg
IMG_5796.jpeg
The photographs corroborate that an outdoor outing with the children was occurring. They do not, by themselves, establish anything beyond what is visible in the images and their placement within the contemporaneous message record.
Source: Apple Messages/iChat archive
Date: April 27, 2016
Time Range: 10:48:01 AM-10:08:53 PM PDT
Public Transcript Files:
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