David Eason is facing some serious criminal charges for allegedly strangling his soon-to-be-former stepson Jace Evans in 2023 and, for the first time since he was charged, the former soulmate of Jenelle Evans is speaking out on his treatment of Jace. He also gave his thoughts on Jenelle’s parenting skills— or lack thereof!
The Ashley broke the news on Thursday that David had (finally) filed a response in court to Jenelle’s February 2024 divorce complaint. The Ashley can now reveal that– in David’s response filed with the court— he discussed his pending criminal charges, and seemingly gives his explanation for his alleged actions.
Because Jenelle brought up David’s pending charges in her 2024 complaint, David had to address them in his answer. He denied Jenelle’s claims that he strangled Jace.
As The Ashley has previously reported, David has a pending criminal case in Superior Court stemming from an incident in September 2023 in which Jenelle’s then-14-year-old son Jace told authorities he was allegedly assaulted by David after attempting to run away from the family’s home on The Land. Jenelle vehemently defended David at the time, and David denied any wrongdoing. However, the fired Teen Mom 2 dad was eventually charged with felony ‘Assault by Strangulation” as well as misdemeanor child abuse for allegedly “unlawfully and willingly” inflicting “physical injury” on Jace’s arm and both sides of his neck.
In his court filing from this week, David also seemingly gave his explanation of what happened.
“It is admitted that the minor child [Jace] has behavioral issues and mental instabilities and has threatened to harm himself and others and runs away from [Jenelle’s] home on a frequent basis,” David wrote. “It is further admitted that [David] has had to constrain [Jace] from time to time in the past due to the minor child carrying around weapons in his pockets and continuously attempting to run away from the care of [Jenelle].”
David admitted in his court documents that the Department of Social Services (DSS) did open a case with the Easons after the incident with Jace. (The Ashley reported this at the time, despite Jenelle denying her report.)
“DSS got involved due to [Jace’s] allegations against [David] but DSS has since closed and dismissed the case,” David wrote.
David admitted that there is still a no-contact order in place between him and Jace while his case is pending, and that he left his home on The Land in February 2024 so that Jace could come back home to live after he was released from DSS custody. David made it clear that he was not aware that his leaving was to be permanent.
“Due to the criminal charges, [David] agreed to go stay somewhere else until his attorney could have a judge modify the provisions so the defendant David Eason could return home and be with his family,” he wrote.
David claims Jenelle was “cold and indifferent” toward him after he left The Land, despite Jenelle alleging in her court filing that David was “cold and indifferent” toward her and the kids.
In his filing, David he claims the kids– including Jace— were mainly taken care of by him, not Jenelle, during their marriage.
He also denies the claim Jenelle made in her 2024 filing that she is an “engaged parents who devotes her time, energy, efforts and her resources to her family.”
David also brought up the fact that Jenelle had no reason to boast in her 2024 complaint that she had custody of all three of her children. He was quick to point out that she had only recently gotten custody of Jace back.
“[Jenelle] only received custody of her minor child, Jace…a little over a year ago after living with his grandma for most of his life,” David wrote, adding that Jenelle’s middle son Kaiser has also spent time living away from Jenelle.
“Kaiser has also lived with his biological father and grandmother [Doris Davidson] at times and has not always lived with [Jenelle],” he wrote. (Surely this line is a jab at Jenelle’s (failed) attempt in late 2024 to ship Kaiser off to his grandma Doris’ house in Tennessee.)
David denied Jenelle’s claims that he has mental disorders and/or substance abuse issues that would interfere with his ability to parent. He also states that he does not feel that it’s necessary that he do a psychological evaluation to test his parental fitness. (As The Ashley previously reported, David is not allowed to have even supervised visitation with his daughter Ensley until he completes the court-ordered evaluation, which he has not done as of press time.)
Last week, David’s current girlfriend, Kenleigh Heatwole, also spoke out about David’s pending strangulation and child abuse charges, giving her thoughts on her man being accused of such serious crimes.
“If you’re asking me who I believe, I believe [David],” she wrote on X. “Especially when MY name is all over the Internet being lied about constantly. I wouldn’t be with someone who I thought was capable of doing that. But opinions don’t matter in a courthouse. Innocent until proven guilty.”
When one X user asked her how she can be with a man who has been charged with abusing “every woman he was with as well as animals and children,” Kenleigh argued that what the public saw on TV isn’t the truth.
“Reality TV isn’t actual reality in my opinion. Drama and bad press = money,” she responded. “Not saying he’s perfect but I think there was a lot of fabrication and he has owned up to things in private to me.”
Jenelle has yet to file a response in court to David’s counterclaim and answer.
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