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GBI changes information about where evidence was found in Jessica Boynton case

When facts are wrong, evidence altered to fit theories and threats made, how does the GBI remain the last word on the Jessica Boynton case?

Brendan Keefe, Jessica Noll

Published: 11:06 AM EST February 28, 2017
Updated: 2:13 PM EST January 9, 2020

GRIFFIN, Ga. – Who shot the officer’s wife?

It’s a question 11Alive investigators asked a few months ago, when Griffin Police Officer Matthew Boynton’s wife, Jessica, allegedly shot herself in the head with his service weapon, inside the master bedroom closet—locked from the inside.

But did something else happen that spring night in 2016?

Credit: WXIA

That question lingers--but not for Georgia Bureau of Investigations, who said the case is closed--repeatedly stating that they are satisfied with their findings.

After Jessica was shot, Matthew, then-20, was back on duty with his gun on his hip, before key interviews were conducted and the GBI director wrote an official letter about the case’s conclusion, stating that the shooting was ruled a “suicide.”

Jessica did not die.

But the report and follow-up interviews with the lead investigator make the case as clear as mud to one reporter in the small town where it happened. But asking those questions resulted in a threat.

When facts are wrong, evidence altered to fit theories and threats made, how does the GBI remain the last word on the case?

Was the investigation a mess up or a cover up?

Jessica, then-19, had just put her two young sons to bed and was getting her clothes ready in the closet for the next day. She had a job interview and it was going to be her first step to freedom.

She was leaving her husband of just six months.

And it’s inside that closet, where police found her seemingly shot in the head, laying on top of her husband’s service weapon.

Two shots had been fired. One, investigators said penetrated Jessica's head and the other the wall.

Her shoulder-length, blonde hair was saturated in crimson. Her head wound soaked into the green and white pillow, where her head rested.

But, she was still breathing.

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