‘They fired shire at him’: Woman receives collect call from the county jail. Then she learns her husband is cheating

A woman received a collect call from her local county jail. Surprised, she spoke into the line, only to eventually realize she had a cheating husband. That’s because she discovered a web of lies that would eventually dissolve their marriage into a “co-parenting” relationship. As Renee (@reneewey) recounts, “ I legitimately wish I could say that this was not a factual story, but it was.” 

Since describing the situation, which occurred in 2021, Renee’s first video has gotten over 64,000 views. At the time, Renee was married with two children, which made her hesitant to post anything negative about her partner at the time. But she realized she felt more comfortable sharing the story of her cheating husband. 

Renee gets a call from the county jail

Renee’s cheating husband was a veteran, so he often went to the American Legion in the area to have fun. She recounted that her husband would stay out until “3 or 4 a.m.,” which he had done for “years and years.” 

Renee didn’t know that her husband had an ulterior motive for going to the American Legion, however. One particular night, her phone rang two times early in the morning. At first, she ignored it, as she had to be up early in the morning with her children. But, she answered the second time. 

The voice on the other line let her know that it was her “county jail.” She had a call from an inmate: her husband. Shocked, she answered, and soon heard her husband’s slurred speech as he tried to speak with her. 

“ I accept it, and he’s on the other line. He is so belligerently drunk that he’s not making any sense,” Renee said. “I can’t even piece together what’s happening. He’s like, ‘You just need to get down to the jail and get me, like, you just need to figure it out.’” 

Renee heads down to the police station

At that point, Renee felt completely disoriented. She decided to call her best friend so that she could talk to someone about the situation. She also needed someone to stay with her kids while she picked her husband up from the county jail. 

From there, Renee hopped in the car and made her way to the jailhouse. She signed some papers that indicated she’d be responsible for her husband’s whereabouts for the next 24-48 hours, and then she waited for two hours for her husband to come out. Eventually, he did, but he was “so drunk” that nothing he said made sense. 

She realized then and there that she wasn’t going to get any information out of him, so she brought him home and let him sleep it off. 

The next morning, they discuss what happened

The next morning, Renee had her husband piece together the night. He was more coherent and sober when he gave a story, alleging that he was ambushed by a group of men with a Dodge Hellcat. According to him, the men were trying to take his car. But Renee’s husband pulled out a gun he kept on him, pushing back against the robbery attempt. 

They fired shots at him, and he fired back. He then called the cops to report that his car was stolen. But they got there and realized that her husband was incredibly drunk, brandishing a weapon openly in a very public area. For that reason, he was arrested by the officers. 

According to Renee, her husband was “convinced” that he didn’t do anything wrong. He was trying to argue that they could take legal action against the police department for arresting him that night. He even went back to the American Legion to get security footage with them. When he got home, he played it for his wife, who then saw that he wasn’t alone that night. 

Renee notices a girl in his car

While reviewing the footage, Renee saw a particularly familiar face. A woman named Meghan was sitting in the back of her husband’s car at around 2 a.m., that night. Her husband had clearly forgotten that she was there, so Renee asked him, “Why is Meghan in your car?” 

Her husband got incredibly angry at Renee and accused her of focusing on the wrong thing. “ He like started to blame me. He was like, ‘So I like get into this whole altercation and it was super dangerous and there was weapons fired and you’re just concerned about some girl in my car,’” Renee told her viewers. 

Her husband said that he was just “showing her his wheels,” as Meghan was a car enthusiast. But his reaction concerned Renee. Later, he started meeting with lawyers to build a case against the police department, although he struggled as he fired a weapon while intoxicated that night. 

For a few weeks, Renee noticed a growing distance between the two of them. Her husband stopped going to the American Legion as often, but he also seemed much further away from her. He was sleeping downstairs, and she was sleeping upstairs. 

A couple of months after that incident, her husband got a new phone. Renee noticed his old one sitting on a countertop, and then it vibrated. She decided to check it. 

Renee finds evidence that her cheating husband was lying

Renee then saw the messages her husband had been sending to a girl. Many of them recounted a “physical” relationship with emotional ties. The woman had texted her husband things like “I don’t know how to separate the physical from the emotional.” 

“ There was my confirmation that like they had been doing stuff, and then there was also some other girl, and that he had been going over to her house, but lying about it, saying that he was going to the Legion,” Renee said. 

She later discovered that there was a series of women that her cheating husband would meet. Often, cheaters serially date in plain sight.

In Renee’s case, she realized that it would be hard to leave her husband, despite having evidence of his affairs. He had all of their hard assets placed in his name. Anytime she tried to leave, he would tell her that “everything” they owned together belonged to him. 

Being in a military family also isolated her. She was trapped and alone without many family or friends, and her husband’s strong control over her life made it incredibly difficult to make any definitive moves. That’s one reason why she stayed longer. 

Some commenters asked why Renee didn’t contact his commanding officer, and she let that viewer know that the military cares significantly less than people would think about their soldiers’ marital issues. 

Renee’s marriage dissolves, but they remain together under one roof

From that point forward, Renee’s marriage didn’t resemble a traditional relationship. Instead, she and her husband agreed to co-parent under the same roof to avoid a divorce. He would continue having his affairs, and Renee would focus on their children. 

Renee’s husband only got worse. His drinking became a bigger issue once he got out of the military. The issues started to spiral, with her husband slowly losing control over himself and his addiction. 

One night, Renee suddenly heard the fire alarm go off in their home. As her eyes opened, she saw smoke all around her. 

“And so obviously I jump out of bed, I run over, I grab my kids, [and] I head downstairs,” Renee said. “We see that my husband is like passed out in his gaming chair and there’s smoke that’s filled our entire downstairs. I’m screaming his name, my daughter’s screaming his name. I’m like getting my kids outside, getting the dogs outside.”

Her husband had fallen asleep while drunk, leaving something on the stove, which had caught fire. Everything ended up being “just fine,” but Renee saw it as a come-to-Jesus situation. 

“ Your kids are crying and freaking out. Your house is full of smoke. It’s just a very scary situation to be in,” she explained. Her husband did feel guilty about the circumstance and apologized profusely. But, nearly the exact same situation happened the very next weekend.

@reneewey

Tale as old as time, sorta.

♬ original sound – ReneeWey

Leaving a relationship with her cheating husband—a future update

Over the course of her relationship, Renee felt more and more frightened. Her husband isolated her, but she realized that she needed to find a way out. 

So, she did. Renee eventually did find her way out of her marriage, although she hasn’t fully explained the details of how.  

The Mary Sue reached out to Renee for more information.

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