Willis Family including rape charges

[MorningMist]

5 minutes ago, 2manyKidzzz said:

This is awful for all of those kids.......and they are living in a bus??? I feel badly for those children. Very sad all around for all affected.

Yeah at the moment they are from what I've heard. Their rental home sold so they had to move out but they figured out that they were only going to be at home 6 or so days for the rest of the year due to all their touring so there was no point in buying/renting a new house. Must be really bad for them right now though with all thats going on, the family must be dying to get some privacy from each other to digest everything that's happened.

[hoipolloi]

On whose say so do the TBI believe Toby Willis hitched rides? If they're looking for the driver(s), how would they know to do so?

Maybe Toby claimed to have hitchhiked in order to hide the fact that someone he knew -- say, his wife or a friend or someone -- actually transported him?

Something about the hitchhiking issue doesn't quite add up.

[bucherwurm]

I for one did not see this coming. I saw it mentioned in another thread so came to look. When I saw Willis, I thought the oldest brother, since he bugs me, not the dad. Poor victim, hopefully they can stay out of the limelight.

I've seen the majority of their shows on TLC, and honestly, besides Toby and the oldest son, I liked them.

[Coy Koi]

Is it just me, or is it kind of off-putting that every single article I've read about this says wording very close to "a sexual encounter with an underage female"? To me it gives the impression of statutory rape, and none of these articles ever clarify that the charge is actually for the rape of a child between the ages of 4 and 12. Am I just being weird? Do other articles typically describe child rape this way and I just never noticed?

[MorningMist]

Is it just me, or is it kind of off-putting that every single article I've read about this says wording very close to "a sexual encounter with an underage female"? To me it gives the impression of statutory rape, and none of these articles ever clarify that the charge is actually for the rape of a child between the ages of 4 and 12. Am I just being weird? Do other articles typically describe child rape this way and I just never noticed?

The articles haven't been the best but the TBI have stated that he has been arrested on on one count of Rape of a Child so that's as official as it gets. According to the Tennessee government, that means it could be anyone between the ages of 3 and 13.

[Coy Koi]

8 minutes ago, MorningMist said:

The articles haven't been the best but the TBI have stated that he has been arrested on on one count of Rape of a Child so that's as official as it gets. According to the Tennessee government, that means it could be anyone between the ages of 3 and 13.

Stating that the charge is Rape of a Child still isn't clear though if the reader doesn't happen to know Tennessee law and doesn't bother to look it up (so, almost everyone). In some states (like mine-Washington), statutory rape is charged as Rape of a Child.

[MorningMist]

5 minutes ago, Coy Koi said:

Stating that the charge is Rape of a Child still isn't clear though if the reader doesn't happen to know Tennessee law and doesn't bother to look it up (so, almost everyone). In some states (like mine-Washington), statutory rape is charged as Rape of a Child.

Yeah, the first thing I did was checked to see if there was a difference in Tennessee law or not and there seems to be. Statutory rape is a different incident according to the website I looked at. Not sure if there is a difference between what he was charged with versus what he will be found guilty of, I'm really bad a law.

I was basing all my info from this website: https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/tbi/attachments/Definitions of Tennessee Sexual Offenses and Violent Sexual Offenses.pdf

[Lurky]

3 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

On whose say so do the TBI believe Toby Willis hitched rides? If they're looking for the driver(s), how would they know to do so?

Maybe Toby claimed to have hitchhiked in order to hide the fact that someone he knew -- say, his wife or a friend or someone -- actually transported him?

I'm guessing this is why they're putting the call-out for who gave him a lift exactly, in order to confirm his story.  I can't imagine why they'd do it otherwise.

[Pukingpearl]

Radar online (I read only the classiest Internet news) has a copy of his arrest warrant. It has no new information other than dates and times of arrest. The officer stated that he/she had no knowledge of the case. 

It looked to me like maybe the police officer saw him hitch hiking and stopped him? Just with the way the report was written with no address given and no car information, that seemed to make sense to me. 

[SportsgalAnnie]

* Wsmv is trying to get a timeline of stories/ events so if yall need a place to look I'd go there first. 

 

[silverspoons]

8 hours ago, socalrules said:

He was hitchhiking to get away? Who resorts to hitchhiking, especially someone with money? Or for that matter, who the hell is picking up a hitchhiker in 2016? He truly was a man on the run. I wonder where he was when he found out the police where looking for him. It leads me to think that he did not have time to plan his escape and maybe just walked/ran away from wherever he was without having the chance to formulate a plan. 

This hitchhiking component gives me little doubt now since there is no way he did not have money for some other form of transportation. Is hitchhiking legal in TN/KY? Hitchhiking is pretty common where I am in Utah. When I shop I go by the last exit in Utah heading towards NV and hitchhikers are always at the exit and by the time I come back they are gone are new ones are waiting for rides. They are everyone from younger adults to seniors, clean cut to rough looking.

[SportsgalAnnie]

9 minutes ago, silverspoons said:

This hitchhiking component gives me little doubt now since there is no way he did not have money for some other form of transportation. Is hitchhiking legal in TN/KY? Hitchhiking is pretty common where I am in Utah. When I shop I go by the last exit in Utah heading towards NV and hitchhikers are always at the exit and by the time I come back they are gone are new ones are waiting for rides. They are everyone from younger adults to seniors, clean cut to rough looking.

It depends where you are in Tennessee, around Nashville to KY area it's not illegal 

[faraway]

One weird thing: The day Toby was arrested, Sean (Jessica's boyfriend) posted a scenic picture on IG with the caption "Speak truth boldly".

[Kylolo]

16 hours ago, JesusPony said:

Was the band performing in Kentucky around September 5/6? It sounds like he hitchhiked away from the family. 

I can't find any date in or around Shepherdsville on/around the 5th.  They were scheduled to perform in Greenville, where he was arrested, on the date of his arrest.

Past tour dates have been scrubbed from every source Google turned up.

Also, hitchhiking is legal in KY as long as one stands on the roadside.

[ladyaudley]

Family instagram now not only private, but deleted. Family website totally gone. I guess that's it for their careers for a while... 

He has always been insanely controlling, but I do feel really bad for the kids. They've, as previous posters have said, been brought up to idolise him AND they rely really heavily on their showbiz stuff... now what?

[Cleopatra7]

53 minutes ago, ladyaudley said:

Family instagram now not only private, but deleted. Family website totally gone. I guess that's it for their careers for a while... 

He has always been insanely controlling, but I do feel really bad for the kids. They've, as previous posters have said, been brought up to idolise him AND they rely really heavily on their showbiz stuff... now what?

Hopefully, the family can use this time out of the spotlight to get themselves in order. Given how fundies and fundie lites dislike psychology, I doubt they will seek secular therapy but a girl can hope, right? In comparison, I can't imagine the Duggars completely scrubbing their social media presence. They're dead set on remaining d-list celebrities for as long as possible, no matter how many scandals they endure.

[Kylolo]

5 hours ago, faraway said:

One weird thing: The day Toby was arrested, Sean (Jessica's boyfriend) posted a scenic picture on IG with the caption "Speak truth boldly".

I freely admit this could TOTALLY be coincidence and/or assigning meaning after the fact, but this was his Facebook post on the day the TBI has stated they started an investigation:

 

 

 

[Snarkle Motion]

5 hours ago, faraway said:

One weird thing: The day Toby was arrested, Sean (Jessica's boyfriend) posted a scenic picture on IG with the caption "Speak truth boldly".

I don't want to break any rules about speculating about victims so let me know if this crosses a line. But I agree that this and other aspects of the case  and the behavior of the family in the months prior raises red flags.

[Becket70]

Regardless of how this eventually plays out, this is a huge optics problem for TLC.  People remember headlines and the headlines have not been good to TLC for the last 18 months.  This Willis situation is just one more scandal.  Not coincidentally, the last 18 months have shown quite a ratings decline for TLC.  I glean from this that people are generally turned off by the network no matter what content they are showing. One would think that at some point they would cut the Duggar cord and start over in an attempt to win back the support of viewers.  What amazes me is that a corporation as huge as Discovery Communications seems unwilling to intervene.  Maybe there is a lot of discussion going on behind the scenes, however, their undying support for the Duggars baffles me.

[Casserole]

If the family is living in their bus, which is also their method of transportation, the hitchhiking makes sense. If he were trying to run, he'd have to take his whole house and family with him. 

Jessica's boyfriend's posts and the timeline of her quitting the family/band and these charges do raise an eyebrow. I don't want to break rules and speculate... but the charge from TBI would be incest if his kids were involved, right? So since the charge is rape of a child and not incest, it's safe to assume the victim is not related to the Willis clan? Or does Tennessee not differentiate? 

[faraway]

1 hour ago, Kylolo said:

I freely admit this could TOTALLY be coincidence and/or assigning meaning after the fact, but this was his Facebook post on the day the TBI has stated they started an investigation:

It could really just be a coincidence.  I do find it strange that he posted on IG that day AT ALL. I mean the family's internet presence went black that day and so did Jessica's instagram.

1 hour ago, Snarkle Motion said:

I don't want to break any rules about speculating about victims so let me know if this crosses a line. But I agree that this and other aspects of the case  and the behavior of the family in the months prior raises red flags.

What really speaks against this theory: Jessica was working on her leather craft online store which was supposed to launch in the next few days. She was promoting it on IG and next thing you know the allegations happened and everything went dark.

[bucherwurm]

I can't get to their FB page any more. Any one else?

[Eve]

38 minutes ago, bucherwurm said:

I can't get to their FB page any more. Any one else?

It seems to be gone. Brenda Willis also had a personal page (which appeared to be real) that is also gone as of this morning. 

[SilverBeach]

Toby Willis' arrest made the local news here in Chicagoland. People here remember the death of his five siblings in a crash back in 1992. The tragedy led directly to uncovering the truck licences for bribes scandal and the imprisonment of the Governor. Sad legacy for the family. Hope the arrest helps the victim in some way.

[Coy Koi]

3 hours ago, Casserole said:

Jessica's boyfriend's posts and the timeline of her quitting the family/band and these charges do raise an eyebrow. I don't want to break rules and speculate... but the charge from TBI would be incest if his kids were involved, right? So since the charge is rape of a child and not incest, it's safe to assume the victim is not related to the Willis clan? Or does Tennessee not differentiate? 

Not necessarily. In Tennessee, Incest is a Class C felony which, as far as I can tell, could apply to adult relatives in a consensual relationship. Rape of a Child is a Class A felony. They could charge someone with both, but it's entirely possible that they wouldn't.