Father, who shared custody of their three children with his wife left a note next to their dead bodies saying “if I can’t have them neither can you” after drowning them one by one in a bathtub and then fleeing police, was sentenced to life in prison

Court records show that a 36-year-old man, later identified as Jason, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to the drowning of his three young children. The case, marked by its brutality and the father’s admitted motive to harm their mother, concluded with a sentencing that reflected the gravity of his actions.

Jason faced three counts of first-degree murder following his admission of guilt for drowning his children—Bryant, 5, Cassidy, 3, and Gideon, 2—in a bathtub in June 2022. The police responded to a call for a welfare check and discovered the lifeless bodies of the kids in their father’s home. Police recovered a note at the home when they found the children dead that read: ‘If I can´t have them neither can you.’ The children were on a weekend visit at the time, and their mother had planned to pick them up for a doctor’s visit. The mother of the children was in the process of gaining full custody of the siblings when their father murdered them. Prosecutors say he drowned them one by one.

After locating Jason on Interstate 57 and 115, a high-speed chase ensued, involving multiple highways and several police departments, lasting about 17 minutes. The chase ended dramatically when Jason crashed in a wooded area off Interstate 80. During his extraction from the vehicle, Jason made incriminating statements to the police, implicating himself in the deaths of his children at their home. He also mentioned failed attempts at suicide following the murders.

The sentencing hearing was an emotional affair, with the children’s mother, aunt, and maternal grandmother delivering victim impact statements that painted Jason as a “monster.” They spoke of the immense loss and described the children’s deaths as a “light lost.” Jason ‘ plea of guilty but mentally ill did not mitigate the outcome of his sentencing. This plea, ensures that defendants receive mental health treatment while in custody, acknowledging the role mental illness may have played in their actions.