indispensable, so loved and so cared for by part of our family, that he divided our family to the point where we are all completely torn apart. how would you describe your mother s relationship with gordon weaver? i think that she very much cared about him deeply as a friend. she saw him as her missionary work, the person that she led to the lord to save for jesus, and that she felt that she had to be practice unconditional love with him. to the very end. i m shocked at the cost that she was willing to pay or the price she was willing to pay, which was to talk away from her whole family. the breakup of the jaramillo family, though, was collateral damage, as gordon weaver ran from a real crime. after all, during the four years he lived with the family in oregon, jean s family back in minnesota had been waiting for justice, waiting for gordon weaver to go on trial for murder.
his wife had been perfectly fine when he left for work that morning. but police didn t believe him. neither did jean s sisters. the scene, her husband has done this. what made you so sure? because that she had told him she wanted a divorce and that he was a control freak, and i bet anything he was mad that she was going away that weekend, and he went to confront her and he was mad. and i think he shoved her so hard, after she was unconscious, he saw his chance. he set the house on fire. he set her on fire. jean s sisters say there was another reason they were suspicious of their sister s husband timing. they say while jean initially agreed to gordon s request to reconsider getting a divorce, on october 13th, three days before the fire, she told them she d
that is when jean knew it was time to get out. life is too short. she wanted a new life. she was excited about making changes. the sisters say that jean told gordon in august 1999 she wanted a divorce. she told him, this is it. i can t do this anymore. she told her sisters he d asked her to reconsider, to give it some more time. she reluctantly agreed but continued to plan for her future as a single mom. her sisters say it was as if the old jean they knew from girlhood had re-emerged, full of fun, enthusiasm and ready for the future. part of her plan was to find a new job more in keeping with her growing skills. she started her career as a secretary, and her immediate boss recognized her talents, and he sort of became her mentor. and she rose through the ranks. jean eventually was recruited by another company to be a human resources executive.
[ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood. when firefighters pulled jean kilduff weaver out of her basement that day in 1999, the choking, black, oily smoke made it instantly appear she must have died of smoke inhalation. but when firefighters lifted the limp woman, they discovered she also had a life threatening injury. she had that terrible head wound. jean weaver had a massive, deep, bloody gash in the back of her head.
confided in colleen that her marriage to gordon was in name only. she said that gordie lives in the basement. and had for the past year, and she had the bedroom upstairs. colleen says jean told her she was going to hang on until sean graduated high school in 2001. but in 1997, a traumatic illness in the family would change everything. the fourth kilduff sister, patty, was diagnosed with brain cancer. we spent the next 22 months taking care of our families but also spending as much time as possible with patty. we just surrounded her with love and care. the final day she waited until everyone was there, then she passed. it was may 1999. and then there were just three kilduff sisters. once patty died, it was like your world can change in a day. jean realized that.