David Eason is facing some serious criminal charges for allegedly strangling his soon-to-be-former stepson Jace Evans in 2023 and, for the first time since he was charged, the former soulmate of Jenelle Evans is speaking out on his treatment of Jace. He also gave his thoughts on Jenelle’s parenting skills— or lack thereof!
The Ashley broke the news on Thursday that David had (finally) filed a response in court to Jenelle’s February 2024 divorce complaint. The Ashley can now reveal that– in David’s response filed with the court— he discussed his pending criminal charges, and seemingly gives his explanation for his alleged actions.
Because Jenelle brought up David’s pending charges in her 2024 complaint, David had to address them in his answer. He denied Jenelle’s claims that he strangled Jace.
As The Ashley has previously reported, David has a pending criminal case in Superior Court stemming from an incident in September 2023 in which Jenelle’s then-14-year-old son Jace told authorities he was allegedly assaulted by David after attempting to run away from the family’s home on The Land. Jenelle vehemently defended David at the time, and David denied any wrongdoing. However, the fired Teen Mom 2 dad was eventually charged with felony ‘Assault by Strangulation” as well as misdemeanor child abuse for allegedly “unlawfully and willingly” inflicting “physical injury” on Jace’s arm and both sides of his neck.
In his court filing from this week, David also seemingly gave his explanation of what happened.
“It is admitted that the minor child [Jace] has behavioral issues and mental instabilities and has threatened to harm himself and others and runs away from [Jenelle’s] home on a frequent basis,” David wrote. “It is further admitted that [David] has had to constrain [Jace] from time to time in the past due to the minor child carrying around weapons in his pockets and continuously attempting to run away from the care of [Jenelle].”
David admitted in his court documents that the Department of Social Services (DSS) did open a case with the Easons after the incident with Jace. (The Ashley reported this at the time, despite Jenelle denying her report.)
“DSS got involved due to [Jace’s] allegations against [David] but DSS has since closed and dismissed the case,” David wrote.
David admitted that there is still a no-contact order in place between him and Jace while his case is pending, and that he left his home on The Land in February 2024 so that Jace could come back home to live after he was released from DSS custody. David made it clear that he was not aware that his leaving was to be permanent.
“Due to the criminal charges, [David] agreed to go stay somewhere else until his attorney could have a judge modify the provisions so the defendant David Eason could return home and be with his family,” he wrote.
David claims Jenelle was “cold and indifferent” toward him after he left The Land, despite Jenelle alleging in her court filing that David was “cold and indifferent” toward her and the kids.
In his filing, David he claims the kids– including Jace— were mainly taken care of by him, not Jenelle, during their marriage.
He also denies the claim Jenelle made in her 2024 filing that she is an “engaged parents who devotes her time, energy, efforts and her resources to her family.”
David also brought up the fact that Jenelle had no reason to boast in her 2024 complaint that she had custody of all three of her children. He was quick to point out that she had only recently gotten custody of Jace back.
“[Jenelle] only received custody of her minor child, Jace…a little over a year ago after living with his grandma for most of his life,” David wrote, adding that Jenelle’s middle son Kaiser has also spent time living away from Jenelle.
“Kaiser has also lived with his biological father and grandmother [Doris Davidson] at times and has not always lived with [Jenelle],” he wrote. (Surely this line is a jab at Jenelle’s (failed) attempt in late 2024 to ship Kaiser off to his grandma Doris’ house in Tennessee.)
David denied Jenelle’s claims that he has mental disorders and/or substance abuse issues that would interfere with his ability to parent. He also states that he does not feel that it’s necessary that he do a psychological evaluation to test his parental fitness. (As The Ashley previously reported, David is not allowed to have even supervised visitation with his daughter Ensley until he completes the court-ordered evaluation, which he has not done as of press time.)
Last week, David’s current girlfriend, Kenleigh Heatwole, also spoke out about David’s pending strangulation and child abuse charges, giving her thoughts on her man being accused of such serious crimes.
“If you’re asking me who I believe, I believe [David],” she wrote on X. “Especially when MY name is all over the Internet being lied about constantly. I wouldn’t be with someone who I thought was capable of doing that. But opinions don’t matter in a courthouse. Innocent until proven guilty.”
When one X user asked her how she can be with a man who has been charged with abusing “every woman he was with as well as animals and children,” Kenleigh argued that what the public saw on TV isn’t the truth.
“Reality TV isn’t actual reality in my opinion. Drama and bad press = money,” she responded. “Not saying he’s perfect but I think there was a lot of fabrication and he has owned up to things in private to me.”
Jenelle has yet to file a response in court to David’s counterclaim and answer.
David is set to go to court for his criminal charges next month.
(Photos: MTV; TikTok; Instagram)
22 Responses
Time to take out the trash. The kids are the only one that should be worried about now. Parents can rot in hell.
They are both peices of sgit those poor kids thy sre going to be messed up just like their oarents barbara is nit much better . They are all in it just fir the money the kids get to suffer and d c f does nothing .
Barb is a hell of a lot better than David and Jenelle.
While I do believe David was the only person to get the kids dressed and off to school, I do believe it was only because you are legally required to have children attend school. If your children are not enrolled or are consistently tardy, CPS and the law get involved. David doesn’t want that hassle, hence he got the kids dressed and off to school, that’s not engagement and devotion, that’s an assholes bare minimum. David sees Ensly as a means not to work, he’ll get child support because he’s self proclaimed indigent on court documents. He could care less about the kids he made, it’s just a hillbilly swamp game to him.
Kaiser was going to Daycare from day one. Even though they none of them worked a day job.
It was also there way to take them to school to get them our of their hair. They also have taken them out of school when CPS starts sniffing around. Jenelle even sent David to deal with Jace when he messed up at school and when he saw David he ran away. We know this is true because LE got involved we also know all of this is true because she did the same thing with Daniel. Even after they broke up she asked him to go to deal with the school because Kaiser was in trouble. Jenelle is the common denominator.
You can’t claim you’re a devoted parent and try for custody if you refuse to see your kid. Anyone of sound mind wouldn’t be threatened by a psych eval. Bunch of hillbillies…
Jenelle also had Ensley on her OP so he legally couldn’t contact her. And before that she wouldn’t allow him. I’m not defending David at all just facts. He has shown the texts messages before. Jenelle uses her kids as weapons.
It’s almost funny to see David and Jenelle fighting over who is the more “engaged” parent when you know neither one paid any attention to the kids the majority of the time.
I think the court should order them both to have a psychiatric evaluation
What’s Kenleigh’s excuse for David hurting Olivia and still not being able to see Kaden? None of that was televised. We could also argue MTVs lack of stepping in on the show.
David also didn’t have custody of Maryssa until Jenelle paid for a lawyer. She lived with her grandmother. He also abandoned her on The Land until Jenelle kicked her out.
Jenelle and David are both trash human beings.
The fact that Jenelle is a POS and a neglectful mother doesn’t negate the fact that David is a violent psycho whom we’ve seen LIVE being a psycho, not edited by MTV. We know about his criminal record and that’s why we believe Jace and that’s also why he refuses to be evaluated by a professional.
Yes, I recall David calling Kaiser a “little bi*ch” because he was crying when they were going on a river boat ride…and poor Kaisar was only like 2 years old! Who calls a 2 year old a little “bi*ch”? Horrific!! Neither David or Jenelle have ANY patience, and poor Kaiser has taken the brunt of their rage & abuse over the years, he always looks absolutely miserable.. poor boy, I feel so bad for him…Jace will be a mess due to all the screaming matches Barbara & Jenelle had in front of him for years on end! I was appalled Mtv didn’t fire them on the spot! Disgusting that these kids still haven’t been removed and placed elsewhere with loving and truly supportive, STABLE ppl. David is a monster, Jenelle is just a childish narcissist with significant co-dependencies on men and marijuana. Neither should he allowed to be parents.
David didn’t know he was not going to be allowed to come back. He thought he was on the boat until Jenelle could do something with Jace. She even tried to get MTV to pay for his inpatient mental health stay. He thought Maryssa was staying there because he was coming back. Jenelle made her leave by morning. She gave Jace her room including her furniture. If you notice when Jace went away Jenelle gave Kaiser his clothes and necklace
Does Ensley have a Doris-like grandmother that can swoop in and give the judge a third option?
There’s David’s mother but she always struck me as being.. off.
The only other option is Barbara.
Please. Being a engaged and supportive parent doesn’t mean you try and choke the life out of your stepson, starve your other stepson and call him “faggot like his daddy” because he was being a very normal cranky toddler and it certainly doesn’t mean you violently murder the family dog in front of the family you pretend to have loved and been devoted to. There is a video of David and Ensley when she was younger. Ensley asked David why he killed her chickens. He said he didn’t. She said yes you did. He then tells her to shut up or he is going to smack her and the video ends. They had several goats which he murdered and ate in front of them while tormenting them. That’s also on video. But he is an engaged and supportive parent. David and Jenelle are both abusers and neither should have custody of children or animals. Unfortunately the court won’t protect kids or animals from Jenelle and David. And I doubt he gets punished for abusing Jace multiple times. Did these geniuses ever think maybe Jace had a reason for running away?🤨
Wise words. Im so sad they dont ger punished for their wrongdoings. No learning curve…
I’d quit being a judge if I were assigned to this case. Fr.
Put up or shut up, David! People who are confident in their mental stability would not hesitate to take the necessary precautions to be allowed to see their young children, especially after missing over a year of time away. Ensley deserves better.
“David denied Jenelle’s claims that he has mental disorders and/or substance abuse issues that would interfere with his ability to parent.”
Oh, please! He “allegedly” choked out a 14 year old. He was barred from seeing his son. Shot the family dog. Injured his estranged wife’s shoulder. And, hasn’t worked in years because of his “debilitating” vitiligo.
He doesn’t have a pot to piss in, a window to throw it out of or a lawn for it to land on. Stop with this nonsense, Jenelle is a bum magnet and he’s just another bum. No one is buying what he’s trying to sell.
The fact that she swore Jace to be the threat then did that sickening photo shoot, to publicly show her love and support for David.. only to LITERALLY turn around and tell the court when she left David, that he strangled Jace, is all that anyone should ever need to know about Jenelle. She is a terrible person and a terrible mother.
Jenelle ONLY cares about Jenelle. She will walk on and screw over WHOEVER it takes to honor her own agenda. When she wanted David it was “screw Jace” and then when she didn’t want David anymore it was “he’s such a danger, he strangled my son.” She is a sick and vile human being.