When Josh Duggar was being held in the Washington County Jail in Fayetteville, I signed up online to receive notifications of any change in status. The only thing I had in mind at the time was possibly getting an early heads-up when he was finally transferred to a federal facility. I received one text that was a false alarm (letting me know that they were having technical problems) and never gave it a second thought.
The other night, I received another text notification from the Department of Corrections, which I thought was very odd. Duggar has no reason to be going anywhere. So I clicked it, and it took me to a short article and as my eyes are now trained to immediately scan documents for the most important information, the first things that I processed were “Hanging” and “pronounced dead.”
My immediate thought was: Holy. Fucking. Shit. He unalived himself.
(Spoiler: No, he didn’t. A few weeks ago, an Arkansas inmate escaped from prison and I registered to get updates about that from the Arkansas Department of Corrections. I didn’t remember my phone number being involved, but apparently it was. And if I had taken about an extra second to read the entire text notification, I would have seen that it did, in fact, originate from Arkansas and not Texas. 100% my fault. When it’s something important, take the time to read carefully, folks.)
But before I processed the truth, I went through an incredible flood of emotions in the span of a split-second. My first and honest reaction was: I’m not surprised. It really wouldn’t come as a shock if he did that. I was taken aback by the timing, with his potential appeal still pending, but the thought of him pulling the plug was a completely rational one in my mind. For someone who has seemingly done whatever he wanted for the entirety of his life until recently, I’m sure that his new existence is quite a shock to the system and it would make perfect sense if, in his mind, he just cannot handle it.
Then I read the actual release, and learned that it was pertaining to a 42-year-old convict out of Van Buren County doing 55 years for first degree murder. Inmate #133066, Jason Bramlett, was found hanging in a locked, single-man cell at the Ouachita River Regional Unit. I wasn’t at work, so I didn’t cover it.
But man…it’s really strange to accidentally go on an emotional rollercoaster the way I did in the span of a single second.
And just for the record…I absolutely would have written that article whether I was at work or not. And I would have given you faithful readers a heads-up before I did.
Duggar’s appeal brief deadline is currently set for September 12.