In the Shadow of Eight

A month after visiting his siblings, Collin prepared to start eighth grade at Wilson West Middle School, a different school from his sister Hannah’s. Jon took him shopping for clothes and school supplies, an experience of normalcy that Collin hadn’t had in years. Despite this, he struggled internally. Traumatized by his mother, he found it difficult to trust Colleen and resisted opening up with his therapist, Cheryl, who gently urged him to process a past that he simply wanted to put behind him. He found the most comfort in the steady, ordinary routines of his new family life.

After starting school in March 2019, Collin felt academically behind and socially disconnected, unfamiliar with teen culture like Snapchat. Meanwhile, Jon wanted to publicly counter the negative narrative about Collin that Kate had created. Colleen pushed back, insisting that it was Collin’s story to tell. Collin’s social awkwardness led to a painful incident where he invited two boys over only for them to ignore him in favor of his sister Hannah; feeling rejected, Collin angrily kicked them out.

That fall, Jon gave an interview on The Dr. Oz Show (which aired November 18, 2019), followed by additional coverage in outlets like the Daily Mail, stating that Collin was wrongly admitted to behavioral-health centers.