Every child is afraid of the dark, the boogie man or the monster under the bed at some point in their lives.

As parents, we protect them, love them, show them that the dark is not bad, the boogie man does not exist and there are no monsters under the bed.

Amara, Sophie and Sia learned there is a boogie man and the monster under the bed hides in the even more sinister places.

Aaron became the darkness, the boogie man and the monster under the bed.

River Falls, Wisconsin, July 10th, 2012. Jessica's Shaffhausen was hearted work in the middle of her job with a local nonprofit when she received a peculiar text message from her estranged ex-husband, Aaron Shaffhausen.

The couple divorced only the year before, after 12 years of marriage and a period of separation.

In the text message, Aaron explained that he had taken the train into town.

He came in overnight from Maynott, North Dakota, where he had been working a construction gig since the couple divorced, his first reliable job in years.

Behind the scenes, however, Aaron had actually been out of work for close to a week.

He had been let go from that job, fired for poor attendance.

The trip from Maynott, North Dakota to River Falls, Wisconsin was close to an eight hour drive, which was made a couple of hours longer by train.

In a following text message, Aaron said that he wanted to see their kids, their three daughters, 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia.

Jessica found these messages odd, not only because she expected Aaron to be in the middle of work, but because during the lead up to their divorce, Aaron had disconnected himself not just from Jessica, but also from their children, preferring to channel his energy into countless hours of video games rather than the family.

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