Hulu’s ‘Betrayal: A Father’s Secret’ Tackles the Disturbing Things Utah Mom Ashley Lytton Learned About Her Husband Jason
On September 29, 2021, Utah mom Ashley Lytton made a horrifying discovery — one that completely changed her perspective on her decade-long marriage to husband Jason and the family they built together.
The mother of three accidentally stumbled upon a hidden folder containing child sexual abuse material on her husband’s iCloud account, according to ABC news. Earlier that day, Jason asked Ashley to create a Venmo account for him. But when he changed his mind shortly after, calling what Ashley remembered as a state of panic, Ashley became suspicious and decided to look through his computer files.
Ashley eventually contacted the police and authorities began to uncover a series of alarming allegations against Jason.
This case is now the focus of Hulu’s second season Betrayal: a father’s secretwhich premiered on July 30th. The three-part docuseries from ABC Studios is based on the true crime podcast series called Betrayaland features interviews with Ashley, her 15-year-old daughter Avaya (Jason’s stepdaughter) and others who share the story.
According to ABC News, Ashley and Jason became a couple while she was a single mother raising her two children from a previous relationship. They married four years later and share a daughter. The family soon became popular in their hometown of Riverton, Utah.
On a series trailerAshley remembers the day she made the discovery – and struggles to describe what she found inside the hidden folder.
Hulu
Ashley Lytton in Hulu’s ‘Betrayal: A Father’s Secret’.
“I don’t think I can say that, I’m sorry,” she says. “I just need a break.”
Ashley contacted Riverton City police and, with their help, lured Jason to a Walmart parking lot in October 2021 under the guise of discussing the matter, ABC News reported. Instead, he was arrested.
According to an arrest affidavit cited by ABC4 Utah, police found more than 1,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material during a search of Jason’s iCloud account and cell phone. The unidentified person who contacted police said the photos they found appeared to be of girls between the ages of 8 and 15. According to the statement, Jason claimed he “had a problem.”
Jason faced 100 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. But he ended up being convicted on lesser charges after accepting a plea deal, ABC 4 Utah reported. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation and two counts of voyeurism.
Want to stay up to date with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The deal sentenced Jason to 329 days in the Salt Lake County Jail with credit for time already served, plus two years of supervised probation, according to the outlet. In addition to the sentence, he was ordered to complete a cognitive-behavioral program and a mental health evaluation. He was also required to comply with Group A sex offender conditions, the news outlet reported.
According to ABC News, Jason only served 10 months behind bars before returning to the same community of Riverton, Utah, where Ashley and her family still live today.
Betrayal: a father’s secret is currently streaming on Hulu.
For more People news, be sure to Subscribe to our newsletter!
Read the original article at People.
