Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of child sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
Hulu’s latest documentary, Betrayal: A Father’s Secret, explores how a wife got to know chilling details about her husband’s inappropriate practices. Per the documentary, Ashley Lytton went through her husband’s phone and found several explicit pictures of minor girls. Reports indicate that Ashley told the authorities about the discovery and helped get Jason Lytton behind bars. The court indicted Jason with several charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor, and sent him to prison.
According to ABC News, Jason Lytton’s wife, Ashley Lytton, learned about the explicit material after her husband contacted her to set up a Venmo account. However, after a few moments, he called her again and told her to forget about the account. Ashley said her husband sounded frantic when he called her the second time. His tone made Ashley suspicious, and she decided to look into his computer. The outlet mentioned that she looked at her husband’s iCloud account and found the disturbing material.
Citing her statement, ABC News noted, “I got into his iCloud account and then I saw the hidden folder. I opened it. I literally didn’t believe what I was seeing. The hidden folder had photos in it, hundreds of inappropriate photos of children.” ABC4 Utah reported authorities discovered more than 1000 explicit pictures of minor girls on Jason Lytton’s phone. Subsequently, they found several videos of child pornography. After police apprehended Jason, they indicted him for 100 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Jason Lytton’s wife Ashley talks about finding a secret child sexual abuse folder
While talking to ABC News, Ashley Lytton noted that she decided to call the authorities on Jason Lytton when she found explicit videos of someone close to her. She said, “That’s when that fire started going from a smolder to like a real flame inside of me.” At the time, Ashley contacted authorities and stitched a plan to get him arrested. The outlet mentioned that she lured Jason into a Walmart parking for a discussion. Instead, police arrested him and charged him for his crimes.
Meanwhile, ABC4 Utah reported that Jason Lytton took the help of another person to set up a Venmo account. While going through his phone, the unidentified person saw photos of naked, young girls aged between 8 and 15. However, before contacting the authorities, the person called Jason’s brother and told him everything.
Subsequently, Jason talked to his brother and contacted the unidentified person who helped him set up the account. Afterward, the person contacted the police and told them everything. In their search, investigators found thousands of images of minor girls and several videos of child pornography. Shockingly, some of the videos featured his stepdaughter, Avaya Lytton.
The documentary stated that Jason Lytton recorded Avaya secretly, and when Ashley Lytton saw the videos of her daughter, she felt that she needed to do something. Although Ashley decided to not tell her children about what happened, coverage from media outlets didn’t let her succeed. She told ABC News, “I had decided already that I wasn’t going to tell the kids. I don’t think I really fully grasped what this all entailed. I was just going to tell the children that he was at a mental hospital getting help.”
Avaya, who is featured in the Hulu documentary, stated that as soon as she learned about her father’s dirty secret, she decided to move out and stay with her biological father. Additionally, Avaya said that it was difficult for her to be a part of society and that she could not sit with her friends. That’s why Avaya Lytton started living with her biological father.
Even after being charged with several felonies, Jason Lytton never went to trial and accepted a plea deal. According to the plea deal, he spent only 329 days in prison. The documentary Betrayal: A Father’s Secret is available for streaming on Hulu.
