- Do you know more?
asserted
you → know → more
Susan Watford's life, right up until she was beaten and choked to death in her cruise ship cabin aged just 31, was a tragic tale of one step forward, two steps back.
asserted
she → beat → step
A teenage runaway from an Amish community, she got a university degree, built a promising career as a Target manager, and was raising three children.
But she also had several brushes with the law and married two terrible men, both of whom spent years in jail for serious crimes, with at least one abusing her.
One of those men, Jason Leon Watford, 48, is behind bars charged with murdering Susan in front of her youngest child just hours into what was meant to be a romantic cruise on Sunday.
asserted
what → get → Sunday
Susan Wengred, as she was formerly known, fled the Amish community she was born into and wound up as a foster child in Columbia, Missouri.
asserted
she → know → Columbia
The wayward child spent her teenage years at Coyote Hill Children's home, where she was a beloved 'big sister' to a group of girls now mourning her violent death.
asserted
she → spend → death
Larry McDaniel, the retired founder, remembers her as a hard worker and 'a survivor' whom he was overjoyed to see come good.
asserted
he → retire → whom
'We get born into all kinds of things that we didn't ask for, but she made her way and she got through it, she did what he had to do,' he told the Daily Mail.
'
asserted
he → bear → Mail
She was delightful, fun to be around and full of life, just a wonderful person.'
Susan Watford, 31, was choked and strangled to death in front of her toddler on Sunday night, during a cruise off the coast of Mexico and Honduras
asserted
Watford → choke → Mexico
Susan Wengred, as she was then known, fled the Amish community she was born into and wound up as a foster child in Columbia, Missouri.
asserted
she → know → Columbia
She is pictured one Christmas there
Susan, he said, took a particular interest in a program that helped young foster children and traumatized military veterans through horse riding.
asserted
that → picture → riding
'A couple of years ago she sent an email saying, I'm doing really well and she was so proud of herself, how well she had done,' McDaniel said.
asserted
McDaniel → send → herself
'Sometimes, you make mistakes and end up with someone who wasn't a good choice and... this is...
asserted
this → make → someone
It's just a terrible thing, there's no words.
asserted
It → be → ?
Susan's foster sister Breana Chappell is one of numerous Coyote Hill foster sisters joining together to grieve in the hours after they heard the news.
asserted
they → join → news
They recalled how 'Suz' looked after them, and posted photos of them all holding hands under a Christmas tree, and one of Susan hanging a decoration.
asserted
Susan → recall → decoration
'One thing about foster care is that you don’t just meet strangers.
asserted
you → meet → strangers
You meet people who become family, people who grow up alongside you, people who leave permanent pieces of themselves in your heart,' Chappell wrote.
asserted
Chappell → meet → heart
We shared a bond that went beyond foster care, and I will forever consider her my sister.'
asserted
her → share → care
Susan had her missteps as she aged out of the foster system and was left to make her way in the world alone.
asserted
she → have → world
Susan's grieving foster sister recalled how 'Suz' looked after them, and posted photos of them all holding hands under a Christmas tree
She was arrested in 2013, aged 17, when she was caught up in a series of crimes with her future first husband Marland Lane, now 35.
asserted
she → grieve → husband
Security cameras caught her breaking into cars in Jefferson City, Missouri, and stealing valuables, then using a pilfered credit card to go shopping.
asserted
her → catch → shopping
Days later her car crashed during a high-speed chase with police in nearby Boone County after reports of shots being fired, with stolen items found in the wreck.
asserted
car → crash → wreck
Susan was charged with stealing, fraud and forgery and pleaded guilty to one count of felony stealing in 2014, earning her five years on probation.
asserted
Susan → charge → probation
She also spent 60 days in jail after violating her probation for a previous crime.
asserted
She → spend → crime
Court records showed Lane was found to be driving Susan's car during the police chase, and admitted to firing two stolen guns from the car.
asserted
Lane → show → car
He was jailed for four years for his part in the incident, along with two associates in the car who were also jailed on weapons and resisting arrest charges.
asserted
who → jail → charges
Lane's sentence ran concurrently with other jail terms for the same theft and forgery crimes as Susan, marijuana possession, and driving without a license.
asserted
sentence → run → license
But Susan married him after he got out of prison anyway, and they had two children, Trey and Kristina, who now have no relationship with their father.
asserted
who → marry → father
Susan married Lane after he got out of prison, and they had two children, Trey and Kristina.
asserted
they → marry → children
A fundraiser (photo shared on GoFundMe) has been set up to buy clothes for them, as they 'have not been able to get into their house because of an investigation'
asserted
they → share → investigation
By the time of her death, Susan had got a university degree, built a promising career as a Target manager, and was raising three children
Financial records showed Susan was carrying the family by herself, earning $17,000 to $21,000 a year in wages while Lane made just $4,500 from 'odd jobs'.
asserted
Lane → get → jobs
At some point the couple moved to Texas, settling in Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas – the town she would live in for the rest of her life.
asserted
she → move → life
She filed for divorce in 2019 and finally started to get her life back on track when she joined the local Target as a warehouse worker that October.
asserted
she → file → worker
Susan's LinkedIn profile chronicled how she rose through the ranks to be a team leader by 2024.
asserted
she → chronicle → 2024
The same year, she earned a bachelor of business administration online from Colorado Technical University, where she was a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society.
asserted
she → earn → Society
'I have a keen interest in financial analysis, budgeting, and forecasting, and I apply my problem solving and communication skills to various projects and assignments,' her profile read.
asserted
profile → have → projects
However, barely two years after divorcing Lane, she married a man in December 2021 with an even longer and more troubling criminal history – Watford.
asserted
she → divorce → history
Their relationship bore another child, who while just a toddler was forced to watch her mother die, allegedly at Watford's hands.
uncertain
mother → bear → hands
Susan's husband Jason Leon Watford, 48, is behind bars accused of murdering her in front of her youngest child just hours into a cruise on Sunday
Susan's LinkedIn profile chronicled how she began working at Target in 2019 and rose through the ranks to be a team leader by 2024, along with getting her degree
Watford allegedly confessed to beating and choking Susan to death in their cruise ship cabin
How much abuse happened behind closed doors is unclear, but one instance was reported to police in September 2024.
uncertain
instance → accuse → September
Susan told an officer that her husband grabbed her wrist during an argument over money and she had to use a Taser to defend herself.
asserted
she → tell → herself
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
