Kira has ran away a total of nine times.
The first time Kira ran away,
she was 10 years old.
As Kira got older, she would not come home from school.
She would sneak out
and one time she ran away
and she called us at one in the morning.
Once I had a really big fight with my parents
when I was 14.
Me and my mom were arguing and I started cussing
and then my dad got involved.
I popped her in the mouth with my hand.
He slapped me in the face I think about three times.
A few weeks later, she did run away.
Just three months ago,
Kira asked to ride her bike to her friend's house
and she sends mom a lengthy text
pretty much saying I'm not coming home.
I ran away and we got a hotel.
So at 11:00 a.m.,
I had drove by the hotel
and I saw her walking out with her friends.
The police came.
I heard on the radio that they were uncooperative
and that they had all three of them at gunpoint.
For Kira to be in handcuffs
and having a gun drawn on her,
it just didn't seem like it was a big deal to her.
I was recommended a halfway house for runaways
and Kira did stay at the halfway house for about two weeks.
When I got home from the halfway house,
it was about a month before I ran again.
I told my mom that I was gonna go work out in the garage.
I came out to check on her
and the garage was cracked about that much
and there was no Kira.
I left that night
and then they found me like the next day.
She was hiding by the third trash on the left-hand side
and I saw her shoes.
So I got out and I started running towards her.
I ended up grabbing Kira by her hair
and I slammed her into a fence.
Mom popped her in the mouth,
threw her phone on the ground and shattered it.
Kira takes a swing at mom and the sheriffs come
and they threw her on the hood of the car
and then put handcuffs on her.
My wife and I,
we are both mentally and physically exhausted
just from trying to keep her in the house.
If she's not in my view, I'm just in constant fear.
To make matters worse,
Kira says she has suffered some serious trauma in her past.
Problem is Amethyst believes her
but Dustin thinks she's lying.
A couple months ago, I was going through Kira's phone.
I had found some things in there
that just really raised some eyebrows.
I decided to talk with Kira
and she admitted to me
that there was trauma that happened last year.
Fast forward a little bit,
Kira gets in trouble again about a month later
and that's when we learned about the second trauma.
When I was nine,
I was at a friend's house
and something really traumatic happened.
I hate that she had to go through what she went through.
I failed as a mom 'cause I couldn't protect her.
I was at a crossroads
because of her track record of lying
and just the extent that she has gone
to get herself out of lies.
I was leaning more towards I don't believe her.
When he said that he didn't believe her,
I told Dustin I hated him.
This is why people don't tell people about their traumas
is because of people like you.
I couldn't comprehend how he could tell me he loved me
but then say that I lied
about something that I had been through.
Kira started telling me that she couldn't live with him
and that she was gonna run.
He basically told her go for it.
And after she left the room, I got in his face and I said,
"If she leaves, I'm leaving you."
Our family's just completely falling apart
and I feel helpless.
Okay, well, we're gonna meet Kira later, okay,
we're gonna add her to the conversation,
but I wanted to talk just among adults first.
The problem that you guys have described
is she's running away repeatedly.
Is that the problem or is that a symptom?
I feel like it's a symptom.
I think the problem is the trauma that happened.
And I feel like
anything that happens in our house
that might just be a little to normal families,
you know, like her getting grounded or something like that,
it becomes this thing for her
and she just feels like she has to escape.
I feel like some kids,
you know, turn to drugs or I don't know,
some do art and her thing is running away.
That's her getaway, her go-to.
Okay, how many times has she run away?
Nine.
She's been victimized in some ways, according to her,
you believe her.
Yes.
You question whether or not it has happened at all
or the way that she says or whatever,
but you think the running away is a symptom,
you think it's the problem, what's your view?
I believe it's her getaway too.
She's running from her issues that she has
and the trauma that took place in the house.
She doesn't want to be in that place
because it reminds her of what happened.