Help Reclaim Jacob's Stolen Life Insurance Money

Hello, my name is Lilly Blaylock, I also go by Lila, and I'm fundraising for myself and my deceased father, Jacob Blaylock. My father was an artist, musician, and lover who did not deserve any injustice against him or his legacy. In December of 2007, my dad, age 26, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; I was only eight years old.

 

 

Jacob was a sergeant in the US Army; he had enlisted as a teenager before I was born to make a better future for our family and served overseas in the Middle East in the early 00s. My dad had a history of untreated mental illness, which his peers presented to the Army to prevent him from attending combat, but they ignored his instability. He was a gunman who sat atop the first scout vehicle in a fleet that would test for road bombs, and on his last mission, a good friend offered to trade positions which unfortunately led to Jacob witnessing his friend's death and inflicted him with severe CPTSD. This pressure was too much on him mentally and emotionally, and he lost his internal battle.

 

 

According to my father's will, I am his sole heir. He entrusted his mother, not his father, to protect the money awarded from his military life insurance policy until I was a certain age to receive it. The total amount was $403,231.71. The will states I also had the right to request funds for certain essential expenses. The only time I "successfully" did so was when I needed braces; instead of sending over funds to me, his parents had a lawyer visit my orthodontist directly with several money orders. In the past, his parents agreed with my mother at mediation to send bank statements regularly, which they avoided and then falsified documents.

 

Before my father's passing, I did not have a relationship with his parents. After his death - my mother and I were not informed by local law enforcement or the individuals present, but his parents visited us on a road trip several days after the incident to tell us in person. They were also against my decision for his grave to be in Houston, TX, where I live, instead of letting them fly his body out. His parents have deliberately avoided me for my entire life by blocking me online and denying my request for phone calls, making it impossible to access the money my father left behind for me. Not to mention, I never received any belongings of his besides what was directly on his body when he passed.

 

When I got older, I sought legal and financial assistance to finally clarify where the money from his life insurance policy was. After subpoenaing legitimate bank statements, it became evident through the paperwork that his parents had divided and spent all of the $403,231.71 long before I had ever become fully aware of it. Due to legal limitations, it was tough to charge them for their crimes, and after almost losing hope, the FBI picked up my case. Both of his parents were being tried for "bank or financial institution fraud."

 

 

I traveled out of state twice to testify about my story before a jury while the case made its way through the Federal court system. My dad's mother eventually admitted to being guilty, which allowed us to go through to a 12-person jury trial for my dad's father, where we'd all finally be able to testify about his wrongdoings. After making it through my time on the stand and traveling back home with a new sense of hope, I received a devastating phone call with the news that the judge had dropped the charges against both of them even though he knew and admitted what my dad's parents did was horrific.

 

I was informed that there's nothing else I can do to attempt to retrieve this money through the court system. Even though I was supposed to start receiving payments at 21, and I'm only 22, my father passed away over 14+ years ago, and this case is nearly obsolete in the eyes of the law. After investing tens of thousands of dollars into legal services, I'm back at the same spot but in even more debt. I'm unsure if they're both fully aware of their actions, but they've gotten away as thieves and liars.

 

I've struggled with mental illness my entire life and have been hospitalized several times for attempting to commit suicide due to the weight of this trauma. Speaking about stuff like this has never been easy. I've overcome sexual assault, drug addiction and toxic relationships. Regardless of how tough things have been, I still put myself through college to get a degree and used the tools around me to create my own business and find a solid spiritual system to help me through.

 

 

I had devised a plan to utilize any money left from my dad's life insurance policy to start a farm, build a home, and raise a family with loving principles. I also wanted to invest in better suicide awareness and prevention; I wanted to do right by him and his life's work.

 

My dad's life was worth so much than just money; he had a spirit that brought light to others and inspired them to shine their soul. One of my goals is to share his music and message with others, so they may see how beautiful and valuable a person he is. I also want to continue creating and sharing my voice with the world because that would make him most proud. I don't expect ever to get the entire amount back that was stolen, but I hope that I can regain at least a little bit of what he originally left to me to properly memorialize him and work towards a future that will let his spirit be at peace.