Kriti Mehrotra
It was in the 1980s when the entire world turned upside down for Ryan Read, as the man who was his father figure was sentenced to life in prison for some very heinous crimes. As explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘Evil Lives Here: I Know Who The Real Monster Is,’ he was well-aware of his stepfather Blaine Hooge Nelson’s behavioral patterns, as he was often admittedly a victim of his abuse. However, the truth is the latter was also a serial rapist, a fact that continues to hurt his former stepson because he has a lot of guilt over it all, and that’s why he is now sharing his story.
Ryan Read Was Initially Glad to Have a Male Figure in His Life
Ryan Read was reportedly born around the late 1960s and raised in a single-parent household alongside his elder sister and their mother. He did have a father, but his parents were long separated by the time he was a toddler, with his father later moving to California to start anew. Therefore, the only male figure he had in his life was his beloved grandfather, that is, until he was five and his mother started dating Blaine Hogge Nelson. By this point, the loss of a father figure in his life had taken a toll, considering he was a Little League Baseball player and used to seeing his fellow teammates with their fathers every single week. Therefore, all he ever wanted was someone in his corner, too.
According to Ryan’s own accounts, there were times he didn’t see Blaine for days since he was a long-haul trucker, so it was always exciting for him when he did show up. The fact that he did Sunday chariot racing with Ryan, his grandfather, as well as fellow community members, and sometimes even showed up to his baseball games/practices, also meant a lot to him. It thus comes as no surprise that the young man began looking up to his mother’s boyfriend and was even glad when they decided to tie the knot, but things reportedly changed not long after they settled down in the same home.
Ryan Read Was Allegedly Abused at the Hands of His Stepfather
If there’s one thing about Blaine that Ryan still vividly remembers, it’s that he reportedly got joy out of seeing other people’s pain and suffering, which he often weaponized. In the aforementioned show, Ryan actually stated that there was once a time when he and his sister were arguing over the television remote, and Blaine decided to intervene and solve it. However, instead of offering a logical solution that pleased both kids, he allegedly had them punch each other in the arm, stating that the first to stop and give up would lose. This led to things becoming very rough between the kids, and Ryan remembers Blain actually having a smirk on his face while he whimpered and held back tears.
As if that’s not enough, Ryan also claimed that his stepfather once called PBS during a fundraising show when he noticed one of the hosts was nervous, only to threaten her so that he and the nation could see fear in her eyes. The fact that Ryan was reportedly often spanked, hit with different items, or locked in the crawl space under their home at the hands of Blaine also led him to walk on eggshells in his own home. What hurt him the most, though, was that his mother allegedly never defended him; the only thing she reportedly ever said to Blaine was that he should not hit the kids because it might leave marks for others to see.
According to Ryan’s accounts, Blaine was also verbally scary. Once, he claimed, when his sister went to their father’s home for the summer as routine but then refused to return, he got on the phone and threatened their father with an eerily calm voice. In the end, his sister was home within a couple of days. Things seemingly did improve in the household as he grew up, and Blaine began taking him to some of his jobs because he never had to worry about any sort of abuse or verbal arguments. They simply drove, ate junk, drank soda, and did the job, but Ryan still vividly remembers that there were times his stepfather just behaved strangely. In the middle of the night, he reportedly left the truck running while parked, but was nowhere to be found, yet Ryan never asked any questions about anything he saw or the gun he knew Blaine owned, because he was afraid.
Ryan Read Now Leads a Quiet Yet Happy Life
When Blaine was out of the family’s life in the early 1980s after he reportedly cheated on Ryan’s mother, he was left absolutely shocked and had trouble adjusting to this news. That’s because while he was terrified of his stepfather, his mood changes, and the alleged abuse, he also felt uncomfortable and unsafe with his mother because she reportedly hadn’t protected him. In the end, the only place he could feel safe was a small cubby above his bed, indicating that while being in a small confined space was once punishment to him, that’s the only way he now felt safe. However, it was only in the mid to late 1980s that Blaine actually parted ways from the Read family following his arrest on several counts of sexual assault, which left Ryan baffled.
Ryan never knew that Blaine was committing such heinous crimes on the road while serving as a truck driver, even if he had noticed his strange behavior, and it shattered him. He can’t even begin to imagine what his survivors may feel like, but he has since apologized to them over what transpired, even if he had nothing to do with it. As for his current status, Ryan has worked hard to move forward to the best of his abilities, and he now leads a happy, quiet life in Ogden, Utah. He sadly doesn’t have a relationship with his mother or his elder sister anymore since they never could discuss the past or their relationships in the past, but he hopes that one day they might share their experiences and reconcile. Until then, Ryan is happy to focus on the family he has built over the past few decades – he has a loving wife by his side, with whom he shares not only some beautiful children but also a few grandchildren. They are his priority these days in every sense of the term.
Blaine Hogge Nelson Will Remain Behind Bars For the Rest of His Life
It was in 1987 when Blaine Hoogie Nelson was identified by the Iron County Rape Task Force as a person of interest in a series of rapes that had occurred in Ogden. They subsequently arrested him and brought him in for questioning, shortly following which he was charged with the sexual assault of seven women in the area. It was in the spring of 1988 that he pleaded guilty to all counts, as a result of which he was sentenced to 30 years in a state prison facility. However, he was charged with additional counts not long after, including five counts of felony aggravated sexual assault, one count of aggravated burglary, four counts of burglary of a dwelling, one count of firearm theft, and one count of misdemeanor theft. He pleaded guilty to these counts, too, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He eventually confessed to having raped approximately 70 women across various states – Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and more – starting from 1983. Therefore, today, at the age of 71, he remains incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
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