Amy Jones and Christopher Rezos married in 1995 and separated in 2004. According to Amy, their relationship was never physically violent, although Chris was extremely controlling. Shortly after separating, on July 2, 2004, they met in a hotel room to discuss formalizing their divorce. Christopher attacked Amy during this meeting, beating her with a flashlight, which caused skull fractures and a broken vertebra. There were indications that Christopher had planned to stage the incident as a robbery gone wrong, indicating premeditation. Police intervened and Christopher was arrested, but was quickly released on a $2,000 bond. He was arraigned a few days later, but was released on a $100,000 bond. The judge was never advised of the severity of the beating, nor of the premeditated nature of the attack.