Joseph and Kendra Duggar
Credit: Joseph and Kendra Duggar/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
‘If there’s anything I’ve learned from this, do not trust anyone,’ Kendra Duggar told husband Joseph Duggar on a jail call while he was in custody in Arkansas
Kendra also said she had put up walls around her before urging her husband to stop ‘boarding up the hatches’ and speak only to a select number of people
Kendra and Joseph are charged with four counts each of endangering the welfare of a child and false imprisonment after a search of their home on March 19
Kendra Duggar and her husband Joseph expressed their love and devotion in jail phone calls, but were careful to avoid discussing the details of their alleged offenses.
The couple also became increasingly careful about the individuals they would share that information with as well.
There were multiple discussions about trust, references to psalms and a song that made mention of things like “enemies” and “arrogant foes” and even at one point a directive by Kendra to her husband that he cut off communication with someone after learning the two had spoken while he was in custody, recordings of the couple’s calls obtained by PEOPLE reveal.
Kendra often stressed the need for the couple to be careful, instructing Joseph on one call: “Just stay focused, We got a lot of moving parts right now, lean in to the people you can, and then, you know, don’t, don’t go outside that circle,”
Joseph (left) and Kendra Duggar (right) being booked into custody in March
Credit: Washington County Sheriff’s Office (2)
Based on the names mentioned by Kendra and Joseph, the people in that circle are members of the Duggar family and their attorney.
“Make sure that you talk to Travis only in this situation,” Kendra told Joseph during their call on March 23.
The Travis she is referencing is Travis Story, the longtime Duggar family lawyer who is representing Kendra but not her husband in their Arkansas child welfare case.
Kendra then added: “Because I’ve heard about another call you made.”
Joseph quickly told Kendra he had not contacted anyone but her, then after a brief pause modified that answer.
“Well I called Greg the other morning,” he told Kendra.
“Do not talk to Greg whatever you do,” Kendra told Joseph, speaking slowly and emphasizing each word. “Do not.”
It is unclear who Greg is and lawyers for Kendra and Joseph did not respond to requests for comment.
“Hi, It’s Joe here. Just know that we can’t talk about a lot on here.”
This is what Joseph told Kendra when he called her for the first time from the Washington County Detention Facility on March 20.
Just three days later, it was Kendra who was warning her husband about saying too much.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but what I will say is just don’t trust anyone. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this, do not trust anyone, that’s all I can say,” Kendra told her husband on March 23.
Once again, she spoke slowly and emphatically while saying this to Joseph, then added: “I’m boarding up my walls.”
She told Joseph “even if someone is nice” they need to be careful about who they were speaking to and start “boarding up the hatches.”
The two also made comments that seem to suggest they believe outside forces are targeting them in their calls and emails.
Joseph told Kendra in an email that he was reading “Psalm 54” and “replacing the personal pronouns with your name!” because “that passage has brought me great comfort!”
That psalm would then read in part: “Arrogant foes are attacking Kendra; ruthless people are trying to kill Kendra — people without regard for God. Surely God is Kendra’s help; the Lord is the one who sustains Kendra. Let evil recoil on those who slander Kendra; in your faithfulness destroy them.”
A few days later, Kendra wrote an email with the lyrics to Joseph’s “favorite song.”
That song is “The Truth” by Megan Woods, in which she sings: “How many times can you hear the same lie before you start to believe it? The enemy keeps whisperin’ to me, I swear these days, it’s all that I’m hearin’.”
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The couple is together again in Arkansas and now preparing for an April 29 court hearing after being charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment.
Those charges are unrelated to the alleged offenses for which Joseph is charged in Florida, and were filed after a search of the couple’s home on March 19 by the Tontitown Police Department and Arkansas Dept. of Human Services.
The very next day, officials in Arkansas filed additional charges against Joseph and new charges against his wife following their independent investigation into the couple.
“I can tell you the arrest was a result of a home inspection, and the door locks being on the exterior of the doors,” a source close to the family previously told PEOPLE about the charges.
Joseph and Kendra have not yet commented publicly on any of the charges.
Read the original article on People