Rachel Bellesen Wiki
Rachel Bellesen Biography
Who is Rachel Bellesen?
A Montana woman who shot and killed her ex-husband after claiming he tried to rape her had the murder charges against her dropped, definitively ending a roughly two-decade cycle of abuse she suffered at his hands.
On the night of October 8, Bellesen’s ex-husband and father of her children, Jacob Glace, used threats against his son to lure her to a local swimming pool, where he said he tried to rape her twice before she shot him.
How old is Rachel Bellesen?
She is 38 year old.
Charged
Rachel Bellesen was charged with deliberate manslaughter for the murder of her ex-husband Jacob Glace on October 8.
A district judge in Sanders County dismissed all charges against 38-year-old Rachel Bellesen with prejudice on Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported.
Lance Jasper, a Bellesen pro-bono attorney, said Judge Amy Eddy cited an “ethical obligation” in her decision. Her order means that the mother of two children cannot be charged again for the same crime.
Victim
Bellesen, who now works as a coordinator at a shelter for victims of domestic violence, had gone to the police with her current husband, Cory Bellesen, shortly after to report the shooting, and went to a hospital to document her injuries. She was charged with murder the next day.
Jasper presented her entire defense to prosecutors before trial on the condition that they ask for the bias charges to be dropped upon review.
Instead, in April they requested that the charges be dropped without prejudice, saying they would await the results of forensic tests before deciding whether to re-charge Bellesen for the murder.
Bellesen recounted approximately two decades of abuse she suffered from her ex-husband Jacob Glace .
Advocates at the Abbie Shelter, where Bellesen works, argued that he should no longer have the threat of prosecution placed on her. Judge Eddy apparently agreed.
On Facebook, Bellesen’s son Orion celebrated the decision and praised her mother for her strength, saying, ‘I am beyond proud and speechless at how strong you are. Going through what you had to go through is unimaginable and beyond the definition of brave. I love you so much, with all my heart, to the moon and back a million times. You will always be my hero, my best friend, and the wisest teacher I know. ‘
Bellesen met Glace 23 years ago in Washington state, when she visited her friend’s home to sell them marijuana, the Daily Beast also reported. At that time he was 23 and she was 15.
They went on to have two children together for the next two years, and she moved in with him when her mother moved to Montana.
Relationship
Their relationship was short-lived. In 2004, the two divorced after Glace pleaded guilty to assaulting Bellesen after he beat her, scratched her, and dragged her out of her apartment by grabbing her hair.
Custody
Bellesen, struggling with homelessness and alcoholism, lost custody of her children to Glace and, at age 21, moved to Montana.
Despite having full custody of her, she let her care for the children, but she Bellesen said her ex-husband constantly threatened to take them away after he, too, moved to Montana to live near them.
In 2012, things started to look better for Bellesen. She met her current husband of hers and began going to college to become a substance abuse counselor. She also began volunteering at Abbie Shelter, who would hire her full time in 2018.
However, Glace would continue to harass her, she said.
In 2010 he was convicted of assaulting another couple, and in 2020 he was charged with assaulting two other girlfriends.
Following the judge’s decision, Bellesen issued a statement, comparing the state’s actions to her ex-husband’s, saying they were ‘eerily similar to when an abuser attacks you, and then tries to serve up a sad excuse for apology with a bouquet of flowers the next morning, waiting for you to accept them in gratitude, say nothing and continue with your day as if nothing had happened.
