‘Betrayal: A Father’s Secret’ documents the dark truth that shatters a family

Ashley Lytton’s husband, Jason, seemed like the perfect partner. They met when she was a single mother working to support two children and he appeared to embrace every aspect of her life, charming her family and earning her kids’ trust.

Four years later, Ashley and Jason were married, they had a child together and the Lytton family became widely liked in their Riverton, Utah, community.

The couple's relationship endured some rocky times, but things seemed to be looking up as Jason Lytton was having success in his career as an electrician. Then, on Sept. 29, 2021, a seemingly innocuous request revealed the dark truth that had festered in their now 10-year marriage.

Jason called Ashley to ask her to set up a Venmo account, then called back a little while later in what Ashley recalls was almost a frantic state. She says he told her to forget about setting up the account.

Ashley said Jason's behavior made her suspicious, so she continued to look into his computer files and found a hidden folder.

“I got into his iCloud account and then I saw the hidden folder. I opened it. I literally didn't believe what I was seeing,” Ashley Lytton said of her discovery. “The hidden folder had photos in it, hundreds of inappropriate photos of children.”

“Betrayal: A Father’s Secret,” the second season of the docuseries from ABC News Studios, follows how Ashley Lytton’s discovery shattered her family and her efforts to protect her son and two daughters from the fallout. It is available to stream on Hulu beginning July 30.

The three-part series features interviews with Ashley Lytton, her family, the couple's friends and experts as it follows Jason’s arrest, Ashley learning the depths of his behavior, the justice system’s struggle to address these crimes and the challenge of cutting him out of her life.

Sete Aula’i, the section chief for the internet crimes against children unit of the Utah Attorney General’s office, highlights the misnomer often applied in cases like this.

“We don't use that term, child pornography,” he said. “In adult pornography, those are willing participants who are consenting to that act. With child pornography, a child cannot consent.”

The images found in Jason Lytton’s iCloud account are all considered CSAM, or child sexual abuse material, Aula’i noted.

“It is an epidemic here and across the world honestly,” Aula’i said. “This is terrible stuff.”

Ashley Lytton’s decision to report her husband’s CSAM led to an arrest. After accepting the reality of what she had found, she went to the Riverton City Police Department to file a report. An investigation into Jason’s iCloud uncovered more than 1,500 photos of material involving child sexual abuse.

The iCloud also revealed that Jason had taken over 100 videos of Ashley’s unsuspecting 15-year-old daughter Avaya, who called her stepfather “Dad.”

“Knowing Jason had recorded her, that's when that fire started going from a smolder to like a real flame inside of me,” Ashley said.

Given the amount of evidence, the detective decided Jason could immediately be arrested. Ashley agreed to lure Jason to a Walmart parking lot under the expectation of talking things over -- but it was there Jason was caught off-guard by police.

“I had decided already that I wasn't going to tell the kids. I don't think I really fully grasped what this all entailed,” Ashley said of the period after Jason’s arrest. “I was just going to tell the children that he was at a mental hospital getting help.”

That possibility of shielding the children evaporated when local media picked up the story.

“The realization that all these people were going to know this terrible, ugly, dirty thing about my husband,” Ashley said of that moment.

For Avaya, finding out that her stepfather had filmed her was deeply traumatic.

“I could not be in public. I could not sit in a classroom. I could not be around other kids, either,” she said of the aftermath. “I moved in with my dad, my biological father.”

While in jail, Jason tried to communicate with his wife and children through letters. He promised to fix his mistakes and sought forgiveness, but Avaya wasn’t convinced and didn’t want to read them.

“Give me my space. But he couldn’t because those letters and those apologies were to make him feel better,” she said. “He's really manipulative. He is one of those kinds of people that will literally say anything to make you believe him.”

Ashley wasn’t quite so resolute, allowing Jason to talk to their 7-year-old daughter on the phone because she was determined to hear from her father.

“It was really, really sad because he doesn't deserve to have her,” Avaya said.

Ashley also retained a flicker of hope that Jason wasn’t beyond help.

“I think I wanted to believe it,” she said of his apologetic letters. “I wanted to believe he's been sick and he’s gonna get better because I wanted my life back. Give the kids their life back.”

After spending 30 days in jail, Jason was released so he could prepare for his trial and moved in with his grandfather. Struggling with her family being shattered, Ashley reconnected with her husband during this time.

“I went right back into wifey mode,” she said. “I took him all the clothes that he needed and I'd cook him dinner. Then we were studying the Bible together. It felt happy and good, and I wanted to go back to the way life was.”

However, when she looked at the evidence from the investigation into Jason’s activities, her fury at the depth of his deception was re-awakened.

“That was when my rose-colored glasses came off. Instantly I thought of my children and I thought of Avaya. Like how did I do that to her?” Ashley said. “Knowing what I know now, that was just a really desperate attempt to not lose my life.”

Jason was charged with multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and voyeurism for secretly filming Avaya. He ultimately agreed to a plea deal on a lesser charge, leading to a sentence of less than a year in jail and 48 months’ probation.

However, this didn’t free Ashley and her children from Jason’s orbit -- he was released after 10 months, returned to living nearby in Riverton and seemed likely to get unsupervised visits with their youngest daughter. Divorce could see him get half of all their assets.

These facts left Ashley in a challenging position as she tried to make a fresh start, after a seemingly harmless phone call to set up a Venmo account uncovered the dark secret that fractured her reality.

“We live in a very beautiful place,” she said. “Sometimes the beauty masks what really is going on, so don’t let it fool you.”