KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed grew concerned enough about Gov. Eric Greitens' potential for violence in April 2018 that she sent a letter asking the Department of Public Safety to investigate rumors of an incident involving "troubling behavior" at Greitens' private home.
DPS Director Charles "Drew" Juden wrote back the next day. He had contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Capitol Police and law enforcement in Warren County, where the Greitens lived in the wealthy, largely gated community of Innsbrook. None of the agencies had received any similar information, he said.
The four-year-old exchange has taken on new significance in the wake of allegations by Sheena Chestnut Greitens, the former governor's ex-wife, that she and their children were victims of domestic violence. In an affidavit filed last month, Sheena Greitens said in late April 2018 Eric Greitens knocked her down and confiscated her cellphone, wallet and keys so she couldn't call for help or leave the Innsbrook home.
The letters demonstrate that at least once during that tumultuous period, concerns about Gov. Greitens' at-home conduct were shared with state and local authorities. The former first lady's recent statements raise questions about whether officials missed a chance to intervene before the former governor's alleged abuse.
"It's just probably by the grace of God she's still alive. Because someone should have intervened," Nasheed, a Democrat who left the Senate in 2021, said in an interview Wednesday.
Nasheed's letter is dated April 18, 2018, and Juden's reply came April 19. Helen Wade, an attorney for Sheena Greitens, said that if Nasheed's letter was sent when it was dated, it was sent before Eric Greitens knocked her down.
"No, Dr. Greitens was not contacted by any police agencies regarding the allegations referenced in Nasheed's letter," Wade said in an email.
Sheena Greitens' allegations, which also include threats and intimidation by the former governor and that he struck their child, have upended the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, where Eric Greitens is a Republican candidate. He faces widespread calls to drop out but has refused and has denied the allegations.
Greitens left office in June 2018 amid allegations he blackmailed and sexually assaulted his former hairdresser.
Sheena Greitens refers to Nasheed's letter in a filing in Boone County Circuit Court last week, part of an ongoing legal dispute over whether to move the couple's custody dispute to Texas, where she is a professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
"In April 2018, the month in which I was knocked to the ground by Eric, a state legislator asked the Director of Public Safety to investigate claims of domestic violence and erratic behavior on Eric's part at our Innsbrook home. To my knowledge, this request was declined by the Director, who Eric had appointed," Sheena Greitens wrote in a footnote.
The footnote appeared in a section explaining her decision to leave Missouri. She wrote that faced with "his threats to weaponize the very law enforcement and legal systems that would finalize our divorce," she believed moving away was the best way to protect herself and their children.
Sheena Greitens said in her affidavit last month that her mother had confronted Eric Greitens about knocking her down and confiscating her cellphone and keys and that he said he did it to prevent her from doing anything that could damage his political career. She also said that at least three times — in February, April and May 2018 — steps were taken to limit his access to guns.
Nasheed's letter raised concerns about "unconfirmed rumors" circulating in the Capitol "involving an incident at the Greitens' Innsbrook home involving troubling behavior, the presence of firearms and a member of the Governor's Cabinet." She told Juden that given Gov. Greitens' past use of violent rhetoric and verbal threats the rumors should be "investigated thoroughly."
It's not clear who the Cabinet official is that Nasheed was referring to in the letter.
"This letter is to formally request additional security within and around the Missouri Capitol Complex in response to allegations of domestic violence and continued rumors of erratic and dangerous behavior exhibited by Gov. Eric R. Greitens," Nasheed wrote.
Juden wrote to Nasheed that he had contacted law enforcement agencies, including in Warren County. "None of these agencies have received any information similar to that which you provided in your letter," he said.
Juden was fired by Gov. Mike Parson in August 2018. A state audit released in 2019 found that he abused the state's contracting process to award an organization that he was previously affiliated with, and that he did not claim leave when taking personal trips to Florida to watch the Daytona 500. In 2020, he ran unsuccessfully for Cape Girardeau County sheriff.
Juden said he was unaware that he had appeared in Sheena Greitens' court filing when The Kansas City Star contacted him on Thursday.
"I don't know what kind of drugs she is taking but that request was never made to me that I recall," Juden said after the footnote was read to him.
After a reporter told him about Nasheed's letter and his response that he had reached out to law enforcement agencies, he said, "well, you obviously have the written documentation, so obviously I did."
"I certainly would have reached out to the chief law enforcement officer of the county," which would have been the sheriff, Juden said. "Obviously, if I reached out to him, which I obviously did, and he told me they had no report of it, then that's pretty much where it ends."
Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison didn't respond to a request for comment.
Nasheed and Juden's letters came a week after the release of the Missouri House Investigating Committee's bombshell report, in which lawmakers investigating Greitens found the woman accusing him of sexual assault credible. During that time, Greitens was facing calls to resign and momentum was building among lawmakers to impeach him.
Nasheed said Wednesday that Juden's actions fell short of an investigation and that her concerns went unanswered.
"When you have a sitting senator requesting that there's a wellness check on a governor or look into allegations of what appeared to have taken place, and they decline it, it leads me to believe that someone made a call that said 'hey that's not going to happen,'" Nasheed said.
Juden said Greitens never pressured him over the situation.
The Greitens campaign provided a one-sentence statement Thursday. "None of these absurd allegations are true and come from a former state Senator who has a violent criminal history," campaign spokesman Dylan Johnson said, referring to Nasheed's arrest during a protest in Ferguson in October 2014.
Nasheed was arrested after police warned protesters to stay on the sidewalk and has called the arrest symbolic civil disobedience.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who was state attorney general when Greitens was governor, said Thursday he had not heard any allegations of domestic violence before his office began launching an investigation of the governor.
In his investigation he said he heard "hearsay," but added that he didn't want to recycle rumors.
"I don't want to cherry pick it and characterize it," Hawley, who has endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the Senate race, said. "We had a lot of information. I heard lots of hearsay, lots of other stuff, which I don't want to, like, recycle."
