For the FBI, she is a militant leader who traveled to Washington, DC, and invaded the United States Capitol, encouraging others to do the same.
Jessica Watkins’ two worlds collided with each other in the small village of Woodstock, Ohio, when FBI agents appeared one morning to arrest her for her alleged role in the January 6 uprising.
“We could hear so many sirens. And then we heard them screaming for her to come down with their hands up and she didn’t,” said Emma Dixon, who witnessed the break-in before dawn from a house across the street.
When the FBI arrived in Woodstock, Watkins was not there. Her boyfriend, Montana Siniff was. He told CNN that disorienting flash-bangs were used. A window was broken. It remained that way days later.
FBI agents questioned him and finally left, he said. In a complaint filed in court, federal prosecutors said the agents recovered what “appears to be instructions for making explosives, authored by ‘Jolly Roger'”. Jolly Roger is also the name of Watkins’ bar and a Facebook account believed to be linked to it, officials say.
“This is totally untrue. She hates explosives. There is no moral or legal way to actually use explosives as an ordinary citizen,” said Siniff.
Watkins, 38, is now being held in Montgomery County Jail, about 50 miles from Dayton, after surrendering to authorities last Sunday.
Records show that Watkins served in the Army under a different name from April 2001 to December 2003. She was sent to Afghanistan from September to December 2002.
The three veterans were the first to face charges of conspiracy, some of the most serious so far for those who violated the Capitol on January 6.
CNN found that a disproportionate number of people accused of the Capitol attack are ex-military.
‘The most beautiful thing’
Nobody disputes that Watkins went to the Capitol to protest against the certification of the election victory of President Joe Biden. She is seen in the video bragging about it while inside the Capitol building.
Her boyfriend said she was “helping to protect some Trump VIP members inside the rally”, but he didn’t know who.
After breaking into the Capitol, Watkins described the scene inside the building as she saw it.
She added: “It was some people kidnapping what started as a peaceful movement.”
But the words in his Parler account after the breach offer a very different perspective. They are highlighted in the federal complaint against her.
“Yes. We invaded the Capitol today. Teargassed, the whole, 9. We made our way to the Rotunda. We reached the Senate,” she wrote.
Another Watkins post used as evidence by the FBI said: “We never broke anything, stole anything, burned anything and, in fact, we were very respectful of Capitol Hill PD until they attacked us. So we kept our position and drew the line. ”
Watkins and many others came to Washington trained in war, some wearing combat equipment like ballistic helmets, army uniforms and goggles.
The videos showed a group of more than a dozen people, in formation, hands on each other’s shoulders, marching up the steps of the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors say Watkins and others used the Zello phone app, which functions as a walkie-talkie, to communicate and plan the attack.
Watkins has not yet had a lawyer assigned to her. But your boyfriend spoke on your behalf. The two own Jolly Roger bar together. Both are members of the group she “commanded”, called the Ohio Regular Militia. “She is not a violent person,” Siniff told CNN. “She can be very witty, but she is a very good person at heart and she really wants to try to help people.”
But law enforcement and many lawmakers say protesters who violated the Capitol have put lives in danger.
Links to far-right Oath Keepers
Siniff said Watkins formed the militia to help tornado victims when local officials were absent or overwhelmed.
There is a long history of paramilitary groups settling in rural areas of Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere, and the FBI says there is sometimes a darker side.
Watkins is a member of Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump, far-right and anti-government group that considers itself part of the militia movement charged with protecting the country.
There is no private citizen militia in the United States. A militia must be sanctioned by the state.
The Oath Keepers make it clear that they try to recruit members from active or retired military, first responders and police, and their name refers to the oath taken to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.
In court documents, the FBI says: “The Oath Keepers will violate federal law if they believe their cause is just.”
Recruiting veterans
Watkins’ alleged co-conspirators are appointed by the FBI as Donovan Crowl, a former Marine, and Thomas Caldwell, who served in the Navy.
Crowl lives down the street from Watkins’ Jolly Roger bar and used to hang out there.
Neighbors told CNN that Watkins would try to recruit people when they entered the bar. Most did not accept it. But Crowl joined Watkins and Siniff in their armed group.
“When he’s drunk, he’s the guy you want to shut up. When sober, the best man you could have,” said Siniff of the ex-marine. “The militia was a good thing to help you … as if it were a reason to be sober.”
CNN contacted Crowl’s lawyer, but received no response.
Crowl’s criminal record shows charges of domestic violence and drunk driving, some of which have resulted in conviction. This was noticed by the federal judge when his lawyer tried to release him before the trial. His lawyer said he deserved to be released because he was not a danger to society.
“He was seen in a video saying, ‘We broke into the Capitol’, his criminal history includes violence and alcohol crimes, he also demonstrated previous non-compliance. The suggestion to release him to a residence with nine firearms is useless” , Judge Sharon Ovington said. Crowl was returned to custody pending a preliminary hearing in Ohio.
“It looked like he took a 180-degree turn, it looked like the world owed him a life and he had a huge loss,” said Rowe. “I don’t know if it’s because life didn’t go the way he planned.”
Asked why she thinks Crowl may have been attracted to this extremist group, she said, “I would like to understand. I don’t understand.”
Caldwell, the third veteran cited as a co-conspirator, lives on a secluded property on a country road in Berryville, Virginia, 400 miles from Watkins and Crowl in Woodstock.
It is unclear how long Caldwell had known Crowl and Watkins. But the FBI says they met in Washington, DC. Crowl made a video of himself and Watkins inside the Capitol and posted on social media.
Outside the Capitol, Caldwell made his feelings clear on January 6.
“Everyone alone is a traitor, everyone,” he shouted in a video, seeming to refer to lawmakers inside.
Caldwell was a name in his local Virginia political circles. He was delegated to the Republican convention in Clarke County, Virginia, last year.
A lawyer temporarily assigned to Caldwell said at a detention hearing that his opposition to Biden’s electoral victory was not unusual and that he was not charged with a violent crime.
But the judge disagreed: “The conduct and statements of Mr. Caldwell and the others, is really pure illegality,” Judge Joel Hoppe of the federal court in Harrisonburg, Virginia, said on Tuesday.
Strong support for Watkins
The village of Woodstock is home to some 300 people. Many of the houses are grouped around the intersection, and the only traffic light still displays the “Trump 2020” banners.
There is also the “Don’t Tread on Me” or Gadsden flag of the American Revolution and a Stars and Stripes flying upside down – a sign of “terrible distress”, according to US code.
Some of the villagers were hostile to our CNN team, calling the local sheriff to complain twice. Others were happier to talk and argue with neighbors to back off.
And even after all the videos and social media posts showing Watkins complaining about the Capitol attack, Watkins’ boyfriend defends her.
“I don’t believe the conspiracy charges are fair,” said Siniff.
Curt Devine of CNN contributed to this story.