Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's adopted son says Bevin was 'manipulative' and 'threatening'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jonah Bevin, adopted son of former Gov. Matt Bevin, said he was seeking a protective order against his dad because of a pattern of “manipulative” and “intimidating” behavior, which included threatening to euthanize Jonah’s dog.

Jonah, 18, appeared alongside Bevin and former Kentucky first lady Glenna Bevin in a Jefferson Family Court in downtown Louisville Friday morning.

Judge Angela Johnson entered an emergency protective order sought by Jonah on March 7, ordering Matt Bevin to have no contact with Jonah, to remain at least 500 feet away from him, and to surrender any firearms in his possession until the matter was heard in court.

The order is primarily aimed at the former one-term governor, but Glenna was directed to also appear in court Friday.

Johnson left the emergency protective order in place Friday. Another hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Bevins adopted Jonah from Ethiopia when he was 5. Up until a few weeks ago, Jonah was homeless and living in Utah.

Neither Matt nor Glenna had extensive contact with Jonah for months until recently, when they both contacted him about traveling to Ethiopia to visit his birth mother, whom Jonah had long been told was dead, he testified Friday.

That abrupt disclosure unnerved Jonah, who said he has long distrusted “Matthew” as he repeatedly referred to his adoptive father. Jonah said he feared he was being lured to a country to be abandoned, similar to how he felt the Bevins abandoned him at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica, where staff were physically and emotionally abusive, he said — an experience detailed in an extensive interview in Kentucky Lantern last month.

Jonah was removed from the facility by the country’s child welfare authorities citing abuse and neglect in February 2024 and placed in foster care. Even after his removal, “my parents did not come to support me,” Jonah said.

Bevin, a Republican, served as Kentucky’s governor from 2015 to 2019. He campaigned on, and then used his office to emphasize, the need to reform and unburden Kentucky’s ailing foster care system. He regularly called on individuals and families to consider fostering or adoption.

The couple adopted four children from Ethiopia, including Jonah, and had five biological children. Glenna filed for divorce in 2023, and it was finalized this month.

Johnson read Jonah’s written testimony detailing why he wanted the no-contact order upheld against his adoptive father.

Prior to being sent to the Jamaican facility, Jonah lived on the Bevins’ property in a cottage, where he adopted a dog. Bevin would “threaten to euthanize the dog for punishment,” Johnson said, reading Jonah’s statement. Matt Bevin said things like, “’I can make your life miserable,’ and, ‘I can take your life.’”

Jonah has since been living on his own in the U.S. and said he’s received no support from his parents.

Only recently did Bevin unexpectedly call Jonah, offering to send him home to Ethiopia.

When Bevin called Jonah last month with the offer, Jonah was taken aback and distrustful, worried it was a ruse; the picture Bevin texted Jonah showed only one-way ticket there, he said. Still, Jonah considered it “because I wanted to see my people.”

“I thought about it,” Jonah said in court. Then, “I remember (sending) a voice message (to Bevin) that said, I don’t feel comfortable going to Ethiopia because you left me in Jamaica before, so it doesn’t make any sense.”

Jonah said Bevin ignored the message and instead sent him a picture of his biological mom. Previously, the Bevins had told Jonah his mother was dead, he told the judge.

“He didn’t even give me a warning that the whole reason why I was going to go to Ethiopia was to see my mom. He didn’t tell me that,” Jonah said.

“They’d told me my whole life my mom has been dead. And now they told me she’s alive. You told me it was a secret,” Jonah said to Bevin. “I would never keep a secret like that.”

“Were you afraid to go?” Jonah’s attorney John Helmers asked.

“Yes sir,” Jonah said.

Jonah backed out of the trip on Feb. 22. Soon after, he sought the protective order.

‘The concern is with Matthew’

Bevin did not have an attorney and represented himself on Friday.

Referring at times to himself in the third person, Bevin questioned Jonah directly in the courtroom, which dissolved the formality typically present when a third party cross-examines a person in court.

Instead, it allowed for a public display of the strained relationship between the two.

Bevin tried to paint a picture that he and Glenna had supported him in recent months, letting him stay in the cottage on the Bevins’ property, taking care of his dog when he was gone, trying to give him independence and helping make travel arrangements.

Bevin asked about Jonah staying in the cottage on their property.

“This was a chance for you to have some independence?” he asked.

“Somewhat, yeah. I didn’t get independence because you’d show up . . . all the time,” Jonah said.

“Sometimes you don’t get what you want from your parents, truly,” Bevin said. “Talking about Ethiopia, you said you didn’t know until the last minute — ‘no warning,’ were your exact words.”

“I wanted to go to Ethiopia. You told me that you had the opportunity to go. I say I’ll think about it,” Jonah said. “There’s a voice message saying I’m not comfortable going to Ethiopia because you left me in a previous country. And then you ignored that.

“You didn’t even reply to it (but) said something completely different. You didn’t even tell me at that time that my mom was alive. You told me it was a secret, which I would never keep a secret like that, that’s crazy.

“The next day, he sends me a picture of my brother and says your brother’s alive. I felt like, right then in that moment, overwhelmed. All these people are alive I’d been told my whole life hadn’t been,” Jonah said. “It made no sense to do that. It didn’t add up.

“We didn’t even get along; we didn’t have a relationship,” Jonah said of Bevin. “If you don’t have a relationship with someone, it makes no sense for you to tell them, ‘Oh your mom’s alive.’ For them, they’re going to take it the wrong way.”

Dawn Post, a child advocate working with Jonah, said after the hearing they didn’t know Bevin was going to be questioning Jonah directly.

“It makes it far more difficult, because of the dynamics of the family,” Post said. “That can feel like another form of abuse . . . to be questioned in such a way and to feel manipulated as you’re trying to give your truth and your testimony.”

Steve Romines, Glenna’s attorney, tried to make the point that Glenna had not threatened or manipulated Jonah.

“In any of these conversations you’ve had with Glenna Bevin over the last year, has she threatened you?”

“I never said she had threatened me,” Jonah said.

“In the past year, Glenna Bevin hasn’t threatened you in any way, or been violent with you or really even seen you?” Romines asked.

“No sir. The concern is with Matthew,” Jonah said.