There are some tales that send chills down our spine—stories so unsettling that they stick to our thoughts long after we’ve heard them. They remind us that the unimaginable can sometimes be real.
One such story is of a betrayal so deep that it dooms the foundation of trust, it ruins the purest bond on earth. When the one meant to be your greatest protector becomes your greatest threat and traitor, the scars run deeper than words can express.
One such story is of Logan Gifford, 26, as he is now facing one of the most haunting questions of his life—is his younger brother actually his biological son?
Logan has been a survivor of years of sexual abuse at the hands of his own mother, Doreene Gifford. He has opened up about the trauma he had to go through since the age of 10. Now, he is fighting for guardianship of his younger brother and, at the same time, he is also trying to confirm whether the child is actually his son, conceived through r—.
Growing up in Las Vegas, Logan’s childhood was already no less than a tragedy. One of his younger brothers died at the age of three after drowning in a pool, spending months in a vegetative state. But nothing could prepare Logan for the years of horror he would have to go through.
In 2015, Logan testified at a preliminary hearing that the abuse started when he was around 10 years old. His mother took him into the bedroom she shared with his father and sexually assaulted him while a po———- video was being played on the TV.
From 2008 to 2014, the abuse kept going on. However, while in a therapy session when he was 17, his therapist raised a very disturbing possibility—could his younger brother, born in 2009, actually be his biological son?
Despite Doreene Gifford denying the allegations, she entered an Alford plea. That meant she stuck to her innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her.
Las Vegas resident Logan Gifford was born in 1998. He was about to turn 11 when his brother was born in 2009. He was 17 when a judge ordered his mother to serve an 8-to-20-year prison sentence and register as a sex offender.https://t.co/jjUjo5PxEQ
— Las Vegas Review-Journal (@reviewjournal) March 20, 2025
She was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison and ordered to register as a s– offender. However, she was released on parole in July 2023, only to be re-arrested earlier this year for violating her parole conditions.
She had attempted to contact Logan through a third party and even tried adding one of her other sons on Facebook.
Now, she is back in custody at Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in Las Vegas. A parole hearing is scheduled for April, the same month her sentence is due to end.
Logan has since filed a paternity petition. He is willing to undergo a DNA test to find out if his younger brother is actually his biological son.
“Look at the mess that I’m left with,” Logan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I was a child when all of this happened, and yet now I’m responsible for picking up the pieces.”
Currently, Logan has temporary guardianship of his younger brother, who lives with him, his wife, and his stepdaughter. His lawyer, Timothy Treffinger, stated that if Logan is found to be the biological father, the case will become a custody battle; if not, it will remain a guardianship case.
Regardless of the results, Logan is very concerned to provide stability for his younger brother.
A Las Vegas sexual assault survivor suspects his younger brother may be his son and wants a judge to order a test to determine paternity: “I’m speaking out because there are people suffering in silence right now.” https://t.co/ANW5EdAs7Y
— David Charns (@davidcharns) March 19, 2025
“To sit here and say that my brother may be the product of my sexual assault is a very visceral thing to think about as a male survivor,” he said. “But he’s here now. There’s no going back and undoing anything. And he deserves to have a quality of life where he’s comfortable, where he can be a kid.”
Doreene’s defense team claimed that animosity between her and Logan had an influence in the case. In a sentencing memorandum, her public defender argued that inconsistencies have been present in Logan’s testimony.
The defense also claimed that Doreene herself was a victim of severe childhood abuse, neglect in the foster care system, and domestic violence in her marriage. Also, she struggled with severe drug addiction, particularly methamphetamine.
Despite these claims, her conviction stood, and now she is waiting for a parole board decision in April, which will determine whether she will be released early.
