Keeping Track of Criminal Cases & SafeSport Suspensions in Skating

[Karen-W]

Someone on Reddit found the marriage license for Neset & Markelov. They originally got married a few days after her 17th birthday. It took place in New Mexico and their mothers signed the certificates.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/1garvah/leah_neset_and_artem_markelov_were_married_when/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Just saw the screenshot of the tweet and confirmed it myself...

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So, I guess the rumor posted last spring that they got married when she was 16 wasn't quite true. They got married 2 days after she turned 17 in Santa Fe, NM.

 

[kwanfan1818]

There were rumors that they were married a few years before the church wedding, and they were brought up again at the time. What surprises me about it being true is that no one found the marriage certificate before, being a matter of public record and with a lot of them online now. Of course, if they'd married in a small town that did everything with paper, and/or with municipalities still trying to catch up with the impacts of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, it would have been buried for longer.

 

[Rukia]

Just saw the screenshot of the tweet and confirmed it myself...

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So, I guess the rumor posted last spring that they got married when she was 16 wasn't quite true. They got married 2 days after she turned 17 in Santa Fe, NM.

lol that 2 days makes all the difference i guess

 

[Karen-W]

There were rumors that they were married a few years before the church wedding, and they were brought up again at the time. What surprises me about it being true is that no one found the marriage certificate before, being a matter of public record and with a lot of them online now. Of course, if they'd married in a small town that did everything with paper, and/or with municipalities still trying to catch up with the impacts of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, it would have been buried for longer.

Well, the obvious place for them to have gotten married before this past spring, to me, would have been Minot ND where she's from - but Ward County ND doesn't have public records search available online. Unless someone within that group pointed someone in the right direction to know what county & state to look in, it would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack to maybe stumble across it.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Determined figure skating fans making a pilgrimage to Minot doesn't seem that impossible

 

[Prancer]

Determined figure skating fans making a pilgrimage to Minot doesn't seem that impossible

The dedication level this would require is pretty mind-boggling, but I have seen worse.

 

[pat c]

The dedication level this would require is pretty mind-boggling, but I have seen worse.

I have relates there that could have done some searching for the cause.

 

[Prancer]

I have relates there that could have done some searching for the cause.

There's gotta be a local fan.

 

[pat c]

There's gotta be a local fan.

No problem. ,)
Moot point now tho.

 

[Amy L]

There were rumors that they were married a few years before the church wedding, and they were brought up again at the time. What surprises me about it being true is that no one found the marriage certificate before, being a matter of public record and with a lot of them online now. Of course, if they'd married in a small town that did everything with paper, and/or with municipalities still trying to catch up with the impacts of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, it would have been buried for longer.

Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, so it's not the small town thing that was the issue. I just assume that no one expected it being a candidate for place of marriage. It's quite a nice town IMO but I think they chose NM because they have more lax marriage laws than Colorado.

It looks like ND has similar laws to New Mexico, only parents' consent is needed for ages 16-18. But then they'd have to actually go to ND, which seems like a pretty boring state I had some in-laws who lived there for a few years and they weren't super impressed, but they did go from Texas to North Dakota right before winter so they're lucky they survived.

 

[genevieve]

Won’t someone think of Gen X?

We are too busy being over it all

 

[Karen-W]

Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, so it's not the small town thing that was the issue. I just assume that no one expected it being a candidate for place of marriage. It's quite a nice town IMO but I think they chose NM because they have more lax marriage laws than Colorado.

It looks like ND has similar laws to New Mexico, only parents' consent is needed for ages 16-18. But then they'd have to actually go to ND, which seems like a pretty boring state I had some in-laws who lived there for a few years and they weren't super impressed, but they did go from Texas to North Dakota right before winter so they're lucky they survived.

Well, the main difference between going to Minot versus going to Santa Fe is the ease of travel.

Minot is a 13 hr drive - possibly longer in the winter, whereas Santa Fe is a 6 hr drive. Honestly, I'm a little surprised they didn't cut the trip by 1/3 and go to Taos instead (4 hr drive), lol.

 

[kwanfan1818]

If his mother was coming in on an international flight, Taos might be harder than Santa Fe or Albuquerque.

If I were going to try to keep it sekret, though, I'd have chosen a small town 30 minutes away.

 

[TwinnerA]

Well, the obvious place for them to have gotten married before this past spring, to me, would have been Minot ND where she's from - but Ward County ND doesn't have public records search available online. Unless someone within that group pointed someone in the right direction to know what county & state to look in, it would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack to maybe stumble across it.

Yes, there is an online public records search for North Dakota. The web site is:

Marriage Records | North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum

statemuseum.nd.gov

 

[Karen-W]

If his mother was coming in on an international flight, Taos might be harder than Santa Fe or Albuquerque.

Eh... My guess is that his mother flew into Denver or Colorado Springs and made the drive with the rest of them to Santa Fe.

If I were going to try to keep it sekret, though, I'd have chosen a small town 30 minutes away.

Town doesn't matter if it's in the same county.

Looking at the original Reddit post, either that person was pointed in the direction of New Mexico to look for records or they went about a methodical search of all the states surrounding Colorado for 1) how lax the marriage laws are, and then 2) began searching through any and all counties whose public records were available online.

Here's Wikipedia's information about underage marriage in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States#Underage_marriage

There's something about the timing here that really makes me wonder what the intention was/is behind these marriages. They could have married earlier (Goodland KS is only 3 hours away and Kansas allows underage marriage at 15), but... Recall that during the summer of 2022 she got injured and that set their JGP debut back a few weeks, so they wound up being assigned to one of the two JGPs in Gdansk as well as the last JGP in Italy. They had to WD from the Gdansk JGP because Poland increased their sanctions against Russia in early September and refused to grant visas to anyone with a Russian passport. Less than three months later, days after she turns 17, they're married... That's interesting timing.

 

[kwanfan1818]

In New Mexico, though, there is no difference between the rules for a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old. 17 didn't have to be the driver in this case.

 

[pairsicedance]

Eh... My guess is that his mother flew into Denver or Colorado Springs and made the drive with the rest of them to Santa Fe.

Both his parents were visiting at the time - they were in Colorado Springs for Leah's birthday https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl5TJzoMQrB/?igsh=aWdiYnRxaWR0anI4

 

[ice crystal]

Both his parents were visiting at the time - they were in Colorado Springs for Leah's birthday https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl5TJzoMQrB/?igsh=aWdiYnRxaWR0anI4

Gosh, that made me swallow hard.... she could pass for a 12 year old in these pics....

 

[PRlady]

Gosh, that made me swallow hard.... she could pass for a 12 year old in these pics....

The hair is unsophisticated and, unsurprisingly for an ice dancer, she’s small. But he always seems to be a smiley nice guy which makes me feel better.

I hear my mother’s voice in my head saying So Long As They’re Happy.

 

[her grace]

I salute the Reddit fan. I’ve been wondering when N/M’s marriage certificate would surface.

 

[canbelto]

The sekret baby blog had the wrong couple the whole time.

 

[Orm Irian]

The hair is unsophisticated and, unsurprisingly for an ice dancer, she’s small. But he always seems to be a smiley nice guy which makes me feel better.

I hear my mother’s voice in my head saying So Long As They’re Happy.

"Seems to be" unfortunately isn't always the same thing as "really is", especially if there are a lot of external pressures on the people involved in a team and/or a relationship, so I'm loath to take appearances as my guide.

 

[PRlady]

"Seems to be" unfortunately isn't always the same thing as "really is", especially if there are a lot of external pressures on the people involved in a team and/or a relationship, so I'm loath to take appearances as my guide.

True. But we do get some sense of personality when emotions are raw after a skate. I like them a lot as a team so I’m hoping against the odds that it will turn out well.

 

[Wyliefan]

I like them too. I was so looking forward to their senior debut when they could really start showing everyone (not just us fanatics who watch junior dance ) how talented they are. I hate that they have this hanging over them now.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I feel like maybe we can put to bed the "their marriage is real. They had a church wedding!" comments at this point.

 

[canbelto]

I feel like maybe we can put to bed the "their marriage is real. They had a church wedding!" comments at this point.

It could be real in the fact that they convinced these two very young, gullible people that the only acceptable way to be in a relationship is to marry.
They could be "in love" and there's still a lot of coercion and pressure.

 

[Trillian]

It could be real in the fact that they convinced these two very young, gullible people that the only acceptable way to be in a relationship is to marry.
They could be "in love" and there's still a lot of coercion and pressure.

True. Or it could be that the kids told the adults in their lives that they wanted to get married and the adults said, “Okay, let’s do it,” instead of “Lol no, you’re in high school.” We don’t know these people and there are endless possibilities in terms of how this could have played out, honestly.

Regardless, I think it’s very reasonable that some of us could take the positions that a) N&M don’t seem to be faking their affection for each other and b) child marriage is not something to celebrate and someone needs to find out wtf is happening at WASA. Those don’t strike me as mutually exclusive.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

It could be real in the fact that they convinced these two very young, gullible people that the only acceptable way to be in a relationship is to marry.
They could be "in love" and there's still a lot of coercion and pressure.

I didn't say they weren't in love. I'm saying they got married for other reasons regardless of whether they were in love.

If they only got married when she was 17 because they were just too in love to wait and their parents inexplicably thought it was fine, why hide the fact that they were married and wait to have the church wedding until she was actually 18? If everyone involved thought there was really nothing wrong with her getting married underage, they would have been honest. They all knew it was something to hide.

Whatever their feelings for each other and however they conduct their lives, I think it's very clear that they chose to get married when she was 17 for reasons that were time sensitive, such as citizenship.

 

[jmtfti]

Solene Mazingue's courage inspired Polish ice dancer Olivia Oliver to tell her own story of an incident that occurred on a trip to Montreal : https://www.instagram.com/p/DBg7QrEvVxA/

 

[Karen-W]

Solene has stated, explicitly, just a couple hours ago, on her IG stories the following:

1) she does not plan on naming her aggressor publicly at this time
2) she has not received support from her coaches

I'd say that until and unless she publicly names her aggressor, we should probably still refrain from speculating. For all we know, one of the two unnamed "sources" sport-express is citing could be our favorite Xwitter FS gossip.