The baby was only 13 months old.

Usually, the cast of 90 Day Fiancé and its spin-offs like Before The 90 Days wait until the season begins before showing fans exactly how messy they can get.

Geoffrey Paschel, who is slated to be on the upcoming season of 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days, which starts on February 23rd, however, is already raising eyebrows with his controversial relationship history.

​

The 41-year-old from Tennessee is allegedly on the show to finally meet up with his 30-year-old girlfriend Varya, who lives in Russia. TLC is saying that he's getting over his divorce from his second wife and the tragic loss of his young son in 2018. The new relationship is supposed to be a new start for him.

But things aren't as simple as they seem for Geoffrey. People from his past have come out to say that he has a history of domestic abuse and he is omitting facts about his marital past. The death of his son is only one tragic facet of his complicated life.

Who is Geoffrey Paschel, and how did Geoffrey Paschel's son die? Read on for the shocking details, including what you can expect when 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days airs.

Who is Geoffrey Paschel?

The premise of Before The 90 Days is that Americans have met foreigners and fallen in love with them long-distance. The cameras follow the cast as they go to meet their significant others, sometimes capturing the first time they are getting together in person.

In Geoffrey Paschel's case, he's planning a trip to Russia to meet a woman named Varya. The couple met through a dating app and he is hoping that if all goes well on this trip, he will propose to her and they can start planning a future.

Paschel probably needs to resolve his past before he plans that future, though.

One possible hitch in the path to these two getting hitched is that Paschel hasn't unhitched himself from his previous wife. Allegedly, Pacshel got married to a woman named Brittany in 2014. Brittany is from Canada and holds joint Canadian and Jamaican citizenship.

She was never in the US legally, however, and due to a prior felony drug conviction, Paschel couldn't move to Canada, so the two of them moved to various countries during their marriage.

They have two kids, both born abroad. First-born son Cayvan was born in Costa Rica in 2015 and has citizenship there, in the US, in Canada and Jamaica. Younger brother Kazhem was born in 2017 in Nicaragua and has the same kind of patchwork of citizenship as his older brother.

The marriage allegedly fell apart not long after their second baby was born, and Brittany ended up taking the kids and fleeing to Canada. She wanted out of the marriage, saying Paschel abused her and the boys.

There was a lot of back-and-forth with custody rulings and the divorce. By 2018, a judge had sent the boys to live with Paschel in Tennessee. It was there that tragedy struck.

How did Geoffrey Paschel's son die?

There is nothing as horrific as the death of a very young child. Kazhem was only 13 months old when he passed away in 2018, but there are very few details about what happened.

In a recent video where Paschel talks about how to get over the loss of a loved one, he explains that there was no warning before his son died. “It wasn’t like he was a sick child,” he revealed. “Nothing was coming on. No warning. And you’re not prepared for that.”

According to reports, Kazhem was admitted to the hospital in February 2018, due to seizures and he died in March of that year.

Paschel is accused of abusing an ex-girlfriend in 2019.

Paschel's official bio in press reports for Before The 90 Days indicates that he was hoping his international affair with a woman in Russia would give him a fresh start after his almost-completed divorce and the death of his child. However, it appears that this relationship isn't the first one he was in after his marriage to Brittany collapsed.

In June 2019, he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend in Knoxville, Tennessee. The unnamed woman had him arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault, interference with emergency calls, and vandalism.

"He repeatedly bashed/slammed my head into the hardwood floors of my home," she alleged. "He dragged me through the house by my hair and continued throwing my body into walls and furniture. I know this because of blood on my walls, furniture..."

She ultimately had to flee the house, because he disabled her phone so she couldn't call 911 for help. She was treated for a concussion that night.

Paschel claims the woman's allegations are all lies and that she's saying he harmed her just to sabotage his custody battle with his ex, who, not unexpectedly, filed for and won custody of Cayvan after his arrest.

Paschel and son Cayvan.

He has abused other women in the past as well.

We already know Brittany has alleged abuse as part of their divorce proceedings and Paschel has the above June arrest on his record as well. It would seem this is part of a pattern of abuse and deceit that goes far deeper than TLC is indicating.

The network has suggested that Brittany was his second wife. That's not true — she is actually his fourth wife. Not only that, his third wife allegedly submitted affidavits in Paschel and Brittany's divorce attesting to her own abuse at his hands.

There was another wife, possibly his second marriage, who also has some hair-raising stories to tell about Paschel. They evidently have two children together and the woman was arrested after leaving one of them in a car. When police investigated, they discovered drug paraphernalia and she was arrested for neglect and drug crimes in 2004. She was only allowed supervised visits with the kids after that and Paschel had custody of them.

At the same time, the couple were beginning the process of getting divorced and the woman alleged serious abuse by Paschel. He reportedly raped her repeatedly, physically assaulted her, and threatened to kill her on multiple occasions.

The divorce ended with Paschel having custody of the kids and the adults having mutual restraining orders prohibiting them from interacting, except at therapy appointments for the children. Those children were born in 1999 and 2000, so they are adults now. We don't know their names or where they live at this time.

Where does Varya fit into all this?

The fact that Paschel had multiple on-going relationships in 2019 makes the fact that he was also pursuing a relationship with a woman named Varya in Russia extremely weird. We have a lot of questions about what has been going on here.

Was Paschel chatting online with Varya at the same time as he was allegedly beating up his girlfriend and battling with his not-yet-ex-wife over custody of their child? Does Varya know how much legal trouble he is currently in? Why did TLC agree to film him when he had an outstanding assault charge against him? Was there no background check done on this man at all? And will TLC move forward with plans to air his story or will they jettison this plotline over his long history of abusing women?

Is all of this Paschel's attempt at fame?

One other question about this entire mess is why Paschel would put himself under this kind of scrutiny when he knows full well how troubling his past is. The answer to that is probably pretty simple: Paschel is an actor and he might be looking to boost his professional profile.

He has a number of TV credits starting in 2017, and his Instagram account is almost all photos of himself on sets. He may have thought he could go on a hit reality show and parlay that into more acting work — but it seems like his extremely disturbing past has finally caught up with him.

Paschel was called out about the domestic violence claims on his YouTube.

Paschel's "How To Manage The Loss Of A Child" video was posted in January 2020; however, the video is currently gaining attention after someone left a comment on it that referenced the domestic violence claims against Paschel. The commenter wrote, "wife beater" under the video.

Another commenter jumped in and replied to the message, saying, "Totally agree that he should be called out on that. However, this isn’t the place to do this. At least go to another one of his videos."

Paschel's third wife is accusing him of selling drugs.

Paschel's problems with his exes seem to be never-ending. His third wife, who he shares a son with and is currently in a custody battle with, requested him to sign a HIPAA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that would allow her to see any of Paschel's medical and prescription records.

She said this was added to make sure Paschel “was no longer selling opiate medication.” Paschel has refused to agree to sign any documents that would allow his ex-wife access to his medical records, and the two have gone back and forth about it over the years. The matter still remains unsolved and the custody case is also still ongoing.

Paschel will appear in court this March for the assault charges he's facing, and it remains to be seen what TLC will decide about Geoffrey Paschel and his Before The 90 Days story.

Sign Up for the YourTango Newsletter Let's make this a regular thing!

Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side.