(RNS) — More details have emerged regarding the arrests of Christian author and influencer Heather Thompson Day and her husband, Seth Day, a Christian college professor.
Heather Thompson Day and husband Seth Day. (Video screen grabs)
The two were arrested last week and charged with allegedly harming a child. Seth Day was also charged with alleged sexual abuse.
The Keene Police Department in Keene, Texas, first became aware of the allegations against the Days on Sept. 24, when an officer was called to the Johnson County Children’s Advocacy Center, according to arrest affidavits in the case. There he met with the Days’ daughter, after a high school teacher reported signs of possible abuse.
The daughter alleged her father had repeatedly physically abused her. On Sept. 22, according to the affidavit, Seth Day allegedly struck his daughter with her cell phone, “causing lacerations and multiple areas of bruising on her face.”
“She also advised there was a bruise on her chest,” according to the affidavit.
The injuries were documented by the investigating officer. The daughter also told police the abuse had happened repeatedly in the past, leading to Texas Child Protective Services Investigations, and the daughter alleged the family moved homes because of those reports. The Days had lived in Midland, Texas, where the first incident of physical abuse allegedly happened, then they moved to Keene before moving to another home in Keene.
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“According to the Department of Family and Protective Services, there have been other reports made that were closed at the state level,” the affidavit states. “The last incident investigated by CPS was on August 8th, 2026.”
According to the affidavit, Heather Thompson Day was allegedly made aware of the abuse and did not intervene. Her daughter told police that in the past, Heather Thompson Day had taken her to the doctor and that her mother told healthcare providers she did not know how the injuries had occurred. The daughter alleged her mother told her to wear a mask to cover injuries to her face.
The Keene Police Department determined there was cause to arrest Heather Day and charged her with injury to a child by omission, a third-degree felony. Heather Thompson Day was arrested on Sept. 24 and was held at the Johnson County Jail. She was released on a $100,000 bond.
Seth Day was also arrested on Sept. 24 after the investigating officer determined that he had “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence caused bodily injury.” He was charged with injury to a child aged 14 or younger and received the same bond.
Investigators later uncovered allegations of sexual abuse against Seth Day, which led to a search warrant for the couple’s house, television station KDFW in Fort Worth, Texas, reported. He was charged on Sept. 25 with sexual assault of a child, according to an arrest report from the Keene Police Department, with an additional $250,000 bond. The report does not name the alleged child victim of sexual assault.
Seth Day has been placed on administrative leave by Southwestern Adventist University, where he was an assistant professor of psychology.
Alexander Carpenter, editor-in-chief of Spectrum magazine, a Seventh-day Adventist publication, said news of the Days’ arrest came as a shock.
Both the Days had taught at Seventh-day Adventist colleges, and Heather Thompson Day was a popular speaker in the denomination and beyond. The couple co-authored “I’ll See You Tomorrow,” a bestselling Christian book on relationships.
The couple’s love story was also featured in a Facebook video, where Heather Thompson Day described her husband as “the cutest boy in the 6th grade,” when they first met as kids, and told how God had revealed that years later they would be married.
“Absolute shock,” Carpenter said in describing the reaction to the arrests among Adventists. “A lot of them are searching for answers.”
Carpenter said some Adventists were proud that Heather Thompson Day was influential in the broader Christian community, especially in 2021, when she was named host of a Christianity Today podcast called “Viral Jesus.”
That podcast was still on the Christianity Today website in early September, according to an archive found on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, but has since been removed.
Among Heather Thompson Day’s 10 books is a children’s book co-written with her daughter. She also writes a weekly email devotional with 10,000 subscribers. Heather Thompson Day has also written for Religion News Service and appeared on a RNS podcast.
The latest social media post on Heather Thompson Day’s Facebook page is dated Sept. 26.
“We are focusing on prayer all of 2026,” the post reads. “If you are in a season of delay, make sure to sign up for our email devotional.”
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