“Finally, after a long ten year battle, and a few amazing people, I urged the police department to re-open my case.”
‘I asked a friend to hold my drink while I went to the restroom and she set the drink down. We always stuck together but my friend went home with a guy, breaking our agreed upon friend code.’
‘I saw bruises on my 2-year-old’s face. I knew something more sinister had happened. My baby had bruises that stretched from his upper back all the way down to his ankles.’
“Justin handed me his phone. The first thing that popped up in the recent search tab was, ‘How to track girlfriend’s phone.’ The blood from my face drained.”
‘He came back into the house with a loaded gun. He demanded I open my mouth. He smirked and said ‘I won’t regret this.’
“I asked my husband for a divorce. I found out he was still having an affair, and I was done. He shoved me onto the couch, and started choking me. I gave in. I opened my mouth and he shoved the barrel as far into my mouth as he could. I said goodbye to my kids.”
‘I ran 2 miles, barefoot, to the police station, with my husband chasing me. It was 28 degrees outside. I ran those two miles for my life.’
“I woke up the next morning and couldn’t remember how all that blood had gotten on my pillow. I couldn’t move my legs, and my ears were ringing. I tried to sit up, and that’s when I knew something had happened.”
‘I spent nearly 12 years with a man I never should’ve married. He never touched me. We fought about my weight. I was immune to anything but pain. And then I met Adam.’
“He works midnights. He came home at 8 a.m. I woke to see him singing our baby to sleep with county music.”
‘He screamed horrible things at me, broke my wall mirror, cornered me and told me he’d murder my family if I left him as he shook a butcher knife in my face.’
“I realized I couldn’t remember when I last had a period. I took a pregnancy test when I got home. It was positive. I was pregnant. I was freaking out.”
‘He always had a quick temper. In the beginning, his temper was sexy. The sheer strength of this man, MY man, made me feel a sense of safety. I couldn’t have been more wrong.’
“I remember him sobbing, telling me I am the only woman ‘strong enough’ to fight back, so why didn’t I fight back? These were the types of questions he would ask me. I would try to change my behavior, walk on egg shells, try not to poke the bear so to speak… it just got worse.”
‘He claimed he was going to leave his mark on me for my next boyfriend. I had a scar wrapping from cheek to cheek, now known as the ‘girl that had her lip bitten off.”
“I wasn’t there to get back together with him. I refused, only to feel him latch on to me. I started screaming at the top of my lungs for help and out of fear for my life.”
‘I knew something was very wrong by the way the doctor was acting. The police came, and I couldn’t understand what was going on. Why were they there?’
“They wouldn’t let me fly with her, and looking back, I now know it’s because they didn’t know who had hurt her.”
‘I was punched in the face by a man who claimed to ‘love me so much.’ Then he said, ‘Now I’m going to call my mom to let her finish the job.’’
“He said, ‘Something is wrong with Wyatt.’ I open the shower curtain and see him holding my son out. I thought his neck was broken.”
