MICHELLE’S Story

My story begins on a sunny summer morning. I got ready for work and got my boys ready for the babysitter. She arrived and I left for work. That day was like every other day. She brought them in for lunch, took them to play at the arcade, and then took them home.

After work I went to the beach for a little bit with friends. I heard that my ex had come and taken my kids in my van and was seen with them at a truck stop. I couldn’t get a ride, so I walked six hours to the truck stop to get to my boys. Upon arriving, they were no where to be found, so I headed to the hotel where I heard he was staying, which was back almost where I had started!

As I was walking down the exit ramp, a man stopped me. He said he was a cop. He showed me a fake badge and gave me his brothers name pretending it was his. He said it was illegal to walk off a highway down a busy exit ramp and that he can take me down to the police station and charge me, or I could get in the truck and he would take me to the Hardees up the street where I would be safe and able to get a ride home. I was only 24 years old and didn’t know the laws. I was just trying to get to my kids… so I got in.

I quickly found out he was none of the things he claimed, and he was not taking me to Hardees to drop me off. He proceeded to take me down a back road where he pulled into an empty lot, put a knife to my throat and a gun to my head and forced me to do unspeakable sexual things. When I tried to escape, he pushed the gun into the back my head, lifted my skirt and brutally raped me. When he was done, he beat me, threw me to the ground, and threaten to kill me and my children. Then he kicked me and, with his gun pointed at my face, told me that if I ever told anyone he would hunt me down, find me, kill my children in front of me, and then kill me. He then left me there to die…broken, bleeding and raped .

The whole time he was violating me he kept saying I deserved it and I was a bad horrible mother and person. I made my way through the woods back to a street where I was found and rescued by a man jogging by. He saved my life that day.

I was taken to the hospital where they administered an evidence collection kit - a kit that sat on a shelf, untouched, for two decades!

It took 26 years before they finally arrested him. He was convicted, and is serving two life sentences for the heinous crimes he committed that day.

I continued on because I had two boys that depended on me. Although I lived in fear, I couldn’t show them that. I was able to be brave because of all the people that supported me, especially Operation Pretty Things. I thank God for them…for their impact on my life, and the love they gave me, and continue to give. They are a blessing and an amazing gift to everyone. Their value is beyond anything you could possibly imagine. They made sure I knew I wasn’t alone. I can’t believe anyone would love me like that.

Thank you OPT, for giving me a part of myself back.