I’m a 44-year old, retired Navy Sailor, mother of two girls and I live in the hot, golden chromatic Arizona desert. I was born in Anchorage, Alaska and lived there for 14 years until 1989 when I moved to Seattle to live with my mom. My life was on the fast track to everywhere I didn’t want to be so I joined the Navy in 1994 to escape what life could’ve been. I married and had a baby at 22, but after a long road of infidelity, I finally divorced, raising my daughter on my own and eventually remarrying. I completed a BS in Health Care Management and MA in Human Resource Development but after 20 years of serving my country, I discovered what I want to do and what I had to do; write about the sad, gruesome murder of my mother hoping to inspire other victims through the process.
As women are still missing and the killer writes to me, I’m reminded that I’m not alone in my heartache and tragedy. I’ve spent my adult life rewriting my own narrative and I’m dedicated to the possibility of helping other women do the same. It starts with storytelling and leads to conversation.
My story has been featured on all major media outlets in the Pacific Northwest and On ID Discovery’s hit series Shattered (Season 1, Episode 2) that airs repeatedly, not only in the U.S. but across the seas into homes throughout the world.
I’m currently pursuing an MA in Creative Writing and collecting oral narratives from and about women. My work has been published in an online academic magazine Superstition Review and Kindred formerly called Holl & Lane Magazine. I’ve written for online courses, online magazines, and of course, my own blog. I’m dedicated to illuminating women’s voices that are unheard, undermined, and/or misunderstood (including my own mom’s who was brutally taken by a serial killer).
Her murder and its aftershock crushed my heart and trampled my guts. That, along with other life circumstances, have led me to the realization that us (women) must face our past to overcome grief paralysis and that not all victims are treated the same.