Help Jessica Rebuild After Escaping Abuse

Hi there,

My name is Jessica Martinez. I'm new here to Austin. Last year I came for a conference involving drug overdoses, harm reduction, and how to help people who are at the intersections of critical needs. Ironically I find myself now in a position of critical need after surviving narcissistic abuse and housing insecurity. How did this all start?

I met this guy named (we'll call him) Jake. Jake invited me to stay at his home free of charge and provide me with a new life in Austin, Texas. At first everything was amazing. He treated me like a queen, and made sure I always had food to eat. I had a cute dog to look after, and a home I felt welcomed in. He introduced me to all his friends.... even some dangerous ones. He included me in decisions regarding the house, I helped him move into his new home when no one came to help except for one or two people. I felt so bad for him and his dog. I thought to myself "how could such a sweet, kind, caring man be treated so terribly."

I wasn't aware of what a negative turn my life was going to take but, slowly but surely his true colors came out. Everything became my fault. He began to scream at me nearly daily. He would verbally assault me for "upsetting him." He would constantly ignore my boundaries when I was shutting down. It felt like everything I tried to do to get him to calm down or understand would only make him angrier.

I communicated my needs and wants clearly and that I was a "sexually liberated" individual. What I was promised was acceptance, love, and safety. What I received was vitriol, hate, and worst of all, domestic abuse . I moved in January 11th, 2025 and was kicked out April 1st, 2025. I went to sleep on the couch after he yelled at me all day and had apologized for "being in pain and taking his anger out on me." Two days prior he had choke slammed me into the sofa and pinned me down. I was so scared. When I woke up at 1:35pm he told me I had 5 hours and 30 minutes to get all my things and leave.

I have never experienced such evil in my life. He promised to sell me a jeep and that if I gave him the 75 dollars to fix an immobilizer (which I also gave him 75 dollars for gas money and food out of the kindness of my heart) he would make sure I had a working jeep. Once again he lied and sold me a jeep I've barely been able to use to commute to my new job.

(Attached here are some photos of our text messages where he continues to gaslight and abuse me after I repeatedly asked him to remain cordial so I can get an heirloom and my Theragun massager, and so he could follow through on his promise of fixing the jeep. I also want to note we were never married and his discussion of marital fidelity is not only frightening and delusional. I will continue to upload more proof but I want to nap before I go into work and I'm honestly so tired after the multiple weeks of abuse he's put me through. I have not been able to sleep regularly as I'm scared daily. This evenings' insomnia has been the worst as I finally went no contact after finally blocking him and his friends on facebook).

I've lost over 4,000 dollars in this move. I lost my job last July and started a new job in February and have landed a dream job that I started this week. I am safe with a friend who took me in and is showing me that 1) it's okay to have wants and needs, especially if you communicated them clearly and honestly. 2) I am a survivalist, resilient, beautiful person deserving of love. 3) I am so important to this world and have a lot of love and light to give in my work and to community.

I hate to ask folks for help... but I've been scrambling for weeks and trying to figure out how I could leave him. Please if you can my goal is to maybe raise at least 600-700 dollars to help pay for the parts to repair my jeep, file a restraining order on my ex, and ensure I can take safety measures to protect myself, my family, and my chosen family here in Texas.

With much love, and hope I wanted to say thank you for hearing my story. If you cannot donate and reading this resonated with you, or touched your heart please share and signal boost this. Grass-roots advocacy and community action is what my career is built on and I am faithful in humanity. I know that might sound odd coming from someone who experienced such terrible things, but I still believe in good people, love, and community support.

Thank you for your time, and thank you in advance if you donate. It's truly life-saving.

One love,

Jessica