Stand with Teresa: End Domestic Abuse

On the night of March 31st, my friend Teresa got into a fight with her husband, Nick. They were staying in different places due to work (Nick was in Indiana, Teresa was in Kentucky with the kids). The fight was over texts and phone calls and just continued to escalate as the day went on. She was calling me and our friend Marriah with updates through the day. We had been on FaceTime for hours that day. She kept us on with her through a couple of phone calls with her husband to let us see how he was talking to her.

There were multiple threats made to her while we listened. He then decided to drive (drunk) over an hour to come home to her to continue the fight, all while making threats about hitting her. About halfway through his drive, he promised to sleep on the couch and leave her alone and that he just wanted to come home. She agreed. When he got close to the house, we ended our 6-hour FaceTime call because she didn’t want to aggravate the situation further (he didn’t like when she told us about their fights).

Not even 5 minutes after he returned, she was FaceTiming us again. Nick had come home and immediately went to the bedroom to harass Teresa and continue to fight and argue. She wanted us on the phone with her because she didn’t feel safe. And as it turns out, she had a gut feeling that we are so happy she listened to.

We asked her if she went into her oldest son's room and slept if he would bother her in there, and that sent him into a rage, I think. She picked up her gun safe and her phone to try and make sure he didn’t have access to it because she was scared. On her way out of the room, he shoved her to the ground trying to get the gun safe from her. With us still on FaceTime, the phone went flying and we heard her screaming at him to get off of her, her dogs barking, and her oldest son screaming, “Get off of my mommy.” When everything had calmed down, Nick picked up the phone and said multiple times, “One big happy family,” and when we asked where Teresa was, his response was, “On the ground.” He then proceeded to put her phone in his pocket with us still on FaceTime, and we heard Teresa start screaming, “Call the cops.”

So I hung up the phone and called Leitchfield PD and filed the police report. The police told her that she had all of the evidence to file for an EPO and to press charges that night. She was afraid to take things too far that night in fear of repercussions. Today, she has filed a request for the Emergency Protection Order. He has been harassing her since that night. Since then, he has only seen the kids three times and didn’t show up for one. He has last-minute changed the meeting place, he has openly admitted to not being able to take care of them alone, he has shoved his oldest son into a creek as punishment, and won’t properly dress his daughters since the separation. Nick has mentioned multiple times how it's funny when his oldest son asks him, "What happened that night?" in regards to Nick physically abusing Teresa in front of him. We fear for the safety of the children around him, as well as Teresa.

I’ve attached the photos of the bruises, scratches, and puncture wounds on her body from him attacking her.

Anything helps, if you can donate, please do. My friend needs help to escape this nightmare situation.