Everyone believed by appearance and living in a near north side Chicago neighborhood that our house on a quiet street was a "good, no crime, community." We appeared no different than the other families on the block, and like every other street in the neighborhood, we were considered a safer place to live only because my father was a Chicago Police detective.
I always thought that if people only knew what really went on behind that front door, they would somehow pull us out and take us away to a safe place to live. As a child, no one ever believed me when I would say "my father beats my mother." One time I was suspended from school for writing a poem that went something like this:
This man who drinks and carries a gun
each night he'd come home we'd have no fun,
that bottle, that gun, no place to run.
My father, like most abusers, was a clever manipulator. To the outside world he was a loving husband and father who also happened to be a cop by profession.
On January 19, 1989, the quiet house on Highland street would turn into a gruesome and bloody crime scene. My father would make good on his life long promise to kill my mother before turning the gun on himself.
 |
| Available for pr-eorder at Amazon Click HERE |
Today, because of their deaths, many victims and their children are alive. You see, this place that I called home would be the training ground in which lives would be saved. Taking 18 years of crime scene experience, learning from a veteran victim, my mother, and a serial abuser who happened to be licensed to carry a badge and a gun, my father, would forever change how the world dealt with intimate partner homicide and violence.
There are far too many homes across the country in quiet little neighborhoods just like mine where violence is silenced behind closed doors. We still do not treat intimate partner violence and stalking as a crime. The house on Highland should be a wake up call to us all, that not much has changed since the laws were passed. And those laws were put in place because of the bloodshed. They were not signed by Governors across the country with a pen of ink, but blood from those slaughtered and erased by those who professed to love them.
You want change? Then everyone must be willing to give this issue more then lip service. If you know someone in an abusive relationship, if you are a lawyer practicing in family court, if it is happening to you, a plan of action is your key to safety. The book Time's Up is based on women, like my mom, who were silenced in the prime of their lives. This is your prescription to safety. Below is a sample of the video you need to prepare, if you do nothing else, the abuse affidavit and video will go a long way, if something happens.
Looking back, I don't think my mother ever really believed my father would actually follow through and kill. But he did. Most women that I assist and keep alive, never want to believe the person with whom they enter a relationship could be capable of killing.
Don't take the chance!
Once you are threatened, hit, stalked, questioned in a controlling way, a second chance to save your life, is no longer an option.
“If you are reading this and find yourself in a similar situation, know that there are measures you must take before announcing the end of your relationship. These safety precautions can be found in the book, "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave an Abusive and Stalking Relationship" by Susan Murphy Milano. Don't take things into your own hands without expert guidance.” (Mothers Are Vanishing)
I cannot stress enough, if you are in a relationship that has a history of violence, simply mustering up the courage to confront the person and say it is over, without the proper tools, can cost you your life!
One of the major reasons women stay in abusive relationships is fear. They are afraid of what will happen to them and their children if they leave. Sadly, their fears are often justified; statistics show that a woman is at the greatest risk for injury when sheannounces her plans or leaves an abusive relationship.
The book "Time's Up A Guide on How To Survive and Abusive and Stalking Relationship" is the prescription, if you will, that every person must obtain before they announce they are leaving. Below is an example from Chapter 4, one of many unique tools provided in the book. It is available onAmazon.com, or you can purchase via e-book or on a cd. If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com
Before you decide that you have had enough and are ending the relationship create for yourself the "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video (shown below).
If you do nothing else, please take one important step that if something does happen to you, if you do vanish likeStacy Peterson, Vensus Stewart, Rachel Anderson, Susan Powell, Lisa Stebic, or are found murdered like Monica Beresford-Redmond, Franki Jacobson, Renee Pagel, Summer Inman,Kelly Rothwell and others where the person responsible has gotten away with murder that your voice and record of the abuse will be captured and recorded. Do it for you friends, family and loved ones. Do it for your children. Do it for you!
Time's Up!
You cannot plead with an abuser and walk away from potentially life threatening situations if you are unable to learn the steps necessary to protect yourself. Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships will allow anyone to orchestrate what is needed to be safe.
"If you are a sophisticated, aware woman, you will find things you didn’t know to help yourself and others. If you are a stay-at-home-mom who has been controlled since a teenager and doesn’t know the first thing about leading an independent life, you’ll find all the details you need to escort you through the risk-filled and often baffling transition ahead . Time's Up by Susan Murphy Milano: is the best companion an abused woman can have." Kathryn Casey, True-Crime Author
The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit document preparation and video example in English
The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit document preparation and video example in Spanish
The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit document preparation and video example for Men who are being abused
Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and
specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.
specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.
A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals,
victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing
prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular
contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes :
Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up!
a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime Susan is also the daughter of a Chicago Violent Crimes detective who murdered her mother before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.
