A Victim's Story: 'I Didn't Really Know Him'

BROOKSVILLE - She could be the nursing assistant who helped you last week at your doctor's office.

You know, the pretty one with big brown eyes - the one you liked so much, the one whose life you assumed must be wonderful.

But less than a year ago, she came to the Dawn Center with her five children, pregnant and desperate.

This is her story.

Brooksville resident Kelly Reed, 41, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, will be the first to admit that the home she grew up in wasn't perfect.

Even so, she endured it and dreamed of creating a better family for herself one day.

Those dreams were shattered at age 19 in Hawaii when she met her first husband, a 30-year-old police officer who beat her. He then filed for divorce and because of his job, gained full custody of their two young children, she said.

With a heavy heart, Reed moved to Florida in 1996 to start over. Soon after, she met another man who showered her with gifts and listened tenderly as she spoke, assuring her that he would never hurt her. He proposed after two and a half weeks.

"I didn't really know him," she said, recalling their whirlwind courtship.

A day after their wedding, the nightmare began. Her new husband used his body to pin her down on a bed, frightening her to the point of calling police. When they arrived, he apologized and begged his way back, promising to never hurt her again.

"I (told myself) it was my second marriage, and I didn't want another one," Reed said.

But the next 12 years would prove worse than she could have ever imagined.

He barred her from working or speaking to her family or friends, moved the family to Nevada and began regularly physically and verbally abusing her. Though he made decent money driving cement trucks, he spent much of it on gambling and cigarettes, keeping the family living out of hotel rooms.

"He would rape me and tell me it was my wifely duty to take care of him - and that I should be happy I don't have to work," she said.

She bore five children. Though she often considered leaving, the fear and economics of supporting herself and her children seemed daunting, especially after not working for so many years, Reed said.

"We lived basically in imprisonment," she said. "I had clerical skills, but they were so outdated that no one would hire me. My husband wouldn't let me work."

When he was finally sent to jail for the abuse in September 2007, she fled to Florida with her children.

Reed, who stayed with family members for several weeks, said she learned about the Dawn Center while collecting diapers from Catholic Charities.

The day she learned she was pregnant with her husband's sixth child, she and her children moved into the safe house.

"They were able to make space for me and my big family in there," she said. "Without them, I don't know what I would have done - but because of them, we were safe and had a place to sleep, a roof over our heads."

At the home, Reed said she was given space to get her life together, and people to help her do it.

"It was so beautiful and comfortable, and all of the advocates were so helpful in their own special way(s)," she said. "They were always there when I needed someone to talk to, or help figuring something out."

While residents are typically given eight weeks at the center, an exception was made for Reed and her children, who stayed six months while searching for a place she could afford.

She admitted that living with strangers was not always easy. Emotions at the shelter often ran high and circumstances would cause both laughter and tears.

"It was an experience, and there were good and bad things," she said. "There were people with different morals and personalities, but we also made friends there that we still keep in touch with."

The center's staff provided counseling through advocacy for her children and helped her realize she qualified for a free Certified Nursing Assistant class, which she took and passed.

Reed is now a CNA with a steady job, and lives in an apartment obtained through the local housing authority.

"I can't say enough about the Dawn Center and everything they've done for us," she said. "They mean the world to me, and I don't know what I would have done without them being there."

Her sixth child was born on Mother's Day, and for the first time, she named the child herself.

"Before, my husband would never let me name my kids," she said. "It felt good, and it feels good to finally be going places and doing things on my own."

Though she still worries about money, Reed said she thanks God that she and her children - who range in age from 3 months to 11 years - are no longer in danger. She is in the process of filing for a divorce.

"There are days when I get so overwhelmed, but it's OK because we're safe," she said. "We don't have to live that way anymore."