A Mother's Fight for Life
PAGE 5
Teri eventually remarried and continued to share custody with David. On Saturday, January 31, 2004, five years after her divorce, Teri drove to David's Wisconsin house to pick up the girls. When she arrived, David told Teri the girls were playing hide-and-seek and invited Teri inside. "My gut was saying, 'Why is he letting me come in his house?'" she says. "Right away I knew this is kind of weird. He hasn't allowed me in his house since the day I left. "
Still, Teri says she talked herself out of the feeling. "I was cold. My car was running out of gas," she says. "Most of all, my kids were hiding. They wanted me to come find them, and I didn't want to disappoint them."
But Teri didn't get the chance to play. "I walked into the foyer, and I remember saying, 'Gee, I wonder where they are?'" she says. "And, bam, a blow to the back of the head."
Teri says David continuously struck her with a baseball bat. "He said: 'You always said I abused you. Now you can see what abuse really is."
David started to strangle Teri. "He was saying: 'Go to sleep. Just go to sleep. Just stop breathing,'" she says. "He was mad again that he was ordering me to stop breathing and I wasn't."
Teri says David then duct-taped her wrists, ankles and entire face and head. "He then had this big garbage can. I could feel he was putting me in it," she says. "I'm bleeding everywhere. I'm in this garbage bin, and he's filling it up with snow. What started going through my head was, 'I'm going to die today.'"
Still, Teri says she talked herself out of the feeling. "I was cold. My car was running out of gas," she says. "Most of all, my kids were hiding. They wanted me to come find them, and I didn't want to disappoint them."
But Teri didn't get the chance to play. "I walked into the foyer, and I remember saying, 'Gee, I wonder where they are?'" she says. "And, bam, a blow to the back of the head."
Teri says David continuously struck her with a baseball bat. "He said: 'You always said I abused you. Now you can see what abuse really is."
David started to strangle Teri. "He was saying: 'Go to sleep. Just go to sleep. Just stop breathing,'" she says. "He was mad again that he was ordering me to stop breathing and I wasn't."
Teri says David then duct-taped her wrists, ankles and entire face and head. "He then had this big garbage can. I could feel he was putting me in it," she says. "I'm bleeding everywhere. I'm in this garbage bin, and he's filling it up with snow. What started going through my head was, 'I'm going to die today.'"
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