Inner Banks Hotline

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

The tragic death of 18-year-old Karoline Heintz, a recent Peters Township graduate and incoming freshman at PennWest California, has led to fundraising campaigns for domestic violence prevention programs in her name, and has sparked a conversation about teen dating violence. Megan Hegedus, CEO of Do...

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

It’s real, could be the person sitting beside you

08/25/2026

🚨 TRIGGER WARNING

**HE BOUGHT ME A HOUSE WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS. THEN HE LOCKED ME INSIDE IT.**

I was 17, pregnant, and raised by strict parents who believed marriage was what had to come next. I didn't marry a man I was deeply in love with. I married someone I had a crush on, someone I thought was my friend.

After our daughter was born, things began to change. His insecurity became verbal ab*se, and when he drank on the weekends, it became worse.

Then he bought us a house.

From the outside, it probably looked like I had everything. A husband, children and a beautiful home.

But I wasn't living in that house.

**I WAS A PRISONER INSIDE IT.**

There were storm doors on the front and back and burglar bars covering the windows. He told me they were there for my "safety."

They weren't there to keep anyone out.

They were there to keep me in.

Every Sunday, my husband left to drive his truck. I would remain locked inside that house with my children until he returned on Friday.

Week after week.

Year after year.

I still thank God that house never caught fire, because there was a terrifying reality I couldn't escape: if it had, my children and I might not have been able to get out.

For years, I survived verbal, physical, mental and emotional ab*se while becoming increasingly isolated from my family and friends.

Then, in 2010, I finally decided enough was enough.

I left.

I moved from Atlanta to Pittsburgh believing I was beginning a new chapter of my life. Then I received another devastating blow: I learned I was living with HIV.

Today, the man who controlled me is gone, and I finally have some closure from a relationship that once literally kept me behind bars.

Domestic violence isn't all that I am.

**I SURVIVED THE HOUSE THAT WAS NEVER REALLY A HOME.**

Read Daphne's full story:
https://breakthesilencedv.org/?p=20437

Share your story:
https://breakthesilencedv.org/?page_id=16824

💜 Can you imagine discovering that the things someone called "protection" were actually designed to keep you trapped?

08/25/2026

Trauma can explain someone’s struggles. Mental illness can explain symptoms. A difficult childhood can leave scars. But none of them gives someone permission to control, terrorize, or hurt another person.

**What excuse were you told to make for their abuse?**

06/15/2026

June 2026 Newsletter, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

05/18/2026

May 2026 Newsletter