Confronting Rapist Decades Later Brings Peace To Md. Victim
PATTI BORDA
The Frederick News-Post
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- In her 50s, Linda Hershman found the voice she could not, as a child, raise against her rapist, her father.
She has always thought of herself as a quiet, reserved woman who shied away from public speaking. Now, the 54-year-old Frederick real estate agent said she feels driven to speak and encourage anyone who is being abused, or has been, to seek justice whenever they are able, as soon as they are able.
The healing really starts when the abuser and abuse are acknowledged, she said.
"I want my story of victory to be known to people who may have no hope of healing," she said. "They're not alone. ... People can recover."
Her father, who raped and abused her and her three sisters in West Virginia repeatedly in the 1960s and 70s, was sentenced in November to serve more than 200 years in prison without possibility for parole.
"I no longer feel like the rapes define who I am," Hershman said. "A huge burden has been lifted from our shoulders."
The childhood trauma Hershman and her sisters endured caused them to scatter as soon as they could leave home. Only Hershman's decision two years ago to report the abuse caused them to get in touch again.
"God led me to the point to come forward and speak out to the police authorities," she said.
Growing up in the abusive household, she had no faith in God, but she said that has changed, with the inexplicable inspiration that caused her to take action.
For most of her life, she feared retaliation: Her father had threatened to kill her if ever she told anyone of the abuse, she said.
"I was terrified ... because of the death threats," she said.
When she decided to come forward two years ago, she contacted Heartly House in Frederick for therapeutic support. The shelter offers services to anyone who has been abused.
"I wanted to start counseling again to keep myself in check during this process," she said. "It's a place where people can feel safe."
The detective and prosecutor who handled Hershman's case found her sisters, and discovered that although they had never discussed the abuse among themselves, they all had similar facts about the events by the same abuser.
"None of us wanted to go to our grave with this not having been addressed," Hershman said. "We all needed the same healing and outcome."
In a telephone interview, First Sgt. Vance Lipscomb, the Monongalia County, West Virginia, Sheriff's Office detective who investigated Hershman's case, commended her for coming forward when she did. Keeping abuse secret is never the best response, he said.
"Having that memory is horrendous, but I replaced it with the memories of the trial and sentencing," Hershman said. "The deepest of my healing occurred when the guilty verdicts were read aloud, and also in my having a voice in the court and to the abuser."
She feels for those who are frightened to stand up for themselves, but she wants to empower them "to find their voice and to speak out."
"No one should have to wait this many years later," Hershman said.
Lipscomb works with children as well as adults, and understands that the time has to be right.
"People disclose when they feel safe," he said.
The sentencing gave Hershman a new outlook on life.
"I felt such a sense of quiet and peace," she said. "I get to be me now."
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)