Rowlett Domestic Abuse Survivor Now Helping Others
ROWLETT (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas woman, who was nearly killed by her husband in April of 2010, has started a charity organization to help other victims of domestic abuse.
Veronica Galaviz says she married her husband knowing he had alcohol and anger issues, but believed she could help him, and they could work out their problems.
Galaviz knew her husband for six years before they married, but in April of 2009, she says his anger turned physical. "He pushed me," she recalled, remembering the argument she says started over finances.
According to Galaviz, that argument became so volatile she called police and her husband, Jack Eagon, Jr., fled with one of his guns.
Galaviz says her husband returned to the house they once shared on numerous occasions and continually stalked her. To end everything she filed for divorce, installed security cameras and a judge signed a protective order that demanded her ex stay away.
"These protective orders they give us, they're just expensive pieces of paper. They do nothing," claims Galaviz.
After taking all of those steps, on April 21, 2010, Jack Eagon, Jr. returned to her house again. At the time of the break-in Galaviz had a male friend staying in another bedroom.
Galaviz remembers the night vividly. "Went to the door and he was standing at the door with a shotgun, his finger on the trigger," she said. "He was there to kill me. He said, 'I'm going to kill you' and I immediately started screaming."
Galaviz says she and her male friend struggled with her ex-husband over the gun. Eventually she ran to a neighbor's house for safety. While trying to escape out the back door, her friend was shot in the hand.
Galaviz says she heard one final shot. Police later determined it was when Eagon took his own life. Before committing suicide, he lit her house on fire. Galaviz lost her home, two cats and a dog.
While, Galaviz says she's suffering with depression, anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), she hopes to go back to work before the end of the year.
In the meantime, Galaviz says the goal of her new organization, Living to Share, is to help toughen protective order laws.
She thinks the orders should include a zero-tolerance clause. "When they [police] get a call that there's been violence, they will immediately take the abuser into custody, instead of trying to wait for evidence."
According to the Texas Council on Family Violence, 111 women in Texas were killed by intimate partners in 2009. Nationwide, 33-percent of female homicide victims were killed by their husbands or boyfriends.
If you, or anyone you know, is a victim of domestic violence the National Domestic Violence Hotline is there to help 24 hours a day (800) 799-SAFE (7233). Click here for more domestic violence help resources from Dallas Domestic Violence Resources
