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News.com.au
11 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘For the first time, I was frightened of my husband'
Erik has become a man Amanda no longer recognises. He's possessive and obsessive. Incessant texting has become standard whenever she leaves the house, especially if she's out after dark. Along with her day job with the academic research team, Amanda has taken on a community role at a domestic violence drop-in centre. Two nights per week, she mans the centre alone, meaning finish times can vary depending on the needs of the community. 'Where are you? What time are you going to be home?' The minute the clock strikes eight, Erik's text messages come cascading in. 'I've got dinner ready for you. It's going to go cold.' The irony of a man who spent the last 10 years cheating on Amanda, monitoring her every move is breathtaking. 'Is he there?' Adam is never there. For the comfort of the women seeking refuge, there are no men based at the centre. But this fact seems lost on Erik. When she arrives home in the evening, his reaction swings, depending entirely on his mood. Sometimes Erik will rush towards her, dramatically holding her in his arms. 'I just love you so much, that's all,' he'll say. 'I can't bear to be away from you. Things just don't feel right until you're here with me.' Other times, Amanda finds Erik pacing, back and forth, back and forth, ultimately storming into their room, slamming it behind him. On these nights, she finds the dinner that she didn't request thrown into the trash. 'I bet you're in the office with him. Just the two of you.' After one particularly busy night, Erik's messages come more quickly than usual. His tone is angrier, more urgent. Amanda assumes it's because she hasn't been able to respond to him as quickly as she usually does. Amanda can't wrap her mind around Erik's inability to empathise with the type of work she does, with the women she's trying to help. By the time she walks through the door, it's almost 9pm. Amanda drops her bag and coat on the floor, exhausted, and desperately hoping Erik's mood isn't hostile. She walks into the living room. 'Where the f**k have you been?' He's pacing, each stomp an unspoken announcement of his disapproval. 'You know where I've been, Erik,' she says, wearily. 'Why are you even asking?' He continues walking aimlessly, each breath heavy and loud. Amanda feels like she's being circled by a hungry shark, prey waiting to be attacked. 'Honestly, Erik, I'm just so tired of this,' she says, but he isn't listening. 'I don't know what you want from me. I need to get out of here for a while.' Amanda turns and leaves the living room, picks up her bag and coat. 'I'm just going for a drive, okay? I'll be back soon.' Amanda leaves the house, but Erik follows. 'Like f**k you are.' Erik has lost his mind, Amanda thinks, but she's too tired to care. As she gets into her car, she realises she has no idea where she's going to go. She can't keep showing up on Carly's doorstep. Still, she can't be here, not right now. She reaches for the ignition but pulls back when she hears a loud thud. Erik is lying across the bonnet of her car. 'You're not leaving, Amanda!' he screams through the windscreen. For the first time, Amanda is frightened of her husband. What the hell is he doing? 'Get off my car, Erik, for God's sake.' Amanda tries to sound calm, dismissive, to take the edge of fear away from her voice. Erik doesn't respond, but he doesn't move, either. He just lies there, draped across the bonnet. Amanda considers calling the police, but immediately decides against it. Erik isn't a dangerous man, but Amanda needs to leave. She can't call their friends, most of whom are mutual. They would never look at him the same again if they saw him in this state. She loves him too much to permanently damage his life. There's another bang then, and Amanda jolts upright in her seat. Erik is punching the windscreen, once, twice, three times. Amanda isn't scared of Erik, but she is scared. Because this isn't Erik. And that means Amanda doesn't know what else he might do. She picks up her phone and dials Adam's number. 'Amanda?' She and Adam have barely spoken since the kiss, nothing meaningful anyway. They've conversed, of course, because they work together, but aside from small talk, conversation has been limited. 'He's on my windscreen! He won't let me leave.' The words tumble from her mouth. 'I just wanted to go for a drive. I don't know what to do.' 'You should call the police,' Adam says, his voice calm. 'No way. I'm not calling the cops. My daughters are in the house!' For a few moments, she hears nothing but his breathing. 'Okay, well look, I'm not far, I'm coming over.' For ten minutes, Amanda and Erik remain where they are, Amanda in the car, Erik on the car. Amanda looks towards the moon, not quite full, but close. It looks almost yellow and is particularly bright, neon paint on black canvas. How did they get here, Amanda wonders. She also wonders why Erik is the one breaking down, when he is the one who's been cheating for their entire marriage. Erik sits up suddenly. He must have heard Adam's car, because seconds later, it appears on the driveway. Amanda's story 'What the f**k are you doing here?' says Erik, finally jumping off the bonnet. Slowly, Amanda gets out of the car too. 'Mate, I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, I get that,' Adam says, walking towards Amanda's car. His voice is controlled. 'I know you're upset, but you can't be jumping on cars, mate, you can't stop Amanda from leaving.' Erik nods vigorously, an angry sneer forming across his face. His breath is loud and heavy. 'Buddy, I have no interest in anything you say to me,' Erik spits. 'You're the reason we're in this f**king mess. So, what don't you get back in your car, and get the f**k away from my house.' 'Well, you've got kids in the house,' Adam says. 'So how about we put this to bed, and we can all go back to our lives?' 'How about you f**k off,' Erik says. But he turns away then and returns to the house. 'Are you okay?' Adam rushes to Amanda, grabbing both her hands. She nods, pulling her hands away, but says nothing. Adam nods too. 'Okay,' he says. 'Okay.' He gets back into his car, and then he is gone. And Amanda is alone. She looks up at the moon again. What now? But the moon has no answers. If she walks back into the house, Erik will know he can stop her from leaving any time he wants, that literally jumping on top of her car will stop her from leaving. Why wouldn't he do it again? Amanda shivers as a gust of wind lashes her skin. It's colder than usual for this time of year. She wonders why she isn't crying. Wonders why she feels as cold as the air around her, and just as invisible. She locks her car and walks into the home she and Erik built from together. Stopping in the doorway of their shared room, she sees Erik sitting up on the still-made bed. He looks up when he senses her, but she doesn't react. Instead, she pulls the door closed, continues down the hall to the spare room. She lies on the bed, without undressing, and falls into a dreamless sleep. This is a book extract from Nicole Madigan 's new novel, Torn, which explores the true stories of four women during that in-between phase between betrayal, and making a decision about whether to stay or leave. Nicole Madigan is a writer, editor, journalist, and author, based in Brisbane. She is a non-executive Board Director of Friends with Dignity, a charity providing support to victim-survivors of domestic violence. Her debut nonfiction book, Obsession: A journalist and victim-survivor's investigation into stalking, was released in 2023. She is also the author of two children's books.
News.com.au
12 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘The war is not over': Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son released from US detention centre
New Zealander Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son have been released from a US immigration detainment centre after three gruelling weeks. The mum and son were detained during a routine border crossing from Canada to the US on July 24. It quickly turned into a nightmare when the pair were refused release. Their concerned loved ones described the incident as 'abuse and federal kidnapping', pleading for their safe return in the weeks since. Ms Shaw's friend Victoria Besancon, who set up a GoFundMe for them that has raised over $90,000, shared the good news via the page on Sunday morning. 'Thanks for all your support and advocating. Sarah and her son have been released. While her lawyer's words were 'the war is not over' and there are still legal battles to be had, this portion has been won,' Ms Besancon's update read. 'Thank you to everyone who has supported, donated and reached out. We will continue to update the story as it unfolds but they are home safe and sound.' Ms Shaw and her son were detained by immigration and customs enforcement on July 24 and then transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Centre in South Texas. The 33-year-old, who has lived in the US since 2021 and works in juvenile detention, was returning from dropping her two eldest children at the airport in Vancouver, as they were catching a direct flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. While trying to return to the US, Ms Shaw was unexpectedly detained because she hadn't realised part of her Visa was still pending. Ms Shaw is on a 'combo card' visa – a two-in-one card that works as a work visa, and a 1-360 visa, which can grant immigration status to domestic violence survivors. She had received a letter confirming her visa renewal, but hadn't realised that the 1-360 element of her Visa was still pending approval. Ms Shaw requested humanitarian parole – an emergency pass into the US – which Ms Besancon argued should have been approved, despite the minor clerical error in her paperwork. Without both elements of the 'combo card', re-entry into the US is not guaranteed. Ms Besancon slammed the decision not to release the mum immediately. 'Not only was she denied that right, but agents lied to her stating they had already requested it and she was denied. It was later confirmed that was a lie and no parole was filed or requested on her behalf,' she said. According to US Customs and Border Protection, a person without this documentation may be 'found inadmissable' and therefore deported, 'their applications may be denied and they may face abandonment of their pending application'. Ms Shaw's father, Rod Price, told Radio New Zealand that his daughter was shocked to be detained and managed to ring him before she 'locked up'. 'She went to go back across into the US and then I got a frantic call to say that she's being detained and 'they're about to take my phone off me' and 'they're locking me up for the night',' he said. Ms Besancon told her friend's experience is proof that the US has 'increasingly aggressive' attitudes towards immigration. 'I would strongly caution anyone outside of America from travelling and crossing borders right now,' she said. 'The state of our country and its attitude towards immigration is becoming increasingly aggressive. Due to our current administration, I personally feel there has been a large emboldening of racist communities within the United States. 'I love my country, but my country was built on immigration. I absolutely support those who want to come to our country to work and establish a life here. That is how America was founded and I believe that's how it should continue.'
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Bryan Kohberger's disturbing porn searches ahead of gruesome student murders revealed
Twisted murderer Bryan Kohberger made disturbing internet searches for women being raped and sexually assaulted while asleep, according to digital forensics experts who were due to testify at his trial. Kohberger's search history included terms like 'raped,' 'forced,' 'sleeping,' 'passed out' and 'voyeur,' according to Heather and Jared Barnhart, who were hired in 2023 to help investigate the psychopath who broke into an off-campus university house in the middle of the night and slaughtered four students, the New York Post reports. 'The easiest way to say it is that all of his terms were consistently around nonconsensual sex acts,' Jared Barnhart told The Daily Mail. Although Kohberger did not sexually assault any of the victims, the father of one of those killed, Kayla Goncalves, believes the killings were motivated by Kohberger's 'weird sexual fetishes.' Others have speculated that his sick plans were forced to change when he was unexpectedly confronted. Kohberger cowardly refused to reveal his plans or motives when he unexpectedly admitted the slayings. The Barnharts' forensics company, Cellebrite, was tasked with going through Kohberger's phone and laptop for any evidence connecting him to the murder of the four roommates knifed in their beds at their off-campus home in 2022. Kohberger had tried to wipe the search history from his devices — even running a data-erasing software on his laptop three days after the killings — but he was not thorough enough, the experts said. While there was no record of the search history, the terms were still found his autofill data on his search engines, Heather said. 'He did his best to leave zero digital footprint. He did not want a digital forensic trail available at all,' she told the Mail. The Cellebrite team also discovered a PDF file about another serial killer and rapist, Danny Rolling — also known as the 'Gainesville Ripper' — whose horrific murders targeting University of Florida students decades ago is eerily similar to Kohberger's heinous crimes. Rolling, who was the inspiration for the slasher classic 'Scream,' murdered five UF students — four women and one man — after breaking into their homes during a four-day spree in 1990. He raped all his female victims, and killed two of them with a Ka-Bar knife — the same weapon Kohberger used, prosecutors said. Rolling was executed in 2006. Kohberger's cell phone additionally contained creepy selfies of the killer posing shirtless and flexing his muscles, the experts said. He also snapped the chilling selfie of himself giving the thumbs-up just hours after he murdered the four University of Idaho students. Heather, Senior Director of Forensic Research at Cellebrite, and Jared Barnhart, Head of CX Strategy and Advocacy at the company, were prepared to testify as expert witnesses at Kohberger's trial before he pleaded guilty last month. Kohberger was sentenced to four life sentences for killing roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
