Keah's Truth

SDK sister Keah shares her story of surviving being stabbed 25 times by her husband and the emotional legal process that followed.

Keah's Contact Info

Tiktok: @thetroopertales

IG: da_dunks777

Thank you for listening: If you want to be a guest or want me to tell your story, questions or comments please email me at Shedidntknowpodcast@gmail.com


My Tiktok page: Katching up with Ash @katchingupwithash

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

She didn't know, but she's right, Santa. Because the life wasn't yours, you belong. She didn't know. She didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Welcome back to SDK Wednesdays with your girl Ash. And we have a guest today, so let's get into the SDK story time.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yeah. It's Ash on the track. SDK sisters. Yeah, we back. Pull up the seat. It's story time now. Real talk, real laughs. Let me show you how. SDK sister story time with Ash. From the cold to the chaos we clash. SDK sister story time with Ash.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

All right, welcome to the show, Kia. Hey, thanks for having me, Ash.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

All right, you can tell your story. Okay, so I am a domestic violence survivor. Uh brief backstory in December of 2021, I moved out of my home because my ex-husband had threatened to kill me. He had held a knife over my head and asked me if I wanted to die. Um at that point, I was just finished. Um he had been extremely controlling, um, abusive, physical, verbal, um, mostly mental, and just a lot of um just a lot of controlling behaviors. So I finally moved out in December of 2021, and um I lived in an apartment for about eight months, and then in August of 2022, he came to my apartment, um, attacked me with uh that same knife, and stabbed me 25 times in front of our son. I um then had to jump off of the balcony um to get away from him. I was airlifted to another hospital out of state where I was cared for. I had to learn how to walk, um, feed myself, um, everything all over again. Um, it's an amazing story. God is good. Um, but the the story that I want to share is about what happened afterwards. Um when I finally was able to start moving around again and moving um my hands. My hands were uh what was most injured um in the the attack. Um so when I was able to start moving my hands, I was um packing up his things to prepare him to get out. Um his mom was gonna come pick his pick up his stuff. So um I was going through some things, and when I got to his documents, I started going through them. Uh and I saw uh military records. My husband was a veteran. Um when I met him, he was just getting out of the military. He had told me that he was um is in special forces in the army, where he deployed twice um to Iraq. Uh the first deployment he and his buddies um had flipped over um in an IED um explosion, and um he had lost his his friends. Um, he had spent time in the hospital overseas, and then during his second deployment, um, he had had some sort of mental break where they said, you can't come back anymore. Um they shipped him back home, um, where he finished out his military career um at Fort Knox. So um, like I said, I just met him when he was getting out. So fast forward back to when all this happened, and I'm going through his documents. I'm looking through the military records, and there is a huge chunk of um records just taken out, and everything was um clearly um it was clearly documented, it was dated, um, nothing was shuffled around. It was just a stack of military records, and because everything was dated, it was very easy to see that there was a chunk of um dates that were missing. So, aside from that, I also found his uh DD214, which was um it's a military document that you get when you discharge, and it says um like your years of service, what you're eligible for, your discharge status, that sort of thing. Um and I don't know military jargon. I wasn't familiar with it when I met him. He was um leaving the military. So there was some codes on there that I wasn't familiar with, acronyms, things of that nature. And um, so I reached out to a friend that I knew of that was in the military, and I just had him look at it for me. And um one, it flat out said that he had not served any time overseas. Um, that that was clear to see. But what my friend told me was that um on the bottom there was a discharge code um that basically meant that he was mentally incapable and they basically discharged him with without foul. So it was still um an honorable discharge. So um during the course of our entire relationship when he was uh abusive or had some sort of outburst and um would just overreact to certain things or just completely shut down, um wouldn't come out of the room, etc. He would then, when he was better, explain to me that it was because of what happened when he was in the military, because of um the TBI that he received when he um when he flipped in the convoy and um the PTSD and and things of that. So um everything that he had told me in regards to that was a complete lie. Um also in uh the stack of documents, I also found a restraining order from a person that lived in New York and it was against him, and it was like the final page of the restraining order just saying, you know, don't come around um for a year. I had no knowledge of the situation. I did not know that he had been charged or had a restraining order or had any sort of um violent history with the past person. So um I had just held on to that information, shocked, of course, um, but just kind of held on to that information. I went on and gave his mother his things. Um, what about my business? And at the time, my my ex was still um in prison, um, well, jail at the time because we hadn't quite had the trial. So uh in January of 2023, um he wanted to post bail. The bail was set very high. I think it was at $550, $50,000, something like that, something very high that he had to make. Um, but he he went up and he said that he was ready to post bail. And um because it wasn't murder, he was eligible to uh to be um up for bail. So I when I heard all of this, I was obviously terrified. Uh the man had just tried to kill me in front of my son. So um I reached out to the person that was on that uh restraining order because her name was on it. So uh it took some digging, but I was able to find her uh via social media. And she I just said, I am Levi Williams. I this is public records, anybody could find him. I said, I am Levi Williams' uh wife. I'm reaching out to you because I am in fear. He is getting ready to get out of jail, he's he's willing to post this amount of money, and I found this document with your name on it. Can you please explain to me your your story? Can you tell me what happened? Um and she did. And um I I don't want to talk about her story. Uh she said that she wanted to forget about it. She has since moved on, so I won't share um what she shared with me, but it was I was horrified at um what she had told me um, in addition to everything that he did to me. So um I had thanked her. Um and then at the end of the conversation, she gave me a few other names of some women because after what he did to her, she had then done some digging and found some other names. So she gave me uh the name of his ex-wife and um a couple of other girls that he had dated, names I didn't know of. Uh I reached out to a couple of them, not all of them, uh, um, just to kind of gain some more information, um, just kind of to plead my case because I wanted to make sure he stayed in jail. I I didn't want him near me, I didn't want him near my children, I didn't want the possibility of him coming back to do anything to us. So I um I reached out to a couple of them and uh I heard back from his ex-wife, and she flat out told me that she didn't want to get involved. Uh and then there was the other uh person that just didn't respond at all. Whether or not she got the message, I don't know, but no response um to this day. So uh the day of um the the bail hearing where he was able to post, they actually granted him bail. Um, but he had to go to the VA. Um again, he was a veteran. So um it was kind of like a house arrest situation where he had to stay at the VA as um quote unquote a homeless veteran. While he was there, uh of course he had access to computers, um his his phone he got back, um TV, like all of all of the things. So uh he tormented me the entire time he was at the VA. He would call and hang up. Um, he was in my social media, um sending messages to people that um I wasn't sending messages to people I hadn't spoken to in years. Just um, and I'm not really sure what he was trying to do, just messing with me. Um, but it was still scary nonetheless. Um he wasn't too far away, he knew exactly where we were, and he was able to get back in and and do the same kind of stuff that he had done our entire marriage. Um so I had called the police as much as I could when this was going on, and because I couldn't prove that it was him, because he was calling from the VA, there was nothing that they could do. And because the social media was coming from my account, um, it looked like I was sending the messages, so there was nothing that they could do. And I was just so defeated. Um literally, in adding insult to injury, he was he was messing with me mentally again after he had tried to kill me. Um finally, um I got some information from his corrections officer or um probation officer uh about what he was doing. And they had told me that you know not to worry. Um I'm I'm safe pretty much. And it was very cut and dry. I'm sorry, I'm trying to hold back tears. Uh and basically he was just like, blew me off. You know, you're safe, there's nothing that you need to worry about. And at that point, I had had it. I was fed up with um just still being underneath his control. Uh, so I had sent a very nasty email to the prosecutors, the victim advocate, anybody that I knew of um in that courthouse. Um everyone got an email. And I told them exactly what was going on, how this isn't right, this isn't fair. Uh, you know, I listed all the phone calls, all the social media posts. Um, and he was not supposed to have any contact with me. When all of this happened, there was an immediate protective order that was in place. Um, so he was he was violating a protective order on top of just the stuff that he was doing. It was in violation of his his bail. So um I sent the email. It was over a holiday weekend. Um, I can't remember what holiday, but I remember it was over holiday weekend. So I didn't hear anything back until Tuesday. But on that Tuesday, I got a call first thing in the morning from the victim advocate saying that they had arrested him because he had let his ankle monitor um go dead. Um, not because of anything that I told them, but because his ankle monitor went dead. Uh so um thankful nonetheless, they they got him. And because it was a um, how do you word it? Uh it was uh an offense against his bail. Um, he wasn't allowed to be up for bail. They immediately, they revoked the bail, took his behind right back to uh to jail. So again, thankful for that. It wasn't for what he was actually doing, but they got him. So he had to stay in jail up until there was a trial. Um there was a bunch of silence for a very long time, um, just waiting for for pretrial. Pre-trial wasn't until um January of the following year. So January of 2024, um he waived his right to a speedy trial, so everyone just waited. Um, January 2024 was the pretrial, and that's when I had to go up and testify uh to what had happened that day. Uh, he was there. That was the first time I had seen him since the um the bail hearing, so it was another a year. Uh he looked very different. Uh he had lost a lot of weight. His hair went from, I would say 90% black to about 90% gray, um gray beard. Uh, you you can look him up if you want to. His mouth shot is horrible, but he had he had declined um severely over that past year. It was very hard to look at him. Um, but I did during that pre-trial and I testified and I looked him in his eye as I told um how he stabbed me over and over again uh in front of our son. Um after that, uh uh the next day rolled around and I got a call from the victim advocate saying that he wanted to finally um strike a deal after all of that time. So um the deal was so he was initially charged with attempted murder and 14 malicious woundings. The attempted murder was a mandatory um 25, and the malicious woundings each held a um a term of three to five years, I believe. Um so when it was time to plea, he um pleaded to uh a certain amount of malicious woundings, I can't remember, I think maybe 11, and then a mandatory uh 25. So um he pleaded to that. Uh there was some paperwork that was signed saying that I, you know, accepted it, I was okay with it. And then we had to just wait until sentencing. Uh sentencing wasn't until May of 2024. So I waited another three months for this and then um went to the court again. And he uh was sentenced to the maximum. Um each of the malicious woundings, he got the maximum sentence for each one of those. And the attempted murder he pled no contest to. Um, but they um did the mandatory 25. And with that maximum sentence, he is serving 125 years um at the Mount Olive State Correctional Facility. I am very proud to say he is very far away from me and mine, and um it just couldn't be a better outcome. Uh, he is gone. I am here. Uh, God is good. I get to still be a mom to my my kids and um get to uh tell my story. So um, Ash, thank you for this opportunity. I I very much appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for being so brave and honest that I didn't expect all of that, so I was kind of taking it in as I was listening. Um I was like, wow. Um so for ladies in a situation similar to yours, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Uh oh goodness. I it depends on what uh what stage you're in in this. I think it's important to realize that it's very common and it's very difficult to leave. There are studies that show that um it takes about nine times of the cycle before you finally go. So first and foremost, I want everyone out there to know that it's okay if you feel stuck, um, but don't stay stuck. I meticulously planned out um how I was gonna leave. I had bags packed um in the trunk. I had to slowly remove things so he wouldn't notice. Um and uh I saved money, I stored money, I took out um cash advances on my credit card so I could date my apartment. Um, I just planned and it took about a year for me to finally um make all of those steps and then leave. But again, we were married for for eight years, so it wasn't the first, second, third time that he had been um abusive. So again, it's okay to feel stuck, but don't stay stuck.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

And thank you for feeling comfortable enough to come on my platform. I know I've reached out to you before, but I'm glad we finally got to connect. Um, how can people get in contact with you?

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah, so um I am on TikTok. That's where I share my story, that's where I um do my thing. So it is the TrooperTales, uh, is where you can find me on TikTok or on Instagram. Um I am also a personal trainer and um nutrition coach, so I I do that as well. Um my Instagram is more for that, and that is DDunks777.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

And thank you so much for joining the show.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Thank you so much for having me, Ash. I I really, really appreciate it. It um it's uh it was a relief to to get that out. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Thank you, and SDK family. I will see you guys next week.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yo, it's ash on the mic, we out. That's the end. If you felt this one, hit share, tell a friend. Thanks for riding with me. Every take, every dance. See you next Wednesday, SDK Fan. See you next Wednesday, talking on my friends. Thank you for the day one. See you next Wednesday, SDK Fan.