VBB 220 Janine Latus: What Would It Take To Break The Cycle Of Intimate-Partner Abuse?
Janine Latus is the New York Times Best Best Selling author. Her book, If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation, is inspired by an ominous message written by her baby sister, Amy, in April 2002. Her note, carefully hidden in a desk drawer, reads, “Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved,” “but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on (Ron’s) criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead, this obviously has not protected me…” A short time later, Amy went missing. After an extensive search, her body was found wrapped in a tarp buried at a building site. As she had feared, Amy fell victim to gender-based violence, even though help was only a phone call away. Janine’s book and her conversation with us are in honor of her sister, but it is also a call to help women break the cycle of intimate-partner abuse.