Category Archives: Domestic Violence

New Coalition Unites to End Homelessness

April 12, 2013 6:01 pm Leave a Comment

Over 100 homeless advocacy and service provider organizations launched a new coalition this week — United to End Homelessness – to help address the homelessness crisis and hold 2013 mayoral and Council candidates accountable for advancing solutions. New York City’s next mayor and City Council will confront record levels of homelessness with over 57,000 people living in shelters or sleeping on City streets as of January, including more than 22,000 children.

“With NYC facing record homelessness, it’s critical that a new mayor and City Council take significant policy steps – together with other stakeholders – to stem the tide of misery in our city,“ said Mary Brosnahan, President & CEO of Coalition for the Homeless. “In order to move us forward, it’s imperative that city leaders increase investment in programs and services proven to help move our homeless neighbors towards permanent housing and self-sufficiency. We must expect no less from the next administration and City Council.“

“Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York often receives more than 300 hundred calls a day from New Yorkers on the verge of becoming homeless,“ said Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.  “Living with dignity in safe, decent housing is a basic human need. New York has been in the forefront of trying to ensure this right. Yet, despite this commitment in principle and with resources, too many residents of our City are homeless, doubled up or on the brink of becoming homeless.  Preventing homelessness needs to be a high and ongoing priority for all New York’s institutions and sectors.  As we approach the elections of a new Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate and City Council, preventing homelessness and ensuring safe, decent and affordable housing needs to be a central item on candidates’ agenda.“

United to End Homelessness formed to promote a unified vision to help create solutions for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness during the 2013 election and beyond. As part of its launch, the coalition put forward a platform to outline the necessary steps the next administration must take to help end the homelessness crisis. Its platform focuses on:

  • Ensuring that fighting homelessness and expanding affordable housing is a top mayoral priority;
  • Increasing funding for programs that prevent homelessness, like legal services, eviction and foreclosure prevention, and aftercare services for the formerly homeless;
  • Expanding and improving housing assistance resources: create a new local rent subsidy for homeless people, reinstate and expand priority set-asides for the homeless in Federal, State, and City programs, and redesign the City’s system for placing extremely low-income and homeless households in set-aside units in tax credit buildings;
  • Guaranteeing adequate shelter, health care and services for all people experiencing homelessness without deterrent or bureaucratic barriers;
  • Continuing investments in supportive housing: ensure sufficient funding to fulfill the NY-NY III agreement, create a NY-NY IV agreement that increases the supply of housing units for homeless people, and ensure that existing supportive housing tenants continue to get the services they need by bringing contract rates up to current costs;
  • Preserving and creating more affordable housing for New York’s lowest income households;
  • Improving planning around natural disaster-induced homelessness, integrating it into the City’s overall strategy to assist homeless people regardless of the cause of homelessness
  • Creating an interagency council on homelessness that includes government, non-profit, and consumer stakeholders to implement a comprehensive plan to end homelessness, unifying priorities by sharing data and resources across agencies to enhance system-wide efficiencies.

Click here to read the full platform.

The number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters each night has increased 58% since 2002, and the number of homeless families has increased 66% over the same period. An additional 5,000 people sleep each night in other shelters (including runaway and unaccompanied homeless youth, domestic violence survivors, and people living with AIDS), and thousands more sleep on the streets or in other public spaces. New York City’s youth shelter system is overwhelmed and a record 80% of domestic violence emergency shelter residents are leaving with no safe place to go.

“Ending homelessness should be a top priority for the next administration and we look for the next Mayor to have a plan for doing so,“ said Ted Houghton, Executive Director of the Supportive Housing Network of NY. “Supportive housing – affordable housing linked to services – will be a major part of any successful plan: it is the most effective way to house those New Yorkers with disabilities or other barriers that make it hard for them to keep their homes.“

“Homelessness in New York City is a growing crisis that demands attention and action from our current government leaders, and from those who seek to lead our city,“ said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO/Executive Director of Federation of Protestant  Welfare Agencies.

“Domestic violence can often force victims and their children into homelessness.“ said Carol Corden, Executive Director of New Destiny Housing Corporation. “80 percent of families leaving emergency domestic violence shelters have no safe place to go. We can and must do better to help New Yorkers find safe, stable homes. “

“We can end homelessness,“ said Bobby Watts, Executive Director of Care for the Homeless. “Policy choices that were made resulted in this crisis, and better public policy can get us out of it, spare needless human suffering, better serve our communities and save significant tax dollars.“

“With over 22,000 children sleeping in homeless shelters and hundreds of runaway and homeless youth being turned away because of a shortage of beds, it is critical that the City take immediate action to address the homelessness crisis,“ said Jennifer March-Joly, Executive Director, Citizens’ Committee for Children.

“We are experiencing a crisis in the availability of safe, affordable housing in the community“ said Phillip A. Saperia, CEO of The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc. “People with severe mental illness and substance use issues, often accompanied by multiple chronic physical health problems, are especially vulnerable to becoming homeless in this environment.“

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Homelessness, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , , , ,

State Lets Domestic-Violence Victims Shield Addresses

March 20, 2013 11:18 am Leave a Comment

A new program in New York allows domestic-violence victims to shield their addresses from abusers by having mail sent to a substitute address handled by the Department of State, reports The Journal News.

The Address Confidentiality Program is free and is available to domestic-violence victims who have relocated or plan to move for safety reasons. Other individuals living in the same household, such as children, parents and siblings, may be able to participate too.

The state provides participants with a substitute address that all first-class, registered and certified mail could be sent to, and the Department of State forwards it to them. The agency also accepts legal notices on behalf of people in the program.

The program began Oct. 26, 2012, but it wasn’t formally announced until this week, said Laz Benitez, an agency spokesman. The state has been providing the information to shelters and other community service providers since last year.

It will cost just over $125,000 a year to operate the program, according to Benitez. The Department of State could not provide information on how many people currently are participating.

Applicants must fill out a form available at www.dos.ny.gov/acp.

Once accepted into the program, they will receive an identification card. State and local governments must accept the substitute address, although private companies, such as utilities, are not obligated to use it. The program members will be enrolled for four years and can reapply.

Mail is repackaged and sent on a daily basis during the week, except on holidays. The lag time in receiving the mail typically is five to seven days. The program doesn’t forward packages, periodicals and catalogs, unless they are clearly identifiable as prescription drugs or were sent by a government agency. For more information, call 855-350-4595, a toll-free number.

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Health, Nonprofit Headline News, Nonprofit Help Center, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , ,

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month

October 2, 2012 9:37 pm Leave a Comment

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Show your support for the African American Planning Commission and our efforts to combat domestic violence. Make a donation in any amount and show your support for survivors of domestic violence and their abused children. Thank you for your generosity!

View selected DV video stories here.

Click here to learn more about Domestic Violence and its warning signs.

Filed Under: Children, Crime & Punishment, Domestic Violence, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Heavy price of domestic abuse: Victims not only beaten but often left in debt by their tormenters

October 2, 2012 8:07 pm Leave a Comment

Guadalupe Perez says her abusive husband withdrew money from her kids' account without telling her. A new report found many domestic violence survivors also are saddled with financial woes by abusive partners.

They’re berated, beaten — and left to pay the bills.

A new study has found that many of the city’s domestic violence victims are saddled with debt by their abusers, reports the New York Daily News.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, discussing his new report on domestic abuse, said, “Victims of economic violence are buried in mountains of debt they didn’t create,”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s report, to be released Tuesday, exposes a rarely discussed challenge that many survivors face in addition to their emotional and physical scars.

One woman told the Daily News how she’s still dealing with money woes a decade after the end of her marriage.

The 52-year-old, who left Bangladesh for Queens as a young bride, was beaten for years and made a virtual prisoner by her husband, who would unplug the phone and take it with him when he left the house.

When he finally walked out in 2002, her physical nightmare was over. But then she discovered she was drowning in $100,000 worth of debt.

“He forced me to sign this paper, and I signed it,” she said. “He took my signature, and he took out all this money from these banks.”

She started getting calls from collection agencies, was sued by three creditors and lost after a court order was sent to an old address.

She said she felt shunned by friends and family. “People treated me like a street beggar,” she said.

The problem is especially prevalent among immigrants, who may be afraid to go to authorities, advocates say. Stringer’s survey found embarrassment and fear of immigration trouble were the most common reasons for not seeking help.

“Victims of economic violence are buried in mountains of debt they didn’t create,” said Stringer, whose office surveyed 27 service providers serving about 25,000 people.

More than half of the agencies said at least 25% of their clients are left with debt by an abusive partner. Some have had partners steal from them or take their personal documents.

Guadalupe Perez, 43, who left Mexico for the Bronx as a teenager, said her husband would not allow her to keep a bank account in her own name.

And without telling her, he withdrew $2,000 from an account she had set up for her kids’ college savings, she said.

“I didn’t have access to his account. He had access to mine,” she said. “It’s just been so many things that make me cry with rage.”

Tiloma Jayasinghe, executive director of Sakhi for South Asian Women, said her group, which co-authored the report with Stringer’s office, has started doing credit checks for all clients.

“Safety is the number one concern, so we’re in a crisis response. But if we don’t address this issue, then we’re only doing part of our work, not the whole,” she said.”It is more easy for you to be taken advantage of when you don’t know the country or you don’t have a network of support. It’s across immigrant populations.”

Filed Under: Children, Domestic Violence, Finance, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , , , ,

Matthew Okebiyi Receives Congressional Award at “Standing On Our Father’s Shoulders” Gala Event

June 21, 2012 1:15 pm Leave a Comment

Matthew Okebiyi, Founder and Executive Director of the African American Planning Commission, recently received a US Congressional Award bestowed upon him by retiring U.S. Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns at the 2012 Awards Gala hosted by the Men’s Caucus for Congressman Edolphus Towns on June 18th, 2012, at Fleur De Lis.

The Congressional Award is an award established by the United States Congress to recognize initiative, service and achievement in individuals. It is non-partisan.

Okebiyi, along with a group of other honorees including Misba Addin, Kenneth Farrell, Matthew Huggins, Rev. Paul Mitchell, Arthur Molinelli, Leo Morris, Tremaine Prince, Gus Quinones, Dr. Ramanathan Raju, David Shelbnorne, Dr. Harold Simon, Dr. Swamy Sunkara, Monica L. Thomas and Tommy Merriweather, was recognized for his outstanding dedication to community service and for the establishment of the African American Planning Commission, a not-for-profit organization committed to addressing homelessness and the related issues of domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, shortage of affordable housing, and unemployment in New York City.

The African American Planning Commissioin operates the Serenity House Family Residence, the largest transitional Tier II domestic violence shelter in Brooklyn, New York. The mission of Serenity House is to offer survivors and their minor children, a safe but temporary haven in which to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. The secondary goal of Serenity House is to prepare families for independent living, assist them in locating permanent housing within or outside the State of New York, and to offer a host of on- and off-site supportive services that help empower victims and minimize the root causes of domestic violence.

Serenity House offers survivors of domestic violence (regardless of gender, race, culture, religion, ethnic background, or sexual preference) the opportunity to reside in a secured environment for up to six months or more, as needed. The program is culturally sensitive to allow families to feel immediately at home and to foster ethnic pride in children and family members. Serenity House is able to accommodate families including those with adolescent males. Serenity House is one of the very few transitional Tier II domestic violnce shelters in New York that will accept a male head-of-household for residency. On site services include case management, referral to mental health programs, onsite child and infant care programs, job preparedness training, computer literacy, After-school programs, housing placement assistance, money management classes, financial empowerment, and much more.

“Matthew has been a phenominal and tireless advocate for services that make a profound difference in the lives of those served and the community,” said Walter Campbell, President, Congressman Towns Men’s Caucus, who introduced Mr. Okebiyi to the gathering. “I am honored to present this award to Matthew Okebiyi. He is extremely deserving of this particular honor.” said Congressman Towns as he read the inscription on the award and presented it to Mr. Okebiyi.

Okebiyi conceived of the African American Planning Commission in 1994, and has been serving as its Executive Director ever since.

Other projects on the horizon for the Commission include rental and supportive housing for low-income single adults living with HIV/AIDS,  mental illness, and recovering from substance abuse. Some of the units in the building shall be earmarked for homeless vets and community residents. There are also plans on the table to develop senior housing, low and moderate-income housing, and a group home for youths.

AAPCI is a registered 501.c.3 not-for-profit organization. All cash donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent permissable by US tax-laws.

Below are some pictures taken at the event.

Walter Campbell introducing Matthew Okebiyi

From L to R: Walter Campbell, Congressman Ed Towns, Matthew Okebiyi

Matthew Okebiyi

 

From L to R: Walter Campbell, Matthew Okebiyi (honoree), Kenneth Farrell (honoree)

Honorable NYC Councilmember Charles Barron

 

From L to R: NYC Councilman Charles Barron, Matthew Okebiyi (honoree), Monica Lee (AAPCI), Gladys Pipkins (AAPCI)

 

From L to R: Misba Adbin (honoree), Walter Campbell, Matthew Okebiyi (honoree), Kenneth Farrell (honoree)

From L to R: Walter Campbell, Douglas Nelson, Hon. Congressman Edolphus "Ed" Towns, Hon. Councilman Charles Barron, John C. Whitehead

Monica Lee & Gladys Pipkins (AAPCI)

Filed Under: AAPCI Awards & Recognition, AAPCI ED's Corner, Aging, Domestic Violence, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News, Youths Tagged With: , , , ,

Domestic Violence Survivors Overcome Past Violence to Succeed in Business

June 4, 2012 6:21 pm Leave a Comment

Ebony Fletcher at the Crown Heights salon where she works. Fletcher was shot twice by an ex-boyfriend and left for dead. Thanks to a grant from Verizon Entrepreneurship Training Initiative, a special fund for survivors of domestic violence, she was able to launch a haircare line.

CROWN HEIGHTS — Ebony Fletcher aches every time it rains, and a downpour last week was no different.

As lighting flashed and thunder rattled the windows, the 32-year-old stylist pressed on the ghost of a gunshot wound under her halo of black curls and winced.

The pain is a reminder of everything she’s worked so hard to accomplish — her own hair-dressing chair at a hip Crown Heights salon, a line of haircare products with customers worldwide — all the dreams that flashed before her eyes when her ex-boyfriend tackled her in the hallway of her East New York apartment, pressed the muzzle of his gun to the back of her head and fired.

“My first thought was, ‘Oh my God, I’m about to die,’” Fletcher said. “I’m only 25, and I’m about to go out like this in a hallway.”

Miraculously, she didn’t. Fletcher survived with a bullet lodged in her right thigh and a nick to her skull, just as Angela Lewis, 31 of Bedford-Stuyvesant survived the brutal abuse that landed her and her two children in a shelter for nine months.

Angela Lewis and Lia Jay, two graduates of the Sanctuary for Families' entrepreneurship program. Both hope to receive a grant from Verizon Entrepreneurship Training Initiative, a special fund for survivors of domestic violence.

Both women are among the nearly 10,000 survivors of domestic violence counted in Brooklyn by the NYPD every year, averaging more than a third of the survivors citywide.

Those who don’t survive are even more likely to have spent their last moments in the borough, as more New Yorkers are killed by their partners in Brooklyn than anywhere else in the city, statistics show. Central Brooklyn — specifically Bedford-Stuyvesant — is particularly plagued, statistics show.

But Fletcher and Lewis have something else in common besides violence in the their past. Both women are entrepreneurs, whose determination has helped them transform their dreams into burgeoning businesses.

“I went from selling one jar a month to 20 a week, and then to four countries,” Fletcher said of her beauty line, Hair Krack, which took off after she won a grant from the Verizon Entrepreneurship Training Initiative, a special fund for survivors of domestic violence.

Domestic violence survivor Ebony Fletcher was able to start her own line of haircare products with help from the grant.

“I started Hair Krack with $25. Once I had the grant … it took it out of the park.”

It’s the same grant Lewis hopes will help her grow Empress Catering, a Caribbean soul food company she developed in the inaugural entrepreneurship program at New York’s Sanctuary for Families, which graduated its first class of survivor-CEOs on Thursday.

“It means a lot to women who are survivors of domestic violence, who are trying to start our lives over,” Lewis said. “It shows our children and our family that we can move on from the past.”

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Finance, Health, Nonprofit Headline News, Small Business, Top News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

HSC Blasts Human Service Cuts as “Lose-Lose Proposition” for State Economy

January 17, 2012 2:23 pm Leave a Comment

With Governor Andrew Cuomo preparing to deliver his FY2012-13 budget message this afternoon, the Human Services Council of New York (HSC) has just released a report blasting the negative economic impact of more than $800 million in budget cuts over the past two years.

According to A Lose-Lose Proposition: The Economic Impact of Lost Human Services in New York State, the State cut a total of $800 million in funding during FY 2009-10 and FY 2010-11 for such vital programs as child care and child welfare, youth and after-school programs, senior services, health programs, employment training and assistance, supportive housing, services for the homeless, and programs for people with disabilities.  The impact of these cuts, says HSC, has fallen not only on the people who relied on these services but on the state’s overall economy and its citizens as a whole.

HSC estimates that 27,000 human services sector jobs have been lost. For instance, 13,265 Summer Youth Employment slots that would have helped young people gain valuable experience have been eliminated, along with approximately 1,300 part-time jobs.

The report shows how human services programs are an economic engine in New York’s communities, providing nearly 1.25 million jobs and supporting local economies through the purchase of more than a billion dollars in goods and services. Human services like child care, after-school programs, and elder programs are also essential job supports, enabling parents and other caregivers to work and keep their jobs.

“This report demonstrates that human services matter to everyone,” said Michael Stoller, Executive Director of HSC, “whether it’s the people who need assistance or the local economies that benefit from the employment and business that human services programs generate. Our state cannot afford more service reductions. We need government to continue to look for alternative cost-saving and revenue-generating reforms that will move us toward a balanced budget and prevent further erosion of funds for human services.”

The report provides details about how human services programs are suffering from:

  • The deferral of more than $150 million in cost-of-living adjustments for the human services workforce, which results in higher turnover and affects the stability of service delivery;
  • An astounding drop of close to 90% in funding for Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) initiatives—from $216 million in 2010 to $25 million by 2012—which includes the loss of work supports for struggling families;
  • $2.7 billion in spending reductions in state Medicaid funding; and
  • The shift of human services costs amounting to $160 million from the state to localities that are forced to assume the burden.

“Health and human services is a major component of economic development, and ensuring its viability is critical to the overall economy. Continuing to strip its resources hurts economic growth and every New Yorker,” said Gwen O’Shea, President and CEO, Health & Welfare Council of Long Island.

“The budget cuts to domestic violence services over the last few years have been devastating—over 300,000 victims have been unable to access services,” said Michele McKeon, Chief Executive Officer of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Local domestic violence programs served over 63,000 people last year, and with the need increasing, we won’t survive another round of budget cuts.”

Click here to download a copy of A Lose-Lose Proposition: The Economic Impact of Lost Human Services in New York State”.

Filed Under: Career Connector, Domestic Violence, Finance, Health, HIV/AIDS, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News, Youths Tagged With: , , , ,

Legal Services NYC Launches Veterans Justice Project

November 17, 2011 11:31 am Leave a Comment

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) has just launched the Veterans Justice Project, which will provide a broad range of civil legal services for veterans, service members, and their families in all five boroughs. The initiative is made possible through a major grant from the Robin Hood Foundation.

LSNYC’s services will avert homelessness by preventing evictions and foreclosures; build and preserve economic security by helping clients qualify for federal and state benefits and reduce debt; protect income and benefits from abusive debt collection practices; and strengthen families by solving child support problems and stabilizing immigration status.  The Veterans Justice Project will leverage LSNYC’s nearly 45 years of experience to identify systemic barriers that prevent housing stability, economic security and basic survival, and challenge them through coordinated advocacy.

“LSNYC is pleased to partner with organizations already providing a range of services to veterans in every borough, and to supplement their important work by providing access to justice to a population that has historically been underserved,” said LSNYC Executive Director Raun Rasmussen.

Partner organizations include the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System Homeless Programs (including the VA’s PROJECT TORCH), the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, the Bronx Veterans Center, Volunteers of America, the City Bar Justice Program’s Veterans Assistance Project, and the Urban Justice Center.

“We look forward to continuing the valuable linkages between the VA NY Harbor Healthcare system homeless programs and Legal Services NYC’s new Veterans Justice Project,” said Karen Fuller, Homeless Programs Director at NY Harbor Healthcare System. “This new project will target services to veterans who need legal assistance to help them achieve greater housing stability and an improved socio-economic outlook.”

Veterans, service members, or the family members of a veteran or service member can get information through the Veteran’s Justice Project Hotline at (347) 592-2409.

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, Housing, Immigration, Nonprofit Headline News, Nonprofit Help Center, Top News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Manhattan Shines Light on DV

October 13, 2011 2:43 pm Leave a Comment

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) were joined today by a coalition of advocates, elected officials, non-profit leaders, and survivors to illuminate the signs of Times Square purple as a part of OPDV’s statewide Shine the Light on Domestic Violence Campaign.

Nine major Times Square billboards, including ABC Supersign, American Eagle, Bank of America, Clear Channel Spectacolor, Disney, TSQ Digital, Nasdaq, Thomson Reuters and Walgreens were simultaneously lit up in purple to shine a light on an issue that impacts nearly one in four women in America. Also in Manhattan, the Con Edison Clock Tower turned purple and will shine as a beacon of domestic violence awareness through October 18th.

“Tonight the lights of Times Square will be lit purple to raise awareness about a problem that affects 25% of American women in one of the world’s most visible places,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. “Domestic violence is an issue that is too often dealt with behind closed doors – but tonight we’re bringing it out into the open, to remove the shame and stigma.”

“Although we’re briefly illuminating these signs tonight, we all have the responsibility to shine a light on this issue full time, until our society puts an end to domestic violence once and for all,” Stringer added. “That’s the message we’re sending out tonight – not just to New York, but the entire nation.”

“Domestic Violence is a public health crisis that affects us all,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

Amy Barasch, Executive Director of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence said, “As the nation’s only State government agency dedicated to the issue of responding to and preventing domestic violence, our office is thrilled to partner with the Manhattan Borough President on the state’s Shine the Light public awareness campaign.”

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Health, Nonprofit Headline News, Top News

Omaima Aree Nelson who Cooked and Ate Husband Denied Parole

October 10, 2011 6:57 am Leave a Comment

Omaima Aree Nelson, a former model and nanny who killed, cooked and ate her husband just a month into their marriage, was denied her second bid for parole Wednesday following a five-and-a-half hour hearing, according to the AP.

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KTLA) — Parole has been denied for a former model convicted of killing her husband, then cooking and eating his remains 20 years ago.

Here’s the background…

Omaima Aree Nelson went before the parole board Wednesday seeking early release from her 27-years-to-life sentence in the murder of William E. Nelson, 56, over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991.

She told the board: “I am not a monster.”

She insisted that her husband, William, was trying to strangle her when she hit him with a lamp, stabbed him with scissors and killed him.

“If I didn’t defend my life, I would have been dead. I’m sorry it happened, but I’m glad I lived.” “I’m sorry I dismembered him.”

She denied eating her husband, despite testimony by her psychiatrist at her trial. “I swear to God I did not eat any part of him. I am not a monster,” she said.

Her first bid at parole was also rejected in 2006.

The prosecutor who helped send Nelson to prison wrote a letter to the board saying Nelson would be a threat to public safety if released.

He says he’ll never forget the horror of visiting the couple’s home.

“There were suitcases and plastic bags soaked with dark liquid from his body parts. In the fry cooker there sat Mr. Nelson’s hands and when we opened the refrigerator, there was Mr. Nelson’s head with stab wounds,” Palowski recalls.

“She had his entrails in his Corvette and she was trying to get an ex-boyfriend to yank out the dentures from the head so she could dump it in the Back Bay.”

Nelson, who worked as a part-time model and nanny in Egypt, immigrated to the U.S. in 1986.

She was in her 20′s when she killed her husband and then dismembered and cooked parts of his body in their Costa Mesa apartment.

The couple had been married for about a month.

After the murder, Nelson boiled her husband’s head on the stove in an attempt to remove his teeth, skinned his torso and fried his hands in oil, Pawloski told the Daily Pilot.

Nelson told a psychiatrists that she carved up part of her husband’s back and dipped it in barbecue sauce, something she now denies.

Nelson then drove garbage bags filled with the body parts to various ex-boyfriends, asking them to help dispose of the evidence and offering $75,000 for help, Pawloski said.

Neighbors at the time said the garbage disposal was on for “a long time” and “constant chopping sounds” were coming from the home, according to the newspaper.

In court, a psychiatrist testified that Nelson put on red shoes, a red hat and red lipstick before spending hours chopping up her husband’s body.

According to Pawloski, Nelson was the first defendant to used the “battered wife” defense in Orange County, claiming her husband raped her the night before she killed him.

She also told psychiatrists and her attorney that she had been the victim of sexual abuse as a child in Egypt where she was molested, beaten and forced to undergo female circumcision, a mutilation of the female genitalia.

Filed Under: Domestic Violence, Food, Health, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics Tagged With: , , ,
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