Finding Nicole is the true story of a victim's determination to keep herself and her family alive despite her ex-husband's attempts to hire inmates to kill her from prison. Nicole shares intimate details about her abuse, its effects on her psyche and family. She exposes mind-blowing defects within the legal system that could have cost her family their lives.
Nicole shares her journey from domestic violence victim to survivor in a very honest and vulnerable way. She takes us through the cycle of domestic violence and the wide range of emotions experienced including love, loss, betrayal, fear and hope. At the conclusion of her story, Nicole provides a guidebook for victims and survivors of domestic violence, stalking and toxic relationships. The goal of this guidebook is to help victims leave safely, feel hope, build resilience and find themselves again.
Nicole met her ex-husband in college and over the course of the next 10 years found herself in an increasingly abusive and violent relationship. Like many victims she stayed in this relationship for a multitude of reasons including love, for her children, due to financial abuse and fear. Nicole finally left her abusive ex-husband in 2009 and faced stalking, threats and harassment at the hands of her abuser for the next two and a half years until he was finally convicted of stalking after she delivered a powerful victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing.
Unfortunately her abuser continued to pose a threat to her and their children from prison as he attempted to hire multiple inmates to kill her and her children during his incarceration. Due multiple errors by law enforcement officers, miscommunication between the prison system and law enforcement and a Prosecutor who did not believe that a jury would believe the testimony of other inmates, her abuser was set to be released from prison at the conclusion of his original sentence. Nicole researched recreating her identity, relocation and ways of protecting herself and her children. She found out just how difficult it would be to find employment and housing after an identity change would leave her with no work, education or credit history.
After careful consideration she decided to stay and fight for new charges to be brought against her ex-husband. Through social media she enlisted the help of family, friends, other survivors of domestic violence and stalking to help her share her story and plead with the authorities to help protect her family. Over the course of just a few short weeks her story went viral and was shared across the country and world. Thousands of people stood with her and advocated for her family through phone calls, emails, posts and tweets.
To Nicole's joy their efforts paid off and her case was picked up by the Attorney General of the State of Michigan. Over the course of the next 13 months and multiple court hearings in three different counties Nicole's abuser was found guilty of new charges and sentenced to a longer prison sentence allowing her and her children to live with less fear for the next 11 years.
This is her story.