Article: D.C. sniper's former wife shares lessons of domestic violence

April 21st, 2010 @ 6:05pm
By Jed Boal
SALT LAKE CITY -- A victim of domestic violence shared her powerful story in Salt Lake City Wednesday so that others may avoid her fear and pain.

Mildred Muhammad endured emotional trauma and physical threats from her husband, who later victimized millions.

Her story is not well-known, but her former husband captured national headlines when he terrorized a three-state area and murdered 10 innocent victims. Her story is another compelling reason to heed the cries of domestic violence victims.


Mildred Muhammad is not a name familiar to most of us, but few forget the crimes of her former husband John Muhammad. He was the D.C. sniper. His terror originally targeted his wife.
Mildred Muhammad is not a name familiar to most of us, but few forget the crimes of her former husband John Muhammad. He was the D.C. sniper.

John Muhammad masterminded the murder spree that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area in 2002. He terrorized the area with his teenage accomplice. That terror originally targeted his wife.

Mildred Muhammad says, "He stood over my bed, said that, ‘You have become my enemy, and as my enemy, I will kill you.'"

Mildred shared her story at the 23rd Annual Crime Victims' Conference for people who provide victim services across the state. The purpose is to share the latest strategies in helping victims of crime and develop new strategies to prevent crime.

Mildred says her husband acted violently when he came home from the Gulf War, but no one -- including the police and the FBI -- listened seriously. More than a year before the shootings started, he kidnapped their three children and threatened to kill her.

"He did not speak idle words, and I knew he was going to carry that out," she says. "The problem was, I couldn't get anyone to believe me because I did not have the physical scars."

Mildred never imagined his domestic war would grow into a plot to randomly kill many, so that when he eventually killed her that, too, would appear random.

"He would come in as the grieving father, get custody of the children and walk away with $100,000 compensation money that they were giving to victims who were killed at that time," she says.

Victims' advocates say her story shows how important it is to deal with the roots of crime quickly. Chairman of State Council on Victims of Crime Reed Richards says they can learn a lot from the failures of that case.

"If there had been significant action on the original complaints of domestic violence, it may have prevented many, many people from being killed," says Richards.

Mildred hopes people will listen more closely to victims.

"You do not have to have physical scars to be a victim, or survivor of domestic violence," she says.

She continues with her own recovery as an advocate and author of a book, "Scared Silent," which came out last fall. Her children are also doing well.

E-mail: jboal@ksl.com