Some people try to shut out traumatic events to protect themselves or loved ones. But what about the horror that creeps under and through fences, even reaches through the computer screen?

She was a woman from the country, by her own description. While visiting a web dating site, she felt swept off her feet by a handsome fellow (she saw his picture) who seemed to really like her and Jasmine (her daughter- false name). He came to visit from a nearby city where he lived, and was flattering about her looks and parenting style. Within weeks, he had proposed marriage and brought her and the thirteen year old daughter up to the city to live with him. They never got married—he kept postponing it and she kept hoping.

He began to threaten her—he’d call protective services because she didn’t parent her daughter correctly, he said. Physical intimacy got rough—she did not like to be choked. He said she wasn’t free enough.

He did not allow her entry into the basement where he packed brown envelopes with mysterious substances. He ordered her to address the envelopes at first, before his coercive orders: “You address these and carefully mail them at the post office—no dropping them into a mail box. And he cursed about lawyers and judges who had punished him— unfairly, he said.

There were reports of explosions when some people opened packages. She was concerned about helping him mail packages, one name sounded familiar.

When police arrested him, she was scooped up as well, arrested and charged.

Was she abused, coerced? I was asked to evaluate her.

No fence would have saved her. The hospital records noted her neck bruises after she was choked. Neighbors had seem him choke her, and heard his threats to kill her. There was more information for an expert witness like me

When someone’s behavior is understood in the context of their relationships and living conditions, that is called mitigation. It may help explain fear, hope. and sorrowful behaviors.