Episode 401: Bethany Decker: Part 1
21-year-old Bethany Decker was a young mother and a wife to an Army National Guardsman stationed in Afghanistan. In 2011, she attended college full-time at George Mason University in Virginia and waited tables to make ends meet. Bethany was busy and her husband was away, so it wasn’t unusual for her family to go a while without hearing from her. But when weeks passed with no word, they began to grow concerned. That concern grew into fear when family and friends started receiving strange messages from her social media accounts.
Bethany’s marriage to her husband, Emile Decker, was on the rocks, and she had begun seeing a new man: Ronald Roldan. What’s more, is that when Bethany was last seen on January 29, 2011, she was pregnant. It quickly became clear that one of the men in Bethany’s life had likely harmed her, but it would be over a decade before an arrest would be made in her case.
Bethany was a victim of domestic violence. If any of the situations in this episode sound familiar to you or someone you know, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1.800.799.SAFE. You can also text “Start” to 8788 or visit thehotline.org.
Since Bethany’s disappearance, her mother, Kimberly Nelson, has been involved in the organization, Help Save the Next Girl. Help Save the Next Girl was started by the Harrington family, whose daughter Morgan, a Virginia Tech student, was murdered in 2009 after attending a concert in Charlottesville. Their primary focus is to spread safety information and prevent future crimes against young women. You can learn more and get involved at helpsavethenextgirl.com.
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This week's promo is from A Hateful Homicide, a true crime podcast by Transgender Advocate Mallery Jenna Robinson, covering the homicides in trans communities.
