Monday 21 April 2014

Stalked - The Amanda Oliver Story

This story is about Amanda Oliver and the relentless stalking of her by her obsessive ex-husband.  Amanda was born and grew up in Iowa, and later in life, she hooked up with a former old flame, Steven Beach.  The romance was great and they decided to get married.  They soon had a child but then his behaviour dramatically changed.  He went out drinking whenever he wanted, going off wherever he wanted, which naturally, would lead to arguments.  Now he was being verbally and physically abusive.  He was very controlling.  She suffered violence at his hands, including a broken jaw.  Finally, she threw him out and started divorce proceedings.  Now Beach started stalking her, constantly outside her home for hours, just staring.  Worried about the safety of her child, she started to leave the youngster with family and friends. Police, as usual, said, "he has not broken any laws......"

    One day, she came home to find her home burglarised with everything strewn around.  She called Police who found evidence of Steven Beach. He was jailed for ten days(!) for breaking and entering.  He now stepped up his stalking.  She awoke one night to find him sitting at the edge of her bed, wielding a knife!  Rather than panic, she talked to him for two terrifying hours before he got up and left. This time, he was arrested and jailed for two years under stalking laws.  Amanda moved out of state, to Wisconsin, where she met a man and they finally set up home together, starting their own family.  But her new life was shattered, when a car kept driving up and down her street.  It was Steven Beach.  He had tracked her down.  Again, he intensified his stalking.  Her new partner, however, had done some research and discovered that he had been convicted for lewd misconduct with a minor and was on a sex offenders register.  They also discovered he had moved into their neighbourhood.  Contacting Police, he was found to have violated his parole conditions by not informing authorities of his move and was jailed for 30 days.  But, this seems to have worked as she no longer suffers his stalking.  There are people who are not so lucky.  More than 3 million people are stalked every year in the States, it is unknown what the figure is in this country.

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