SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio woman is turning her agony into action. Mariah Gardner has made it a personal mission to shine light on an epidemic that thrives in the shadows.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It will also mark six months since Gardner survived a horrific attack.
Her ex-husband, Stephen Clare, is accused of shooting Gardner five times and stabbing their two young daughters.
11-month-old Willow Clare died in the hospital hours later.
“Violence is not an event,” said Gardner. “Violence is a process. What I went through and what my children have had to survive, and navigating life after that, no one should ever have to go through this.”
On October 10, the day prosecutors announce whether they will seek the death penalty for Clare, Mariah will host a ‘Walk for Willow.’
“To help signify that her life was not in vain,” said Gardner. “It’s in remembrance of not just my daughter, but all the other people who have lost their lives and continue to lose their lives [to domestic violence].”
The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) receives about 70,000 family violence calls each year. Not all calls result in reports.
Gardner says the system needs to change.
“Although it wasn’t years and years of him physically abusing me, it was all these other actions,” she said. “This is where I feel like the laws really need to change, because the things that were happening to me – I was not protected by the system. There was nothing that could be done because of the way the laws were written.”
Participants will be taking Clare’s presumed route, according to Gardner.
People will gather at 1507 Haskin Drive at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 10. They will then walk to 547 Robinhood Place for a vigil. Garnder plans to light nine candles; one for each minute of the attack.
“Nine minutes doesn’t seem like a long time,” she said. “But when you’re fighting for your life, it is a literal eternity.”
If you or someone you know is being physically, emotionally or financially abused, please call the National Domestic Violence Helpline at 1-800-799-7233.