MAINE, Maine — A state impact report released this past spring by the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence showed that more than 14-thousand people sought help from Maine's regional domestic violence centers in 2022.
Finding Our Voices, a nonprofit and statewide resource that is working to end domestic violence, is using its online platform to allow victims to share their stories in their own words. Survivors hope going public will eventually lead to harsher sentences for people convicted of domestic violence.
Amanda Place has known Corey Faulkner, the father of her two daughters, for 17 years. While their relationship ended in 2014, she alleges the abuse and threats didn't stop.
"He told me he was going to light my house on fire," Place said solemnly.
Place shared her story on a podcast with Patrisha McLean, founder of Finding Our Voices, to raise awareness about the need for harsher prison sentences for people convicted of domestic violence.
"He is a dangerous person, and he has proven that time and time and time again," Place said.
Court records show Faulkner, who served just eight months of a six-year sentence in 2018 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge, was the focus of an hours-long standoff with Westbrook police on Oct. 30 after police got a 911 call from a woman on Seavey Street, saying she had been assaulted and needed help. The convicted felon was taken into custody and is behind bars on $25,000 bond for aggravated domestic violence assault, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, obstructing the report of a crime, and creating a police standoff.
"The only way people can be safe and stay safe from domestic violence is to have the perpetrators behind bars; that is the only way it's going to work, especially when they have priors," McLean said emphatically.
Makayla Bisulca's family is also speaking out.
"I will never stop fighting for her; the injustice is insane, and it leaves me speechless," Makayala's younger brother Joe said.
Joe and Makayla's mother, Laura, are mourning the loss of the 24-year-old, who died by suicide in February of last year.
Makayla was married to Faulkner and had a son with him, a relationship her family alleges was fraught with psychological abuse.
"It is so damaging, damaging to the point that it takes people's lives. Question: Do you think that what happened to your daughter? Yes, I do," Laura stated.
Amanda and Makayla's family also pushed to reform Maine's family court system. Previous acts of domestic violence don't automatically preclude a parent from being awarded custody or visitation. However, it is a primary factor the court considers when determining a child's custody arrangement. Amanda said Faulkner has had unsupervised visits with her daughters on and off for years.
"How can you have healthy co-parenting relationships with someone who has assaulted you?" Amanda said incredulously.
Survivors hope their stories will encourage other victims not to be invisible anymore and help bring changes to a system they believe has failed them and their children. If your or someone else needs help, you can call the Maine Domestic Violence Statewide Hotline at 1-866-834-HELP, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233), or TTY at 800-787-3224.