A Victim's Story

Another day of debate over a long list of violent offenders who were scheduled to be released from prison even though they had been sentenced to life. For now -- they'll stay behind bars because the state is fighting it but many experts on the law say the delay won’t last forever.
In fact, retired North Carolina judge Craig Brown wrote this book -- "Blind Justice." And he says they should be let out early.

But there is one woman in Kinston who probably will not read the book because one of the inmates Brown is talking about did something to her that will stay with her for a lifetime.

In Fact Tanya Yearwood’s story is riveting:
“I was playing in my neighborhood with some of my friends, you know how you play them childhood games. He said that my sister wanted me. I realized I was in trouble “when my surroundings started changing."
The memories of a 9 year old girl cloud Yearwood’s face as she tells the story of that day nearly 35 years ago- when a man tricked her into his car. "it hadn't a been me it would probably have been somebody else."

Steven Wilson kidnapped and raped her and the wounds are still very deep. "I didn't do anything wrong, I was 9 years old! What can a 9 year old do to protect herself from a grown man.” Through the years she has managed to carry on with her life. But it hasn't been easy. “I've been carrying this burden for over 30-something years" She has stayed quiet about the incident. Until this month..
“I thought maybe if I came out and told my story then it would allow individuals to go on with their life"

Her younger sister Kristal says "This has been such a family secret". She didn't know about the incident until she had become an adult, "we never talked about it in the family."

In fact it was Kristal who put the pieces together- not the government. She was the one who had to tell her mother that Steven Wilson was getting out "she just kept saying, they told me he'd never get out, they told me he'd never get out"
Tanya says. "For my mother its like she's reliving all the steps that she had to go through to protect me."

And as they grew, Tanya's sisters and brothers never really knew why mom seemed to favor her. Kristal says "My mom would stop whatever she was doing to find Tammy, where's Tammy, Tammy's not here? And she would just go get her."
Today, tanya has a 14 year old daughter of her own and for Tanya, the big question is, "what if this guy gets out?"

"So who do you think he's going to get mad with.” And then she answers her question. “The little girl who caused him to loose 30-something years of his life. the police who arrested him, the DA who indicted him, the judge who sentenced him, the jury who convicted him. I'm person number one, but you have to think about all these other people.”

When the news broke that Wilson could get out it opened up a new bag of fear for her but she has refused to let it stop her.
She will graduate from Wesleyan College in November and her sense of humor is sharp. “Anybody want to send me a gift send it to channel 9-or a job! Ha ha"
But she says we elect lawmakers to look out for us, and they should consider the victim first. "I feel like when you get a life sentence, that means life! That means you are in there until you die"

She has two messages she wants you to hear. .First -- get the law fixed and provide more services for victims. Second -- don't give up if something bad happens to you - just keep on trying.