Dorothy Smith helped form Qualla Women's Justice Alliance and designed this T-shirt because of her niece, Deanah McCoy. McCoy was found murdered Feb. 11 in a wooded area off I-26 in Buncombe County. "I knew Deane was suffering in an abusive relationship, and I tried every way to help her. Helping form this alliance was my way of coping and of helping Deane. I designed these women - Deane is the one in the middle, because I thought if we could stand this close together, when one is falling, the others could hold her up." - Herald photo by Rose Hooper
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The alliance sponsors bake sales and flea markets to raise money to attend domestic violence workshops where members learn procedures and how to help victims.
"The last one I went to taught us to take the victim to the hospital first for treatment, to document the physical abuse and to take pictures of the bruises and cuts right away... and a couple of days later when the bruises swell up with color. We learned how to gather evidence and how to be better advocates," said one member of the group. "We're not trained counselors, but we are a good support group."
Another member said she learned from workshops that a standard technique of the abuser is to get at the victim through their children. Pepion is the father of McCoy's two children, Tyler Pepion, 6, and Tianna McCoy, 2.
"That was certainly Deane's case," her aunt said. "Deane wanted that perfect family - a father, mother, children - all in a loving home, but it didn't work out for her. She tried every way to make it right, even when Martin was so dominating and so possessive. She tried to make it right even when it was so wrong it hurt.
"I'd talk to Deane and tell her what I thought she should do, and sometimes she would get so mad at me," Smith said. "I'd tell her, ŒI'd rather you be mad at me and be alive.'"
Midwife Maggie McCrae, who helped with Tianna's birth, said she talked to McCoy the day before she died.
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