How Two Generations of McPherson Men Impacted One Woman's Life
Who Protects Victims When Pastors Protect Predators?
Warning, reader discretion is advised: This article contains references to parental and spousal abuse, sexual assault, incest and intimidation with a firearm. The names of the subjects have been changed to protect the privacy and safety of sources.
It was a dark and rainy winter night in North Central Washington and Samantha was sick. She was running a temperature of 101F. Her husband, Thomas, who cannot drive due to a seizure disorder, showed up at her mother’s home where Samantha was staying. He was soaking wet. He demanded she take him to their trailer located on a parcel of land his parents owned near a small town about 40 minutes away.
But Samantha didn’t want to.
“You can’t do one thing for me? You can’t take me to the property?” he demanded.
She eventually capitulated. On the drive to their trailer Thomas berated her. He told her she had ruined him and the person he used to be. He called her a bitch and she started crying. When they arrived at the property, Thomas got out of the vehicle and threw an open can of soda that had been in her cup holder at her car. He then kicked some chairs in front of the trailer violently. He sent their dog’s metal bowl flying with another kick.
He retreated into the dark and she said lost sight of him after that. She got out of the vehicle to go looking for him. Then the shots rang out.
“I hear rapid gunfire. Just like 10 shots,” she said. “I couldn’t see him because it was pitch black, but it was close enough that I was probably a school bus or two lengths away from where he was shooting.”
Not knowing where the gunshots were coming from or where they were directed, Samantha said she panicked and ran back to her vehicle. She jumped in and left as quickly as possible.
Within three days she had filed for a protection order against Thomas and the court granted it. But that’s far from the end of her ordeal.