"If I Don't Come to Work, Call the Police. He Said He's Going to Kill Me."

"If I don't come to work, call the police. He's said he's going to kill me."


That's what Trisha Sadler told her co-workers at the bank where she worked.  And sadly, on June 17, that is what they had to do. They had to call the police because they had not seen her for two days.

You can read the heartbreaking story here.

Now those co-workers have lost a friend, and her family has lost a daughter and sister, and we've lost another precious person to domestic violence.

According to an arrest affidavit, friends said Trisha would come to work at  the bank with bruises. She confided to them that Ward threw her around and choked her, according to the arrest affidavit, and they were fighting more and more. Neighbors called police when the shouting got too loud.

Two weeks before her death, Sadler gave her co-worker a warning: If I don't come to work, call the police. He's said he's going to kill me, the affidavit said.

If you are a person who does not think the workplace is impacted by the "private issue" of domestic violence, perhaps the life of Trisha Sadler and those who love her and worked with her and were here family and now have to live without her will make you think again.

If you are wondering what an employer can do to address domestic violence through the workplace, please visit our website at www.caepv.org. 

While there is no guarantee that a workplace program to address domestic violence will keep a tragedy like the one that happened to Ms. Sadler from occurring, it is our hope that such programs will change - and perhaps save - some lives. 

And isn't it worth that?