Finding Our Voice, Sharing Our Vision

Ending Violence Against Women and Children

My twin, Jerry, and I are the youngest of fifteen children. I was the only girl. Jerry was Mom’s favorite because he was a boy. I am learning disabled and needed extra help growing up. I was picked on by kids in school and labeled "retarded."

I never knew my father. I met him once in 1972, but was introduced to him as Donald. I asked my older brother, James, who he was. He told me that he was my "sperm donor." I never saw him again.

My mother mentally and physically abused me. She always told me that no one would ever want me because I would never be worth anything. She locked me in a closet in my bedroom and placed a dresser in front of the door. While in there, I was only allowed to eat oranges or grapefruits. To this day, I cannot eat citrus foods as they cause sores in my mouth.

My older brother, Joel, sexually and physically abused me from the time I was about six years old until I got pregnant when I was 15. I tried to tell my mom when I was 8, but she didn’t believe me. After I was pregnant, my mom had Joel arrested. He only served 4 months in jail for what he did to me!

My baby boy was born on April 7, 1980. I named him John. He died in May of 1980 because there were problems with his liver and pancreas.

My mother remarried when I was 13. My stepfather was in the military and was often out of the home. He was the only one who loved me. He treated me like his own daughter and brought me gifts when he returned from wherever he went. I think he despised the way I was treated by my mother, but I never saw him say anything to her about it in front of me.

When my stepdad was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, my mom decided not to go with him. She filed divorce papers, instead. My mom told me that I would never be able to see him or speak to him again, just to be cruel.

My twin, Jerry, was killed in car crash when we were 16, during a high speed police chase involving the female driver of the car. My brother and I were close. I knew when he was taken from me. No one helped me with my grief. Instead, my mother told me that I should have been the one that died; not Jerry.

I felt so unloved and unwanted. I so wanted someone to love me.

(This, along with her cognitive challenges, contributed to her involvement with David Tribett.)

I was 18 when I hooked up with David Tribett. Our relationship went fast. We became immediate sweethearts. We moved into the storage building on my mom’s property. I had a key to the house so we could shower, eat and do our laundry.

(Reports state that David was very possessive of Darvella. He did not want her to visit people or have outside friends. He claimed to believe that Darvella’s mother was a witch and had other bizarre ideas.)

I so wanted David to love me and so I did whatever he told me to. I wanted him to be happy with me. I didn’t feel afraid of him until he started talking about killing my mother for real. Then he terrified me.

David wanted to take some stuff from Mom’s house and wanted me to hide in the pantry with him and hit her over the head with a bread board. David then was going to strangle her with a rope. My Mom saw me with the bread board and asked me if I was going to hit her. I put the board down and we left. My mother had us arrested for burglary. We were released on our own recognizance.

About two weeks before my mom died, I went to her house to talk to her about the burglary charge. I wanted to know what she was going to do. She turned and punched me in the nose. David was out in the car, but walked in right after she hit me. He saw the blood everywhere and freaked. He tried to go after my mother, but I stood in his way and made him take me to the hospital. My nose was broken.

David wanted to go back to her house again and get our stuff from inside the house. While I was in my bedroom, David beat my mother with the rifle scope and a bread board. I heard the noise and came in to see him roll my mother over and stab her in the back. David told me to cover her up with plastic bags and throw the knife, scope and bread board in the trash. I don’t know why I did what he said. I was afraid he was going to kill me, too. We took my mom’s money and her car. We were arrested the next day.

Police found a contract signed by my mother to send me to a mental institution on my 20th birthday. What a gift!

(Darvella took a plea bargain that dismissed two Aggravated Murder Charges and the Burglary charge, in exchange for a plea of guilty to Murder I. She was sentenced to natural life with the possibility of parole. David testified against Darvella stating that she was the one who beat her mother to death, but was still convicted of Murder and Burglary. He was sentenced as a Dangerous Offender and was made ineligible for parole. David will probably die in prison.)

We are grateful for the work that Stephen Lipton did to represent Darvella before the parole board and obtain her release. Darvella was released in early November 2006.

Note: Story was put together with reports from Darvella’s past and her verbal memory of events. Parenthetical remarks are those of the author’s.