https://ncc-1776.org/tle2020/tle1067-20200419-06.htmlLaura Austen Was Raped
by Trevor David Hitchin
trevor.hitchin@gmail.com
edited by Jim Davidson
Special to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise
Here are the details of a most horrific tragedy which occurred on the night of December 25, 2011 involving myself, my then girlfriend/fiancee Laura Jane Austen and a group of six Boise Police Department officers. Three of those officers were Adam Crist, Adam Nielsen, and Kevin Witmuss. Although I've previously been provided the dispatch logs, I have chosen not to identify the other three in this document.
Laura is originally from Moncton, New Brunswick N.S. Canada. When I met her in 2010 she was travelling between Toronto, ON and Las Vegas, NV. We have not spoken for years as a result of The Event described here, but suffice it to say, we were a match, a pair, and as difficult as the circumstances were when we met, she was the one for me, the only woman I had asked to marry me, ever, and she said yes….we were both fighters and well, when you know, you know. I had no idea it would turn out like it did. Here is a snapshot of what transpired.
Laura and I chose to travel from Boise, Idaho to Sun Valley, Idaho where my parents David & Jill and my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew live, and have for about 35 years. My family is well-established and respected in their community. Members of my family have advanced degrees, decades of world travel, and giving back to others under their long list of things for which I am proud of them. I was the black sheep, the one they always worried about for various reasons. Despite having my MBA and having been employed for seven years with Hewlett-Packard and having done some world travel of my own from the age of sixteen, many 'things' had happened to me along the way. Many of these things were kept as family secrets, things we just didn't talk about.
It was a great delight to me that I had found someone I could share my family with. I wanted Laura to meet everyone - properly. Laura Jane Austen (Laura) is the last unmarried Austen in the Jane Austen lineage. Laura takes her middle name from Jane herself. Yes, they are related.
So on 12.25.2011, Laura and I were staying at the Sun Valley Lodge - a renowned hotel/resort with a long history. Hemingway wrote some of his best work there. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have at times frequented the exclusive area.
Laura and I were there to have a snowy Christmas with my family, but on that morning, as gorgeous as it was with Sun, fresh snow, room service. (We had arrived quite late the night before in a rental car from Boise.) Laura received news from Toronto that her grandmother had passed away. This passing was terribly upsetting for Laura as she was the one to visit her grandmother weekly while in Toronto. They were soulmates, Laura was closer to her grandmother than her own mother in Moncton.
Upon learning of the death of her loved one, Laura was shaken, traumatized. It was a huge hit to her heart. I think that once her grandmother knew we were together, in love, engaged, that she felt it was okay to transition, to pass on. Laura made the decision to forgo the Christmas celebration and that we would, that morning 12.25.2011 drive back to Boise to work on getting her back to Toronto on bereavement so that she could attend the funeral services. These choices were important to her and I supported her 100%, as part of my commitment to place women and children first.
So we drove the 3 1/2 hours from Sun Valley to Boise, arriving in the evening about 8:00 p.m. It was cold and snowing and I had done what I could to console her along the way. We had a very challenging roadtrip. At one point in her anguish, Laura kicked the front windshield of the car with such force that it cracked. It was a new (expensive) rental and at the time I was carrying (concealed) and so with my training and the situation I was faced with, I immediately wanted to get her into a warm safe setting at a hotel. I planned to unpack our vehicle and drop my .45 at my home. Laura by this time was a bottle or red wine down and someone had given her/me a joint to help ease the pain, something that would later snowball into a living hell.