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Linda's family says that Dawn became physically and mentally abusive and court records show that Linda tried to
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leave him multiple times. She filed for divorce in [music] 1977, though that ends up getting dismissed when they
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reconcile a couple of years later, but by 1982, they reached a breaking point and they split again. Linda even moved
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out with Patty that time. And according to Laura Higgins reporting, she filed for an order of protection that
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September, alleging that Dawn had threatened her and Patty. Now, she told the court that he was mentally unstable,
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but then just a few weeks later, Linda informed the judge that she and Don were trying to work things out. So, the two
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of them started seeing Dr. W around that time. But it seems like Linda was finally trying to break the cycle
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because she actually filed for divorce again on April 11th. And this [music] time, her family felt like it was
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different. That Linda seemed determined to leave him for good. And we know that leaving is one of the most dangerous
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times for people in abusive relationships. >> And yeah, and this one was serious. I
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mean, she was trying to find an apartment. She was having her mail rerouted to her sister Fran's house.
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Police also end up finding a bunch of personal records in Linda's work locker. Things like Patty's birth certificate
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and report cards stretching back to kindergarten. She had letters, momentos, family financial paperwork.
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>> All things you'd want to take with you if you were starting over. >> Yeah. I mean, it was all stuff that she
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had cleared out of her and Don's joint safety deposit box. And Patty, her daughter, thinks that Linda was stashing
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things there so that Dawn couldn't get to them. Although, I will say Don actually knew, I guess, that she had
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moved all of her stuff to the work locker. And even after she went missing, he never tried to go get any of it
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[music] back. But all of that to say, she was being cautious and she was planning because she knew that Dawn
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wasn't going to take her leaving well. But she never got the chance to