Garrettsville – Last week, nationally recognized victim advocate Debbie Riddle spoke to juniors and seniors at James A. Garfield High School to shed light on the topic of stalking. According to Riddle, stalking is a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Riddle explained that stalkers use non-criminal behavior to induce fear, explaining that context is everything.
As an example, she showed a photo featuring a cup of Starbuck’s coffee on a vehicle dashboard and asked students if that image made them afraid. The general consensus was no. Riddle helped students ‘read between the lines’ of this seemingly innocent situation, explaining that the coffee cup was marked with a nickname used by a stalker and included his victim’s favorite drink. Riddle noted that the stalker broke into the woman’s vehicle to leave the cup on her dashboard to let her know he had found her.
Why do they stalk? Ultimately, a stalker is seeking power and control over their victim.
And with technology, it’s easier to stalk — not just phone calls and voicemail, but text messages, gps tracking, and video surveillance. Facing social normalization on t-shirts and greeting cards with messages that equate stalking with love or even the Netflix series, “You” that romanticizes stalking. According to Riddle, often victims don’t think it’s serious enough, think police wouldn’t take it seriously, or that they don’t have enough proof. Due to these influences, stalking is a crime that often goes unreported. Riddle went on to explain how she came to know so much about this crime.
It was 1998 when her sister, Peggy Klinke moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend medical school, leaving the small town of Poland, Ohio, to move across the country. At that time she met and began dating a man named Patrick Kennedy. Warning alarms sounded for Riddle and the rest of the family when Patrick showed up for a ‘surprise’ visit at their parent’s home that New Years Eve. In the days before Google searches, Patrick tracked Peggy down and made his way, uninvited, more than 1,500 miles from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to her parents’ house in Poland. He and Peggy had only been dating a few months, but he didn’t want her spending time without him.
Over time as the relationship continued, Peggy’s behavior changed, according to Riddle. Patrick fed on her insecurities, cutting her down and making her second-guess her decisions, clothing choices, and whatever he could do to plant seeds of doubt to keep her with him. She was not permitted to do anything without him. Riddle noted to the audience of teens that behavior like this isn’t fueled by love. She explained, “This isn’t a partner — this is a supervisor.”
“In situations like this,” Riddle voiced what many were thinking, “Why don’t they leave?” She explained that often, victims fear the repercussions of leaving, wondering, “What will my punishment be if I leave?” She noted that her sister considered leaving the relationship many times, but was so terrified of what he’s do if she left, she was physically sick. So the relationship continued.
In 2001, Peggy was in a wedding, and made plans to fly home and attend without Patrick. He found out and cancelled her flight. He rebooked a flight so he could travel with her. He also cancelled her hotel reservation, booking a room for them at another hotel, keeping her away from her family and friends. By the time Peggy returned home, she had made the decision to leave the relationship. While he was away, Peggy packed what she could and moved out, cutting all ties with him. That’s when the stalking began.
He began calling her, first to beg her to come back, then to threaten her. She received 50 – 100 calls a day. He waited for her outside her workplace, her gym, her hair salon; in sight so she knew he was watching her every move. She changed her number, continued to ignore him, and tried to move on with her life. Riddle noted that in stalking cases, victims are advised to keep a log of stalking behaviors, including phone messages, emails, and any gifts or letters the stalker sends. These serve as evidence to be used in reporting the activities or applying for a protective order from police.
Eventually, Peggy began dating someone new, and her stalker began targeting them both. According to Riddle, her stalker jumped out of the bushes as Peggy exited work, holding a dozen roses and a ring, asking her to marry him. She continued to ignore him, and his behavior escalated. After she spurned his ‘proposal’, he made flyers with her photo, cell phone number, and lewd comments, posting copies around the city in spots he knew she visited. Peggy and her boyfriend reported the calls, activities, and brought the flyer to the police in order to file for an order of protection. On the way home from the station, their stalker ran the couple off the road in their car. Still, they were told that without evidence, the police could do nothing.
When Peggy and her new boyfriend left New Mexico to attend a family wedding in Florida, their stalker’s plans escalated further. First, he flew to Ohio to spray paint an obscene message on Peggy’s parent’s garage door. Then, he flew back to New Mexico and set fire to her boyfriend’s home. The fire was ruled an arson, and though Peggy and her boyfriend told police exactly who had done it and why, police didn’t tie the arson to the stalking case.
That arson pushed Peggy and her boyfriend into hiding; they were frustrated that after months of trying to get help, her stalker was still on the loose, and growing bolder with each incident. Her stalker’s efforts spread to Peggy’s family, as well. That Thanksgiving, he called her family, telling them, “I know where she is, and she’ll be dead in two minutes.” The resulting police report, arson case and death threat eventually led to charges being filed against the stalker; however, the court date was delayed several months.
Meanwhile, Peggy left the state, relocating to California to start a new life. Several months had passed when she learned her stalker was still hunting her. A box of her photos, intentionally damaged, arrived at her mother’s home in Ohio shortly before Christmas. The box was stamped with a California postmark. In early January, six days before the trial, after months of relentless searching, her stalker found her. Posing as a private investigator, he showed Peggy’s photo around her neighborhood. He eventually charmed a UPS driver, convincing him to provide Peggy’s address. He flew from New Mexico to California, checking a handgun and hunting rifle in at the airline counter. He hid in her garage, lying in wait. Early Saturday morning, he ambushed her, beating her with his gun, wrapping her wrists and covering her mouth with duct tape. She managed to free herself and escape, running bleeding to a neighbor’s house to call 911. He broke in, trapping her in the bedroom, holding her down with a gun to her head by the time the SWAT team arrived.
She had the presence of mind to tell officers, “Tell my mother I love her…tell my sister to name the baby after me…and tell my niece she’ll always have a guardian angel.” He shot her in the head before turning the gun on himself. Peggy Kinke was murdered by her stalker Patrick Kennedy, in January 2003. Riddle and her family were left to wonder, with stalking laws in all 50 states, and when Peggy did everything right, how could her story end this way?
Riddle explained, “there are two ways to go in a situation like this: we can be hateful, resentful and bitter, or we can do something about this.” Back in Ohio at home with her small children, Riddle caught a segment on the Today show about the Stalking Resource Network. She reached out to share Peggy’s story. She’s made it her mission to use her sister’s story as a catalyst for change. She’s since become one of the country’s leading speakers on stalking.
She shared Peggy’s story with Erin Brockovich on the Lifetime Television series “Final Justice” She was asked to speak at a Congressional briefing to recognize January, the month Peggy was murdered, as Stalking Awareness Month. She was also invited back to speak at the 10-year anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act conference alongside (then) Senator Joe Biden and Senator Orrin Hatch.
She’s determined to focus her efforts on educating lawmakers, law enforcement, and court systems about stalking in the hope of changing the way law enforcement responds with earlier intervention and stricter penalties for perpetrators. To that end, she has helped produce a stalking awareness training video “Real Fear, Real Crime,” that is used across the country in training all divisions of the criminal justice system, forensic nurses, victims advocates, and college students, faculty, and administration.
“He may have silenced her voice,” Riddle shared, “ but he’ll never silence her story.”
To learn more visit stalkingmuststop.org.
