20 years and counting: A long way (2024)

Tina Marie Boyer would have been 50 years old.

On Aug. 4, 2004, Boyer’s life was cut short just three months shy of her 31st birthday when she was strangled and stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend Rodney Davis inside her Washburn Street residence.

In an interview with the Union-Sun & Journal last week, Boyer’s sister Tera Tillotson described the difficulties she and her family continue to face in the aftermath of her sister’s violent death.

“To me, that whole situation is just hard because we still don’t have answers. We still don’t know what really happened,” Tillotson said. “There’s no peace because we don’t know what her last words were, we don’t know how much she fought back...and then I have two kids myself now that never got to meet her.”

In the wake of Boyer’s death, her mother Debbie spearheaded efforts to advocate for survivors of domestic violence and raise money for programming by the YWCA of the Niagara Frontier.

In the 20 years since Boyer’s murder, the “toolbox” of outreach and programming to help survivors of domestic violence has continued to grow.

“I can say outreach from every agency is at an all time high, because it needs to be,” Niagara County Victim Services Coordinator Stacy Suess said.

In 2004, treating violent domestic incidents as violent crimes was a relatively new concept to law enforcement, and outreach and support programs for survivors were very much in their “infancy.”

“There wasn’t the whole trauma-informed understanding, lethality, what’s the impact on kids, there wasn’t that then, like there is now,” observed Mary Brennan-Taylor, YWCA vice president of programs.

And often times, survivors still face the same personal struggles.

“Women still feel really isolated,” YWCA Vice President of Housing Kathy Jackson said. “They live it daily, but they don’t always share with other people, so they’re not aware what’s going on in most cases.”

In 2004 the YWCA was operating a domestic violence shelter, a 24-7 hotline (716-433-6716) and six transitional housing apartments in addition to providing counseling and advocacy services at 32 Cottage St.

Over the past 20 years, the YWCA’s programming has expanded to include two Master of Social Work-level domestic violence counselors, one staff member embedded in Integrated Domestic Violence Court, a fully staffed 24-7 shelter, 37 apartments for survivors with comprehensive support services, support, counseling and advocacy for 20 Housing Visions residents and their children, group counseling for children affected by domestic violence and prevention education program offering programming to area schools and universities.

In 2017, a room in the YWCA’s Domestic Violence Safe Dwelling was dedicated in Boyer’s memory.

Brennan-Taylor and Jackson both believe affordable housing is one of the most common hurdles that domestic violence survivors face, especially over the past four years since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They may not leave initially because they can’t afford to leave, and they’re stuck in this apartment with their abuser,” Jackson said. “We have over 50 families on a wait list right now for Carolyn’s House. That’s never happened before.”

In addition to housing, other issues to improve upon that Brennan-Taylor specifically points to are transportation and childcare for domestic violence survivors.

Suess pointed out that advancements in technology have given abusers yet another way to assert power and control over the person they are abusing.

Thankfully, she said, strides have been made at the state level to address the increasing problems that electronic tracking can present in an abusive relationship. New York State recently made it a violation across all types of orders of protection to follow somebody using electronic devices.

“We do a lot more safety planning surrounding technology, both to keep home safe, but also to keep devices safe. Many times people are on the same plan or they have access because that is ‘normal’ in relationships now, and boundaries are blurred,” Suess said.

The state Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence also established the Domestic Violence Regional Council in 2019.

“I think getting together and talking about these issues, with other agencies that are having the same problems, really is better, far better than trying to come up with solutions on our own,” Suess said.

However, Suess added, certain provisions of New York State’s bail reform laws passed in 2020 have made circ*mstances more difficult for survivors. That is the biggest “hurdle” in the response to domestic violence she would like to see changed.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, depending on the crime, they are immediately let out right after arraignment, and on many occasions go right back to the residence and violate that order of protection, if in fact, there is an order of protection. There’s fear of retaliation,” Suess said.

For the Boyer family, some of those fears have not dissipated 20 years later.

Despite Davis being sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for Tina’s murder, questions and concerns linger for her loved ones all these years later.

Davis will first have the chance to be released from prison on parole in 2029.

The Boyer family recently met with personnel from the Niagara County District Attorney’s office and the YWCA about how they can prepare for his potential release.

“The only thing that they said we can really do is write impact letters or go in front of the parole board right before he goes,” Amy Boyer said. “But his prison sentence was 25 years to life which means even after a certain point, they’re going to let him out…they don’t know for sure what will happen when he gets out.”

The prospect that their sister’s killer could potentially be out of prison in just five years is daunting for the family, many of whom still reside on the same street where Tina died.

“We all live right there. So it’s like he comes back to the neighborhood, me and my brother have little kids...so it’s scary now that we’re getting up to the point of him getting out and we still don’t have answers for what happened,” Tillotson said.

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