Bristow, Okla. (KFOR/CNN Newsource) – A man convicted of molesting an Oklahoma woman when she was a child is now out of prison, and within days, he moved in–right next door to her.
He was convicted of molesting her when she was just a 7-year-old little girl, and now she has to see him just yards away.
Victim Danyelle Dyer said, “He’s like right there, practically in my backyard and that kind of makes me nervous – and not want to go home ever.”
Danyelle and her family say her uncle, Harold English, recently got out of prison and moved in with his mother, whose property is just over the fence.
He’s a man they say has no right to be there.
Laurina Dyer is Danyelle’s mom. She said, “When you have to see it, I can only imagine what it does to my daughter when she’s there and she has to witness it. She shouldn’t have to. It’s very heartbreaking.”
It’s hard for mom to talk about, and even harder for dad.
greg dyer/ danyelle’s dad
“Not only is my daughter feeling her past come back to haunt her,” said Danyelle’s Dad, Greg Dyer. “But a lot of years of rage and anger that I’ve kept under my collar is sitting right outside my door.”
But what’s hardest for both of them is what it does to their daughter.
Greg said, “She’s had to bring her deepest, darkest secrets out for the public to view just to try to rid this person of her life.”
And that’s exactly what Danyelle did. She posted about her new neighbor, Harold English, on Facebook–posting his sex offender registry with the words “Meet my abuser and my new neighbor.”
Now she and her family want the law changed. Danyelle said, It’s adding one word in there of where it talks in, where they can and can’t live, just adding ‘victim’ right in there along with schools and playgrounds.”
They’ve been talking to lawmakers, but in the meantime Danyelle says sharing her story isn’t shameful, she’s even had other women reach out to her.
“It’s very empowering for me because it makes me feel like I’m making a difference and I didn’t share my story for nothing and that it is bringing about positive change and whether it affects one woman and I can help one woman then I’m completely happy with that.”
A TV news crew stopped by Danyelle’s grandmother’s house to see if she or Harold English would comment, but her grandmother told them to get off her property.
State Representative Kyle Hilbert says he is working with the family and lawmakers. He hopes to get a law on the books during the next session to help prevent this from happening to someone else.
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