In Versailles, Missouri, a neighboring community to ours, Johnetta Yeager was shot and killed by her abuser. She was in the process of seeking protection, filing for an ex-parte order, and preparing harassment charges. She was doing what survivors are told to do: speak up, use the system, fight for her safety. Yet before that process could protect her, her life was taken.
This was not an accident. This was not unpredictable. This was the outcome of a system that too often responds slowly, underestimates threats, and leaves survivors exposed in their most vulnerable moments.
Johnetta’s death is a tragedy, but it is also a call to action. We cannot ignore the reality:
-Survivors of abuse live at the highest risk when they try to leave or seek protection.
-One piece of paper cannot stop a bullet, and legal orders are only as effective as the enforcement behind them.
-Silence and inaction by communities create the conditions where abuse thrives.
When neighbors dismiss the signs, when friends hesitate to get involved, when family members look away, abuse is allowed to grow unchecked. Silence is not neutral; silence sides with the abuser.
If we want to honor Johnetta’s memory, we must confront this truth. We must build stronger protections, insist on accountability, and create real support systems for survivors. Safety cannot rest solely on the shoulders of those already carrying the trauma of abuse. Survivors need communities that will not look the other way, that will stand beside them when the danger escalates.
Breaking the silence is not optional, it is essential. Support groups, advocacy organizations, shelters, and safe networks save lives. But they cannot operate in isolation. They need communities that speak up, that fund protections, that believe survivors when they say, “I am in danger.”
Johnetta should still be alive. She should have been protected. And while we cannot bring her back, we can refuse to let her death be in vain.
Let us carry her name forward. Let us honor her by fighting harder, speaking louder, and standing firmer beside those who are still here, still fighting, still waiting for safety.
