SALT LAKE CITY — A survivor of domestic violence shared her story with FOX 13 News about a horrifying incident that occurred nearly seven years ago.
“He held a handgun to the side of his head and looked at me and told me if I really thought he did nothing as a husband and a father, that he would pull the trigger," said Lyndsey Hackford. "I remember being really terrified of any facial reaction or saying the wrong word. I had never been put in a situation like that."
Hackford had been with her abuser for nearly 18 years but said the physical abuse did not start until later in the relationship, when she started worrying about his mental health.
“When I did text my mom, and I let her know, like, he hit me, I don't know what to do,” Hackford said. "She said, 'I'm calling the police,' and I have never begged someone harder not to do something in my whole entire life."
That’s because there were moments Hackford felt she, along with her kids, wouldn’t make it out alive.
“I said, 'I know I don't make you happy. Just let me leave and the kids can stay,'” she said. "He grabbed me by my throat, and he threw me backwards onto unfinished concrete.”
Tanner Jensen, the chief of investigations with the Utah Department of Public Safety, tracks domestic violence data and said we’re about to enter a time where incidents could increase.
“Throughout these months, we usually see around 800 to 900 intimate partner violence incidents. In the summers, we see an increase, maybe because kids are out of school, the weather is nicer and people are out more,” he said.
Jensen said there has been an overall downward trend in domestic violence homicides in the state, with 43 in 2024 and 40 in 2025.
However, that’s still too many.
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Hackford said while there were times she did not want the police involved, she hopes the public will make a different decision if they see something.
“I know that there were a couple of times that he threw me out the front door and I was in the snow, or I was crying on the front porch,” she said. "I just hope that if someone would have seen anything, that they would have called the police.”
With her abuser now walking free, Hackford hopes for a better justice system for others.
“After my abuser's conviction, he was a restricted person… All of the weapons that he owned prior to his arrest were not forced to be turned in,” she said. "I still fear him on a daily basis. I would be lying if I said otherwise.”
Hackford has since re-married and is now a board member at Refuge Utah, the same place that saved her life.
"I was in a situation where I very well could have lost my life along with my children, and I don't take that for granted for one single second,” Hackford said. "I fought so hard to have the life that I have today.”
