Ex-wife of ‘DC Sniper' tells her story in new book

WASHINGTON - Mildred Muhammad will forever be linked to her ex-husband, 'D.C. Sniper,' John Allen Muhammad.

In 2002, he and Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the D.C. region by killing and injuring innocent victims in a series of sniper style attacks.

Mildred continues her crusade to help others who are victims of violence and joined us to discuss her new book, 'I'm Still Standing: Crawling Out of The Darkness Into The Light.'

PROFITING OFF OF PAIN?

"I wrote 'Scared Silent' because other organizations had asked me to put my book, my story on paper in order to help other people," Mildred said when she visited FOX 5 to discuss her new book. "The police told me that I was the intended target, unfortunately, they didn't tell the general public. So many people did feel that I was capitalizing off of his execution and trying to make a name for myself when I really wasn't trying to do that at all."

She said her work is to bring awareness to the eighty percent of victims who do not have physical scars to prove that they're victims.

CHALLENGE

"I was in hiding for two years," she said. "I had to change my name. I had to change my clothes. He had taken our children out of the country for 18 months. I was unable to get assistance in trying to find them, and then once I did find them, he tried to attack me in the courthouse."

Mildred said she came to the D.C. area in hiding and said she didn't out go except for work. "Unfortunately, he found me here by going to a 'father's rights' group in Washington State, telling them that I kidnapped the children," she said. "They did a skip-trace on me. Found me in this area and told him that's when he came to this area looking for me and found me."

ON-GOING STRUGGLE

This book starts with John Allen Muhammad's execution, she told us. "But it also details what me and my children went through and our isolation in trying to create a new normal, in trying to find counseling for us that was Ii was unable to find."

Mildred said many blamed her for her ex-husband's actions. "We had people that were telling me, if you would have stayed with him, he just would have killed you. If you would have stayed on the West Coast, then people on the East Coast would still be alive," she said.

"How dare you call you and your children victims when none of you were killed or hurt?" Mildred said she was told. "How dare you bring drama into our quiet community?"

Mildred said she counseled her children herself and started to speak out to help other women who did not have physical scars to prove that they were abused.

PTSD

She doesn't blame Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for her ex-husband's crime. "I don't want to say that. Just because you you're diagnosed with PTSD doesn't mean that you will commit a criminal act," she said. "So he was diagnosed with PTSD but that was not the reason why he committed the crime that he did."

TODAY

"You do not see pain," Mildred told us. "I am completely healed from this situation. Me and my children, we can smile. We're smiling not to keep from crying we're smiling because we're actually smiling."

She said her daughters attended universities and sing classical music and her son works in a management position. "We are great. We do not have any pain. We do not have any residue. We have tackled all of our triggers. So you do not see pain."