'Talk to someone': Peabody Magnet students warned about teen dating violence, sextortion

Gasps rose from some of the freshmen and sophomores at Peabody Magnet High School after a woman identified herself as the one they had just heard screaming on a 911 call from June 7, 1993, the day her ex-boyfriend stabbed her repeatedly.

"This is very hard for me to talk about," said Paula Shackleford, "because I relive every moment of that tragedy when I hear that 911 call."

But Shackleford said if she can reach one person, it's worth reliving the night she almost died.

Eighteen at the time, and home with her baby, niece and nephew, Shackleford's ex broke into her Tioga home. He grabbed a 13-inch butcher knife from her kitchen, stabbing her head, stomach and chest.

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The couple had dated briefly before Shackleford realized the relationship "was turning into something that was too much for me to handle." She broke up with him, but he wouldn't leave her alone. She lived "in a constant state of fear," she told the students.

Shackleford recovered from her injuries, and her ex was sent to prison for 66 years. She fought to keep him behind bars as he sought an early release. She was successful at first, but he later won his release.

He died less than two years after that, she said.

Shackleford's story was part of program to educate teens about dating violence, how to avoid it or get out of it. The NextStep of Louisiana program, based in Pineville, also touched on sextortion, the dangers of social media and harassment via texts.

The presentation is part of a Louisiana law that requires students in grades seven through 12 receive education on teen dating violence. The program has taught more than 37,000 students across six parishes and more than 30 schools at no cost to their districts.

Carolyne Hoyt, NextStep's founder and executive director, shared "a few terrible, heartbreaking examples" of young people who have been murdered or taken their own lives because of dating violence, sextortion or social media harassment.

Like the 11-year-old boy who hung himself because he believed a prank played on him by his 13-year-old girlfriend and her friends. He believed the social media post that told everyone his girlfriend had committed suicide, but it wasn't true.

Hoyt says it shows victims aren't only girls.

"We always want guys to know, boys can be victims, too," she said.

In fact, her presentation states that sextortion victims overwhelmingly are teen boys. A video played for the students told the tale of two teen boys who killed themselves after being blackmailed by international criminals who lure them into sending explicit photos or videos by posing as young girls.

Then, the criminals demand money to prevent the photos or videos from being sent to their families and friends.

The FBI issued a warning about sextortion in January and since has made multiple arrests.

According to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, dating violence is common. One in three high school students experience physical or sexual violence from their dating partners, it states.

Domestic violence is always about power and control, Hoyt told the students.

As she spoke on these topics, Temekia Brown nodded her head. Sitting next to Shackleford, Brown was the last speaker Monday morning.

But first, Peabody Principal Dennis Stewart wanted to tell them something.

"It hits home when you know someone," he said, telling them he knew Brown's daughter, Ashley Mortle, while he was at Arthur Smith Middle Magnet School.

She was a straight-A student "involved in everything possible," he told his students. He also knew Mortle's friend, Destiny Compton.

Both women died on Feb. 7, 2021, after being shot by Mortle's ex-boyfriend at Compton's Culpepper Road house in Alexandria. Mortle was one day from her 20th birthday; Compton, a dispatcher for the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office, was 20.

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"Listen, because these two young ladies were in this auditorium and walked these halls."

Brown said she didn't know the signs of dating violence before her daughter's death. But now, three years later, she realizes the signs were there all along.

Her daughter arranged for her iPhone contents to be uploaded to an iCloud account Brown had access to, and she only recently looked at it.

She read text messages in which her daughter's ex-boyfriend threatened to kill her, apologized to her and asked her to come back to him.

She now remembers other signs, like her daughter wearing long-sleeve sweaters during the summer. She began distancing herself from some friends. When Brown would ask if he was mistreating her, her daughter would deny it.

"It's been three years, and I just recently found this phone," she said. "Can you imagine the tears coming out of my eyes, knowing that my baby and her best friend's lives were taken?"

Brown said her daughter's ex was nice and sweet when she met him. She invited him to her home, to family events and bought him Christmas gifts.

"But behind my back, he was doing my daughter all sorts of dirty," she said.

The last time she saw her daughter alive was at the Alexandria Police Department station, where she had gone to report her ex had stolen her cellphone and hit her. She asked her daughter why she never told her about what was going on, but also told her she was proud of her.

The two hugged and kissed as Mortle and her friends went out to celebrate her birthday. Less than two hours later, Brown received the call that that changed her life.

"All because she didn't want him anymore," she said. "She was tired of him.

"It is serious. It is OK for somebody not to want you. Walk away. When they tell you they're gonna do something to you, believe it. When they first put their hands on you, believe it."

She urged them to talk to their parents if they're being abused and, if that's not an option, talk to a principal, teacher or pastor.

Brown said her goal now is to prevent other young women from going through what her daughter and Compton did. She founded a private group, Love Don't Hurt, that's on Facebook, providing a space for people to share their stories or seek help.

As she closed her talk, Brown told the students that she never thought she'd have to bury her daughter — "My little best friend, my angel" — because of dating violence.

"Don't take abuse from nobody," she said. "It's real. It's serious. Talk to somebody."

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Survivor, victim's mom tell Peabody students dangers of dating violence