I think my evil ex is haunting me.

Facing the Monster

She looked smaller than I expected, this regular-sized woman in a hoodie and jeans instead of the huge monster I’d built up in my head. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was crying, which made me feel weird because I’d imagined her as cold and calculating, but she just looked pathetic and sad.

Sebastian charged her with stalking, breaking and entering, attempted assault for the choking incident, and cyberstalking for the email campaign and remote access stuff. He told me she’d be arraigned tomorrow and I could attend if I wanted to see the formal charges read.

The next day, Sebastian interviewed Annie with her public defender sitting right there, and I watched through the two-way glass as she completely fell apart. She kept crying and saying my ex was a good man whom I destroyed with lies and false accusations.

The Confession

She said after he died she felt like someone needed to make me pay for what I’d done to him, to make me suffer the way she thought he’d suffered. She admitted to everything, including breaking in at night, moving things around to mess with my head, and using his cologne to make me think he was haunting me.

She admitted to remotely starting my car and overflowing my bathtub, accessing my accounts with his old passwords, and sending all the threatening emails. Her lawyer kept trying to get her to stop talking, but she just kept going like she needed everyone to understand that she was doing this for him, carrying out what she saw as justice for a man she’d loved who couldn’t hurt me anymore himself.

Sebastian called me two days later with the forensics report, and his voice had that satisfied edge that meant good news. The tech team pulled everything off Annie’s devices and it was all there—every single piece of the puzzle connecting back to her.

Documenting the Obsession

They found the remote access software she’d installed on my laptop and phone using my ex’s old passwords. They found the Spotify account login for casting his playlist to my apartment at 3:00 a.m. and the drafts of threatening emails she’d sent from burner accounts.

Raymond’s documentation matched perfectly with the timestamps on her devices, showing she’d been accessing my accounts and cameras for months. They even found search history for how to pick locks with bump keys, how to trigger car ignitions remotely, and how to make someone think they’re losing their mind.

Sebastian told me the prosecutor was calling it one of the most thoroughly documented stalking cases he’d ever seen, which felt weird to be proud of, but I was proud anyway. The evidence was overwhelming, and there was no way Annie could claim this was a misunderstanding or coincidence.

Permanent Protection

The court hearing for my protection order happened the following week, and this time it wasn’t temporary. The judge reviewed the police reports, the forensics evidence, and the confession transcript, and extended the order for a full year with Annie Maloney named specifically.

Sebastian explained the terms to me afterward, going through each clause carefully so I understood exactly what was protected. There was to be no physical proximity within 500 feet, no phone calls or text messages, no emails or social media contact, and no third-party contact through friends or family.

If she violated any part of it, she’d be arrested immediately and face additional charges. The order would stay active for at least a year, and I could petition to extend it after that if I still felt unsafe.

An Unexpected Apology

Having her name on an official court document instead of just “unknown harasser” made it feel real in a way I hadn’t expected. Christopher Phillips called me the same day I got home from court, and I braced myself for another eviction threat.

Instead, he apologized, actually used the word “sorry,” and told me Sebastian had sent him a letter explaining the apartment damages were caused by criminal trespass. He said he should have taken my concerns more seriously when I first reported the incidents, and he was dropping any eviction proceedings.

I accepted his apology because what else was I going to do, but the whole conversation felt surreal after weeks of him treating me like a problem tenant. He even offered to change my locks again at no charge and install a deadbolt, which was nice but also way too late to make me feel safe there.

Deciding to Move

I told Cecilia the next day that I wanted to move anyway because that apartment would never feel like home again. Every room had memories of finding things moved or waking up to attacks or discovering new violations of my space.

She understood immediately and helped me apply for emergency relocation funds through the DV advocacy center, filling out forms that documented the stalking campaign and explained why staying there would harm my recovery. The application asked for details about the harassment and I had pages of documentation to attach, which made the process easier but also meant reliving everything again.

Cecilia said the funds usually took a few weeks to process, but my case was strong because of the criminal charges and protection order. Living somewhere Annie had never accessed felt essential, like I couldn’t actually start healing until I was in a space she hadn’t contaminated.

Rebuilding Digital Walls

Raymond met me at a coffee shop the following Tuesday to rebuild my digital security from the ground up. He brought a notebook full of instructions and spent three hours walking me through everything.

We created unique passwords for every single account using a password manager, set up hardware authentication keys that required physical devices to log in, and established compartmentalized email addresses for different purposes. He showed me how to check for unauthorized access attempts, how to recognize phishing emails that might try to steal my credentials, and how to use two-factor authentication properly.

He made me practice the security steps until I could do them without his help, and he set up monthly check-ins to make sure I was maintaining the protections. Having an expert I trusted monitoring my digital safety made me feel like I could use my laptop and phone again without constant paranoia.

The Plea Deal

Sebastian called me a week later with news I’d been dreading. Annie’s public defender was pushing hard for a plea deal to avoid trial, arguing that she had no prior criminal record and was suffering from complicated grief over my ex’s death.

The prosecutor was considering it because trials are expensive and time-consuming, and the evidence was so strong that Annie would probably plead guilty to something. Sebastian was honest that the charges might get reduced, maybe dropping the attempted assault or combining the cyberstalking counts, and the sentence might be lighter than what I wanted.

He told me the system often disappoints victims and he was sorry he couldn’t promise me perfect justice. But he also said the evidence was strong enough that Annie would face real consequences either way, whether that was jail time or probation or both.

Integrating Trauma

I appreciated his honesty even though it made me angry that she might get a deal after putting me through months of terror. I scheduled a session with Alice Rutledge focused specifically on integrating what I now knew with what I’d experienced.

We worked on distinguishing between real threats and trauma triggers, rebuilding my ability to trust my own perceptions after weeks of gaslighting. She helped me understand that my instincts had been right all along, that I wasn’t crazy or paranoid, and that someone really was violating my space and safety.

We practiced identifying the difference between justified fear based on actual danger and anxiety responses left over from the abuse. She taught me grounding techniques for when my body reacted to triggers even though my brain knew I was safe.

Restoring Confidence

The session helped me feel less broken, like maybe I could learn to trust myself again even after someone had deliberately tried to destroy that trust. I went back to work the following Monday with a formal safety plan on file that HR had helped me create.

The plan included security escorts to my car at the end of shifts, code phrases I could use to alert management if I felt unsafe, and permission to work from home on days when my anxiety was too high. My coworkers knew something serious had happened, but nobody pushed me for details, which I appreciated more than the people who wanted the whole story.

They were supportive without being intrusive, treating me normally while also respecting that I needed some accommodations. Getting back into my work routine helped me feel like a regular person again instead of just a victim dealing with legal proceedings.

Empowering Other Survivors

Cecilia invited me to speak at the DV support group she ran, and I spent a week preparing copies of my documentation to share privately. I organized the incident logs, the forensics reports, the timeline of harassment, and the security measures that had helped build the case.

Other survivors needed to know that stalking can continue through proxies after an abuser dies, that systematic documentation really does help build cases, and that the system sometimes works if you have enough evidence. I wasn’t ready to speak publicly yet, but I could share my records with people who might benefit from seeing how I tracked everything.

Cecilia said several group members had experienced ongoing harassment after their abusers died or went to prison, and my case might help them understand they weren’t imagining things. The prosecutor scheduled a plea hearing for three weeks out and added cyberstalking enhancement charges based on Raymond’s detailed technical logs.

Arguing for Leniency

Annie’s lawyer argued for leniency at the preliminary hearing, claiming she was a grieving friend who made terrible choices, but the prosecutor pushed back hard. He cited the sustained campaign over months, the multiple methods of harassment, the physical danger of the car incident and the choking attack, and the fact that my ex had multiple victims with restraining orders which proved a pattern.

The judge seemed unimpressed with the grief defense and set the plea hearing date, warning Annie’s lawyer that the evidence supported serious charges regardless of her emotional state. I left the courthouse feeling like maybe the system was actually taking this seriously, like maybe Annie would face real consequences for trying to finish what my ex had started.

I started apartment hunting the next week because staying in that building felt impossible even with Annie arrested. Cecilia gave me a list of places with actual security, and I toured five buildings before finding one that felt right.