Welcome to the very first episode of Everstory – the podcast that features real stories about how everyday people experience the transformational light and love of Jesus despite struggling in their darkest moments. As a bonus to our new listeners, this is a two part episode, and both episodes are available … right now. A powerful example of resilience and strength, Tracy is a mother who, in 2017, endured the unspeakable loss of her daughter. Despite living through the darkest moments imaginable, she began experiencing Jesus’ unquestionable love. After a string of inspirational moments, she began a campaign of healing to honor her daughter’s memory. By the end of this story, you will be truly blessed to see how God can turn our worst fears into a mobilization for good.
Read MoreMolly Jane Matheson was raped, strangled and murdered in 2017 by a former intimate partner. Since her murder, Molly Jane’s mother, Tracy Matheson, has fought for justice for both Molly Jane and other women who have experienced sexual assault. In this first ever live episode of the Podcast on Crimes Against Women, Tracy Matheson courageously shares the story of what happened to Molly Jane, her journey to reveal the truth throughout the investigation of her daughter’s murder, the establishment of Molly Jane’s Law in the State of Texas and the founding of Project Beloved: The Molly Jane Mission.
Read MoreA new ‘soft interview room’ at the Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office is designed to make a more comfortable place for victims to recall and discuss the traumatic events they’ve been through as prosecutors and police prepare criminal court cases.
Read MoreThere’s a new room in the Virginia Military Institute Police Department. It’s the first of its kind on a college campus in Virginia and ready to be used to help survivors of sexual assault. It’s called a soft interview room and it’s all thanks to a non-profit organization. “Project Beloved is a non-profit with a mission statement to educate, advocate and collaborate to change the conversation about sexual assault and empower survivors to find their voices. Project Beloved was born out of a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s the easiest way I can say it. My daughter was raped and murdered April 10th, 2017 and in the aftermath of that and understanding the circumstances that basically allowed her to be killed, we decided we had to do something,” said Tracy Matheson, Project Beloved founder.
Read MoreTracy Matheson, founder of Project Beloved, is creating a space for sexual assault victims to feel safe when telling their stories. This new space on campus is called the “soft interview room,” and will be open to any law enforcement agency in the area who needs it. The soft interview room at VMI is the third in Virginia and the very first to be on a Virginia college campus.
Read MoreAfter recovering her daughter’s body, Tracy Matheson, 56, learned her child had a tattoo: the word “Beloved.” Matheson’s daughter, Molly Jane, 22, was killed after she was sexually assaulted in April 2017. Then, Matheson started seeing the word “Beloved” everywhere, and it inspired her nonprofit.
Read More“When I kind of pieced all of that together, I was like ‘Wait, she could be alive had someone done their job, had someone believed,’” the mother said.
Read MoreWe'll be talking to Project Beloved founder Tracy Matheson, whose daughter Molly Jane was raped and murdered in 2017 at the age of 22. Tracy will be joined by Katie Coats and Melissa Winton, survivors who were assaulted years earlier by the same perpetrator who killed Molly Jane. These courageous women will be joined by Deputy Division Chief Allenna Bangs from the Tarrant County District Attorney's office and TAASA CEO Rose Luna.
Read MoreHPD is proud to partner with Tracy Matheson, founder of Project Beloved, a non-profit organization who installs soft interview rooms for the investigations of sexual assault and domestic violence. Project Beloved's install of soft interview room #42 at the Houston Police Department creates a trauma-informed space for survivors to share their experiences of abuse and assault.
Read MoreMolly Jane Matheson and Megan Getrum did not die in vain. Their lives and deaths will have an impact on the way law enforcement approaches victims of sexual assault, according to several individuals who gave victim impact statements in the 213th District Court Tuesday morning.
Read MoreWhile the date of April 10 may seem insignificant, five years ago today the world changed for a Fort Worth family. "The first April 10 and the second April 10 and so on... they were hurdles. Honestly, every 10th of every month for several years were hard," Tracy Matheson said.
Read MoreA North Texas serial rapist and murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars after admitting he's guilty of two murders. Reginald Kimbro was set to go to trial next week for the 2017 rape and murder of 22-year-old Molly Matheson.
Read MoreA Plano man accused of killing two Dallas-area women after committing a string of rapes across the state was sentenced to life in prison Friday.
Read MoreDallas-area women reported Reginald Kimbro to authorities before he killed in 2017. They said they waited years to get justice and lamented that he wasn’t stopped sooner.
Read MoreReginald Kimbro pled guilty on Friday, March 18, to the April 2017 rapes and murders of Molly Jane Matheson, a 22-year-old Fort Worth woman, and Megan Getrum, a 36-year-old Plano woman. He has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for both cases. Getrum's murder case was handled in Dallas County.
Read MoreMolly Jane Matheson and Megan Getrum did not die in vain.
Their lives and deaths will have an impact on the way law enforcement approaches victims of sexual assault, according to several individuals who gave victim impact statements in the 213th District Court Tuesday morning.
Molly’s dad, David Matheson, said as he took the stand in the courtroom that he had nothing to say to the man who murdered his daughter. Instead, he thanked prosecutors and the Fort Worth Police Department for helping bring justice for Molly.
Read MoreMolly Jane Matheson’s mother said her daughter’s killer “had accomplices along the way who are responsible for growing you from a serial sexual predator into a serial, murderous rapist.”
Read MoreIn a crowded Tarrant County courtroom, families, some of whom have waited nearly a decade, received their chance to address Reginald Kimbro directly.
Kimbro pled guilty Friday in violent sexual attacks on 6 women over 5 years in 4 counties. Two of those victims, 36-year-old Megan Getrum of Plano and 22-year-old Molly Matheson of Fort worth were killed just days apart in April 2017.
Read MoreFORT WORTH, Texas — What do you picture when you think about an interview room at a police department?
“The traditional model of interviewing a victim is in cold, stark and sterile environment, where the law enforcement sits across the table from the victim and asks what, what, when, where," Tracy Matheson said.
Matheson's 22-year-old daughter, Molly Jane Matheson, was raped and killed in 2017. Tracy Matheson said she started Project Beloved on the one-year anniversary losing her daughter.
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