KANSAS CITY, Mo. — March 25 brings on a mountain of emotions for Cindy Caswell.
"It's a lot of memories that come back and I think a lot about her," Caswell said.
It's her daughter Libby's birthday.
"She was a good, good, person inside and out," Cindy said while looking at a picture of Libby and her son.
The KSHB 41 I-Team reported about Libby last April, a beautiful young mother whose life ended far too soon under suspicious circumstances in Dec. 2017.
Ever since, Caswell has been fighting for the case to be reexamined.
"This year I thought of something new to do so that I'm not dwelling so much on the negative," she said.
Cindy's grief and anger about Libby's death sparked a passion for helping women who are in domestic violence situations, just like Libby was.
"It just lit a fire underneath me even more," she said.
For the month of March, Cindy is doing a donation drive for Hope House, a domestic violence organization, in Libby's honor.
Hope House is even more significant because Libby was supposed to go there after her boyfriend choked her.
For some reason she didn't go, and a week later was found dead in an Independence motel room.
"I just have a lot of what-ifs, what-ifs, you know," Caswell said. "And one of them is what if she would have made it to one of these places that could have really helped her."
Hope House jumped right on board with Caswell's mission.
"To be able to be a part of this and to be able to carry on that legacy and carry on her name, it means the world to us," Mary Anne Metheny, Hope House's CEO, said.
Hope House helps people leave their abusers and stay safe. Their needs range from basic things like toilet paper, to a security system for their new home.
"And someone in the community that doesn't even know who you are has given of their time and money and their resources to help you, it means the world to people," Metheny said. "That can be the thing that gives them hope and gives them the strength and courage to carry on."
You can browse Hope House's website and Amazon wish list. You can also buy items in person and drop them off at East Side Church in Independence, where Libby attended services with her family.
No matter how small the item, Caswell said these donations will help someone have a chance at life, which is what Libby deserved.
"I want the women to have hope," Caswell said. "I want them to see that it's not the end, it's only a new beginning."
Although Cindy is focusing the donation drive on the month of March, Hope House accepts and encourages new donations year-round.
Metheny said one in three women will experience domestic violence at some point in her life. Three women die every day in our country due to domestic violence.
"People often think of domestic violence as a physical abuse that can happen, that if you just leave then the physical abuse will stop. And that's not at all the truth of what happens," Metheny said. "Domestic violence is so complicated, it's about power and control. And the person who is maintaining that power and control will go to very lengthy methods to keep that power and control. So the process of leaving is the most dangerous time for someone in that situation."
You can visit the Justice for Libby Facebook group to learn more about Libby's story.
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