OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — More than four years after a Prairie Village woman was brutally attacked and left for dead, she’s sharing her story of survival to help other women.
Marti Hill is speaking to a crowd Wednesday at Johnson County Community College. The 48-year-old woman says it has taken a lot of strength and perseverance to overcome the injuries she’s suffered.
In September 2010, Hill was leaving her home for work one morning, when a handyman she had hired previously showed up on her doorstep. The man said he wanted to show her some work that needed to be done in the basement. Hill thought it was odd, but let him in, and once they got downstairs, the man attacked Hill for no apparent reason: strangling, beating and stabbing her.
“Awareness, listening to your intuition,” Hill said as she explained her message. “Just making sure, knowledge is power. You know when you are home alone you don’t have to answer the door. And I think women; we try not to be rude. And that’s kind of what we’re thinking at first, you know just instinctively we should be polite.”
Hill says she’s learned that not everyone tries to do good, or be the best that they can be. She hopes by speaking at the college, she can help prevent other young women from becoming victims of violence.
Hill’s attacker, Brian Pennington, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and is serving a 28 year prison sentence. He has never explained why he attacked Hill, but he did have a history of domestic violence.
