Waterloo murder victim's fiancée aiding prisoners seeking second chance
Lost loved one's life recounted to inmates as part of 'restorative justice' initiative
WATERLOO -- Andrea Hurley Dunlay had her fiancée's life taken from her more than 30 years ago. Now she's trying to help give a life back to those who have committed similar crimes.
Her fiancée, Jeffery Wood, was shot and killed in front of her as they held hands and walked in their Waterloo neighborhood on an unseasonably warm spring night in 1990.
Since then, she's gotten on with her life. She works in a "giving" profession -- health care -- and raised a family. But she's also tried to turn that deep sense of loss she still carries inside her into a positive -- and find some solace for herself.
She's found that in reaching out to the hearts of convicted felons -- including those who have committed murder.
She recently resumed visiting with prisoners at the State of Iowa's North Central Correctional Facility in Rockwell City, in Calhoun County in western Iowa. It is a minimum-security facility whose staff emphasizes individual accountability and assisting offenders for a successful return to the community.
She met with eight prisoners who had been selected for the meeting under a program of the Iowa Department of Corrections' "restorative justice" initiative, aimed at reducing recidivism and mass incarceration.
She told her story of her fiancée’s life and death. The inmates listened. The results, according to Dunlay, were cathartic for herself and everyone involved.
"It was very nice. It was just intimate," she said. "I got to go through the whole story, and then they asked questions after. That's my favorite part.
"And I have to say -- I drove home, and that whole week, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted," she said." I felt light. I felt content. It was amazing. I needed that. I needed to tell my story again and use it. Use it to hopefully make a difference.
"It's a bad thing. And you want to try to make good things out of bad," she said. "It just felt good to be able to do that again.
"The best part is to be able to talk about Jeff again and share. Not just what happened, but what a great person he was. That was the best thing I got out of it.
"I just missed doing it," Dunlay said. It was resumed after a hiatus of about six years. Previously part of a victim impact program, it's now part of a different process called "Restorative Justice Reentry Preparation."
"The current process is, I think, more focused on reentry to society," she said. "Not that the previous class wasn't, but it seemed more focused on getting the prisoners to grasp the effects their crimes have on the victims." The new sessions are smaller, more intimate, and participants are carefully screened.
Dunlay said she was invited to participate in this latest session, in October, by a fellow Waterloo Columbus High alum, Mary Roche, who is director of the Office of Victim and Restorative Justice Programs under the Department of Corrections.
Under the previous program, "It was there and I could count on it -- like therapy," she said. Until this most recent session, "I didn't realize what a big piece of my life I was missing. I would go two or three times a year. You don't know you're missing until it's gone with something like that.
"Jeff's been gone 33 1/2 years and you think you have a handle on things," she said. "And you do, but to be able to talk about it -- I suppose it's like the World War II guys or the Vietnam guys" dealing with post-traumatic stress. "It's different, but you still carry stuff around, no matter what."
Four individuals were convicted of Wood's murder. Two were convicted of first-degree murder and are serving life sentences; their convictions were upheld upon appeal. Two were convicted of second-degree murder. Both were placed on work release after serving more than 10 years each and each were discharged from parole 10 years ago.
Dunlay said one of the prisoners at her most recent session indicated many of his fellow inmates are keenly aware how their actions have impacted victims' loved ones.
"That just gave me hope that there are people in prison, processing what they have done, seeing what they did through the eyes of their victims -- the ripple effect," she said. "I'm just hopeful that means when they get out, they're not going to hurt anybody else and that they're going to live a good life. And I hope they have happiness in their lives.”
She is to receive written reactions from the session participants, and she’s kept the written responses of other prisoners from sessions she’s participated in years ago.
”Thank you so much,” one wrote. “I needed you to come because I needed to face reality.”
”I empathized with Andrea’s situation and I shared my deep sorrow for her loss” another wrote.
”Keep doing what you’re doing,” another wrote.
She plans to. She'll do the sessions again if asked.
"They need this. They get so much out of it," Dunlay said. "They were just so very respectful. There was laughing and there was mingling time."
At the end of her most recent session, "One guy said, 'I want to thank you for coming and your view of how you see us. Because I've been in here a long time, and for a long time I could only see myself as a monster.'
”I said, 'If you're going to get out, society does not want you to see yourself as a monster. Because monsters hurt people and cause pain and we don't want you to see yourself that way.'
"It broke my heart," she said. "I wanted him to not see himself that way any more. They all came and shook my hand and thanked me."
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. Click on their links below to sample their work.
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God bless Andrea Hurley Dunlay. What a ministry she's providing!