Pat Tuthill | 2014 National Crime Victims' Service Awards Tribute Video

PAT TUTHILL: I was a mom, I had an ordinary average family, and I loved every minute of that life. A convicted felon was released after only 22 months and then allowed to transfer and go from Maryland to Denver, Colorado, where my daughter Peyton had just moved to go to school. The young man broke into Peyton's house at 11:30 in the morning. He viciously attacked her and– and killed her. I thought about taking my own life. 

After Peyton was murdered, I realized that we needed a compact that governs how offenders are transferred from one state to another state, because, if we didn't have one, offenders would be going without supervision and nobody would know that they were in their state. In 2006, when the compact was up and running, I thought, "Now we have this, how do we tie in victim notification?" Victims now have an opportunity to be heard and also to be notified so they can make a safety plan. 

I had a surviving daughter, Peyton's sister, and I realized over the course of the years that, uh, she was truly the forgotten survivor. The Peyton Tuthill Foundation was born to advocate for victims' rights, and provide scholarships, college scholarships, to children who have lost a parent or sibling to homicide. 

Victims have to have hope, and they have to find it in their heart to survive. And what I've learned from Peyton, that life is truly a gift to be treasured and not to waste one day of it, to make every day count.