From the outside, they appeared to be the perfect family. He was an Ivy League-educated doctor; she was a congressional press aide. They had four beautiful children.
However, in 2011, on a trip home from Cape Cod, an argument began between Jerri Sparks and her now ex-husband. She said that's when the nightmare started.
"My ex-husband swerved in and out of traffic and said, 'Do you want me to kill us all?'" Sparks recalled. "That was the beginning of me knowing I was in trouble."
Jerri did not think it was abuse because it was not physical, and she was too afraid to reach out for support.
"By me not trusting anybody and speaking out is how I almost died," Sparks now says.