Published: April 27, 2009 10:02 pm         

YWCA vigil remembers crime victims

Victims of crime, law enforcement and people from the community remembered victims of crime and spoke about their own experiences Monday at Enid YWCA.

Keynote speaker was Dreu Kopf, who survived a 2005 shooting near Watonga.

“November 2005, Dreu was at home with her children and her best friend,” said Garfield County District Attorney Cathy Stocker. “She was a victim of a home invasion. She was shot several times and her best friend, Amber (Matthews), was murdered.”

One man, Wendell Arden Grissom was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, while another, Jessie Floyd Johns, also convicted of first-degree murder, was sentenced to life without parole.

Kopf began by thanking the law enforcement and court officers who had helped after she became a victim.

“Nov. 3 was an ordinary day for me,” she said. “My best friend came over to help me take care of my children and help me pack because I’d just signed a contract on a new house. Amber told me there was a man at my back door.”

Kopf talked to the man and answered his questions, and he left.

“We thought it was a little fishy but went on and didn’t think about it,” she said. “The last thing I heard Amber say was, ‘That man is back at your door.’ As I reached for the sliding back door, the glass shattered.”

The man had shot Kopf for the first time.

“I don’t know how, but I charged him and started hitting him. Amber ran into the girls’ room. I yelled at him to take whatever he wanted, just don’t kill my family. He just laughed,” Kopf said.

The man then shot Kopf four more times before getting her off him. She was shot in the hand, shoulder, head and hand. Kopf hid in a cubby hole, but realized she would be found when she saw the trail of blood she left.

“I saw a truck in the driveway that wasn’t mine or Amber’s,” she said. “I started towards it. I saw him chasing me. I got in the truck and locked it. He tried to get in and I just drove away.”

Kopf said people wonder how she could just drive away and leave her children and best friend behind. She said that wasn’t what she was thinking about.

“People wonder how I could just leave my children and my best friend, but I wasn’t thinking about saving myself,” she said. “I knew if I left he would have to leave and come find me. A trucker picked me up and took me to the hospital.”

Kopf was taken to Oklahoma City. During the helicopter flight, Kopf screamed for someone to get her children, she said. She was informed her children were not hurt and were in DHS custody.

“Once I knew my children were OK then the pain started,” she said. “I’ve had 20 surgeries, and they want to do more work on my hand. The biggest thing I can tell victims of crime is forgiveness. For a long time I hated him and I wanted nothing more than to see him dead. God helped me and had my heart in his hand.”

After Kopf’s story, other victims stood up to share their stories.

Parents told stories of their murdered children. A woman told how YWCA helped her when she was a victim of domestic abuse and she now works there. A parent told of a child harmed in a day care.