52 Lock Up- The loss of Tiana Notice

Welcome back to 52 Lock Up, I am your Appletini Cadma of Bitten Apple TV. 52 lock up is a series I started to talk about one of my biggest passions of true crime. A new episode on every Cadmaniac Monday for 52 Mondays. Hope you guys enjoy, be sure to comment feedback, like and subscribe.

Today’s episode begins with Tiana Angelique Notice, was born on February 4, 1984 to Alvin and Kathy Lewis in Connecticut. Growing up she was known for being as usual someone with a smile that light up a room; which is heartbreaking because it’s always these bright lights that go through this. But I digress. Tiana was considered to be so brilliant she ended up doing her first year of college at the same time she was completing her last year in high school; she was very ahead of her grades and classmates. When she entered college she began working on her master’s degree in communications at the University of Hartford and had graduated from the University of Hartford, with a degree in political science. Her mother quoted that Tiana loved to argue, so she always encouraged her to be a lawyer so that she could debate with people. The most important things in her life were God, family and friends.

James Carter II enters the picture. Tiana and James met in 2007, they met on MySpace some places stated they met on a dating website while others stated MySpace; either way they met online, he presented himself as someone working in insurance; and held a job title of executive. In hindsight we can see that James is showing the signs of abuse by faking his personality and who he is; there’s no way of being able to decipher it prior without additional details. His goal was to boost his image to her as much as possible to appear as a good person; he depends on his capability to manipulate how he is perceived by others. I digress. Tiana would show her photos to her mom from online and her mother never cared for him even thought she hadn’t met him yet. Her mother said it was just a mother’s intuition.

At the time Tiana was not really looking for a serious relationship because she had just ended a five year relationship with her college sweetheart; whom I believe was named Robert. I do not know why they separated; there could have been a platonic agreement between due to what happens later. Though she’s not looking for anything serious She does agree to meet James for a date, and they met out in a public place. She’s taking one of the many smart steps a woman will take when meeting a man; and James appeared calm. He appeared level headed; the first unknown step of manipulating how he appears to others.

James told Tiana that he owned his own home, was a manager at a finance company and didn’t have kids, but wanted them at some point. These would all end up being lies because he faking a personality to obtain what he wanted from her; and this goes beyond wanting her for her body just for sex but rather as property. James does nice things like giving Tiana a phone that was on his plan; I think in hindsight it was to monitor who she was calling. he bought her tires for her car. At the time, Tiana thought he was just being nice. Any person would think James is being nice, but underneath it all he wasn’t.

Six months into their relationship, James was sentenced to five months in jail for the domestic abuse case of a previous girlfriend, and Tiana learned he had a rap sheet for numerous other violent crimes including assault. Big red flag! It’s not even a full year of a relationship and he’s arrested for domestic abuse with his previous girlfriend! It’s only 11 months. Tiana is a smart woman and no longer wants to be bothered. It is a little unclear when she found out about his history of violence or if he seemed like he “ghosted” her or anything like that but I do know his behavior slowly graduates to more dangerous behavior. From his insecurities, rage, anger, short tempered and threatening Tiana. In early 2008 after his release from prison Tiana and her father even suspect he’s cheating on her. It is unclear if the parents knew what was going on with his past, but let’s continue the story.

If she did return to him it would demonstrate how much abuse was going on. It is not a foreign idea of abuse victims to return to their abusers. The reason behind this psychologically falls under the fact that leaving an abuser is a big decision in someone’s life. She is still young and they met when she was 23 years old. It sounds insane but people grow accustomed to their abuse. A victim will likely leave the abuser when they have support of others; but that is not guaranteed. Victim’s often blame themselves for their abusers behavior while the abuser blames them for their behavior too. Her support system with her parents and friends and family; is what helps her walk out of this type of relationship faster than what would be anticipated for toxic abusive relationships like this. In 2008, Tiana begins to end things with James and he was not happy about this at all. Tiana ending the relationship was a threat to his control over her. Abusers do not like their victims standing up to them. Her breaking up with him was another factor to why he would not turn her loose in life. She files a restraining order against him out of concern; which again is a smart move. However, without a lot of proof Tiana was going to have trouble with gaining police support. James in response tries to prove that Tiana is harassing him. This looks like a “couple’s” quarrel and usually most people do not want to be involved in those trivial moments.

On January 13, 2009, Tiana went back to the police and said she had been receiving emails and thought they were from James. The police told her unless she had proof it was him, they couldn’t do anything. So Tiana began receiving emails from a woman named Jessica Banderas as well as from James. The woman in the emails claimed to be an ex-girlfriend of James’ and the emails were very nasty, nefarious and threatening and Tiana received these emails for two days; which provided her the proof she needed and printed it for court. Some of the emails she was receiving stated "Trust me baby girl, you are going to lose everything," "As God is my witness, punishment is on the way, so be prepared," "You will have bad luck, you hear me? Remember this email when karma bites you in the ass." Tiana goes to Plainville Police Department to report him for violating the restraining order, only to be told by an officer the e-mails are non-threatening; this will make Tiana seem like she’s backed into a corner.

This is a very common thing that happens with women who are being stalked right before they are killed by men whether they are a boyfriend or stalker. Tiana‘s mother said that she actually went to the police 33 times in the course of six weeks constantly bringing them new evidence of what James was doing with text messages emails phone calls and following her everywhere she was going and violating the restraining order. He was sitting outside her apartment building in his car and following her when she goes shopping or travels to and from her temporary job at a local university.

Finally After being able to provide proof now she has to appear in court with James to both give their sides to the story. James had no proof that Tiana was harassing him but there was now proof that she was being harassed. The Judge’s solution was to give them both a six month restraining order against each other. It is evident that the situation is not being taken seriously.

On January 31, 2009, James went back to the police station and said Tiana had sent him a flyer with her name, picture and phone number on it. The police were suspicious of James’ story, but investigated it anyways. Tiana denied the letter came from her which led to the relationship being officially over by February 2009. Tiana began talking to her ex-boyfriend, Robert. They were planning to get back together and get married. According to Tiana’s friends and family, she had told James this several weeks before, and that’s when James’ harassment went up another notch. This is going to be a major point for him because not only is James losing control, this edges him on; many recognized he was mentally unstable but there are not enough laws to protect those whom are being harassed.

According to Tiana’s mother, Kathy Lewis, the last months of her daughter's life were trying. The police didn't help, so Tiana had her father put up a surveillance camera outside of her apartment. Her parents stepped in as much as they could because she would call her mother and say. “Mom you wouldn't believe these people, they treated me like dirt. They didn't believe anything I told them. They thought I was lying, and one officer accused me of having a fake restraining order,'" When her mother decided to speak to the sergeant directly to court that he snarled at her and said, 'Oh, nothing's going to happen to your daughter.' The Sergeant was incredibly wrong while Kathy was worried of her daughter becoming another domestic violence statistic.

On February 7, Tiana finds her car vandalized in her apartment house parking lot & her tires were slashed, all four of them. she knew it was James, but had no proof. She told her dad, Alvin, everything that was going on and she had him put in a security system. Apparently that night her father spent four hours with her going over different things that she can do. They did role-playing as if he was someone coming to attack her and how would she defend her self if someone was coming at her and where she would run to. The following day when she returns home she finds a letter pin to her front door stating "Tiana forgive me. I never cheated on you. If I'm lying may God take my life. Forgive me for everything else I have done." Unfortunately, there was no footage of Carter pending the letter to her door because apparently the tape ran out.

This is very common in Abusive relationships. The abuser will punish the victim and then proceed to be kind or ask for forgiveness with the expectations to receive what they are demanding of their victim. It is a continuous vicious cycle and unfortunately it is very common in toxic relationships.

That surveillance camera recorded the incident that ensued when James came after Tiana. The tape may have ran out to prove the footage of Carter being at her door pitting that letter but the Plainville police attempted to do a handwriting analysis. But this time, Plainville Police attempt to call Carter to ask him to come in and give a handwriting sample. The family was very close to celebrating because they were confident that perhaps they can have him arrested and her father told her not to go anywhere near her home. But the next day, on Valentine's Day evening, Tiana makes the mistake of going back to the apartment to pack a bag; Completely unaware of the fact that her ex-boyfriend was lurking in the shadows of her apartment complex on Valentine’s Day evening waiting for her to come home. Carter stabs Tiana about 20 times, twice in the heart, as she soon as she gets to her front door. But somehow she still had the strength to make a 911 call. "I'm bleeding to death," Tiana says on the 911 call. "My ex-boyfriend just stabbed me to death." Her Neighbors come to her aid. But You can hear her fading fast on the 911 call. Then she loses consciousness and Tiana is rushed to the local hospital.

The parents remember in great detail of course that they got to the hospital a quarter to midnight and the mother remembers the expression on the receptionist face when the parents had identify themselves. They talk about the look on the surgeons and the team of doctors so apparently work very hard to say Tiana’s life. The doctors even performed a hand massage on her heart but she has lost too much blood by then. Hand massages to the heart help slow the heart beat, what it does is It lessens the pressure put on the heart to circulate the blood around the body properly. It soothes a rapid heartbeat to allow the body to main homeostasis as best as it can. It can relieve physical and emotional stress.

In court her father read a poem by Tiana called “Chapter Closed’ which was about her leaving James. In the poem she talks about being released from his abuse, anger, temper, torture, control, jealousy, insecurity, threats and his ego.

Her parents identified her and everyone knew immediately who it was. James Carter II is now serving 60 years without parole for the savage slaying of Tiana Notice. Tiana’s case helped influence changes to the state's laws. Her parents with the help of Connecticut State Senator Mae Flexer and former state legislator Karen Jarmoc put together Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation; links below in the description for the foundation that provide awareness and outreach to communities about it. Karen Jamoc is now the head of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence has helped pushed for tougher laws to prevent domestic violence murders. 


Now there is a pilot program that provides GPS monitoring once the judicial system determines that the abuser is a high risk; the victim is alerted when the offender is coming within a certain distance of their home or work place or family members homes. This was pushed because Tiana had no idea he was by her home and might have been alive today if she did.

Following her murder Tiana's estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers who handled the complaints against James Carter II. A jury agreed with the family, awarding them a $10 million judgment. I do not know if the officers are still working; I only know about the $10 million judgment.

I believe in the US Oklahoma is 1st place, Kentucky a second place and Missouri is third place in regards to the most domestic violence statistics; I read That in Kentucky women who were victims of domestic violence we’re at 45.3% as of 2022 and men were at 35%. There are multiple sources in regards to how criminal data is collected whether it is based by the region, state nation. There are different date is to have different requirements so I’m going to be reading a few of the common statistics that I have come across.

1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime

1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime

1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have experienced stalking victimization during their lifetime in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed

On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.

In domestic violence homicides, women are six times more likely to be killed when there is a gun in the house.

Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.

Intimate partner violence is most common among women between the ages of 18-24.

National Domestic Violence Hotline Hours: 24/7. Languages: English, Spanish and 200+ through interpretation service

800-799-7233

Domestic violence can take a bevy of forms, including emotional, sexual and physical abuse and threats of abuse. Domestic violence can happen in heterosexual or same-sex relationships, friendships, and even between parents and children.

Abusive relationships are about an imbalance of power and control. An abuser uses intimidating, hurtful words and behaviors to control his or her victim. It’s not always easy to identify domestic violence as much as some people may believe. Some are crystal clear lucid demonstrations of abusive relationships while others may start off small and gets worse over time.

References

https://truecrimedaily.com/2016/02/08/man-violates-restraining-order-kills-ex-girlfriend-on-valentines-day/

https://www.tiananoticefoundation.org/tianas-poetry/

https://kileystruecrime.squarespace.com/kileystruecrimeaddict-blog/the-murder-of-tiana-notice

https://hhs.edu/2019/02/20/boost-your-heart-health-with-massage-therapy/

https://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-xpm-2014-04-28-hc-hartford-notice-suit-0429-2-20140428-story.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42539387/tiana-angelique-notice

https://twitter.com/aanotice

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/domestic-violence/art-20048397

https://psychcentral.com/pro/recovery-expert/2019/05/when-your-abuser-is-nice#1