January is Stalking Awareness Month and this week  on her blog, Jodislaw.com,  Angela Daffron is recounting, day by day, the events following the kidnapping and murder of Jodi Sanderholm, a neighbor and close family friend in Ark City, Kansas, two years ago. Daffron, who moved to Santa Fe shortly before Jodi's disappearance, starts with first getting the call from her father:

I looked into my rearview mirror and saw my ten year-old daughter sitting in the backseat. She had known Jodi her entire life. Jodi and her sister had babysat for her until we moved to New Mexico. They were the older girls that she looked up to. How would I tell her?

I asked my father to clarify. He responded, “They have someone they are talking to.”

I still thought it must be a misunderstanding, but got off the phone and told my daughter that Jodi was missing. With concern in her eyes she nodded her understanding. During the twenty minute drive home I shook my head in disbelief that something like this could happen in the small town of approximately 12,000 people that I grew up in. This was a typical small town where people may or may not lock their doors. Jodi had never met someone who wasn't a friend. Who could possibly want to harm her?

In February 2008, SFR printed a Q&A with Daffron, who now dedicates her free time to lobbying for tougher anti-stalking laws. According to Daffron, New Mexico tightened its anti-stalking laws a few years ago, but hasn't updated the language to include new technology like text messages and instant messaging.

"I've met with some resistance here in New Mexico," she said. "A lot of the lawmakers have told me that it's just not a New Mexico story...The strange thing is, across the nation, according to the Stalking Resource Center, one in 12 women will be stalked in their lifetime. In New Mexico, that statistic goes down to one in four."

UPDATE:

Daffron will lead a "Santa Fe Stalking Awareness Town Hall Meeting " on Jan. 14, from 7-9pm at the SF Rape Crisis and Treatment Center, 6601 Valentine Way, Santa Fe, NM 87507. 505.988.1951