COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — For more than two years, ABC6/FOX28 has been following the increase in domestic violence deaths in Columbus. So far in 2025, seven people have died from domestic violence.
A mother of a Columbus woman who survived is sharing her story with the hope it saves someone else’s life.
“She had been stabbed 10 to 12 times, one of which on her face,” said Jasmine Jackson. “One in the back of her head. One in her back. And then the remainder all in her upper chest.”
Jackson remembers when she got the call in March about her daughter, 26-year-old Malayah McHenry.
“It was from a chaplain at Mount Carmel East,” she said. “He told me my daughter had been stabbed in her home.”
Jackson then rushed to the hospital to see her daughter, who was in critical condition.
“I was completely overwhelmed with worry,” said Jackson. “Pain for my child that she had gone through this. The scariest thing I’ve ever been through was to have to face possibly my worst fear, which is losing a child.”
According to court records, Brandon Allen stabbed McHenry, his girlfriend, multiple times inside her apartment in Reynoldsburg. He’s charged with felonious assault and domestic violence. He’s in the Franklin County Jail currently.
“She told me she woke up to him slicing her up, those were her exact words,” Jackson said.
Jackson said her daughter was able to get away and made it to the neighbor’s apartment for help.
“You can see the struggle starting from the bed to the front door, her trying to escape, because by the front door there’s also a pool of blood by the front door, and my child fought him off slipping around in her own bed and was able to get out the front door,” Jackson explained.
Jackson said her daughter has a long journey ahead physically. She’s also worried about her mental health, and said the trauma won’t go away when the wounds heal. She set up an online fundraiser to hopefully help her daughter have one less thing to worry about. Donations can be made here.
“It makes my heart break for her, but again it also makes me very angry, because I know for a fact that she was there for him in ways that nobody else was there for him,” she said.
McHenry is still in the hospital, nearly two months after being stabbed. Her mom said she was recently taken off a ventilator but has a trach to help her breathe.
“This is what happens when you don’t leave. That was one of the first things she said when she was able to talk, and my daughter couldn’t express it enough, so I want to transfer those words to everybody listening,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t get better. This is what happens, or even worse, if you don’t leave. Don’t risk your life. Don’t risk your children’s lives, don’t even risk your mental health thinking that you can make somebody treat you the way that you already deserve to be treated if they’re not doing it immediately. Get out.”
Someone is always available 24/7 to talk with and help those experiencing domestic violence through the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The phone number is 800-799-7233, or text “begin” to 88788.
Jackson said she feels there needs to be stricter laws related to domestic violence, especially for repeat offenders.
