The Grand Junction woman was shot in the back of the head by an intimate partner in February of this year. The shooter waited 90 minutes to call for an ambulance. Schulke underwent emergency surgery, which included four metal plates to repair her damaged skull. Today, she still has bullet fragments that traveled to her heart and lungs, and she lives with a blood clot in her brain, requiring her to inject blood thinner medication twice a day. She shouldn’t be here.

And yet, she is.

On Thursday evening, Schulke shared her harrowing story of that February night at the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center’s annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil and Remembrance Ceremony at St. Paul Lutheran Church. She ended her story with a message to other victims of domestic violence — “You can survive, like I did.”

Schulke met her former fiance when she was 18 years old. He wasn’t quite 18 yet, so they were just friends, but she found him charming and down-to-earth. For many years, they lost touch, but rekindled their friendship in 2020. Soon after, that friendship progressed into a relationship and they moved in together in Grand Junction.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Rhiannon Stolt, of Omaha, at right, helps comfort Peyton Smith, of Webster City, during the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge. Smith is the son of Joni Manning who was murdered in July of 2001 in her rural Webster County home.

Her partner had two young children whose mothers weren’t really in the picture, so Schulke gladly filled that maternal role for them, she said.

“He put on a good front early on in the relationship,” Schulke said. “He was really sweet and considerate at first.”

After about a year and a half, things changed and Schulke’s partner would often drink heavily.

“He would become a completely different person,” she said.

That’s when the abuse, manipulation and gaslighting began. And it wasn’t just Schulke who was the target of his anger, she said — he’d also direct it at the kids.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Doug Campbell, of Des Moines, stands next to his daughter, Heather Campbell's red figure Thursday evening during the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge. Campbell's daughter, Heather Campbell, was killed on July 11, 2010.

Schulke said she wanted to call the Department of Human Services and report it, but she didn’t think they would believe her.

“Or even if they did, that they wouldn’t do anything about it,” she said.

Her partner also threatened to leave her and take the children if she reported him, so she didn’t.

“I was afraid to lose my family,” Schulke said.

The domestic abuse continued. Sometimes, he’d threaten Schulke with a knife.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Keynote speaker Jennifer Schulke tells her story during the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge.

“He’d always minimize it, like he was teaching me a lesson,” she said.

Eventually, the abuse led to Schulke almost losing her life.

On Feb. 4, Schulke’s then-fiance was agitated after a night of drinking with the neighbor. They were in their bedroom — the kids were spending the night with a relative — and Schulke had changed into her pajamas to get ready for bed.

“[He] insisted I bring out my gun, asking where it was,” she said. “I pointed out where I was keeping it, but he insisted that I bring it out, so I did because I was concerned about what he would do if I didn’t.”

She sat the gun on the nightstand and he wrapped his arm around her neck and placed her in a chokehold. Fighting back, she began scratching his arms to collect his DNA under her fingernails “just in case.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Rhiannon Stolt, of Omaha, at left, helps comfort Peyton Smith, of Webster City, during the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge. Smith is the son of Joni Manning who was murdered in July of 2001 in her rural Webster County home.

Schulke was nearly passed out when her fiance picked up the gun and made a point to show her the safety was off.

“And then that was the last thing that I remember before waking up lying on the floor,” she said.

Upon waking up, Schulke couldn’t move her arms or legs and her head was bleeding heavily. Initially, she didn’t know that she had been shot in the back of the head — her fiance told her she just fell and hit her head. It took him 90 minutes to call 911.

Over the last nine months, Schulke has had to relearn how to do the most basic things that most people don’t even think about — eating, holding utensils, writing, typing and walking. Though she’s still healing from her emotional scars as well as the physical ones, she wants to be a light for others who are going through what she’s been through.

“Do what you can to reach out for help,” she said. “You’re not alone.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Doug and Vicki Campbell, of Des Moines, listen to keynote speaker Jennifer Schulke Thursday evening during the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge. The Campbells' daughter, Heather Campbell, was killed on July 11, 2010.

Over the summer, Schulke’s former fiance was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to up to 36 years in prison.

“It’s been extremely hard, emotionally, to let go of [him],” she said. “I still love him, and may forgive him someday, but I’ll never forget.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
One of the participants in the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center's annual Domestic Violence Awareness Candlelight Vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge places a lit electric candle on a tray during the event.