Here are some stories of the WEAVE, or Women Ending Abuse via Empowerment, support group. The State Journal agreed not to use the women's last names to protect their privacy.

Barb, 62, was married to an older man, a "pillar of the community," for 27 years. He yelled. He controlled the money and her time. He would drop her dog off miles from their home. He bought guns that she would find and turn over to the sheriff's office.

"People were always saying to me, how come you never smile?"

Still, she cared for him, even when his dementia set in.

When he died, she learned that he had written her out of his will and had to go to court to fight for her part of the estate under Wisconsin's community property laws.

"He kept everything very secretive," she said.

Mary, in her 70s, suffered bruises and other traumas until her doctor insisted she seek help at the Dane County Domestic Abuse Intervention Services women's shelter.

"I parked two blocks away so no one would see I needed this kind of help," she said. "It took all the courage I had to ring that doorbell."

Nancy, 68, articulate and well-educated, had her dreams shattered.

"I was raised in the '50s," she said. "I was raised to be a romantic. I was looking for Prince Charming."

In three marriages, she found screaming, threats and violence. "There are some men who are predators who look for soft-hearted women that they can control," she said.

She pauses and fights tears recounting her first visit to the women's shelter, where she was embraced by women who were mostly younger and poor.

And she remembers the night she left her third husband, his fist smashing through the front-door window as she fled out the back. In desperation, she jumped a backyard fence and found shelter with students in a nearby house.

Sometimes, leaving the abuse opens a door — to a new and better life.

"This group really changed my life," Nancy said, looking at the others in her support network. "It saved my life, actually."