Editor’s note: The names in the following story have been changed.

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Beth and John are from a small rural town, 45 miles from Ames. They started dating a week before Beth graduated from high school.

“He was a perfect guy,” Beth said. Throughout the summer, John never once raised his hand to Beth.

Beth was planning to study at Iowa State in the fall. John stayed at home, knowing he was only an hour away from Beth.

The first weekend Beth went home she found out that John had cheated on her. She decided to break up with him.

But that weekend Beth and John had plans with her family and she didn’t want to break them, so they pretended to be happy. Later that night, she said he begged and cried, asking her not to break up with him.

She decided to stay with him. “I’m a forgiving person, unfortunately,” Beth said. Soon after Beth and John began dating again. John’s temper grew intense. He would punch in walls, break down doors and throw glass, not caring if anybody was in his way, she said.

In the past 12 months, there have been 99 crisis calls regarding female battering at ISU and 447 crisis calls from the Ames area, according to the Access Assault Care Center. Access assists anyone affiliated with the university.

Every year there are at least 4 million incidents of domestic violence reported. It is the leading cause of injury to women 15 to 44 years old, according to the Legal Aid for Abused Women.

“Our shelter statistics have increased dramatically this year,” said Nicole Hildenbrand, court systems director at Access. Hildenbrand said she doesn’t know if the increase is because people are becoming more aware of the services available for victims, or if abuse is getting more frequent.

With recent reports of a serial rapist loose on Midwest college campuses in four states, including Iowa, rape and sexual assault awareness issues have been thrust into the spotlight.

One night Beth told John she was studying at the library, but instead she went out with her friends. That night, John began leaving disturbing messages on her machine. He called her a “whore,” among other things.

John became suspicious and decided to drive to Ames that night to find her. When he got to Ames, Beth was not home. “When I got home he pushed me around,” she said.

Second semester, Beth transferred to a college in her hometown, at John’s request. John lived in a small town close to the college, so it would be easier for him to control her, Beth said.

By the end of June, John was planning to go out of town, so Beth stopped by his house to see him before he left. She noticed he had an apron in his hand. John took her hands and tied them behind her back with the apron.

“Will you please untie me?” Beth asked.

“Well, just a minute, I have a surprise for you,” John said. He led her into the house and then into the bedroom. He threw her on the bed and forced her to have sex, Beth said. She cried and begged him to stop, but he didn’t, she said.

“My wrists were all bruised and swollen,” she said. That Sunday, Beth broke up with John, hoping that would be all she needed to do to end the problem.

Later, in September and October, Beth went over to a friend’s house. John happened to be there. “I totally avoided him and he totally avoided me,” Beth said.

Beth said she felt safe since she was surrounded by friends.

“I went into the bathroom, but I didn’t even think to lock the door,” she said. John came in, took off his clothes and then forced her into the whirlpool that was nearby, where he raped her, she said. He held her for so long in front of the hot-water pressure point that she was bruised and bleeding, she said.

Beth said she felt like she couldn’t turn him in for raping her because people would look down on her. She did, however, go to court and got a restraining order against John.

Months later, Beth transferred back to ISU. Once, while she was lying down with shorts and only her bra on because it hurt too much to have a shirt rub against a scar on her back from the rape, a friend walked in.

Beth told him the story. He went to ISU counselors and told them Beth’s story. The counselors wanted to tell Beth’s parents, but she insisted they did not. Beth did consent to start meeting with a counselor on a somewhat regular basis.

Six months later, Beth found Tom, someone she felt she could trust and love again. Tom and Beth’s three-month anniversary is coming up, and Beth said she’s worried. She said three months is about how long John played his role as the “perfect guy.”

Beth said she’s doing better now and beginning to move one.

She still has scars, though, scars she says she’ll have for the rest of her life.