At Copley High School on November 4, Elsa and Jim Croucher spoke to a crowd of about 100 teachers, victim advocates and high school students about their daughter Tina Croucher and how she was murdered by her boyfriend in 1992. Tina was only 18. Seventeen years later, her parents, behind The Tina Project, were able to get House Bill 19 or the Tina Croucher Act passed in the state of Ohio. It requires education be provided in all schools about dating violence.
On that Thursday afternoon, Elsa and Jim talked about a daughter who was determined, smart and resourceful. Tina was around 18 months old and no matter what her parents did, they could not keep Tina in a crib. Elsa said that when Tina was a teen, if she wanted a new outfit, she would sell clothing she could do without to fund her new outfit. Elsa and Jim both regarded Tina as a strong-minded girl.
Things changed though when she met a handsome boy that went to another school and started dating him. This strong-minded girl found herself being told who and when she could see people and being physically, emotionally and verbally abusive relationship. After a violent episode at school where he threw Tina across the hall, Tina broke up with him. Elsa and Jim were adamant about Tina not seeing him and told Tina he was not to come to their home. Tina had a protection order and Jim and Elsa took measures to help their daughter stay safe, but that didn't stop him. Elsa said she would meet Tina after work so she wasn't alone. One night, Tina was closing at work and had to make a deposit. Elsa waited for her while Tina did this. When Tina seemed to be gone too long, Elsa's gut told her she should check things out. When she arrived, Tina's ex-boyfriend was laying on top of Tina's car.
Tina stayed away from him through high school....until he showed up at a gas station where Tina was pumping gas and told Tina how he had changed, was in counseling. Tina was in college and took him back. But this didn't last for long and she broke up with him again. He started stalking her again.
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| Terri Heckman, Exectuive Director of the Battered Women's Shelter with Elsa and Jim Croucher, parent's of Tina Croucher |
Then four days before Christmas, Elsa was at work and started calling home to check on Tina. The phone was busy after several attempts. So Elsa called her neighbor and asked her to check on Tina. Elsa didn't hear back from the neighbor. Elsa had a bad feeling and left work. When she pulled onto their street, police, ambulances and TV channel staff were in front of her house and they were rolling out a dead body. Tina's ex-boyfriend had come into the house, shot Tina in the head and then killed himself.
I'm sure Tina, in her worse nightmare, never thought when she met this handsome football player, things would end up this way. No woman, or man for that matter does.
I thank you immensely for this blog post. I did not know any of the details of Tina's death. In 1992 I was 30 years old and had never met my own father, Tina's father James Croucher. I did not know I had a sister named Tina who was only 18. In 1994 I reunited with her father, my father. 2 years into their mourning my sister's murder, I met the Crouchers, my father and my mother in-law and an extended family including grandchildren. They tried and succeeded in having a merry Christmas that year. My father showed me video of Tina the sister I would never know, and it was clear she was a happy and funny girl secure in a great family. She had what I did not, a real dad. Absorbing their pain was not part of my plan that Christmas. Feeling the loss of her was not healthy emotionally, even for me, never having met her. Thank you and please leave this post in place. - James Mason, son of James W. Croucher, Tina's father.
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