INDIANAPOLIS, IN – She was a child before she ever became a headline. A girl growing up in a house filled with violence, pain, and silence, where no one came to save her. By the time the world met Paula Cooper, she was labeled a killer—but long before that, she was a survivor. What happened on May 14, 1985, would shock the nation. But what led up to it? That part, most people never asked.
Indiana investigators reported that Paula Cooper’s life was marked by trauma long before her name made national headlines. At age 9, her mother tried to kill her and her sister, Rhonda, by locking them in a running car in the garage. They survived—but what came after was a different kind of death sentence.
The girls were shuffled through foster care and shelters. Rhonda left home at 14 and never looked back. Paula wasn’t so lucky—she became the focus of her father’s abuse.…