Obituary of Carly Ann Hassett

Carly Ann Hassett died suddenly on March 1, 2017 in Bell Buckle, TN. She was 29. She was bright, beautiful and made us laugh. We didn’t just love her; we were inspired by her because she was “the crack in the bell where the light gets in.” She is at peace and her love for us is safe in our hearts. Lead us from the darkness to the light Lead us from illusion to wisdom Lead us from death to deathlessness Lead us from conflict and suffering to harmony, peace and happiness. Hindu poem 900 B.C. Celebrations of Life will be held at a later date in Minnesota and Florida. My daughter was murdered in Bell Buckle on March 1st, 2017. She wasn't from Bell Buckle. She was born in Minneapolis in 1987 and her name was Carly Allenson. She loved Tennessee as her own and spoke about her backyard as if she were watching the nature channel. She loved the mountains and the way light and shadow are so different in the hills. Mostly she spoke about how much she loved Ella and JP, the two children that she cared for. They weren't her children by birth but she died trying to protect them. She was beautiful and artistic and even attended modeling school briefly while in high school in Florida. She wanted more from life. She wanted a home and children and what she called a "Real Life". Somewhere along the way she missed her mark. Carly's graduation and her attempts to establish herself coincided with the economic of 2007. She married but both were soon caught up in the trap of a jobless future with a man who also had no formal education. He did have a criminal record and she became passionate about prison reform and related issues. She was exposed to more dangerous elements as a witness to her husband's drug business and subsequent arrest. Carly was a born teacher and attended a technical school briefly in Florida during the Recession. A man named Jared soon came back into her life and top her "Rescue." The lure of rescue combined with the news that Jared had two small children was enough and she relocated to Tennessee with the three-time felon. In the chaos of not enough money and no clear path to her own goals, she established a small cleaning business that would give her some flexibility as she cared for the children and tried to make sense of her own life. The domestic abuse began after a year in the typical pattern of abusers - isolation, bullying, criticism, gaslighting, verbal abuse, physical abuse his refusal to work steadily or provide a structure for the care of the children. Drugs combined with aggression at the hands of a batterer made for a lethal duo. The was never enough time and never enough money. The domestic abuse escalated to dreadful threats and with three felonies om his record, Jared still possessed 2 guns. The opioids that flowed through Tennessee at that time were more dangerous than we could have known. I've asked myself over and over - why didn't she leave? Why didn't she just stop the craziness? The answer was always clear to Carly - she loved the children and wanted them to have a better future. She also believed she could "Save" Jared. Jared, in a haze of a meth and opioid binge, killed Carly, in a final act of domestic violence. I wish I had told her better how much I loved her. That I loved her when she's got her life together and that I love her in pieces. My heart misses her. The price of acceptance can't be measured in tears or time. She was extraordinary, she was spiritual, she was kind, she was loved. That didn't save her. I wish I had told her that we loved her however we found her. She loved her Children, her Chihuahua and her many cats. She loved Tennessee. Now her spirit is in the mountains and the birds that swoop and call. I listen for her. I'm no the first mother to say "My daughter was murdered by her abuser." 87,000 women around the world died from domestic violence in 2017, the year Carly was murdered.