Victims of domestic violence honored in Silent Witness March

CHEYENNE — A group of around 30 people carried life-sized silhouettes through downtown Cheyenne on Monday. The red wooden outlines, called “silent witnesses,” depicted the figures of women who were victims of domestic violence in Wyoming.

“These are called the silent witnesses because they are silent, but what happened to them speaks so loudly,” said Zonta Club of Cheyenne member Mary Walker.

Friends and loved ones of victims carried the silhouettes from the Wyoming State Capitol to the Laramie County Library, marching through the street in silence. When they reached the library, attendees assembled in the Cottonwood Room and lined up the silhouettes behind the stage.

There, in front of the 12 silhouettes, Zonta Club members shared the stories of women who lost their lives from domestic abuse in Wyoming. Each one had a plaque with the name and story of a victim of domestic abuse. Another had a plaque to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

“Unfortunately, many victims are unsolved cases and unable to be represented by an individual silhouette,” said Zonta member Cassandra Stith, who helped organize the event this year. “It is for this reason that there’s a silhouette here today representing countless missing and murdered Indigenous women who will never see justice.”

Another, which stood several feet shorter than the others, was set up to honor 5-year-old Brandy Jo Imhoff, who died in 1991 in Cheyenne, just a few days before Christmas.

She was murdered when she intervened in a physical altercation between her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, who was 36 at the time. He severely beat Brandy and threw her out into the yard. Brandy was later brought into the house and died sometime that night. Brandy’s body was hidden in the home for a week.

The boyfriend placed Brandy’s body in a kitchen cabinet and lit the house on fire. 

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five to seven years in prison for arson and 30 to 50 years in prison for the murder. He is incarcerated at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington.

Speakers and audience members shed tears and shared embraces throughout the event. Following the presentation of the women depicted in the silhouettes, attendees were invited to go to the front of the room to share their story.

The first to step up were Cecilia and Ricardo Elizondo, mother of Angela Marie Elizondo, who was killed in 2019 by a stalker, Cecilia said.

She reflected on her daughter’s life, saying Angela loved her son, and that her body was discovered by a hunter in Cody three weeks ago, bringing the family one step closer to some form of justice.

Another speaker was Elizabeth Juarez, the mother of Victoria Juarez, who was honored in a silhouette at the back of the stage.

Victoria began working as a hostess and server at Los Abuelos in Cheyenne at the age of 19, where she met her stalker, who later became her killer. She also worked at Cheyenne Healthcare Center and was a participant in Climb Wyoming.

When she was murdered, she left behind her son, Victor, who was 2½ years old.

On June 26, 2017, Victoria was getting ready for her first day as a student at Laramie County Community College. According to the plaque on her silhouette, she kissed Victor goodbye, told her dad, “I will see you later” and closed the door.

That day, she was murdered, and the killer stole her car and left her to die in the basement of where he lived and worked.

He was arrested on July 5, 2017, just before her funeral, and later sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. He is currently in the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington.

Elizabeth said she is raising Victor, who is now 10 years old. She reflected on when he first knocked on his mother’s door and asked for his mother, not sure why there were so many people in the room at his home following Victoria’s murder.

She said her heart hurts every day, and she wears a heart pendant containing some of her daughter’s ashes.

Following the ceremony, Zonta members placed the silhouettes in the hallway outside the Cottonwood Room.

The memorials will remain in place until Dec. 10 as part of Zonta’s national campaign against gender violence. The 16-day timeframe begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and ends on International Human Rights Day.

The exhibit also contains proclamations signed by Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon decrying the atrocities of domestic violence and the need to end it. 

Zonta of Cheyenne has been participating in this national event for 20 years, and has incorporated the red wooden signs for the past 12.

According to the Wyoming Department of Health, 33.9% of women and 30.5% of men in Wyoming experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes. An estimated 16.3% of Wyoming women are stalked in their lifetimes. In 2024, 1,959 domestic violence incidents were reported to law enforcement, and 49.6% of these incidents resulted in an arrest. More than 84% of these incidents were classified as assaults.

The following women are honored in the exhibit: Madison Shana Cook, 20; Brandy Jo Imhoff, 5; Victoria Elizabeth Juarez, 21; Kary McKinney, 35; Robin Munis, 40; Gabby Petito, 22; Lynne Poole, 58; Janessa Rae Spencer, 26; Crystal Town, 29; Teresa Zimmerman, 51, and all missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

This story was published on Nov. 25, 2025.