SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Every year during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, Family Crisis Centers hosts an empty chair display in Sioux Center.

Now, in November, the display moves to Sioux City.

“Someone else decided her fate for her,” Stevie Sullivan said. She lost her daughter, Peiten, to domestic violence in 2018.

Sullivan said: “She was killed by her ex-boyfriend, along with one of her best friends, Felipe, who was also killed. He was a great kid. She just had a love life and she loved to smile and make people laugh, and she was just, she was wonderful.”

Peiten was only 17 years old.

Sullivan said: “She was like any other victim and they weren’t. Silence is the key. They keep quiet because they don’t want people to know, they don’t want people to know that someone they think they love is hurting them.”

Each of the chairs at Southern Hills Mall represents six people whose lives have been lost to domestic violence.

This is the first year the Family Crisis Center’s “Empty Chair Screen” will come to Sioux City.

It’s in the green space next to Scheels and Barnes & Noble for next week.

There are several victims from Sioux City represented in our display along with others from Iowa.

Sullivan said, “For it to be here and see more people able to see it and reach more people and have a bigger impact on a community. It’s just wonderful.”

The display stops people as they make their way through the mall.

“We really wanted to make this display something they could see locally,” said Tara Raman, director of marketing and development for Family Crisis Centers. She continued, “so that other people can see locally that people who heard about what happened or knew them, would have a place at home to go to.”

This display takes place just before Homicide Survivors Awareness Month, which takes place every year between November 20 and December 20.

Luna recognizes those left behind, like Stevie, after the violent loss of a loved one.

The Sioux Center display is usually 2 victims per chair, but due to the small size of the green space at the Sioux City Mall, we decided to condense the display.

Sullivan said, “Ever since Peyton died, we’ve tried to raise as much awareness as possible, to try to help more people get out of situations before they have the tragic end that Peyton did.”

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This display will be installed at the mall until Friday, November 15th.

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