Domestic stabbing victim steps forward to tell her story

OWATONNA, Minn. (KMSP) - Every time Jessica Dominguez looks in the mirror, it reminds her of the worst day of her life.

A scar, stretching from her right eye down her cheek, is all that's left of that fateful day last June.

Her boyfriend at the time stabbed Dominguez repeatedly at her own home, slashing her face with a buck knife while high on meth. Ron Jaeger, 34, demanded her keys and phone before stealing her car, but not before one last threat.

"He just stood over me, which felt like the longest 20 or 30 seconds of my life," Dominguez said. "I just put my head down thinking he was going to take one final blow, and he just turned on his heels and walked out the back door."

She was able to reach a neighbor, who called 911, but not before lasting damage was inflicted. Dominguez suffered a punctured lung, liver injuries and severed nerves in her face, among other things. 

Now, she's speaking out about her experience, saying if it can happen to her it can happen to anyone. She doesn't have any answers as to why she didn't leave an abusive relationship, saying she was never one to have low self-esteem or other similar issues.

"Hear my voice, maybe it could help someone," she said. "I could have, and should have walked away so many times, and I didn't. It took something like this to happen for it to be over."