BOISE, Idaho — With the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, friends and family take time to honor Susan Bredeson Newby.
Newby, also known as "Sue B," died at 53 in 2008 from a mysterious horseback riding incident while at Rock Canyon in Eagle with her husband Mark Newby, the Ada County Sheriff's Office confirmed.
She was a woman who adored many hobbies – cooking, soccer, and horseback riding –according to her friend, Teresa Andrew.
"Horses were probably her true love," Andrew told KTVB. "I think if she was here now, she would still be breeding and training horses."
Andrew is a friend of Sue's. She remembers the day her friend died very vividly.
"(Mark) answered the phone, and he was kind of sobbing, and said that she'd fallen off the horse, that the horse had bucked her off, and she was in the canyon, and she didn't survive," Andrew said.
Friends and family began to grow suspicious.
"I just felt haunted," Andrew said. "I felt like she was telling me something's wrong. She wouldn't walk her horse along the edge of a cliff and horses would not walk along the edge of a cliff."
It wasn't until after Sue's death police suspected she was most likely in an abusive relationship with her husband.
A report by Erik Schimdt at the Ada County Coroner's Office ruled Sue's cause of death "blunt force trauma" and she "fell from a horse," according to the report. The manner of death "could not be determined," according to the report.
Police suspect Mark pushed Sue off her horse, and off the cliff of the canyon, ACSO told KTVB. When deputies went to serve a search warrant at their house, they said Mark barricaded himself inside.
A report by Jamie Barker at the Ada County Coroner's Office shows Mark died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"We were finding out all these things that we didn't know about, the isolation and the brow beating and all the different things to get control of her," Andrew said.
All of it was hard to hear, she added.
"It was a really heartbreaking thing that we couldn't help her at the time, because we didn't know," Andrew said. "I've lost family members, and I'm sad and I'm heartbroken, but with Sue, it's kind of like she was taken."
When she wants to be with Sue, Andrew will visit the Horse Chestnut Tree in Boise's Kristin Armstrong Park, which is dedicated to Sue. There's also a plaque with her name on in below the tree.
Sue's friends and family turned to the Women's and Children's Alliance (WCA) for support.
"I remember very clearly getting a call from Marj, who's Sue's sister," Beatrice Black, the CEO of WCA told KTVB. "They really wanted to honor her memory."
Now sue is honored every year at the "Sue B walk" event in Julia Davis Park. This year being the 15th, and participants will walk or run a 5k.
You can register for the event on the WCA website.
"It's a good day," Andrew said emotionally about the race. "I get excited when I see people, especially kids and younger people, because they need to know. It's important that they come, and they learn … you shouldn't be treated that way."
The event allows for conversations about domestic violence to take place.
"Having that opportunity to recognize in the midst of something so tragic that can be an opportunity to help others better understand what to look out for and also what the resources are," Black said.
And continuing to tell Sue's story is a promise the one's close to her continue to keep.
"We promised Sue on her deathbed that we would never let her be forgotten, so here we are," Andrew said. "A good friend deserves to be remembered."
According to Black, funds raised from the race and other donations to the "Sue B Endowment Fund" have hit more than $250,000. Black said that money allows the WCA to continue and provide resources, including court advocates, therapists and safe houses for domestic violence and sexual assault victims and survivors.
The WCA has a 24-hour domestic and sexual assault Hotline. You can reach them by calling 208-343-7025.