For three weeks in 2002, the "DC Sniper" terrorized the Washington DC metro area with random shootings that killed 10 people and seriously injured three.

After an intense manhunt, John Allen Muhammad, 48, and a then 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested and later convicted of the crimes. Malvo received a life sentence. Muhammad is slated to be executed by the state of Virginia on Nov. 10, 2009.

What many do not know is that this reign of terror was allegedly a ruse by Muhammad to murder his ex-wife, Mildred Muhammad, and to get custody of his children.

In the prologue to her book, 'Scared Silent: When The One You Love Becomes the One You Fear' (Atria Books, $23.00)' Mildred writes,

"For months I had looked over my shoulder for two people: John, my ex-husband who had promised to kill me, and 'the D.C. sniper,' who had terrorized the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area where I lived by randomly killing people. Now I was forced to reconcile that there was only one man."

Though she always felt threatened by John Muhammad, because she bore no physical scars, Mildred said that her pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

"I tried to get someone to listen to me that he was going to kill me," she told Black Voices, "but because I didn't have the physical scars to prove that I was a victim, I didn't get the help that I felt that I needed. Eighty percent of domestic violence is not physical. So you have a lot of people walking around wounded because nobody feels their pain."

With October being Domestic Violence Awareness month and her book being released on Oct. 13, Mildred Muhammad sat down with BV. She has a special message for the Black Voices community, which she says helped her during her time of need.

Spelman graduate, 'Access Hollywood' correspondent and Emmy Award-winning journalist Shaun Robinson is now an author. 'Exactly As I Am: Celebrated Women Share Candid Advice with Today's Girls on What it Takes to Believe in Yourself' (Ballantine) is filled with sage advice from noted women on everything from sex and body image to self-confidence and even crash diets.

"There were several things that inspired me to write this book," says Robinson of the two-and-a-half-year project. The first was just to touch the lives of the teen girls she regularly comes into contact with through her volunteer work with the foster care system of Los Angeles County. The other was about living a more meaningful life.

"I was listening to a sermon, and the pastor was saying that we constantly strive for more money, more stuff, a bigger car, a bigger house. And he was saying if you really want to live a more fruitful life, you really have to strive for significance, not just success. And in my own little way, this is how I'm giving back and saying thank you for the many blessings that have come into my life."