THE WAY OUT

Editor’s note: The following story is about domestic violence and contains explicit language. Reader discretion is advised.

All Alysia Eichman wanted was her chance to speak.

It never came.

“The rug was ripped out from under me,” said Eichman, who was talking about a court hearing a few weeks ago involving her husband, Kenneth Noriega.

That hearing was focused on a plea deal Noriega had reached with the Mariposa County District Attorney’s Office.

He had originally been charged with attempted murder and many other felonies. But through a plea agreement, those were reduced to one felony count, resulting in his release that very day.

The original charges were attempted murder, rape by force, fear, etc., oral copulation by use of force/injury, threatening a crime with intent to terrorize, prevent/dissuade witness victim by threat/force, injuring spouse, cohabitant, boyfriend, girlfriend or child’s parent and false imprisonment with violence, etc. All of those are felonies.

But a plea agreement between Noriega and the Mariposa County District Attorney’s Office dropped the first six charges and Noriega agreed to plead no contest to false imprisonment with violence, etc.

Eichman said she knew there was nothing she could do about the plea agreement, though she didn’t agree with why it was reached. She was told because she has current charges pending, it would be better to take the deal.

“I was pulled into a room,” she said. “They said it was to protect me.”

Eichman admits she does have charges pending, including five misdemeanor charges of child endangerment. That came as a result of her leaving a women’s shelter.

Her four children are all in foster care and Eichman is back in the women’s shelter, where she said she is working to change her life around.

Yet she still believes the case against her husband should have went forward.

“I wanted to go to trial,” she said.

But that didn’t happen.

“I am sickened. I am disgusted. I am shell shocked,” she said.

That, however, does not change the fact she did not read aloud her 18-page victim impact statement when Noriega was sentenced in Mariposa County Superior Court.

(See related story on page 1 about why she didn’t read the statement.)

“I felt robbed of a legal right,” said Eichman. “I feel like all of this is for naught. I wanted my voice heard.”

She felt being able to read the statement would be the “bare minimum” since she knew she could not do anything about the plea agreement that was reached and approved by the court.

That, she said, is why she is coming forward to tell her story to this newspaper.

“I want to shed light,” she said. “Because I look at other women who were let down.”

The story begins

Eichman’s story with Noriega began 14 years ago and continues to this day as they share four children.

It was 2008 when they met at a party in Fresno. Her boyfriend at the time brought him to the party, she said.

“I didn’t like him,” said Eichman.

But, she said she was “getting more into drinking. My life was going downhill.”

She said while drinking heavily, she moved in with her father but that situation was untenable. She said Noriega suggested she move in with him.

That started the beginning of a relationship that lasted 14 years and produced those four children.

Eichman said at the time, she was drinking heavily.

“I washed away my worries. I was stuck in addiction and stuck in a relationship,” she said.

Yet she said in spite of it all, including what she claims was an abusive relationship, she still “wanted a kid with him, but not for the right reasons.”

She said she planned on having the child when she was just 20 years old.

“I got sober for the pregnancy,” said Eichman. “It was a miracle.”

The other three children were “not planned,” she said.

Her children are now two, six, seven and 10 years old.

During all of this time, Eichman said she felt “stuck” in the relationship and said even if she would have left, “there was so much pressure” it would have been hard to bear.

Over the years, Eichman has been in and out of women’s shelters, saying she has suffered abuse during the entire time.

“I was in an abusive relationship, but not every day,” she said. “There was a side of him when he was a good dad.”

Eichman said to stay together that long means something, so there were good times to go along with the bad times.

Why stay?

One question that all people in an abusive relationship are asked is why they stay — and why for so long?

“He’s going to change,” said Eichman about what she told herself.

She also said there was “brainwashing” and “isolation,” along with “begging me back and bribes. I couldn’t turn to anyone anymore, in my mind.”

Eichman also said she lost “confidence” in herself and felt “dumbed down.”

She also said there was “financial abuse” involved, something that is common among many victims.

In June of last year, Eichman said she was “severely abused” and once again went into a women’s shelter for safety.

“I had to be taught the word abuse,” she said.

Yet back she went, which would eventually lead to the fateful day of Nov. 26, 2024; a day in which Eichman said she thought would be her last on the planet.

In her written victim statement, that was given to the court for the formal record, Eichman outlines how it was a week earlier when “the defendant abused me in our home in front of my children at about 3 a.m. in the morning … I was woken up by the defendant shaking my arm vigorously and shoving my cell phone in my face as he yelled, ‘What is this, Alysia? Who the f**k are you talking to? Tell me now! Who is this?!”

Eichman said she immediately packed up her belongings, and those of her children, so they could leave for the shelter. She said by 6:30 a.m., she was ready to leave but “the defendant was back with a friend of his drinking in a van parked in my driveway.”

She said she walked outside and demanded they both leave or she would call law enforcement. They did drive away and she finished packing and was taken in by Mountain Crisis Services’ shelter, where they were admitted “promptly.”

She said on Nov. 26, the parents of her husband asked if they could have the children over for an early Thanksgiving. Though she hesitated, Eichman said eventually she decided to let them go there for a few hours.

“And your honor, thank God I did, for what was about to happen to me inside that house.”

The day

She decided to go back to the house to retrieve more personal belongings for herself and the children. She considered asking for a law enforcement standby, but said she was in a hurry and “I regretfully never made that phone call.”

Eichman said when she arrived at the house, her husband stepped out the door and “I instantly got scared, and I was worried if I had made a mistake by returning to the home alone.”

But, she tried to “stay strong,” said Eichman, adding she went into the house thinking it would be only 10 to 15 minutes.

She said he asked her to go to Merced to deliver a package, something she knew she would not do. Yet she also felt danger and wanted to figure out how to get out of the house and leave.

What would unfold, she said, has changed her life; a life she cherishes after the arrest of her husband and what has transpired since that time. She said he persisted in wanting her to go to Merced to deliver that package.

She flat refused and wanted to leave.

“This is when he completely snapped and lost all control of his anger,” she wrote in her letter to the court.

“I thought he was going to try to kill me,” she said.

She said words could not describe what she was going through, though she did come up with something explicit: “A grown man would fuckin’ piss.”

That is how she described her fear and how she was “beyond scared. There was nothing I could do to save my life.”

She referenced the fact he is a large man and how “hard he slammed my head” while in the house.

“I just knew I was going to die,” she said.

At one point, she hid her phone, knowing he wanted to have possession of the device. That device, she said, became an obsession as he accused her of having affairs and he wanted possession of the phone. She also knew it was her lifeline and he didn’t want her to have it for that reason.

In her written statement to the court, she claims she was raped and beaten in the house. She also admitted to taking a drink of vodka because she thought that might help ease the pain and maybe the entire situation. She was five months sober at that time.

She did agree to get into the car and go to Merced. She intentionally left her phone in the house, knowing he would insist upon keeping it. Before they left the driveway, though, she wrote in her court document, he demanded the phone. She went into the house and retrieved the phone, she wrote, and he immediately took possession.

Eichman knew her time was short because it is about eight minutes from the house to where West Whitlock Road intersects Highway 49 North. She knew if he saw some of the content on the phone, her life could be over.

“I was so scared,” she said. “I literally had a few minutes.”

Because she was forced to drive, Eichman was trying to figure out what she could do to save her life.

She considered driving off the side of the road and taking her chances when the vehicle came to a stop. She then considered trying to “brush” an oncoming vehicle, not to try to harm anyone, but to try to get attention.

No car ever came.

She also knew that on many occasions, tree workers were along the road and she was hopeful that would be the case this day.

“There was a huge white truck with several tree workers out on the side of the road,” she wrote in her victim impact statement. “This was my chance.”

Eichman wrote that she knew she had to do several things at once.

“I had to roll down my window to start screaming for help, at the same time I had to unbuckle, slow down the car and slam it into park. Also, I had to unlock and throw open the door and jump out even if the car was still moving,” she wrote in her court document.

She still can’t recall exactly how it all went down, not even knowing if the car was stopped all the way when she jumped out.

But she does know there were four tree workers witnessing what must have been an unbelievable scene in front of them.

She ran to the biggest of the men, went behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, all the while screaming her husband was trying to kill her.

“Shell shocked,” is how she described the tree worker.

She said one of the workers was “already on the phone” calling 911. Noriega also jumped out of the car, she wrote, but the tree worker said he was not going to let anyone hurt her.

“I was free,” she said.

The workers, indeed, called 911 but by the time law enforcement arrived, the car was gone and so was her husband. She believes he went to Los Angeles.

A warrant was put out for his arrest and he did eventually return to Mariposa where he was put into jail, a place he remained until he was released following the sentencing. Since that time, his case has made its way through the court system and the end result was the plea agreement from the DA’s office and Noriega being released from jail.

The fallout … and the future

Since everything has unfolded, Eichman has gone back to the shelter where she is currently undergoing counseling and trying to get her life back in order.

Her main goal is her children, hands down.

“Those poor kids,” she said while tearing up during the interview. “That is the number one reason. I knew I had to protect them.”

She reflected back over the years, saying they witnessed things children should not have to endure. But she also said it was “not constant,” and, again, admitted to her substance and alcohol abuse.

Her main focus is completing her rehabilitation and getting her kids back. She has a long-term goal of having a safe home for her children and living some semblance of a normal life.

But before any of that can happen, she knows she has to stay clean and do what is necessary to get her life back.

In doing that, she can also reflect on what her life has been like as well as knowing there are many other women out there in her same shoes.

She cited a statistic she read that indicated a victim will go back an average of seven times before finally leaving an abusive relationship.

“I am a living statistic,” she said.

She said it was always in her mind that the situation “was going to change,” but it never happened.

“Get out,”she said when asked her advice to people in a similar situation. “Do it safe.”

She called Mountain Crisis Services a “saving grace to this community” and wants that message to be known by others who may be in abusive relationships.

That there is help.

Her goal now is to get “trauma healing.”

She’s also in counseling, something she said she needs because of not just of the abusive situation she was in, but also what happened in the legal system.

“It gets worse and worse,” said Eichman. “I felt robbed of a legal right.”

That’s another reason Eichman decided to tell her story publicly.

“I want to say my story,” she said. “I want to shed light … because look at other women who were let down.”

For Eichman, she’s focused on graduating from her rehabilitation program, which will take a minimum of three months.

“I am going to make it out the other side,” she said. “But I have a long road ahead of me.”

She credits “God” and “sheer will power” as to why she is convinced this time is different.

“My brain switched,” said Eichman.

Because she has gone back so many times, could it happen again?

“Not a snowball’s chance,” she said.

Eichman plans to resume her jewelry business as well as her cleaning business, both she said were successful — until she wasn’t and had to halt both.

“It is about creating your future,” she said. “I have been working on this mentally.”

Part of that future includes financial stability and a group of her friends recently started a GoFundMe page to help her and her children with expenses. Donations can be made at gofund.me/30a8f6d3

That future, she hopes, will include raising her children, making a living, finding that dream place to live and spending the rest of her life trying to do what she believes is the right thing.

It certainly is likely to be a long road, but Eichman is determined to make it work this time.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, help is available. Locally, Mountain Crisis Service provides a 24-hour hotline. That number is (888) 966-2350 or (209) 742-5865. The national hotline for domestic violence is (800) 799-7233. You can also text “start” to 88788 to do a text chat with an expert.