▶ Watch Video: Facing a Monster
On Jan. 27, 1996, C.C. Opanowski was home alone from college in Hudson Falls, New York, house-sitting for her mother when her ex-boyfriend, Shawn Doyle, knocked on the door. Opanowski had grown up with Doyle and dated him in high school and into her freshman year of college.Once inside, Opanowski says Doyle became violent. "He pushed me onto the couch, started holding me down, restraining me, yelling at me. And he picked me up and pushed me against the French doors," she says. Then, she said, Doyle took scissors and cut off her ponytail. "He picked me up, held me up and cut off my hair, just all of it." "48 Hours" correspondent Anne-Marie Green asks Opanowski, "What was it like to have your hair cut off in this way?" Opanowski answers, "Demeaning." Green continues, "You think that is why he did it?" Opanowski answers, "Probably. Just to make sure he could knock me down somewhere." Opanowski says Doyle had gone in and out of violent rages, and at one point, he held scissors to her throat. "I thought he was gonna stab me," she tells Green.For the first time, Opanowski shares her powerful story with "48 Hours," speaking out about the attack, her long road to healing, and the strength it took to face her attacker in court. Green reports on a case that spans nearly three decades in "Facing a Monster," streaming now on Paramount+.C.C. Opanowski
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