Meet Deidra

Deidra Ritchhart was born on April 19, 1994 in Joplin, Missouri. She grew up on a small farm her whole life in Jasper, MO. Her parents owned a small modular home in which they had to upgrade as her and her siblings got older. Her life would be what you consider now as living in poverty. Her dad was a farmer and her mom was a part-time teacher aide. Growing up, she spent the majority of her time away from her parents, at her grandparents house. She had a loving relationship with her grandparents, but her parents always seemed to work all the time and didn't really seem to have a whole lot of time to take care of her. 

In school, the kids seemed to have way more then she ever did. She wore sweat pants or jeans and a T shirt, while most kids wore $100 jeans and buttoned-up shirts. The kids growing up would always bully the ones who didn't have as much money, or nicer clothes. It was harder growing up in a small little town of 800 people.

Deidra graduated Jasper High School in 2012. Shortly after that, her mother was diagnosed of Colon Cancer. This was a very difficult time for the family. Especially because it was right around the time Deidra got accepted into college on a music scholarship. She had to continue working on grades, schoolwork, and music classes......

In December of 2013, Deidra's paternal grandfather passed away. He was going through skin cancer and was put on narcotic medication. Shortly after he had surgery to remove a part of his neck, his neighbors across the street came to knock on the door, beat him to death, and stole his prescription medication.

"I was in college at the time going through finals. I got a call from mom & dad and they said something is very wrong. Grandpa died in an instant and your father was there the day before. Some neighbors found him dead when they came to check on him."

"This was one of the worst times of my life. I needed to go straight home and not even worry about finals, but all my teachers said I would be receiving incomplete grades. I didn't want to do that because I would be having to retake all these tests and I didn't want to do that. I had no choice but to finish all these tests and go home when I could."

In 2014, Deidra's maternal grandfather passed away from a fall after receiving a broken hip. This was another time during the week of finals and made it especially difficult to finish college. But she finally finished Junior College in December 2015.

In August 2015, Deidra's paternal grandmother passed away. She was a very special person to her and she had moved to college at Oklahoma State right around the time of her passing. She was not able to make it to her funeral, and its regretted to this day. It was quite a day when she had just moved away and couldn't get back home for a family emergency. I think all this grief was about coming out stronger and even more grateful for family in the end......

In 2017, Deidra experienced a sexual assault while still in college in Oklahoma. This was a major traumatic event of her life. 1 in 4 victims ages 18-24 experience this in their lifetime. Such a high number, yet millions of women and girls don't receive the justice they deserve. THIS is why she advocates for victims of crime..... This country treats criminals better than the victims. Criminals get 3 meals a day and free therapy while victims can barely eat from the trauma they are living from, and don't always get free therapy. 

"I will make it my duty to fight for victims everyday when I'm in office, and I will make sure justice prevails. The statistics of sexual abuse are staggering......"

The average sentence for offenders convicted of abusive sexual contact is 27 months.

The average sentence for offenders convicted of statutory rape is 30 months.

The vast majority of perpetrators will NOT go to jail OR prison.

Only 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assault's are reported to police. That means that more than 2 out of 3 go unreported.

43% of females in the military are sexually assaulted!!!