A year ago, when Karen Bell’s three children were murdered by her husband, she could see only darkness ahead. Now she tells Glen Williams why she’s finally able to move on.
Only a short while ago, we knew Karen Bell as a woman of unspeakable sorrows – the mother of three beautiful children who were murdered by their own father.
Today, as she talks exclusively to Woman’s Day, some of her anguish has faded. Karen, 34, is in love again – and having a baby.
“This is a joy I haven’t felt for such a long time,” Karen reveals, holding back tears that reveal the disbelief she feels at her life turning around.
“This just happened. I wasn’t planning on it. I didn’t think I’d ever fall in love again.”
June 27 will mark one year since Karen’s estranged husband Gary Poxon committed the ultimate senseless act of vengeful cruelty. He took their children – Jack, 8, Maddie, 7, and baby Bon, 16 months – and killed them by running two hoses into his four-wheel drive and filling it with lethal carbon monoxide. Poxon also died in the car that day on the NSW far south coast.
Karen was in the throes of fleeing her abusive marriage when the tragedy happened. When Woman’s Day first met her late last year, she was still fragile with unrelenting grief. The thought of one day loving again or mothering another child was a faint glimmer.
“It will take a while just to learn to trust someone again,” she told us. “To love again is going to be quite challenging.”
Then Dean Gray came along – a humble, hard-working house painter; a stoic bloke of few words, but a man big enough to show Karen some much needed tenderness…
Read the full story in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale June 15, 2009.
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