"I was kind of crumpled on the floor, between the sink and the commode, and I remember focusing on their cries," she said, "because I didn't know if I'd ever hear them again."

It was September 2008. Roby had been living in an abusive relationship for 11 years. That morning, as she got ready for church in her home outside the Parkersburg area, her abuser asked her a question.

When she didn't answer right away, he lashed out. He shoved her over and over, threatening her and blocking her from leaving the room. Her head bounced off a cabinet. Roby suffered injuries to her eye and head.

"To this day," Roby said, "I still don't know what question that was."

Now 33 and living in Wirt County, Roby is working to change state laws. She wants the Legislature to create a misdemeanor offense of unlawful restraint. Thirty-eight other states have such a law.

She's calling her proposal "Celena's Law."

Abusers often restrain their victims to control and terrorize them, said Angie Rosser, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. They might lock them in a room or hold them down.

"Nothing [in the law] really addresses what we commonly see in domestic violence situations," Rosser said.

West Virginia has a felony kidnapping offense on the books, but it doesn't apply to many domestic violence incidents, she said. The law against kidnapping says the situation must involve the offender restraining or taking a victim to obtain a "concession," such as ransom.

Celena's Law would give prosecutors "one more tool to protect victims and hold domestic violence offenders accountable," Rosser said.

Under the proposal, those found guilty of first-degree unlawful restraint would face up to a year in prison and up to a $500 fine. A second-degree offense would carry a penalty of up to six months in prison and up to a $100 fine.

Roby's abuser used control to isolate her. She says she didn't have her first adult friend until she was 28.

"I called it my three-bedroom prison," she said of her former home. "I was like a puppet, and he always controlled the strings."

She left him after the bathroom incident -- after her then-7-year-old son asked her why she didn't just answer her abuser's question.

"I didn't want [my son] to think you could treat someone like that just to get what you want," she said. "He truly believed that, had I done what I was told, I could have prevented the injury."

She had $12 when she left.

"I was able to find employment doing odd jobs, construction-type work, anything I could find," she said. "I found a lady that was willing to help me get into one of her apartments."

The intimidation didn't stop.

Her abuser would park in front of her apartment, or drive past it. He made threatening phone calls. She got a protective order, but his behavior continued.

Nearly a year after the bathroom incident, Roby filed a police report. During a bench trial, the abuser confessed to holding Roby against her will, but a magistrate judge found him not guilty of assault.

"My abuser admitted to confining me and holding me there, but the judge felt I was not in fear enough," she said. "After the trial, I could not understand how someone could admit to doing something and still manage to get away with it."

She told the arresting officer, "This is why women don't leave."

Roby started researching state laws. While sitting in a dump truck one day -- she's a concrete worker now -- she wrote down some ideas on Post-it notes. She took the plan to the domestic-violence coalition, which formed a committee to study the idea.

Roby, who became Wirt County's first female volunteer firefighter last year, has been lobbying at the state Capitol to persuade lawmakers to sponsor her proposal. She's gotten commitments from seven delegates and three senators, including a lead sponsor, Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall.

"I do know this law won't change what happened to me," she said, "but if I get to see this law help one person, that's really all the justice the boys and I could ever ask for."

The West Virginia Sheriffs' Association and the West Virginia Association of Counties -- which represents prosecutors and other county officials -- have endorsed the proposal.

"This is going to give us a little more teeth," said Rudi Raynes-Kidder, executive director of the sheriffs' association. "She kind of hit that aspect of domestic violence that has really been overlooked, and that's the confinement aspect. Because everyone goes, "That's not kidnapping, it's in their house.'"

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.