The Unthinkable

The true story of why one woman killed her husband of four decades in a landmark case that changed the legal system

David Challen grew up in the perfect house with the model family of 2.5 children. David Challen also grew up in a household ruled by his father's manipulations and mind games.

On a Saturday in 2010, his fearful mother struck twenty blows to the back of her husband's head with a hammer after four decades of abuse. Then, she turned back to the stove she had been cooking his lunch on and turned off the gas, washed the dirty dishes and left the house to jump off a cliff.

In those few minutes, she changed the legal system and the lives of countless women across the country.