During the meeting at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Dorothy Finiello wore long sleeves to cover her bruises. Her husband’s civil-affairs unit had invited couples to the Army base in the summer of 2002 to discuss counseling services and to introduce a new chaplain in the wake of a series of spousal killings.
Finiello sat silently, tears welling up in her eyes, she said.
The previous December, she and her teenage children said, her husband, James Finiello, pushed her head into a windowsill.
Then, two weeks before the meeting, the enlisted serviceman she had loved for 10 years had another meltdown.
She said she found out that he was having an affair and that he was secretly draining their bank funds. Her husband, she said, had forced her to the floor in their bedroom and stepped on her head with his boot.
“He told me not to say a word or it would be the end of our marriage,” said Finiello, a Fayetteville art gallery curator.
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When she told one of his sergeants, he responded: “Think about what you’re saying; this could ruin his career,” she recalled.
Her paintings reflected her pain. Tears dripped from the eyes of her subjects, many of them self-portraits. One depicted her sullen face recoiling at his angry words.
In mid-June, she had called his team leader, Sgt. William Wright, seeking help for marital problems. His answer: “Pray about it.”
Not satisfied, she went to a captain, who told her he would look into it. Meanwhile, she said, Wright called her back, accusing her of making unfounded allegations. After she insisted she desperately needed help because her marriage was falling apart, he gave her the number for the Family Advocacy office at the base.
Unknown to Dorothy Finiello, her husband’s boss was having his own meltdown. Two weeks later, Wright killed his wife, burying her in a parachute-recovery bag near the base. Looking back, Finiello, now pursuing a divorce, said she was lucky: “I can say I survived.”
Once her husband moved out, she went outside his command to the Army inspector general to report her husband’s actions and his command’s lack of response. An investigation ensued, she said. Investigators never detailed their findings to her, but she said Fort Bragg eventually dropped her husband in rank and restricted him to the base. And this year, documents show, he was discharged from the military.
Fort Bragg officials did not respond to questions from The Post. James Finiello could not be reached for comment.
“I was finally listened to,” Dorothy Finiello said. “Once I got the system figured out, I got a response. It seemed like they were aiding and abetting him.”
Finiello, meanwhile, has been trying to rebuild her life.
She recently staged an exhibit of her art, showcasing some of her most painful pieces recalling the abuse. More than 200 people attended.
“Women came out of my exhibit crying and hugging. Some told me about their abuse. My heart just aches for these women. If it hadn’t been for God and the love of my family and friends and my church, I would be dead.”
