BALTIMORE, Md. (WAVY) - A Hampton Roads resident was recently honored during the 2024 Woman of Impact Gala. Gina Sederwall Dobson, an actress, author and screenwriter, received the Courageous Activist Award for her work telling her story of domestic abuse and false imprisonment. The theme for this year's Woman of Impact Gala was "Rise above hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity." Dobson's memoir, titled "Miscarriage of Justice: A Memoir About Protecting Joy," describes her harrowing tale. In 1998, just two weeks after escaping with her one-year-old child after years of physical abuse, Dobson's abuser told police she was responsible for a murder in regards to a miscarriage. The fabrication led to Dobson being arrested in Virginia, where she was then extradited to Decatur, Illinois, where the alleged murder took place. In order to ensure her abuser did not gain custody of their child, Dobson entered a plea deal, admitting to concealing a homicide that did not actually occur. "When I told the detectives that questioned me, that I'd ben abused and beaten for years and threatened at gunpoint, they didn't believe me because I had no evidence," Dobson said during her acceptance speech. "They did believe my accuser, who also had no evidence. A man who had been in jail off and on and had a reputation of filling false accusations against others who he felt had wronged him." Currently, Dobson lives in Virginia with her husband, and advocates for survivors of abuse, humane treatment of inmates and restoration of civil rights for felons. Recently, Dobson had her own voting rights restored by the Commonwealth. If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.