Kelly Sutliff regained a New Jersey firearms purchaser identification card in July 2026 years after her then-husband Chris nearly murdered her on December 16, 2019. He strangled her three times, wrecked the house, held a military knife to her throat, and tried to make her swallow Xanax before she escaped to a neighbor, retrieved her dog Chester, and police arrived.

Six weeks later Chris told Morris County prosecutors she was a danger, resulting in a red flag order that disarmed her; she dropped her restraining order request and surrendered the card. Chris pleaded guilty in October 2022 to strangulation assault, property damage and having a deadly weapon, drawing three years of probation without jail, with the divorce finalized in October 2023.

In 2024 she founded Kelly’s K9’s, Tails of Courage to give protection dogs to survivors, then with attorney Evan Nappen completed a psychiatric evaluation and recovered the card.