Missouri woman travels more than 1,000 miles to NY to seek help reuniting with her husband

Beverly Shaw is in a heartbreaking struggle to be reunited with her husband and living in her car in New York after traveling more than 1,000 miles in hopes of finding someone to help.

Blaise Gomez

Oct 26, 2023, 8:19 PM

Updated 413 days ago

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Beverly Shaw spends nights these days in Hudson Valley parking lots, huddled in her packed, tiny car with her two pet goats, Marshmallow and Brownie.
The 64-year-old Missouri woman is in a heartbreaking struggle to be reunited with her husband and living in her car in New York after traveling more than 1,000 miles in hopes of finding someone to help.
“Some people I talk to hand me $10 or $20,” says Shaw. “I try to put that aside to put it into the lawyer’s fund because that’s the most important
Shaw’s husband of 43 years was put in a nursing home in Indiana over the summer against her will while the two were there on vacation. She says the hospital gained power of attorney and took control of their bank account, leaving her without access to any of her money. She now needs at least $5,000 to hire an attorney to help get her husband home.
“I realize that New York has a lot more media and a lot more people who are financially able to donate to my GoFundMe for me to be able to come up with money for the attorney fees,” says Shaw.
Shaw recently spent two weeks camped out at Rockefeller Center in New York City in hopes of getting media attention to her plight.
She was featured in the New York Times this week after speaking to a woman who knew a reporter at the publication and made headlines locally when she was spotted at a store in Fishkill with her goats.
Shaw and her husband, David, married shortly after high school and had a son. She says since the start, they have always been “inseparable.”
“We did everything together. We did our shopping together. Some people describe shopping with their husband like hunting with a game warden but with me, it was just the opposite,” says Shaw. “In the past 10 years, we have not been apart for five minutes except for other parts of the property. When he went to work, I knew where he was and could go see him and call anytime.”
Shaw says their last time together was on a trip in July when he got sick,, and her nightmare began.
“They put restrictions on me when I took pictures of him showing he’s being neglected in the nursing home. The guardian got mad and told them not to let me speak with him for three weeks,” says Shaw.
Shaw has been on her traveling expedition for help for the past three weeks. Her passenger seat is covered in plastic with hay and is where her goats stay beside her.
“I have an extra bag of grain, diapers, stuff that the goats need – water and a trough for the goats. Stuff to survive on until I get home.”
Shaw says she washes up the best she can in public restrooms and uses some of the money people give her to eat once a day and pay for gas. She says she plans on staying in the area, in her car, until she raises enough money to pay for her legal fees and hopefully, be reunited with her husband.
“I love him,” says Shaw. “I’m just going to do whatever it takes.”