ID Campaign Spotlights DC Sniper’s Ex-Wife in Push Against Domestic Violence

Discovery’s ID network has launched its annual No Excuse for Abuse campaign for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, placing the spotlight on a chilling untold story: the DC sniper’s ex-wife, Mildred Muhammad.

At the center of the campaign is the new documentary Hunted By My Husband: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper. The film examines Muhammad’s harrowing experience of abuse and survival during one of the nation’s most notorious killing sprees. “My story has never been told,” she says in the documentary, reflecting on the years of silence that followed the attacks.

In October 2002, ten people were killed across the Washington, D.C., region in a series of sniper attacks that gripped the country with fear. John Allen Muhammad, Mildred’s ex-husband, and 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo were later arrested. Both were convicted in Maryland and Virginia. Malvo received multiple life sentences without parole. John Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009.

According to investigators, Muhammad’s ultimate plan was to mask his ex-wife’s murder by blending it in with the random shootings. “When I learned that I was the intended target, it was devastating,” Mildred recalls in the film.

The documentary not only revisits the tragedy but also reframes it through the lens of domestic violence, underscoring how intimate partner abuse can escalate to lethal extremes. ID executives say the campaign seeks to raise awareness and provide resources for survivors, emphasizing that no form of abuse should ever be excused.

Hunted By My Husband: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper premieres Oct. 28 on ID as part of the network’s monthlong initiative highlighting survivor stories and calling for stronger community action against domestic violence.