People_USA_April_24_2017

Month 00, 2016 PEOPLE 63

‘DESPITE

EVERYTHING,

CHERYL’S

SPIRIT HAS

NEVER

BEEN BROKEN.

SHE’S SO

STRONG’

—ROB

CUCCIO

While Sean Pica’s friends were planning for prom and thinking about colleges, the then-18-year-

old was headed to prison to serve a 24-year sentence for killing the father of classmate Cheryl

Pierson. Angry and feeling hopeless, he began lashing out and landed in solitary confinement

twice during the first three years of his incarceration. “I was in trouble,” he says. But when a

guard asked him to help other inmates learn to read and write, it was a turning point for Pica. He

refocused on his own education, earning a bachelor’s degree in organizational management

from Nyack College. After 16 years he was released in 2002 and became the executive director

of the program that helped him, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a nonprofit that

for over 18 years has awarded more than 475 degrees to inmates in New York. “I did something

that I can never change and absolutely shouldn’t have done,” says Sean, 53, who is now married

to Lori, 53. “I’ve never had time for regrets... but I know I’ve come a long way.”

FROM TEEN HIT MAN TO PRISONER ADVOCATE

says he marvels at how far his wife has come.

“Despite everything, her spirit has never been bro-

ken,” he says. “Since that time in jail, we haven’t left

each other. We make a very good team.” As hard as

Cheryl has tried to come to terms with what hap-

pened, she says, she still feels responsible for having

involved Sean. “I feel terrible that I did ask him to

begin with,” she says. “I heard he’s doing well. I wish

him nothing but the best.”

Moving forward with purpose has helped her

find a way to heal from the abuse she suffered. “I

couldn’t start helping others until I was able to

help myself,” she says. But that doesn’t mean every

day is easy. “I still fight my demons,” says Cheryl.

“I can live with everything I’ve been through if I

can just help one person.”•

get to me,” she says. “The worst part was going to

sleep and having the nightmares. Everybody

thought because he was dead that it was the end

of it and that I was safe, but to this day I’m not safe.

The emotional scars will never go away.”

Today Cheryl says she is finally living the life she once

only dreamed of. Happily married to Rob, 49, an

oncology nurse, and still living on Long Island, she

says she was “lucky enough” to always be a class

mom and never missed one of her daughters’ gym-

nastics or dance recitals. “We were very protective

of them,” she says. “I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt

them. I’ve raised two beautiful, intelligent, caring

and loving children, whom I’m very proud of.” Rob

April 24, 2017 PEOPLE 63

A NEW LIFE

“Rob has always been

there for me,” says

Cheryl (above, with

Rob). “He’s never left

my side. I don’t know

what I’d do without

him.” The couple

(right, at home on Long

Island with daughters

Casey and Samantha

and their dog Brody)

have tried to put the

horrors of the past

behind them. “I will

fight for my family.

Family is everything,”

says Cheryl.

“I’ll take care of them

no matter what.”

A NEW LIFE

PHOTOGRAPH_OR_ILLUSTRATION_BY_FIRST_LASTNAME

BOTTOM: COURTESY HUDSON LINK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN PRISON