A community in Gloucester County came together on Sunday to support a South Jersey woman who was victim to a brutal acid attack in Monroe Township in July 2024.
Neighbors and loved ones held a fundraiser for Diane Molino, who spoke exclusively to NBC10’s Siobhan McGirl about finding strength through unimaginable pain with the hopes that her story helps others experiencing domestic violence.
“It wasn’t just the physical agony that day, it was the physical agony, it was the emotional shock right then and there knowing that my body will never be the same again,” Molino said.
Molino was airlifted to the hospital after she had a tumbler of acid poured on her while she was sitting in her car in the driveway of her Monroe Township home.
“It wasn’t just to kill me. They didn’t want to kill me,” she said. “They wanted me to suffer and live in pain for the rest of my life.”
Molino said her ex-fiancé orchestrated the attack by hiring two people to carry it out.
Betty Jo Lane, Jmarr McNeil and William DiBernardino were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, criminal attempt of murder in the first-degree, aggravated assault, stalking and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. They remain in custody at the Salem County Correctional Facility.
The attack changed her life forever, Molino said. With third degree burns to 35 percent of her body, she was airlifted to Temple after the attack. Molino spent about four months in the hospital and underwent 12 surgeries. She battled infections and even had to learn to walk again.
“It wasn’t just the physical agony that day,” said Molino. “It was the emotional shock right then and there knowing that my body will never be the same again.”
Molino said the pain was unimaginable and traumatizing.
“It makes you realize that there are other important aspects of life and not just the way that you look and if I can get through what I got through I can teach people, you are not worthless, you are a warrior and you are not alone,” said Molino. “You are never alone.”
“If I can get my story out there and it can touch one person. Even just one person to prevent this from happening to someone else, then it’s worth it. All that I went through.”
Despite the pain, Molino’s chose to fight. She shared with NBC10 a video of her doing push ups in the hospital.
“You have to fight, because what’s the alternative,” she said.
Now, one year after Molino was released from the hospital, she is back at work as a nurse feeling stronger than she ever has.
“It’s almost a supernatural feeling. I should have been dead. I should have had no eyes, no nose, no lips, this ear was hanging off,” Molino said. “Yeah, you have to fight.”
The Gloucester County community came out to show love for Diane at a fundraiser in Clayton on Sunday. Her cousin organized it to help with Molino’s mounting hospital bills, receiving donations from people and businesses across the South Jersey region.
“It warms my heart,” said Molino.
Molino’s recovery is ongoing. She still needs surgeries. She eventually hopes to travel and share her story to help other domestic violence victims.
“I feel like I am a living testimony of what God can rebuild. What he can remake,” said Molino. “I am still standing. They didn’t win. They didn’t win. But you can’t give up.”
Molino calls the scars that cover her body her “warrior scars.”
“These scars are not scars of defeat, they are scars of success,” she said. “The scars do not define me, they tell a story.”
Molino said her story is a story of strength and survival. She is grateful to the community that has supported her.
