Articles by Sam Gillette

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Teen Runway Fled Abusive Home. 15 Years Later, She’s Engaged to Marry 'Hero' Cop Who Helped Search for Her

When she was a teenager, a Tennessee woman ran away from an abusive home, only to fall in love almost a decade and a half later with one of the police officers who helped search for her. Now 28, she’s going viral for opening up about her incredible journey. “He searched for me then,” Roshin Ali, who goes by Roro Nicole on social media, tells PEOPLE in a joint interview with her 38-year-old fiancé Tyler Schrupp, whom she didn’t actually meet until 2023, when she began working at the Jackson Police Department. The couple, who both work as patrol officers, share a 5-month-old son named Stetson. Schrupp is also helping Ali raise her two older sons — Dawson, 8, and Brantley, 7 — from a previous relationship. "We've built this beautiful connection," she adds. Ali has no rose-tinted memories of her childhood. She says was 13 years old when she and her brother fled their father after years of abuse. That summer day, on July 27, 2010, she tells PEOPLE her father came home after losing “all of his money” while gambling. That's when he discovered Ali and two of her siblings playing outside with their neighbors, an activity that she says wasn't permitted. When their father entered the apartment, “we ran to the room because we already knew he was angry,” remembers Ali, whose second brother had stayed inside. (Ali has requested that her family members remain anonymous.) Their dad immediately came to the bedroom where the three children had fled, but Ali’s sister quickly braced her foot on the wall and her back against the door so he couldn’t enter. As Ali and her brother hid under a blanket, violence exploded around them. Ali recalls her father demanding that their mother bring a knife — and Ali remembers him "literally trying to stab [my sister] through the door to try to get her out the way." (An affidavit obtained by PEOPLE mirrors her recollection of events, although there is no mention of a knife.) When their enraged father opened the door, he grabbed Ali’s sister by the hair and dragged her to his room. The teen was beaten with a pair of heels that their dad found nearby before he bound her legs together and covered her mouth with duct tape, Ali alleges. They watched as their sister was hit with a cable wire. Then their mom entered their room and issued a terrifying warning to Ali and her brother: "Y'all are going to be next." So they decided they were going to "run and try to find some sort of help" and jumped out the window," Ali recalls. In May 2011, Ali’s father pled guilty to aggravated assault, according to court documents reviewed by PEOPLE. Two police officers, who also served as witnesses, confirmed they saw bruises on Ali’s sister’s face, according to the affidavit. Initially, Ali and her brother — who were reported missing by their parents — were considered runaways. “All I knew about it was we had two runaways in the area we needed to locate,” says Schrupp, recalling his response to the “BOLO,” or “be on the lookout,” request. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. That night, Ali and her brother slept in a park. They went to a friend’s house the next day and later went to a church with their friend’s mother, which is where the pair was discovered by other police officers from the Jackson Police Department. Meanwhile, their parents had been questioned and taken into custody, Ali says. On July 28, the day after the two kids ran from home, charges against Ali’s dad were filed, according to court documents. From there, Ali and three of her siblings were placed in the foster care system. Ali and her sister were placed together, while their two brothers were placed in a separate foster home. Not long after being placed in the home of a friend of their father's, Ali alleges she was sexually assaulted. When she reported the incident to her caseworker at Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services, she claims nothing happened. “I guess they didn't take me seriously whenever I was telling them the information,” says Ali. “There was no report on file or anything as far as I'm concerned.” The Department of Children’s Services was unable to share any information about the case with PEOPLE because of privacy laws. Despite the cruelty that Ali both witnessed and experienced, she pushed forward. She stayed in foster care until she was 18, and later gave birth to two sons. She eventually became a correctional officer in Jackson before she transferred to her current place of work in May 2023. And the first time Schrupp saw Ali, he was immediately smitten. “You were nervous, but you were staring at me pretty hard,” Ali says of her fiancé, who made sure to strike up a conversation the next time. “We just started talking every day since then,” says Schrupp, who loves the openness and honesty he shares with Ali. “We hit it off and just could talk about any and everything.” The patrol officers were still just friends when they realized that they had a connection that went back to 2010 as Ali began telling Schrupp about running away from home as a teen. That’s when it clicked. Schrupp remembers telling Ali, “I was on that search.” For Ali, the fact that Schrupp had looked for her was endearing. “It was surprising, but I thought it was so cute,” she says. Their friendship became the bedrock of their romance and almost a year after they started dating, Schrupp proposed on a family vacation in August 2024. Ali thought they were taking a group photo on the beach when Schrupp had her two sons look for a hidden surprise. While she was distracted by a shell they’d found with a fake ring inside, Schrupp got down on one knee and presented her with the real one. “I cried. I lost it,” recalls Ali. “I was so happy because I'm like, ‘I finally get to marry the man of my dreams.’ ” Their destination wedding is scheduled for Oct. 2026. Ali says she’s grateful for the life they’ve been able to build together and Schrupp’s unending support. As she reflects on the day she fled her home in July 2010, Ali tells her fiancé, “You were my hero.” If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.