Dawn Suzanne Schiller (b. 1960 or 19611) is an author and a human rights activist. Known for surviving John Holmes'human trafficking, along with his physical and emotional abuse, Schiller's experiences inspired her to advocate for the prevention of domestic violence.

Dawn Schiller was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey and is the daughter of a military man and a young German national. When she was six months old, her family moved to Germany, as her father was called to be stationed in Germany; they remained there until she was 4 years old.

After her father completed a tour of duty in Vietnam, the family relocated to Florida.

When she was 15 years old, her parents split up.

Shortly thereafter, her newly divorced father took Dawn and her sister to California.

They moved into an apartment complex managed by porn star John Holmes and his wife Sharon Holmes.

In 1976, when she was 15 years old, Dawn Schiller met porn star John Holmes in Glendale, California; he was 32 years old at the time. According to Schiller, they had a conversation where Holmes asked how old she was. In her memoir, The Road Through Wonderland: Surviving John Holmes, she writes:

After courting Schiller, Holmes seduced her and began a sexual relationship with her when she was underage.

While this was taking place, he would continue grooming her by supplying her with food and small gardening jobs.

John also manipulated her with drugs and alcohol.

According to Schiller, he made cocaine a staple in their home.

The relationship eventually escalated into an abusive one.

Holmes physically and emotionally abused her to a point where she wanted to die.

In 1981, Dawn Schiller ran away from John Holmes.

She fled to Oregon to live with his mother and brother.

However, he talked her back into living with him about one week before the Wonderland murders, an incident that involved four casualties who bought drugs from Holmes. It is believed that John Holmes owed them money and had them rob his drug dealer a few days earlier.

After the 1981 murders, Dawn and John fled to Florida; they were on the run from both drug dealers and the police for 6 months.

She eventually broke free and turned him over to the FBI after Holmes attacked her in public one night at a Florida hotel.

The hotel manager and a group of other guests knocked on the door, telling her to pack her things and that she was going away.

After the incident, she spent 7 years in Thailand, where her father owned a hotel.

She returned to Los Angeles in 1988, two weeks before John Holmes died of AIDS.

In 2010, Dawn Schiller wrote a book telling her story in detail about her relationship with John Holmes.

The book cover contains a picture of her when she was 15 years staring into a bonfire on the beach that John Holmes had built right before he slept with her.

After courting Schiller, Holmes began a sexual relationship with her, manipulating her with drugs and alcohol and physically and emotionally abusing her for several years.

After the famed Wonderland murders in 1981, Holmes and Schiller fled to Florida, where she ultimately broke free and turned him over to the police.

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Since breaking away from John Holmes, Dawn has served on the Eastern Oregon University committee to revise their sexual harassment policy, received the Women of Vision and Courage award from the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), and has been a consultant with the U.S.

Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime and Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC).

She also serves on the boards of several organizations.

sits on the Education Committee and is an advisory board member for the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, D.C., the Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center, and Voices Set Free. She has also served as a board member for Shelter From the Storm.

She is a member of the National Survivor Network (NSN) and Survivor 2 Survivor (S2S) for trafficking victims.

She represented Val Kilmer in New York for the Volvo For Life Awards in both 2006 and 2008.

She also founded the non-profit E.S.T.E.A.M. (Empowering Successful Teens through Education, Awareness & Mentoring), dedicated to assisting teens who are struggling to find a safe and successful path to adulthood.

She has also developed the “Mirrors of Me” girl’s art, writing and mentoring camp for at-risk and marginalized youth.

Dawn Schiller has one daughter.

She is also an active member in her recovery program and has practiced a clean and sober lifestyle since 1998.

In the 1980's, back when she was in Thailand, Dawn earned a degree in Gemology at the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences.