CORYDON, Ind. (WDRB) -- Bad decisions come to an end at the Harrison County Justice Center, and she's the person who makes sure of it.
"Emily is directly responsible for making sure those monsters and those predators stay off our streets," said Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Schalk.
The work Emily Poe Stumler does inside the courtroom puts away child molesters and abusers. She works under Schalk, as chief deputy prosecuting attorney. Being a strong back-up is a role she's quite familiar with.
"I was the fiddle player for Taylor Swift," Stumler said.
As in the pop star that produces hit after hit.
"One of the biggest musical celebrities that we have," said Schalk.
Stumler used to be on stage next to Swift at concerts, award shows, talk shows and in music videos.
"I always was an orchestra kid," she explained. "I grew up playing in the orchestra."
Part of that time was spent at Floyd Central High School. College took her to Nashville, where she started trying to play with different country bands.
She got one of those auditions: Fiddle player for a little known teen singer named Taylor.
"She (Swift) would play anywhere to get momentum behind the music," Stumler said.
Those gigs and "meet and greets" grew into something big fast, and Stumler watched it all happen up close.
"I actually lived on the tour bus with her and her mom," said Stumler. "We pretty much went every place in the country together."
The spotlight was nice, but there was a different dream she always wanted to pursue.
"I always in the back of my mind thought I would end up in law school," Stumler remembered. "We played a show in Pennsylvania, and I didn't tell anyone that I had signed up to take the LSAT."
Clearly she passed, and ultimately ended up back home again in Indiana.
"The tables have turned for me," Stumler said.
Her life as a rock star is all a memory now. Life has changed for the now lawyer and mom of three, but she's still sharp on the fiddle, and one of her daughters is not far behind.
The song Emily Poe Stumler has written for her life may not have been predictable, but those tend to be the tunes we love the most.
"A part of me always thinks, well what if I had stayed," Stumler said. "I look at my three kids, and I look at the life my husband and I have built, and I think about every day I'm in a position to make the small community I live in a better place, I don't regret it all."
"That's a real rock star, that's Emily," said Schalk.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
