By JOE JOHNSON - joe.johnson@onlineathens.com
Athens-Clarke County police say William Studstill killed his wife, Stephanie Studstill, the morning of Nov. 17, stabbing her repeatedly with a butcher knife in their apartment. Stephanie Studstill became the most recent victim in the worst year for domestic violence in Athens-Clarke history.
They fell in love, and William won over his new girlfriend's family.
"When we met him, he appeared to be a quiet and soft-spoken individual," said Stephanie Studstill's brother, Matthew Mansfield. "He was a college student and a math tutor. He was very bright when it came to math and physics. Stephanie was very excited about getting married and was clearly in love with Will."
Three years later, Stephanie was gone.
Athens-Clarke police say William Studstill killed his wife the morning of Nov. 17, stabbing her repeatedly with a butcher knife in their apartment.
Stephanie Studstill became the most recent victim in the worst year for domestic violence in Athens-Clarke County history.
Thirteen people have died from domestic violence so far in 2009, including three of the aggressors.
"I don't think there's been another community where all the murders that occurred in a particular calendar year were domestic violence-related," said Ken Mauldin, district attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit, which covers Clarke and Oconee counties.
The number of domestic violence deaths this year surpasses the total number from the previous six years combined.
Violence doesn't usually start with murder, and court officials say they are doing what they can to try to stop the pattern before it escalates.
Minor domestic violence cases start out in Athens-Clarke State Court where, Solicitor General C.R. Chisholm said, prosecutors fast-track them before abusers can dissuade wives and girlfriends from testifying, or woo them back with empty promises things will be better.
"If someone has a prior arrest for domestic violence, whether they were convicted or not, or if it's a first-time stalking or a violation of a temporary protection order, we arraign within 10 to 14 days and get an accelerated trial date where we can get them into court quicker, before that renewed honeymoon takes place," Chisholm said.
Domestic violence is so endemic, Chisholm said, that officials should focus as much public attention on that danger as they do on drinking and driving.
"These are the most dangerous types of cases," the prosecutor said.
Spiraling violence
Though domestic-violence murder is not uncommon in Athens, the number of casualties this year is mind-boggling to people who deal with the problem.
"It's unprecedented," said Joan Prittie, executive director of Project Safe, a local nonprofit that provides counseling, shelter and other services for abused women.
"We wish we knew the answer, but we just don't," she said. "I have looked at some of the trends in other states, because as these tragedies mount in our community you have to wonder, is it just here?"
And it's not, said Prittie, who cited Florida, where domestic-violence murders have doubled.
The reasons are typical - drugs, an abuser's need to control, a violent reaction when a partner tries to leave.
That's what apparently happened April 25, when University of Georgia marketing professor George Zinkhan found out his wife may have renewed an affair with another man and was planning a divorce. He shot and killed his wife, her suspected lover and an innocent bystander outside the Athens Community Theatre on Grady Avenue. Zinkhan later committed suicide.
And on Aug. 17, Phillip Scruggs allegedly set his girlfriend on fire because she was trying to end an abusive relationship. Elisa Denise "Lisa" Davenport, 42, died 12 days later.
The bad economy may be leading to more violence, Prittie said. In 2008, the Project Safe hotline fielded 1,426 calls; this year, they've already handled 1,673 with a month still left to go.
The nonprofit has put up 29 people in hotels this year, compared to eight in 2008.
"That tells you something about the level of danger people are describing to us when they are calling," Prittie said.
Mental illness might push the violence, too.
Learning secrets
After the Studstills married, William had trouble finding a job.
Stephanie's family eventually learned that's because he had a criminal history - he served prison time in Pennsylvania for robbery and burglary convictions in 2000 - but Mansfield said William told relatives that he'd been arrested for a misdemeanor offense and that "he was totally innocent of the charges."
That's only one thing Stephanie's family members didn't know about the man who married their vivacious, generous relative.
Her brother didn't know that on Sept. 29, Athens-Clarke police went to Stephanie's apartment because William, 30, had some sort of breakdown and was suicidal.
"When I spoke with Stephanie I noticed she was very emotional and was at times crying," an officer wrote in a report. "She also said that William had not been taking his medication lately."
Stephanie told officers that her husband had tried to blow up the microwave oven by loading it with aerosol cans and a lamp.
And he tried to break her neck while she was iin bed, according to the police report.
"Stephanie said that William had grabbed her with his hands on her chin and under her head and attempted to twist her neck," the officer says in the report. "She said that she was laying on her side in her bed with her back toward him. She told me that she managed to break loose from him."
Emergency medical workers already had taken William to the hospital by the time police arrived, so officers didn't have a chance to talk to him. Stephanie was upset, but she didn't have any marks on her neck.
An officer gave Stephanie a report number in case she wanted to pursue charges, but she never did, police said.
"We did not know that Will had a breakdown," Mansfield said. "We were not aware of any such thing."
Friendly but odd
Domestic violence can happen next door and to people from all different sorts of backgrounds, experts say.
The Studstills asked neighbors over when fellow Mormons came to their apartment for meetings, neighbor Tami Henderson said. Stephanie was an avid baker and invited neighborhood children over when she made cookies.
Henderson saw William two days before the murder and told him she was glad he was out of the hospital.
"He just said, 'Thank you, Tami,' and went up the steps" to his apartment, said Henderson. He'd acted strangely before, like when he practiced karate outside in the pouring rain, she said.
Stephanie's body was so mutilated, "funeral services were not recommended, leaving cremation the only other option," said her sister, Christina Mansfield-Ivey.
A memorial service is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 706 Whitehead Road.
When she was murdered, Stephanie was living in subsidized housing, and court records show that William was in debt and had declared personal bankruptcy.
Her sister asked for help defraying costs connected with Stephanie's death, by sending donations to Christina Mansfield-Ivey, P.O. Box 80193, Athens, 30608.
Anyone who is in an abusive relationship can seek emergency financial assistance, shelter or advice by calling Project Safe's 24-hour hotline at (706) 543-3331.
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