By KURT MADDEN
kumadden@lsj.com
This is the first in a series of articles in cooperation with the Bath Township police department and RAVE, Relief After Violent Encounter, about how domestic violence can lead tragedy and ways to prevent it.
BATH TWP. - It could have been a taunt, a misspoken word, a dismissive facial expression or a rude comment. Or it might not have been anything - just a flash of uncontrolled anger and brutality.
Bath Township Police Chief Scott D. Rose wonders what happened to trigger the deadly violence that took place on Oct. 9, 1997 in 74-year-old Merle Lutz's kitchen.
That was when a single bullet fired from a .303 caliber British rifle killed Mrs. Lutz. The mind-numbing tragedy was made even worse because her son Leo fired the bullet.
Chief Rose, Bath Township Detective Gary Smith, Bath police Lt. Lyle Lindemulder and Rhoda Hacker, executive director of RAVE, a domestic violence service agency for the area, recently sat in meeting room and discussed details of the Lutz case.
Said Rose: "There have been four homicides in Bath Township in recent memory, and all of them involved domestic violence. Two involved a boy friend and a girl friend, and two involved a mother and a son."
The most recent instance was the brutal beating of Bonnie Miles, 57, in her own home by her son Robert Corwin, 27, on Feb. 23 this year. Miles died March 3.
The Corwin case prompted Rose and his fellow officers to review other domestic violence related deaths in the township and spread the word about how to prevent family discord from escalating to physical violence - or even death.
There are common denominators in the deaths, they point out.
Merle Lutz, known as a kind, loving woman who had only a year earlier had lost her husband, has supported her son for most of his 44 years, according to newspaper reports at the time.
Neighbors said she was lonely and neighbors would take her places because she didn't drive.
Then Bath Township Police Chief Jack Phillips said his police officers were often dispatched to the Lutz's three-bedroom ranch style home just two miles from the police department because of family fights.
"We have responded to numerous complaints - your basic yelling and hollering," Phillips was quoted as saying at the time.
Mother and son had been arguing about money about 9:30 p.m. in the kitchen. The son, apparently drunk, grabbed the high-powered rifle and shot his mother in the stomach.
Shawn Lutz, Leo's son, told a newspaper reporter, "They were angry all night; once he pointed the gun at me." Shawn told police that he heard a shot and walked into the kitchen and saw his grandmother, whom he loved dearly, standing there in a nightgown bleeding heavily.
Lutz, who claimed the shooting was accidental, was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 20-to-50-year prison sentence.
In the Corwin case this year Bonnie Miles feared her son. He has a drinking problem and there was a history of violence in the home. She considered obtaining a personal protection order against her son, but did not obtain one.
Detective Smith said the two cases had similarities. Both sons were without jobs and living at home with little or no prospects and they both had brushes with the law and had drinking problems.
Hacker, whose agency, Relief After Violent Encounter, Inc., serves Clinton and Shiawassee counties, was struck by the hopelessness that both women must have felt.
Mrs. Lutz often supported her son who only worked part-time jobs. She had to be torn between the anguish and anger over of her son's lifestyle and her love for her son and especially for her grandsons, she said.
If she demanded that her son leave her home, she would, in effect, be making her grandsons homeless, Hacker said.
The endless arguments, the strife over money, her son's habit of drinking, the visits by the police department, were all danger signs.
At one point does family strife turn to danger?
Hacker says verbal abuse or humiliation can lead to a threat of violence, then a little shove or a push, then a punch or a slap - it all leads to the same place.
"There are warning signs, and family members, friends or even neighbors have to be aware of them and take action. If there is any threat of violence, that has to be taken very seriously," she said.
To often the victim, overwhelmingly female, fails to understand the potential danger and even defends a spouse, boyfriend or child, she said. And the police, who respond to domestic violence calls regularly, say it is one of the most volatile and difficult situations they encounter.
The common thread, "It's men killing women - women they say the love," Hacker said.
Calling the police to prevent violence from escalating, making statements to the police, signing complaints, obtaining personal protection orders - all are in the legal tool kit, point out Bath Township police.
Hacker says there are smart personal safety techniques that help women avoid a violent confrontation in a domestic situation.
"Walking on eggshells" may be what is needed to stay clear of a physical threat until a woman can find a way out of a situation, she said.
She urges women who find themselves in a situation where financial problems, alcohol and drug abuse, criminal acts by family members, and rage mix to seek assistance and counseling to head off problems.
Additional Facts
How to get help
Want advice? Call RAVE at (989) 224-4662 in St. Johns or (989) 723-9716 in Owosso.
Have a crisis? Call a 24-hour crisis line, 1-877-952-7283.
Website: www.ravcs.org
RAVE operates a safe house, and offers housing, legal advocacy, education and prevention.
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