Around 5:30 a.m. March 13, 2008, police were called to Woodward Terrace Apartments in Woodward, Clearfield County, for a reported death.
The body of Cindy Jo Coleman, 49, was found inside her apartment, and she was pronounced dead on arrival by the Clearfield coroner. With lacerations on her wrists and neck, District Attorney William Shaw said it was apparent from the scene that she had been the victim of criminal homicide.
Jesse Campbell went to his mother, Coleman's, home after they had a fight about a computer. Once there, he proceeded to strike her several times in the face with a 5-pound weight and cut her throat with a steak knife.
An autopsy report listed 54 separate superficial injuries which would have caused substantial slow bleeding. Injuries on her arms and hands indicate Coleman fought for her life. She eventually bled to death.
When Campbell returned to his girlfriend's apartment, he threw his bloody clothes in the dumpster, explained to his girlfriend how he killed his mother, and then read to her from the Bible as she died.
Campbell was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Evidence included: Various writings by Campbell which said he could kill her with a dull steak knife and not feel any remorse; a friend testified Coleman was afraid of her son; and several witnesses said they heard Campbell threaten to kill his mother.
In October 2008, Jesse Campbell was found guilty of killing his mother. Even though the DA was seeking the death penalty, a jury from Mercer County decided Campbell will serve a life sentence rather than receive the death penalty.
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The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates between 2000 and 2007, at least 1,100 people died from domestic violence across Pennsylvania. Crossroads Director Sue McLaughlin said rural areas in Clearfield, Jefferson and Elk counties are not immune to this kind of violence - it is actually increasing.
The Crossroads Project is administered by Community Action, Inc. and provides services to adult victims of domestic violence and their dependent children.
"You're talking about two counties that just last year we've had two homicides. The last several years we've had domestic violence homicides. When you look at the state rate regarding state homicides and you compare the population, it's little areas like us - like Jefferson County, Clearfield County, Elk County - have a higher proportion of domestic violence homicides than urban areas like Philadelphia," McLaughlin said.
Right now, there is a $10 fee on marriage licenses which is directed to domestic violence services. A fee which has not increased since 1990.
There is no fee on divorce filings in Pennsylvania, however there is in other states.
Last year, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence introduced legislation to the state House and Senate to increase marriage filing fees by $35 and divorce filing fees by $25. It died in the Senate, but the idea did not.
Again, this year, the bill will be reintroduced as House Bill 1588 and Senate Bill 920. The bills are pending action in their respective appropriations committees.
Currently, $733,000 is raised for domestic violence programs through filing fees for marriage licenses. This funding is then split among 61 programs across the state. The proposed increases would raise the money which goes toward domestic violence in Pennsylvania to $3.8 million.
Aside from the $733,000 which is currently raised, the rest of the funding for domestic violence programs comes from taxpayer dollars allocated in the state's budget.
"It is such a no brainer," Citizens Against Physical, Sexual and Emotional Abuse Director Billie Jo Weyant said. "If we would take and get $3.8 million (through the marriage and divorce surcharge), we're actually saving taxpayers money.
"What's happening is that we're seeing such a budget crunch all the way around - people have no place to go. They don't qualify, they get three visits at mental health or here and there. There is no place somebody can come and feel safe and talk about things, or just know there's a listening ear, so people turn to their domestic violence/rape crisis centers," Weyant said.
"Our top priority is our victims of abuse, but we have a lot of people who we've dealt with who have already dealt with us on and off with us since I've been here - 20 years," Weyant said. "Sometimes, people just need to know that we're always available as a listening ear. Well, if we keep losing money, we're not going to be available for people 24/7."
CAPSEA's mission is to provide confidential ongoing service to all victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse in Elk and Cameron Counties. CAPSEA, Inc. is committed to providing confidential ongoing services to victims of all other serious crimes in Elk County. Weyant added there is no socioeconomic guidelines at CAPSEA, and services are provided to anyone in need free of charge.
McLaughlin said financially Crossroads is struggling and this legislation would have a tremendous impact on the organization.
"We've already suffered a 5 percent cut across the board due to the changes in the Department of Public Welfare formula for distribution of funds. In addition, with this counter budget we're looking at a cut of some form which has yet to be determined. We're looking at maybe as much as another 5 percent cut," McLaughlin said.
As the funding for domestic violence programs continues to be hacked away, McLaughlin said the result is equated to loss of staff positions at Crossroads. These cuts are taking the organization to the lowest level of staffing its ever been at. As the cuts continue, every year the organization loses about two to three staff positions.
"With the state budget, we may be looking at losing two more positions, and if that happens something has to go," McLaughlin said. "We've trimmed down our services as low as we can go and still honor the contract that we're expected to provide services by."
The new budget includes yet another $102,000 reduction in Act 44 state dollars, or approximately .817 percent, McLaughlin said. She added, it has yet to be determined how the cut will be distributed to domestic violence programs across Pennsylvania.
Crossroads has two 24-hour shelters, as well as a contract with a third. The organization also has two legal advocacy offices, a 24-hour live hotline, four support groups, parenting groups which take place at three different locations, individual and children's counseling and advocacy services, as well as other services.
"We operate so many programs at this time that after that cut, we'll be looking at doing it with 11 staff. Of those 11, only eight of them are full-time," McLaughlin said. "At one point in time we had 28 staff members."
McLaughlin said some of those staff members were subsidized through other organizations. As Crossroads is getting cut, the organizations it works with are also getting the ax taken to their funding - which comes full circle and impacts everyone.
Once services start to be cut, the organization's impact on the community begins to lessen.
"What ends up happening is that we become a Band-Aid station as opposed to actually being able to do the counseling and the intervention and do safety planning and spend quality time with victims - to do what we are professionally trained to do," McLaughlin said.
At CAPSEA from July 1 - Dec. 31, 2009, in Elk and Cameron counties, 352 new adult victims were served as well as 49 children. There were also 829 incoming hotline calls and 1,021 counseling hours.
"We spend a lot of time with victims of DV (domestic violence) and their children, who are also suffering the effects of violence in the home. We are very under funded, and the majority of our dv work is done by one person," Weyant said. "We do not employ any clerical staff, as we do not have the funding for that. All CAPSEA, Inc. staff members, including myself, do our own clerical work."
At CAPSEA, for the past seven and a half years, not only domestic violence funding, but all the funding the organization receives has been declining.
"If you think about it, we have had so many cuts, over $50,000, and then they totally eliminated and didn't refund us for the transitional housing program, and that was to the tune of $175,000 over a three year period," Weyant said.
With domestic violence incidents on the rise, McLaughlin said it is essential to preserve the programs the organization has in place. When services get cut, the first to go are prevention services. Next are the women's and children's services.
"I've been doing this long enough to be able to say we are now seeing both victims and perpetrators who we worked with whenever they were children in support groups because in many cases it can be generational," McLaughlin said. "Some behaviors are learned. Back then, we didn't have a lot of the children's intervention service we've developed. Quite frankly, in the past eight years, funding has been dwindling and so have programs. We're getting back to the place where we were back in the dark ages. I'm very much afraid. We're coming around to the anniversary of several homicides that occurred in Clearfield County."
Crossroads has also noted an increase in the "lethality" of domestic violence.
"If an individual is an abusive individual, they're always going to be, regardless of economic factors, but economic factors sometimes push them a little further. Money or lack of money doesn't cause domestic violence, but I believe it does push it a little faster, a little further than it might be during a time when economic concerns aren't a factor," McLaughlin said.
"We're seeing an increase in the types of violence that are occurring. It's a lot more desperation I think. More calls for shelter, of course," McLaughlin said. "Lack of options for folks coming out of shelter because there aren't sufficient affordable rental units for folks coming out of shelter. It is very, very expensive to get an apartment. If you're making minimum wage, how are you going to manage to pay $600-per-month, plus utilities. Whenever you calculate it out, it doesn't make mathematical sense. So, we're having that difficulty."
In McLaughlin's opinion, the additional fees being proposed are modest in the grand scheme of things.
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Reported by Katie Weidenboerner, Tri-County Sunday. E-mail: katiew@thecourierexpress.com.
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