Saturday, September 1, 2012

Whitfield County, GA: Woman beaten and dog killed in domestic attack

WHITFIELD COUNTY, GA. (WRCB) -- A Cleveland man is in custody in north Georgia after allegedly beating his girlfriend and killing her dog.

Kimberly Barb and her husband, Fraley, opened their Cleveland home to her daughter, Crystal Coffman and her boyfriend, Justin Johnson, about three months ago.

"He went to church with us and we thought he was a nice kid. We thought we could help both of them," says Kimberly.

On Tuesday the couple was in the process of moving to a home in north Georgia when Kimberly says Johnson became extremely violent towards her husband.

"He came over and started beating my head against the concrete floor," Fraley says. He says Johnson became irate after a money dispute.

"Why in the world did she ever meet this idiot and why in the world did she ever bring him into my life," Fraley says.

Later that day, at a home in Cohutta, GA. the incident report states Johnson's violent wrath turned onto Crystal.

"She had confronted him about what had happened to her stepfather," says Kimberly. "He kept beating on her and beating on her. He broke her nose. He also broke her cheekbone."

In the process Crystal's teacup Chihuahua was killed. "It was a little tiny dog and she loved that little dog," says Kimberly.

"If he's released I know he'll do it again," Fraley says.

Whitfield County's Domestic Violence Unit Investigator April Parker says the number of incidents has slightly decreased but it may be because they're not being reported. "If you look back on the person's history you'll see that there's been some type of violence and some type of control issues prior to the event," says Parker.

The Whitfield County Sheriff's Office says this is Johnson's first offense but the Barbs say they've learned a valuable lesson. "Make sure you know who's in your home," Kimberly says. "She loved him. She had no idea that he had this side to him."

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