Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Milledgeville, GA: Milledgeville Family Speaks Out After Murder-Suicide, Domestic Violence

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Breaking their silence for the first time, the family of an apparent murder-suicide in Milledgeville is speaking out about the deaths and domestic violence.

According to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, Travis Anderson shot and killed Jalisa Scott before turning the gun on himself. Jalisa and Travis dated for a while and had a 6-month-old son; the son was in the apartment at the time of the shooting. He was not harmed. Jalisa's mother Janice said her daughter moved into the apartment after breaking up with Anderson.

"They had broken up, she still wanted him to have a relationship with his son," Janice said, "not with her but with his son, that's what she was trying to allow him to do."

But Janice believes Travis wanted more. The night before Jalisa was murdered; she stayed with at her brother's house. Jalisa never said why, but Janice believes Travis had something to do with it.
However, there was never any inclination that the relationship was violent.

"I thought he was old fashioned," Janice said, "but there were never any signs, or at least she never told me anything."

When Jalisa returned to her apartment the next day, there was a confrontation between her and Travis. Jalisa called her family over; when they arrived there were gunshots. Jalisa's sister and brother tried to break in the window to get to her but it was too late. The window on her apartment remains boarded and there appear to be bullet holes in the upstairs window. Janice later found a number to a domestic violence hotline in her daughter's apartment.

"She never said or mentioned anything," Janice said, "at least not to me."

She's now forgiven her daughter's killer and hopes to share her story.

"It's not gonna bring Jalisa back," Janice said, "it's not going to bring Travis back."

But maybe, she said, sharing the story will help someone else. She hopes anyone in a violent relationship will reach out to someone, before it's too late.

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