Louisville, KY: Domestic Violence Linked To 4 Homicides

Most Recent Case Involves Wife Accused Of Killing Husband In Shepherdsville

POSTED: 9:38 pm EST January 20, 2010
UPDATED: 5:49 am EST January 21, 2010


LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Four recent homicides in the Louisville area are being linked to domestic disputes.
The most recent happened Tuesday night on South Shore Drive in Shepherdsville.
Police said two of the homicide happened in Jefferson County, and two more occurred in Bullitt County.
In Tuesday night's attack, Shepherdsville police said Betty Jane Harder, 44, called 911 to report a shooting at her home on South Shore Drive.
When police arrived, they said they found Harder's husband, Ross Harder, 52, dead on the kitchen floor due to a single gunshot to the head.
Betty Jane Harder was arrested and charged with murder.
"This really isn't the kind of neighborhood for this to happen," neighbor Victoria Tan said.
However, officers said domestic violence can happen anywhere and all too often.
"The vast majority of them are verbal disputes," Capt. Ken Bernardi said.
Just last weekend on Dumesnil Street in Louisville, Joseph Kannamore and his brother got into a fight.
Police said their father tried to break it up but the verbal altercation turned physical, and they said Kannamore's father killed one of his sons.
Detectives ruled it a justifiable homicide.
In another case, prosecutors claim Samuel Harris was not justified in killing his girlfriend's 4-month-old son.
According to police, harries threw Aiden Caro onto a couch, causing the infant to hit his head on a wooden board. Caro spent four days at Kosair Children's Hospital before being taken off life support.
In the fourth case, Nicholas Salfi is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his child.
Court records show she had tried taking out an emergency protective order against him. Her motion was denied.
"There is not a place in our community where people are not touched by domestic violence," resident Denise Vazquez-Troutman said.
Shepherdsville police said over the past few years, they've made more than a dozen runs to the Harder residence. One of those times was for a report of domestic violence.
According to Kentucky State Police, last year there were 20 domestic violence homicides throughout the Commonwealth. The year before, 33 people were killed as a result of domestic violence and in 2007 there were 26 homicides.