Brenda Hampton heard his threats. She knew his potential. And she believed what her husband told her July 11. "He said he would kill me, then kill himself, if I left," Hampton told authorities. "He said if he couldn't have me, no one will."
Hampton, 51, tried to leave, but her husband wouldn't let go. He stalked her; he followed her; he went to her job. Then July 29, less than a week after she obtained a temporary protective order against him, 45-year-old John Hampton fatally shot his wife as she tried to remove items from the couple's Bossier City home. He then turned the gun on himself, taking his own life.
The incident is among an unprecedented series of domestic-violence slayings this year, particularly murder-suicides, which have set off alarms across Shreveport and Bossier City and left authorities scrambling to gauge the problem. This summer, three couples died as the result of incidents of murder-suicide, and another death is being investigated as a possible domestic violence slaying.
In the early morning hours of July 25, Ryan Douglas, 40, killed himself and his wife, Carolyn Douglas, 49, in their south Shreveport residence.
That happened a month and a half after the bodies of the Rev. Willie Guiden, a local pastor and businessman, and his wife, Jane Guiden, were found in their home, about a mile from the scene of the Douglas shootings.
"All three were tragic and didn't have to happen," said Simone Hennessee, executive director of the Providence House, which provides safe homes for victims of domestic violence. "People need to understand that domestic violence is a sickness and can happen to anyone. It's all about the power of the person who is perpetrating it."
Authorities are seeing an overall increase in such assaults per capita reported to them over the years. Numbers from police departments on both sides of the river show that one-fourth of an average police officer's shift is spent on domestic violence calls, and not all victims are women.
"We are seeing a lot of calls," said Sgt. Bill Goodin, spokesman for Shreveport police. "That's what the initial calls are, but officers may get on the scene and determine it's something other than domestic violence. But in terms of domestic violence-related deaths, the number is alarming.
"When we look beyond the physical injuries that occur in domestic violence, we see that the emotional wounds are just as severe and often cause more pain and anguish. It's terrible."
Last year, police reported eight domestic-related deaths, and there are six year to date.
The problem
Domestic violence, a silent epidemic, normally starts with name calling and belittling, then escalates. Study after study shows that abuse will worsen each time. Abusers use manipulative methods to control the victims.
"Many times, domestic violence is associated with some type of substance abuse on the part of one or more persons in the affected home," Goodin said.
"Domestic violence is about control, as well, with the suspect attempting to exert that control over his or her partner in an appropriate and illegal fashion."
Another factor may be the economy. Financial strains are a common reason for worsening domestic violence, Hennessee said.
"We have people living under economic distress," she said. "They are losing their jobs and losing their homes, and living in poverty is a desperate situation."
Reporting to authorities or seeking a protective order often is the last resort for someone in an abusive relationship. So far this year, the Providence House, which offers shelter, counseling services and other tools for such victims, has helped 119 families and assisted with 166 protective orders. That's up from 2010 when the center saw 108 families and issued 154 protective orders.
Caddo Parish district attorney's office didn't have numbers immediately available for how many domestic violence assaults were charged as felonies or misdemeanors in 2010, but Hennessee stresses that the parish ranks No. 1 in the state for domestic violence-related deaths.
"Caddo Parish always ranks high," she said. "Some people are raised in environments where men are violent, and they tend to think it's normal. It's nothing normal about it, and it gets worse. By the time they reach (us), they've already been through a lot."
On average, a victim leaves and returns to an abusive relationship seven times before leaving for good, Hennessee said. The threat to kill usually comes after the final goodbye.
Statistics show that women are killed by intimate partners more often than by any other category of killer, according to the National Institute of Justice.
It's the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 15-45 and the seventh-leading cause of death of premature death for U.S. women overall.
The institute reports that in 70 percent to 80 percent of intimate partner homicides, no matter which partner is killed, the man physically abused the woman before the murder.
Shreveport and Bossier City police keep the total number of domestic violence assaults but don't break them down by severity. Last year, the two received more than 5,000 domestic violence-related calls and made more than 1,000 arrests.
Tackling the problem
Statics show women who were threatened or assaulted with a gun are 20 times more likely than other women to be murdered, the journal reports. And women whose partners threatened them with murder were 15 times more likely than other women to be killed.
Like Brenda Hampton, 75 percent of the victims who leave their abusers are at a greater risk of being killed than if they stayed.
Tensions build when the abuser begins to feel his life or relationship is getting out of control. Hennessee says the best way to end the cycle is to get help and leave before the abuse escalates.
That's why the Providence House makes efforts to connect with women who call its help line or 911. Police responding to domestic violence incidents will call the help line and put the victim on the phone.
"Domestic violence can turn deadly at the drop of a hat," Hennessee said. "Most people don't recognize the seriousness of it; therefore, they don't respond to the urgency to leave immediately."
Although police make several arrests for domestic violence, prosecutors are forced to dismiss many of the cases because the victims often recant their stories or refuse to cooperate.
Ben Langford, assistant Caddo district attorney, recalls instances in which victims have told the court they initially lied to police to prevent prosecution.
"We take these matters very, very serious," Langford said. "A lot of the victims don't understand that love is not supposed to hurt. A lot of the defendants are repeat offenders. It's a pattern of behavior that continues and escalates. They need to get out."
Candice Sheppard left her husband in 2009 after years of abuse. But it only was after the violence resulted in a broken arm and he was arrested.
"It was hard to leave because I loved him so much," the 32-year-old said. "I was scared to tell anybody. I was scared to call the police. But then I just got tired of getting whipped."
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