The first murder I recall covering as a reporter, more than few years ago, was one of domestic violence: A 13-year-old boy shot and killed his pregnant mother, and shot his father, too, though the dad survived.
A teenager committing matricide made for an atypical case of domestic violence, though a couple of aspects certainly were typical.
For one, the shooting occurred in an affluent suburb of northeast Fort Wayne, confirming that domestic violence takes place in all socioeconomic strata.
For a second, use of firearms in domestic violence incidents is common, indeed, accounting for the majority of domestic violence murders. The kid I wrote about used a handgun and ammunition kept unlocked in the family household.
Yet a kid killing his mother is a rarity.
Far more common are "intimate partners" killing each other. In three out of four such homicides, a male kills a female.
Tomorrow at 2 p.m., the Muncie Police Department's Victim Advocate Program on the steps of Muncie City Hall will commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is this month. The public is invited.
Officials put up an exhibit on the first floor walls of City Hall last week, a testament to 30 victims killed in Indiana during the state's fiscal year 2010 (which ended June 30 last year) in cases substantiated as domestic violence.
One victim was local: Crystal Ann Curtis, age 27, whose husband pushed a dagger into her chest as she lay sleeping. Though her husband himself called 911 to report the incident, he later told police he couldn't remember what happened.
He also claimed to be a former Navy SEAL experiencing post traumatic stress disorder, though military records showed the veteran, who served four years in the Navy, was never in Special Forces.
He was found guilty but mentally ill and sentenced to 55 years, but last summer, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the sentencing and remanded his case to the trial court.
He had no history of domestic abuse and his case, while tragic, appears atypical.
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Other East Central Indiana cases exhibited on the wall of City Hall aren't atypical at all. In fact, they seem textbook tragedies.
A 28-year-old Gas City woman met her mother in a friend's Kokomo home to attend her grandmother's funeral (her mother's mother) the day after she filed a protective order against her ex-boyfriend.
But the ex-boyfriend followed her to Kokomo and stabbed Jessica Berg to death, as he did Jessica's 57-year-old mother and the friend at whose house they met.
The ex-boyfriend got 195 years for the triple homicide.
Thirty-nine-year-old Amy J. Nose of Upland had a protective order against the husband she was divorcing and had just filed an intimidation report with police, who had previously been to her home on domestic calls.
Yet her estranged husband tracked his wife to her mother's home, took her hostage, then beat, shot and killed her. After a 12-hour police standoff, he killed himself.
A 40-year-old hair stylist named Heidi McKinney of Swayzee, in western Grant County, had separated from her husband, who followed her to the home of a friend where she was staying. He shot his wife, her friend, and then himself to death.
The exhibit at City Hall reminds us that domestic violence causes more injuries to women than "rape, muggings and car crashes combined," and happens not just to strangers, but to co-workers, friends and neighbors.
The city police have a Domestic Violence Unit for such cases, as well as a Victim's Advocate Program, which can help any violent crime victim, but particularly those of domestic abuse.
The agency can help file petitions for protective orders, assist in filing for victim compensation and generally help guide victims through the criminal justice system.
Worth a thought during a month to be aware of the problem: Statistically speaking, an astonishing one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, when what is ostensibly love turns into pain.
Other East Central Indiana cases exhibited on the wall of City Hall aren't atypical at all. In fact, they seem textbook tragedies.
A 28-year-old Gas City woman met her mother in a friend's Kokomo home to attend her grandmother's funeral (her mother's mother) the day after she filed a protective order against her ex-boyfriend.
But the ex-boyfriend followed her to Kokomo and stabbed Jessica Berg to death, as he did Jessica's 57-year-old mother and the friend at whose house they met.
The ex-boyfriend got 195 years for the triple homicide.
Thirty-nine-year-old Amy J. Nose of Upland had a protective order against the husband she was divorcing and had just filed an intimidation report with police, who had previously been to her home on domestic calls.
Yet her estranged husband tracked his wife to her mother's home, took her hostage, then beat, shot and killed her. After a 12-hour police standoff, he killed himself.
A 40-year-old hair stylist named Heidi McKinney of Swayzee, in western Grant County, had separated from her husband, who followed her to the home of a friend where she was staying. He shot his wife, her friend, and then himself to death.
The exhibit at City Hall reminds us that domestic violence causes more injuries to women than "rape, muggings and car crashes combined," and happens not just to strangers, but to co-workers, friends and neighbors.
The city police have a Domestic Violence Unit for such cases, as well as a Victim's Advocate Program, which can help any violent crime victim, but particularly those of domestic abuse.
The agency can help file petitions for protective orders, assist in filing for victim compensation and generally help guide victims through the criminal justice system.
Worth a thought during a month to be aware of the problem: Statistically speaking, an astonishing one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, when what is ostensibly love turns into pain.
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