Domestic Violence Headlines for the Week of Aug. 18

If you were hoping for a reprieve from bad news, this week’s domestic violence stories don’t oblige—a sobering sign of a crisis that isn’t going anywhere.

Family of Four Dead in Murder-Suicide, Mom Suspected as Killer

The bodies of four family members, including two children, were discovered shot to death Monday evening inside their home in Madbury, N.H. Detectives are investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide.

The victims include Emily Long, 34; her husband Ryan, 48; their son Parker, 8; and their daughter Ryan, 6. A third child of the couple, a toddler, was also found inside the home, unharmed. Investigators announced Wednesday they believe Emily shot her husband and children before turning the gun on herself. 

Although women make up a much smaller percentage of domestic violence perpetrators compared to men, there are cases where women use power, control and force to isolate and harm their partners. Yet very few men report intimate partner abuse, usually out of shame due to harmful stereotypes about masculinity.

Experts say there are different reasons women use force in a relationship compared to men. 

“There’s not one kind of woman and not one kind of use of force,” says Lisa Young Larance, an assistant professor of social work at Bryn Mawr College who has worked with survivors of domestic violence for more than two decades. 

Though Emily’s motive is still unclear, women may use force as a reaction to violence perpetrated toward them by their partner. 

“Women who use force,” says Larance, often do so “because they feel broken by the systems they became a part of. Typically, cisgender women in hetero relationships are seeking autonomy.” She also cites unresolved trauma and harm from previous relationships as another reason women may use violence toward a partner. 

Regardless of the gender of the perpetrator, familicide or family annihilation, referring to a person killing multiple close family members in quick succession, most often their spouse and children, occurs about once every five days in the U.S.. This is a much higher rate than other high-income countries, likely due to the relatively easy access to firearms in the U.S. Studies have shown that a third of these homicide-suicides occurred when the victim and perpetrator were in the process of breaking up, though usually when the woman in the relationship was leaving the man.

For more information and resources for men experiencing domestic violence, read our Guide for Male Survivors.

Source: WMUR 9 ABC

Woman Stabbed by New Husband, Names Him as Killer Before She Dies

A Phoenix, Ariz., couple were newly married in 2024, but it wasn’t going well. Stephen Dennis, 36, and his wife, Aliccia Grant, 37, were reportedly considering an annulment. Instead of filling out some paperwork and moving on, Dennis decided to make a trip to a Home Depot parking lot the last stop of Grant’s life, by stabbing her to death in their car. On Monday, he was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for ending the life of the mother-of-two. 

In the morning of Sept. 9 2024, witnesses in the Home Depot parking lot heard a woman screaming for help. They found Grant in the front seat of her car with multiple stab wounds. While bystanders tried to stop the bleeding—and Dennis, who was also in the car, ran away— Grant used her last breaths to identify her husband as her killer. She died shortly after at a hospital.

Dennis later called 911 and confessed to the crime. 

Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for women under age 44. The FBI estimates 4,970 female victims were murdered in 2021, one third of whom were documented to have been killed by an intimate partner. That number is likely much higher, however, as domestic violence is vastly underreported. Some abusers are known to stage a suicide to cover up the murder of their partner, known as “hidden homicides.”

To learn the signs that abuse could be turning lethal, read “Will an Abuser Kill You?”

A GoFundMe is still ongoing to support Grant’s children.

Source: People.com

Massachusetts 18-Year-Old, 11 Weeks Pregnant, Murdered by Boyfriend

On Wednesday, Gregory Groom, 22, was charged after the remains of his pregnant girlfriend, 18-year-old Kylee Monteiro, were found on his Rehoboth, Mass., property. Monteiro was last seen Aug. 7 at Groom’s home after texting her sister that, if she wound up being killed, it was Groom who did it. 

After his arrest, Groom confessed to the murder of Monteiro, who was 11 weeks pregnant at the time. Assistant District Attorney Jason Mohan says Groom admitted to knocking his girlfriend to the ground during an argument, causing her to hit her head. When she tried to call for help, he says he knocked the phone out of her hands. 

He then went on to tell police that he had stabbed Monterio three times—twice in her neck and once in her chest. He told investigators he spent several hours digging a hole in his backyard where he buried her. 

The text Monterio sent to her sister the day prior to her disappearance predicted her fate.

“He threw me on the ground, he pulled my hair, and strangled me,” Monteiro wrote. “My phone is at 4% and if I die, it was Greg.”

Unfortunately, young women between 18 and 24 are the most at risk for domestic and dating violence. According to the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2019, 1 in 12 high school students reported being physically abused by a dating partner in the past year, and the same number reported sexual dating violence. 

Additional statistics show that one in three college women has been the victim of dating abuse, and 43 percent report being subjected to violent or abusive dating behaviors by a partner, such as physical, sexual, digital or verbal abuse.

Add to that the link between pregnancy and an escalation in abuse by a partner, most often in relationships where power and control by a partner is already present. In fact, the leading cause of non-accidental death of pregnant individuals is homicide. 

The main question is always why? The answer, say experts, is complicated and not often just one reason, though it is known that abusers often feel they need to be the center of attention in a partner’s life. A pregnancy introduces a shift in priorities, and abusers may find that they’re no longer a top priority. 

“The abuser is thinking, ‘Do I lose some of my power and control over this person when there’s someone who I’ll have to compete with for attention and resources?’” says Dr. Rachel Miller, PhD, LMFT. Financial strain may also be another factor, though correlation isn’t causation, says Miller. Financial stress experienced by a couple with a healthy dynamic won’t result in the pregnant person being beaten. Financial pressure in a relationship where abuse is already present will likely make things worse. 

Source: Boston25 News