Domestic Violence Headlines for the Week of July 7

Grab your emotional support snack—it’s time for more headlines that prove domestic violence never takes a week off. 

Man Accused of Fatally Stabbing Woman After She Tries to End Their Relationship 

Accused murderer Martin Mendoza, 20, was arraigned in a Santa Clara County, Calif. court on Tuesday after being charged with killing his 18-year-old girlfriend, Marissa DiNapoli. The young woman's body was found at Anderson Lake County Park near Morgan Hill, where the teen was from, on July 1, stabbed five times in the back. She was reported missing two days prior to her body being discovered. Mendoza was arrested this past Sunday.

Friends of DiNapoli told the local news station that she was trying to end the relationship with Mendoza, and that they warned her he could be violent. 

 “…This was something that we all saw coming. We all tried to warn her,” said DiNapoli’s friend Vienna Chambers.

Leaving is notoriously the most dangerous time for survivors of domestic violence. When abusers feel like they’re losing control, they often escalate their abusive tactics to regain that control. That includes taking their partner’s life. 

“The abuser needs to escalate to such a higher level to reclaim the control, and that’s where you see the greatest levels of homicide,” security expert Spencer Coursen told DomesticShelters.org. 

There are many reasons why a survivor may not be able to leave when they sense escalating danger. The abuser often has control over them in more ways than one—through threats, brainwashing, gaslighting, isolation, the promise of change or financial control. Support persons who recognize escalating violence can help a survivor through listening, supporting and providing them education on the cycle of abuse. Learn more in “When They’re Not Ready for Help.”

Survivors of an abusive partner can also answer the questions in The Danger Assessment, created in 1986 by domestic violence advocate and professor Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, to evaluate their level of danger when they suspect an abuser is escalating. Unfortunately, help for DiNapoli didn’t come soon enough. Her friend, Jaslyn Gutierrez, previously told NBC Bay Area that DiNapoli knew she was in danger.

“Marissa has told me…that he would kill her, that he would not stop, that he’s obsessed with her, that he’s crazy and that he’s willing to go to that extent,” said Gutierrez.

Mendoza is being held without bail at the Santa Clara County jail awaiting his next court date of Sept. 9. 

Source: KSBW.com

Ohio Man’s Fourth Domestic Violence Arrest Comes Sunday

Four subsequent felony domestic violence arrests aren’t going to keep one abuser down. Gerald Baytos, 59, of Youngstown, Ohio was arrested again this past Sunday after a woman said he assaulted her when she wouldn’t let him drive them home. The woman told police Baytos was too drunk to drive home after they left a restaurant and refused to give him her keys. In response, he slammed her wrist into the car door and then struck her in the back of the head, taking the keys from her and driving them home. 

Once at the house, the woman says Baytos grabbed her wrist and hand so roughly that she began to bleed. Somehow, Baytos was able to escape and call police who arrested Baytos. The survivor refused an ambulance despite having “extreme bruising” on her hand, per the report. 

According to court records, Baytos was previously charged with felony domestic violence in 2004, 2012 and 2019. It appears he spent only a total of six months in jail plus probation for the offenses. 

Abusers very rarely see jail time, according to experts. In one study, only 2 percent of domestic violence offenders saw jail time, even though many committed offenses that resulted in the serious injury of their partners. The reasons for this vary. Police may not believe there is a cause for arrest, especially if the abuser’s violence doesn’t leave behind visible marks (strangulation often leaves behind no marks, but is the highest indicator of future homicide). And in too many cases, abusers coerce survivors to recant after their arrest.

Abusers who aren’t held accountable often continue to abuse their partner, or move on to abusing other partners, such as in the case of this story: “One Abuser, Three Wives and Zero Accountability.”

Source: WKBN.com

Denver Man to Spend 8 Years Behind Bars for Stalking, Threatening to Kill Ex-Wife

Denver is taking stalking seriously. On Wednesday, Taylor Warford of Denver, Colo., was found guilty of felony stalking and violating a protection order. The 33-year-old now faces up to eight years in prison. Warford and his ex-wife separated in 2023 after he was convicted of domestic violence. He was released on probation and promptly began to stalk and threaten his ex. Prosecutors say he placed an electronic tracker on her car and also threatened to kill her and her child. 

Of the estimated 7.5 million individuals in the U.S. who report they’ve been stalked, at least 61 percent of the female victims say their stalker was a current or former partner. Only an estimated 40 percent of survivors of stalking report the stalking to the police. Many survivors fear they won’t be taken seriously. Others may downplay the severity of the stalker’s actions or believe that the stalker will eventually just stop.

Yet, research from the National Institutes of Justice found 71 percent of stalkers whose victims are current or former partners ended up following through on threats of violence, assaulting their victims. Also, reports Jennifer Landhuis, director of SPARC (Stalking Prevention, Awareness and Resource Center), “Stalking produces a three-fold risk of intimate partner homicide, meaning if a victim of domestic violence is also being stalked they are 300 percent more likely to be killed by that intimate partner.”

Warford’s family reported him to police after they say he purchased five sets of handcuffs and a butane torch through a shared Amazon account. He told his family he was going to “wipe out” his ex-wife and child. There are also reports that Warford was trying to acquire bomb-making materials. 

District Attorney George Brauchler told media, “This case highlights a number of weaknesses in our criminal justice system, including the risk created for the public by placing violence-threatening defendants on probation and sending them back into our community.”

Read more about the steps a survivor can take if they’re being stalked in “What Is Stalking?”

Source: KDVR.com