A Real Domestic Violence Case: My Best Friend was Murdered by Her Husband

I have lived in a somewhat isolated part of the Country. I Grew up in a rural farm town and got married and moved to another rural community in Southeast Michigan. Crime around this neck of the woods is who toilet papered and egged the neighbor's house last Saturday night.

When I met my friend for the first time, we instantly became friends, we were both married, she had three kids, I had three kids and her kids were even the same age as mine and they all went to school together.

She and her husband lived in a nice little ranch house on the outskirts of Adrian, the picture perfect family, he worked full time and she was a stay at home mom. Their kids were in karate and dance class and they were involved in the community. They had recently bought a camper to start camping on the weekends and they even bought a new SUV. On the outside everything seemed pretty perfect, but on the inside she held a secret that I never knew until after she died.

She was physically abused by her husband. She never told me anything and actually led me and others to believe things were normal. The last time I saw my friend I was picking my daughter up from her house after a slumber party, all of the girls slept out in the new camper with my friend's husband, little did I know he was a cold blooded murderer and had I known what was to come I would never had left my child to stay in that house. It was always hard to leave her because we connected in such a way that we talked for hours. One of the things she was interested in was a business I was doing at the time, and so I promised to stop by that next week and drop off a video for her to look at.

When I arrived at her home the next week as I promised, her SUV was gone but her husband answered the door, he looked disgruntled and said she wasn't there and slammed the door in my face. I didn't think much of it, as I didn't know him as well as I knew her. That night she left a message on my machine saying how sorry she was she missed me, it had slipped her mind. She almost invited herself over to my house on the machine, but I never called her back, I regret it to this day. Maybe she was trying to tell me her and her husband were having problems and that she needed help.

A week later was her oldest daughter's birthday party and I had to call to RSVP for the party, I didn't want to, because I was still kind of mad that she had initially stood me up. Well when the kids came home from school that day, they said that my friend's daughters were not at school that day and that something bad had happened at home, so out of curiosity I called over to the house to RSVP and see if I could get any information. The phone rang and someone answered, I asked for my friend and they handed the phone to someone else and they said they were sorry but that she was no longer with us. I was in shock and as the hours went by I found out more details about what happened.

It was late evening the night before and her husband was supposed to still be at work, well he came home early and my friend's sister was still at the house. Suddenly they started arguing so her sister left. It escalated and he started pushing and throwing her around, it got real physical, and the oldest daughter woke up, and asked what was wrong and her dad told her to go back to bed and that mommy and daddy were just playing around.

A few minutes later, he grabbed her by her throat and started choking her, he choked her so hard she threw up some blood and her guts were all over the carpet. He left her there for hours and Lord knows what was going through that assholes head. Well finally five or so hours later he decided to pick her up and lay her dead body in bed between her two daughters, while they lay there fast asleep.

Then he went to the garage grabbed his shotgun and placed it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

A couple hours later, the girls woke up for school only to find they couldn't wake their mom, I heard they even jumped up and down on her and poured cold water on her to try to wake her up. They were six and ten at the time. They then called their aunt who raced over and got them out of the house and called 911.

The grandparents raised the three kids for two years in that same house, then the grandmother succumbed to breast cancer and the grandfather took the kids and moved the family up north.

There are no signs of domestic violence and abuse most of the time. The scars don't have to be visible for others to see, they cut much deeper than that. If you think you know anyone who is being abused by someone don't hesitate to reach out and talk to them, it may help save their life.

I will never forget the day that she lost her life. The day that my friend lost her life to the hands of her spouse. She leaves behind a memory of being a good friend, a wonderful mother and a fallen hero to every women who has been affected by Domestic Violence.