Victim of Love

She told her aunt she had met the "perfect man". He didn't drink or go to bars. He went to church and she loved him. She planned to marry him. Last Saturday he beat her to death. Through her tears, her aunt told me it was a brutal killing. After beating the life out of her, he strangled her and put her body in the bathtub. Blood was everywhere. She must have "fought him" she tells me. When she arrived at the scene, in shock, she asked the police, "Where is the ambulance?" The police told her there would be no ambulance. Her 12 year old son found her nieces' body six hours after her death. Her children were in the house. Her son heard his mother arguing with her boyfriend the night before and said he heard his mother scream. He cried for three days, traumatized and wishing he could have done something to save her. She also left behind two daughters, ages 15 and 10.
"She was a hard working woman, raising her three children on her own." Her aunt tells me crying, "She had her own small business painting houses and was paying her own mortgage." They had been supportive of each other, making their way in the world as single working women. Her aunt had not seen much of her niece recently. The "perfect man" of the last 9 months didn't want her to use the phone. He wanted her to move to Mexico with him. She refused and now she is dead.