JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Indictments handed down Thursday in two domestic murders last month are causing victims and their advocates to speak out about the rash of recent cases of such violence.
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The Duval County grand jury indicted Reginald Cotton in the beating death of his wife, Linda Cotton, last month and Robert Steward in strangling his girlfriend, Jean Hicks, to death in Neptune Beach just eight days later.
What these two murder charges have in common is the fact that they are both domestic violence homicides, and both men were charged with killing their domestic partners.
While this is a crime that has decreased in frequency for several years, officials said that halfway through this year, we've seen as many domestic murders as all of last year.
Victims of domestic abuse know the dangers are very real.
"He said 'If you leave me, I will hunt you and kill you,'" a victim of such violence said.
This battered wife is now in hiding from her own husband. When asked by police why she ran away, she had very clear reasons.
"They asked me, 'Do you fear for your life?' I said yes. They asked, 'Do you fear for your kids life?' I said yes, because he's threatening the kids too."
When the two women were killed last month at what prosecutors say by their partners, the battered wife that talked with Channel 4's Heather Murphy Thursday said her husband told her the men must have had a good reason.
"He said 'The guys were doing the right thing ... they deserved to die,'" she said.
Fearing the same thing could happen to her, this victim escaped. But, like many other victims of domestic violence, it took her a while to muster the courage to leave.
Domestic abuse shelter Hubbard House's CEO, Ellen Siler, said that some women wait too long to get away and are killed by their abuses. And for whatever reason, the number of those increased this year.
Asked for her advice to other women in an abusive situation, this battered wife was quick with a reply.
"Listen to your instinct. Don't change your mind, whatever they see or hear."