Yesterday, Roger Earl Holland, 36, of Apple Valley, appeared in the Dakota County Court on charges of murdering his wife and their unborn child. Dakota County had previously filed an Order of Detention against him on Monday. In the complaint, Holland was accused of murdering his pregnant Margorie, by strangling her, then attempting to make it look like she died accidentally by falling down the stairs. It was later found that Holland had conducted internet searches to see if a person could die from breaking their neck and falling down the stairs.
Recovered texts from the couple's cell phones showed conversations suggesting that Holland was on the road while the incident occurred, and that he was buying lunch for his pregnant wife. However, security cameras near their home proved that Holland did not leave his home until after the texts had been sent. Previous texts were recovered and showed that the couple had been arguing over financial concerns and that Margorie had even said she was considering divorce.
If you have a sense of deja-vu, you should- you've heard this story before. In fact even though we are only three months into the new year, there have been at least 7 reported cases of murder where the victim was a woman and the perpetrator was her boyfriend, husband, or some other person who represented a romantic involvement.
Last year's death toll for Domestic Abuse was 18. The fact that we are only in the third month of 2013 and at least 7 women have been killed does not bode well for the state.
Here are a few of the recent cases-
Manya Johnson was murdered and dismembered by her husband Steven.
Kira Trevino was last seen by her husband and was reported as a Missing Persons case. However, large amounts of blood and tissue as well as imprints of bloody body parts and an effort to hide this evidence on the part of her husband, Jeffrey, have turned this into a murder case. http://www.examiner.com/article/vigil-for-kira-trevino-husband-charged-with-murder
16 year-old Anna Hurd from Saint Paul was found stabbed to death in a park near her home. Her boyfriend appeared before the media, crying over her death. He is now the primary suspect. http://www.examiner.com/article/teen-arrested-for-the-murder-of-anna-hurd
Danielle Jelinek of Oakdale was another Missing Persons case where authorities suspect murder and her ex-boyfriend was the last person to see her.
18 year-old Brittany Clardy was working as a prostitute, soliciting through a website called Backpage.com. Clardy was beaten to death by a hammer, and her body was found in the back seat of her mother's car. The primary suspect in this case is the John who admitted that he fought with her after having sex. His name is Alberto Prece Palmer, and one of the many tragic elements of this case is that Palmer should not have even been free at the time of the crime, as there were outstanding warrants for his arrest in Georgia due to an extensive history of violence against women including a recent kidnapping.
Yesterday, hundreds of people responded to this epidemic of domestic abuse and murder by gathering at the capitol building in Saint Paul. The goal was to raise awareness about this problem, and also to ask for funding for services that help victims.
According to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, there are ten counties in Minnesota that don't receive any state funding for this issue. Activists asked for $1.5 million to fund services for the upcoming year. For more information about the Coalition, please see the following link. http://www.mcbw.org/about
When looking at the problem of domestic abuse, it is also important to keep in mind that only one if five victims reports the problem. Thus, whatever statistics are gathered about victims of domestic abuse, chances are there are five times more cases than we actually know about.
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