Victims advocates are raising a red flag in San Mateo County Thursday, saying every one of the county's five homicide victims this year was also a victim of domestic violence.
Back in March, police believe a 27-year-old Daly City woman was murdered by her partner in front of their small children.
Then, this past weekend 49-year-old Grace Goodman was allegedly murdered by her domestic partner, leaving behind a teenage son and adult daughter.
“My mom was always outgoing. She always made friends very easily,” said Unique Williams, Goodman's daughter.
She said her mom repeatedly assured her she was happy and there was no trouble in her relationship.
“They make it seem like everything is OK, and everything is fine, or they won’t share much information about their relationship,” said Williams.
But Goodman’s death and the murder of 27-year-old Frances Lucero in March share one very troubling link -- both domestic violence-related homicides. As were each of the other three murders in Daly City this year.
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Five out of five homicides -- all domestic violence.
Investigators say while overall homicides are down compared to prior years, the fact that all five share a common tie needs to be examined.
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“It’s worth thinking about and trying to see if there is any commonality in these five cases,” said San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher.
In the previous four years, there were a total of seven domestic violence murders in the county and the deputy district attorney who used to run the DA’s homicide unit says the numbers have been steady.
“Typically, if we had anywhere from eight to 10 filed murder cases in a year, maybe one or two would be domestic violence,” said Gallagher.
Williams says she hopes talking publicly about her mom’s murder will encourage others to become more aware of the signs of abuse and have deeper conversations with loved ones.
“To try to get them help or try to convince them to leave their abusers, so I think that’s the biggest thing,” she said.
Good advice according to the deputy DA who says sometimes clues can be subtle, but it’s important to watch for them, keep open dialogues with victims, and don’t ever give up.
“In order to keep these women safe, people need to keep pushing,” said Gallagher.
