Deseret News | Reporting abuse key to escaping domestic violence

Reporting abuse key to escaping domestic violence

By Pat Reavy
Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 11:02 p.m. MDT

E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + -

Page:
1
2
3
Next >

Tracie Williamson's family believed their loved one needed help leaving an abusive relationship.

After finding a four-page handwritten letter over the weekend, which was apparently penned several weeks ago, David Partridge, Williamson's father, was convinced more than ever that his daughter was quietly crying for assistance. The letter detailed a violent relationship with Williamson's live-in boyfriend, Peter Perez, who made threats of serious injury or death to Williamson, members of her family and even Perez's own 1-year-old daughter.

But when Williamson had the opportunity to talk to police, she never mentioned anything was wrong. She never asked officers for help or sought a protective order.

Monday night, Williamson, 28, her 10-year-old daughter, Linzie Williamson, and Perez's 1-year-old daughter, Jessica, were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in their South Salt Lake house, a secluded structure in the middle of an industrial area near 2400 S. West Temple. Perez was also found dead inside the house of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Law enforcers and advocates for victims of domestic violence say the Williamson case is an example of an extremely difficult situation: How do you help a person escape an apparent abusive relationship when that person won't publicly acknowledge that he or she needs help?

Story continues below

"The reality is that the whole issue of domestic violence is so complicated," said Asha Parekh, director of the Salt Lake Area Family Justice Center.

The process of getting help for a domestic violence victim varies from one person to the next, she said. But what friends, family members and others in the community can do is provide continuous support to that person and constantly let them know what resources are available so when the day comes that they are ready to get help, they know what numbers to call or where to go.

"Let the person being abused know that there are real people out there who want to help them," said Judy Kasten Bell, executive director of the Utah Domestic Violence Council. "Maybe it will make an impression so when she is ready to leave or wants to follow through, then she will have a number and a face of someone to call."

Part of the problem in the Williamson case was the lack of documented evidence against Perez, said South Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Snyder. There have been stories of possible abuse involving Perez and Williamson as well as his ex-wife since the slayings, but very few of those incidents were reported when they actually happened.

"The most important thing to do is report it," Snyder said. "The whole key is to get the aggressor into the system. The more times they are brought before the system, that's when the red flags are raised for a judge. When it's not reported, there's very little law enforcement or the justice system can do."