Patricia Mackenzie: Killed by Coward with a Badge

This week Patricia Mackenzie, 55, Norfolk VA, was discovered murdered by her husband, a police lieutenant. In my opinion, his name is not important he now joins the rank and file of “murderer.” He killed his wife in cold blood before turning the gun on himself. A coward with a badge licensed to carry and use a gun.

As I read the newspaper account in the Virginian-Pilot, my blood boiled. As the daughter of a Chicago violent crimes detective, whose mother lost her life at the hands of my father before he too, turned the gun on himself, I cringed at the words regarding the killer “Bill was a wonderful person.” Obviously, he was not. So why even print that?

Violent offenders of intimate partner violence and ultimately homicide do not suddenly wake up one morning and decide to make a snap decision and kill their spouse. The tension in the relationship and anger builds up over a period time. Just because no one actually witnessed any violence or “saw signs of it coming” means that the offender was experienced at hiding who they really were to the world. And their victims, rarely, if even at all will disclose, especially if married to someone in law enforcement that they are on fear for their life.

The article goes on to say “they may never know the reasons why” he did this? In my opinion the answer is simple, he was a violent controlling offender. Patricia Mackenzie perhaps was making plans to end the marriage. It is likely for her own safety that she did not disclose the details to anyone. The "oh so" well liked by all “murdering Lieutenant” got wind of her plans and in true offender form took control of the situation because she was planning on leaving and murdered his wife.

These types of tragedies written more like a glorified obituary for the killer continue to perpetuate the stigma and misconception society as a whole places on the epidemic of intimate partner homicide.

If you want to write a story, how about covering the facts and offering solutions as it relates to the victims. Why not include in your story how experts such as myself are keeping these women alive or information regarding the "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video in the book Time's up? I realize the headline makes for good ink in selling papers or traffic to a site, but responsible reporting is also important for those living in terror and fear. Especially when it relates to a victim involved in intimate police officer violence at the hands of a husband or boyfriend.

The final sentence in the coverage "He was somebody who, particularly as a lieutenant and sergeant - as a supervisor - was very fair," Amos said. "He would look out for his folks, make sure they were taken care of."

The article should have said, Patricia was murdered at the hands of someone who professed to love her. Our prayers go out to her friends and family. May she rest in peace.

I cannot stress enough, if you are in a relationship that has a history of violence, simply mustering up the courage to confront the person and say it is over, without the proper tools, can cost you, your life!

One of the major reasons women stay in abusive relationships is fear. They are afraid of what will happen to them and their children if they leave. Sadly, their fears are often justified; statistics show that a woman is at the greatest risk for injury when she announces her plans or leaves an abusive relationship.

The book "Time's Up A Guide on How To Survive and Abusive and Stalking Relationship" is the prescription, if you will, that every person must obtain before they announce they are leaving. Below is an example from Chapter 4, one of many unique tools provided in the book. It is available onAmazon.com, or you can purchase via e-book or on a cd. If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit by Susan Murphy Milano from the Book "Time's Up" from Courage Network on Vimeo.

Susan Murphy Milano is with the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is an expert on intimate partner violence and homicide crimes. For more information visit http://www.saferelationshipsmagazine.com/ She is also in partnership with Pamela Chapman and iAscend Programs.http://pamelachapmanl.biz

Susan is the author of "Time's Up A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships," available for purchase at the Institute, Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" on Here Women Talk http://www.herewomentalk.com/ and is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated The Roth Show with Dr Laurie Roth. Susan is a survivor- the daughter of a police officer family intimate partner homicide by her father who murdered her mother before committing suicide.

Failure to Respond to Murder/Suicide Costs Lives

The Albuquerque Police Department's failure to respond to repeated calls that a pregnant woman was in danger at the hands of her boyfriend - an incident that ended with him killing her and himself - already led Alburquerque Police Department to make significant changes.

Now it will cost the department $685,000, as well.
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City attorneys confirmed Monday they have reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of Randi Regensberg, a 21-year-old woman who was killed in a murder-suicide by her estranged boyfriend, Cory Kotrba, in 2006.

Friends of Regensberg had called 911 five times to report that she was in danger at the hands of Kotrba, who was a Los Alamos County firefighter. It took police more than an hour and a half to respond, which occurred after both were dead.

Those friends had also tried to get help from an off-duty Albuquerque police officer, Hector Chavez, who lived nearby and refused to render aid.
"This was tragic," said Albuquerque deputy city attorney Kathy Levy. "We are just glad it is resolved. We have heartfelt feelings for the family. Their loss was tragic and we have all felt it."
In the wake of the tragedy, APD put in place different work schedules, a new dispatch system and different rules for what constitutes a priority call. In addition, Chavez was disciplined and a dispatcher resigned.

Robert Rothstein, who represented Regensberg's family, said his clients were comforted that APD has made changes.
"The family is satisfied that they effected some significant changes in the way the system works," Rothstein said. "There is some sense of satisfaction that their daughter's death and their grandchild's death wasn't entirely in vain."

On July 7, 2006, Regensberg's friends called 911 and reported that a neighbor had seen Regensberg dragged into Kotrba's home.
They told dispatchers that the back door was blocked by a table, adding that Kotrba had guns and that Regensberg, who was six months' pregnant, was being held against her will. Friends also told dispatchers there was a history of violence between the two.
But dispatchers kept telling the friends no officers were available to take the call, which wasn't classified top priority, police have said.
While the friends kept calling 911 from the outside of the home, one of them noticed a police car parked in the driveway just a few blocks away and knocked on the door.
The police officer, Chavez, who was also named in the family's lawsuit, told the female friend there was nothing he could do because he was off duty. He also refused to make a phone call to 911 to have an officer sent out sooner, the family's lawsuit claimed.
Police went to Kotrba's home in the 7700 block of Javelina SW only after the fifth call - and after Kotrba's roommate had arrived and allowed the friends inside where they found the couple dead.
The first call was placed at 7:51 p.m., the last one at 9:29 p.m., according to police records.
The Regensberg case has been used as a training tool and is brought up at nearly every academy class, police officials said.
Police Chief Ray Schultz said his entire department knows the name "Randi Regensberg."
"This incident is never really going to be behind us," Schultz said Monday. "There are certain cases that everybody in the department knows about that send a very strong message in the organization about what could happen when things go wrong, and this is one of them."
The changes include:
* Altering the department's work schedules from four 10-hour days to five eight-hour days, a move that has upset many officers. But APD says response times have improved.
* Installing a new computer-aided dispatch system that allows supervisors to see how calls are being handled.
* Writing new policies on how calls are prioritized.
* Requiring dispatchers to broadcast on police radio frequencies whenever calls are holding.
Under state law, the maximum a jury could have awarded the Regensberg family is $750,000 because the city is publicly funded. The award will be paid out of the city's Risk Management fund.
The city of Albuquerque has a "no settlement" policy on suits filed alleging police misconduct.
Levy said the policy didn't apply in this case since the suit was not alleging excessive force and it dealt with systematic issues.
Levy noted that under the settlement, the city is not admitting liability.
ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE/JULY 11, 2006

Even if Albuquerque police had responded immediately to the first 911 call about a domestic violence incident Friday, they say it would have been too late to save Randi Regensberg's life.
Still, the Police Department is changing the way it prioritizes calls that come from secondhand sources regarding a violent situation, police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said Tuesday.
Hoffman spoke about the policy change as the department released a series of 911 calls regarding the apparent murder-suicide at the home of Regensberg's ex-boyfriend, Cory Kotrba, at 7716 Javelina Road S.W.
Police believe Kotrba, 28, shot 21-year-old Regensberg, who was six months pregnant with his child, shortly after the two arrived at Kotrba's home at 6 p.m. Friday.
Both bodies were found around 9:30 p.m. - 1 hours after the first 911 call was placed by Regensberg's friend, a woman identified as Christine, 21.
That call and three others were assigned priority level two, not top level one, because they weren't firsthand information about an assault, Hoffman said.
Today, all four calls made before the final call, in which Christine reported finding both bodies, would be categorized as priority one and put first in line for response, Hoffman said.
But Hoffman said the first 911 call Friday didn't come in until 7:55 p.m., almost two hours after forensic examiners believe Kotrba shot Regensberg before turning the gun on himself.
Hoffman said she doesn't remember a similar situation in the recent past.
The series of calls went this way, according to the recordings released Tuesday:
• 7:51 p.m.: A man named Elias, identified as another ex-boyfriend of Regensberg's, arrives at Kotrba's home after Christine tells him to come over. Neighbors tell him they saw Kotrba drag Regensberg inside the home. Elias reports this in the first call to 911.
• 8:12 p.m.: Christine calls 911 again, telling the dispatcher Kotrba owns a gun. She says the two have been inside for two hours.
• 8:30 p.m.: "It's been a while since I've called in," Elias reports. He also says that a table barricades the back door, and there are no lights on inside the home.
The dispatcher tells him it's been a busy night.
"I'm a volunteer fireman. I understand how that goes," Elias says.
• 9:11 p.m.: Christine calls from outside the house, saying her friend is "being held against her will," and tells dispatchers Regensberg is pregnant. Dispatchers tell Christine her call is the next in line for dispatching.
• 9:28 p.m.: Christine has been let into the house by Kotrba's roommate, identified as Gilbert. Crying, she tells the dispatcher she has found both bodies, shot to death

(Source: Albuquerque Journal and Tribune)

Father Murders 5 Children & Wife

(pictured above are the Lupoe Children)

LOS ANGELES, CA —Just a few hours ago, a Ervin Lupoe upset over job problems fatally shot his wife, five young children and himself at their harbor-area home Tuesday. Police said the victims included two sets of twins.

Shortly before the killings, the Mr. Lupoe faxed a letter to a TV station claiming that he and his wife had been fired from jobs as medical technicians and she suggested they kill themselves and their children, too.


"Why leave the children to a stranger?" the man wrote, according to KABC-TV.
KABC reported that the man claimed in the fax that a medical center administrator rebuffed them when they showed up to work, told them to file a union grievance and said, "You should have blown your brains out."
The man wrote that they filed a grievance but nothing was done and two days later they were fired, KABC said.

"They did nothing to the manager who started such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years old with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.

At the bottom of the note, the man wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?"

The note said the couple worked at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, but police said they were trying to confirm that. A message seeking comment from the medical center was not immediately returned.

The family was not immediately identified. Police said the child victims were an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old girls and twin 2-year-old boys. It was the third mass slaying of a family in Southern California since fall.

"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

Police described the fax but did not release the detail reported by the KABC.
"He was going through some critical situation at the job, that's what he described in that two-page letter, ongoing problems at the job, and that's what prompted him to take his own life and his family, from what was said in the fax letter," Garner said.
The TV station called police after receiving the fax, and a police communications center also received a call from a man who stated, "'I just returned home and my whole family's been shot,"' Garner said.

"There is a disconnect but we believe our suspect is the one who called," Garner said.
Garner said a note was found in the home, but it was not clear if it was what had been faxed to the TV station.
Officers rushed to the two-story home in Wilmington, near the Port of Los Angeles, shortly before 8:30 a.m., apparently within minutes of the killings. Garner said the officers could still smell the gunshot residue.

The bodies of the girls and the father were in one bedroom. The mother and boys were in another bedroom.

Although the fax asserted that the woman was involved, police Lt. John Romero said, "It is apparent that the suspect in the murder is the male adult."

The two-story home, much larger than its one-story neighbors, sits in front of a railroad track in Wilmington, a 10-square-mile community about 18 miles south of downtown. A children's playset stood in the backyard and a pickup truck and sport utility vehicle were parked in the concrete front yard.

In 2008
On Dec. 24, Bruce Pardo, 45, dressed up as Santa Claus and invaded a Christmas Eve party at his ex-wife's parents' home in suburban Covina, opened fire with a gun and set the house ablaze with racing fuel. Ex-wife Sylvia Pardo and eight relatives were fatally shot or burned. Pardo later killed himself.

In October, a 45-year-old unemployed financial manager despairing over extreme money problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and himself in their home in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.
Karthik Rajaram wrote in a suicide letter he felt the honorable choice was to kill himself and his family instead of just himself, police said.

Troopers Wife Didn't Stand a Chance

In Marblehead, New York, 49-year old Isol Cotto took steps to end her abusive relationship with her abusive husband, a 53 year- old retired cop.

William Cotto was angered by his wife's actions. She filed charges with police and a court order of protection against him on 12/30/08. Police were ordered to confiscate all his weapons and Cotto posted a measly $500 bond and walked free.

Cotto was angry because his wife, Isol wanted a divorce.

The next day, New Year's eve morning, William Cotto shot his wife in cold blood before taking his own life.

We can make up all kinds of excuses to describe this cowards actions. Some will say he was depressed. Others who knew him or were related to this bozo will point to his loving devotion and kindness. Or we will hear about how he wasn't himself, it was an unfortunate tragedy and may he rest in peace.

Very few will say the words "cold blooded killer". Or use a term such as "coward" to describe this person's actions.

Isol Cotto's murder should have more importance than to be packaged neatly as another murder suicide. Killed by a man who planned her death, because she had the courage to say no more. She was not going to continue being a victim. And for approximately twenty-four hours, she was on her way to becomming a success survivor.

But, men like William Cotto, still allowed special advantages because he was in law enforcement was not going to allow his wife to have the last word. In his eyes, she embarrassed and disgraced him when Isol Cotto filed charges and secured an order of protection. Which in this case as in most is nothing more than a legal paper trail with the court system.

The system failed Isol Cotto. First, the police for not going that extra mile in securing her safety.

Secondly, the judge for such a low bail amount of $500.

Third, additional weapons owned by Cotto were not surrendered to police. He probably told them he was going to use the shotgun and go hunting. Or perhaps they did not think it was that important to investigate further.

When law enforcement and the legal system respond to a police officers wife for assistance, they are in over their heads.

Procedures when dealing with officer related crimes must change. Services for families must be developed and implemented for officers wives and children.

Women have less than a chance to move forward in their lives, with their lives when married to anyone in law enforcement.

You train officers to serve and protect both large and small communities across the county.

How about government acknowledging the dangers of being married to trained killers?

At least provide a special door for an officers wife to enter, so she can at the very least, have a fighting chance to survive.

Dana Pretzer and Justice Interrupted

Tuesday November 18, 2008

8:00 PM Central Standard Time / 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Join Dana Pretzer host of Scaredmonkeysradio.com with his special guests when he takes his listeners right from the reported crime to the punishment and beyond.

Joining Dana will be a Victim of horrific domestic violence , the Victims Mother, a Police Officer (Stacy Dittrich), a DA (Robin Sax), and a Victims Advocate and violence expert (Susan Murphy Milano) http://www.justiceinterrupted.blogspot.com/

We will take the listener from the moment the crime occurred, to the investigation, to the court and just how the system is working or failing.