Why is the State of North Carolina Giving Officer Involved Intimate Partner Homicide A Pass?

Amanda Graham Barker, 29, died from a gunshot wound to her head on August 10, 2011. Based on the position of the entry wound, according to sources, it is not possible for this mother of 2 to have taken her own life. Include the fact that her husband moved the body, using the excuse he was trying to administer first-aide, his story is, in my opinion, fabricated. Yet, the person in the home with whom Amanda was living, has yet to be arrested for her murder. Why? If this case did not involve a "well liked law enforcement officer," he would have already been charged.

Amanda's relationship with Kevin Locklear, a Police Captain with the Red Springs Police Department, was turbulent. According to sources, he was violent and threatening. Amanda did not feel she had options based on the police captain's prior history of assaults occurring with his former wife and his firing at that time as the Chief of Police in a town ten miles away.

Captain Locklear is fired from one department in 2007, only to be hired by another. That in itself is intimidating to victims of intimate partner violence. It speaks volumes to the "code of silence" in officer related crimes within their own relationships. After the 2007 incident, Behind The Blue Wall brought attention to the violent officers activities, predicting sometime in the future the bomb wound detonate again, if someone didn't do something to stop Locklear.

The police captain has been off work with pay since the murder. Initially, the "story" he told at the time on the crime scene was bogus. Later. the police captain would admit to a "rocky relationship." Because neighbors never heard the two shots fired or arguing in the sound proof home when the windows were closed, it was a slam dunk for the veteran police captain to say she committed suicide.

The state of North Carolina, in my expert opinion, has one hell of a dangerous individual, with full police powers, living his life as though he got away with murder.

As I stated in an earlier post: " I'm concerned with the confidence in the SBI analysts in the North Carolina lab conducting a proper investigation after last year's shake up with over 230 cases of mishandled evidence; and I do not want to see the "good old boy network" working from inside the blue walls and dismiss important evidence in the case that should include ballistics, personal computers and cell phones among other evidence at the crime scene."

Amanda Barker's children no longer have their mother. It is because everyone involved looked the other way, going back to 2007. Growing up in a home where the abusive person has police powers is the most frightening experience in the world. You have live this type of life to really understand it.

The murder of Amanda Barker was preventable. Not arresting the person responsible is a crime, and a violation of the Lautenberg Act. In case the State of North Carolina did not receive the memo on the law as it relates to law enforcement:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) sent a notice to every law enforcement agency when this law went into effect. Police officers with prior misdemeanor convictions of domestic violence from years earlier were no longer permitted to possess firearms under the new federal law. Several officers were fired for such misdemeanor offenses committed before the law was passed.

The family of Amanda Barker has the ability to file a law suit in this tragedy. Because of the politics involved in this case, I can be reached via email at murphymilano@gmail.com in hopes of providing options to a good attorney.

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The month of October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Intimate partner violence occurs 365 days a year, 7 days a week. Perhaps doing something for those whom you know are in a rocky or violent relationship is a start to how you can help others.

Providing information on what you need to do if you or someone you know is in a potentially violent relationship is done with the hope of saving lives. My work in the area of intimate partner violence prevention is a direct result of not being able to save my own mother back in 1989, killed by her police detective husband prior to committing suicide.

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 abusiverelationship. 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 on Amazon.com, or you can purchase via e-book or on a cd. If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

Before you decide that you have had enough and are ending the relationship, create for yourself the "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video (shown below).

If you do nothing else, please take one important step that if something does happen to you, if you do vanish like Stacy Peterson, Vensus Stewart, Rachel Anderson, Susan Powell, Lisa Stebic, or arefoundmurdered like Monica Beresford-Redmond, Franki Jacobson, Renee Pagel, Summer Inman,Kelly Rothwell and others where the person responsible has gotten away with murder that your voice and record of the abuse will be captured and recorded. Do it for you friends, family and loved ones. Do it for your children. Do it for you!

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

If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

This book doesn't merely discuss when you should leave or why you should leave, it tells you HOW you should leave. The book has step-by-step instructions how to covertly make a plan, set-up a safe escape, deal with financial issues, and the paperwork. Susan even takes you line-by-line through the process, the forms, the legal issues...she takes you by the hand, and, believe me, when you are being terrorized and you are an basket case, you don't need vague ideas, you need specific instructions. TIME'S UP can save your life and your sanity. If you need to get out, get this book before you make a mistake that could be fatal. It is money well spent.

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Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team at Management Resources Limited of New York.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.

If you would like to schedule Susan Murphy Milano for training and interviews, please contact:ImaginePublicity PO BOX 14946 Surfside Beach, SC 29587 Phone: 843.808.0859 email- contact@imaginepublicity.com