Cold Blooded Mother Murders Her Entire Family

                                                           Skyler 8 and her brother Ian 7

Both of these beautiful children had just gotten off the school bus.    It was their last day of school until after the new year.

As always, I received a dozen or so emails when the news broke about a tragic shooting; in my opinion, a premeditated slaughter in Emington, IL, an entire family erased.  Among those who lost their lives was a 10-month old baby Maggie Warren, the father to the infant and live-in boyfriend Daniel Warren, the mother to all the children, Sara McMeen, and Skyler and Ian Lemke.

Interesting how everyone who wrote assumed it was the father.  On Friday, a neighbor saw the mother in the back yard after 3 other shots had already rung out from inside the home.  The neighbor asked if everything was alright and the mother shouted "no," firing point blank at the baby in her arms, dropped her to the grass, then committed suicide.

As you're reading this you can think of all the "reasons" someone would do this, especially a mother.  Was she mentally ill, not on her medication, misdiagnosed or did she just snap? There is not one good reason, in my book, for wiping out innocent lives.  Sara McMeen planned the murders.  No, she did not simply snap.

Having personally bathed,  for 18 years, in the world of abuse victims and serial offenders who eventually turn deadly, society continues to dismiss the events leading up to intimate partner violence and homicide.  We sugar coat it by saying the individual was mentally ill or they were under pressure.  We tiptoe around these crimes hiding behind the computer screen or inside our home in a hear no evil see no evil mentality.  These murders are not isolated, one time incidents.  It is an epidemic!

The community of Emington has an opportunity to be a voice for the children and father now forever silenced on a national level.  Perhaps a town meeting, after the holidays, with a plan of awareness and action in memory of the victims.  It is my hope the town can rise above the tragedy and not keep it a secret, hidden as though it never happened.  That would be a crime!

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases. She is a intimate partner family homicide survivor.

A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writesproviding commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime

Crystal Ragin: Intimate Partner War Behind Enemy Lines

As active military assigned to the Fort Eustis Army base in Virginia, Crystal Ragin, age 32, and mother of 4 children, would not be prepared for special combat duty on Friday. Crystal, along with three of her four children:

Sierra, age 15

Rasheed, age 10

Lakwan, age 4

All murdered behind enemy territory by Crystal's second husband. After he stabbed to death the mother and children, he set the house on fire and took the couple's 5 year- old son and headed to South Carolina. According to sources, the past few months John Ragin's rages escalated. Crystal Ragin was in fear and in the process of making plans to end the marriage.

She and her children were no match for his anger. Over the weekend, he was taken into custody arrested in South Carolina where he is expected to be taken back to VA and charged with 4 counts of murder.

There has to be more then merely a funeral followed by headstones for these innocent lives now added to the national casualties list in the war as it directly relates to intimate partner violence that leads to homicides.

In the months ahead we hope to provide a more direct solution in hopes of stopping the daily slaughter of those whose cries for help in decades past have fallen on deaf years.

The trumpets from heaven for Crystal, Sierra, Rasheed and Lakwan will sound loudly as they enter the gates of God's kingdom and here on earth their voices will ultimately, be victorious!

May they each rest in peace!

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

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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'sUp!" . 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 interviews, please contact: ImaginePublicity PO BOX 14946 Surfside Beach, SC 29587 Phone: 843.808.0859 email- contact@imaginepublicity.com

A Memo to Boston Governor Deval Patrick

The Governor of Boston Deval Patrick has proclaimed domestic violence an epidemic. I mean no disrespect to his honor. I applaud his attempts at heightening awareness. He is designating $1.3 million dollars for a study .

The problem is, solutions will not be revealed in a study. Likely administered by individuals who have no idea what is domestic violence or the deadly , yet silent dangers victims and their children face three hundred and sixty five days a year seven days a week. Or the law enforcement families who are unable to seek basic legal remedies because their boyfriend or husband is issued a badge and a gun within the State of Boston.

Governor Patrick, a study will not produce results. It will only add more flames to a fire already out of control in the lives of family violence victims.

You would not hire someone to run your campaign for re-election who did not have experience and a track record would you? Then sir, why commission and ineffective tool likely to sit on someone's desk for a few years.

There is a group of individuals who are in the trenches and on top of the issues of family violence in the home across the country. These experts, given the opportunity would implement more than a study with the $1.3 million dollars. Sir, they would create tools that are effective and save lives.

I for one would like nothing more then to not attend another funeral. Or explain to a child why Mommy or Daddy are not, ever, coming home.

I would welcome an opportunity to discuss real options and potential solutions. It will not cost you $1.3 million dollars. A plane ticket and lunch seems like a real bargin.

Afterall, Governor, one cannot put a price on human lives.

My direct email address is : contact@movingoutmovingon.com

Link to the Governors Home Page:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3homepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3

http://www.bostonglobe.com/

FYI- Please Take a moment to visit new site link: http://www.womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/

Family Murders: A Dangerous Epidemic

In a small town in Memphis, yet another slaughter of an entire family. As the American public read these tragedies with our morning coffee, do we ever stop and think, perhaps these killings and so many others exactly like them in recent months, are basically out of control ? Do we really care to know if any of these could have been prevented?

Is this what the American Family has become ? Are we left with being deathly afraid of our own flesh and blood?

We can watch these killings all day long like a drug as we become increasingly inundated with one tragic event after another । Or we can take our heads out from under the rock where we all have gone to hide. I have a suggestion, let us start to pay attention to our friends, relatives, co-workers and those we once knew as our neighbors by providing some old fashioned human interactive contact.
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Six people, including two children, were found dead in a home Monday night in Memphis' Binghampton -----
Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Young said firefighters responded to a 911 call at a home at 722 Lester at 6:11 p.m. Monday, where the bodies and wounded children were found.
The wounded children- a 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender wasn't immediately known, were transported to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center.
According to hospital spokeswoman Jennilyn Utkov, the children were taken to the emergency room to be treated. No further information was available about their conditions.
Sources told Action News 5 the four adults found dead suffered from gunshot wounds, while two children were found stabbed to death. The three children found alive were also stabbed. All nine victims were found in the same room.
Neighbors identified the person living at the home as Cecil Dotson. Dotson's sister Nicole was frightened for her family members.
"You know when you come to stuff like this you think the worst," she said. "You think someone is dead. I am scared to death, all my nieces and nephews are in there and his baby mama and I don't know what's going on."
Though the bodies were discovered Monday night, it was unclear exactly when the murders took place. Neighbors in the area reported hearing a disturbance at the home over the weekend, including the sound of gunshots around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
As news of the grisly find spread though the neighborhood, residents gathered in spite of the rainy weather to watch from afar as police conducted their investigation.
Homicide detectives could be seen speaking with relatives sitting in a car near the house where the killings happened.
"It's sad you come home to find out something like this has gone on," neighbor Leo Baker said. "I've been living here for 10 years. It's kind of sad, and scary too."
Baker said he didn't know the family living in the house.