SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The slaying of a Keizer woman last week, allegedly at the hands of her husband, is the latest in what the head of a Salem crisis service calls a horrifying trend in domestic violence homicides.
The Statesman Journal reports four of the five homicides reported last year in Marion and Polk counties were the result of domestic violence.
Jayne Downing at the Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Service calls it a horrifying trend. The service took more than 14,000 domestic violence calls last year, compared to fewer than 11,000 in a typical year.
Domestic violence deaths averaged 24 a year from 2003 to 2009 in Oregon, hit 34 in 2009 and reached 55 last year through November, according to the state Health Division and Oregon Law Center.
