Women's coalition releases 'femicide' report

In December, police found the body of Kristine Larson in a burning car in Minneapolis, strangled and left there allegedly by her ex-boyfriend and the father of her young son.

Today, Larson's son is being cared for by his grandmother, Deborah Tilson, and other family members.

On Monday, Tilson spoke on behalf of her daughter and 34 other Minnesotans killed by domestic violence last year as the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women released its annual "femicide" report, a toll of homicides resulting from domestic violence.

In 2007, according to the report, at least 22 women and 10 children died from domestic violence and child abuse in Minnesota.

Additionally, the report said, three people were killed who were friends or family members of women in abusive relationships.

"So many of these women and other people are just statistics," Tilson said. "But in a family's life, they are a limb in the family tree. And now that limb has been cut off."

Last year's figures were largely similar to previous years. The coalition has compiled such reports since 1988. Annually, deaths by domestic violence have hovered in the high 20s to middle 30s.

The coalition compiles the report based on news accounts and information from organizations with which it works. No state agency collects detailed information about such murders, said Carla Ferrucci, the coalition's director of public policy and prevention.

About 50,000 Minnesotans sought help for domestic violence last year, she said.

Recently, the coalition has begun to track the relationship between domestic-violence homicides and statistically relevant warning signs that a batterer will become a murder.

In Minnesota last year, Ferrucci said, common red flags once again included previous attempts to leave an abuser, death threats, access to firearms and an abuser's history of violence.

Tilson said her daughter's death has spurred her to work as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse.

Her grandson is doing well, she said. He will be 2 next week, three days before his mother would have turned 20.

"We take one day at a time," she said. "He sees his momma's picture and he'll ask for it, and we'll hand it to him, and he gives it kisses. It's heart-wrenching some days, and other days I have a can-do attitude that he will know [his mother] and know everything about her."

The full report is expected to be online within the next few days. Previous years' reports are available at www.mcbw.org/femicide.htm.

Eric M. Hanson • 612-673-7517