Conference Focuses On Silent Deaths Eight Women Victims Of Domestic Violence

Eight red wooden silhouettes with eight sad stories mark the deaths of Idaho women who died last year as a result of domestic violence.

Their ages at death ranged from 18 to 77 - most were in their 40s. Each was killed by someone who had once claimed to care for her.

The Idaho Council on Domestic Violence, which sponsored the silhouettes’ creation, calls them “Silent Witnesses.”

They will be on display at a conference the Post Falls Police Department Officers and Advocates Sharing Intervention Services Programs are sponsoring next Wednesday at Carnegie’s restaurant at the Highlands Golf and Country Club in Post Falls.

“There are four from North Idaho and we do have a problem here and we need to get a handle on it or more people are going to get killed,” said Jennifer Smith, a crime victim advocate for the OASIS Program at a press conference Tuesday.

The four North Idaho victims are Susan A. Foutz of Hauser, Connie and Heather Henry of Athol and Deborah Whipple of Wallace.

Crime victim advocates help victims of crime - not just of domestic violence - obtain resources, court-issued protection orders, emergency shelter and other related services. When police respond to a domestic violence problem, crime victim advocates often help the victims obtain the resources they need after the incident.

“We try to help them get over that crisis,” explained Sue Manley-Smith, OASIS Program director and advocate. “We’re crisis interventionists.”

Manley-Smith worked with Foutz, one of the women represented by the red silhouettes, before Foutz’s ex-boyfriend, Stephen Cherry, shot her in June 1996.

“She was pretty scared, rightfully scared,” Manley-Smith said. “We knew it was pretty dangerous. We tried to tell her to go with her gut feeling, that it was serious.”

The three crime victim advocates in Post Falls (one floats between Post Falls and Rathdrum) keep track of all the contacts they’ve had with clients. So far this year, they’ve had 400 contacts - too many, each of them said.

Many are repeat clients, said Janet Jones, a crime victim advocate.

“They stay for so many reasons and we just can’t know,” she said. “I think the one thing you have to remember is you can’t be judgmental. You can’t know what they’re going through.”

Participants in the conference, “Living and Dying in Silence,” must register with the Post Falls Police Department by Tuesday.

, DataTimes