Homicide, An under-reported cause of death among pregnant women

An interesting article that examines how often women who are pregnant are the victims of homicide. This article mentions several high profile cases, as well as some that are still under investigation - Janet's murder is mentioned.

Excerpts:

"Pregnancy is supposed to be a joyful, happy time for families but tragically this isn't always true. High profile cases like the murders of expectant mothers Laci Peterson & Lori Hacking shone a harsh spotlight onto this issue. The most shocking fact of the Laci Peterson & Lori Hacking cases weren't that they were murdered as such but that it slowly emerged that the murderer in each case was the one closest to each woman who should have protected her & her unborn child."

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that between 1991 and 1999 that 617 injury-related deaths of pregnant women, or a whopping 31 percent, were the result of homicide. Shooting, stabbing & strangling were the most frequent means used to kill the women. Of the 4,200 pregnancy-related deaths included in the study reported in the American Journal of Public Health, 1,993 were caused by injury, rather than pregnancy complications."

Here is a link to the entire article:

http://www.livetrialupdates.com/

A well written article. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.The numbers are staggering. It only stands to confirm our suspicions that the husband is most probably the murderer.
As Sharon Rocha said, " why not divorce ? "

Did ya'll notice that Janet was mentioned? They have a nice picture of her posted there as well.

"Janet Marie Christiansen Abaroa murdered in April 2005. She was in the early stages of her second pregnancy & was stabbed to death. As yet police have named no persons of interest but have said the murder was not random. This has led many to suspect that her husband Raven is suspected of some involvement in the murder."

golfmom said:

Did ya'll notice that Janet was mentioned? They have a nice picture of her posted there as well.

"Janet Marie Christiansen Abaroa murdered in April 2005. She was in the early stages of her second pregnancy & was stabbed to death. As yet police have named no persons of interest but have said the murder was not random. This has led many to suspect that her husband Raven is suspected of some involvement in the murder."

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I'm glad Janet was mentioned. The more attention to her case, the better.

That's a very good article. It's an interesting website. I am glad there are more sites out there mentioning Janet. If the media isn't involved much, the best way to spread the word is through the Internet.

terminatrixator said:

That's a very good article. It's an interesting website. I am glad there are more sites out there mentioning Janet. If the media isn't involved much, the best way to spread the word is through the Internet.

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I agree term! Very interesting article, etc. And, as you say, without media attention, at least it's a "cyber way" to keep attention on Janet's murder...the more places the better I think!

Wow this quote from the article is even more bone-chilling.


Jeani Chang, lead author of the CDC study said "Homicide is an important cause of death for women during pregnancy or within one year of pregnancy," as reported in a Washington Times article of February 23, 2005.


Seems they are really interested in Justice for Janet over there too. I wonder how much longer before its ALL OVER THE WEB.

Good article, thanks for posting that. Nice to see Janet's name somewhere other than here.

Yes it is, they have a message board too, and I found a few other message boards now that are carrying information on Janet's Murder.

I think the more out there the better, this case needs to be solved and the Murderer needs to be put behind bars for the rest of its life.

terminatrixator said:

Yes it is, they have a message board too, and I found a few other message boards now that are carrying information on Janet's Murder.

I think the more out there the better, this case needs to be solved and the Murderer needs to be put behind bars for the rest of its life.

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Thanks for mentioning our frontpage article terminatrixator & everyone else too. Unfortunately Janet's case is one of many that deserves attention but rarely get it so at http://livetrialupdates.com we decided to do our little bit to change that.

The issue of maternal homicides is a very troubling & complex one because of the many factors that play into the motives of the murderer. It would be a mistake to say that every pregnant woman who dies as a result of violent crime is the victim of her spouse or significant other but the statistics are there to show that pregnancy triggers a certain type of individual to commit murder.

We were a little slow at getting started on Janet's case over at livetrialupdates.com, mostly because we were waiting to see if or when Law Enforcement were going to make their move. Many of our members are also members of websleuths and take an interest in how the case is developing. Even though many of them don't actvely post here they made it clear to the admins at livetrialupdates that another forum for Janet's case was needed, if only to show Janet's family & friends that she wouldn't be forgotten & just to get the word out a little bit more.

Anyway thanks again for taking the time to read our editorial and mentioning it here. I hope we can all work together to make sure that the wider world beyond the message boards hears of Janet's murder and that justice for Janet & her little one comes swiftly.

blaize

Thanks Blaize for taking the time to write that article. I know you are also a member here and I have enjoyed your posts here.

I have been reading at the forum and it seems that from what I read, LTU did live updates on the Scott Peterson trial. I also noted in the SP Forum here at Websleuths that the information was brought here from the members of LTU. That's cool that sites do that for each other and intertwine the way they do.

I also think the more information out about Janet and her unborn baby's murder is out on the web, maybe someone will come forward with information leading to the apprehension and conviction of this horribly brutal murderer!:furious:

If and more importantly when the murderer is apprehended I will definitely attend some of the trial and will be happy to post at WS and at your site.

terminatrixator said:

Wow this quote from the article is even more bone-chilling.


Jeani Chang, lead author of the CDC study said "Homicide is an important cause of death for women during pregnancy or within one year of pregnancy," as reported in a Washington Times article of February 23, 2005.

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It really is bone-chilling. Not only was Janet pregnant but she had also given birth to Kaiden only 6 months prior to the murder. Double motive in this case?

I am sickened that there still is no arrest. So many lives have been severely and irreparably damaged by one selfish monster. And yet that pig's life goes on. Inexcusable. :furious:

newkid said:

Good article, thanks for posting that. Nice to see Janet's name somewhere other than here.

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I agree nk. Come join us over there!
Hopefully this is just the start of this case spreading all over the internet, the media taking ahold of it and putting pressure on LE to arrest the person who did this.

ewwwinteresting said:

I agree nk. Come join us over there!
Hopefully this is just the start of this case spreading all over the internet, the media taking ahold of it and putting pressure on LE to arrest the person who did this.

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AMEN to that!!! Where is the pressure?

From the research I did to write the brief article on http://livetrialupdates.com I'd have to say that there seems to be a certain ambivalence amongst law enforcement about the ways that maternal homicides are investigated & prosecuted.

It didn't come accross to me that LE thinks these crimes are in any way less deserving of swift attention and justice but more of a distinct feeling that investigators and prosecutors are often at a loss as to how to present the cases to a jury.

The reasons for this I believe, are more to do with the way prosecutors believe that a jury might view a grieving spouse on the stand as a defendant as oppposed to how they'd see a defendant who was a stranger to the victim, especially if there's no previous record of spousal abuse or violence.

It may be next to impossible to get family members to cooperate or even to comtemplate that a loved one might also be the murderer, especially when the victim was pregnant. Most family members are not able to conceive of the violence it takes to kill a partner and their own child so when LE starts asking questions they're met with sheer disbelief and anger and then total denial.

Prosecutors know that they need a watertight case if they want to put a seemingly grieving spouse on trial & prove that this person murdered his partner. This is where motive comes in and even though prosecutors know they don't need to prove motive they know it'll be uppermost in the jurors minds, they also know that circumstantial, anecdotal, forensic & scientific evidence will all have to be presented in a way that proves to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is the murderer. The added burden here on the prosecution is that of the jurors natural desire to view the defendant spouse as a victim of the crime too so to combat this natural bias the prosecution must be able to build a picture of the what may have gone wrong in the couple's life together to bring them to a point where murder was committed. It's this aspect that may be wide open to interpretation and give a good defense lawyer a way to stymie the proceedings.

I believe these are some of the foremost reasons why law enforcement are very, very careful when putting together a case against a spouse for maternal homicide.

blaize