Damn... Just, Damn.

[spinr]

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060919/NEWS01/60919003

Sylva woman shot to death at shelter for women
September 19, 2006 8:56 am
Asheville Citizen-Times
Joel Burgess

SYLVA  Law enforcement officers from at least three agencies were investigating this morning the fatal shooting of a woman at a shelter for domestic violence victims.

John "Woody" Raymond Woodring, 35, forced his way past a shelter worker and shot his estranged wife, Bonnie Woodring, about 9 p.m. Monday, Sylva police Chief Jeff Jameson said this morning.

Police were still searching for Woodring. They said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Jameson said officers believe Woodring fled in a vehicle, but they had no description of one.

Officers were searching around the shelter at 3 this morning. The investigation has involved Sylva police, the State Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities described Woodring as having brown hair, about 5 feet nine inches tall and weighing about 190 pounds. He has USMC tattoo on his left shoulder, Jameson said.

Woodring had an outstanding warrant on a domestic violence charge, the chief said.

Jameson said there had been no previous problems at the emergency shelter, operated by REACH of Jackson County, a nonprofit organization that works with domestic violence victims.

The Woodrings operated a Web-based business in which they offered photos from places such as the Smokies for use in projects.

On the site, Woodring has a video message for his wife under the title I am sorry Bonnie.

The video shows photos of the two in Hawaii and at other vacation spots and is set to music with lyrics including Im sorry that I hurt you.

It finishes with the message, I love you so much. Please forgive me.

Describing himself as an addict of true crime television shows, Woodring self-published a book The Convict Speaks about notorious criminals including Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz and Eric Rudolph.

He claims to have communicated with both, saying in an undated interview with WLOS-TV that Rudolph complained of being a pawn in a big chess game.

Woodring on his Web site says he spent time in jail for crimes including drunken driving and assault, and that is where he picked up a fascination with what motivates a person to live outside the law.
Contact Joel Burgess at 828-232-5960 or via e-mail at jburgess@citizen-times.com.

So I knew this dude, or knew of him at least.  He's a grad student and has been teaching classes where I work.  Spent the better part of night dealing with aftermath of the situation.

His wife had taken out warrants on him recently for domestic violence.  As the story states she was staying an emergency shelter.  The strange, and stupid, thing is that the location where she was staying is well known to all.  Apparently, Woody hid out in the bushes and waited for someone to come along so he could get inside without causing a ruckus.  Shelter worker eventually stepped outside for some reason, then he jumped her.  Leveled the shotgun at her and told her if she made a sound he'd blow her head off.  Pushed her aside, went in the shelter, found his wife and shot her in the head.

This whole thing is pretty damned messed up, of course.  But what's really frakked up, at least to me, is the video message he left for Bonnie on their business website.  See here, bottom-left of the page:

http://www.woodringincorporated.com

Not necessarily that remarkable as a video in & of itself.  Given the situation, and my proximity, it's rather powerful.

I'm just really not sure what else to say...

[wingnutx]

One of the ings I do in my crisis intervention work is take women to shelters. They are all unlisted and usually pretty difficult to find. When a husband does find one, it is generally because the wife called him and told him to come get her. Infuriating, but people are weird.

[spinr]

One of the ings I do in my crisis intervention work is take women to shelters. They are all unlisted and usually pretty difficult to find. When a husband does find one, it is generally because the wife called him and told him to come get her. Infuriating, but people are weird.

That's the damdest thing about the whole situation.  There's shelters like that around here.  However, for whatever reason she wasn't staying at one.  They had her shacked up at one of the public shelters.  Everyone knows where it's at, it's easy to find otherwise, and it's got a huge frakkin' sign out front announcing its' existence.

Just doesn't make sense at all.

[Brad Johnson]

I work closely with one of our local women's shelters. They, too, do not list their address, nor do they have a sign on the building. Still, it is a daily battle for them. Women come in beaten to a pulp, so the shelter gets them  settled and out of danger. The woman immediately turns around and calls her batterer to say she's sorry and will he come get her at .

It's so infuriating that they have had several board members resign - not in disgust or disdain for the shelter or staff, but in incredulous confusion over why some women will openly invite their batterer to come get them. And keep doing it over, and over and over.

Oh, of course the shelter has a sprinkling of the circle-strike "No Guns" signs for liability purposes. They used to have the 30.06 signs for no CHL because several of the board members were liberal bed-wetting types. They finally got a board member who saw the inherent stupidity in the signs (and who just happened to be a concealed handgun licensee). They no longer have the signs.

Brad

[The Rabbi]

Maybe they should outlaw grad students.