People from across the region gathered in Washington County on Saturday to pray for peace and to give strength to others currently in abusive relationships.
“We want to talk about it, get it out there, break the silence and have people who are in domestic violence to come forth and get help,” Suzanne Kelley said.
The peace rally was planned to raise awareness about domestic violence in hopes of preventing it from happening and protecting those who have already experienced it.
"Last year. Pennsylvania suffered the loss of 102 victims of domestic violence homicide,” Sen. Camera Bartolotta said.
Among those lost were
, who was killed by her husband despite having two protection from abuse orders filed against him, and
, who was kidnapped and later killed by her estranged husband.
Bartolotta said she is determined to change laws to close PFA loopholes and better protect victims of domestic violence. She has a
that would allow judges to keep domestic violence suspects in jail.
"What we can do is to take the necessary precautions to make sure the worst and most dangerous offenders end up exactly where they belong: behind bars,” she said.
The family of Rhonda Furmanek was also at Saturday’s rally. Furmanek was stabbed to death in 1994. Her husband was in jail when he ordered two friends to kill his wife on the day she was to testify against him in an abuse hearing.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
