In a heartbreaking turn of events, a woman whose abusive husband was recently released from jail after holding her hostage was found dead Tuesday after being abducted by her husband again, TIME reports.
Police found the body of 48-year-old Tierne Ewing in a barn with a gunshot wound to the head. TIME reports that her husband, Kevin Ewing, was found in the same barn with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was later declared brain dead.
In July, Kevin Ewing was arrested for holding his wife hostage for two weeks, TIME reports. Tierne Ewing told police that he tortured her during this time, according to the Associated Press, and she was only able to escape when he sent her to the bank to withdraw money and she told the tellers what was going on.
Ewing was charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and ulawful restraint, but only served a grand total of three days in jail after posting a $100,000 bond. The prosecutor on the case asked the judge to keep him locked up due to the severity of the charges, but the judge allowed Ewing to stay under house arrest with an ankle bracelet. Unsurprisingly, he soon cut off the bracelet and headed out to kidnap his wife yet again.
Unbelievably, the justice system and police were both well aware of Tierne’s situation. On top of the fact that and he had literally just been left prison after abducting and assaulting her, she also had a protection from abuse order against her husband, the Observer-Reporter reports, and there are charges of abuse and assault dating as far back as 2001, to which Kevin Ewing pleaded guilty.
If Ewing getting off with a slap on the wrist after repeatedly beating and then ABDUCTING his wife isn’t proof of how often women’s claims of abuse are dismissed by society, we’re not too sure what is. While it’s too late for Tierne to get justice, hopefully this case will remind officials of just how dangerous domestic abusers can be.