"Mate Guard" A Deadly Trend
The mother of a Bexar County detention officer said she tried to stop her son from stabbing his sometimes-girlfrien d, but said it was too late. Hope Bass is the mother of Alfred Brown, 29, a Bexar County detention officer, who is accused of stabbing to death Kathy Chavira, 27. Chavira suffered multiple stab wounds in Bass' frontyard over the summer her son stabbing Chavira, with whom her son had two children.This is a perfect example of "Mate Guard"
A slap across the cheek or a punch in the eye — both acts can lead to a woman's death at the hands of the man she loves.
Domestic violence cases across the Country, are rising, but there are several warning signs that woman should pay attention to in order to save their own lives.
Even in today's world, it happens: men who try to control women to the point where they'd rather kill them then let them go.
"I was screaming my head off, "Stop, Stop, Stop." And she moved over to the other house, and he fell over her and he stabbed her," Hope Bass said. "I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't."
In July, Bass, the mother of former Bexar County jail guard Alfred Brown, watched as her son stabbed his girlfriend, Kathy Shavira, to death in what police called a fit of jealousy.
Some experts say these acts are a form of violent rage that dates back to ancient times.
"I think it goes back thousands of years — or even longer, tens of thousands of years," David Buss said.
Buss, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, studies evolutionary psychology — the mechanisms that brains of early humans developed to cope with the world that still affect us today.
One of those mechanisms, called mate guarding, is the drive for men to get the best mates and keep them.
"You have the evolution of long-term mating, which we do have in humans, then you have the evolution of mate guarding and the evolution men who don't want to let go," Buss said.
Like the case in August of Matthew O'Connor and his newly divorced wife, Evairene.
Police said O'Connor had been stalking his ex-wife. She got a protective order, but on the day they were supposed to appear in court, O'Connor shot his ex-wife 20 times, then killed himself.
"That woman expected he was going to kill her, unfortunately. What an awful thing," said Susan Reed, the Bexar County District Attorney.
Reed said when a woman dumps a man and he starts believing she's not replaceable, the situation becomes very dangerous.
Emilio Ramirez, 40, was convicted of shooting and killing his girlfriend, Melissa Jimenez, 30, in a fit of rage.
Ramirez is now serving an 18-year sentence at the Jordan Detention Center in Pampa.
He said he takes full responsibility for Jimenez's death and said he never got a chance to explain to Jimenez's family what happened, and he's sorry for what he did.
Ramirez denies ever abusing Jimenez, but scientists say in most cases, almost every man who kills a girlfriend or spouse starts out by abusing her.
No one knows when abuse will turn deadly, but there are ways women can spot abusers before it's too late.
"If he's trying to control her time — all the time — if he's trying to cut off her relationships with her friends and kin, that's a dangerous sign," Buss said.
Experts also say repentance — "I'll never do it again" — really means the opposite.
And just because you leave doesn't mean the danger has ended.
Five years ago, San Antonio saw this at its worst.
Jessica Garcia was packing to leave her husband Frank, who she said was abusive and stalking her.
Police said Jessica Garcia had a protective order, but that didn't stop Frank from killing her and police officer Hector Garza after Frank Garcia's mother called and told him Jessica was leaving.
"The way the legal system is set up, there's not much a woman can do now," Buss said.
"Once they violate the protective order, we'll file another criminal case on them," Reed said. "But they're free to be on bond, which means they're free to go get a gun and go shoot the person, if they so choose."
Reed plans to ask the state for a new law next year that would allow her to throw those who violate a protective order in jail and keep them there.
Source:www.behindthebluewall.blogspot.com
