Heather was almost choked to death by an abusive boyfriend 12 years ago in Jacksonville as her two young sons watched, a “nightmare” that began with mental and physical abuse, she said.

“He screamed at me, and his hands got tighter,” she said during Tuesday’s kickoff of Domestic Violence Awareness Month at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. “All I could hear was the cries and the screams from my boys, wanting their Dad to stop. What I remember most was the look on his face — pure rage. His eyes were black, and I knew this was it — this could be the moment he killed me.”

She escaped what she thought was her last moment on Earth, becoming an advocate for the abused When she heard that Duval County last year had the lowest number of domestic homicides since 2015, she was excited.

“But we still have so much work to do, and there are still too many that are out there” said Heather, who wanted only her first name used. “These are just numbers that are reported, not even ones that are not. … Now, 12 years later, I am helping and speaking for others so they know they are not alone.”

Duval’s cases dropped to 10 last year resulting in 13 deaths, compared with eight cases and 14 deaths in 2015. That drastic drop in domestic violence homicides from 2022’s 19 deaths is good news, said But like Heather said, it is also bad news.

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Gail Patin, CEO of Hubbard House, Jacksonville’s domestic abuse shelter, sees the drop as good news and bad.

“People are continuing to die due to domestic violence, and we are seeing the No. 1 weapon used against survivors are firearms,” Patin said.

Hubbard House has helped more than 159,500 victims of domestic violence and their children in its 48-year history. “Until there are no deaths due to domestic violence, we are going to keep moving along and doing what we need to do to prevent those deaths,” Patin said. “The good news, the hope, is that there were fewer domestic deaths last year.”

To mark the beginning of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Hubbard House and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office hosted its annual kickoff with a presentation of the Violence Fatality Review Report. The report from a committee of law enforcement and prosecution experts has detailed domestic abuse for the past 27 years.

The committee seeks patterns in domestic abuse deaths that law enforcement or other agencies might have prevented with revised responses, said Assistant State Attorney Khary Gayner, director of Special Victims Unit.

“These statistics hit home for law enforcement and for prosecutors,” Gayner said. “As diligently as we work, and as seriously as we take these offenses, there is always room to advance the cause of justice and engage with victims of domestic violence, offering services, education, shelter and whatever else is in our power before they become homicide victims.”

In 2023, 88% of the intimate partner domestic violence homicides involved relationships with a history of domestic violence between the suspect and victim, or by one party in the homicide on another, the report said.

In four of those seven cases, the homicide victim had a documented or alleged history of domestic violence on the suspect. Two of the homicides were ultimately ruled justifiable, the report said.

In 88% of the domestic violence homicides in 2023, the suspect and victim were either living together or had.

Although 75% of the intimate partner homicides last year had either documented reports or allegations of prior domestic violence, none had a record of filing for an injunction involving themselves, the report said.

Firearms continue to be the primary weapon used in Duval County’s domestic violence homicides, with 60% used in 2023’s deaths, just above the average of 57% gun usage since 1997, the report says.

“Thus abusers who have access to firearms remain a significant threat to their potential victims, and it is even more true now,” Gayner said.

The 2023 statistics were also better than those from 2022’s as reviewed by the State Attorney’s Office, showing 14 fatal domestic abuse cases, leaving 19 people dead. That compared with 17 cases in 2021, also with 19 people dead, four more than 2020.

“Although there is more to achieve, this is progress,” Gayner said.

Another statistic came from Duval County Clerk of Courts Jody Phillips, who said his office had more than 6,500 domestic violence injunctions filed by victims in 2023, the fourth highest in the state.

“These are just the cases that were filed. Many cases go unreported,” Phillips said.

After the decrease in homicides last year, Heather says she wants to see more awareness and continued decreases in the numbers of domestic violence homicides as she works with victims.

“I just want to reach one more, two more, three more — however many of them need it,” she said.

Events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

• The 30th Annual Barbara Ann Campbell Memorial Breakfast will be 7:30 a.m. Oct. 16 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. The event remembers those lost locally to domestic violence and promotes awareness of the problem and solution. Tickets are $75 per person.
• The University of North Florida will host Take Back The Night on Oct. 8, starting with an awareness fair at 4 p.m. at Osprey Plaza, followed by a Take Back The Night March at 5:30 p.m. The events take a stand against interpersonal violence and dating/domestic violence. 
• Volunteers planted 6,546 purple flags in front of the Duval County Courthouse on Tuesday, representing each injunction for violence filed in 2023 in Duval County.
• Share Hubbard House’s #UntilYouAreSafe social media campaign is posted on Facebook (@HubbardHouseInc) and Instagram (@hubbardhouse).

Domestic abuse resources

• Hubbard House 24-hour hotline: (904) 354-3114 and 24-hour text message line, (904) 210-3698.
• St. Johns County’s Betty Griffin Center 24-hour hotline: (904) 824-1555.
• Nassau County’s Micah’s Place 24-hour hotline: (904) 225-9979.
• Clay County’s Quigley House 24-hour hotline: (904) 284-0061.