Justice Delayed: the Murder of Laura Salmon

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In May 1984, Murfreesboro, Tennessee was shaken by the brutal murder of Laura Salmon, a lifelong resident.  At the time, Laura was an 18-year-old college student attending Middle Tennessee State University. Her murder shocked the community and left investigators with plenty of circumstantial evidence but not much hard proof. The case remained unsolved for over sixteen years until new DNA evidence led to the arrest and conviction of their prime suspect. The murder of Laura Salmon remains a tragic reminder of the impact of dating violence on individuals and communities, and a testament to the tireless efforts of law enforcement to bring justice to victims and their families.

This episode deals with incidents of dating violence.  Listener discretion is advised.  

Location

Our episode takes place in Murfreesboro, Tennessee located approximately thirty-five miles southeast of the state capital of Nashville.  In 1818, Murfreesboro was the state capital for about eight years until Nashville took over the title.  Murfreesboro is known as an agricultural community for its corn, cotton, and tobacco products.  

Murfreesboro also was called the Athens of TN due to the number of academic institutions in the area.  One of those institutions is Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).  MTSU is known for its aerospace program, concrete industry management program, and recording industry majors.  Some notable alumni include Hilary Scott, singer/songwriter for country music group Lady A, actress Sondra Locke, Las Vegas WNBA player, Alysha Clark, and Vernice “Flygirl” Armour, the first African American female naval aviator in the Marine Corp and first female combat aviator.  

Beaten

On May 31, 1984, farmer Johnnie Muckle walked into the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office to report finding the body of a young woman lying in one of his fields.   When investigators, including Deputy Chief Robert Asbury, descended on the location they found just what the Muckle reported.  A white female lying on her back. She wore no other clothing but a bra.  However, her body had been covered in two pairs of jeans.  

A pair of women’s Sergio Valente and a pair of men’s Rustler jeans along with a black Members Only jacket.  One sleeve of the Members Only jacket had been tied around her neck. The men’s Rustler jeans were laid over the chest area of the victim while Sergio Valente covered her private area and one leg.   The victim’s right hand clutched a pair of panties, presumably her own.  The victim had a visible injury to the left side of her head. Several bloodstained rocks were found around the body. The area the victim was found near was known as a gathering place for high school and local college students to gather and party.  It was located near a rock quarry.

Victim

The victim was identified as 18-year-old Laura Salmon, a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) which is located in Murfreesboro, Laura’s hometown.  Laura had attended Oakland High School where her mother, Lourene Mackey, taught English.  Her parents were divorced.  At the time of Laura’s murder, she had just moved into her father’s residence a few days prior and this might have been due to it being the end of the school year.  

Laura has been described as the girl next door.  In pre-school she had been crowned Little Miss Murfreesboro.  She acted in summer theater productions held at the Murfreesboro Little Theater.  She graduated high school with high academic honors and participated in extracurricular activities such as the flag corps.  

In the fall of 1983, Laura attended MTSU while her boyfriend, David Kyle Gilley finished his senior year at Oakland High School.  The couple had been dating for about a year having gotten together in 1982.

The Body

Dr. Charles Harlen performed Laura’s autopsy on June 2, 1984.  He determined that Laura had received ten different blows to her head with a blunt force object such as a heavy rock.  The impact created a spider web of skull fractures.  He also noticed a discoloration in Laura’s eye that was consistent with trauma received from a fist or another type of blunt instrument.  In his opinion, he wrote that Laura died as a result of a combination of wounds that caused fatal injuries to her brain.  Dr. Harlen also noted that Laura did not show any signs of sexual assault but did note that she had what looked like consensual sex within 24 to 48 hours of her murder.  The semen from Laura did not match a semen sample taken from the pair of Rustler jeans.  That semen sample interestingly enough was not located in the crotch area.  

Ralph Lehew, a sergeant with the sheriff’s office had worked the night shift the evening Laura’s body was discovered.  He knew that Laura worked as a cashier at Kroger’s grocery store on Tennessee Boulevard so on patrol, he decided to see if he could locate her vehicle, a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon which had yet to be found. His educated guess paid off and at 12:40 am on June 1st Laura’s car was located in the Kroger lot and taken into evidence.  

No fingerprints including Laura’s were found in the car.  What was found was a foreign hair and dirt in its wheel wells.  Dirt samples were sent off for testing either to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation or the FBI crime lab.  Soil collected from the car was located on the driver’s side floor mat, front passenger side floor mat, and rear passenger side floor mat.  Through microscopic analysis, investigators Aubrey Shaw with TBI and Rondald Rawalt, FBI, determined that Laura’s vehicle had been on the road located near the crime scene as the dirt samples matched.   

Mother’s Know

When detectives informed Ms. Mackey of her daughter’s murder she immediately told them that Kyle had done it.  She was sure of it.  She would tell investigators of the toxic violent relationship her daughter had with Kyle.  Kyle had a reputation around Oakland High School for being possessive and jealous and it seems he lived up to that reputation.  

Ms. Mackey didn’t approve of the relationship seeing how upset her daughter would become when Gilley and she would argue.  Ms. Mackey would not allow Gilley inside her home.  It’s unclear if Ms. Mackey knew all that transpired during her daughter’s relationship with Gilley, which would be revealed through the investigation but she knew enough to know that Gilley did not treat her daughter very well and was abusive. How abusive is not known.  Both she and several family members wanted Laura to take out a restraining order against Gilley. 

Investigators next talked to Mr. Salmon and Laura’s stepmom Brenda.  Brenda told detectives that she last saw Laura on the morning of May 31, 1984.  Laura and a friend, Trina were still sleeping in the den having got back late from an evening out.  Mr. Salmon also saw Laura for the last time that morning.  Both would be informed of Laura’s death that evening when Assistant District Attorney Guy Dotson came to their home.  

Krogers

Laura and Trina both worked at Kroger’s Grocery Store together. They were childhood friends.  When questioned, Trina told investigators that Laura had picked her up at 11 pm on May 30th and the friends had gone to a nightclub in Nashville returning around 3:00 am.  The next morning the pair drove to Kroger’s as Laura had a shift at 9:00 am and Trina would return around 2:00 pm for the start of her shift.  When Trina arrived for her shift Laura’s car was gone as she had gotten off at 1:00 pm.  However, she spotted Laura’s car in the parking lot around 3:30 pm when she was taking groceries out to a customer’s car.  This time Laura’s car was parked in a different spot.

Trina also told investigators that Laura was afraid of Gilley.  Trina knew that Laura had started to see other guys from MTSU but didn’t want Gilley to know as “she was scared of what would happen if he ever found out.”  Laura wanted out of her relationship with Gilley but was terrified of the fallout.  

Now, I have read various articles referring to Kyle Gilley as an ex-boyfriend and an equal number that state the pair were still together.  I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle as Laura’s fears were very real and Gilley didn’t seem to want to let go.

Another employee at Kroger would tell authorities that she and Laura worked together on May 31st.  At the end of their shifts, they left together.  Laura had changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of Sergio Valente jeans, a top, and brown shoes.  Laura told her she was going to her grandmothers’ to swim.  She watched Laura get into her car and drive off.  She would also tell detectives that she had seen Laura “black and blue” on several occasions.  She knew that Laura was seeing Kyle Gilley and told her that she should talk to someone and tell them what was going on as physical abuse should not happen in a relationship.  

Prime Suspect

On the evening of May 31st, Kyle Gilley had called the Salmon home not long after they had been notified of Laura’s murder.  Mr. Salmon told Gilley he needed to go into the sheriff’s office as they had some questions which he did. Gilley told Detective Asbury that he had seen Laura on May 30th at her grandmother’s place from 6:30 pm to around 10:30 pm.   He was supposed to meet up with her the next afternoon to go swimming at her grandmother’s place but he couldn’t find her.  Gilley’s statement was not a formal one as he was not considered a suspect and was free to leave.  Detective Asbury did not take any notes during this conversation.  

On June 6th, Gilley came in for a formal interview and was read his Miranda rights.  Gilley’s stepfather was also present for this interview.  In this interview, Gilley told detectives that the pair left Laura’s grandmother’s apartment around 9:00 pm in his car.  They parked behind the Bellwood Church and proceeded to have sex.  Afterward, he drove them back to Laura’s grandmother.  They both left around 10:30 pm in their respective vehicles.  Gilley went off to work and he assumed Laura drove back to her father’s house. Gilley got off work at 7:00 am and went straight to bed when he got home and didn’t wake up until between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm.   

Alibi

Gilley’s stepfather would tell investigators that when he got off work around 3:00 pm Gilley was still asleep and only left for a half-an-hour when he went looking for Laura and returned around 5:30 pm.  

Another interview took place in early July 1984.  This time Gilley was interviewed by Tom Carmouche, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent.  Gilley told Carmouche that he had been in Florida until May 29th.  He told the agent the same information as he had in his previous interview but this time added that after he and Laura had finished having sex they cleaned themselves off with a pair of jeans he had in the car.  After he got off work he went home and didn’t get up until 4:40 pm.  Gilley told Agent Carmouche that he found out Laura had been murdered when he went to the sheriff’s office.  

When Agent Crmouche suggested to Gilley that he had no way of knowing that Laura went straight home after they left her grandmother’s house.  Gilley jumped out of his chair looking agitated stating that “she wouldn’t do that.”  We know that she didn’t go home.  She picked up Trina when she got off work at 11:00 pm and the pair went into Nashville clubbing.  

Another Suspect

So while detectives were building a timeline another suspect showed up on the radar.   A woman who lived in Nashville contacted police claiming she had been raped.  Her attacker mentioned Laura’s murder telling her that he would do the same thing to her as he had Laura.  Detectives were able to track down the woman’s rapist who to their surprise also attended MTSU.  He was also a member of the same gym Laura went to and frequented the same fraternity parties.  They were also able to determine that he was near campus the day Laura was murdered.

Look who jumped to the top of the suspect list.  This suspect also had a history of violence against women.  Patti Choatre, a forensic chemist with the FBI compared the hair found in Laura’s car to the new suspect.  Since DNA was still years away to know for certain all the lab could determine is that the hair found in Laura’s car was consistent with their new suspect. Since a single hair is not enough to charge someone  investigators needed more.  

Next, detectives looked at the men’s jeans found at the crime scene.  They had a waist size of 30 inches and an inseam of 36 inches.  For their new suspect, it was a bust as these jeans would have been way too long for him.  So along with a list of close to a hundred suspects nothing seemed to pan out.

Time Jump

There were also issues that arose during the investigation that may not have filled Laura’s family with confidence that her killer would be caught.  One example of this was when Laura’s father had gone to the crime scene once it was released by police and discovered her necklace lying on the ground along with several blood-stained rocks.  He collected those items and turned them over to authorities.  

Years later it would be discovered that the crime scene had not been secured overnight after the discovery of Laura’s body nor had detectives worn gloves when they gathered evidence at the scene.  Also, a formal statement from the man that found Laura’s body was never taken.  Still, Laura’s case was never closed and over the years other detectives would look at the file with fresh eyes in the hopes of nailing down a suspect.

It would take sixteen years for Laura’s case to finally be solved.  In 2000, cold case detectives Bill Sharp and Dan Goodwin with the  Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office would be assigned the task of tracking down Laura’s killer.  Dan Goodwin had a special connection to Laura’s case as he knew her from MTSU.  

Pledge

Goodwin belonged to a fraternity at MTSU and Laura was one of the little sisters in their frat.  He and Laura had even gone out to the movies four days prior to her murder.  At her funeral, he approached Laura’s mom and pledged to find out who killed her daughter.  Goodwin took a winding road into law enforcement having started out as a newspaper reporter.  He even wrote about Laura’s unsolved case along with others in 1987 for the Daily News Journal.  Goodwin eventually left journalism and became a police officer.  One of his first official cases was Laura’s murder.  He hoped to finally make good on his promise to Ms. Mackey.

One of the first things Sharp and Goodwin did was send all the evidence they had off to TBI Lab for updated testing.  It was now 2000, and the technology now existed to find out whose semen was on that pair of Rustler jeans.  They also started reviewing all of the old interviews and case files to see if they could find any new leads.  One new lead did come their way in 2000.  It had come from an Oakland High School student who was overheard talking about Laura’s case stating that his father had killed her and thrown her body in the quarry.

This student’s father did have a police record for aggravated assault, but by the time detectives could track down their possible suspect he was dead.  Detectives asked the suspect’s children for a DNA sample which they provided.  In the end, the sample did not match DNA found at Laura’s murder scene.  They also tested the rapist’s DNA from years earlier.  That was also not a match.  Even Goodwin gave his DNA since he had been on a date with Laura prior to her murder.  That was also not a match.

Witness

One suspect detectives could not rule out even after 16 years was Kyle Gilley.  During a review of Laura’s file, detectives found a note contradicting Kyle Gilley’s alibi that he was home at the time of Laura’s murder.  This note indicated that a female witness had identified Gilley driving Laura’s car approximately a half mile from the road that led to the quarry where Laura’s body had been found around 3:25 pm on May 31st.  

Detectives wanted to know more about what this witness had to say.  They tracked down Gladys M. who at the time of Laura’s murder was an employee of the Heatcraft division of Lennox Industries.  She told detectives that she was traveling home from work the afternoon of May 31, 1984, when she saw a two-toned beige Oldsmobile Cutlass with tinted windows at the intersection of Twin Oak and Hall’s Pike.   The Oldsmobile was on the road leading away from the quarry.  She remembered waiting for the car to move, but after a while, she proceeded through the intersection.   When she learned about the murder the next day she told several coworkers about the car she had seen at the intersection.  

Gladys was given a photo array and she was able to pick Gilley as the person she saw behind the wheel of the car.  She remembered he had a slender build,  dark shoulder-length hair, and appeared to be tall based on the position of the front seat.  Gladys had notified the sheriff’s office of her encounter after she had seen a photo of Gilley in the newspaper.  She was interviewed by TBI Agent Carmouche several months later and that is when she picked Gilley out of the photo lineup.  When she drove through the intersection, what stood out beside the car not moving was that the driver was just staring straight ahead with a blank look on his face.  

Violent History

Detectives Sharp and Goodwin re-interviewed old witnesses and came across some new ones in their re-examination of Laura’s case.  The picture that started to take shape was a violent one.  One of those witnesses was a friend and neighbor of Laura’s, Kim B.  She told detectives that she had been at the police station to answer some questions at the same time Gilley was.  Afterward, she rode home with Gilley who wanted to go to Laura’s father’s house.  While at the Salmon residence, she witnessed Gilley going through Laura’s belongings and taking some letters.  

Then Kim and Gilley went to a party and it was at this party that Gilley made a pass at her telling Kim, “Laura’s dead, she won’t know.”  After leaving the party due to feeling uncomfortable she and Gilley talked in a parking lot.  Kim claimed that Gilley kept asking her why Laura cheated on him, and why did she do this to him. Kim got another ride home wanting to get away from Gilley as she was frightened by his behavior.

A new witness that the original investigators never questioned was Shelly D.  She was a sophomore at Oakland High School when Gilley was a senior in 1984.  She had met Gilley at a keg party where the two left to go to the rock quarry off Twin Oak Drive.  She related that at one point Gilley had asked her if she “wanted to end up like Laura Salmon”.  Shelly asked who she was and what he was talking about.  Gilley replied, “She was my ex-girlfriend and I killed her.”  When Shelly got home she told her father who told her to “keep her mouth shut.”  Shelly would not come forward until June 2000.  

Jeans Tell All

Meanwhile the TBI lab was busy re-examining the evidence focusing on the Rustler jeans.  Crime scene technicians found blood stains only above the knees indicating that Laura’s assailant was wearing them and kneeling over her at the time of the attack. The blood spatter was a medium velocity spatter which indicated some instrument, like a rock, had been used as it had not generated much force.  The blood spatter on those jeans belonged to Laura.

A small semen sample was found on the Rustler jeans. Now all detectives needed to do was find out who it belonged to and for that, they focused on tracking down Kyle Gilley who was no longer living in Murfreesboro.  

Florida

Kyle Gilley relocated to Bradenton Florida in 1986, where he worked in the Public Works Department for Manatee County.  Rich Gerkin, a sergeant with Manatee County Sheriff’s Office assisted Sharp and Goodwin on May 9, 2000.  Having gotten background information on the case he questioned Gilley at the sheriff’s office.  Gilley told Gerkin that he had no knowledge of a rock quarry prior to Laura’s murder.  He denied being jealous or physically violent with Laura and he denied having sex with her two to three days prior to her murder.  A blood sample was taken once he was served with a warrant which was then sent off to the TBI Lab in Tennessee for testing.

On May 31, 2000, Gilley’s DNA sample was run against the semen sample found on the Rustler jeans.  It was the 16th anniversary of Laura’s murder that those results would show that Kyle Gilley was the donor of that sample and most likely had been wearing those jeans when he killed Laura by kneeling over her and beating her with rocks.  

Once Again

Detective Goodwin would return to Florida on November 13, 2001, for another interview.  Gilley signed a statement following his interview where he claimed that his relationship with Laura was “mostly sexual” and that “they both saw other people and neither of them was jealous.”  He once again denied being violent towards Laura or any other women.  He did admit that Laura had chipped her tooth once when she had jumped on him.  He denied ever having visited Laura at her dorm on the MTSU campus and denied ever having visited the rock quarry.  Gilley also denied having gone to the Salmon residence the night of her murder.  The only thing he did admit to was that the Rustler jeans were probably his.

Detective Goodwin was good in that he got on record Gilley’s denials, some of which Goodwin knew were false.  Goodwin remembered seeing Gilley with Laura on the MTSU campus together.  He also knew from Gilley’s 1984 statement that he said he had been to the rock quarry twice.  Detective Goodwin informed Gilley that he had an expert who would testify that Laura’s killer had been wearing those Rustler jeans at the time of her murder.  Kyle asked for an attorney

On November 14, 2001,  David Kyle Gilley was arrested in Bradenton Florida, and charged with first-degree murder.  

Juvenile Court

Now since Gilley was under the age of 18 at the time of Laura’s murder he was arranged in a juvenile court instead of a criminal one.  In 2002, a hearing was held in order to determine if Gilley’s case should be transferred to the adult circuit court. After various witnesses testified as to the violent relationship between Gilley and Laura, Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott ruled that Gilley would be tried as an adult on February 1, 2002.   

On March 6, 2002, a grand jury indicted Gilley on 1st degree murder charges.  So now we get onto the trial but before that can start a pretrial hearing takes place on November 27, 2002, to determine which witness testimony will be allowed in and what will be excluded.  At the end of this two-day hearing, the court ruled that they would allow the following witnesses to give testimony as to incidents that had occurred between the years of 1982 to 1984.  One was Lourene Mackey, Laura’s mother, and three other witnesses, Connie S, Melinda E, and Terri B. would be allowed to testify to incidents in which they witnessed Gilley pull Laura by her hair and push her face into the hood of a car.  Melinda E. witnessed Gilley shoving Laura into a locker at Oakland High, Mary L. witnessed Gilley repeatedly driving by MTSU staring at Laura and once twisting her arm, Kim R. for an incident that occurred in the resident hall at MTSU.  

Juvenile to Adult

The trial court felt that there was clear and convincing evidence that these incidents were relevant in showing Gilley’s, “motive, intent, hostility and settled purpose” to harm Laura Salmon.  Both the defense and prosecution either wanted more witness testimony allowed in or to be excluded depending on which side they were on. So both sides appealed and after two-and-a-half years the Tennessee Supreme Court returned the case to the circuit court and it was up to Judge Ash to ultimately decide what evidence would be allowed in and what would be excluded.  So basically what had already been decided in November 2002.  

On August 26, 2006, David Kyle Gilley’s trial began for the murder of Laura Salmon whom he was accused of murdering a little over twenty-two years prior. 

Violent Incidents

The following is testimony that was given at trial.  Please note that some of the incidents are unsettling.  Mary H, now married, was a resident advisor in Laura’s dorm. She testified that she knew Gilley as someone who had visited Laura on visitation nights.  One night at the end of February or the very beginning of March 1984, Mary was informed by several dorm residents of loud arguing coming from Laura’s room.  Mary knocked on the door several times hearing the heated argument occurring inside.  Laura finally answered the door and when she did Mary saw that she had been crying.  Laura had mascara smeared all over her face, had a bruise on her right cheek, and her nose was bleeding.  

When Mary asked Gilley to leave he called her a bitch and told her to mind her own business.  Gilley then called Laura a “two-timing bitch and a whore” then grabbed her by the arm and hair dragging her down the hallway towards the stairwell.  Gilley then lifted Laura up and over the 3rd-floor, railing shouting “I will kill you.  I will drop you & kill you.”  Eventually, Gilley brought her back over the railing and left.

Michael A. went to high school with Laura and Gilley and he testified to an incident at one of the high school dances in which Gilley held Laura’s hand while jerking her around by her hair and yelling at her.  Michael went to separate the pair and when he did he saw that Gilley had a big clump of her hair in his hand.

Patry Tree

Melinda E. also went to high school with the couple.  She testified to Gilley banging Laura’s head into a locker one day.  Gilley told Laura that she was not going to break up with him and threatened to kill her.  Melinda was also present at another incident at the “Party Tree” an area on Sulphur Springs Road where kids would meet up to hang out on the weekends.  Gilley held Laura by the back of her hair and smashed her head against the window of a car door.  Melinda would leave and notify the police but I could find no information of any police involvement.  

Connie S. also witnessed the party tree incident and one that occurred at band practice when Gilley grabbed Laura’s arm and tried to get her to leave with him. Connie also read some letters Gilley had sent Laura in which he apologized, professed his love, and threatened her that if he couldn’t have her, no one would.   

Reed R. worked at the Murfreesboro Little Theater and worked on a play with Laura in 1983.  He recalled Gilley was sitting in his car with Laura standing outside the window.  The two were arguing.  Laura reached in through the open window to try to grab the keys as Gilley rolled it up on her arm.  He then proceeded to drive away dragging Laura onto the street.  Laura was able to free her arm and went sprawling onto the road.  

Ms. Mackey, Laura’s mother, testified that Laura had come into her classroom one day crying about something Gilley had said.  Ms. Mackey confronted Gilley about his behavior towards her daughter.  She claimed that Gilley couldn’t have cared less about what she was telling him.

Forensics

The prosecution also presented their theory of what occurred the afternoon of May 31st.  They believe that Gilley and Laura did have plans to meet up and go swimming that afternoon but Gilley convinced Laura to head out to the deserted Lover’s Lane to talk.  Did he know that she had gone out clubbing the night before?  The talk soon turned to arguing with Gilley pining Laura down and straddling her.  He then grabbed the closest objects he could find on the ground which were rocks of various sizes and he repeatedly struck her in the head.  

Gilley saw that he had gotten blood on the upper part of his jeans and that is the reason he left them there.  DNA testing would match a semen sample found on those jeans to Gilley and the blood spatter belonging to Laura.  

Eye Witness

Gladys M. testified to her witnessing Kyle Gilley driving Laura’s car that afternoon at the intersection of Twin Oaks and Hall’s Pike.  She recounted the same information that she had told detectives back in 1984.  To bolster her testimony Billy D. testified to a conversation he had with Gladys at work in May 1984.  Billy was Gladys’s supervisor and he remembered Gladys telling her after she heard about Laura’s murder and the location where it occurred about what she saw.  

The defense for their part claimed that Gilley was innocent of Laura’s murder.  They tried to show the presence of another man’s DNA was proof someone else was at the crime scene.  They also had Gilley’s brother testify as an alibi witness.  He testified that on the day of the murder he had gotten off work and gone home sometime between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm and Gilley was asleep when he arrived.  He left the house around 1:30 pm for about 90 minutes and when he returned his father and Gilley were there.  When he left again at 4:30 pm Gilley was just getting up.  He claims that he saw no bruises or scratches on Gilley.

On cross-examination, Gilley’s brother admitted to writing a letter to Gilley while he was in jail telling him not to worry because he would provide him an alibi.  

David Kyle Gilley was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to the 1984 state sentencing laws to 30 years in prison.  He will be eligible for parole on September 25, 2042.  

The Burning Bed

Laura Salmon died at the hands of someone who professed to love her but saw her as someone to control and own.  Laura had tried to end her relationship with Gilley several times but he threatened and beat her when she did.  She was terrified of Gilley and in the 1980s perhaps didn’t feel she had much support to do so.  Unfortunately back then domestic violence and specifically dating violence wasn’t really talked about. It was thought to be a private matter between two people.  But four months after Laura’s murder a television movie would bring awareness and start a national conversation around the issue of domestic violence.  

That television movie is based on the book by Faith McNulty’s The Burning Bed which aired on October 8, 1984, on NBC. The Burning Bed was based on the true story of battered housewife Francine Hughes.  Actress Farrah Fawcett, best known for her famous swimsuit poster and playing Jill Monroe on Charlie’s Angels, played Francine.  This movie really showed the brutal reality of domestic violence unlike anything ever seen on prime-time television.  After 13 years of abuse and a brutal beating from her husband, Francine set fire to the bed while her husband was sleeping in it in March 1977.  She turned herself in the next day to the police telling them what she had done.  She would eventually go on trial and be found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.  

VAWA

Another first in 1984, was the passage of the Violence Against Women Act that gave more protections to abused women.  Increased awareness and the passage of tougher laws did little to help Laura Salmon at the time.  According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crimes in the United States. It is women between 18 and 24 that are most commonly abused by their intimate partner.  

Relational abuse is all about power and control according to loveisrespect.org.  It is not about love.  Love Is Respect recommends to people experiencing relational abuse that victims keep a journal of what they have experienced such as writing down any witnesses, incident dates, times, and descriptions.  Document abuse with photos if you can and seek medical care when necessary.  Most importantly file a police report when it is safe to do so.  There are more protections today and resources than Laura had back in 1984.  

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