MCALESTER, Okla. — Laurie Everett's children describe her as a light in their lives, a woman who never met a stranger.
They were shocked to learn on March 7 Everett got into a fight at her boyfriend's home in Kiowa that turned deadly.
"He had thrown her around the living room and she got frightened for her life and went outside to her vehicle to grab her weapon and tried to come back in to speak to him," Devan Howard said.
Howard spoke to her mother in the weeks following at the hospital. Everett told her daughter the man pulled her inside and threw her on the ground before the gun went off.
The Pittsburg County District Attorney tells 2 Works for You when domestic violence happens inside the home with no witnesses, bringing it to trial can be a challenge.
"Things are subject to evidence code and discovery rules and things of that nature. So you can know something. You can have a strong suspicion about something. But if you can't under the rules prove it... then you can't proceed with it," District Attorney Chuck Sullivan said.
Sullivan did not press charges, because of this lack of evidence. It's something the family struggles with looking at the suspect's history of domestic violence.
"How could there be any more red flags and nothing happen? Where's the three strike rule for beating women? There is for drugs, where is it for women? It doesn't make any sense," Everett's son Josh Byrd said.
Now Everett's children want to speak out for victims and carry on their mother's legacy.
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