A young mother, and a platonic friend who worked with her, were gunned down in front of her house – allegedly by her husband.

The abrubt end to their stormy marriage left their young children without a mother and with a father under arrest for murder.

The husband had reportedly previously been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon – but his wife dropped the charges that time.

The couple had been together for 10 years, playing out a destructive and tortured pattern all too common in relationships with abusers.

Perhaps the saddest part of the story is that the young mother had finally broken free of his hold and was about to start a promsing new career and a happy new life with their children.

The woman’s family hopes their tragedy will inspire other women enmeshed in abusive relationships to get out – before it’s too late for them too.

Read more in this El Paso Times article: Homicide ‘devastates’ woman’s family.