MURDERED: Shaquita Bennett // Tara Costigan
This week, for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re bringing you the stories of two women whose lives were stolen by their abusive ex-partners.
Episode Information:
If you were someone who began to isolate themselves… or you’re deep in it… you can still go back. You can ALWAYS go back… and if you feel like you have no one, there are dedicated people and organizations who are there for you – who can offer you help.
The Network
We are supporting The Network, which is a Chicago-based advocacy group that have provided training and services to people in the same area where Shaquita lived.
Center for Survivor Agency and Justice
We also are supporting the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice in their missions to foster change at all levels and empower communities to better meet the needs of survivors everywhere.
We’d love to speak with you and see how we can support.
If you’re a law enforcement agency or family member of one of the people we mentioned in this episode, or if you’re looking for more coverage on a case, please reach out. You can email us at:
Episode Source Material
- 2 dead, 2 wounded in city shootings
- Chicago suspect wanted for murder, arrested in Fort Wayne
- Man arrested in Fort Wayne by US Marshals in connection with Chicago ex-girlfriend’s killing
- Murder case shows system’s hurdles for victims of domestic violence
- CPD didn’t protect woman from ex-boyfriend now charged with her murder: lawsuit
- City plan to aid victims falters
- Calwell murder accused Marcus Rappel also charged with breaching domestic violence protection order
- Axe murder accused had breached a domestic violence order against his last girlfriend
- The Family Left Behind
- You were the best mum in the world’: Heartbreaking tribute of 11-year-old boy left orphaned with his two siblings after their mother was brutally murdered in a horrific axe attack
- Tara Costigan: The Life and Death of a Victim of Domestic Violence
- Tara Costigan’s murder rocked Canberra and stirred domestic violence debate
- Tara Costigan’s murder: Marcus Rappel’s family speaks about how two families were torn apart
- How verbal abuse of Tara Costigan escalated to murder
- Would This Knowledge Have Saved Tara Costigan?
- National Coalition Against Domestic Violence – Statistics
- Domestic Violence & The Black Community
- Leaving relationship is ‘most dangerous time’ for domestic violence victims, experts say
- What To Do If You’re Being Stalked
- A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide
- ‘He won’t hurt me. He’s never hit me’: Tragedy of Tara Costigan murder
- Abuse and Domestic Violence During Pregnancy
- Domestic Violence – Isolation
- Mum, 28, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend with an axe while sheltering her newborn daughter had lodged a domestic violence order while she was in LABOUR but was killed eight days later
- Canberra axe murderer Marcus Rappel has six years added to sentence
- Men with alcohol problems ‘six times more likely to abuse partner’
Suggested Episodes
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 2
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. In Part 2, we look into cases of two other female dismemberment victims in Wisconsin with striking similarities to Rhys Pocan’s.
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. But while we were in the field, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of murders with similarities to Rhys’ that were just too blatant to ignore. So, we spent the next three years working with local and federal law enforcement to try and get to the bottom of it.
WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer
A family’s brutal murder rocks a tiny California town and leaves behind too many unanswered questions.
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