WIREGRASS, Ala. (WDHN) — Over the past week, law enforcement has responded to several domestic violence-related crimes, two of which resulted in murder.
In Houston County, Brittany Phillips, and murder suspect, Benjamin Nowell, dated for 14 months. Friends of Phillips said when she broke up with him, that’s when he wouldn’t leave her alone. On Thursday morning, he became a suspect in the murder of Phillips, after a manhunt lasted almost 11 and half hours.
In Abbeville, Barbara Shaw, and murder suspect ,Jaime Whitehead, dated one another for years. The Henry County Sheriff’s Office says they were called out numerous times for domestic violence situations in the past.
On Sunday, deputies arrived to find Shaw had been murdered. Whitehead became the main suspect in her death after deputies said he admitted to the crime to neighbors.
Both these incidents were domestic-related, but both were different in their own way.
“Domestic violence doesn’t care what social class you are,” Wiregrass Angel House Outreach Advocate, Katy Lewis said. “It doesn’t matter what city you live in. It attacks who it attacks and we are here to help these families move forward and just be there beside them to navigate their new normal.”
Wiregrass Angel House is called to the scene of situations like these by investigators. They are tasked with meeting with the families and walking them through the next step, because each case is different and no two cases are the same.
“The best thing you can do is educate people and the best thing is you can push the resources out that you have available,” Lewis said. “But sometimes it’s so hard to get out of a situation, and even when you do get out of a situation it follows you.”
Neighbors say that Shaw and Whitehead had a variety of fights and one neighbor says she called 9-1-1 at least 15 times after seeing the violence firsthand.
Sometimes Shaw would even use violence to fight back, which authorities say led her to stabbing Whitehead during one of their more recent domestic disputes.
Both murder suspects remain in jail. Nowell currently does not have a bond set, however, Whitehead has a bond set at $200,000.