I don't understand it.

I know the do-gooders won't agree with me, but I don't understand a woman living with a man who abuses her. I know the old excuse that he will kill her if she leaves. Maybe, but he will almost certainly kill her if she stays. Why live like that?

Margo Smith says she kept a secret box under her bed just in case she turned up dead. The box contained material that would implicate her live-in boyfriend if she were murdered. I don't understand why she didn't take her box and leave. That live-in boyfriend, Joshua Thurber, didn't kill Margo before he eventually left her, but he did kill a later live-in -- Linda Kaye Jordan.

Margo says the first time Thurber attacked her he threatened her with a knife. She says she didn't tell anybody, but she left. And then moved back in with him. Duh! The last of several times he attacked her, she wound up in the hospital with her injuries. But they made up because, according to her, "he was thoughtful, intelligent, friendly and helpful most of the time . . . he was a total gentleman." Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the theater?

If Linda Jordan had kicked this psychopath out, she might still be alive. Instead, the police found her body in her bathtub. She had a gaping head wound, bruises, a cut throat, slashed wrists, and both Achilles' tendons sliced. Yes, Thurber was thoughtful, intelligent, friendly, and helpful -- a total gentleman!

"Victim 'could've been me.'" The Dallas Morning News; January 13, 2014; p. 1B.