Young Legal Assistant Student and Her Children Slain in Oklahoma

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Summer Rust (formerly Garas), a young Oklahoma single mother and legal assistant student. She and her four young children died on January 12, 2009, allegedly the victims of domestic violence, after she attempted to discontinue her relationship with Joshua Durcho, who has been charged with the multiple killings.

Rust was enrolled in the legal assistant program at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Oklahoma. A college spokesperson said she was intelligent and well-liked. See the full story at http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_11450127

Several funds for the family's funeral expenses have already been established. See The News On 6 for more information. If anyone becomes aware of any scholarship or memorial funds established in Rust's memory, please let me know and I will make the information available here.

In 2000, 1,247 women and 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. In recent years, an intimate partner killed approximately 33% of female murder victims and 4% of male murder victims. Callie Marie Rennison, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 197838, Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, at 1 (2003)

For more information on the American Bar Association's advocacy for victims of domestic violence, please go to the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence site at http://www.abanet.org/domviol/