Amy Homan McGee was a victim of domestic abused which led to her death by her abusive

husband while her parents and kids waited in the car. Amy and Vincent met back in college in

1997 while she worked in a home store and Vincent was the driver that picked up money from

the shop. Vincent in his abusive manner would always check Amy’s schedule to make sure that

she was not working with men. Amy’s husband shows signs of possessiveness and being overly

controlling. Vincent’s insecurities continued so much that Amy started showing up to work with

bruises that she would say they came from “softballs” and “falling boxes”. Amy had to have a set

schedule for her husband; he needed to see what she was doing or where she was at every point

in time. For instance, he always wanted her to call him during her lunch breaks. His behavior

began to affect her work environment; he would get upset if she did not call him or if he saw her

talking to a male customer or co-worker. Her husband’s behavior got out of hand; he would

constantly call her job and disrupt her peace. He was totally abusive; her co-workers noticed her

arms covered in bruises. Amy’s co-workers would notice her strange behaviors such as drafting

fake schedules to throw Vincent off track. Amy’s parents noticed the abusive relationship too

and took her to the police station to get a protection order. But even with all the signs that were

there nobody thought that it would lead to her death.

Amy’s story in relation to the principles of effective communication showed that we need to

watch over people who we suspect are being abused and try to understand their plight even if

they are not talking. The police could have stopped Amy’s death by putting Vincent in a place

where he could be rehabilitated or by going personally to remove him from the house. This, if

properly done, would reduce the emotional level of the abuser. We need to stop and listen

carefully when a female speaks or complains of abuse and do something about it. The reason

why victims do not dare to talk is because most of the time people put the blame on them, which
is unethical. We need to show them some level of trust and respect, and hear their voices so that

their issues of abuse can be properly resolved.