A California woman obtained a divorce, fled to Utah to start a new life and took a job as a school teacher in Roy.

Her ex-husband tracked her down, crashed through her window in the early morning of New Year's Day and shot her in the back and shot her boyfriend multiple times, including once in the throat. While she was crawling to safety, her attacker shot and killed himself.

Despite having a protective order against her estranged husband, a Layton woman was attacked in her home, which was then torched by her abuser. The boyfriend was stabbed multiple times, and his 6-year-old daughter perished in the blaze.

"This will continue until everyone is willing to accept what they are hearing at their neighbor's house is not just a family problem," Searle said. "It is violence, and people need to take the lead by getting victims help, by calling law enforcement."

Searle and others say the solution goes beyond the involvement of advocates and those in law enforcement.

To that end, the Utah Domestic Violence Council hopes to release a handbook this month aimed specifically at religious leaders, instructing them on how to spot and help domestic violence victims.

"Congregational leaders need to reach out to the women in their congregations in two ways: to let them know it is safe for them to talk to them and to let them know they have information on where these victims can go for help," Ralphs said.

Despite Lori Hacking's and her husband's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, officials believe her fate will open the eyes of all people in all faiths that domestic violence doesn't discriminate.

"It happens everywhere — to people of all religions, all socio-economic classes, to women regardless of their educational background," Searle said.

And while it's clear the laws are getting tougher and counselors are working to "re-train" domestic violence offenders, advocates believe there needs to be a greater cultural and social shift to end men's violence against women.

"Domestic violence is not a woman's issue, it is a man's problem," Searle said. "I think it is men who need to step up in the fight against this, by teaching their boys to respect women."

Otherwise, he said, abuse becomes another family's inheritance.

"To begin the extinction of violence, men must take responsibility for its existence," he said. "Passively accepting the problem of violence means, in effect, contributing to its maintenance."

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Domestic violence facts

• 922 families were turned away from domestic violence shelters in 2003 in Utah.