Domestic violence down?

Domestic violence has claimed the lives of 13 Utahns in the first seven months of 2006, putting the state on track for a lower number than the 33 who died in 2005.

"If it continues at the same rate, we will, thankfully, have a lower number than we did last year," said Mark Nash, chairman of the domestic-violence related deaths committee for the Utah Domestic Violence Council.

"But as you know, that means nothing," he said. "We could have three in a week and that would change things in a hurry."

According to a recent report from the Utah Domestic Violence Council summarizing the deaths so far, six of the 13 cases are classified as cohabitant homicide. In two of those cases, women are accused of killing their husbands, an unusual situation in domestic violence cases.

"That's something that we haven't seen in the past in that number," said Nash, also director of the Utah Prosecution Council.

In May, Vickie Marie Ruiz allegedly discovered her husband, 44-year-old John Matthew Ruiz, in an intimate situation with another woman in a motor home near the couple's Brigham City home. Vickie Ruiz, 43, has been charged with first-degree murder.

The ongoing report is meant to keep Utahns aware of the problems that domestic violence presents.

"The reason we put this list out is to show the terrible toll that domestic violence takes, and, of course, the deaths are just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are so many assaults and even aggravated assaults and near deaths that we don't put on our lists, this is just the terrible ultimate that can come from a domestic violence situation."

One of the more high-profile cases of the year so far involved former Lehi police officer Arthur Henderson, who hanged himself in April at the Salt Lake County Jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges stemming from a shooting incident involving his estranged wife and her new boyfriend.

Those killed so far this year in domestic-violence related deaths are:

• Arthur Sherman Backus, 48. Domestic-violence related homicide.

• Joanne Francis Landau Carlson, 48. Cohabitant homicide.

• Linda Elliot, 63. Cohabitant homicide.

• Curtis Elliot, 38. Perpetrator suicide.

• Cassandra Bryan, 46. Cohabitant homicide.

• Antoinette Corum, 59. Cohabitant homicide.

• Arthur B. Henderson, 38. Perpetrator suicide.

• Jose Raul Cruz, 25. Domestic-violence related death.

• Moises Santuario, 43. Domestic-violence related suicide.

• John Matthew Ruiz, 44. Cohabitant homicide.

• Ryan Todd Oman, 21. Domestic-violence related suicide.

• Larry Van Camp, 57. Cohabitant homicide.

• Michelle Carter, 37. Perpetrator suicide.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com