MIAMI VALLEY — A mother who lost her two children this year to domestic violence has dedicated her life to be their voice as she continues to campaign for changes in the way the justice system handles such complaints.
“They weren’t just two little lives, they were huge, they were amazing, they were my world,” Kellie Elliott said to News Center 7′s Mike Campbell on Wednesday.
Elliott spent part of the day speaking at a statewide domestic violence survivors event, something she does regularly after her estranged husband shot their children to death and then took his own life.
Shane Elliott, 40; Caleb and Grace Elliott, 13 and 10 all died in Shane Elliott’s home in Preble County. They had been staying with their father that fateful weekend. Kellie Elliott was living elsewhere.
Investigators called it a murder-suicide.
>> RELATED: Preble County father who killed his children had threatened suicide
“That’s my job still as their mom,” she said, “to be their voice and be the voice for every other mom and child on this earth.”
Wednesday, the state released the latest statistics on the number of people killed because of domestic violence in the past year. Those statistics revealed there have been 112 deaths blamed on domestic violence for the year ending in June 2022 and 22 of the victims were young people, the highest since the state began tracking such data.
“It seems like the abusers always have the upper hand,” Elliott said, noting that all she ever tried to do was to protect herself and her children.
She said she tried to ask the criminal justice system for protection orders after she said was abused by her then husband. She feared for her children’s safety but was often spurned when she asked for help.
“It was irrelevant because I went back, but how many times do women go back before they finally leave for good?” Elliott asked.
Elliott said when she separated from her husband, the court ordered unsupervised visitation despite her protests and attempts to get them covered by the order.
Elliott said the best easy to avoid more victims is for the people in the court system to be more determined to listen and respond.
“I was right, I was 100% right and that is where the courts need to change,” she said. “Look at how many women beg and plead.”
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.