October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and this murder is certainly not the way leaders wanted to bring attention to this growing problem.
"It seems like every week she had a black eye, a busted lip or a big mark on her face - he was always beating her," says neighbor Sherri Thornton.
Neighbors of Felecia Woodrupt were not surprised that the relationship she had with ex-boyfriend Timothy Kagy would end in murder. Woodrupt was charged with killing Kagy after detectives say he broke into her house Thursday and started beating her.
One day later and just a block away in Spring Lake, witnesses told investigators that Woody Locklear waited for his estranged wife to come home then stabbed her several times.
There was a history of domestic violence in both cases. On more than one occasion, the women had pressed charges against the men. At one point, Peggy Locklear even had a restraining order against her husband, but in both cases, legal action was not enough.
"If the person doesn't respect the law, then you're basically on your own," says Cheryl Black of CARE.
"Often times they have to change their identity, and they have to give up everything and everyone they know and love in order to flee from death," director of SAFE Karen Jackson said.
Experts say legal intervention will prevent repeat incidents of abuse in 50 percent of all cases. Although taking it to the courts does not always work, officials encourage women to take that step. However, law enforcement officials realize that more action needs to be taken.
"We need to look at some jail or prison time," Harnett County Sheriff Larry Knott said. "If these people are out on probation, that doesn't mean that because they've been through the system they aren't going to do it again."
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