Another wintry storm Friday

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 (AP) -The sister of a Washington County woman
allegedly killed by a former boyfriend said that the woman feared
he would kill her.
   
   "She and I had conversations about what would happen to her
children and she feared him, she feared him," Vicki Seliger
Swenson, sister of shooting victim Teri Lee, told KARE-TV.

      Steve Van Keuren allegedly broke into Lee's home early Friday,
fatally shooting Lee and another man. Lee's four children were in
the house at the time but were not harmed.

      Van Keuren, who was shot by police, remained in serious
condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and is awaiting charges.
He had been under a court order to stay away from Lee after a July
incident where he broke into her house and threatened her with
butcher knives. He was out on bail and had allegedly continued to
contact Lee.

      The case has rattled domestic violence advocates, who say more
needs to be done for victims in situations like this one.

      "When someone attempts murder, they break in, they say I'm
willing to kill this person. I'm willing to kill myself," said
Mary Ajax, founder of the Louis House, a domestic abuse shelter.
"The risk there is so great that we shouldn't allow a bail to be
set, we could hold this person until trial."

      Seliger Swenson said the system let her 
sister down. After the
July incident, a Washington County judge ordered Van Keuren to have
no contact with Lee or her family members, and to stay a mile away
from her house.

      But Seliger Swenson told the Star Tribune that despite the
restrictions, Van Keuren's father e-mailed Lee asking her to talk
to Van Keuren. This past Wednesday, she said, Van Keuren showed up
at a volleyball game where one of Lee's daughters was playing.

      Seliger Swenson said Lee called the police Thursday to report
the incident but got no immediate response.

      "This really needs to be a wake-up call to law enforcement that
they need to take no-contact orders and orders for protection
extremely seriously," said Danielle Kluz, public awareness and
prevention coordinator for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered
Women in St. Paul.

      Authorities in Washington County said police and courts did what
they could.

      "Clearly in this case, we didn't have the outcome that anyone
wanted," Sheriff Steve Pott said Saturday, saying agencies
involved took appropriate steps. "I don't know that the system
really broke down."

      Lee's family are not satisfied that's the case. "Maybe someone
from this will decide that something needs to change, legislation
needs to change," says Erik Swenson, Lee's brother-in-law.

      The father of Lee's four children died five years ago in a car
accident. Now, her four children will live with the Swensons, who
already have three of their own. But Seliger Swenson said she would
honor the request of her sister, who seemed to be planning for the
worst.

      "She wanted to know that we would be OK and I said without a
question," Seliger Swenson said.


Gallery

Crime, Law and Justice

The case has rattled domestic violence advocates, who say more
needs to be done for victims in situations like this one.



Shooting victim's sister says she knew life was threatened

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