San jose mercury news carmen daou

A year ago, after she finally left her husband and filed a restraining order against him, Ed Daou shot their year-old son, Andrew, in the head as he was sleeping, then lay on their king bed and turned the registered. Drawn up by Santa Clara County prosecutors and sponsored by state Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, it would give authorities more power to seize registered firearms from people served with restraining orders, like Ed Daou.

Determined batterers may find other means to kill their victims. But supporters, including Los Angeles prosecutors, believe the process will make a difference. Both families were from Lebanon, where her father had been commander of the air force. One reason may have been because she was raised Catholic and he, Druze. To outsiders, the family enjoyed an enviable lifestyle, including a 3,square-foot ranch house in Los Gatos on nearly an acre of land, a vacation house in Monterey and a Bentley.

Daou, who speaks French, Arabic, Spanish and English and is close to her parents and siblings, was in a better position financially to leave her husband than many abused women, though he had more money to win a custody battle. He was under the covers, which were soaked in blood. Andrew appeared to be shot in the head. Ventura said she cannot help feeling guilty, that she should have seen this coming. But I clobber myself for not seeing it. Ventura believes — or hopes, anyway — that Andrew was killed as he slept.

He apparently called his girlfriend the night before his body was found to say good-night. He told her that his dad wanted him to go to bed early that night. Neighbor describes finding two bodies inside Los Gatos area home. Show Caption. By Sean Webby Mercury News. It was not the first time they had been there. And it would not be the last. Law enforcement officials agree, saying more needs to be done to ensure the targets of restraining orders actually do relinquish their firearms.

There were 16 domestic-violence related deaths in , the highest number since In five of the domestic violence slayings, the suspect committed suicide. Deputy district attorney Steven Dick, who heads the death review committee, stressed the importance of getting guns out of the hands of abusers in cases where a restraining order has been filed. In the Daou case, a private process server delivered the divorce papers and the civil temporary restraining order to Ed Daou. But no one checked to see if he actually gave up his handgun.

Dick said the end of a relationship can be the most dangerous for people involved in abusive relationships. In , the dominant theme in the domestic-violence killings was that the relationship was over or ending, Dick said.

The homicides and suspected killers in the domestic violence cases came from all walks of life, including a San Jose motorcycle cop and a Silicon Valley engineer whose much-younger wife attended San Jose State.