PORT ANGELES — The last two people prosecutors believe were intentionally murdered in Clallam County were not gang-bangers, sideways dope dealers or drunks in a bar fight.
The last two homicide victims were young women.
One was a 26-year-old mother of two, whose autopsy revealed wounds in various states of healing, almost as if she was in the process of being killed.
Her boyfriend of a year beat her to death with his fists in a Sequim motel room in December 2004.
The other victim was 15 years old, an independent young woman whose friends say was getting her life back on track.
The same month as the 26-year-old, the teenage girl was brutalized, sexually assaulted and strangled near Waterfront Trail just east of downtown Port Angeles.
The last two intentional murder victims in Clallam County were women murdered by the hands of men — young men.
Amber Rae Bulus-Steed is gone. So is Melissa “Messa Mae” Carter.
And local officials who deal daily with violence, rape and the emotional devastation of ongoing abuse men wage on women say the cases may be heart-breaking and infuriating.
But they are also all too common, especially in Clallam County.
“The numbers ain’t decreasing,” said Becca Korby, domestic violence sexual assault program manager for Healthy Families of Clallam County, the social service agency that assists victims on the West End of the county.
“We’re on the rise.”
