The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is leading on the deaths of two Grass Mesa residents who were found dead in their home in an apparent murder suicide On Saturday, July 12th, husband and wife, Ryan Rose, 46 and Melinda Rose (Schoon), 53 were discovered by Garfield County Sheriffs after the second 911 call from the residents that day.
Previously Ryan Rose had fled the residence on foot, and after law enforcement left, he returned to the home where he allegedly murdered his wife and then shot himself. KDNK spoke with Crystal Young, Advocacy Director for the Advocate Safe House Project, a nonprofit organization supporting domestic abuse victims and survivors in Garfield County to get a better understanding of how these tragedies happen, and what resources are available to those caught in the cycle of violence.
LJ: I think a lot of people are wondering how something like this happens. You know, the Garfield County Sheriffs have said there were multiple domestic violence calls out to that residence. And people are just sort of shocked that that still went down the way that it did.
CY: Well, it's a really hard question to answer. I do have a theory I think that can speak to it though. And that theory is that offenders of domestic violence, they have these behaviors because they want to obtain power and control. And if we think about the fact that we're trying to put this really murky situation through a judicial system that's that's pretty black and white. And then it doesn't work out and an offender- they plea out or down or charges are thrown out or whatever happens... essentially that offender is not being held accountable. And then how much that emboldens that person who's actually trying to obtain power and control.
And when the government that is in charge, the judicial system says, "oh you're fine," and just give someone a slap on the wrist... I think it actually has more of an impact and does way more harm to communities when we're not holding offenders of domestic violence accountable.
In the instance of the Grass Mesa tragedy, deputies asked Melinda Rose (Schoon) to consider leaving her home until they could apprehend her husband, but she declined. According to Young, we need to shift focus to the actions of the perpetrators, not their victims.
CY: There's been this narrative that she should have left, or the police told her to leave. Why didn't she leave? And, and that's really a victim blaming statement, and the behavior we wanted to change was the violence.
And to shift that conversation to be about why did he perpetrate such violent behaviors and why didn't the system catch this and hold him accountable.
LJ: So law enforcement is certainly not a one size fits all solution. What services does Advocate Safe House offer to people who might be in this position?
CY: What we're best known for is our shelter. We have a small house in Glenwood where we shelter folks who need safe housing. We also offer emotional support, court accompaniment, advocacy. A lot of our time spent with survivors is identifying and helping folks to learn about the things that they're experiencing in their homes that are unhealthy, that we've maybe identified as normal growing up in our homes as children because those things happened then, and we didn't talk about it, and they're normal.
According to Young domestic violence rates in Garfield County are not markedly different than any other region, but domestic violence itself is much more common in widespread than many people believe.
CY: Domestic violence is very prevalent. Emotional abuse is domestic violence. When your partner gets mad and calls you names, that's domestic violence and I think the more knowledge we can put out there, the more people will know that.
Resources and more information are available at advocatesafehouseproject.org. Their 24-hour crisis line is (970) 945-4439.
Melinda Schoon's family has organized a GoFundMe for her funeral expenses.
