Looking back, Susan Aaron can't help feel guilt and regret.
It's been four years since her daughter, Jessica, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Aaron said she can't help but feel that she could have done something to prevent it.
"I talked to her that evening," said Aaron of Slickville in Salem Township. "I had kind of a funny feeling, a mother's intuition if you will. So now I struggle with why didn't I call her back and tell her to come home."
But Aaron didn't know the signs of domestic violence. She didn't realize what she had been seeing in the three years of her daughter's relationship with David Shadle could be considered abusive.
"I wish I would have known more," Aaron said. "If certain things don't affect our lives more, we don't take the time to learn until it's too late."
That's why Aaron and her daughter, Marjorie, 21, have made it their mission to speak out and warn others, not only about domestic violence but all types of crimes.
The pair have organized and will speak at a crime awareness event at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Congruity Presbyterian Church, 136 Fenneltown Road, Congruity, Salem Township. The event is being called JESSICA: Just Educating Students to Seniors in Crime Awareness.
The presentation will include speakers on a wide variety of topics from domestic violence and sexual abuse to drug and alcohol offenses to crimes against senior citizens. A victim of child sexual abuse, a recovering teen drug addict and a guidance counselor will be among the speakers.
The Aarons, who belong to Congruity Presbyterian, decided to dedicate the event in memory of Jessica and in honor of Edith Tietge, a member of the church, who was slain along with her sister and niece last year in Loyalhanna Township. No one has been charged with Tietge's killing.
Shadle was convicted in Jessica Aaron's death.
"Here you have this small country church, and there's two homicide victims in less than three years," Aaron said. "It's not just something people living in the city have to worry about anymore. It's everywhere."
Susan and Marjorie began speaking publicly about their loss last year, after attending an intensive training session through the Pennsylvania Coalition of Crime Victim Organizations to be part of its Survivors Speakers Bureau.
The event at Congruity is their first foray into organizing crime awareness events. They organized it through TLC, the women's group at the church. They're hoping this will be the first of many events in the area.
"Through awareness comes prevention," Susan Aaron said.
Aaron said Jessica, a 19-year-old sophomore at Indiana University of Pennsylvania when she was murdered, was a hard worker who was always happy and joking around. She was a talented writer who loved putting her thoughts down in poetry.
Aaron hopes that by speaking out, she can have an impact on other people's lives.
"A few times over the years she had tried to break up with (Shadle), and when she did he would tell her he would kill himself if she broke up with them. I never thought that was a sign of an abuser. I thought he was just being a stupid kid," Aaron said. "If I would have attended something like we're having on Wednesday, maybe that would have struck me differently."
