Hannah Clarke
9/8/1988-2/9/2020
Small Steps for Hannah Foundation
"Not everything is a blazing red flag; some of it is subtle" –Lou
"We're being dramatic."-
The last time Lou saw her friend Hannah Clarke, she told Lou, "he's going to kill me…Im serious I can see it in his eyes. I don't think he will kill the kids, but I think he will kill me."
Hannah was probably unaware that in Australia, at least one woman a week is killed by a former or current partner. In America, at least 4 people die of intimate partner violence daily. A genuinely alarming number. In fact, just months before her murder, Hannah Clarke did not even think she was in an abusive relationship because her husband had never physically hit her. And this is true for so many people. At the heart of Hannah's relationship was coercive control. Coercive control is not easy to recognize, especially when you are in it and have no knowledge about what it is. Coercive control is a pattern of behaviors a perpetrator uses to create an unequal power dynamic to gain power and control in their relationship. They do this by breaking down their partner's self-esteem, autonomy, and ability to think for themselves. Dr. Jane Monkton, a senior lecturer in Criminology, recognized a pattern of behavior that occurs in a domestic violence homicide. She categorized this information into 8 steps.
A history of stalking or abusive behavior
The relationship DEVELOPS QUICKLY into a serious one.
COERCIVE CONTROL rules the relationship
There is a TRIGGER that threatens the perpetrator's control, like the relationship ending or financial difficulties.
There is an ESCALATION in intensity and/or frequency of the perpetrators controlling tactics.
The perpetrator has a CHANGE IN THINKING, such as choosing to move on from the relationship or through revenge or homicide.
The perpetrator PLANS the attack by buying weapons or looking for opportunities to get the victim alone.
The final step is HOMICIDE when the perpetrator kills their victim. Others can also be killed in this process, such as children.
These steps are evident in this case. In the end, Hannah becomes one of the statistics. But Hannah Ashley Clarke was much more than what happened to her.
Hannah loved to be outside and stay active; she owned a gym and (PLACED/COMPETED) in a Crossfit competition. One of her goals was to win the CrossFit match for the fittest mom. Everyone talks about how Hannah always sang and danced, even from a young age. It didn't matter where she was, on a stage or the sidewalk. She was beautiful, and it's obvious when we look at pictures of her. Hannah talked about being a police officer and living on the beach. She loved the beach and took her children there often. The beach was her happy place. Hannah had a younger brother, and two loving parents who seemed would do anything for her. (SHE WANTED TO BE A MOM AT A YOUNG AGE), and when she had three children of her own, she cherished them. The most important thing to Hannah was her kid and their happiness.
The children were said to be cheeky, loving, and full of life. They never said goodbye or good night to their grandparents without saying, "I love you ." The eldest, Aaliyah, was a strong, bright young girl who would have grown to do great things. Laianna, the second eldest, was a fashionista. Her grandparents joked that no one in the world changed their outfits more in one day than she did. Trey was the baby, the youngest of the children who, even at a young age, was strong and physically skilled. He could pass and throw a football better than kids twice his age.
Hannah would bring her children to the gym she co-owned, and they would exercise with her. (INSERT PICTURE)
When Hannah was 20, she had an encounter that would change her life forever. She was teaching a children's gym class, and the father of one of her students introduced himself, I'm sure. He was 31 and married, but he told Hannah that he was in the process of separating from his wife and staying at the house for their son. The reality of the situation was much different, and it was scary. His wife did, in fact, want to separate, but it wasn't mutual. She wanted out because of his controlling and aggressive behavior, but he wouldn't accept this. Once he told her he wanted to "end it for all three of them," she felt she had no choice but to stay. (HISTORY OF ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR)
But when he met Hannah, he agreed to separate from his wife. About four months later, he moved out of the house he shared with his wife and moved in with a friend.
(THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS BECOMING SERIOUS QUICKLY) 2 months later, Hannah fell pregnant, she was excited and wanted to keep it, but he told her she was too young, so she got an abortion.
Eventually, they moved in together and married in 2012. Hannah was 14 weeks pregnant with her eldest child Aaliyah at the time.
In 2015 Hannah and her husband opened a gym called Integr8 while she was pregnant with her second child. The following year in December, Trey was born. Her friends and family would later learn that around this time.
Although coercive control was present early in the relationship, it was subtle and hard to recognize. It first started when Hannah's husband started controlling her clothes. He told her she could wear a bikini on the beach, but not off it because guys would look at her. Next, he said she couldn't wear shorts or short skirts, even when it was hot and everyone else was in shorts. Then it got weird, and he said she couldn't wear pink because it was a "girl's color."
Then he didn't want her to have a Facebook page, so they set up a shared account. (MONITORING HER SOCIAL MEDIA)
Throughout this time, her husband (ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR-FORCED HER INTO SEX/TAKE GYM CLASSES).
In fact, as I was reading the (INQUEST FINDINGS) released by the coroner's Court of Queensland, there are 21 pages filled with accounts of domestic violence and coercive control incidents during their relationship. I will do my best to condense and summarize most of the information.
Hannah was close to her family, and as we know on this channel, abusers do not like support systems and often try to destroy or damage relationships (TO ISOLATE THEIR PARTNER). This tactic is evident in this case.
Hannah's parents hosted family barbeques every week, and eventually, Hannah and her husband stopped attending them. Back when they did attend them, her husband would say nasty things about Hannah's mother in front of Hannah and her brother.
Another time Hannah wanted to spend the day with her mom on Mother's Day, but her husband refused to let her go for the entire day. He told her she could spend a few hours with her mother, but she had to come back and celebrate his deceased mom.
If there was ever a time Hannah's husband thought her mom was rude, he would refuse to speak to Hannah until her mom apologized.
Once Aailyah was born, her father forbade Hannah from letting her mom look after the baby.
On another occasion, Hannah's brother let her husband drive his car. When her brother asked for the car back, there was over (30,000km) put on it, over 200$ in toll bills, and an empty tank of gas. Hannah's husband stopped talking to her brother and made it hard for her to speak with him by manipulating Hannah and making her feel guilty and accountable for her family's actions, even if they were justified.
2015 when Hannah was pregnant with Laianna, her husband slammed the gate on her leg resulting in an injury. (PHYSICAL INJURY)
In 2016, after Trey was born, things escalated. Hannah's husband expected her to look after and care for the three children, clean the house, take numerous gym classes, and work full-time through a marketing course. He often criticized and yelled at her; if she refused intimacy, he wouldn't speak to her for days.
One time he demanded intimacy, but she refused, and he responded by smashing her watch and leaving the house. Hannah was worried that he was going to hurt himself, so she called her parents and asked them to look for him, which god bless them they did, but they did not find him. Unfortunately, he showed up the next day, saying he had tried to kill himself. (SEXUAL COERCION/ THREATS OF SUICIDE)
On Saturdays, the family had a routine of going to the gym and then out to breakfast. During one of these classes, Hannah joked that her husband was running the show during a gym class. He abruptly stopped the class and refused to let the children go to breakfast. He would often punish the kids if he was angry or upset with Hannah. (INVOLVING CHILDREN)
In November 2019, his behavior escalated. Hannah had qualified for a big CrossFit team competition, and her husband did not. Because Hannah qualified for a team competition, she and the other qualifier from the gym were allowed to pick the other two members needed to complete the team. He demanded the spot.
In an odd turn of events, her husband pulled out of the competition at the last minute, claiming he had some physical injury. He is so manipulative that he expected Hannah to pull out when, and when she wouldn't, he lost it.
On the first day of the competition, he forced Hannah to go to an early gym class, even though she needed to rest, and when she returned, he had taken the kids and left.
Hannah was panicked. She called her mom, saying she was so concerned about what he might do that she was vomiting. He messaged her later, saying he couldn't believe she would compete without him.
Later that day, he returned to the house and said he had taken the kids to the beach, even though her brother had checked the beach for them earlier.
On the day of the competition finals, Aaliyah wanted to go with Hannah, and Hannah was excited to take her. Hannah's husband said she couldn't take their daughter, but Hannah insisted, and it ended in a huge fight. When she and Aailyah left, her husband grabbed her by the arm and said they would talk about it when she returned.
Later that day, a friend saw the marks on Hannah's arm. Hannah told them that she was done being in the relationship. The following week when Hannah saw her friend Hannah appeared sad and said she was keeping her head down at home.
Around this time, it's believed that Hannah's husband started tracking and recording her both in her car and at her house. He would bring up things she said in private and give some lame excuse like, "the kids got ahold of her phone and called me, and I overheard what you were saying." (MONITORING ACTIVITIES)
One evening Hannah woke up, and her husband was going through her phone. When she asked him what he was doing, he threw the phone, broke the screen, and started accusing her of having an affair. Hannah said he "went ballistic," After this, she decided to move back in with her parents. (ACCUSING PARTNER OF HAVING AN AFFAIR)
On December 5th, 2019, Hannah made the bold move to leave, and a friend helped her move out. They grabbed some essentials, gathered the children, and left. They hid Hannah's car and phone because she knew he was recording and tracking her. Hannah and the children arrived at her parent's house the next day, and it wouldn't be long before they officially moved in.
Her husband did not take this well, and the police would later say he could not accept the loss of control over Hannah.
He called Hannah repeatedly and told her she was hurting their children. He would cry, ask her to help him, and tell her he didn't understand why she was doing this.
On December 6th Hannah went to the police station. This wasn't an easy for her to do, but she was starting to get fearful of what her husband might do. They gave her some information and advice about domestic violence and advised her to apply for a domestic violence order, an order that. Hannah was concerned that if she did that, her husband would get angry.
SHE WOULD GO ON TO TALK AND CONSULT POLICE MANY TIMES BEFORE HER MURDER.
Hannah's husband continued to try and manipulate her into coming "home." Although Hannah refused, she did want him to be in the children's lives and allowed visits. But he continued to use the children to attempt to control her.
On December 21st, Hannah allowed the children to stay at their dad's for a few days. The day they were to be returned, their father kept them for four hours past the planned drop-off time, which scared Hannah a lot. She started to worry that he might do something to hurt the kids to hurt her.
On Christmas Eve, Hannah invited her husband to come see the kids for the holiday. When he showed up, he stayed 15 minutes. He gave the children gift cards and left. When Hannah took the kids to buy toys with the cards, Hannah found they had no money on them.
On December 26th, things got even worse.
Hannah's husband asked if she and the kids could come to the park and hang out. She agreed. They stayed for a while, and when they packed up, her husband helped her gather the children and bring their things to her car. While walking, he asked her if he could take the kids overnight. She said no.
He grabbed Lianna and ran to his car. He threw her in the front seat and hit her head as he did so. Then he took off without putting her in restraints and screamed at Hannah, "you have caused all this. It's your fault."
The other kids were screaming and bawling their eyes out. He took his daughter to a friend's house, I'm assuming, in case Hannah came to look for them.
He called her and said she needed to bring the other kids to him, or he was keeping Lianna. In the end, he held her for three days before the police came and retrieved her.
Witnesses saw Lianna being taken and flagged down police. When they made contact with Hannah, they asked her if she had a DVO, which we know she did not have, and because she did not have one, the police could only ask her husband to return their daughter, not force him to. They advised her to go to the police station the next day and talk with someone about applying for a DVO.
The next day Hannah went to the station. They said that it was clear her husband's controlling behavior was escalating, but she still did not want to pursue a DVO because she was scared it would aggravate the situation. The police told her they had enough evidence to file one on her behalf and that since she didn't want to file for one, they were going to.
Once everything was in order, the police returned Laianna to Hannah. (ESCALATION IN BEHAVIOR)
They had mediation and obtained lawyers, and in January, they had their first court appearance. They spent the month disputing custody and the DVO.
On the 29th, he sent Hannah a letter that seemed he was contemplating their death.
On December 31st (2 DAYS LATER), he was returning his youngest son to Hannah after a visit. When she came to the car to get their son Trey, she saw explicit photos of her in the car. She grabbed the pictures and walked away. He got out of the car and grabbed her wrist, causing a sprain.
She started screaming, and her mom called the police. When they arrived, Hannah was advised not to contact her husband until they had family court.
When they spoke to her husband, he said that the pictures were his property and that she had stolen them. She also lost her temper in front of their youngest. He "felt like a punching bag for her at the moment." Such manipulation.
On February 3rd, Hannah's husband lost his job as a personal trainer, and 3 days later, Hannah told him he couldn't see the kids until they had court. She was willing to facilitate facetime calls, though. (TRIGGER)
On the 17th, there is CCTV footage of Hannah's husband going to a hardware store around 5:40pm. He's seen buying a gas can, zip ties, and a bottle of methylated spirits.
Then he went to his aunt's house and asked if he could borrow her car for a few days. She said he could. (PLANNING STEP)
On the 18th, there is footage of him arriving at a gas station and filling up the gas can he purchased the day before. He drove by Hannah's parents but turned around and returned to his house. He called a few places looking for men's support programs and some friends, crying, saying he had lost everything, had no money, and was served an eviction notice. Even though at 9:20 am that day, he had paid rent, and his bill was up to date.
That evening Hannah facilitated a facetime call, but her husband didn't speak to the children. He only cried. Hannah told her mom she was worried about him; even after all he put her through, she still cared about him.
On February 19th, horror struck the Clarke family. Hannah and the kids got up early, and she went and got coffee for her and h"Not everything is a blazing red flag; some of it is subtle" –Lou
"We're being dramatic."-
The last time Lou saw her friend Hannah Clarke, she told Lou, "he's going to kill me…Im serious I can see it in his eyes. I don't think he will kill the kids, but I think he will kill me."
Hannah was probably unaware that in Australia, at least one woman a week is killed by a former or current partner. In America, at least 4 people die of intimate partner violence daily. A genuinely alarming number. In fact, just months before her murder, Hannah Clarke did not even think she was in an abusive relationship because her husband had never physically hit her. And this is true for so many people. At the heart of Hannah's relationship was coercive control. Coercive control is not easy to recognize, especially when you are in it and have no knowledge about what it is. Coercive control is a pattern of behaviors a perpetrator uses to create an unequal power dynamic to gain power and control in their relationship. They do this by breaking down their partner's self-esteem, autonomy, and ability to think for themselves. Dr. Jane Monkton, a senior lecturer in Criminology, recognized a pattern of behavior that occurs in a domestic violence homicide. She categorized this information into 8 steps.
A history of stalking or abusive behavior
The relationship DEVELOPS QUICKLY into a serious one.
COERCIVE CONTROL rules the relationship
There is a TRIGGER that threatens the perpetrator's control, like the relationship ending or financial difficulties.
There is an ESCALATION in intensity and/or frequency of the perpetrators controlling tactics.
The perpetrator has a CHANGE IN THINKING, such as choosing to move on from the relationship or through revenge or homicide.
The perpetrator PLANS the attack by buying weapons or looking for opportunities to get the victim alone.
The final step is HOMICIDE when the perpetrator kills their victim. Others can also be killed in this process, such as children.
These steps are evident in this case. In the end, Hannah becomes one of the statistics. But Hannah Ashley Clarke was much more than what happened to her.
Hannah loved to be outside and stay active; she owned a gym and __(PLACED/COMPETED) in a Crossfit competition. One of her goals was to win the CrossFit match for the fittest mom. Everyone talks about how Hannah always sang and danced, even from a young age. It didn't matter where she was, on a stage or the sidewalk. She was beautiful, and it's obvious when we look at pictures of her. Hannah talked about being a police officer and living on the beach. She loved the beach and took her children there often. The beach was her happy place. Hannah had a younger brother, and two loving parents who seemed would do anything for her. (SHE WANTED TO BE A MOM AT A YOUNG AGE), and when she had three children of her own, she cherished them. The most important thing to Hannah was her kid and their happiness.
The children were said to be cheeky, loving, and full of life. They never said goodbye or good night to their grandparents without saying, "I love you ." The eldest, Aaliyah, was a strong, bright young girl who would have grown to do great things. Laianna, the second eldest, was a fashionista. Her grandparents joked that no one in the world changed their outfits more in one day than she did. Trey was the baby, the youngest of the children who, even at a young age, was strong and physically skilled. He could pass and throw a football better than kids twice his age.
Hannah would bring her children to the gym she co-owned, and they would exercise with her. (INSERT PICTURE)
When Hannah was 20, she had an encounter that would change her life forever. She was teaching a children's gym class, and the father of one of her students introduced himself, I'm sure. He was 31 and married, but he told Hannah that he was in the process of separating from his wife and staying at the house for their son. The reality of the situation was much different, and it was scary. His wife did, in fact, want to separate, but it wasn't mutual. She wanted out because of his controlling and aggressive behavior, but he wouldn't accept this. Once he told her he wanted to "end it for all three of them," she felt she had no choice but to stay. (HISTORY OF ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR)
But when he met Hannah, he agreed to separate from his wife. About four months later, he moved out of the house he shared with his wife and moved in with a friend.
(THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS BECOMING SERIOUS QUICKLY) 2 months later, Hannah fell pregnant, she was excited and wanted to keep it, but he told her she was too young, so she got an abortion.
Eventually, they moved in together and married in 2012. Hannah was 14 weeks pregnant with her eldest child Aaliyah at the time.
In 2015 Hannah and her husband opened a gym called Integr8 while she was pregnant with her second child. The following year in December, Trey was born. Her friends and family would later learn that around this time.
Although coercive control was present early in the relationship, it was subtle and hard to recognize. It first started when Hannah's husband started controlling her clothes. He told her she could wear a bikini on the beach, but not off it because guys would look at her. Next, he said she couldn't wear shorts or short skirts, even when it was hot and everyone else was in shorts. Then it got weird, and he said she couldn't wear pink because it was a "girl's color."
Then he didn't want her to have a Facebook page, so they set up a shared account. (MONITORING HER SOCIAL MEDIA)
Throughout this time, her husband ______________________(ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR-FORCED HER INTO SEX/TAKE GYM CLASSES).
In fact, as I was reading the (INQUEST FINDINGS) released by the coroner's Court of Queensland, there are 21 pages filled with accounts of domestic violence and coercive control incidents during their relationship. I will do my best to condense and summarize most of the information.
Hannah was close to her family, and as we know on this channel, abusers do not like support systems and often try to destroy or damage relationships (TO ISOLATE THEIR PARTNER). This tactic is evident in this case.
Hannah's parents hosted family barbeques every week, and eventually, Hannah and her husband stopped attending them. Back when they did attend them, her husband would say nasty things about Hannah's mother in front of Hannah and her brother.
Another time Hannah wanted to spend the day with her mom on Mother's Day, but her husband refused to let her go for the entire day. He told her she could spend a few hours with her mother, but she had to come back and celebrate his deceased mom.
If there was ever a time Hannah's husband thought her mom was rude, he would refuse to speak to Hannah until her mom apologized.
Once Aailyah was born, her father forbade Hannah from letting her mom look after the baby.
On another occasion, Hannah's brother let her husband drive his car. When her brother asked for the car back, there was over (30,000km) put on it, over 200$ in toll bills, and an empty tank of gas. Hannah's husband stopped talking to her brother and made it hard for her to speak with him by manipulating Hannah and making her feel guilty and accountable for her family's actions, even if they were justified.
2015 when Hannah was pregnant with Laianna, her husband slammed the gate on her leg resulting in an injury. (PHYSICAL INJURY)
In 2016, after Trey was born, things escalated. Hannah's husband expected her to look after and care for the three children, clean the house, take numerous gym classes, and work full-time through a marketing course. He often criticized and yelled at her; if she refused intimacy, he wouldn't speak to her for days.
One time he demanded intimacy, but she refused, and he responded by smashing her watch and leaving the house. Hannah was worried that he was going to hurt himself, so she called her parents and asked them to look for him, which god bless them they did, but they did not find him. Unfortunately, he showed up the next day, saying he had tried to kill himself. (SEXUAL COERCION/ THREATS OF SUICIDE)
On Saturdays, the family had a routine of going to the gym and then out to breakfast. During one of these classes, Hannah joked that her husband was running the show during a gym class. He abruptly stopped the class and refused to let the children go to breakfast. He would often punish the kids if he was angry or upset with Hannah. (INVOLVING CHILDREN)
In November 2019, his behavior escalated. Hannah had qualified for a big CrossFit team competition, and her husband did not. Because Hannah qualified for a team competition, she and the other qualifier from the gym were allowed to pick the other two members needed to complete the team. He demanded the spot.
In an odd turn of events, her husband pulled out of the competition at the last minute, claiming he had some physical injury. He is so manipulative that he expected Hannah to pull out when, and when she wouldn't, he lost it.
On the first day of the competition, he forced Hannah to go to an early gym class, even though she needed to rest, and when she returned, he had taken the kids and left.
Hannah was panicked. She called her mom, saying she was so concerned about what he might do that she was vomiting. He messaged her later, saying he couldn't believe she would compete without him.
Later that day, he returned to the house and said he had taken the kids to the beach, even though her brother had checked the beach for them earlier.
On the day of the competition finals, Aaliyah wanted to go with Hannah, and Hannah was excited to take her. Hannah's husband said she couldn't take their daughter, but Hannah insisted, and it ended in a huge fight. When she and Aailyah left, her husband grabbed her by the arm and said they would talk about it when she returned.
Later that day, a friend saw the marks on Hannah's arm. Hannah told them that she was done being in the relationship. The following week when Hannah saw her friend Hannah appeared sad and said she was keeping her head down at home.
Around this time, it's believed that Hannah's husband started tracking and recording her both in her car and at her house. He would bring up things she said in private and give some lame excuse like, "the kids got ahold of her phone and called me, and I overheard what you were saying." (MONITORING ACTIVITIES)
One evening Hannah woke up, and her husband was going through her phone. When she asked him what he was doing, he threw the phone, broke the screen, and started accusing her of having an affair. Hannah said he "went ballistic," After this, she decided to move back in with her parents. (ACCUSING PARTNER OF HAVING AN AFFAIR)
On December 5th, 2019, Hannah made the bold move to leave, and a friend helped her move out. They grabbed some essentials, gathered the children, and left. They hid Hannah's car and phone because she knew he was recording and tracking her. Hannah and the children arrived at her parent's house the next day, and it wouldn't be long before they officially moved in.
Her husband did not take this well, and the police would later say he could not accept the loss of control of Hannah. ____(FRIENDS WOULD SAY ______________)
He called Hannah repeatedly and told her she was hurting their children. He would cry, ask her to help him, and tell her he didn't understand why she was doing this.
On December 6th Hannah went to the police station. This wasn't an easy for her to do, but she was starting to get fearful of what her husband might do. They gave her some information and advice about domestic violence and advised her to apply for a domestic violence order, an order that (DEFINITION OF ____________________________). Hannah was concerned that if she did that, her husband would get angry.
SHE WOULD GO ON TO TALK AND CONSULT POLICE ____ TIMES BEFORE HER MURDER.
Hannah's husband continued to try and manipulate her into coming "home." Although Hannah refused, she did want him to be in the children's lives and allowed visits. But he continued to use the children to attempt to control her.
On December 21st, Hannah allowed the children to stay at their dad's for a few days. The day they were to be returned, their father kept them for four hours past the planned drop-off time, which scared Hannah a lot. She started to worry that he might do something to hurt the kids to hurt her.
On Christmas Eve, Hannah invited her husband to come see the kids for the holiday. When he showed up, he stayed 15 minutes. He gave the children gift cards and left. When Hannah took the kids to buy toys with the cards, Hannah found they had no money on them.
On December 26th, things got even worse.
Hannah's husband asked if she and the kids could come to the park and hang out. She agreed. They stayed for a while, and when they packed up, her husband helped her gather the children and bring their things to her car. While walking, he asked her if he could take the kids overnight. She said no.
He grabbed Lianna and ran to his car. He threw her in the front seat and hit her head as he did so. Then he took off without putting her in restraints and screamed at Hannah, "you have caused all this. It's your fault."
The other kids were screaming and bawling their eyes out. He took his daughter to a friend's house, I'm assuming, in case Hannah came to look for them.
He called her and said she needed to bring the other kids to him, or he was keeping Lianna. In the end, he held her for three days before the police came and retrieved her.
Witnesses saw Lianna being taken and flagged down police. When they made contact with Hannah, they asked her if she had a DVO, which we know she did not have, and because she did not have one, the police could only ask her husband to return their daughter, not force him to. They advised her to go to the police station the next day and talk with someone about applying for a DVO.
The next day Hannah went to the station. They said that it was clear her husband's controlling behavior was escalating, but she still did not want to pursue a DVO because she was scared it would aggravate the situation. The police told her they had enough evidence to file one on her behalf and that since she didn't want to file for one, they were going to.
Once everything was in order, the police returned Laianna to Hannah. (ESCALATION IN BEHAVIOR)
They had mediation and obtained lawyers, and in January, they had their first court appearance. They spent the month disputing custody and the DVO.
On the 29th, he sent Hannah a letter that seemed he was contemplating their death.
(INSERT LETTER)
On December 31st (2 DAYS LATER), he was returning his youngest son to Hannah after a visit. When she came to the car to get their son Trey, she saw explicit photos of her in the car. She grabbed the pictures and walked away. He got out of the car and grabbed her wrist, causing a sprain.
She started screaming, and her mom called the police. When they arrived, Hannah was advised not to contact her husband until they had family court.
When they spoke to her husband, he said that the pictures were his property and that she had stolen them. She also lost her temper in front of their youngest. He "felt like a punching bag for her at the moment." Such manipulation.
On February 3rd, Hannah's husband lost his job as a personal trainer, and 3 days later, Hannah told him he couldn't see the kids until they had court. She was willing to facilitate facetime calls, though. (TRIGGER)
On the 17th, there is CCTV footage of Hannah's husband going to a hardware store around 5:40pm. He's seen buying a gas can, zip ties, and a bottle of methylated spirits.
Then he went to his aunt's house and asked if he could borrow her car for a few days. She said he could. (PLANNING STEP)
On the 18th, there is footage of him arriving at a gas station and filling up the gas can he purchased the day before. He drove by Hannah's parents but turned around and returned to his house. He called a few places looking for men's support programs and some friends, crying, saying he had lost everything, had no money, and was served an eviction notice. Even though at 9:20 am that day, he had paid rent, and his bill was up to date.
That evening Hannah facilitated a facetime call, but her husband didn't speak to the children. He only cried. Hannah told her mom she was worried about him; even after all he put her through, she still cared about him.
On February 19th, horror struck the Clarke family. Hannah and the kids got up early, and she went and got coffee for her and her mom. She returned to the house, and she and the children sat in her mom's room as she got ready for work. At 7:20, Hannah's mom kissed each of them and told them she loved them for the last time.
Hannah's husband had left his house around 6:50am that morning. He filled his aunt's car with gas and went to a coffee house. The barista remembered him looking at the maps app on his phone when he was there.
After that, he drove to Hannah's parent's street and parked a few houses down.
As Hannah and the children were leaving to go to school, she didn't see her husband because she didn't recognize the car he was in. Hannah went behind the driver's seat and buckled Aaliyah in, then buckled Trey in the middle and Lianna behind the passenger seat. As she started the car, her husband jumped in and told her to drive. She was terrified.
As they were driving, she noticed a neighbor washing his car. She pulled over and yelled, "call the police. He is going to kill me. He poured gasoline on me."
We now know he had also poured 4.5 liters of gasoline on Hannah, on the children's laps, the floorboards in the front seat of the car, and the back, then threw the gas can at Aaliyah's feet.
As Hannah was screaming for help, her neighbor could see she was trying to get out of the car, but her husband had her in a bear hug and was keeping her from getting out. The neighbor would recall that the car then "erupted" in flames.
The neighbor ran to the car and opened the door to help Hannah out of the vehicle. He sustained burns to his hands, face, and eyes.
She was on fire, and he told her to drop and roll around. He grabbed the hose and hosed her down.
Hannahs's despicable husband also managed to make it out of the car. He, too, was on fire, though autopsies would show he did not have gasoline on his skin. He was also hosed down.
Many people came to the scene to help.
At one point, the car started to roll backward. He jumped in the car, retrieved a knife, and then aggressively paced around the vehicle, preventing people from trying to extinguish the fire and help the kids.
He was severely burnt. He had burns to over 80% of his body. Eventually, he walked to the sidewalk and stabbed himself with the knife.
First responders arrived quickly, but they would later say there was no chance of survival for Hannah or the children when they arrived on the scene.
Hannah had (FULL-THICKNESS) burns to over 90% of her body, which were unsurvivable. Hannah was able to stand up again and give a detailed account of what happened to her neighbors and first responders. She said she couldn't believe what her husband had done and that she had a DVO. When she pulled over and asked the neighbor for help, he just dropped the lighter. When the first responders got to Hannah, she could give a detailed account of what happened leading up to that moment.
First responders were able to administer pain medication and transport her to a hospital, where she would die of multiple organ failure later that day.
When first responders were able to put out the fire and get to the children, they were unrecognizable.
At 9:53am, Hannah's children were pronounced dead. During the autopsies, they found that Lianna and trey died from the (DIRECT THERMAL EFFECTS OF INHALATION) smoke and other combustion products. While Aaliyah suffered burns to 100% of her body, and while carbon dioxide was in her blood, it was unlikely to be the cause of her death.
Hannah's husband died from a stab wound to his chest.
Police claim he could not accept the loss of control over her and premeditated her death. They concluded that he stabbed himself because he understood the extent of the atrocities he committed, and he didn't want or couldn't live with the public criticism and punishment he would receive, so he killed himself in a final act of cowardice", and I can't agree more.
Law enforcement believes there's evidence that Hannah's husband may have been trying to get her to a secluded location and kill her with the knife before burning her body. It's unclear if he had planned to kill the children or if it was a decision made at the moment.
Hannah's husband, Rowan Baxter, will be remembered as a controlling, manipulative, oppressive, and verbally abusive murderer.
Hannah will be remembered as happy, loving, kind, and caring. All the witnesses that tried to help that awful day were in awe of her unimaginable bravery, courage, resilience, and strength.
er mom. She returned to the house, and she and the children sat in her mom's room as she got ready for work. At 7:20, Hannah's mom kissed each of them and told them she loved them for the last time.
Hannah's husband had left his house around 6:50am that morning. He filled his aunt's car with gas and went to a coffee house. The barista remembered him looking at the maps app on his phone when he was there.
After that, he drove to Hannah's parent's street and parked a few houses down.
As Hannah and the children were leaving to go to school, she didn't see her husband because she didn't recognize the car he was in. Hannah went behind the driver's seat and buckled Aaliyah in, then buckled Trey in the middle and Lianna behind the passenger seat. As she started the car, her husband jumped in and told her to drive. She was terrified.
As they were driving, she noticed a neighbor washing his car. She pulled over and yelled, "call the police. He is going to kill me. He poured gasoline on me."
We now know he had also poured 4.5 liters of gasoline on Hannah, on the children's laps, the floorboards in the front seat of the car, and the back, then threw the gas can at Aaliyah's feet.
As Hannah was screaming for help, her neighbor could see she was trying to get out of the car, but her husband had her in a bear hug and was keeping her from getting out. The neighbor would recall that the car then "erupted" in flames.
The neighbor ran to the car and opened the door to help Hannah out of the vehicle. He sustained burns to his hands, face, and eyes.
She was on fire, and he told her to drop and roll around. He grabbed the hose and hosed her down.
Hannahs's despicable husband also managed to make it out of the car. He, too, was on fire, though autopsies would show he did not have gasoline on his skin. He was also hosed down.
Many people came to the scene to help.
At one point, the car started to roll backward. He jumped in the car, retrieved a knife, and then aggressively paced around the vehicle, preventing people from trying to extinguish the fire and help the kids.
He was severely burnt. He had burns to over 80% of his body. Eventually, he walked to the sidewalk and stabbed himself with the knife.
First responders arrived quickly, but they would later say there was no chance of survival for Hannah or the children when they arrived on the scene.
Hannah had (FULL-THICKNESS) burns to over 90% of her body, which were unsurvivable. Hannah was able to stand up again and give a detailed account of what happened to her neighbors and first responders. She said she couldn't believe what her husband had done and that she had a DVO. When she pulled over and asked the neighbor for help, he just dropped the lighter. When the first responders got to Hannah, she could give a detailed account of what happened leading up to that moment.
First responders were able to administer pain medication and transport her to a hospital, where she would die of multiple organ failure later that day.
When first responders were able to put out the fire and get to the children, they were unrecognizable.
At 9:53am, Hannah's children were pronounced dead. During the autopsies, they found that Lianna and trey died from the (DIRECT THERMAL EFFECTS OF INHALATION) smoke and other combustion products. While Aaliyah suffered burns to 100% of her body, and while carbon dioxide was in her blood, it was unlikely to be the cause of her death.
Hannah's husband died from a stab wound to his chest.
Police claim he could not accept the loss of control over her and premeditated her death. They concluded that he stabbed himself because he understood the extent of the atrocities he committed, and he didn't want or couldn't live with the public criticism and punishment he would receive, so he killed himself in a final act of cowardice", and I can't agree more.
Law enforcement believes there's evidence that Hannah's husband may have been trying to get her to a secluded location and kill her with the knife before burning her body. It's unclear if he had planned to kill the children or if it was a decision made at the moment.
Hannah's husband, Rowan Baxter, will be remembered as a controlling, manipulative, oppressive, and verbally abusive murderer.
Hannah will be remembered as happy, loving, kind, and caring. All the witnesses that tried to help that awful day were in awe of her unimaginable bravery, courage, resilience, and strength.
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