Help is Available in Northeastern Minnesota 24/7/365.
Help is Available in Northeastern Minnesota 24/7/365.
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Heritage Day Weekend
Saturday, July 13, 2024
9:00 AM
*New starting location this year*
Click Register Now for more information
Violence Free Minnesota, the coalition to end relationship abuse, remembers Liara Kaylee Tsai, the 9th confirmed victim of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota in 2024.
Liara Kaylee Tsai, 35, was killed in her home in Minneapolis on or about June 21,2024 with sharp force injuries listed as her cause of death. Margot Lewis, 32, of Iowa, described as a former romantic partner of Liara’s, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Hours after Liara was killed in her home, investigators arrived at a crash scene on June 22 along Interstate 90 in Olmsted
County, where Lewis had been speeding in the median before hitting a guardrail with Liara’s body in the backseat. When police arrived, they determined Liara’s death was not due to the crash and that Lewis had not attempted to avoid the guardrail. Liara’s former spouse told police that Lewis had flown in from Boston to stay with Liara for several days beginning June 21.
Trans women deserve to live full, joyful lives free from violence. Liara was a beloved member of the trans community in Minnesota and will be remembered for her work as a DJ and her activism as a volunteer for the Trevor Project and a crisis counselor for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Liara is described by loved ones as having a “magnetic personality,” with an “incredibly unique presence” who was an exceptionally talented artist. She had moved to Minneapolis from Iowa six weeks before her death and had just booked a show in Brooklyn that would be her biggest gig yet.
Learn more here: https://www.vfmn.org/we-remember #WeRememberMN
Violence Free Minnesota, the coalition to end relationship abuse, remembers Toumai Gaynor, the 8th confirmed victim of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota in 2024.
Toumai Gaynor, 21, was shot and killed in St. Paul on May 30, 2024. Martavious Roby-English, 21, faces second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges. Roby-English’s ex-girlfriend had been in a car with Toumai that night. She told police that Roby-English had grown progressively more upset that she wasn’t coming over and was angry that she had turned her location off as “it was a sign of mistrust.” At one point Roby-English sent his ex-girlfriend a text threatening to walk over and shoot her. His ex-girlfriend and a witness stated that Roby-English eventually ran up to the car she was in with Toumai and repeatedly yelled “Get out of the car or I will kill you” before shooting, killing Toumai. After the shooting, Roby-English claimed to police that he
had later learned Toumai had been dating his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors believe he was attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend during the shooting. Roby-English has a history of assault charges for prior shootings.
Learn more here: https://www.vfmn.org/we-remember #WeRememberMN
Violence Free Minnesota, the coalition to end relationship abuse, remembers Amir Demarion Harden, the 7th confirmed victim of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota in 2024.
Amir Demarion Harden, 8, was shot on June 5th in his Burnsville home and died in the hospital on Sunday, June 9th. His mother stated that his father Danair Harden, 30, was attempting to shoot and kill her when Amir tried wrestling the gun away from him and was then shot in the head and neck. Amir’s four siblings were present. Danair Harden was in court the morning before the shooting on charges that he had strangled Amir’s mother on May 30 after she tried to end their relationship after a history of abuse and control. He was released on bail about seven hours before the shooting.
Amir, a student at Echo Park Elementary, will be remembered as “a leader, a protector of his siblings," and “was known for his infectious smile and kind heart.”
Support for Amir's family: GoFundMe account for moving expenses and bills: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-cherishs-family-after-tragedy
Learn more here: https://www.vfmn.org/we-remember #WeRememberMN
Violence Free Minnesota, the coalition to end relationship abuse, retroactively remembers April Lee Pease, the 17th confirmed victim of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota in 2009.
April Lee Pease, 30, was abducted from a shelter in Bloomington in March 2009 and killed. Cedric Marks, 45, the father of April’s son, was charged with second-degree murder in 2020. April and Marks had been living together in Washington when she relocated to the Bloomington shelter after Marks repeatedly assaulted her. In March 2009, Marks traveled to Minnesota and abducted April from the shelter before driving her out to a gravel road where Marks stated he killed her. Her body has not been found. Marks was also convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Jenna Scott and her friend Michael Swearingin in January 2019 in Texas. April’s son was 3 or 4 when she was abducted and killed. An acquaintance described April as “such a sweet gal.”
The circumstances of April's death were recently confirmed, and she is now being honored and remembered retroactively.
Violence Free Minnesota relies heavily on media reporting as the primary source of our Intimate Partner Homicide Reports. While we do our best to track and confirm homicides as they arise, sometimes we do not have enough information at the time of the homicide to determine whether the death meets our report criteria. Often this is because of a lack of details in the media, a lengthy legal process, and/or limited access to other sources of information.
Violence Free Minnesota, the coalition to end relationship abuse, is releasing a retroactive We Remember in honor of April Lee Pease, the 17th confirmed victim of intimate partner homicide in Minnesota in 2009. The man who killed April was only charged for her homicide in 2020 after he was arrested for an unrelated murder of another partner in Texas, which is why this We Remember is for several years ago.
We believe that all victims of intimate partner homicides in Minnesota deserves recognition and to be memorialized.
Learn more here: https://www.vfmn.org/we-remember #WeRememberMN
Thank you for your continued support.
Big or small, every donation helps our clients and their families.
We are currently looking for the following donations:
Take this two-minute quiz to find out if you know all about dating violence.
Take this two-minute quiz to find out if you know all about Safety,
Social Media & Dating Violence.
Take this two-minute quiz to find out if you know all about consent.
Focusing on self-empowerment, healing, coping strategies, and making healthy changes. Find support in a healthy, safe environment.
Support group is Temporarily Halted. We will resume as soon as we are able. If you need someone to talk to, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
For more information, please contact North Shore Horizons at 218-834-5924
We are a nonprofit organization committed to providing advocacy and support to victims of Domestic Sexual Violence.
We are in the process of revising our Volunteer Opportunities. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact us.
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help of supporters like you.