Assemb. Jim Wood speaks out on domestic violence awareness

MENDOCINO Co., 4/4/20 — The tragic killing of a Willits woman, allegedly at the hands of her husband, has shocked the community, and many are speaking out about the problem of domestic violence. Assemblyman Jim Wood, who represents most of the North Coast issued this statement on the subject, noting that in the pandemic and subsequent shelter-in-place order means being trapped with an abuser. He also lists many of the various resources avaliable to people in these circumstances.

Domestic violence, and intimate partner violence, of some kind has been one of the primary causes of homicides, and missing people in Mendocino County for the past few years: In Feb. 2018 Andrew Crowningshield, 27, murdered Autumn Renee Smith, 22, with whom he shared a child; in Jan. 2019 Krissy Orbon, 32, and her son Damian Michael Wilkins, 8, were killed by Damian’s father, Michael Wilkins; Khadijah Britton went missing in Feb. of 2018 in a disappearance that is widely believed to be a likely murder at the hands of an ex-boyfriend; in June 2019 Yareli Diaz is alleged to have killed her infant daughter, Mia Cielo Diaz, by leaving her in a car, unattended for many hours; in July 2018 father and son Calixto and Miguel, of Covelo, were shot and killed by Ubaldo Ramierz, their son and brother respectively, on the Ridgewood Grade. This is a partial list of the people killed by intimate partners and family in the past couple years, here in Mendocino County — the list of people gravely injured is of course much longer.