Bakersfield Tragedy: Two Mothers Taken

Our hearts are heavy and spirits are in a state of confusion as a senseless tragedy has taken another mother from the face of the earth. Suzan Sowders Fuller of Bakersfield, CA, was gunned down in her own home, along with her mother, Sharon Cannon, in front of her two little girls, 5 and 8. Who would do such a terrible thing? The father of two innocent children and the husband of Suzan.

Going through the various stages of divorce, Suzan was forced to take out an order of protection against her husband, Robert Fuller, who continuously threatened her life and on numerous occasions made moves towards that end. This order of "protection" was violated 7 times, and 7 times Robert Fuller was allowed to go about what he set out to do, he was arrested twice in the two weeks prior to the wee hours of August 8, 2009 when he broke down the door to Suzan's home and accomplished his mission.

Their 8 year old daughter had been taught to dial 9-1-1 if mommy was hurt or if she saw blood. As Robert Fuller came through the door, she was the first to wake up to see what was going on. Her father instructed her to go back to her bedroom, and as she did, her mother and grandmother came into the hallway greeted by the blast of Robert's shotgun. As cowards do, Robert ran, leaving these two precious children to deal with the aftermath.

What more could Suzan have done to prevent this? How many more hoops should she have had to jump through to save her life and the life of her mother? According to a family member, Suzan did everything she could "by the book" and followed through with each resource given her by the system. The system failed once more, and two lives were lost. Two little girls now must live with the heartbreak of losing their mother and grandmother to the "monsters" that creep in the night. This is the thing that nightmares are made of and too many children are left behind suffering. Make it STOP!

Please make a point to listen to The Susan Murphy Milano Show on BlogTalk Radio, Wednesday, August 12. Her guest will be a family member of Susan Sowders Fuller discussing what went wrong, along with Claudine Dombrowski from Mothers Without Custody. The show airs live at 3PM CST, 4PM EST and if you can't make it live, you can listen anytime by going to MurphyMilanoJournal. It will automatically play when you enter the site.