Article published Oct 21, 2003
N.C. woman killed as she tries to protect friend

A Monroe woman was killed when she was beaten over the head with a shovel as she tried to protect a friend from her estranged husband, authorities say.

Tracey Helms, 25, died Saturday in her own front yard. She was the 47th victim of domestic violence this year in North Carolina, the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence said.

It is unclear how many were killed trying to protect someone else, but experts said she's not the first.

"Domestic violence is all about power and control," said Union County district attorney Ken Honeycutt, who has led a prosecution program to stem domestic violence. "When the abuser sees someone interfering with this ability to control, they lash out at that person."Police said Helms became the target last week when she came between her friend Holly Wright Blount and the woman's new husband, Michael William Blount.

Blount, 27, of Monroe is being held without bond on charges of murder and second-degree kidnapping, police said. In addition to various drug convictions, Blount was convicted in 2000 of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a female in an incident involving another woman, records show.

Helms and Holly Blount, friends for about four years, had worked together at various waitressing jobs.

On the evening of Oct. 15, Holly Blount called Monroe police to escort her as she picked up belongings from the Economy Inn room she had shared with her husband.

Holly Blount didn't go to a shelter or file a restraining order but moved into Helms' home. She stayed there for two nights.

Helms told her mother, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M., about her friend's situation last week.

"The first thing I said is, `Be careful. If he's been abusive, watch your kids. You don't know what he'll do,'" recalled Sherry Bower.

Experts say the most dangerous time for abuse victims is when they leave the abuser. A friend's home isn't usually a safe place to go, said Natalie Simpson, executive director of Union County's 42-bed shelter, Turning Point.

"When you go to a friend's or relative's there's nothing to stop him from coming over there," she said.

Holly Blount told police her husband was waiting behind a tree at the Helms' home, holding a shovel, after they ended their shifts about 2 a.m. Saturday.

Helms ran toward the house to get her husband and call police. Police said she was hit over the head with the shovel. Then she was hit at least once more. Police said Holly Blount was then forced into a car and driven away.

Tracey's husband, D.J. Helms, and the two children, ages 4 and 6, were asleep in the house and heard nothing, family members said. Her husband found her body after he awoke that morning.

Later that day, Blount released his wife uninjured somewhere in Lexington County, S.C. She called 911. He was arrested Saturday afternoon.

D.J. Helms said he had no idea his family was in such danger. "I probably wouldn't have let Holly stay if I'd know she'd bring danger to my household," he said Monday.

He visited Holly Blount on Monday afternoon to tell her his wife had given her a second chance to live without abuse. He wanted her to know she should take the opportunity.

"Tracey, the sweetheart she is, tends to gravitate toward the troubled people," her mother said. "She was a peacemaker. She loved to try to get peaceful endings to things."

Information from: The Charlotte Observer