Wife, and Mother of Three, Brutally Murdered After Posting Footage of Domestic Violence Online.
The tragic death of Keaira Bennefield could have been avoided if only help had come sooner.
Bennefield, 40, had been working with a domestic violence advocate to find safe housing for her and her children. She had previously reported the physical abuse that she suffered at the hands of her husband. Abuse, that was actually caught on video.
Cheektowaga, NY authorities were alerted to the abuse days before Bennefield was murdered but, her husband was allowed to walk the streets anyway.
Last Wednesday, Cheektowaga Police responded to a home on Barbara Street after learning a woman was being punched by her husband.
Police filed a warrant against Bennefield's husband 45-year-old Adam Bennefield, and asked her to notify them if her returned to the property.
On Thursday, police were notified the victim had video of the incident, but they did not receive the video until Sunday.
On Monday, after viewing the video, detectives upgraded the charges to a misdemeanor assault, and on Tuesday, Adam Bennefield turned himself in.
He was charged and released, and Keaira Bennefield was notified by the domestic violence advocate that he was free.
Bennefield, who had been staying at her mother's home in Buffalo, was driving her car when her husband rammed his car into hers, pulled along side her and shot her in the head. Killing her.
Now, days after her murder, her family, and the community, is asking how this could have happened when there should have been a better plan for her safety.
“They said they put together a safety plan. Going to your mother’s house is not a safety plan,” said Pastor Tim Newkirk at GYC ministries, and a family friend of Keaira Bennefield.
Newkirk says detectives should have been more proactive in preventing this crime.
He says although Keaira was working with detectives, she feared for her life so much that she put on a bullet-proof vest that day and was wearing it when she was shot and killed.
Newkirk recalls Bennefield's mother dropping to her knees when she got the news about her daughter's death and through tears asking "Did my daughter have on her vest?"
Police were asked if Keaira was wearing a vest at the time she was killed but they would not give out those details of the investigation.
Police are offering a $7,500 reward to anyone who can provide information on the whereabouts of Adam Bennefield. Anyone with information regarding Adam’s whereabouts should call Crimestoppers WNY at 716-867-6161.
