05:19 PM EDT on Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Christi Melcher and Romanique Thompson didn't know each other, but their families now have something in common -- a lifetime of grief. Both women were pregnant, both were murdered.

Melcher's husband already confessed to her slaying; Thompson's killer is on the loose. According to national statistics as many as husbands or boyfriends assault 60 percent of all battered women during a pregnancy.

“He hit me in the head. He has choked me, thrown me, drug me across concrete, all during pregnancy.”

Fearing her ex-husband will try to locate her we concealed “Dana's” identity.

“He never put his hands on me until I was pregnant both times.” She says she was beaten ten times during her two pregnancies. The worst came after she wrapped her hands around a car steering wheel.

“He grabbed me by my throat and tried to rip my esophagus out and said I am going to kill you,” she says.

Janie Burks, president of the Center for Women and Families in Louisville, says men that beat pregnant women share a common deficiency.

“It’s all about power and control,” Burks says.

Statistically speaking, one in three women in Kentucky will be a victim of domestic violence. But those numbers probably don't touch the surface. Health care workers say most attacks are not reported.

Kentucky has a potential deterrent in a new fetal homicide law. Louisville's Eric Trask will put it to the test. Trask was arrested late last year after assaulting his wife. The attack left the couple's fetus dead.

Dana's husband is behind bars. She knows how lucky she and her children are to call themselves survivors.

“If it’s happening to you, get away from it,” she says. “In the long run, you will be okay.”

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.