ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 points out that under the law, all the gray mist killings are domestic violence killings. Since they assume this legal form, questions arise as to whether a prior history of violence and abuse preceded the killing. In most cases of intimate partner homicide, violence and abuse precede the killing. However, the gray mist killings evidenced significantly lower levels of preexisting violence and abuse than one might expect. The chapter opens with two case narratives, one from the UK, one from Australia, involving violent and abusive men who developed dementia and then killed their wives. It then examines three cases where victims of homicide precipitated their own demise by abusing spouses or partners to the point where they responded with defensive, retaliatory, and/or pre-emptive lethal violence.
