Domestic Violence Can Be Hard To Detect

BOSTON — Thomas Mortimer IV is in police custody after allegedly murdering his wife, children and mother-in-law.

Police said their attention had never before been drawn to the home on a quiet residential lane. Mortimer had a new job as a senior sales account executive, and his wife Laura Stone Mortimer was an economist.

But prosecutors say the Mortimer wrote of “marital discord,” alleging that turned into domestic violence.

Mary Lauby, the executive director of Jane Doe, Inc., a statewide coalition of more than 60 domestic violence and sexual assault programs, told WBUR it’s common for domestic violence to arise out of circumstances that law enforcement officials simply can’t notice.