Official records on file in Butler County District Court show a history of domestic violence between Candace Pearl Brogden, 17, and her former boyfriend, Donnie Laquan Pettway, Jr., 20. They show the couple had many disputes that were handled by law enforcement in the past.

But Brogden, who her neighbors say had just recently re-enrolled in school at Georgiana High School after dropping out, was trying to make a clean break from the apparent vicious cycle of abuse she went through during her four-year relationship with Pettway.

She had moved out of the home she shared with him, remained in school trying to further her education, and was staying in McKenzie in the Crum Trailer Park with her cousin, Ashley Brogden.

But apparently on Wednesday night Pettway made contact with his estranged girlfriend again. So much contact that Candace was in fear for her life and sought help from law enforcement.

Sources in Georgiana indicated that on Wednesday night Candace, along with her cousin Ashley, went to the Georgiana Police Department to ask for help. At approximately 10:30 p.m. she requested a report be made regarding domestic violence, saying that Donnie Pettway had grabbed her by the throat and tried to strangle her, and had been following her and her cousin.

A deputy was dispatched to come to the police station and make a report on the incident, and was en route when Brogden apparently decided to wait until the next morning when the McKenzie Police Department would be on duty.

&uot;She overheard a reported motor vehicle accident being given to deputies on the police radio, and then said she would wait until the next morning,&uot; said a spokesman for the Georgiana Police Department. &uot;The deputy was still on his way to Georgiana when she left, and when he pulled up at the station he learned that she and her cousin were already gone.&uot;