Just over one week after Rachael Kerr was killed in a domestic violence shooting inside her Starke home, her older brother says the warning signs were clear — documented in arrests, court orders, and restraining injunctions that ultimately failed to protect her.
Kerr was in the middle of a divorce from her estranged husband, Loyd Kerr, when she sought multiple protective injunctions, according to court records. In the months leading up to her death, deputies arrested him several times for violating those orders. He was also facing felony charges and was under a court order prohibiting him from possessing firearms or contacting his estranged wife. Despite that history, investigators say he was released from jail on bail.
Early Thursday morning last week, deputies responded to a 911 hang-up call at the home. They found Rachael Kerr tied up and shot. Her husband later turned the gun on himself. Their two children — an 11-year-old and a 9-year-old — were inside the home and feared they would be killed next.
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“She lived in fear,” said Kerr’s older brother, Nick Leidy, speaking from his home in St. Petersburg. “She was very vocal about what he would do to her, and to those kids. That brought on the restraining orders.”…