In her absence, loved ones of Linda Martin hope her legacy will continue to live on.
On May 31, 55-year-old Linda Martin was fatally shot at a busy Southlake intersection. Her estranged husband, 52-year-od Kenneth Martin, is now being held in Tarrant County charged with her murder.
The two were going through a divorce and in the process of a dividing up property and businesses. According to Jason Hitt, Linda Martin’s boyfriend, she left a tense mediation session with her husband moments before the shooting.
“She tried to get a restraining order,” he said. “I knew that she knew it was coming."
Hitt said he was on the phone with her at the time of the shooting.
"I heard what happened," he said. "I heard the gun shots.”
Hitt is now trying to change the mediation procedures surrounding family law in Texas.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“Mediation, right now, puts two people in very close proximity in a very fixed time and fixed location," he said. "For someone of domestic violence, that makes no sense.”
Hitt has reached out to Senator Ellis, in an effort to protect other spouses of domestic violence, who are going through a divorce.
“I am proposing that someone should have the ability to have tele-conferencing so that someone can be remote," he said. "I am also proposing that there should be armed security to escort people out, and that there are staggered times of release.”
To extend her legacy, Hitt collected hundreds of signatures in favor of Flowermound’s Peacock Park being renamed after Linda Martin, in her honor.
“She was a great person," he said. "I hope her story can protect other women who may be going through the same situation. [Domestic violence] is an issue that goes unspoken in our community, not just here in Flower Mound, but all over the United States. Women suffer in silence.”
