The mother and sister of Yeardley Love said they worried about her safety in the weeks before her ex-boyfriend George Huguely V beat her to death at the University of Virginia.
Before Huguely left the 22-year-old student bloodied and bruised in her off-campus apartment in May 2010, her sister Lexie recommended that she get a restraining order because of his violent behavior.
In one troubling example, he'd sent her a threatening email saying he should have killed her.
"I think she didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal," Lexie Love said to Katie Couric on her new show today. "That that was it. They were over, and she wasn't going to be seeing him much anymore."
But weeks before the college lacrosse player's graduation, a drunken Huguely broke down her bedroom door starting a fight that would leave her with a blunt trauma to the head, causing her death.
After Huguely's arrest in Charlottesville, reports emerged of other brushes with the law and violent incidents. He was arrested in 2007 for underage possession of alcohol. The following year, he was convicted of public intoxication after a female police officer used a stun gun to subdue him. In 2009, Huguely attacked a teammate who had been seen with Love, who was then his girlfriend.
"I never knew anybody that had done such things like that," Lexie said to Couric. "It was shocking."
Love's mother filed a nearly $30 million lawsuit against lacrosse coaches at the university, saying they overlooked clear signs that Huguely, now 25, was a danger to others.
Huguely, also a college lacrosse player, was convicted and sentenced to 23 years.
"I felt like the jury did their job. I think they took it very seriously," Sharon Love said. "Of course, as a mother of Yeardley, you'd always like to see more, but I'm satisfied with the verdict because I think everybody took their job seriously and did it well."
The family started the One Love Foundation to advocate against domestic violence and preserve Love's memory. They recently contributed to the creation of an athletic field at the Baltimore-area prep school where she was a standout on the lacrosse team.