October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It's something that can happen in urban, rural, and suburban communities.

Data shows that in Allegheny County alone last year, 12 people died from intimate partner homicides.

That accounted for about 11% of all the county's homicide victims, and that figure is slightly up from 2023.

The hug that domestic violence survivor Jen Pardini received on Wednesday is one of gladness and gratitude.

"Dr. Leonardo saved me. She saved my life," Pardini, 28, said.

She is not embellishing that statement. Pardini said her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had been dating for about two and a half years, brutally attacked her with a hammer. She said he kicked her, too.

All of it shattered her skull, knocked out multiple teeth, and left her with permanent eye da

See Full Page