On the morning of May 26, 2020, 63-year-old Wanda Castor and her 27-year-old daughter Kathleen Castor were found shot to death inside their Lake Road home in Valley Cottage, a suburb of New City, New York. Officers discovered the bodies at about 7:10 a.m. Kathleen’s one-month-old daughter was found alive and unharmed and was taken to a hospital before being placed with Child Protective Services.

Police identified Kathleen’s ex-boyfriend, Robert C. Williams III, as a person of interest; Kathleen had previously obtained an order of protection against him. Authorities say Williams entered the home armed with a .40 caliber firearm and carried out the killings. He was arrested four days later and charged with multiple counts, including first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of criminal contempt.

What details about the case or the victims’ lives might help explain how this order of protection failed to prevent such a tragedy?