Catherine Marie DOnofrio, 28, was shot to death on March 8, 2009, in a Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment. The shooter was her ex-boyfriend, Jerry Bowens, a former NYPD officer. Another woman, Melissa Simmons, 28, was with DOnofrio and survived after being shot in the arm and suffering a graze wound to the head.

Court documents describe a relationship that had ended: emails, removal of a tattoo of Bowens’ name, and DOnofrio beginning a new relationship. Bowens had been calling and texting her repeatedly the night before the killing. After the shooting a manhunt followed; Bowens was arrested on March 9, 2009, on Staten Island and taken to Kings County Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Investigators recovered a hit list with DOnofrio’s name at the top.

In January 2011 Bowens, then 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder along with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon; the plea exposed exposure to a 30-to-40-years-to-life sentence. Did anyone who knew Catherine notice signs of escalating danger before March 8, 2009?