E. Greenbush event honors victims of crime
EASTGREENBUSH, N.Y. » Dozens of people walked around the Hampton Manor Lake on Thursday night in memory of those who lost their lives to crime.
The East Greenbush and lower Rensselaer County communities came together for a brief ceremony and short walk around the lake in observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week was originally the week of April 8-14, but organizers had to reschedule the walk to Thursday night when rain postponed the original event.
Martha Lasher-Warner, president of the Family and Friends of Liza Ellen Warner Association, has organized the walk for the past several years as a way to raise awareness for those who lost their lives to domestic violence or other crimes and as a way to remember her late daughter, Liza Warner, along with East Greenbush resident Nikki Hart.
Liza Warner was killed thirteen years ago at the age of 29 after being murdered by her husband in a murder-suicide shooting incident in Princetown, Schenectady.
“She was married for five years... We had no idea that control was a sign of domestic violence — and he was controlling, but we weren’t aware of that,” ex- plained Lasher-Warner after the walk. “She wanted to end the marriage, and he told her he was suicidal and she felt guilty. She had left the house and then went back to the house, and the first night that she was there alone he broke into the home with a stolen 12-gauge shotgun and shot her in the head and then killed himself.”
Nikki Hart was murdered at the age of 33 in the town of Schodack in 2012 by her estranged boyfriend, whom she had a child with.
“I come to show support for Nikki Hart. I knew her whole family and I think doing this walk is a good thing,” said East Greenbush resident Diane Earing as she was walking around the lake with her grandkids.
Prior to the walk, East Greenbush Town Supervisor Jack Conway shared a few words of what the walk means for the community as a whole.
“We do have to pause and remember the seriousness of why we’re here; two beautiful young women who were taken from us…. Domestic violence knows no boundaries, it knows no gender, it knows no sexual orientation, it knows no demographic, it can happen to anyone anytime and if we don’t move now and do something about it then it will also know no end and this epidemic will never end, so we walk tonight with a purpose,” said Conway to the crowd of walkers during a brief ceremony in Onderdonk Park, across from the lake.