Slain woman's sister 're-victimized' by killer's sentence

"It's been traumatic. It feels like we get re-victimized all the time, every time we try to seek some kind of justice, some kind of closure in all different types of capacities."

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) -- Gina Kimberlin lost her younger sister, Monica Murrah, nearly three years ago.

Monica -- who was also known as Star -- was stabbed to death by her husband in front of their 8-year-old son. Even though Michael Murrah was found to be a "substantial danger," Clark County Superior Court Judge Suzan Clark determined he was not guilty but insane and should be kept in the state mental hospital.

Kimberlin said they are still living in fear as they try to protect Monica's son.

"She was in the process of getting a divorce. It was just years of abuse -- verbal, physical, mental -- from Michael," she told KOIN 6 News Monday night.

Monica was killed after a Clark County court denied her request to extend a protective order against her husband.

When he was arrested, Michael Murrah told the arresting officer he "was filling a commandment and prophecy from the lord and savior Jesus Christ. Jesus told him to make a sacrifice for the good of all," court documents revealed.

Kimberlin and her family find the not-guilty-but-insane verdict hard to accept.

"It's been traumatic. It feels like we get re-victimized all the time, every time we try to seek some kind of justice, some kind of closure in all different types of capacities," she said. "It feels like there's no rights for her. They died when she died."

She added Murrah that, under this sentence, Murrah can keep his parental rights.

Domestic violence advocates are now aiming to secure adoption rights for Gina Kimberlin and her husband to be the boy's legal guardians.

"The law should be on the books that help victims of crime, not perpetrators," said Michelle Bart of National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation. "We've got a lot of blood on our hands in this town for a lot of women that asked for protective order and weren't granted renewals or original protective orders."

Kimberlin said she will keep looking after her sister's son and speaking up for victims.

"I want to see that women with domestic violence issues get taken more seriously," she said.