Xi-anna Graham was doing what she could. She attended classes at West Georgia Technical College to make something of herself and provide for her family.

Graham, 24, was raising four of her children in suburban Atlanta with love and affection. But her live-in boyfriend was a hot head, police say.

Twenty-seven-year-old Christopher Gene Scarboro had several run-ins with authorities this year alone. On July 4, a warrant obtained by Atlanta TV station WXIA indicates he allegedly struck a man in the face. Months before that, on May 27,  allegedly headbutted another woman.

On Wednesday, August 22, 2018, law enforcement doing a welfare check on a home in Marietta, Georgia found Graham unresponsive on the floor, according to media reports. At least one of the victim's children was reported to be in another part of the home at the time. The child told authorities they heard a "loud commotion," according to WXIA-TV.

Police say they were called to a home on Bonnie Dell Drive for a welfare check Just before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. When they entered, police said they found a woman who had been strangled in an act of domestic violence.

Detectives said Graham was allegedly strangled by her live-in Scarboro. He has been charged with multiple counts, including homicide-murder and aggravated assault.

"Our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in this tragedy," Marietta police spokesperson Chuck McPhilamy told local media outlets. "If you're the one watching this and you know someone who may be in a situation that they shouldn't be and that it could be an abusive situation that they shouldn't be, please the life you could be saving could be theirs."

• On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.
• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime.
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
• 1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.

See more about domestic violence as well as our Resources Page.