Joseph and Melissa Batten

Location Redmond, Washington
Date July 29, 2008 (Pacific Time Zone)
Attack type
 Murder
Deaths 2 (including the perpetrator)
Perpetrator Joseph Batten

Joseph Eugene Batten (January 23, 1972 – July 29, 2008),[1][2] a video game programmer, murdered his estranged wife Melissa Brooks Batten (March 2, 1972 – July 29, 2008),[3] also a software development engineer, in Redmond, Washington. She had taken out an order of protection against her husband on July 21, eight days before he murdered her.

Biography

Early lives and education

Joseph Batten was born January 23, 1972 in Parkersburg, West Virginia.[2] Joseph got his mathematics degree from Marshall University.[4] His wife was Melissa Brooks Batten.[2] Melissa was a Harvard Law graduate.[4]

Careers

Melissa worked as a public defender in North Carolina from 2000-2002, handling domestic cases.[4] At the time, she worked for the Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Public Defender's Office.[5] Melissa moved to Washington state in 2002, and soon after got a job at Microsoft Game Studios, where Joseph was already working as a video game programmer.[4] Melissa earned credits on Halo 3 and Gears of War as a Software Development Engineer in Test, and was working in support of Xbox 360 developer Rare Ltd.[5][6] Joseph later worked at Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Project Manager.[2][4] Batten was also the head of the Gleemax project; on July 28, 2008, Wizards announced that they were shutting down Gleemax to concentrate on Dungeons & Dragons Insider.[7]

The Battens lived together in Kent, Washington.[8]

Murder-suicide

On June 5, 2008, after finding out about an affair Melissa had, Joseph confronted her and at one point he pointed a gun at her, and then at his own head.[8][9] Melissa moved into a friend's apartment in Redmond, Washington, soon after, but he found out where she was living.[8] A mutual friend persuaded him to sell his .22-caliber handgun back to the dealer, but he later bought two more guns, a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver and a 9-millimeter Taurus semiautomatic.[10] Joseph broke into her workplace at Microsoft on July 16 while she was out of town, and was banished from the campus after he was caught by security guards.[8] Melissa told police that he called her more than 20 times on July 19 and 20.[8] Melissa got a protection order against Joseph on July 21, which said he could not come within 100 yards of her, and was served to him on July 25.[8] She was in the process of filing for divorce.[11]

Shortly after 9 AM on July 29, 2008, Melissa left the apartment to go to work.[12][13] Joseph approached her in the parking lot and shot her several times in the torso with a 9-mm handgun, and then shot himself in the head.[12] Investigators found fuzzy handcuffs, hardcore pornography, an 8-inch cutting knife and $6,000 in cash in the trunk of Joseph's Mercedes sedan.[4] Microsoft provided grief counseling to Melissa's surviving relatives, and helped organize memorials for family and colleagues.[13] Washington state legislator Roger Goodman cited the Batten case in the passage of a 2014 state gun control law that involved domestic violence.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTJF-RMC : accessed 19 December 2015), Joseph E Batten, 29 Jul 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Joseph E. Batten". The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. August 16, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGG3-83P : accessed 19 December 2015), Melissa C Brooks, 29 Jul 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Alarming evidence adds to murder-suicide mystery". Redmond Reporter. August 7, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Good, Owen (August 3, 2008). "Xbox Developer Dead in Murder-Suicide". Kotaku. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ Chalk, Andy (August 5, 2008). "Xbox Developer Killed In Murder-Suicide". The Escapist. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 301. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Murdered woman had protection order against suicidal husband". Redmond Reporter. August 1, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ Whitely, Peyton (August 1, 2008). "Slain woman had protection order". The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Luo, Michael (March 17, 2013). "In Some States, Gun Rights Trump Orders of Protection". New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Redmond murder-suicide couple identified". KOMO News. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on August 5, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Murder-suicide: Woman, man shot dead in Redmond parking lot near Microsoft". Redmond Reporter. July 29, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Morris, Betsy (November 24, 2008). "You have victims working for you. You have batterers working for you too.", Fortune 158 (10); entire article reposted at
  14. ↑ "Washington State Legislature House of Representatives passes bill to save the lives of domestic violence victims". Redmond Reporter. February 12, 2014.

External links

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