OKLAHOMA - An Oklahoma woman died after jumping from a moving car, allegedly to escape her husband, who her friends say had abused her for years.
"She had a big heart, and she was always smiling when I saw her. We were her family," friend Samantha Searle said of Brianne King, who died early Tuesday.
Early that morning, King was in the passenger seat with her husband, Michael Muller, behind the wheel when she opened the door and threw herself from the vehicle, police believe.
King's friends are calling for justice, and Searle had a message for Muller, "Whether she jumped from the car or you pushed her, she's dead, because of you.”
"He tore her down from the strong-willed person I knew. He made her believe that she was a horrible person,” Searle told KFOR-TV.
Her friends said King was abused for several years – sometimes, they said in front of the couple's children.
"These babies talk about how their daddy hurt their mommy, like it's a normal part of life that's supposed to happen,” Searle said.
Even Searle witnessed one situation.
"I watched him smash her face against a wall, causing three of her teeth to loosen and one to fall out,” she said.
And, both Searle and Jennifer Morgan said they tried to get the mother of five out of the situation.
"We concocted plan after plan after plan to get her and those kids out of there," Searle said.
"I just wish there would have been some way to ... break her (away) from him,” Morgan said. "She told us lots of times she was going to die. She was afraid."
Muller has had several charges against him on domestic violence and child abuse.
He is in jail right now on an outstanding felony warrant, but Oklahoma City police are calling King's death suspicious.
It's not yet clear if Muller will face charges in King's death.
