| Susan Murphy-Milano | |
| Birth Name: | Susan Murphy |
| Birth Date: | 1959/1960 |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Death Date: | October 28, 2012 (aged 52)[1] |
| Death Place: | Folly Beach, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Author, radio host, victims advocate |
| Genre: | Nonfiction, radio |
| Subject: | Domestic violence, true crime |
| Notableworks: | Time's Up Moving Out, Moving On |
| Awards: | Women's Hall of Fame Public Citizen of the Year Women with Vision |
Susan Murphy-Milano (1959/1969 — October 28, 2012)[2] was an American nonfiction author, violence expert and host of the weekly radio crime show "Time's Up" and author of a book by the same title.[3] Murphy-Milano died in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, in 2012, aged 52, from cancer.[2] [4]
Murphy-Milano was born in Chicago, Illinois to parents Roberta and Phillip Murphy, a police officer. She graduated from William Howard Taft High School.[5] She attended the University of Chicago from 1978 to 1981.
In January 1989,[6] her father, a decorated Chicago Police violent crimes investigator,[7] murdered his wife, her mother, Roberta, using his service weapon, a .44 magnum. He then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.[8]
Murphy-Milano, who discovered her parents' bodies, vowed to change the way intimate partner crimes and homicides were handled and investigated.[9] She spent her career advocating for women and child victims of domestic violence.[10] [11] A women's advocate, she lobbied for the passage of 1993's Illinois Stalking Law[12] and the Lautenberg Amendment of 1996, a domestic violence offender gun ban.
Murphy-Milano authored Defending Our Lives: Getting Away From Domestic Violence & Staying Safe, published by Doubleday, released in September 1996 to coincide with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.[13]
Her second book, Moving Out, Moving On, focused on when a relationship goes wrong. Her latest book, released by the publishing on demand publisher Dog Ear Press in 2010, is Times Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships. Author and former prosecutor Robin Sax, in a review for Psychology Today, wrote about the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit included in the book. "Murphy Milano reaches out and offers her hand -- with a key (almost literally). Thank you to Murphy-Milano for giving us ... a succinct, well-written guidebook that is a must-have for anyone who is a victim or who works with victims of domestic abuse."[14] As of June 2012, WorldCat shows the book to be present in 13 libraries.[15]
She appeared on network TV and talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show,[16] 20/20, American Justice, Larry King Live, Sunday Today, E! True Hollywood, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN. She regularly appeared on The Roth Show,[17] a syndicated show on the USA Radio Network, hosted by Dr. Laurie Roth, and was a regular contributor to TRUE CRIME UNCENSORED, hosted by Burl Barer.
She was a contributing writer for Women in Crime Ink, which the Wall Street Journal called "a blog worth reading."[18]
Murphy-Milano often spoke to law enforcement, at schools and before groups advocating victims' rights.[19] Also, she worked with the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education.[20]
Her biography, Holding My Hand Through Hell, released by Ice Cube Press in October 2012, shortly before her death.