Michelle Carmichael-Walker was finally making it on her own, having left an abusive marriage, when she was murdered by her estranged husband on May 20, 2003. The day that ended her life also began an amazing transformation in the life of her sister, Katrina.
    While she had found success in the financial industry, Katrina's drive faltered after Michelle's death. Rather than succumb to grief, the Detroit-area resident poured her passion into a series of children's books designed to bring awareness to the effects of domestic violence on children - and to let kids in violent homes know they are not alone.
    It's a feeling Katrina knows all too well.
    "As a child, I witnessed domestic violence," said the 32-year-old author and executive director and founder of SADA's House (SADA stands for Sisters Against Domestic Abuse) and founder of Sister2Sister Connection, an after-school program. "I saw then it was a perpetual, vicious cycle."
    As they became adults, Katrina saw her sister fall into the same pattern. As their mother took their father back time after time, so Michelle took her husband back even after he abused her. Eventually, her father stopped drinking and abusing, but the scars on his children would last for years.
    "I remember this, it shakes me to this day," Katrina said. "Children learn from what they see. How can you learn how to love someone if you're never taught that as a child?"
    She admits she found it difficult to trust men and had a fear of commitment. But watching her sister endure physical abuse was even more difficult. But Michelle did try to take back her life.
    In March 2003, Michelle was part of a women's empowerment group, even though the abuse continued. After spending a terrifying night with her estranged husband on April 14, Michelle filed for an order of protection.
    On May 18, the women's group met for Sunday dinner and everyone talked about the things they were grateful for. Michelle said she had left her husband, and couldn't wait to get a divorce.
    "She looked better," Katrina recalled. "She had started getting her hair done, she lost weight."
    Two days later, Michelle was gone.
   "The worst pain I ever experienced was to lose her," Katrina said.
    As grief took its toll, she was given an ultimatum: step up the pace at work or leave. "So I wrote out my notice, went home and I sat on my porch...That summer, I wrote the stories. It just came to me. G-d gave me the words."
    That summer, she wrote about a little girl named Maya, whose father abused her mother. "I wanted to create a character for kids to let them know you're not the only one going through that," Katrina explained, adding children typically are silent about abuse and feel isolated, alone.
    Through the book series, children meet Maya, who struggles to understand the abuse in her home and then has to adjust when she and her mother move to a new home. The first book, Daddy, Why Do You Hurt Mommy?, and the second is Our New Apartment. A third book is being released this month. All three are available through www.amazon.com
    In addition to the books, Katrina is planning a series of relationship workshops in January and will hold other events to call attention to the issue of domestic violence.
    "We can put pink ribbons everywhere, but domestic violence awareness month doesn't get as much publicity," she said. "No one wants to take accountability for it, and it kills women every day.
    "I want to take accountability. I think this needs to be talked about."