New London — Safe Futures will hold its third annual vigil Wednesday to honor those who have lost their lives to domestic violence, with adjustments to the usual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executive Director Katherine Verano said it would be a hybrid event, with a small gathering at the agency's Jay Street headquarters at 6 p.m. to be streamed live on its Facebook page, at facebook.com/safefuturesct. 

Verano asked supporters to "light up social media" in southeastern Connecticut by lighting a candle and sharing it on their social media accounts, or by putting a purple bulb in their outdoor light and pausing to remember the victims and those they left behind.

"We can't forget all these people, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who have died," she said. 

The agency this year added Brandia Irvin of Pawcatuck, Jason Beck of Norwich and Joey Gingerella of Groton to a list of victims it has been compiling since 2013.

Irvine was fatally stabbed on Nov. 30, 2019, in front of her 12-year-old son, allegedly by her live-in boyfriend, Carlton Henderson. He is in prison awaiting trial on a murder charge.

Beck, 33, died after being stabbed by his longtime partner, Jeffery Stovall Jr. on Jan. 18, 2020. Stovall is incarcerated, and his case is pending in New London Superior Court.

Gingerella, 24, was intervening on behalf of a woman who was being beaten by her partner, Dante Hughes, when he was shot and killed by Hughes on Dec. 11, 2016. Hughes was convicted of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm and is serving a 45-year prison sentence.

Joe Parise, the brother of homicide victim Robert Parise, will speak at the small in-person ceremony at Safe Futures.

Robert Parise, 63, was stabbed repeatedly by his former partner and housemate, Christopher Petteway, on Oct. 4, 2018, police say. Petteway is incarcerated while awaiting trial.

The brief ceremony will only include Parise and a few staff members, Verano said, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The agency will have candles in its windows that evening in memory of all the victims.

The others remembered are Antonio Chajon, 39, of New London, who was fatally strangled by his roommate in 2013; Delma Murphy, 46, of New London, stabbed to death by her longtime partner in 2015; Diana Hodgdon, 58, of Norwich, fatally shot by her husband in 2015; Margarette Mady, 42, of Norwich, who was pregnant when, police say, her husband fatally stabbed her in 2016; and Corina Zukowski, 25, of Waterford, who was fatally stabbed in a motel room in 2018, allegedly by her boyfriend.

According to the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, seven Connecticut residents have died in 2020 as the result of intimate partner violence.

The potential for lethality has increased dramtically during the pandemic, according to figures released by the coalition. The number of victims assessed by Connecticut police and determined be at risk of being killed by their partner increased 92 percent, from 546 to 1,048, between September 2019 and September 2020.

According to the coalition, between 2000 and 2019, there were 281 intimate partner homicides, 86% of which involved female victims and 89% of which involved male offenders, according to the coalition. Approximately 29% of those cases were murder/suicides. Firearms were used in 39% of the cases, and knives in 33%.

To speak to a domestic violence advocate, call Safe Futures 24-hour support line at (860) 701-6001

k.florin@theday.com