We're sorry the system failed you. You did everything in your power to keep Jonathan Rowan away from you — you got out of the violent relationship, you stayed home from work, you filed the right paperwork and you passed out flyers so everyone would know about your situation. You should have been safe.

But the system failed you, and as a result an innocent life has been lost.

That restraining order was supposed to carry enough weight so that you should have been able to live a life without constant fear. But as the rest of us now know, that wasn't the case.

When a person is out of control to begin with, an 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheet of paper isn't enough to keep them away. You knew he was out to kill you, but everyone else just hoped he would disappear. Why didn't anybody listen?

You're not alone. There are too many people in your situation whose cases are treated with similar disregard. Some cases are even mocked or brushed off as typical relationship quarrels that will fix themselves over time. But this was so much more. It consumed and ended your life.

The UW Police Department Assistant Police Chief Ray Wittmier acknowledged this after your death when he noted that this type of threat situation is not uncommon on campus.

With threats being so common, it's hard to know which ones to take seriously. Unfortunately, this is a deadly gamble to take.

You should have been able to do something to keep him away, but there weren't any other options. You had no way out.

"There's only so much a piece of paper can do," said King County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Bradshaw in a Seattle Times article that ran after you were killed. "Too often it ends up blood-spattered."

Hopefully, your death was not in vain.

Hopefully, the many others living in fear like you can someday have a system that doesn't fail them.

Hopefully, next time a person's life is in danger, the threat will be taken seriously.

We're sorry, and we won't forget you.