Jessie’s House will be a rural refuge for domestic violence

Jessica Martel was killed by her partner Jame Urbaniak in 2009 as she was attempting to flee her abusive relationship. In the years following her death, Martel’s mother Lynne Rosychuk established the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation (JMMF) and made it her dream to open a shelter in the community to help others in a similar situation as Martel.

Ten years after its namesake was killed by domestic violence, Jessie’s house will open in Morinville in early 2020 to address a gap of emergency shelters in rural communities outside Edmonton.

— With files from Dylan Short