Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in the Rockbridge Report on Oct. 3.

The Lexington Police Department named a veteran officer to lead investigations into a growing number of domestic abuse and sexual assault crimes in Rockbridge County.

Sgt. Jessica Burks, who has been with the department since 2011, will work with Project Horizon and the Lexington Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to help victims of such crimes.

The new position, funded by a $200,000 state grant, was needed after the reported number of domestic abuse cases in Rockbridge County spiked to 34 in 2023, up from four the year before. The number of sexual assault cases also doubled from three cases in 2022 to six cases in 2023, with most reports coming from Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute.

The bulk of domestic abuse reports in Rockbridge County come from repeat offenders, said Lexington Police Department Chief Angela Greene. Those cases often lead to more serious crimes such as aggravated assault.

“One of my motivations for taking this job was that in 2017 we had a domestic violence case that resulted in the murder of the victim, and that really struck a chord with me,” Burks said.

Since 2017, there have been four murders stemming from domestic violence.

“It’s a terrible trend that we have seen here in Rockbridge County, but for all 4 cases we made convictions, and lengthy sentences were given to those aggressors,” said Lexington Commonwealth’s Attorney Jared Moon.

Many assaults go unreported by the victims. “An issue that we deal with is fear of report because of the controlling nature of the aggressor and fear of retaliation,” Burks said.

That fear also makes these crimes tougher to prosecute.

“In the vast majority of cases, we will still proceed to trial, but it is most likely that the victim won’t cooperate, so the court will dismiss the charges against the offender,” Moon said.

“We hope that the trend will be to have greater punishments as time goes on,” said Moon.

The detective will also determine the level of risk of future violence, then refer the victim to Project Horizon, a Lexington agency that helps victims who need shelter, counseling or emotional support.

“I think having the detective will help us to do better risk assessment. One of the things that you can look at is when someone is at greater risk of being murdered,” said Project Horizon’s Executive Director Judy Casteele.