Love, Power, and Homicide: When Intimate Partner Violence Turns Fatal
Webinar Session
October 1, 2026, from 9:00 am–10:30 am
The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the webinar, “Love, Power, and Homicide: When Intimate Partner Violence Turns Fatal."
Session Description:
This course examines the deadly progression of intimate partner violence (IPV), highlighting how coercion, control, and escalation can lead to intimate partner homicide (IPH). Using case studies and experiential investigative analysis, students will identify warning signs, assess risk factors, and explore best practices for investigating potential IPH. The course emphasizes the role of power and control in abusive relationships and evaluates systemic responses that may either prevent or contribute to fatal outcomes. Students will also learn to communicate with surviving family members and next of kin using trauma-informed, compassionate approaches.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize warning signs of escalating IPV that can lead to homicide.
2. Understand how strangulation, prior calls, and threats correlate with lethal outcomes.
3. Explore best practices in death investigation of suspected IPH casework.
4. Apply trauma-informed next-of-kin and family interactions in IPH cases.
Participant Registration and Cost:
This training series is free. Participants need to register in advance for the training. Please visit here to register.
Presenter:
Dr. Tyler Counsil brings two decades of experience across the public and private laboratory sector, having served as a Microbiologist, DNA Specialist, Quality Assurance/Quality Control Manager, and Forensic Scientist throughout his career. His most recent laboratory role was as a Forensic Scientist with the Indiana State Police Laboratory Division, where his training spanned DNA and body fluid analysis, drug analysis, questioned document examination, firearms, fingerprinting, photography, trace evidence, crime scene investigation, and child forensic interviewing.
Dr. Counsil has advanced expertise in medicolegal death investigation, currently serving as the elected Coroner of Daviess County, Indiana, where he applies his skills in multidisciplinary team management, scene processing, evidence collection, and trauma-informed death investigation. He serves as the lead training liaison for the Indiana Department of Health and the Indiana State Coroners Association for child death investigations, providing mandatory training on the subject to Coroners and Deputy Coroners across the state. Dr. Counsil also holds the Diplomate designation from the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (D-ABMDI), a credential the National Institute of Justice recognizes as the Gold Standard in death investigation. Of the approximately 10,000 active death investigation professionals in the United States, fewer than 30% hold any national credential — and fewer than 10 investigators across all of Indiana’s 92 counties have achieved Diplomate status — placing Dr. Counsil among the most rigorously vetted death investigation experts in both the state and the nation.
Beyond his forensic work, Dr. Counsil has spent over a decade in higher education as an Associate Professor and Departmental Chair for Child Advocacy Studies (CAST), Criminal Justice, and Forensic Science programs. He brings deep expertise in program assessment and accreditation for both traditional and non-traditional curricula, and continues his scholarly contributions as a manuscript reviewer and editorial board member for peer-reviewed publications. As both an educator and first responder, he understands the critical need for experiential training that prepares child-serving professionals to identify and respond to all forms of child maltreatment.
As Director of CAST and overseer of Zero Abuse Project’s Indiana field office, Dr. Counsil is dedicated to leveraging his experience as a scientist, investigator, and educator to advance child advocacy, strengthen academic programming, and drive research in the field.
For questions, please contact Tricia Everetts, DCJS Victims Services Training and Communication Coordinator, at tricia.everetts@dcjs.virginia.gov.