Early on the morning of July 30, 2011, Lisa Harnum called her mother in Toronto, Canada. Terrified, told her mom that she was preparing to leave her fiancé, Simon Gittany. Simon was an emotionally abusive man. Lisa whispered over the phone that if anything was to happen to her, her mother should contact Michelle Richmond, a life coach in whom Lisa had been confiding for the past three weeks. This was the last time Joan Harnum spoke to her daughter. Just over four hours later, Simon Gittany picked up Lisa and tossed her from the balcony of their 15th floor apartment. Simon Gittany had been monitoring Lisa’s emails and text messages for months before her death. Lisa had recently confided in her personal trainer, Lisa Brown, and Michelle Richmond. She told them that Simon had cut her off from her friends and was trying to control every aspect of her life. Simon’s threats during the couple’s frequent arguments included that he could have her deported, destroying her dream of a life in Australia. With the help of her personal trainer, Lisa had begun removing her possessions from the apartment. And Simon somehow found out.

Simon would claim that his unstable girlfriend had committed suicide. But criminal records revealed that he was a violent cocaine dealer who spent time in prison.  It also came to light that he was the target of a police investigation into his business dealings with two convicted meth dealers. Then a witness who came forward to say that he had seen Gittany drop Lisa. Today, in Fallen, we are covering a case of domestic violence which ended in murder. Each time we talk about a case like this, we have to consider how the murder, which might have been predicted, could have been prevented.