As Christmas approached in 2005, Danielle LeBlanc told relatives and friends that she was ending her relationship with her abusive boyfriend. They tried to talk her out of doing it in person, but she insisted she could handle it.
A few days later, LeBlanc, 22, was found strangled to death in the bedroom of the southwest Arlington apartment that she shared with Don Wayne Moody. Her 2-year-old daughter was soiled and appeared to have been left to fend for herself.
Within a week, Moody, 26, the suspect in the case, had killed himself in a Laredo motel room before police could capture him.
Channeling their grief into a determination to help other families avoid similar anguish, LeBlanc's siblings organized a memorial concert the following spring to raise money for domestic violence programs. Now in its seventh year, the Danielle LeBlanc Memorial Benefit Concert for Battered Women and Children will be from 5 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday at J. Gilligan's Bar and Grill in Arlington. Admission is $10.
Some of the bands set to play on stages indoors and outdoors are Egress, Rhymin and Stealin, Idol Job and Sally Majestic.
J. Gilligan's owner Randy Ford said last year that he hoped the concert becomes a tradition at his establishment. "It's a win-win for everybody," he said. "It's a tragic story, but what a wonderful way to make things better."
Brenda Jackson, executive director of I Can Still Shine, a domestic violence program in Grapevine, wrote in a letter that in 16 years she's never found a family more committed to ending domestic violence.
"For myself and my ministry, literally hundreds upon hundreds of moms and kids have been helped by their donations and support," Jackson wrote.
