One Love Foundation speaks about preventing intimate partner violence after CCBC graduate murder

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Maryland – Andrea Rodriguez Avila was on her way to success.

Avila graduated from Perry Hall High School in 2021 and was heavily involved in student organizations at the Community College of Baltimore County before graduating in 2023.

According to a Rice spokesperson, she transferred to Rice University in the spring of 2024, where she was a member of the honors council and academic advisor. Police say that's where she died. Police believe a man, whose name was not released as of Tuesday, shot Avila and then turned the gun on himself.

For the One Love Foundation, a Maryland-based intimate partner violence prevention organization that works to educate young people about healthy relationships, the news is all too familiar.

“It takes me back to May 3, 2010,” Julie Myers, the foundation's executive director, told WMAR-2 News' Jack Watson. “It takes me back to the day we found out Yeardley had been beaten and left for dead by her ex-boyfriend.”

Myers was Yeardley Love's college lacrosse coach. Love, a Baltimore native, was beaten to death in 2010 while attending the University of Virginia. Her former partner was sentenced to 23 years in prison for murder.

Today, the One Love Foundation, founded in Yeardley's honor, works in schools to teach the next generation about healthy partnerships.

“It really educates our youth, our 11 to 24 year olds. It really helps them understand what a healthy relationship and an unhealthy relationship look like. It also really helps them identify the behaviors that go along with healthy and unhealthy behavior.”

According to police, a note found at the scene of Avila's murder on Monday indicated a troubled romantic relationship.

“By and large, a lot of it was about their relationship. And obviously their relationship was problematic at the time,” Clemente Rodriguez, the police chief at Rice University in Houston, told reporters.

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Myers and the foundation are working toward a future without domestic violence. They list ten signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships with young people.

Healthy values ​​are easy to recognize: having fun, supporting each other, honesty, trust, equality.

“On the other hand, the negative behaviors would be the exact opposite,” Myers described. “It's the guilt. It's the belittling, it's the control, and it's the possessiveness and the inconsistency that can come from a relationship where things just got out of hand. They probably started out healthy and that's why they were able to keep going. But at some point, these unhealthy behaviors started to creep in.”

Myers said young people who believe they are being abused should talk to a trusted adult. They should communicate and share what is going on so their loved ones can be part of their support system.

“We just want to do everything we can to pass on our education and knowledge to help the people in your family and your community and help keep these children alive,” Myers added.

If you or someone you love is in an abusive relationship, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. In Maryland, the House of Ruth's 24-hour hotline is at 410-889-7884.