A prosecutor said Cole Werhan, the man charged with murdering a Duxbury, Massachusetts woman inside a Connecticut home, has several open domestic violence cases.

Police say Werhan killed 26-year-old Janina Brooke Murphy inside the Burlington, Connecticut home where she was living. Murphy was found at the bottom of a staircase on March 29, but no charges were filed until Tuesday.

Werhan was arraigned Wednesday in Torrington Superior Court in Connecticut. The judge accepted the prosecution’s request to continue holding Werhan on $5 million bond.

Murphy and Werhan were dating, the woman’s mother said. Beth Murphy told WBZ-TV that a detective said her daughter had wounds “all over her” and police were investigating her death as suspicious.

“It’s just been the worst time of my life as you can imagine,” Beth Murphy said. “He killed my baby.”

In court Wednesday, the prosecutor said Werhan is an “extreme danger to the community.”

Werhan currently has four domestic violence cases with different victims in each, the prosecutor said.

On June 3, Werhan was arrested in one of those cases. He was able to post the $750,000 bail and was released with an electronic monitoring device. Werhan has not been convicted of any crimes.

One of the alleged victims told police in an interview that he hit her, strangler her, and threatened to kill her multiple times.

His defense attorney argued that the $5 million bond was “simply not affordable,” and asked instead for $1 million bond. The judge sided with the prosecution.

In arguing for lower bond, Werhan’s attorney argued that he has always appeared in court for each of his cases and should not be considered a flight risk.

Werhan is next due to appear in court on June 30.

Lindsay Bolduc was a close friend of Murphy’s. Bolduc said Werhan and Murphy met playing video games online, and later moved in together.

“Crazy to think about the pit in my stomach I had. I just knew something was wrong,” Bolduc said.

Bolduc said she doesn’t only want people to remember Murphy as a victim.

“I just want people to remember that Brooke was a person, you know? She was so much more than this. She wasn’t just a victim,” she said.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A new report is highlighting deep economic and racial disparities across Connecticut’s public school districts, ranking the state among the most segregated in the country.

The study by the nonprofit Brown’s Promise found Connecticut has some of the nation’s most pronounced divides — placing sixth worst for economic segregation and 11th for racial segregation.

Researchers measured economic segregation by the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

According to the report, some of the highest concentrations of low-income students are found in districts just miles from the state’s wealthiest communities.

“We provide this measure of how much is it happening between districts, like across those district lines, versus inside districts like what you would find in larger school districts,” said Stephen Owens, a researcher with Brown’s Promise.

The findings may seem surprising, as Connecticut and other Northeastern states show higher levels of segregation than some Southern states that once legally enforced it.

But Owens said those historic boundaries — and the way communities developed — continue to shape access to education today.

“If your schools were built out of like the lines of the towns, the municipality, then it means that the residential patterns, where people choose to live or where they grew up, end up being copied right onto the schools,” he said.

State and local leaders across the political spectrum have long acknowledged with variations of a phrase that has become alarmingly common.

“You are essentially going to attend the school where your ZIP code is,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said poverty plays a central role.

“It has nothing to do with the quality of education being provided. It has everything to do with poverty,” Elicker said.

Efforts to address the issue have long been debated at the state Capitol.

To varying degrees, Democrats have pushed for increased education funding, progressives often jousting with moderates about size and scale. Republicans tend to emphasize the charter school model. There is bipartisan agreement that the state’s current education aide system needs to be retooled.

Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged the challenge, saying the state must continue working toward improvement.

“You’ve got to try every day to do better,” the Democrat said.

The issue is expected to play a major role in Connecticut’s upcoming gubernatorial race, with the three candidates offering their own solutions.

If a bear is encountered, officials urge people to remain calm and avoid running.

Instead, speak in a calm voice, slowly back away while keeping the animal in sight, and make yourself appear larger by raising your arms or moving to higher ground.

If a bear continues to approach, DEEP recommends becoming more assertive by shouting, making loud noises, and throwing objects such as rocks or sticks.

While black bear attacks are rare, officials stress that people should never play dead during an attack.

“If attacked by a black bear, fight back vigorously,” DEEP advises. People should use any available object and focus defensive actions on the bear’s face and muzzle.