Slain Lake Forest Navy Dentist Made Anti-Domestic Violence Video

LAKE FOREST, IL — The woman fatally shot in downtown Lake Forest last week appeared in an anti-sexual violence video nearly two years ago.

Navy Lt. Claire VanLandingham, 27, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend before 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 3, investigators believe.

While studying dentistry at the University of Louisville, she appeared in a video to raise awareness about domestic abuse, sexual assault and violence from intimate partners.

"One in every three women has experienced partner violence," she said in the video. "In a society so violent, have you ever been afraid to walk alone at night?"

The video was produced by the school's chapter of the American Association for Women Dentists as a coalition of on-campus groups backing a March 2016 Take Back the Night rally in Louisville.

VanLandingham was president of the group and graduated last year before taking a job at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center and moving to Lake Forest.

VanLandingham lived in an apartment above the downtown parking lot on Western Avenue where she was found shot multiple times. Authorities believe a man she dated until last year murdered her before killing himself.

“We seek to create healthier relationships and safe communities,” she said in the video, inviting people to the rally to “rise up as a community and say that violence against anyone is unacceptable.”

The Terre Haute, Indiana native joined the Navy and moved to Louisville after graduating Indiana University in Bloomington.

VanLandingham was deeply involved in community and charity work, friends told the Chicago Tribune.

In addition to her role with student dentistry groups, she was the secretary and taught classes at the First Unitarian Church of Louisville, provided dental care for low-income people at a local medical clinic and traveled to volunteer her dental skills in developing countries.

VanLandingham provided dental care to new sailors at nearby Naval Station Great Lakes and also spent time at the Navy's officer training command in Newport, Rhode Island, the Tribune reported. She hoped to one day open and operate a non-profit dental clinic.

“She did such a wonderful job of showing how one ordinary person can make such a huge difference in the world, if they choose to do that,” a First Unitarian staff member told the Tribune. “I really think she set an example for them.”

Watch: Claire VanLandingham in a 2016 video produced by the University of Louisville chapter of the American Association of Women Dentists

_{Top photo Claire VanLandingham via Youtube}