Xbox Developer Killed In Murder-Suicide

Melissa Batten, an Xbox software engineer at Microsoft, was murdered by her estranged husband earlier in the week.

A Harvard-educated lawyer who previously worked as a public defender in Charlotte, N.C., Batten joined Microsoft in 2002 as a Software Development Engineer in Test. She had worked on both Halo 3 and Gears of War, and currently was working in support of Xbox 360 developer Rare.

According to a Seattle Times report, Batten had obtained a protection order against her estranged husband on July 21, reporting that he had called her more than 30 times over July 19 and 20 and also broken into her Microsoft workplace on July 16, where he was apprehended by security guards. But her greatest concern stemmed from his ownership of a handgun, which she discovered on June 5.

"The biggest incident which clouds all his subsequent behavior occurred on June 5. He had, unbeknownst to me, obtained a gun," she wrote in her request for a protection order. The couple were still living together at the time of the discovery, she said, which took place when she confronted him over an extramarital affair. Batten said that her husband "brandished the gun from the back waistband of his jeans and pointed it at me."

The order, which set numerous conditions limiting contact between Batten and her husband including that he not come within 100 yards of her, was granted, and she was staying with a friend in a Redmond apartment. Nonetheless, on July 29 her husband followed her into a parking lot while she was leaving for work, shot her several times and then shot himself in the head. Melissa Batten was 36 at the time of her death.

Source: Kotaku

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........................

Wow, that sucks...

Damn, R.I.P. Melissa.

Really not the place for it, but...

This is a perfect example of why the GPS ankle-bracelets that they use for violent-offender parolees also need to be used in instances of restraining orders when violence and stalking are involved.

Damn it! That's far too young to die, especially at the hands of someone who you once loved. Or like, so I assume.

Too soon. RIP.

Rest in Peace, Melissa.

Not enough women in the industry as it is, losing one like this is tragic.

Losing *anyone* like this is tragic.

Thais:
Really not the place for it, but...

This is a perfect example of why the GPS ankle-bracelets that they use for violent-offender parolees also need to be used in instances of restraining orders when violence and stalking are involved.

Damn right. Considering the harassment she went through, including the armed menace, it's incredible how much liberty he was granted. 100 meters, that's absurd. Unless you live with ten cops in your close life radius, this is not going to help if a person already menaced your life with a gun and stalks you. It's retarded.

That man should have been given that GPS fused bracelet and forced to live in another town.

Man, that just sucks. I feel really bad for her.

Another problem is that the media will probably associate this with video games destroying families or whatever.

Wow, such a pretty face to be lost to such avoidable violence

*sigh* When will the law take spousal abuse seriously, and realize a piece of paper isn't gonna do enough?

RIP. Such a shame. :(

When I was in Seattle, there were several cases of this sort of murder-suicide where men killed their wives and then themselves. There's a fair number of gun suicides there, too. Seattlites seen to loved their guns (and their wives) in the worst possible ways.

First time I've ever seen something like this as game news - you never really hear "game developer murdered" that often, last thing I remember anywhere near this is when Gygax died...I really don't know what to say except to just offer my condolences.

It's a shame she held out for so long and was taken down just leaving work :|

The right to bear arms? Who has the right not to be shot?

:(

The_root_of_all_evil:
The right to bear arms? Who has the right not to be shot?

:(

everybody. The 3 inalianable rights, *sighs* sadly, those are the rights that are most often denied.

I'm wondering, why was Aries banned for his post in this thread? I realize that someone died, and death is generally not very cool, but his post didn't seem offensive at all. Unless it got edited before I read it and it was something awful.

On-topic: It kinda sucks that a game developer was killed. One of those GPS thingies probably would have prevented this from happening. A plasma pistol might have, but I guess we don't really know exactly how the whole thing went down. It would definitely have that intimidation factor...

First off I don't think this is the place for this kind of story :( Her husband sounds like a real wife beating derranged fuckwit who would have benefited from a 100mph fist flying straight into his face by a guy bigger than himself... all people like this would, infact.

I'm a guy, but still this story is really disturbing to me because my parents went through a divorce after my dad started becoming a violent cocksniff, but what really pisses me off is that this is the sort of situation a lot of women (not just women) find themselfs in where the law can do nothing to protect you since they can't arrest a guy without evidence of any crimes dispite how much of an intimidating, manipulative lunatic they are. What could the poor woman have done other than flee her hometown, leave behind her friends and quit her job? She probably knew something like this was going to happen to her. Rest in peace, Melissa Batten. May her husband rot in hell.

Thais:
Really not the place for it, but...

This is a perfect example of why the GPS ankle-bracelets that they use for violent-offender parolees also need to be used in instances of restraining orders when violence and stalking are involved.

Seconded. It's reasons like this that I'm so paranoid about death sometimes. Just coming out of nowhere like that, so unexpected. Stories like this and the one where a couple was electricuted on a rainy day running for a bus because there was a power line down a few hundred yards away.

It really sucks when I'm excited and waiting for something and I keep worrying that I will die and not get to experience it. I hope that doesn't mean I'm insane. :$

vdgmprgrmr:
I'm wondering, why was Aries banned for his post in this thread? I realize that someone died, and death is generally not very cool, but his post didn't seem offensive at all.

I found his post very offensive actually, not only was he disrespectful over the fact that this poor woman died in a horrible, untimely way but he also showed utter ignorance to peoples beliefs and failed to make any sort of condolence.

Another example as to why guns should not be sold to idiots.

R.I.P

..............

he needs to pay......

death........is not enough.

leugim789:
death........is not enough.

He deserves Super Death Deluxe! We launch his corpse into orbit, then blow it up!

My sincerest apologies to her family.

I feel sorry for her. Sadly, this scenario is becoming far too common. You have to be famous for most people to feel anything, because it happens all the time.

It's sad that things like this happen but like Indigo said, people die all the time. It's nothing to get upset over.

Blayze:
Losing *anyone* like this is tragic.

Yes, true.

RIP ma'am, I barely knew thee.

RIP.

Such a shame.

Indigo_Dingo:
I bet games get blamed for this.

The death of anyone is a tragedy, but still, a part of me feels a measure of outrage. While we're reading this, at least 10 people worldwide were murdered, but are we mourning them? No.

By some indistinct link to videogames, she is somehow more worthy of our sympathy than any of the others who are killed in cold blood.

So what you're saying is that her death isn't important enough to comment on? For pity's sake, grow up.

Indigo_Dingo:
I bet games get blamed for this.

The death of anyone is a tragedy, but still, a part of me feels a measure of outrage. While we're reading this, at least 10 people worldwide were murdered, but are we mourning them? No.

By some indistinct link to videogames, she is somehow more worthy of our sympathy than any of the others who are killed in cold blood.

We should mourn everyone, but we don't - just like you. This probably isn't the right place for the sermon, and there's lots of places you can channel that outrage into action if you're really concerned about lessening the daily death toll.

This is a gaming website - some of the people here might have actually known her, or been one of her co-workers. So for them, yeah, it might be a little bit more important.

Indigo_Dingo:
By some indistinct link to videogames, she is somehow more worthy of our sympathy than any of the others who are killed in cold blood.

Very well, in order to restore the karmic balance I won't mourn when you choke to death after stuffing your foot in your mouth. Again.

You can't mourn deaths you don't hear about, and it's natural to lament losses more if they touch upon your life than if they do not. It may not be noble or admirable, but it is human.

My sympathies go out to her friends and family, if they're reading.

-- Steve

My condolences to her friends and family. It is tragic indeed.

It's a shame when anyone dies really...but then again, people die all the time so while we should show respect there is little point in getting caught up over it, particularly if (like me) you haven't heard of the person until you saw this thread.