Malik Wilkerson seemed the answer to her problems. A close friend, Nicole Irving, recalled that Ms. Outerbridge had met him at a party over three years ago, and confided that she had an abusive boyfriend whom she was afraid to leave. Mr. Wilkerson confronted the boyfriend and scared him off, Ms. Irving said. Shortly after, Mr. Wilkerson, who was known as Bishop, moved into Ms. Outerbridge’s small Harlem apartment.

So did his wife.

Known as Phoenix, Ms. Wilkerson had long dreadlocks and gaunt features behind wire-rimmed spectacles; they were a sharp contrast to Ms. Outerbridge’s round face, full lips and glossy hair. The two women appeared close: Ms. Outerbridge’s Facebook page is packed with photos of their exploits. There were visits to meet the celebrity chef Bobby Flay at Bobby’s Burger Palace in Garden City, N.Y., where Ms. Wilkerson worked; and trips to Rockaway Beach. There they snapped a self-portrait, Mr. Wilkerson between them.

Ms. Outerbridge was plain about her new lifestyle, once bringing the man she called the Don to a family cookout. When the Wilkersons moved back to the two-family vinyl-sided house owned by their relatives in South Jamaica, Queens, their new girlfriend came with them. She had her own room in the untidy two-bedroom apartment. On a recent visit, Ms. Irving, 40, of Queens, chatted on the couch with her friend and Mr. Wilkerson, while his wife applied a fresh coat of ecru paint on the living room walls with a rolling brush.

As frank as Ms. Outerbridge was about her three-way relationship, she tried to keep its brutal reality to herself, but that became increasingly difficult. She would return to her Harlem apartment with black eyes, a split lip, “a small map of Texas on her cheek, like somebody took the cigarette and dragged it up her face,” Ms. Irving said.

Last month, Ms. Outerbridge told another friend, Tasheka Neal, 31, that Mr. Wilkerson had broken her jaw. She suggested that the love triangle was lopsided — she indicated to her friends that her true relationship was with the man, and that his wife simply capitulated to his will.

Her forays to Harlem and her pet cat there never lasted long. “When she would come home, they would come and show up and knock on her door,” said Ms. Irving, referring to the Wilkersons. They would order Ms. Outerbridge back to Queens.