By Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press Columnist

Why did it take a football scandal to make us pay attention? And are we paying attention?

In Wayne County, the number of homicides resulting from domestic violence nearly tripled this year.

Last June, Kevin Pickett beat and choked the woman he lived with in Detroit, then dragged her to the basement, where he tied her hands and feet with an electrical cord and duct-taped her mouth. When he tried to rape her, his victim got free, stabbed him and ran to a neighbor's house for help. Pickett pleaded guilty and will serve nine to 20 years in prison. His victim will serve a lifetime reliving those moments when she thought she would be raped and killed.

Forget the problems of former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice and the NFL for a moment. We've got a problem in our own backyard.

In Wayne County, where Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and her staff review 6,000 to 8,000 domestic violence warrants every year, the number of homicides resulting from domestic violence has nearly tripled, from eight last year to 21 so far this year.

In Oakland County, which prosecuted hundreds of cases in the last three years, prosecutors pressed charges in seven domestic homicides in 2013 and four through the first six months of this year. Like in Wayne County, prosecutors in Oakland say they are seeing more vicious assaults.

Worthy said she's seen nothing like it in her 10 years in office. She said she has been stunned by the number of deaths and the heinous nature of some assaults. She said she asked colleagues from other cities across the nation — where one in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in her life, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence — and those colleagues have been "horrified at the number of homicides we've seen this year …"

"It's not like the economy went into free fall this year," she said. "That's why we're all scared about this."

Worthy said that only increased resources, intervention and a look at the anger behind the crimes will help.

"We need at least two more assistant prosecutors to handle domestic violence homicides and the more violent felonies cases that are coming to our office," she said. "We also need to have a comprehensive study done, similar to what was done in the rape kit project. It is becoming increasingly important to study why the level of violence is escalating at this time in order to address this growing problem."

Paul Walton, Oakland County's chief assistant prosecutor, said his county plans to try to stem the tide by actively pursuing offenders on first, and even minor, charges.

"They aggressively pursue misdemeanor cases so a slap today could stop a homicide tomorrow," Walton said. "They try to hold the culprits accountable at an early stage. Misdemeanor cases are taken very seriously. … By pursuing the misdemeanors, we get the offender under the jurisdiction of the court to prevent something worse."

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said her special victims team has been overwhelmed.

"As someone who's been in this for 40 years, I can tell you it crosses all economic, cultural, social, political lines," she said. "It crosses everything. It happens everywhere and we see it getting worse. It's very prevalent and it's gone on for decades."

Oakland County sponsors an annual ceremony honoring those who stand up to domestic violence, both in law enforcement and victims. At this year's ceremony, Anita Posey told the audience about her experience with a violent husband.

"I was born and raised in the city of Detroit, and I graduated from Cass Tech," she said. "Around 1984-85, I got tired of the violence. I met a man. He courted me. He made me feel like a queen."

The family moved to Lansing, where she said "the air was sweeter, the grass was greener, even the water tasted better."

It lasted a year.

"Once he finally saw that I was there, that he had me, then it started.

"At 130 pounds and size 6, I was no match for his 235 (pounds), size 44 jacket," she said of the regular beatings. "One night after seven years of physical, mental and sexual abuse, I felt I was in a kill-or-be-killed situation and I wasn't ready to die. That night, I ended his life. Afraid of what his family would do to me — his son was a drug dealer — I made a horrible decision, another horrible decision. I got a friend to help me carry his body to Detroit."

Her friend later got into trouble with the police, she said, and traded information about the murder for leniency. Posey went to prison and served 15 years for second-degree murder. Now she speaks to women to help them before they get to the place she did.

If that's life in our backyard, why did it take a football scandal to make us pay attention? And are we paying attention?

Kalyn Risker hopes so.

She is an abuse survivor who, after her ordeal, founded Sisters Acquiring Financial Empowerment (SAFE). She said that some women stay with violent partners because of economic need, which continues even when they leave.

It's time to stop talking about the NFL and start talking about what's happening at home, she said.

"It's a huge conversation," she said. "It's a national conversation. Now I think it needs to shift."

The Rice case "is the entry point to get people talking about an issue that they previously weren't interested in talking about," said Risker, who was nearly killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1998.

Yes, we need to shift from the gridiron into the bungalows and trailers and apartments and mansions of America, where women are being beaten and damaged regularly. There is an opportunity in the Ray Rice tragedy, a chance to turn it into something helpful for the thousands of victims that could include people we know.

Worthy, the Wayne County prosecutor, said we need more than a conversation. We need intervention — and fast.

"We don't see it getting better," she said. "We see it getting worse."