In January 1989,[6] her father, a decorated Chicago Police violent crimes investigator,[7] murdered his wife, her mother, Roberta, using his service weapon, a .44 magnum.

[8] Murphy-Milano, who discovered her parents' bodies, vowed to change the way intimate partner crimes and homicides were handled and investigated.

[10][11] A women's advocate, she lobbied for the passage of 1993's Illinois Stalking Law[12] and the Lautenberg Amendment of 1996, a domestic violence offender gun ban.

Author and former prosecutor Robin Sax, in a review for Psychology Today, wrote about the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit included in the book.

She was a contributing writer for Women in Crime Ink, which the Wall Street Journal called "a blog worth reading.