A Cincinnati 911 dispatcher, the daughter of a retired policeman, tried to protect herself with a special domestic-violence panic alarm. That alarm went off about 11:40 a.m. Monday, alerting the monitoring company that something was wrong inside Sara Ridder's apartment in Westwood.

        When an employee called to check, he spoke to a 5-year-old girl who said she couldn't wake up her mommy.

        Police officers and firefighters responded, finding the 24-year-old mother dead on the floor of her dining room. Authorities described head injuries, but did not disclose cause of death.

        “There's not a dry eye in the house upstairs right now,” said Lt. Col. Cindy Combs, referring to the communications center at police headquarters, where Ms. Ridder worked third shift. “There are a lot of very emotional people right now. This is hard for them.”

        Ms. Ridder was the second homicide victim in the city Monday. A 20-year-old man, LaBrian Westmoreland, was shot to death in a Walnut Hills bar about 12:45 a.m. Monday.

        Ms. Ridder is the daughter of former Fraternal Order of Police President Pete Ridder, who retired last summer.

        Police did not immediately say who, if anyone, they suspected. But Monday was the same day a domestic violence and burglary case against the father of Ms. Ridder's children - William David Boyles, 26, of Price Hill - had been scheduled to go to court.

        He was ordered March 18 to stay away from her and her Ferguson Road apartment after she reported that he punched her in the face and threatened her with a knife.

        He was indicted three weeks ago on one count of domestic violence and two counts of burglary.

        The employee at the monitoring company, based in Denver, said the alarm “indicates that a protective order has been violated.” He named Mr. Boyles as the “possible offender.”

        The 911 operator responded: “R-i-d-d-e-r? She works here,” according to emergency tapes of the call.

        Cincinnati detectives and evidence technicians spent hours at the Ferguson Road scene Monday. Capt. Vince Demasi, commander of the criminal investigations section, said at the scene the death was considered very suspicious.

        Ms. Ridder worked for Cincinnati police since September 1999. She had been promoted from call-taker to dispatcher, but recently asked for a demotion because of the stress of some personal issues, Lt. Col. Combs said.

        “She was always very pleasant, always did a good job,” Lt. Col. Combs said.

        Dispatch supervisors called employees to tell them about the death, she said, and a police psychologist and chaplain visited the communications center Monday to help Ms. Ridder's colleagues.

        In the other Monday homicide, LaBrian Westmoreland was sitting at the bar in the King of Clubs on Gilbert Avenue in Walnut Hills, police said, when a man came in and shot him multiple times at about 12:45 a.m.

        He was taken to University Hospital, where he died about a half hour later, police said.

        The shooter is described as a thin black man, 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and a dark mask. A vehicle possibly involved was described as a gold sport utility vehicle, possibly a Ford.

        Mr. Westmoreland and Ms. Ridder were the 18th and 19th victims of homicide in Cincinnati so far this year. That compares with 14 as of the same time in 2001, when 61 victims was a 14-year record high.

        Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 352-3040. Tipsters are eligible for up to $1,000 in rewards.

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