The thing that’s really fucking me up about this is that *he’s now part of her Valentine’s Day trauma*. Not only is it a tragic anniversary, it’s now also the day her ex turned abusive and broke something of irreplaceable value. She has to think of him every year now, too.
The fact that her goodbye note to him, which he included in his final post, mentions that she'd gotten rid of all the photos of her first husband because douchebag didn't like having them in the house would seem to indicate that yeah, he was escalating for a while.