She needs to file a police report period (It is against the law to abuse your spouse). After she does that she needs to file for a restraining order (which she can get if she has a police report. Hell some times you can get one without a police report.). Then she needs to file for custody of her children and check into a womans shelter. As a matter of fact when she applies for a restraining order she can also apply for custody of her children.
I hate to sound mean and be the odd ball but it sounds like she isn't ready to leave her abuser (just yet). She has too many excuses, him and his family having money, she can't take the kids, the police telling her to not file a police report, etc.....
When she is ready to leave him she will leave (believe me).
I am a survivor of domestic violence and left with not one damn person backing me up. I have/had no friends and no family with two kids on my hip leaving a very violent husband.
My advice to you is to give her some information to women shelters and the domestic violence hotline number. Tell her to have an emergency plan and to have copies of her children birth certificates and SSC. Leave the rest up to her, you cannot save her, she is grown when she is ready to leave she will. It takes a few times for a woman to leave her abuser before she is ready to leave for good. So don't be surprise if she does leave and goes back.
Oh about crossing state lines, I crossed state line with my babies and still have them. *shrugs*
And we were in a custody dispute.
ETA: Sorry for my english being bad.
