A social studies teacher accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death was released Thursday on bond set at $200,000.

Dawn Kavanaugh allegedly killed Ronald Ketchum on Feb. 10 and had been behind bars since.

"I hope she's found not guilty, and she gets her job back," a mother told Eyewitness News just feet away from the Moorseville crime scene said. "All of this is put behind her and she gets to lead a normal life."

She did not want to be identified. Her daughter is Kavanaugh's neighbor. She believes Kavanaugh is innocent, and agrees with Kavanaugh's lawyer, that the former teacher of the year was acting in self-defense.

"I think she got done wrong," she said.

Ketchum had been arrested before on suspicion of robbery, larceny and DWI but not on domestic violence charges. Still, a neighbor told Eyewitness News that Kavanaugh appeared to have been beaten on the night of the stabbing.

"I think she got done very dirty, and it's not fair at all," she said.

Prosecutors paint an entirely different picture -- a premeditated and deliberate crime. They said the former Lakeshore Middle School teacher is a murderer. Another neighbor who just learned about the case is shocked.

"It kind of startled me when you first said that," Georgiana Durant said.

She believes in the court system.

"Justice will be served," Durant said. "People are just not to supposed to do those sort of things."

Eyewitness News stopped by Kavanaugh's home, but she wasn't there.

Channel 9 also reached out to Kavanaugh's attorney but did not immediately hear back from her. Kavenaugh faces life in prison if she's convicted of first-degree murder.