I created a YouTube video tribute for women I was able to find who were victims of intimate partner homicide. You can watch it HERE. But the video only had room for the woman's picture, her name, and her age when she died (if I was able to find it). I didn't feel like that did them much justice, so I'm creating this blog post so that you are able to learn more about the women in that video.
Rebecca Hoover, 38
- Judson Hoover (50) was previously charged in April with strangulation and domestic battery committed in the presence of a child, according to court records. That case remains active.
- Her body was hidden in a storage unit, found a month after she died, because one of the couple’s children reported to school officials seeing him kill their mother in the basement of their home, The Associated Press reported. The boy reported seeing his father stomp on his mother multiple times and stab her with a set of keys, WAVE reported.
- According to police, Rebecca’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and torso.
Melissa Banda, 37
- Nearly six months ago she reported that her soon-to-be ex-husband had forced his way into her house, covered her mouth and nose so she couldn’t breathe and threatened her and her children
- Melissa said that after that assault, he told her not to tell anyone for the kids’ sake and then he picked up their kids from school, so she was afraid he would do something to them.
- She got a protection order against him. Which he violated at least once.
- August 6th, he kidnapped Melissa in broad daylight, in front of a witness. According to police, he slit her throat within an hour of abducting her. Her body was found the next day.
- That news article is an excellent reference source as it seems to list much of her petition for protection as well as some of the abuser’s spins on what happened.
Darionne Burley, 26 and unborn twin sons
- Shot in the head while in her car in a parking lot.
- Burley, 26, and Smith, 28, had been involved in an intermittent relationship since high school.
- They recently held a gender reveal party. Burley was due in October.
- “Smith said that in an argument [that day], Burley made him feel like less of a man and called him a junkie.”
- Smith tried to buy a gun and was denied during an FBI background check. So he went another route. Detectives interviewed the man who bought the gun they found that they believed was used to kill Darionne. He said he attended a gun show with Smith and bought the gun. Then he sold it to Smith later that day.
*Gionabeth Oladapo, 29
- Found dead inside a bedroom, Loma Linda, 10:50 am, July 20, 2020
- Killed by her husband, David Oladapo. He is being held without bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga
JANICE HOLLAND, 82, Sept. 11, 2020
- Her husband, GEORGE HOLLAND, 89, shot her several times.
- Motive hasn’t been established, but police spokesman said the couple had health issues.
Connie Lynette Simmons, 50
- Her body was found, nearly a week after she was killed, in the wooded area outside the home she shares with her husband
- Her husband is 32.
Emily Naomi (Harris) Escamilla
Pic. https://www.yakimaherald.com/obituaries/emily-naomi-harris-escamilla/article_c45c4832-415f-11ea-aa34-afe8df431acc.html
- Emily was strangled to death in her home.
- Her husband and suspected killer, Daniel Escamilla, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- Mother of a 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter.
- Teacher and coach.
- She’s described as a very loving, caring person.
Syeda Sohaly Akter
- Syeda called the police after an argument with her husband Abul Ahsan Habib, 52, whom she wanted to leave. By the time police arrived, he was gone. Officers reportedly arrived on the scene at 9:26am and gave Akter and her adult son information on how to get a protection order. They left 10-15 minutes after arriving. Habib returned and Akter called the police again at about 9:51am. They heard the gunshots while on the phone.
- The police reportedly believed that Habib entered the home after the adult son left the house to run an errand, shot his wife, and then himself.
- They have two sons who are 21 and 26-years-old.
- Akter was a beautician
- She reportedly called the police about their fights several times in the past.
- Abul reportedly had cancer and mental health issues.
Shawntae Lynn Brown, 34
- Investigators believe Shawntae Brown was killed by her 34-year-old husband, Joshua Brown.
- They had three children, aged 7, 14 and 15 years old. According to the news article, the children called 911 to report their mother’s death. Even worse, they were home when he killed her and he told them to clean up the mess her blood had made.
- one of the children told police that they watched their father beat their mother with a handgun, a belt, a shoe and a flagpole.
- investigators found large amounts of blood throughout the house, holes kicked or punched in the wall and a gun that was used to beat Shawntae so severely that parts of it were shattered.
- Police say Shawntae’s body was covered in bruises and cuts consistent with a severe beating.
Barbara Tommey
- shot and killed outside of her place of work
- She reportedly left him and filed for divorce three months before. That’s believed to be the reason he shot her.
- He is the founder of Floodgates of Heaven Int’l Ministries located in Orlando, FL, where he was labeled a prophet and pastor.
Kimberly Baker
- Shot in the head at home.
- Children were home at the time. They were reportedly unharmed and did not see him shoot her.
- Kimberly was an aesthetician.
- He confessed and surrendered.
Lai, 51
- was reported missing for 18 days
- killed by her husband who initially reported her missing
- He killed her and then dismembered her and threw her body parts in the community's septic tank, police in Hangzhou of East China's Zhejiang Province said at a press conference
- He did eventually confess to killing her over “family conflicts”
Kimberly Grace Halstead, 48
- Killed by her husband, Randy Halstead, 36.
- Through 911, they responded to a residence on Pearl Street to a report about unconscious female. They determined that a foul play was involved.
Ashley Koonce
- mother of three
- “According to family, she was trying to escape an abusive relationship with Dameon Tarrel Williams. On Friday, she took her three children and went to her mother’s home for safety.”
- He followed her there and shot her to death in her mother’s front yard.
- The 29 year old turned himself in to authorities
Hanin al-Abeid
- Police were aware that her brother and ex-husband had previous instances of domestic violence against her
- She was shot in the head, in her home
Rachel Thibault
- Killed with a sword.
- Husband Mark William Thibault, 53, confessed to killing her
- He reportedly told a relative that what started as a verbal fight, escalated to the extent that he “struck the victim’s head against a bathtub and stabbed her with a sword.”
Kaitlin Nichole Roberts
- Mother of three
- Her body was found in an industrial area
- “A lifelong friend of Roberts told News 4 that she had been trying to get away from her ex-husband, Lemuel Roberts.(31 y/o)
DONNA SELLER, 58
- Donna Seller and Lester B. Collins (59) planned to be married in March, but postponed it until May because of COVID-19.
- According to Donna's friend, Collins became possessive and started isolating Donna from her friends
- On August 6, Collins was charged with a second-degree assault and false imprisonment. They described it as a domestic assault involving knife. Police reported that Donna had three abrasions on her back, consistent with a knifepoint. She also had a laceration on her arm. He was released on bail.
- “Anyone want to be my bodyguard?” read a post on Donna’s Facebook page Aug. 7th. “It looks like I’m going to need some help! Today I’m lucky to be alive!” the article reported.
- Donna got a protection order after the Aug. 6th assault.
- She filed for divorce on Aug. 17.
- She attended a therapy group and was looking to move.
- On Aug. 18th, Collins shot and killed her outside their home as she was trying to go to work. He then shot himself.
Lourdes Keymolen, 23
- Her boyfriend ran her over in domestic "dispute" and authorities said that Lurdes died from blunt force trauma throughout much of her body. Her pelvis was shattered and multiple ribs fractured, causing massive internal bleeding in her lungs.
- In addition, Lurdes’ jaw was broken, one of her eyes was blackened, and there were signs of trauma across much of her face and head.
- Cordonte Walker, 23, was arrested on a domestic violence first-degree murder charge. Court documents allege that after Walker ran her over with his car, he then drug her lifeless body to his car, unconcerned about the witness who had the defendant at gunpoint in an attempt to keep him from leaving the scene.
- Walker allegedly told police he had planned to drive keymolen to a hospital, but pulled into a parking lot to try to revive her. He allegedly said that, in an attempt to wake her up, he slapped her in the face, bit her cheek, and punched her.
- The Seattle Times said that, Walker was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. He was prohibited form possessing a gun because of a domestic-violence protection order issued in 2019 to protect a previous girlfriend.
- Keymolen is a mother of 2-year-old daughter
Bria Renon Kelsey, 23
- Kameron L. Holmes, 24, was arrested and charged for her murder. He shot Bria in a car next to their 3-year-old son.
- He told police that the bullet that hit Bria head, as she sat next to their child, came from a man driving past in a black car, police said.
- Kelsey and Holmes were no longer together but Holmes was trying to win her back.
- They were driving when they began arguing. Holmes was in the front seat, Kelsey and their 3-year-old son were in the back seat, when he pulled over and shot her.
Vickie Edge, 59
- "Vickie’s loved ones say she was a loving mother, friend and business owner who was always helping those in need."
- Vickie and her boyfriend, Jerry Odum, 61, were only together for several months. They were planning to get married.
- She went to visit him. Her loved ones became concerned when she stopped responding to their communications so they called in a welfare check.
- When police responded, they discovered that Vickie had been dead for at least two days inside of Odum's house. He had beat her to death with a baseball bat.
- “This is probably one of the most heinous crimes, one of the bloodiest- it’s such a graphic type of case,” said Sergeant Rich Aloy with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. “This individual, no doubt, from our opinion investigating it is very cold-blooded.”
- Odum has been charged with first degree murder.
Gretchen Anthony, 51
- David Anthony, 48, had separated from Gretchen from February.
- Gretchen's friends suspected that she could be in trouble after getting odd text messages in late March, claiming she was being held with an “acute” case of COVID-19.
- Accused of killing his estranged wife and trying to cover up her disappearance by claiming she was on her deathbed from coronavirus, Anthony has been charged with a second-degree murder and kidnapping.
Tania Gonzalo, 48
- Daniel Arlequin, 35, was arrested in three past domestic violence cases involving his girlfriend, Tania Gonzalo.
- Tania had an active protection order against Arlequin when he allegedly strangled and brutalized her. Despite the protection order, Arlequin and Gonzalo shared an apartment, police said.
- Tania's body was found in the bedroom of their apartment.
April Lee Logan, 22
- April was murdered by (her article reported) "boyfriend" Matthew A. Coglio, 25, in a ‘domestic violence-related’ incident 6 days after her protection order expired.
- Neighbors told police they heard loud arguing and an angry male’s voice late Friday into Saturday morning.
- Tori Ramirez, Logan’s co-worker remembered her as “amazing, so funny, patient, never had a bad word to say about anyone,” while another person attending the vigil told WVEC: “ You would’ve never known anything was wrong."
- Coglio was charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling, the Newport News Police Department said in a statement.
Luzeia Mathis, 18
Picture. https://twitter.com/Luuuzeia/photo
- Luzeia’s family reported her missing on August 20. A month later, staff went to evict her for not paying rent. Management heard complaints of a strong odor from her apartment. It's reported that blood was everywhere inside of it.
- Police had arrested Jamal Jones, 28, in May for aggravated assault. He reportedly hit Luzeia in the face ten times with a handgun.
- Then in July, police say Jones and his brother pulled her out of the car and beat her. Luzeia's aunt Williams said that Luzeia had her second miscarriage due to that attack. Police reported that Jones then sent her a text that read, “I’ll kill you once I beat this case with you.”
- It took months of linking DNA evidence to Jones and tracking his car via GPS to arrest him for Luzeia's murder.
- Jamal Jones is accused of first-degree murder. Luzeia’s body is still missing.
*apparently I missed the date on this. It was 2019. None the less, she deserves to be remembered.*
Shawntale Lesure, 21
and
- Shawntale was shot in the head by her boyfriend, Dwayne Williams, 57 outside of their home. They argued. According to court records, she smashed his car windows during the fight. Williams went inside and grabbed a gun. He shot into the air as the two continued arguing, according to court records. He then shot Shawntale in the face. He got in his car and drove away, but Cleveland police arrested him about six hours later.
- Williams was arrested and charged with domestic violence against her in June of 2018. Sadly those charges were dropped because she did wasn't present for the trial, according to court records.
- “She was so joyful and full of life, everybody loved her. She will be missed dearly.”