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Case archive

Domestic violence case archive and memorial story index

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Showing filtered results with warning sign "Escalating violence".

Warning Signs Index

Browse published stories by specific warning signs, including stalking, prior threats, protection orders, and escalating violence.

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Alicia Stilley Memorial case
Palmyra, New Jersey • 2022-04-18

Alicia Stilley

Sentenced girlfriend

On April 18, 2022, 28-year-old Alicia Stilley of Cinnaminson, New Jersey, was shot and killed at the Hot Wet & Wax self-service car wash in Palmyra, New Jersey. Responding officers found her bleeding and unconscious on the ground next to her car; she was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to her chest. Her ex-boyfriend, 32-year-old Antonio Burke of Palmyra, fled the state and was arrested one week later during a traffic stop in Dallas, Texas. Investigators uncovered a prior history of domestic violence between the couple, including allegations that Burke had previously threatened Stilley with a firearm. While Burke initially claimed the shooting was an accident that occurred when he tried to wrest the gun from Stilley's hands, he ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. On October 10, 2025, Burke was sentenced in Mercer County Superior Court to 21 years in New Jersey state prison.

Warning signs: Escalating violence, Firearm access

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Ashanti Allen Ongoing case
Houston, Texas • 2026-04-16

Ashanti Allen

Charges Filed girlfriend

Ashanti Allen, a 23-year-old Houston woman who was eight months pregnant with her first child, disappeared on April 10, 2026, and was found dead six days later near Chimney Rock Park. Court documents say she was strangled with a cord. Investigators used apartment surveillance, license plate reader data, cell phone records, and text and FaceTime evidence to link her boyfriend, Kevin Faux, 24, to the killing. Faux was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, on April 20, 2026, after authorities said he fled the state using Allen's debit card. He faces charges including capital murder and the murder of an unborn child. The case drew intense public attention because Faux had been released from jail less than two months earlier after pleading guilty to assaulting Allen in late 2025.

Warning signs: Separation, Prior threats, Escalating violence...

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Kevaughn Jermaine Goldson Ongoing case
Jefferson City, Missouri • 2026-02-23

Kevaughn Jermaine Goldson

Arrest Made boyfriend

Kevaughn Jermaine Goldson, 23, a Lincoln University student-athlete from Jamaica, died after being stabbed during a domestic dispute at an off-campus home in Jefferson City, Missouri, on February 23, 2026. Police arrested Denita Atiyah Jackson, 27, Goldson's girlfriend and a fellow university sprinter, after she called 911. Investigators say Jackson described a volatile, yearslong relationship marked by domestic violence before the fatal encounter. Court records allege Goldson was stabbed in the back and chest during a struggle inside a roommate's bedroom. Jackson has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, is being held without bond in Cole County, and is also subject to a federal immigration detainer.

Warning signs: Escalating violence

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Spencer & Monique Tepe Ongoing case
Investigation Ready
Columbus, Ohio • 2025-12-25

Spencer & Monique Tepe

Charges Filed ex-wife

On December 30, 2025, Monique Tepe, 39, and her husband, Dr. Spencer Tepe, 37, were shot and killed inside their home in Columbus, Ohio. Their two young children were present but physically unharmed. Following an eleven-day investigation, Columbus police identified Monique's ex-husband, Michael David McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon, as the primary suspect. Investigators used surveillance footage showing a person matching McKee's description walking down an alley near the residence, vehicle tracking data between Illinois and Ohio, and ballistics mapping from a firearm found at McKee’s Chicago apartment to secure an arrest warrant. Family members subsequently disclosed a long-term history of emotional abuse and threats made by McKee during his brief marriage to Monique, which ended in divorce in 2017. McKee was arrested in Rockford, Illinois, waived extradition, and was indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary, all carrying firearm suppressor specifications. He has pleaded not guilty.

Warning signs: Escalating violence, Firearm access

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Frezja Baker Ongoing case
Charlotte, North Carolina • 2025-12-12

Frezja Baker

Arrest Made girlfriend

Frezja Matisse Baker, a 31-year-old mother, went missing on December 4, 2025, after dropping her 2-year-old son off with family in Charlotte, North Carolina. That night, surveillance footage from a gas station on LaSalle Street captured 38-year-old Lorenza Thomas Inman Jr. physically assaulting her before the two left together in her 2004 Honda Accord. Following a week-long community and police search, Frezja's body was discovered on December 11, 2025, inside her car, which had been left behind an abandoned church on Sanders Avenue. She had suffered fatal head trauma. Following tips from witnesses who stated Inman admitted to the shooting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department obtained warrants for his arrest. Inman was apprehended on December 12, 2025, in Maxton, North Carolina. He has been charged with murder, assault on a female, and a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Due to his extensive history of violent offenses, overturned prior convictions, and probation violations, a judge ordered him held without bond.

Warning signs: Prior threats, Escalating violence

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Alesa Leach Ongoing case
Jacksonville, Florida • 2025-11-17

Alesa Leach

Charges Filed ex-girlfriend

Alesa Leach, a 58-year-old Jacksonville resident, ordained minister, and city bus operator, was found deceased in her West 14th Street home on November 17, 2025. Investigators determined she died of violent trauma before their arrival, discovering her body after she missed a scheduled court appearance. Leach had an active domestic violence protection injunction against her 49-year-old ex-boyfriend, Joseph Anderson. Law enforcement had escorted Anderson away from her residence approximately one week prior for violating the injunction. Following the homicide, Anderson fled to Connecticut, where he was apprehended on December 5, 2025, on an injunction violation warrant and extradited back to Florida. On March 20, 2026, while already in custody at the Duval County Jail, Anderson was formally served an arrest warrant charging him with second-degree murder with a weapon, burglary, aggravated stalking, tampering with evidence, and violating a domestic violence protective injunction. He has entered a plea of not guilty.

Warning signs: Stalking, Separation, Protection order...

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Mariah Rosanna Samuels Resolved case
Convicted
Minneapolis, Minnesota • 2025-09-14

Mariah Rosanna Samuels

Sentenced ex-girlfriend

Mariah Rosanna Samuels, a 34-year-old mother of two and small business owner, was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, David Eugene Wright, 51, outside her family home in North Minneapolis on September 14, 2025. Following the termination of their relationship in August 2025, Wright severely assaulted Samuels, prompting her to secure an Order for Protection (OFP). On the morning of September 14, Wright violated the order by contacting her. Samuels requested police assistance, but the responding officer left after four minutes and filed a inaccurate report claiming she felt safe. Approximately two hours later, Wright ambushed Samuels in her parked vehicle, firing 12 shots through the window. Wright fled to Anoka, Minnesota, where he was apprehended. After a grand jury upgraded his charges to first-degree premeditated murder, Wright confessed to the killing on the witness stand during his trial. In April 2026, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Warning signs: Stalking, Separation, Protection order...

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Nancy Howery Resolved case
Convicted
Indian Harbour Beach, Florida • 2023-02-15

Nancy Howery

Convicted girlfriend

Nancy Howery, a 44-year-old mother of two from Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, disappeared on February 15, 2023. She had met up with her on-and-off boyfriend, 32-year-old Daniel Loren Stearns, to reconcile after a series of arguments fueled by Stearns' jealousy over her refusal to date him exclusively. During a handgun lesson in a remote, 2,600-acre undeveloped area of Palm Bay known as "The Compound," Stearns shot Howery in the head. He then dismembered and burned her remains, burying them in multiple shallow graves across the area to destroy the evidence. Following a missing person report filed by her ex-husband on February 18, 2023, detectives focused their investigation on Stearns. Under intense physical and aerial surveillance, police observed Stearns returning to "The Compound" to further dispose of and relocate her remains. He was arrested on March 10, 2023. In October 2025, a Brevard County jury convicted Stearns of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead body, and tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to life in prison on December 3, 2025.

Warning signs: Escalating violence

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Nichole Zahnd Florentine Resolved case
Rock Hill, South Carolina • 2020-06-09

Nichole Zahnd Florentine

Appeal Pending wife

Nicole Rene Florentine (Zahnd) was murdered by her husband, Lawrence Joseph Florentine, during a road trip between June 3 and June 11, 2020. The couple had a documented history of severe domestic violence at their home in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Nicole had called 911 multiple times reporting physical abuse and explicit threats by Lawrence to kill, burn, and bury her. Following a house fire on May 23, 2020, which destroyed their home, the couple traveled through North and South Carolina. Nicole was shot in the head on or about June 9, 2020. Lawrence then drove her body to Hill Cemetery in Fredonia, Kentucky, bought a shovel and gas can, doused her remains in gasoline, set them on fire, and buried her in a shallow grave. After her grandmother filed a missing person report, a groundskeeper discovered the makeshift grave on June 13, 2020. Lawrence fled to Denver, Colorado, where he surrendered to police on June 23, 2020. Because the murder took place across state lines, local prosecutors requested federal intervention. Lawrence pleaded guilty to multiple federal counts in October 2023 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in April 2024. In August 2025, an appellate ruling overturned his conviction for utilizing fire to commit a felony on the basis that VAWA protections legally cease upon death, though his 30-year sentence remained unchanged.

Warning signs: Separation, Prior threats, Escalating violence...

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