Real Crime Stories | Domestic Violence Case Archive

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A memorial case file anchored in the verified record

Resolved case Ladson, South Carolina • 2021-05-22

Donasia Alexus Holloway-Epps

In May 2021, 22-year-old Donasia Alexus Holloway-Epps was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, Justin Cole Carroll, in an apartment complex parking lot in Walterboro, South Carolina. The two had dated for several months before Holloway ended the relationship following a January 2021 domestic assault. A judge had placed Carroll under a no-contact order, which he defied to stalk her. On the night of her death, Holloway realized she was being followed by Carroll's truck and deliberately parked next to a police cruiser in hopes of deterring him. She took a Snapchat video of him approaching her car just before he shot her four times in the head and neck. Carroll was arrested days later, convicted of murder in April 2024, and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

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Ongoing case

Covington, Washington • 2026-05-01

Jodi Cathcart

On the morning of May 5, 2026, in Covington, Washington, Kyle Cathcart called 911 claiming an intruder had broken into his home and stabbed him and his wife, Jodi Cathcart. Responding deputies found Jodi deceased in a bedroom from dozens of stab wounds. Investigations, including Ring camera footage that showed no one entering the home, led police to doubt Kyle’s story. Kyle eventually confessed to stabbing his wife while wearing her clothes to stage a robbery. He cited overwhelming pressure from job loss and a long-running lie about a non-existent $6 million lawsuit settlement as the stressors that led to the incident.

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Ongoing case

Elko, Nevada • 2026-07-27

Daisy Cortez

On the night of July 27, 2026, 35-year-old court reporter Daisy Cortez was brutally beaten inside the master bedroom of her apartment at 1525 Opal Drive in Elko, Nevada. Her estranged husband, Santos Cortez-Molina, who had been separated from her and living elsewhere for several weeks, had accompanied the family on their drive back from Las Vegas earlier that evening. After stepping out to buy bottled water at Walmart, Cortez-Molina returned to the apartment, sent their three children to their rooms, entered Daisy's bedroom, and turned on the bathroom shower to drown out noise before delivering fatal blunt-force trauma to her head and face. At 23:31, Cortez-Molina called 911, claiming they had been in a physical altercation and admitting he punched her. When Elko Police Department officers arrived, Cortez-Molina surrendered outside, stating he was "guilty as charged" because he had discovered messages on Daisy's Apple Watch. Officers and Daisy's teenage daughter entered the locked bedroom, where they found Daisy unresponsive, pulseless, and covered in blood. Officers performed CPR, and emergency medical personnel transported her to Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital before she was airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. Daisy succumbed to severe traumatic brain injuries and was pronounced deceased on July 28, 2026. Cortez-Molina was charged with open murder, and his bail was set at $2 million cash amid evidence of premeditation and prior threats.

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Ongoing case

San Diego, California • 2026-05-30

Jariah Edwards

On May 30, 2026, 17-year-old Jariah Edwards of Phoenix, Arizona, was vacationing with her family at an Airbnb on Gardena Avenue in San Diego, California. Edwards, who was 32 weeks pregnant, was attempting to separate from her ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old Trevon Williams. She had blocked his phone number, and her family was actively preparing to file a restraining order against him due to a history of domestic violence. Williams allegedly tracked Edwards to San Diego, took a Lyft from Phoenix to the vacation home, and had the driver drop him off down the street to remain unseen. He then used the DoorDash app to send flowers to the house. When Edwards retrieved them with a family member, Williams did not act. He then placed a second DoorDash order for a vase, and when Edwards went outside alone to pick it up, Williams emerged and shot her in the head. Williams fled the scene and was arrested by police about two hours later near September Street with the firearm in his possession. Edwards died from her injuries, but doctors delivered her baby girl, Riyary Edwards, through an emergency C-section. Riyary suffered severe brain damage from a lack of oxygen during the shooting and passed away in the hospital on June 7, 2026. Williams has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder of a fetus, and carrying an illegal extended magazine. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held without bail.

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Memorial case

Port St. Lucie, Florida • 2026-05-11

Ketsy Alexis

Ketsy Alexis, 30, was found shot to death inside her Port St. Lucie, Florida home on May 12, 2026, alongside her husband, Jimsley Estime, 31, in what police are investigating as a domestic violence murder-suicide. Detectives said the couple had been married about seven years and were in the process of divorcing. Investigators also documented prior domestic incidents, including an earlier Port St. Lucie Police case involving alleged written threats to kill. Estime was arrested on a warrant on January 26, 2026, and Alexis later filed a non-prosecution affidavit asking that the case not move forward. The couple's 6-year-old child returned home from school, found two younger siblings distressed inside the house, and then discovered both parents dead in the kitchen before alerting a family member who called 911.

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Memorial case

Houston, Texas • 2026-05-04

Thy Mitchell

Thy Mitchell, 39, was killed alongside her children, Maya, 8, and Max, 4, inside the family's River Oaks home in Houston, Texas, on May 4, 2026. Houston police identified Thy's husband, Matthew Mitchell, 52, as the suspect and said he was found dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators believe Matthew Mitchell fatally shot his wife and children before taking his own life. The deaths shocked Houston's business and restaurant community, where the family was widely known through Traveler's Table and Traveler's Cart.

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Memorial case

Hanford, California • 2026-05-03

Adrian Valdovinos

On May 3, 2026, 25 year old Adrian Valdovinos was shot and killed in a murder-suicide at a residence in Hanford, California. The suspect, 33-year old Vincent Diaz, forced entry into a home on University Avenue where his ex-wife and Valdovinos were located. Following a 911 call reporting an argument and shots fired, police arrived to find Valdovinos deceased in a bedroom and Diaz dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Records indicate that the suspect's ex-wife had gotten a restraining order in March 2026 following their separation the previous year.

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What we document

Fatality case files built from memorial storytelling and the record trail left behind

Domestic violence fatalities

The archive centers victims whose deaths are tied to intimate partner violence, coercive control, stalking, separation, or documented domestic abuse patterns.

Warning signs and escalation

Each case can show how threats, prior police contact, protection orders, stalking, or isolation appeared before the fatal incident.

Court and public records

Court filings, police reports, dispatch logs, body-camera records, and other public documents help separate what is confirmed from what is still unresolved.

Timelines and aftermath

We track what happened before, during, and after the homicide so families and readers can see the documented sequence more clearly.

Memorial storytelling

The reporting aims to preserve the victim’s life, voice, and significance rather than reducing the case to a headline or spectacle.

Why it matters

Education, warning signs, system failures, and remembrance belong in the same frame

What readers can learn

These case files are meant to help readers recognize how violence escalates, how institutions respond, and what the public record reveals after a life is lost.

Where systems failed

Many cases raise difficult questions about prior reports, missed interventions, protection order enforcement, charging decisions, or gaps in emergency response.

Why remembrance matters

A memorial-centered archive helps keep victims visible as people with families, histories, and communities, not just subjects of a crime brief.

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Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida • 2026-09-08

State of Florida v. Shanna Gardner-Fernandez

Pre-trial custody; severed trial from co-defendant Mario Fernandez Saldana. · Post-separation violence, custody-dispute murder-for-hire, and financial/communication coordination.

Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft executive, was shot and killed in a targeted ambush on February 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He stopped to move a tire left in the middle of a dark road while his toddler daughter was in the car. Investigation revealed a highly orchestrated murder-for-hire plot masterminded by his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, and her new husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, following a highly contentious divorce and custody battle.

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Manassas Park, Prince William County, Virginia • 2026-10-05

Commonwealth of Virginia v. Naresh Bhatt

Pre-trial custody; held without bond. · Intimate partner homicide prosecution without a recovered body, forensic digital footprinting, and domestic control dynamics.

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28-year-old pediatric nurse and mother, disappeared in late July 2024. Her husband, Naresh Bhatt, initially gave contradictory statements about her disappearance. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after forensic investigators discovered extensive pooled blood and cleaning efforts in the family home, combined with search history regarding body disposal and the purchase of heavy-duty knives. Her remains have not been recovered.

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Boston, Massachusetts (U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts) • 2026-10-05

United States v. Matthew Farwell

Federal custody; held without bail. · Grooming, institutional coercive control, color-of-law exploitation, and staged-suicide forensic pathology.

Sandra Birchmore, 23, was found dead in her apartment in February 2021, which local authorities originally ruled a suicide. A federal investigation later revealed that Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police officer, had groomed and sexually abused Birchmore since she was 15 years old through a police youth academy. When she became pregnant with his child and threatened to expose the years of abuse, Farwell allegedly strangled her to death and meticulously staged her apartment to look like a suicide.

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Podcast

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Real Crime Stories podcast

The podcast extends the archive into documentary-style episodes built from memorial context, verified facts, and public-record reporting.

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Episode • 2026-06-14

S3E2 Four Minutes | The Murder of Mariah Rosanna Samuels

In August 2025, 34-year-old mother and small business owner Mariah Rosanna Samuels took critical steps to secure her safety by ending her relationship with David Eugene Wright and obtaining an Order for Protection. But...

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Episode • 2026-06-13

S3E1: She Thought It Was Over | The Murders of Spencer & Monique Tepe

Season 3 of Real Crime Stories examines domestic violence homicides through the lives of the victims, the warning signs that preceded the violence, and the investigations that followed.Monique Tepe's marriage to Michael...

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Episode • 2026-05-31

S2E5: The Playbook | Part V: The Jurisdictional Chess Match (Season Finale)

In the multi-state aftermath of an execution, the legal system is forced to confront its darkest technicalities. In the season finale of "The Playbook," Real Crime Stories pulls back the curtain on the extraordinary...

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Editorial mission

Every victim deserves to be remembered with dignity, and every documented warning sign matters.

Real Crime Stories exists to preserve lives, document the public record carefully, and give families, readers, and communities a place to understand what happened without reducing victims to entertainment.