Dominic Jefferson, a 33-year-old African American woman, was fatally shot on January 4, 2020, at her apartment in the 5500 block of Holly View Drive in northwest Houston. Jefferson and her fiancé, Kendrick Akins, had become engaged over the New Year holiday but their relationship unraveled within days. When Jefferson and a female friend left the apartment to pick up the friend’s boyfriend, the car would not start; Akins tried to fix it, Jefferson ordered him out of the vehicle, and the dispute escalated. Akins then pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Jefferson in the chest from a few feet away. A witness who ran to help was also fired upon, and Akins fled the scene with Jefferson’s cell phone.

Akins, 42, was later arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. He had prior convictions including an aggravated assault against a woman in 2008 and possession of methamphetamine in 2015, and was on parole at the time. Trial testimony described a pattern of domestic violence, including testimony that Akins had previously put a loaded shotgun to a woman’s head and pulled the trigger without it firing. Jefferson left three children, ages 11, 6, and 4, and would have turned 35 on January 17, 2020. Did anyone in Houston know Dominic or have information about her last day?