In the early hours of Christmas Eve in 2017, the life of 25-year-old Akoya Skeith came to a violent end in a Kenner, Louisiana home. What was initially reported as a tragic accident soon unraveled into a case of homicide, with his girlfriend at the center of the investigation. The incident occurred just after midnight in the 200 block of Clemson Place.
Dominique Wix, who was 29 at the time, initially told police that Skeith had accidentally shot himself while removing a pistol from his
waistband. Skeith was rushed to University Hospital with a gunshot wound to his abdomen but ultimately succumbed to his injuries. However, the official story began to crumble two days later when the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office performed an autopsy. The findings were inconsistent with a self-inflicted wound. The trajectory of the bullet, entering the lower left side of his abdomen and exiting three inches higher on his right torso, along with the lack of close-range discharge marks, indicated that Skeith could not have fired the weapon.
When detectives confronted Wix with the autopsy results, her story changed. She admitted to fabricating the initial account of an accidental shooting. In one version of her revised statement, she claimed that Skeith had made an aggressive move toward her, and in a moment of fear, she grabbed a handgun and shot him. Yet, she later contradicted herself by saying they were not arguing and that she had pointed the gun at him in a 'playing' manner.
Following her admission of lying and the inconsistencies in her story, Dominique Wix was arrested and charged with manslaughter. In November 2018, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of negligent homicide. According to reports, Wix stated that she and Skeith had been 'playing' when he made an aggressive move in her direction while he had a pistol in his waistband. She reacted by grabbing her own 9mm pistol and shooting him. For the crime, she faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
