Tonya Sidebottom, 55, a female White/Caucasian from Jensen Beach, Florida, died on August 10, 2025. She owned and operated a small custom upholstery and sewing business based inside a local storage facility on NE Candice Avenue, where she spent late nights working alone amid bolts of fabric and half-finished projects. Obituaries published by her family confirm the date of death and her age, placing her roots in the community and the shop that had become her livelihood.
In the early morning hours of August 10—around 12:30 a.m., according to investigators—Tonya Sidebottom, 55, female, was found with a single gunshot wound inside that storage facility workspace. Deputies said the shooting happened where she carried out her sewing business; emergency crews responded, and she was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead despite lifesaving efforts.
Authorities identified her fiancé, Javier Saenz, 43, as the person who called 911 after the shooting. Deputies arrested him at the scene and later booked him on charges including second-degree murder; reports also note an additional charge of depriving a victim of the use of 911. Coverage indicates he requested an attorney and declined to speak with investigators, and records cite a prior arrest in Port St. Lucie for aggravated assault the year before. He has been held in the Martin County Jail as detectives continue to investigate the circumstances around the shooting.
The case drew swift attention across local outlets and victim-tracking archives, which listed the incident at the business address on NE Candice Avenue and recorded the fatal shooting of Tonya Sidebottom, 55, female, on August 10, 2025. As of the latest reports, deputies have not publicly stated a motive, and no additional suspects have been named beyond the arrest of her fiancé. Memorial notices from her family and friends trace the contours of a life remembered with affection even as the criminal case moves forward through the courts.
