Christopher Garcia was found shot inside a home in the 2400 block of South 4th Avenue in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after deputies were dispatched just after 2 a.m. on May 16, 2020, for a report that a woman had shot a man. He was a 39-year-old Hispanic/Latino man. Deputies arrived to find him suffering from a single 9mm gunshot wound; he was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
Children were in the residence during the incident, and a call for help came in as the situation unfolded in real time.
In the hours leading up to the shooting, the night had begun with what sounded like an ordinary gathering: a karaoke party on May 15 where alcohol was being consumed. Accounts later described an argument sparked after a joke about marijuana—one that escalated into a fight that followed the couple home. Once back at the house, the lights were shut off and doors were meant to be locked, but entry was still possible through an unlocked back door. Garcia returned to the home with his daughter to gather belongings, and the confrontation continued. At a tense moment upstairs, a gun was retrieved from a safe, brandished, and the argument turned into a life-or-death crisis as the children nearby tried to make sense of what they were seeing.
Investigators identified Garcia’s live-in partner, Danelle Moyte, as the lone suspect, and she was taken into custody as the case moved quickly from an emergency response to a homicide investigation. Early reports said she was arrested on suspicion of second-degree homicide, and she was later formally charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors added allegations involving the children and the chaos inside the home, expanding the case to include child abuse charges and aggravated assault-related counts. In court proceedings that followed, a judge found probable cause for the murder charge and certain additional counts, and bond was ultimately set at $500,000 cash as the case was bound over to district court.
At trial, the defense centered its story on fear and self-defense, arguing that Moyte believed Garcia was about to beat her. The case that began as a headline-grabbing first-degree murder filing narrowed as it approached a verdict; reports later indicated that the judge dismissed several counts, including child abuse with mental injury and an aggravated assault and battery allegation, leaving the central homicide accusation to be decided by the jury. In December 2021, that jury acquitted Moyte of second-degree murder, ending the prosecution without a murder conviction and leaving no other suspects charged in connection with Garcia’s death.
