In the city of New Haven, Connecticut, a 44-year-old Black / African American woman named Natosha Gaines was full of life and known for an infectious laugh that her mother would later recall with sorrow. A mother and a grandmother herself, she was described as a happy-go-lucky person. But on the night of October 17, 2020, her life came to a sudden and violent end inside the apartment she shared with her boyfriend on Quinnipiac Avenue.
Emergency responders received a call and arrived at
the residence around 11:43 p.m. to find Gaines with a fatal gunshot wound. The person who had called 911 was her 52-year-old boyfriend, Anthony Valeriano. He claimed the shooting was a tragic accident. According to his account, he was cleaning a handgun, a replica 1851 Navy. 44-caliber black powder revolver he kept for self-defense, when he tripped. He told detectives the fall caused the "trigger to slip," firing the weapon and striking Gaines in the head. Valeriano's 12-year-old son was also reportedly present at the scene of the incident.
Despite Valeriano's claims of an accident, the New Haven Police Department launched an in-depth investigation into the death, which was officially ruled a homicide by the state's Chief Medical Examiner. For ten months, detectives with the Major Crimes division worked the case. A key piece of evidence came from the medical examiner's report, which determined that the gun was either in direct contact with or in very close proximity to Gaines's head when it was fired. This finding directly contradicted Valeriano's story of tripping and the gun accidentally going off from a distance. The investigation concluded that a reckless act committed by Valeriano led to the fatal shot.
On July 20, 2021, nearly a year after Gaines's death, Anthony Valeriano was arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. His bond was set at one million dollars. For Gaines's family, the arrest marked a significant step toward justice. Her mother, Cheryl Tyson, and father, Arnold Payne, publicly thanked the police department, particularly the lead detective, for their compassionate and tireless work. They expressed that while nothing could bring Natosha back, the arrest provided a "small piece of closure" for their grieving family. At a press conference, her mother stated that Valeriano had "took something very precious away from all of us." In March 2022, a jury found Anthony Valeriano guilty of the charge. He was taken into custody after the verdict, and a judge scheduled his sentencing for May of that year.
