On Christmas Day in 2021, a Detroit family's holiday turned to horror when they discovered the bodies of 57-year-old Elaine Fizer and her 13-year-old daughter, Daunya Fields. The two were found fatally shot inside their home on Prevost Street after family members, including Fizer's daughter Margaret Shively, became concerned when they couldn't reach them.
Shively and her husband went to the home and, after looking through a window and seeing a body on the floor, forced their way inside to the tragic scene.
Elaine had adopted Daunya, who was developmentally disabled and used a wheelchair as a result of abuse she had suffered as an infant. Friends and family described Elaine as a devoted mother who was dedicated to caring for her daughter.
Immediately, police identified Elaine Fizer's 62-year-old husband, Dwayne McDonald, as a person of interest in the double homicide. McDonald, who lived in the home with Fizer and Fields but was not Daunya's father, had disappeared. Authorities warned that he was likely armed and dangerous and appealed to the public for information on his whereabouts. He was believed to be driving a gray Buick Lucerne.
The search for McDonald came to a dramatic and violent end just a few days later. Acting on a tip, Detroit police tracked him to an apartment building on Owen Street. When officers executed a search warrant and entered the apartment, they were met by an armed McDonald who fired at them. The officers returned fire, killing him at the scene. While the outcome was not what law enforcement had hoped for, Fizer's family expressed a sense of relief and justice, stating that he could no longer harm anyone else.
