Police found the body of a missing woman from Tennessee in the trunk of a vehicle that her girlfriend was driving after a car crash. A shootout broke out between officers and the girlfriend, who eventually killed herself.
The family of Eleni Kassa, 31, reported her missing on November 18, from her home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, after she failed to pick up her daughter at the end of the school day, according to a statement released by the Murfreesboro Police Department.
Police found Kassa on November 27, dead in the trunk of a car her girlfriend, Dominique Hardwick, 36, was driving in Dearborn, Michigan.
Authorities tracked Hardwicks’ Dodge Charger using a license plate reader. Police started to track the vehicle from Kassa’s apartment in Murfreesboro. Police later spotted the car in Ohio and Michigan and then tracked it to Dearborn, Michigan, where they tried to stop it on Sunday afternoon.
The Dodge Charger crashed into a house, and as police officers tried to approach the crash site, Hardwick opened fire on the officers, and a shootout ensued. According to the Michigan State Police, the suspect shot herself in the head, adding that Hardwick appeared to have trauma inconsistent with the crash. Her autopsy results showed that she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hardwick was traveling with another woman. Police said they removed a 34-year-old woman from the passenger seat, who they declined to identify. They took her to the hospital to get treated for her injuries. Police said they were interviewing her, but did not divulge information about her relationship with Hardwick.
The investigation into Kassa’s missing person status revealed that there may have been a domestic violence incident before she and Hardwick left in the Dodge Charger in mid-November. A statement by Tennessee officials filed on November 28, after police found her body, said that the two women had allegedly argued in Kassa’s apartment before leaving the house together.
Kassa left her mobile phone in the house.
Authorities also established a pattern of domestic violence between the couple, including when police responded to an incident in their home in August.
A police report from the August incident said Hardwick pushed and struck Kassa across the face. The incident began after Kassa saw a text message Hardwick received from another woman. EMS on the scene said Hardwick had grabbed her girlfriend by the neck and broken her jaw. Kassa told police that she found it hard to breathe after the altercation.
At the time, police arrested Hardwick and charged her with aggravated domestic assault.
An official from the Murfreesboro Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center, Ericka Downing, told a news outlet that she often encounters cases of women going through domestic violence. Downing said that it was regrettable to see anyone lose their life because of domestic violence, adding that the case should bring the existence of domestic violence to the spotlight. She said Tennessee had numerous agencies that help people going through this type of abuse.
Police from Tennessee and Michigan are investigating the death of Kassa, even though they have yet to determine the circumstances surrounding her death.