HOUSTON, Texas – A mother of three was brutally murdered by her husband in their southwest Houston home in an apparent murder-suicide.
The Houston Police Department responded to 4822 Grasilla Drive around 10:17 pm on Christmas Day. A man inside the home appeared to have murdered his wife before turning the gun on himself.
Medical examination records identify the victim as Fannie Uresti, 34, and her husband Roberto Hernandez, 43. Both resided at the same home.
Report of Past Trouble
Police records show that Uresti filed a report regarding trouble in her marriage on December 14. She told police that her husband was tracking her every move and that she was preparing to file for divorce.
Officers provided her with a list of domestic violence resources.
Eleven days later, Uresti was killed in her own home.
A Grandmother Mourning
Just four days after her daughter was killed, Rosa Salinas is using her voice to share her daughter’s deadly case of domestic violence. Her hope is that their family’s tragedy will sound the alarm for someone else before it’s too late.
“My daughter was an exemplary daughter,” Salinas told KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding. “My daughter was an exemplary daughter. An exemplary sister. An exemplary mother. I can’t say that she was an exemplary wife. They didn’t value her, they didn’t give her the value she deserved because they took her life with malice and advantage. I can say it.”
Salinas was in Mexico with family when her daughter was killed. However, she was already concerned about Uresti’s safety.
Gage: “Was there ever a red flag that something’s wrong here?”
Rosa: “Still a week before the incident, they had an argument. I wasn’t there. I was in Mexico. He had a gun that his brother gave him to protect the house. He took it out. He took it out threatening himself. And scaring my daughter and the boys. My daughter spoke to me and told me. And I spoke to his sister and told her to please go get that gun out of the house because my children were in danger and that if she didn’t do it, then my daughter was going to call the police.”
But even before this incident, Uresti voiced her concern to her mother in addition to Houston Police.
Salinas calls the actions of Roberto both “controlling” and “obsessive.”
“Very obsessive,” Salinas said. “He wouldn’t let her, he didn’t let her go out, he didn’t even let her have friends, he didn’t let her be herself. In a word he wouldn’t let her be. He wouldn’t let her be. That’s why my daughter wanted to get away from him. He would control her psychologically at all times.”
Despite Salinas gut telling her to stay in Houston, her daughter convinced her to go back to Mexico for the holidays. That was the last time this mother saw her daughter.
On Christmas Day she got the call that Fannie was dead.
“With this thing he did to my daughter,” she said. “They took her away. I want them to know that I am hollow. My heart no longer beats, I don’t feel my heart beating anymore. They took her away from me in a way that was, you can say, cowardly.”
Salinas, fighting though the tears, is sharing her daughter’s story and the pain the entire family is enduring in an effort to help others. Her goal: to help victim’s of domestic violence get out before they get hurt.
“I want to raise my voice on behalf of my daughter so that other women who are going through the same thing are aware and immediately leave the place where they are,” Salinas said. “Let them immediately get out of where they are. Please do it. Don’t Stay, Don’t Stay!”
If you would like to donate to GoFundMe to support the family, go here.
There’s Help Out There
For victim’s that suffered the worst of domestic violence and lost their lives, there’s assistance programs to help families grappling with the unexpected loss of a loved one; both emotionally and financially.
Salinas is being guided through the process by the owner of Compean Funeral Home, Gregory Compean. He’s helping the family apply for the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund. It’s a program organized by the Attorney General of Texas.
“It helps for people that are going through domestic violence,” Compean explained. “Not only if there’s a death, but if they need to get relocated or what have you. For funeral services, it pays up to $6,500 for funeral expenses. It helps a family tremendously, especially in a time of a tragedy such as this.”
The program reimburses families or victims for costs. However, Compean is going a step further to help the family, who didn’t expect the sudden cost of laying a loved one to rest. Instead of billing the family, Compean is going to wait to get the money from the state.
“Seeing this one time is one too many times,” he said.
The program is available to victim’s that are also dealing with domestic or sexual violence. Several costs are covered, including relocation, travel, loss of wages, healthcare and more.
Do you know someone in need of help? KPRC 2 released the following features in “Breaking Free.”
Help is also available immediately if you need it through the following numbers:
- Houston Area Women’s Center: (713) 528-2121
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800) 799−7233
- If you are in immediate danger, call 911.