On the morning of August 25, 2018, police were called to a home on South Fremont Avenue in Springfield, Missouri, and found 32-year-old Syolanda Patterson dead of a gunshot wound. Investigators treated the death as a domestic assault rather than a random act of violence.

The next day, August 26, 36-year-old Bob Houston, identified as Patterson’s husband, surrendered to authorities and was arrested and booked on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with her death. Patterson was described by family as a hardworking mother of four; friends and relatives held a candlelight vigil and balloon release outside the home in the days afterward.

No public report on subsequent legal proceedings or on Patterson’s ethnicity has been located. If anyone knew Syolanda or has information about what happened that morning, please come forward.