Tigist Yemane was a 23-year-old Ethiopian woman who was shot to death on November 7, 2009, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She had come to the United States for heart surgery and was living with the Whitson family in Waxhaw, North Carolina, at the time.

Her boyfriend, 30-year-old Iraq War veteran Davon Lamont Thomas, shot her at his parents’ house in the Reedy Creek community of Charlotte. Thomas reportedly believed Tigist was part of a terrorist attack, a delusional belief linked in court records to severe post-traumatic stress disorder. He was charged with murder and later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity; in November 2012 a judge found him not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered his indefinite commitment to a state mental hospital after evaluators concluded he lacked the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions.

Tigist’s death affected family and friends and has been cited in discussions about veterans’ mental health and access to care. If anyone knew Tigist, her movements in Waxhaw, or the circumstances in November 2009, please share what you know.