Giselle Karen Gigi Trabal, 35, was fatally shot in her Allentown apartment in the early morning hours of September 29, 2023. Police were called to 628 North Law Street at about 2 a.m. and found Trabal inside her first-floor residence with a gunshot wound to the chest; she was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and died at 4:49 a.m. The Lehigh County Coroner ruled the death a homicide.

Investigators say the shooting followed an argument earlier that evening when 29-year-old Obadiah Whack had been told to leave Trabal’s apartment. He allegedly went to a nearby home, retrieved a handgun, returned, threatened to shoot through the front door, and fired a single 9-millimeter round through the closed door, striking Trabal while her three children were asleep inside. Witnesses gave a description and a license plate that led police to an apartment on North 14th Street where Whack was removed from the residence along with a bag containing two firearms; one was later identified as the murder weapon. Whack was charged with criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.

Trabal’s family remembers her as a happy spirit and a devoted mother who worked to keep her children safe despite hardships. Did anyone in the Allentown area see or hear anything that night that could help clarify what happened?