On the morning of March 22, 2021, 28-year-old Alessia Maria Mesquita was fatally shot in New Haven’s Fair Haven Heights neighborhood during a domestic dispute inside a car with her boyfriend and their one-year-old child. Neighbors reported hearing several gunshots around 9:19 a.m. at the intersection of Clifton and Lenox streets. After the shooting, Mesquita’s body was removed from the vehicle and left on the road; a baby bottle found nearby indicated the child had been present.

Police identified 27-year-old Rashod Akeem Newton as the primary suspect and located him hours later on Eastern Street, arresting him and recovering the vehicle. The child was found inside the car unharmed and taken to a hospital for evaluation. Newton told detectives he snapped during the argument when Mesquita tried to leave the car with their daughter. He was charged with murder, risk of injury to a child, and criminal possession of a firearm, and had an outstanding warrant from a separate West Haven assault.

Does anyone have information about this case or remember seeing activity in the Fair Haven Heights area that morning?