Karla Elizabeth Dominguez Gonzalez was 31 when she was shot to death outside her apartment on South Greenmount Drive in Alexandria, Virginia, on July 29, 2020. A native of Venezuela, she had competed in beauty pageants there. Her killing was the first homicide reported in Alexandria that year.

The principal suspect identified by police was 33-year-old Ibrahim E. Bouaichi. In October 2019 Gonzalez had accused Bouaichi of a violent assault in her apartment, and he was arrested on charges including rape, strangulation, and abduction. He was held without bond on that indictment but in April 2020 a judge ordered him released on a $25,000 bond with conditions that he remain at his Maryland home and have no contact with Gonzalez. Prosecutors objected to the release, citing contagion risks from COVID-19 as the reason the defense sought bond.

After Gonzalez was found shot, law enforcement named Bouaichi as the suspect and launched a manhunt that included the FBI’s regional Violent Crimes Task Force. On August 5, 2020, Bouaichi’s vehicle crashed in Prince George’s County, Maryland; officers found he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries on August 8, 2020. Questions remain about the earlier decision to grant bond in this case; does anyone have information about Karla’s life or the period leading up to her death?