Joshua Lee McCollister

Joshua Lee McCollister was a loving fiancé and a devoted stepfather to three boys he called his own. The 37-year-old white man from Fort Bragg, California, was proud to be autistic and hoped to create a better life for his family. He and his fiancée, Galina Trefil, were planning to move to Humboldt County for better disability resources for her children. McCollister had gone ahead of his family to the area but had fallen on hard times and was experiencing homelessness. His fiancée remembered him as a trusting and kind person who "would have given the shirt off his back to a total stranger." They had been engaged for five months and were planning to get married.

On the evening of July 8, 2025, McCollister was shot in the Glendale area, east of Fieldbrook in Humboldt County. Around 7:23 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting in the 900 block of Glendale Drive and found him suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. Despite lifesaving efforts by deputies and medical personnel at the scene, McCollister died from his injuries while being transported to a hospital. Investigators initially stated that the shooting was believed to be an isolated incident stemming from a dispute over a civil matter.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division took over the investigation and quickly identified two suspects. On July 11, 2025, authorities conducted a coordinated operation to make arrests. Danielle Roberta Durand, 41, was apprehended during a felony traffic stop on Highway 101 near the Bayside Cutoff. At the same time, a SWAT team executed a warrant at an apartment in the 100 block of H Street in Arcata, where they detained 38-year-old Deunn Antoine Willis. Investigators identified Willis as the primary suspect in the killing, and both he and Durand were booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.

Following the arrests, the district attorney formally charged Deunn Antoine Willis with murder and robbery, with an added enhancement for using a firearm. Danielle Roberta Durand was charged with robbery, also with a firearm enhancement. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Durand was later released after posting bail, while Willis remained in custody.

The case proceeded through a series of pre-trial hearings that were repeatedly postponed. Over the following year, the court granted continuances to allow attorneys to process evidence, which included outstanding witness testimony and DNA analysis of a weapon found at the scene. As of July 2026, more than a year after Joshua McCollister's death, the case was still in litigation, with the next court date scheduled for September 2026.