Hawaii Murder-Suicide Case: Husband Shoots Social Media Influencer Wife in front of Daughter

An estranged husband shot his wife dead in front of their daughter in the US state of Hawaii last week. The woman, Theresa Cachuela, 33, a mother of three and a social media influencer-cum-beauty entrepreneur, was shot dead in front of her daughter by Jason Cachuela, 44, in the parking lot of the Pearlridge Center on Friday morning, according to a report by the Honolulu Star–Advertiser. Jason then fled the scene and shot himself dead. The police are probing the killings as murder-suicide.

Their daughter told local news outlets that she saw her father pull the gun’s trigger. The outlets said that the girl was either 6 or 8 years old. They also said that Theresa’s petition for an order of protection against her estranged husband was granted by a judge two weeks ago.

“This was not a random act, as the victim and suspect were involved in a relationship. We do know that there was a temporary restraining order (TRO) that was served on him, which is why this case was classified as murder in the first degree,” police official lieutenant Deena Thoemmes was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Tribune.

Deena Thoemmes also pointed out that police recovered five registered firearms from Jason when they served him the TRO. “Her youngest daughter is the one that tragically saw everything. She’s traumatised,” Cachuela’s mother, Lucita Ani-Nihoa, told local news outlets. “She doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t believe her mom is gone. I don’t believe it,” she further added.

The petition for the TRO said that Jason threatened to kill himself in front Theresa. The petition quotes Theresa saying that at one point her estranged husband held a knife to his neck. Her relatives told news outlets that Jason abused Theresa and she filed the TRO due to his continued harassment and stalking. She also recently filed for divorce. The couple have been married for 10 years and Jason was only allowed to contact Cachuela for child custody.

“He threatened to kill her. They never arrested him, knowing that he had guns, knowing that he tried to threaten, he threatened to kill the kids and her in her own garage. The court wasn’t there for her,” Cachuela’s mother further added.