Left: Janise Barthold (GoFundMe). Right: Dominique Domond (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections).
A 20-year-old Florida man allegedly choked his girlfriend to death and then ditched her body in the backyard.
Dominique Domond has been charged with second-degree murder following the death of Janise Barthold, 17. An unresponsive woman in the backyard of a home at Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast 107th Street led to a call to the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office on Monday night. Deputies arrived at the scene, where Domond’s mother guided them to Barthold’s location on the ground. Tragically, paramedics pronounced her dead on-site.
Domond allegedly initially claimed that Barthold and an unidentified man had attacked him, resulting in him strangling Barthold and fending off the other individual. However, following questioning and the Miranda rights being read, Domond confessed that there were no other individuals present and that he had fatally choked her during a dispute. Subsequently, he admitted to placing her in the backyard, as reported by the authorities.
Detectives arrested Domond on Tuesday. He remains in jail without bond.
Friends and family of Barthold gathered for a candlelight vigil and balloon release in her memory on Wednesday evening. Reflecting on the tragic loss, Quincy Vincent, Barthold’s brother, expressed regret that he was unable to offer more assistance to his sister during her time of need.
“She didn’t deserve this at all,” he said, according to ABC affiliate WSVN. “She was a beautiful young girl. This is just tragic. He shouldn’t have gone that far with domestic violence. It didn’t have to go like that. I’m so sorry for all of this. I don’t even know how to say I’m sorry to myself for letting her down.”
Many of those in attendance donned T-shirts with her picture emblazoned on the front. But loved ones said they would much rather have her with them instead.
“I’m not happy that she’s on my shirt, to be honest,” her aunt said. “I don’t want her to be on my shirt. I want her to be physically here with me. To me, it’s a shame that I have to put on a shirt to represent her. That is not something that I do with pride. That’s something that I do with humiliation and with my head down.”
Vincent started a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.
“A beautiful soul was taken away due to tragic domestic violence,” he wrote.
