By Debbie Williams Reporter
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Published: Mon, December 03, 2007 - 7:02 pm
Debbie Williams
"There was a family member that was trying to contact the victim by phone and was unable too," says Sgt. Scott Haines with the Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office.
When relatives knocked on the door, they finally got an answer, it just wasn't what they expected says Haines. "They found the victims three year old child here the child told the relative that the mother had been killed."
"I don't see how somebody could do something like that and in front of the baby." Teresa Duncan didn't know her neighbor well, "We'd holler back in forth across the fence ever once and a while I'd see her and I'd wave when she'd have the baby out or something."
It was another neighbor who told her what was going on. "This man had shot this girl and left her there with her baby."
Shortly after deputies arrived they already had someone of interest in custody, someone she knew who was now being questioned in her murder.
"It is extremely unfortunate especially when there is a child involved we're not sure if the child saw actually what happened but for a child to have to tell a relative that their mother had been killed is very disturbing," says Sgt, Haines.
As investigators finish up their work, Duncan is still in shock, "I couldn't believe something like this could happen right here and my hearts out for the baby.
The three year old is now with other family members but still in the thoughts of everyone in her neighborhood. "Maybe she'll forget," says Duncan,"I hope."
Late this afternoon Santa Rosa County investigators identified the dead woman as Tonya Sellars. Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Hodges
is charged with her murder and cruelty towards a child. Investigators say Hodges is the father of the three year in the home when the murder occurred. There had been a long history of domestic violence between Hodges and Sellars.
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I CAN SAY THAT TONYA WAS A WONDERFUL PERSON AND DIDNT DESERVE ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS, AND TO DO IT IN FRONT OF HER CHILD. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU SHOULDNT REFER TO THAT BABY AS HIS BECAUSE HE OBVIOUSLY ISNT A FATHER. A FATHER WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO HIS BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL. REST IN PEACE TONYA YOU WILL BE FOREVER MISSED.