Families of Mississippians lost to domestic violence look to fatality review board for change

Last week, a member of the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence read the names of men, women and children lost to domestic violence during a somber vigil at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Included was the name of Carlos Collins, a nurse that was shot and killed by an ex-boyfriend in 2024.

Collins had previously filed multiple protective orders against his ex, a former police officer. Collins’s mother, Ashla Hudson, is still grieving. 

“I want to pick up the phone and call him and tell him about, oh, we got a new grandbaby, I got a new,” she said, trailing off. “But I can't do that anymore. It's really hard, but I'm going to get through it and we're going to get justice for him.”

Hudson says she's anxious about the outcome of the criminal case involving her son's murder. She's comforted by Tara Gandy, a mother who watched as her daughter's  killer was found guilty of capital murder in May.

“No matter what the hearsayers say, what you hear, people are going to talk, they're going to say everything, but baby just keep your faith and trust,” Gandy said. “Trust.”

Gandy’s daughter, Joslin Napier, was a 24-year old mother killed three years ago by a former partner.  

“To be honest, I told the DA that even though I got that verdict, it didn't take the sadness away,” she told MPB News. “It didn't take the pain away. I got accountability. That's what I wanted because I said the system failed my daughter.”

The murder devastated Napier’s community, Gandy says, especially her daughter’s young son. 

“She was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girl,” she said. “She loved makeup, doing nails. She had a beautiful baby boy. He's growing and he's thriving without his mom. She just was fun-spirited, full-spirited.”

Chance Fabian Jones killed Napier at her home in Waynesboro in 2022. Like Collins, she had also taken out a protective order. 

Gandy says it’s important not to blame victims.

“In her relationship, that affection became interrogation,” she said. “That affection became obsession. That presence became surveillance. And that investment became ownership, where it was like, OK, I can't have you then. Nobody can.”

Gandy is hoping the law will make it harder for abusers to break the law and commit violent crimes.

“She had to go through stalking,” she said. “She had a protection order in place. Protection order was in place, protection order was broken. More than one time, more than two times, more than three times.”

Gandy says she hopes the judicial system will enforce stronger accountability models from the information learned through the board. 

“If they see that, okay, even though this piece of paper is in place, then some continue to do the same thing,” she said. “No accountability, no consequences. I want to see change.”

November is domestic violence awareness month.