With Her Last Breath, A Victim Of Extreme Domestic Abuse Saves Her Baby With One Final Act of Heroism

With Her Last Breath, A Victim Of Extreme Domestic Abuse Saves Her Baby With One Final Act of Heroism

Jessica Arrendale, 33, had suffered through several episodes of abuse from her boyfriend, Antoine Davis, 30. But they shared a baby together, a six-month-old girl, Cobie, and Arrendale’s mother said Jessica was never able to turn Davis away. Jessica became an unlikely HERO by saving her baby from a tragic and gruesome murder-suicide while at the same time becoming a fatal victim at the hands of her abusive boyfriend.

Jessica Arrendale

The cycle of abuse became fatal on Saturday night, according to WSB Radio. Arrendale and Davis had gone out for the evening, and he had become belligerently drunk and abusive. Davis chased Arrendale up the stairs of her three-story townhome in the Oakdale Bluffs subdivision sometime around midnight, she said. Arrendale tried to defend herself with a baseball bat, but she was overpowered by the former serviceman, who struck her several times with the bat, [Arrendale’s mother, Teresa] Ionniello said.

Arrendale locked herself in the bathroom, and Davis got his assault rifle. He forced his way into the bathroom and shot Arrendale in the head. “He shot her and they (police) don’t know how she was able to twist her body and fall literally in the opposite direction,” Ionniello said. Instead of falling onto the floor, Ionniello said her daughter fell over the toilet, dropping little Cobie into the water-filled bowl.

With her body covering Cobie, police speculate that Davis could not see the baby. He then went into the baby’s room and shot himself. Not knowing that both Arrendale and Davis were dead, the SWAT team and police were taking extra precautions to not escalate the situation. They did not enter the building until 13 hours after the murder-suicide.
The baby remained in the toilet, covered by her mother’s body, for 13-hours before officers finally stormed the townhouse and rescued her. She was cradled in the arms of an officer who rushed her outside to a waiting ambulance.
Arrendale is considered a hero for the way she protected her baby, even as she was dying.

“She had pure will,” Ionniello said. “She wanted that baby to live.”

Cobie suffered a traumatic brain injury and is being treated at a children’s hospital. Ionniello hopes to bring the baby home soon.

Jessica Arrendale learned a fatal lesson too late. If you are in a relationship with a violent person please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 1.800.799.7233. No matter how much you love your partner, sometimes that love cannot overcome deep aggressive anger. Be brave and save your children and save yourself– make the call.

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