Police Find Missing Mom In Trunk Of Girlfriend’s Car, Authorities Believe She Was A Victim Of Domestic Violence

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Eleni Kassa, a 31-year-old woman in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was found dead in the trunk of a woman suspected to be her girlfriend shortly after she was reported missing. 

Authorities found Kassa’s body after 36-year-old Dominique Hardwick, also of Tennessee, crashed her car into a house in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan on Nov. 27. 

Authorities outlined in a statement that “shots were fired” and Hardwick died “possibly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Hardwick was driving a black Dodge that authorities tracked using license plate readers, PEOPLE detailed.

As Dearborn police approached, CBS News reported, that Hardwick allegedly “hit the gas and fled.”

The outlet quoted the police saying, “As officers approached the crash scene, there was an exchange of gunfire between the officers and the suspect.”

 

Michigan State Police shared on Twitter that Kassa was reported missing on Nov. 18. 

“Autopsy results for Hardwick are consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Michigan State Police’s Twitter thread corroborated in an update. “The circumstances surrounding Eleni’s death have not been determined. Detectives are still interviewing witnesses, including the front-seat passenger in the crash.”

The front seat passenger is an unidentified 34-year-old woman who reportedly suffered injuries. 

Murfreesboro authorities said they were alerted Kassa was missing the day after the 31-year-old failed to pick up her daughter from school.

Police said “the missing person investigation revealed a possible domestic violence incident occurred” between Kaasa and Hardwick, according to CBS News.

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“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Eleni’s family and the community of Murfreesboro,” Michigan State Police penned in their Twitter thread.

If you or someone you know is in an intimate partner violence crisis, speak to someone who can help through the National Domestic Violence Hotline (available 24/7): 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE).

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