OCEANSIDE — The suspect who evaded police for several days after allegedly murdering his wife on New Year’s morning is expected to appear in the Vista courthouse next week, and faces more than murder and kidnapping charges, according to a prosecutor.
Dontaye Henderson, 28, is accused of fatally shooting his wife, 25-year-old Tamara Henderson, in the chest.
The shooting took place in their apartment at about 11:16 a.m. while two children, including the couple’s 2-year-old son, were home.
The other child, Tamara Henderson’s daughter, 6, told a lieutenant that her daddy shot her mother with a gun and that her mom was now dead, according to an Oceanside peace officer who asked in a written report for a warrant to be issued for the arrest of Dontaye Henderson.
Records show that Dontaye Henderson was on parole at the time of the shooting, and at about 11:20 that morning his GPS bracelet was cut off.
Several minutes later he called his parole officer and explained that he and his wife had been arguing and that she was shot.
The report says that Dontaye Henderson wanted to turn himself in.
But he faces kidnapping charges for an incident that happened shortly after the murder.
He fled the scene and is accused of threatening with a gun to harm the 2-year-old son of Consuelo Ramirez if she — the child’s mother — did not drive him to where he ordered her to go.
“Henderson kidnapped Ramirez and her child and had Ramirez drive him to the city of El Centro where he eventually let her drive away,” according to a statement from the declarant in the report.
An arrest warrant was issued for Dontaye Henderson on Jan. 3, with a bail recommendation of $9 million.
Dontaye Henderson was arrested at a bus terminal by police in St. Louis, Missouri, on Jan. 4.
At the time of his arrest, Henderson was in possession of a handgun, according to Oceanside Police.
Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe said there would be a new charge of child endangerment once Dontaye Henderson, who has a prior strike, is arraigned in court.
If convicted, he faces 80-years-to-life.
Dontaye Henderson’s prior strike stems from a conviction in 2003 in which he took a plea and served the lower term of three years in prison for forcible spousal rape on a wife he was married to before Tamara Henderson.
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