DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ALERT: This is 24-year-old Lucresha Day, of Seffner, FL. Despite becoming pregnant at 15, she finished high school and college on time and became a nurse. Family says she had an uncanny ability to juggle school, work, childcare and everything else in life. 
Family believes sometime in August, she met 26-year-old Delvin Shorter of Gadsden County on a dating app. Family found text messages between them from as early as August 22nd. These are mugshots of Delvin, from the Gadsden Co sheriff's office, for gun and drug charges.
Family believes she was aware of his past, but she started dating him anyway. "She always trusted people. She always sees the better part of the person," her mother, Cynthia, told me. She says Lucresha never told their family about Delvin. "I think she wanted to break it off."
Just over a month after striking things up with Delvin, she left her Tampa Bay-based nursing job of two years, and got one as a traveling nurse. She made several trips to work in Georgia, leaving her 7 and 8 year old kids in the care of her family, which is VERY tight knit
Why would someone as accomplished and as well put together as Lucresha hang around someone like Delvin? Here's what her mom said:
"Maybe just companionship, I am sure it is lonely, it's you and your daughters, and she is just working."
"Maybe just companionship, I am sure it is lonely, it's you and your daughters, and she is just working."
On Oct 17, police from Gwinnett Co, GA called Lucresha's father. "We found your daughter. She's dead." Keep in mind, her family had NO IDEA she was even dating anyone. But police told them her body was found alongside Delvin's. It was a murder-suicide. Delvin was the shooter
Her mother said she and one of her two other daughters, Michela, immediately went to the hotel room, in Norcross, GA. The body had been removed, but they saw the blood spatter and collected her belongings, which included credit cards, makeup, etc. They also found her phone.
On the phone, they found the usual... texts, pictures and web searches. One of those web searches was for domestic abuse hotlines. Friends had known Delvin was controlling and jealous, and she had told them, "I can't wait until I am single again."
Cynthia told me, "apparently he didn't want that to happen." They had her cremated in Georgia and plan to hold a private funeral in late November, here in Tampa. Cynthia also called our station, asking if she could speak out, and warn others about the scourge of domestic violence
So, let's listen.
Cynthia deserves at least that much.
"It is easy from the outside to say you just should have left, or why didn't you call the police. But you don't know what they might do to your family. They know you have children. Your address...
Cynthia deserves at least that much.
"It is easy from the outside to say you just should have left, or why didn't you call the police. But you don't know what they might do to your family. They know you have children. Your address...
"You are embarrassed this is happening to me. I am the smart one, this is happening to me, and I have to find a way out, without letting anybody else know."
"This is a story that I read about. This is a story I see on TV. It happened to my family. I look at my granddaughters. I have to look at these girls everyday, who will not have their mom. I do not want them to fall into the same trap their mother fell into."
She acknowledges, like any parent who loses a child to violence, that she will spend the rest of her life wondering if there was something she could have done to save her from a relationship she didn't even know about. Here is what she said about that:
"If you have family, if you have friends, call, let somebody know, you don't have to do it by yourself, there is a way out." "If you are a friend of someone in trouble, TELL. That is not being a friend, withholding information that could save someone's life."
"Parents, get involved, go to the house, visit more. Call more. Just be more involved. Be more aware. More than they are doing such and such they will do it anyway. Sometimes you just have to be overbearing."
Her 7 and 8 year old have been spared the details, but they have been told their mom will not be coming back. One of them doesn't quite get it, and asked if mom will be back in time for Christmas.
So, that is the story of Lucresha Day. 24-years-old. Had so many wonderful things to live for. I'll leave you with a picture of the burgeoning nurse, who should still be contributing to our community and our world. This loss leaves us all less than we should be.
I keep thinking about the fact that it took only two months for this relationship to take Lacresha. Two months.
