Woman killed with kids makes 911 call as boyfriend breaks in

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Marissa Reynoso’s voice was calm at first on New Year’s Day when she called 911 to report her ex-boyfriend was trying to break in through a window. It was her third plea for help in the weeks since he threatened suicide and told her “I’ll see you in heaven.”

But about 40 seconds into Sunday’s call, a voice screamed “he’s got a gun!” For the next several minutes, the emergency operator unsuccessfully tried to get her back to the phone. Deputies arrived about a minute later, the sheriff said.

By then, she and her children were already dead.

Jorge Chavez, 25, shot his way through the back door of the West Columbia home, shooting his 26-year-old former girlfriend several times in the chest, their 3-year-old son in the back and their 1-year-old daughter in the chest before killing himself with a gunshot to the head, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said in a statement late Tuesday night.

For more than a decade, South Carolina has had some of the highest rates of domestic violence killings in the nation, and Sunday’s deaths followed a frequent, disturbing pattern of threats and unwanted visits.

Reynoso and Chavez broke up in October after five years together. She first called 911 about her ex-boyfriend on Nov. 14, telling Lexington County deputies that Chavez threatened to kill himself, showed her a rope in his passenger seat and said “I can’t do this anymore. I’ll see you in heaven” before driving off, according to a police report.

Chavez returned unannounced on Dec. 12 after Reynoso agreed to let him see their children. He knocked on her bedroom window asking her to come outside so they could talk. She refused, a police report said.

The gun Chavez used was reported stolen in the town of Clinton several years ago. Deputies aren’t sure how Chavez got it, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement.