Husband's 911 Calls Played in Oceanside Murder Trial

Prosecutors played several 911 calls in a North County courtroom in the case of an Oceanside man accused of shooting his wife to death in front of their two children on New Year’s Day.

U.S. Army Reservist Tamara Henderson, 25, was found inside her Oceanside apartment, lying on the bed dressed for church with a gunshot wound to the chest on Jan. 1.

Her husband, Dontaye Henderson is accused in her murder. He requested that he not be present during Monday's preliminary hearing.

Neighbors of the couple in the 2300 block of Paseo De Laura told Oceanside police they heard the couple fighting early New Year’s Day.

In a series of recordings made after 11 a.m., Dontaye Henderson calls 911 asking for an ambulance. He tells 911 operators that his wife hurt herself, then tells them that she hit her head and then tells them she is having an asthma attack.

“She’s hurt really bad. It was all an accident I swear,” Henderson could be heard in the recordings played at his preliminary hearing Monday, Aug. 8. “She didn’t mean to do all that stuff.”

“She’ll live though. She’s just cold,” he said.

“They need to revive her right quick. She’ll make it though. She’ll make it,” he said.

In later recordings, fire dispatch operators have trouble communicating with Dontaye Henderson. The connection is dropped and Dontaye is not at the location when emergency crews arrive. 

Tamara’s mother, Elsie Lott Billups, testified that her daughter had tried to contact her via text at 10:44 a.m. asking for a ride to church.

Billups testified her other daughter heard Tamara's 6-year-old daughter in the background saying, “My Daddy shot my Mommy and now she's dead.”

After the shooting prosecutors said Henderson, a parolee and registered sex offender, cut off a GPS tracking bracelet and fled the county. He was detained Jan. 4 at a Greyhound bus terminal in St. Louis en route to Lexington, KY. U.S.

Marshals used Henderson's cell phone to find him after the GPS tracking device was found in a hotel laundry basket near the crime scene.

Henderson has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder charges.

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