A man accused of killing his longtime girlfriend in Mountain View, with her two children nearby, was ordered Friday to stand trial on murder and misdemeanor child endangerment charges.
Damon Edwards, 41, was charged in the murder of 38-year-old Mickette Smith at her Mountain View apartment on Aug. 25, 2017.
That morning, her children told officials, Edwards ran out of the house and told them not to go to their mother's bedroom.
Her then 9-year-old daughter walked into the room to find her mother dead.
Veronica Smith, Mickette's younger sister, told NBC 7 she learned something was horribly wrong when her 9-year-old niece, Jaydaa, called her Friday morning, panicked.
"[She said], 'My mom is not moving, ' and I said, 'What do you mean?'" Veronica recalled. "'She's not moving,' [Jaydaa] said. 'Mom...I'm scared, I touched her arm, and there was blood.'"
The victim suffered trauma to her head and upper torso. Authorities opened a homicide investigation and later arrested Edwards in connection with the crime.
Smith's mother, Dorothy Smith, previously told NBC 7 that the crime has shattered their lives.
"To me, I see my baby, when I just had her. And I'm just holding her, she's two hours old and she's looking at me. That's what I see," she said.
Court records show Edwards has had two domestic violence cases filed against him; the most recent case was filed in 2015.
If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison. The trial is set for April 18.
