Photo: Instagram/_bontiti_
A social media influencer and beauty entrepreneur was killed in front of her daughter by her estranged husband in what police have deemed a murder-suicide case.
Theresa Cachuela, 33, a mother of three who was also known online as 'Bunny Bontiti,' was shot in the head by Jason Cachuela, 44, in the parking lot of the Pearlridge Center shopping mall in Aiea, Hawaii, Friday (December 22) morning, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
The estranged couple's youngest daughter, who police said was either 6 or 8 years old, told authorities she witnessed her father pull the trigger, KITV reports. Jason Cachuela then fled the scene in a gray Mazda before fatally shooting himself.
Authorities are investigating the incident, which took place two weeks after Theresa Cahuela was granted an order of protection against her estranged husband, as a murder-suicide.
“This was not a random act, as the victim and suspect were involved in a relationship,” said police Lt. Deena Thoemmes on Friday before Jason Cachuela was found dead via the Hawaii Tribune. “We do know that there was a TRO that was served on him, which is why this case was classified as murder in the first degree,” Thoemmes added, referring to the temporary restraining order.
Five registered firearms were found at Jason Cachuela's home when he was served the temporary restraining order, according to the Hawaii Tribune.
“Her youngest daughter is the one that tragically saw everything,” said, Lucita Ani-Nihoa, Theresa's mother, via Hawaii News Now. “She’s traumatized. She has so much faith, this little girl. She just … started praying.”
“She doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t believe her mom is gone. I don’t believe it," Ani-Nihoa added.
Theresa claimed her estranged husband had threatened to kill himself in front of her in the temporary restraining order petition.
“He then took me alone to Waikiki and held a knife to his neck traumatizing me and scaring me,” she wrote, according to the Hawaii Tribune. “The next morning he showed up to my house early in the morning to apologize. I tried to help him and talk to him but he kept threatening to kill himself again.”
Ani-Nihoa, who said her daughter was "coming to have breakfast with me" on the morning of her death, launched a GoFundMe page to help cover any of Theresa's funeral expenses.