Family urges other domestic violence victims to seek help after husband kills wife in Moundville

TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Loved ones are trying to cope with the loss of a couple in Moundville.

A husband is accused of fatally shooting his wife before turning the gun himself on Christmas Day. Family members say this is not the first instance of violence in this relationship.

"We are going to miss the most about her is her laugh and her smile," Tameka Cook Minter said.

Loved ones are still trying to wrap their heads around why Tamiesure Minter Vanhorn's husband Tyrone Vanhorn would shoot his own wife in their Cedar Bend mobile home.

She was airlifted to DCH Regional Medical Center early Christmas morning where she later died, leaving her family heartbroken.

"Like I said, baby, it's just a tragedy. Everybody is totally devastated. It's just unfair. Violence is never an answer. She shouldn't have been taken from us this soon in this way," family friend Margaret Lee said.

The violence she's referring to is the nine years of physical and emotional abuse friends and family say Tamiesure endured while being married to Vanhorn.

Family members say Tamiesure tried to get away but she always went back and now Christmas Day will forever be a constant reminder of the day they lost her.

"I felt like I was in a dream, like it wasn't real, this couldn't be happening not to Tamiesure. Our Christmas will never be the same never. This has just ruined our Christmas," Alethia Minter, Tamiesure's cousin, said.

The Vanhorns' 9-year-old daughter, who witnessed her mother's death, is being cared for by family.

"We will teach this child how to love like her mother loved and that was to no end," Alethia Minter said.

A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help care for the Vanhorns' daughter. So far, $200 out of a $15,000 goal has been raised.

You can find the Go Fund Me account here: https://www.gofundme.com/care-4-tymesha-due-to-dv-deaths?ssid=853507694&pos=2

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