Tiktoker April Holt’s Death Almost Went Unsolved… Until Her Mom Got Her Killer To Confess

Today's episode of True Crime with Kendall Ray is brought to you by PDS Deb and thanks to their support and support from viewers like you today I'm able to make a contribution to the higher Hope Foundation so before my husband and I got married he ended up taking on quite a bit of debt from trying to pay for his education and fund his life at age 18 and before we got married our goal was to get all of that debt paid off and so We used a program that is very similar to PDS debt not

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joining me today genuinely it means a lot to all of you who support my content and to those of you who are new welcome I'm happy to have you and be sure to hit subscribe so that you never Miss an upload from me so guys today I have a case that I am oh God I am very fired up to tell you about um I have so much to say so many thoughts I know that you guys are going to feel the same this is a that needs more exposure and when you hear about this

one like I said you're probably going to feel angry um but also inspired because today I got to collaborate with April Holt's mom her name is Jamie and wow what a fantastic human truly a salt ofth Earth individual With so much strength that I can't even put into words how inspired I have been just by talking to her seeing everything she's done in such a short period of time I mean this happened pretty recently um in the summer of 2023 really because just as a mother she inspires me everything that she has done for her

daughter but then also everything that she has done for other people in this short amount of time is so so impressive because when this first happened the Police ruled this as a suicide and she knew that that absolutely was not the case and never gave up and at first the police weren't even planning to invest tigate it but thanks to her mother Jam's hard work and determination April is going to get Justice soon I mean hopefully but I'm very confident that that is the case I just spoke to Jamie on the phone yesterday and was

just in tears and I can't tell you the amount of admiration I have for her and everything that she's been able to do and her love for her daughter just transcends um space and time I don't know how else to put it I'm really thankful that she's going to be working with me on today's episode so you'll get to hear directly from her which I think is always super beneficial and to help with her efforts our team at higher Hope Has awarded her a hope Grant this grant specifically is designed to help provide Families with

one-time Financial relief to assist with the financial burdens that come along with having a missing or murdered love run and after speaking with her more yesterday and seeing some of the things that she is trying to do to help others after everything she's been through I knew I just had to get involved with helping her with some of those other uh projects that she has already in the works and I will explain more of that as We go along here but basically she is starting her own nonprofit and I really believe in what she is

doing so we are in the process of working with her on giving her an Empower Grant as well which again I will explain what that means and I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that has supported higher hope so far I'm very very proud to announce that we have already approved seven grants um which is more than we thought we'd be able to do so Quickly I mean we only launched a few weeks ago so I really hope you guys can get behind what we're doing and just know that every single scent

that is donated to hire hope is going directly to victims to their families and to other likeminded nonprofits with similar missions in fact we have a really cool project in the works right now that I'm very excited to tell you guys about as the ball gets more rolling but um yeah good things are happen And if you're interested in supporting higher hope I would be so eternally grateful um it will only allow us to help more and more people and there are several ways you can do that we have the ability to take donations on

our website we also do reoccurring donations now like a monthly um payment option if you are interested in that also of course you can buy any of our merch including this cozy blanket um that says stay safe out there but any of our merch for any Of our shows a percentage goes to higher hope if you want to make a donation the get involved page on the higher hope website is where you can do that and we've also recently added an option to make reoccurring payments if that's something you're interested in also you can become

a member to this Channel and a percentage of your membership every month will go to High Hope so there are plenty of different ways you can get involved and we will be launching more Options as we go along here we are constantly trying to think of new ideas but really just thank you I appreciate all of those who have trusted me and my team to really make some big changes for victims of violent crime and for those of you out there who are in a place where you're not able to contribute financially completely understand but

just know that supporting this show or any of the mile higher media shows you are helping us to make larger Contributions to the foundation as well so thank you for that and I hope in today's episode when we're talking about April Holt and her mother Jamie and what they're doing that it's sort of a good reference point for you to see exactly the type of people that hire hope is helping so let me just start by telling you about April Hull which I can just tell you I mean from what I know about her I

didn't get the opportunity to meet her but um I got the opportunity to see A lot of her Tik toks because she was active on Tik Tok and obviously talking to her mom and just hearing about who she was I can tell you she was a wonderful person who did not deserve what happened to her I mean it just makes me sick really her full name is April Lynn Holt and she was born on July 6th 1994 and all to Monte Springs Florida to her mother Jamie woods and to the man that would raise her

as her father Jeremiah Dickerson Jamie was Living in Chicago when she got pregnant in high school but then she moved to Florida where she met Jeremiah her first week there and together theyve raised April along with her two younger brothers Dominic and Jared then when April was 12 their family moved to leverne Tennessee and they stayed in the greater Nashville area throughout these recent events were about to go over now as for April she was someone who was very driven in life she was always Someone who strived to be the best version of herself and

wanted to also help others reach their best version of themselves as well she was someone who had a very bright personality it really just comes through in the screen she's someone that I would want to be friends with and she sort of is described as an outgoing introvert which is sort of how I describe myself like I come across I think being on camera being extroverted I think a lot of people who make Tik Toks or YouTube or whatever come across that way but really deep down she was much more introverted she was also very

deep very insightful she loved reading journaling and honestly just loved being home with her family Above All Else personal and professional growth were also two very important pillars in her life alongside her family and her faith as well after graduating from high school April decided to take the entrepreneurial route and with a lot of Hard work work and dedication she opened up her own Lash Studio and she put a ton of work into her business and it was a really successful Endeavor for her her mom told me that it was just such a huge passion

for her and she was excited about you know starting her own business for it being able to do things like get a candy jar and put on whatever relaxing music she wanted give the customers their experience and she was sort of for many people actually their ltech or Whatever you know Beauty Tech you're seeing esthetician or whatever can become sort of like a therapist someone to talk to I mean not an actual therapist but you know what I mean like you can really bond with a good LTE or esthetician or whatever it is and April

was definitely that person for a lot of her clients and when April wasn't giving people their beautiful lashes she was pursuing her other passion which was social media specifically Tik Tok on Tik Tok she had a following of almost 200,000 and after reviewing her content myself I can definitely see why so many people gravitated towards her and making content is just something that brought her a ton of joy you can just tell that she was authentically herself and genuinely cared about the messages that she was sharing and a lot of those messages were about self-growth

and positivity spiritual affirmations she provided her audience with tips about How to level up in life and was very inspirational and really just a feel-good content creator I mean I certainly felt good watching a lot of her content she also did Center a lot of her cont content around her faith which was something that was deeply close to her heart and I've got to say that even though I'm not religious myself there were a lot of her faith-based Tik toks that resonated with me in different ways if that makes any sense three tips help You

become more spiritually aligned number one start talking to God number two meditate number three follow spiritual creators and influencers be her be the woman you needed in your life but didn't have be the woman little girls look up to and aspire to be like one day be the best version of yourself because there's somebody watching you be beautiful be bold be brilliant be her April's two kids Serenity and Denzel gave her a Really strong sense of purpose and every decision that she made was in hopes of making their lives better which also included her decision

to allow her parents to adopt her daughter's Serenity after she was born because she got pregnant with her very young she was 17 and just felt like she wasn't in the right place in her life to give Serenity the life that she deserved but jimie and Jeremiah on the other hand just knew that they could love and support Serenity the way that she needed and were more than happy to step in but that's not to say April wasn't involved in her life because she certainly was she loved her daughter very much and helped out in

any way that she was capable of then a handful of years later came her son Denzel who she had with her husband Donovan Holtz and she was in a much stronger place to be able to raise him April truly loved her kids and made a lot of sacrifices to make sure that They were taken care of for example Denzel was actually diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and she made the decision that it would be best for him to be homeschooled and obviously that's a lot of work um so she just wanted to do whatever was going

to be best for him and April herself had actually been homeschooled so she knew what a sacrifice it was and I just think it says a lot about her as a mother that she was willing to do that even though It was going to be a challenge if it was going to improve his life God I ask that you will cover my family protect and provide for my family bless my family show favor towards my family heal my family be with us fill us with your spirit and energy so that we may live our lives

for you we love and thank you for everything you do and continue to do amen okay everybody we have been MIA for a little bit we've been going to about the doctor appointments and figuring out A lot but I I think the biggest thing the biggest news we have is me well yes you but what's the biggest thing what did we decide on today what's going to happen I'm going to be homeschooled we're going to be homeschooling so we have decided that Denzel is going to be homeschooled this year as he is being diagnosed as

we are going through different medications and just learning to live with his ticks and you know we've been having some issues At school so we feel like this is best for him it was a big decision took a lot especially me being homeschooled and then re homeschooling somebody I never thought I would homeschool my kids but we have a huge support system his Grammy and Nana are going to help us and we are super super excited right yeah now as for her husband Donovan there will be no shortage when it comes to talking about him

today because he is the reason that April is no longer with us and he is going to piss you off man he is the reason that her children don't have a mother and he's the reason that April's mom Jamie has had to dedicate the last year and a half of her life to fighting for justice when she should have been working through her own grief and I know I already said this earlier but not only has she worked towards getting Justice for her own daughter and coping with her grief taking care of the Children making

sure that they are coping because what they have gone through when I get into it you're going to just be so mad um but for her to have also spent so much time thinking of ways that she can help others serve her community is just I don't even have words she is amazing to me if I had to describe my daughter April Holt I would describe her as a person of Peace a person of magnetic energy that Drew people in she Um was a great listener she was always cheerful and happy even if she didn't

want to be cheerful and happy she would never walk in a room and bring it down she always was a a Shining Light No Matter Where She Went um as a ltech her clients often said that it was more like a therapy session cuz she was such a good listener and she would just talk to them and listen and and she would just made friends with everybody she didn't meet a stranger she wouldn't hurt a fly So um a few of the things that she liked is she loved to shop drink coffee Journal um what's

weird is that all of her favorites are my favorites I think that she watched me for too many years doing these things and she took on the same habits which I just absolutely loved about her me and her we connected in we loved going to design stores she loved to Thrift Shop so that was one of her hobbies that I actually didn't do that she loved to do But overall she was just such a great person she was just she was my world changer the day that she was born all the way up to the

day she died she changed my life and her death has changed my life again um but her light will continue to shine so a couple things to note here before we go forward first of all you probably noticed that you were actually if you're watching this episode you're seeing photos of April's children and That's because that's what Jamie wanted and she gave me permission to share their faces I normally blur children's faces um but they are already on the internet and I felt like maybe you guys could connect more if you saw them and then

also when it comes to Donovan I would normally say allegedly in a case like this because he hasn't been convicted but I'm not going to do so because he has given a full confession and that's thanks to Jamie Who got it from him actually he has two confessions one to Jamie and then also one to the police but before I get into all of that I wanted to provide some context so according to April's Tik Tok she and Donovan began dating sometime around 2014 however they were friends for years before that she and Donovan talked

a lot about their relationship online so there's plenty of content out there about that and from the outside looking in they definitely appeared to Be a really strong couple very connected and had a lot of good advice to put out there but as we know social media is a highlight real and we only see certain things so it's very hard to judge a relationship based on what you see online what do you think the secret to our relationship has been oh no that's the question it's rolling the answer right now yeah being best friends that

came first if we if we weren't friends you're so out of breath I am out of breath but honestly if we weren't friends first it wouldn't last it like that's been the the base of the whole relationship Foundation was that we were friends and so even through the [ __ ] we can joke around and he really is like my bestest friend ever the bestest the best friend I could ever ask for and I married him be attached but disattached allow yourself to grow but also allow your partner to grow as themsel as an individual

you are not the Same person be honest with each other about how you feel through this journey that's the only way y'all will truly get through it together yes go babe you guys will not always be on the same level and stage of your journey so understand that you guys are going through different things at different stages while y'all are going through this journey together be open to change within your relationship don't go with cookie cutaways yes thank You now I don't doubt that a lot of what they said was true and a lot of

what we saw from them was real I mean maybe for a period of time I'm sure there was a lot of happiness in their relationship but there were a lot of things that were going on behind the scenes in their relationship that never made it to Tik Tok which I totally understand I mean that's private stuff that you wouldn't want to share but it's a good reminder that when you see the perfect Relationship on social media often times you're seeing like I said the Highlight re and that's not to say that they weren't totally honest

I mean there there were a few things that were more open on Tik Tok but she definitely gave the impression that she and Donovan were doing well even through their separation in October of 2021 she posted a video to Tik Tok with Donovan where the two of them discussed the fact that they were getting a divorce now they actually only Ended up separating but as you can tell from the video that I'm going to play here in a second it truly sounds like this was a mutual decision like basically that there were no hard feelings

and it wasn't going to change the fact that they were best friends at the end of the day story time but I couldn't do it without him because I feel like it's wrong to only put out one side here we Go okay so the story is that we are getting divorced because those our decision it's my best friend I still love her to death like we still got a child together we still going to be hanging out probably say most days of the week but at the end of the day we got [ __ ]

to do that's it you feel me she has a path to go I got a path to go but I pass a parallel and we always going to be next to each other and who's to say what's going to happen Happ in the Future all that we know is right now right now it's the best I mean real talk it's the best decision for both of us for her to do what she needs to do for me to do what I need to do so so we can grow and heal and that's it elevate no

hard feelings this is not a messy divorce or anything like that we don't do that this is like I said like he said this my best friend at the end of the day he has been before the Relationship before the marriage before the kid so nothing's going to change that so look at her bro like I will never lose this forever for real so we're good y'all we're good for real like for real for real promise y'all that's it but this version of Donovan the person who sounded like he wanted to give April the world

regardless of their relationship status That's not who he ended up being in reality however the two of them did end up getting back together after this separation and even continued to post videos with one another and they were videos that would lead you to believe that everything was fine between them but then in April of 2023 April posted a video to Tik Tok and she was talking about her struggles with her mental health she didn't specifically mention if Donovan was the reason for her mental Breakdown and her depression but given what happens shortly after this

I wouldn't be surprised if that were a big part of it let's talk about how I'm gonna fake it till I make it while I put on lash extensions because I had a mental breakdown the other night and I plucked all of my lashes off so lately I have been going through just a lot and I can definitely say that I'm in like a depressed state like I'm just overwhelmed and I know that like I'm Manifesting more negative experiences on myself with how I've been so I have to get out of this funk so I'm

going to literally fix until I make it and I've done this before this isn't this isn't the first time I'm not saying like ignore your problems I definitely like sat in my depression for some days before deciding that like [ __ ] you got to get out of this like something something's got to happen something's got to shake so I know that one of my Issues is that I just have not been taking care of myself lately my habits and my routines just have not been for me so I'm going to start doing all of

them and I say faking it but it's just really starting it until it becomes a habit again because something's got to happen some of the things that I do to fake it till I make it is I will say positive affirmations I love positive affirmations I feel like they definitely help so I just be like Today is going to be a great day I'm so positive I'm so thankful and it's not that I'm not thankful I am but you know like we're going to act more thankful than we are right now we have to like

Focus in on the things that we're really thankful for so like gratitude practices to like also remind ourselves like we're thankful for all of this stuff we're super blessed right now I think that the biggest part when you're faking it so you're making it is literally your selft Talk and the reason that I say that Donovan was likely the root of all of this is because in mid July April was ready to leave him for good that month she had asked for a divorce and this time she was serious this time she was not planning

on going back to him the relation ship between April and Donovan was always on edge throughout the years that they were together the eight the seven years that they were together I guess it's eight almost they Were always on and off in a relationship um Donovan had a obsession with April and even if she tried to leave he would often sleep outside of her apartment or sleep in her car if it was unlocked he just had an obsession with her and there was a lot of red flags throughout this entire time just the manipulation that

would go on of him pulling her away from her family or the things that she loved and just keeping her from from all Of us it was kind of like he always had something for her to do or some place for her to be if we wanted her by us um even when it came to her daughter Serenity he would pull her away from us uh we just he told Serenity once that she couldn't call him dad there was so many red flags in that aspect and then with the financial state it was always a

lie about bills being paid that weren't and then April had to Pi play catchup to cover the bills that he said he paid so There was always some kind of tension going on and when they'd walk in a room you could feel it very seldom did they come in both happy there was always something going on and you could question it but he never did physically harm her but I don't believe that just physical harm is abuse I think that um manipulation is abuse and I think that slowly after time that just eats away at

somebody just as much as a physical abuse relationship will and That brings us to Friday July 28th 2023 which honestly was as far as we know not a very unusual day that day Jamie her mother was hosting a lockin at her church where she worked as a Ministry leader and a lock in for those of you who aren't familiar is a social event for the church's youth group which often takes place overnight I actually tagged along with one of my friends to a lock in as a kid and it was actually a pretty fun time

now as for this particular Lockin April was originally supposed to help out as a chaperone Jamie says that her daughter was starting to get into Ministry work herself and so this was an evening that the two of them were really looking forward to now April ended up not being able to go to the lockin however they did have plans the next day to go to the Barbie movie which had just come out which was a huge craze I'm sure many of you have seen it now this detail really got to me because if you've seen

The Barbie movie not only is it very empowering to women um it's also just hilarious but it's very deep it has a very complex message and I was lucky enough to see it with my mother and my sister as well and it was a very special movie and experience for us to go and see the movie together in the movie there's a really strong emotional message about the relationship between mothers and daughters and being a new mother When I saw it it really tore me up I mean I was sobbing in the theater watching it

and it was really special to to you know see it with my own mother and it broke my heart to hear that Jamie and April never got to go and see the Barbie movie together and that's because that day she had to cancel those plans with her mom because Denzel had a football game and Donovan was working afterwards so he would wouldn't have been able to go and watch Their son and April was that type of Mom I mean if her son needed her she wasn't going to let anything come in the way of that

and I'm sure in her mind she was thinking there'll be other chances to go see the Barbie movie with my mom and a large part of her decision too was the fact that she had decided she was going to be leaving Donovan for good and she knew how important it was that she continued to show up for her kids during this time so that day at 12:59 p.m. she Texted her mom and said this how did the lock and go they should all be picked up by now right lol Denzel's game is at 6:00 p.m.

tonight and then Donovan works so I wouldn't be able to go to the movie afterwards if they win tonight then tomorrow's 400 p.m. so I'll be able to come to church and in on blast now Jamie actually saw this message after she had just taken a shower and wanted to take some time to relax after she had just done this exhausting lock in with a Bunch of kids so she had planned to respond to her daughter a little later but she unfortunately never got that chance because about an hour later she got a call from

Donovan saying that April was unresponsive and not breathing and that she was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital hearing this jime was shocked she immediately ran to her car to meet them at Southern Hills Hospital and the entire time she was just you know racking her brain trying To come up with an explanation for what could have happened but nothing that she could come up with in her head made any sense I mean what could have made her otherwise perfectly healthy daughter stop breathing so it was only when Jamie actually got to

the hospital that the pieces started coming together April was on life support by the time that she arrived and she saw bruising on her neck and ankles as well as broken blood vessels in her cheeks and immediately She just knew that someone had done something to her daughter but that was not the narrative that she was being told she was being told that her daughter had tried to take her own life it then took an additional 6 hours of waiting at the hospital for Jamie to learn the full details of what Donovan claimed happened and

let me tell you those details are excruciating according to Donovan he was making lunch for his son Denzel and then he asks Denzel who's Like seven at the time to check on his mom because she had supposedly been in the shower for a long time and what this poor child walked into oh my God it makes me infuriated thinking about the trauma that he is going to deal with the rest of his life for seeing his mother in this condition because when he walks into the bathroom he sees his mother unresponsive with a black trash

bag over her head that had been duct taped around her neck and I Need to point out that when Donovan called 911 and even when April 1 arrived at the hospital he had made no mention of this bag being around her head which you would think was a detail you would definitely dulge right but no this detail comes out hours later and immediately Jamie knew that her daughter did not do this to herself she just knew that her daughter would never have done this she would never leave her children like that and There had to

be more to the story and there was she was right 2 weeks later Jamie learned from Denzel that earlier on the morning of his mother's death she and his dad had gotten into a big argument in the bathroom she says that he had actually gotten down on the floor and was trying to look you know under the door crack to see if he could figure out what's going on because there clearly was some loud intense fighting going on and he said that at first he Could just see their feet and then after listening a little

bit longer he got down on the floor again looked under the door and this time he claims he saw his mother lying on the bathroom floor after he sees that he goes to his bedroom to wait and then shortly after that his dad leaves the bathroom and goes with Denzel to make the two of them lunch and then shortly after this like I explained Donovan asked him to go to get April and that's when he found her Clinging On to Life with a trash bag over her head but in the hospital Jamie at the time

didn't have all these answers all that she knew was that something happened and her daughter was now fighting for her life and they didn't know if she was going to make it and then what's crazy is jimie actually had to be the one to contact the police and let them know that they needed to investigate this but then when she found out that there was a trash bag taped around April's head she knew that Something more had to have happened there had to be a lot more to this story that she wasn't being told but

at this point of course she didn't know exactly what had happened and obviously her and her family's main focus was April and they were just spending a lot of time praying for her to wake up however on July 31st 2023 April passed away from her injuries leaving everyone in their family devastated angry and also just confused the day that I got a call from Donovan was July 29th of 2023 when he called to tell me that April was found not breathing in the shower and that she was in the hospital on the way to the

she was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital I immediately felt like something was off because she had just texted me an hour and a half prior and said she would meet me at church the next day so I really didn't understand what had happened I didn't know if she Fell and hit her head or if she just wasn't feeling good or I really had no idea what any of that meant I just had a feeling in my gut that something was wrong and when I arrived at this hospital to find that she

was on life support I was in utter shock I didn't have any clue that this was the extent of the injury that had taken place I knew then though that something wasn't right this was not adding up Donovan was sitting there rocking his rocking just Rocking like and holding his head like he didn't like he didn't want to tell me what had happened and then he had this story that didn't make sense saying her throat was hurting and she wasn't acting like herself but like I said I had just she had just texted me an

hour and a half prior and was perfectly fine so none of it added up I knew from that moment that something was not right and that is when I started to search for the details that I needed and we didn't find Out till hours later even about the bag and he was not the one to tell us and so the bag that was over her head and so I knew that there was more being hidden than just that I've already pretty much made it clear that Donovan was responsible for this and I will give you

more information as to how we know that and I did mention a confession so we will get to that but before we move further I just want to say it is next level Evil for a killer to send a child Their own child up to see a situation like that to see to knowingly send your poor child up knowing exactly what they're going to walk into to try and make it seem like they were the ones who uncovered it for whatever reason to you know remove yourself from it whatever it was but to send I

just I can't get over it I can't even find the words it makes me unbelievably angry to the point where I am probably breaking out in a rash Underneath my sweatshirt because who does that sends a child up to see their mom in that condition with a bag taped over her head that's evil there is no other words for it I mean committing a murder horrible evil beyond measure right but that is just a whole other level to bring a child into it and mess them up for the rest of their lives he made that

conscious decision to traumatize his child for the rest of his Life to involve his son in the murder that he committed and it's just inexcusable there really aren't any words that I can find to describe how horrific it is it's diabolical but anyway like I was saying earlier Jaimie just knew that something was off here that she was not getting the full story that her daughter would not have taken her own life and not only that the bruises and injuries on April's body were not consistent with someone who Suffocated themselves and she could just tell

from Donovan's behavior during this time that something was off for starters it turns out that a week before her daughter's death Donovan had pawned April's wedding ring and sure they were getting a divorce and everyone feels differently about what happens with the ring afterwards but in my opinion it was her ring and it was her decision to decide what to do with it Jamie also says that while he was in the hospital Room he gave her April's phone and told her that she could make all medical decisions going forward and maybe at first glance that

could seem like a kind thing to do to allow her mother to make all these decisions but to Jamie it felt like he was being cold and distant she felt like he didn't want to have any part in the situation that he didn't even want to be around April and she even says that he left the hospital several times to go back to the Apartment the day that it happened and he never gave an explanation as to why and he did that before police were even able to go over there so it definitely makes you

wonder what could have been doing over there conveniently before the police were able to gather any evidence she also says that Donovan was just going on and on about how April wasn't acting like herself that day something seemed off and just really trying to push that narrative that she had taken Her own life like trying too hard to convince everyone that was the case but of course Jaime's motherly intuition was telling her that that could not be true even in November of 2023 when the medical examiner's office came out with their ruling that April's death

was the result of Suffocation and the manner of death was suicide she didn't let go of her suspicion um last Friday I received the report that I've been waiting for for over 3 months I was extremely upset Extremely angry when I got the report my daughter's autopsy it tells you that the type of death was suspected suicide this is let me give you a little backdrop my detective decided to take it upon himself to show up at my daughter's autopsy and give them a backstory of somebody he didn't know anything about of somebody that he

didn't even have the details on this case because we didn't have all the details on the case until later on it said that my daughter had Minor blunt force trauma of the body it says that her circumstances of death is that my daughter descendant secured the bag around her head he gave them this information when there is no proof of that at all and he decided to go in there and give them thisinformation it says there are multiple P peal peal hemorrhages that extend across the bilateral cheeks she had her veins her blood vessels were

red and um and they were hemorrhaging on her face which is a Sign of smugger room or strangulation and it says right here there are multiple hemorrhages across the bilateral cheeks my detective said well I didn't see any um I didn't see any signs of struggle so here's where it says there's a puncture wound surrounding her Ecom myosis within the right F fosa FASA I'm not a medical person so you just I'm just a mom so there are two small purple bruises that are on the anterior aspect of her right Forearm there is a puncture

wound in the left arm there is a large purple echios with a 6 cm abrasion that extends across the lateral aspect of her left thigh multiple small faint purple contusions are on her lower extremities on her bilateral lower extremities showing first of all in the first page it says that she had blunt forc trauma now we're seeing that she's got bruises all over her body summary of case and that's the page that I'm on Says the summary of case The Descendant had a reported past medical history of alcohol and marijuana abuse the detective decided to

make this statement up completely on his own never given this information my daughter yes my daughter drank wine and yes my daughter would take a half a gummy every day of marijuana I'm not a mom that denies or or even is ashamed of what my children do if they want to have a glass of wine and they want to take half a Gummy if that's going to help them through life well then go for it but to go into a autopsy and tell them that she has a reported where is it reported I would love

to see that past medical history of alcohol and marijuana abuse there is nowhere stated in any medical record that she has this he has made that up himself again that's the Nashville Metro Police Department and then right here so this is this is the really interesting part Where they decided to say law enforcement was not suspicious of any Foul Play yeah went into my daughter's autopsy who has all of these exterior elements and says they're not even suspicious of any Foul Play so I immediately filed this paper right here and what this paper says is

it is a request for reconsideration of suicide as a manner of death I have written a down here an explanation of how the Police have decided to take it upon themselves to tell them what the meaning what the definition or what her meaning of um her cause of death was and then here is an explanation of the circumstances that surrounded what happened that day because they didn't decided to inform the people of the autopsy that she was laying on the ground with her ex soon to be ex-husband in there with her fighting with her before

her death They didn't decide to tell that she had this bag over head they said she put the bag over her head from the moment that her daughter died she has made it her mission to seek the truth and to seek Justice and from the way things are moving it looks like justice is in fact coming and you want to know what she did in the meeting with detectives when they told her that the case was closed she and her husband got up from their chairs and they left and to me that says a lot

Now Jim's investigation into her daughter's murder has definitely not been easy it's been a steep climb and there has been no shortage of roadblocks along the way she knew that she needed more people to know about the case she needed support Community Support Beyond her own community and she did what many families do when they're in a situation like this trying to fight for justice and that's turned to the internet now she had no idea how to use Tik Tok had Never been on Tik Tok and her and I were joking the other day about

how it's really a confusing app I am so lost when it comes to any type of Tik Tok creation to the point where I've just given up but she decided she was going to do whatever she can to try and gain some momentum to try to gain some support and she knew that her daughter was big on Tik Tok so she decided that that would be a really good place to dive into you know building awareness around the case And getting the word out she just figured you know if this is an app that April

used to reach people maybe I can too and I'm so glad that she did and her message has truly been about awareness and advocacy for April she has shared countless videos expressing what she believes to be the truth about her daughter's death and even did so when no one was willing to listen and it was actually through Tik Tok that she found out about my platform and decided to end Up reaching out to me because so many of the people that were seeing her videos were recommending this channel which I'm really grateful for um very

proud of my audience for being able to see cases like that out there and try to get them to me and we actually started the process of working together months ago and we unfortunately had to put a pause on things because she was so outspoken on Tik Tok that she was put under a gag order and as you can Imagine being silenced in a time like that is such a setback such a punch to the gut and the fact that we weren't a able to share her case sooner is it's just awful it really makes

me mad um I'm glad we're able to do that now since she has no longer under a gag order but yeah it was a real setback and I have a lot of complaints for the system for doing things like that I mean sometimes a gag order is very necessary but for a mother who's just trying to Get the word out about her daughter and Seeking Justice it's really frustrating and we had actually talked about me doing the episode without her but at the end of the day we decided that it would be much more beneficial

to wait until the gag order was lifted because I knew she would be the best voice for April and really able to connect with the audience I think it always helps to hear directly from families and I'm really glad we waited because the universe Works in interesting ways because in that time she was able to get a confession from Donovan and record it so I want you to hear now from Jamie about how this gag order came to be and what she did as a result in the early stages of the investigation I knew that

the police hadn't been called in for 6 hours till 6 hours after April was at the hospital and that was only by the fact that we alerted them that there was a bag over her head we knew that Donovan Had to return to that apartment three times prior to them getting there and we wanted to make sure that they were doing the proper collection of evidence afterwards when we found out that none of this was being done including video camera footage uh many other factors like they didn't notice that the divorce papers on the counter

they they didn't notice a lot of key factors in this entire thing and so I decided to take it into my own hands in order to make sure That people understood that this was a case that was being dropped I went on to Tik Tock which I've never been a part of before I've never actually had a Tik Tock account I only knew of it through April and I decided I was going to start to um advocate for what I needed for this case and so as soon as I started putting the word out there

because no news channels no social media nobody would take on the case so when I decided that I was going to start putting this Out Donovan went and got an attorney and he put a gag order against me that I was given the court did give me this gag order and they told me I wasn't allowed to talk about April or I could not see my grandson Denzel anymore so that is when I decided okay well I'm got to come up with a creative way of still being able to get my voice hurt so I'd

put tape over my mouth every day and I would say things like I'd write on the tape Justice for April Hol or help me remove This gag order or let my silence be heard or please share this story or whatever it would be I put it across my mouth and I would still be heard even with a gag order and in the background of all of that I was still researching 2 to three hours a day in order to get Justice for my daughter I had never stopped I just had to do it silently let's

also keep in mind though that while jimie was fighting for justice she was also fighting for custody of Denzel She and Jeremiah had hired an attorney to try and get custody of him but since April's manner of death was ruled a suicide the judge granted Donovan full custody and Jamie was only granted once a month visitations which is just a pain that no one should have to deal with I mean imagine being In Her Shoes you know deep down in your heart that your child has been killed by someone you know who it is and

then not only are you dealing with all that pain no one's listening to You you feel like you're fighting this uphel battle but then your child's child has to go and live with the person you know is responsible for their death and you are only able to see them once a month oh my God I can't even imagine the anger as a reminder she and Jeremiah did have custody of April's daughter Serenity because they had adopted her long before all of this and of course they're doing their best to try and help her get through

this insanely difficult Time but none of this was easy for any of them she said that some days were better than others but the bottom line is these children had lost their mother and the narrative surrounding her death was false and Jamie and Jeremiah knew it and a lot of those falsehoods were being perpetuated by the Metro Nashville Police Department the M&P D is a huge reason why this was such an uphill battle for Jamie like you heard her say in that clip from Tik Tok they straight Made up information and failed to consider the

entire facts of the case before determining the manner of death they also said that they couldn't find any proof that contradicted Donovan's statements and therefore they would not be changing the ruling on it and hearing this made her angry of course but it only fueled her desire to get to the truth even more so after requesting the full case File she began conducting her own investigation and even launched a Formal complaint with the office of professional accountability and the community oversight board I mean by this point the police were just straight up disregarding her questions

and concerns and she felt like this was the next step that she just had to take and after 4 months of waiting she received a 47 page report that provided one key piece of information that she didn't have before and this piece of information changed everything In this report it was determined that two of Donovan's fingerprints were found on the duct tape used to tie the plastic bag around April's neck yet hm the police were saying that they couldn't find any proof that contradicted Donovan's statements I think anyone anyone with a brain cell could tell

you that that's pretty strong proof that contradicts his statements right now I do have to say that this was not determined to be a new Role of duct tape so there is an argument that his fingerprints were there from another time that he picked up the role okay sure like I guess it leaves this tiny bit for Reasonable Doubt but not enough to not question his statement and then Donovan also told authorities that he had removed the duct tape from her neck after he found her which could be another explanation and of course these were

explanations to consider at the time because they didn't Have a confession yet which I am getting to very shortly and I really want you guys to pay attention to this next bit because when jimie learned about this information about the duct tape and the fingerprints her mind of course didn't go to the other explanations her mind like probably all of you out there went to the explanation that was most obvious to her right and that's that his fingerprints were on that duct tape because he was the one to put it around Her neck so let's

get into the confession and then the arrest so in June of 2024 Jaimie decides to confront Donovan about the new information that she had from the report she sent him a screenshot that showed his fingerprints were on that duct tape and she gave him two options option A he could just tell her the truth option b she could take that information to the Cold Case unit which they should have already had that right and this ultimate him worked Donovan went with option A he called her up and confessed to murdering her daughter just as she

had always suspected just as she had always knew she even recorded their conversation because there was no world in which she was going to let him get away with this any more than he already had and once she had that confession recorded of course she took it right to police who finally agreed to reinvestigate April's case which at that point really did they Have any other choice I mean he here he is confessing to it now for legal reasons I obviously can't play the confession for you maybe when day it'll be out there I'm not

sure um but here's Jamie to tell you more about it the day that I got a confession from Donovan he had text me that morning and he had explained to me that he wanted to talk to me about Denzel and his football and I said okay and then it wasn't until about 3:30 that afternoon when he called Me on FaceTime um through Facebook and he first asked me if anybody was around me and I explained to him no nobody was around me I had known that something was up that day when he had said he

wanted to talk to me cuz he never wanted to talk to me and so I had kept Serenity's phone with me for recording in case I needed to now prior to me doing this I did look up the state laws of finding out that Tennessee is a onep party State and only I needed to know that I was Doing a recording which is very important if you decide to do something like that otherwise they can throw out your evidence so when he called and he just started talk to me about Denzel and that about his

football and his asthma and then he went into telling me about that morning now this phone call was over 407 minutes long it was very long and I knew I had to sit there and I knew I had to stay calm even with somebody explaining to me that they've murdered My child this is only done through walking through the spirit and that's the only way I was able to do it I knew that Denzel was still in his care and that this was very important that high stayed calm so he explained to me how they

were having intercourse which is what he claims which I do not believe and that he had choked her and she was no longer breathing when he noticed she was no longer breathing he said he panicked and didn't know what to do so He drug her to the shower from that point he put a bag over her face and he taped it and then he went into the living room and he ate lunch and dressed Denzel and then a short while later he then told Denzel to go and check on his mom he said she was

taking too long in the shower so Denzel went to go check on his mom and the door was locked so Denzel unlocked the door and found his mom in the bathroom with the bag over her head that is when 911 was called I Do not believe that this was a sexual act considering the fact that he had the tape and the the bag with him in the bathroom I also do not believe that it was a sexual act because somebody that we that we love that's our spouse we would not drag to a shower and

we would not put a bag and tape over their head like they are trash like they are disposable we would have resuscitated them and called 911 right away we wouldn't have went into a living room And ate steak and broccoli for lunch and dressed our child we wouldn't have sent our child in there to find their mother in such a way that was extremely hard I'll be honest KN when he told me that he killed her I already knew i' had been dealing with this grief this understandment this pain for over almost a year now

and so I knew that that's what happened so I wasn't in shock with that I was just reliev that now I had it in recording in A recorded form that I could bring to the police now when I heard what Donovan was claiming had happened for the first time I was absolutely floored I mean the nerve of this man for so many reasons this story is incredibly unlikely but there's one reason in particular that I haven't mentioned yet that makes it in my mind just not a possibility when I talked to Jamie on the phone

she told me some information that really cleared things up for me really connected the Dots and made me even more confident that Donovan's story of what happened like I said just cannot have possibly happened I'm going to share this information with you because Jamie gave me permission to and I think it's important I think this will solidify things in your mind even more than they probably already are um but I will warn you it is upsetting and we're going to be talking about essay so 3 days only three days before before April Was murdered by

her husband it turns out that she was actually sexually assaulted so the person who sexually assaulted April was actually not Donovan it was another man who I won't be mentioning by name as much as I want to but it was really bad he was someone that she was providing Interior Design Services for and I'm not going to get into any details of it but it was so bad that she did end up going to the hospital the day after it happened and the reason I bring This up is because Jamie myself I'm sure most of

you out there can agree that in no world would she have wanted to engage in sex violent sex according to Donovan with who by the way she's in the process of leaving of divorcing why would she want to do anything like that why would you know you're still recovering at that point 3 days later there is no way that that happened I just I don't Buy it for a single second let's just run that back a little more clear because I'm obviously getting emotional but for Donovan's version of events to be true April would have

had to consent to sex violent sex according to him just days after being sexually assaulted okay no way no way and to add to that a April had sort of already moved on I mentioned earlier that Donovan and her had actually separated for a period of time and during that period of time April was Seeing someone else and April started talking to this person again after she asked Donovan for a divorce so and this is just something to think about because I don't know for sure but is it possible that Donovan found out became angry

and possibly killed her because of that like a situation of if I can't have her no one can so it's just something to think about and as for what jimie believes she believes what Denzel told her from the beginning she thinks that the two of Them got in an argument in the bathroom just like her grandson heard and saw and that's where all of this took place basically that this whole sex gone wrong story could very well be aoy by Donovan to downplay everything to say it was an accident and he just panicked but anyway

regardless of the specifics a confession is a confession and thankfully the police took this confession seriously in their renewed efforts the mnpd obtained their own Confession in July where Donovan admitted to strangling April because of Jam's perseverance and inability to take no for an answer April is thankfully on a path towards getting Justice now what she has done is a testament to Motherhood and that Bond and also to never give giving up and I can't tell you how many families I see that are going through this right now how many families out there who could

be watching this who I hope you know gain some Inspiration from Jamie and the work that she put in and I know I sound like a broken record I always say how no family should ever have to be the one fighting for justice that the police should just do their job and it shouldn't be in their hands their only responsibility at that point in my opinion should be dealing with their grief trying to process what they have gone through and taking care of themselves mentally and physically and so many people that's Just not an option

that's just not the reality the reality is a lot of families out there do have to be the ones that are fighting for answers who are searching for their loved ones who are pushing to get the information who are pushing police calling them non-stop even when they stop answering their calls and I just hope that Jaime's story can be inspiration for so many out there at the end of the day I really wanted to talk about this case not only because April was an incredible person who deserves to be talked about and remembered but also

as a reminder for those out there who are fighting that your fight is not for nothing and to never stop and that's a really big message that Jamie wants to share with anyone who is going through something like this right now that you can make a difference however of course this is not the end of the road there is still a lot to do as I'm about to explain um you Know a lot more Hoops to jump through but getting a confession and an arrest is a huge step forward and yes an arrest was made

in September of 2024 Donovan was arrested in San Antonio Texas where he had been living and was later indicted on the charges of Reckless homicide falsifying a report and tampering with evidence he was extradited to the Davidson County Jail in Tennessee where he is currently being held on a $75,000 Bond and that same Month April's manner of death was reclassified to homicide Donovan's arraignment hearing was actually supposed to happen before I recorded this episode it was scheduled for October 23rd however it has unfortunately been postponed because apparently the state hasn't gotten him an attorney yet

which is just so frustrating I mean the legal system just never ceases to infuriate me more and more more and more with every case Moving forward though Jaimie is looking to have Donovan's charges increased from Reckless homicide to first-degree murder and she also wants the charge of child endangerment to be added and I definitely agree with her on both of those changes needing to happen I'm sure most of you do as well Jamie is now working with a new district attorney and she's hopeful that maybe she'll have a better experience with them and this is

the third one since she started her Efforts and I hope this is something that they're going to be able to accomplish this new DA is a woman and she's hoping that maybe there'll be like a maternal instinct or heart that will make her want to help April Woman to Woman the last two da have been men and of course many great men out there many not so great men out there right and um to say that they have been disrespectful and unprofessional in this case and towards Jamie and her daughter would be an understatement I'm

not going to get into everything that they have said to her and done but just know it's bad it's uh it would really really piss you off but anyway um on a positive note another really cool thing that Jaimie is doing right now is opening a nonprofit grief Center and it's called grieve with me and it's of course in April's honor and I was so excited to hear about this I Think it's so cool I mean keep in mind her daughter was murdered it's been like a year and a half right and in that time

she has not only done so much work and made massive amounts of progress in her daughter's case but to then also try and think of ways that she can help others raise awareness about domestic violence and then open this grief Center she is amazing to me and when I spoke to her on the phone yesterday she had just gotten the keys to the building that morning Which really was a miracle because she didn't know how she was going to financially swing it so it's it's just such great news however there's still a lot of work

to be done there she needs to get furniture and get the space ready but I'm just so blown away by how quickly she was able to pull all of this off she's already gotten the 501c3 approval and is working on getting more funds to facilitate the opening of the center as quickly as Possible and she was explaining to me that the goal of the center is to provide free resources to people experiencing grief such as youth grief groups art therapy classes and eventually grief camps but it's really going to be just a safe place where

she wants people to be able to go and just sit maybe drink a cup of coffee speak to others who are going through something similar and relax a little bit create that sense of community and if this is Something that you guys are interested in supporting and please please consider doing so I'm telling you Jamie is going to put every single scent to good use to helping others in her daughter's honor and if you have any ability to make even the smallest donation please consider doing so I'm going to have that GoFundMe linked below and

I know that she will be so so appreciative of any help I obviously can't say enough good things about her and everything that she plans To do but this is not going to be cheap or easy it's a lot to take on and she's going to need a lot of support and I thought this is really cool but the reason that she is naming the grief Center grieve with me is because it's actually the title of a children's book that her and April's daughter Serenity have written together it's not been published yet but I just

thought that was really really special and not only that all the proceeds from that book are Going to go right back into the nonprofit to help others it's just so awesome and just when you think she can't get any more impressive through everything else she has been through and everything else she is working on she has actually already written a book about grief and it's published you can buy it now and please consider because all the proceeds from that are also going towards the grief center it's called grieving through Grace which is Both a memoir

and guide to the grief Journey after the loss of a child or a loved one so of course I will have that linked below if you are interested in picking that up and reading it yourself I'm actually going to link everything that she has including her Tik Tok and her Facebook page which are two places I encourage you guys to check out and follow maybe so that you can stay up to date on everything related to April's case and everything that she's doing and Additionally my Foundation higher Hope Has awarded Jamie our hope Grant we've

been working with her over the past couple of weeks to get this grant in her hands you know after all of the sacrifices that she has made emotionally physically financially we are just grateful to have been able to award this to her and by the time that this episode goes live she will have already received those funds and like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode we also Decided that we wanted to get involved in the creation of her grief Center through one of our Empower grants which is directly for nonprofits and that will

support the grieve with me center now this grant is in the early phases we are still discussing the best way to use these funds and how to work together so be sure to follow her and us uh higher hope org on social media to stay up to date on how that plays out and like I also Mentioned one of J's biggest goals here is to spread awareness about domestic violence which truly there can never be enough awareness about domestic violence as it's truly just an epidemic all around the world through her social media she's really

working to talk more openly about DV and help educate others about what signs to look for and of course I wanted to update you guys when it comes to Denzel cuz I'm sure you're wondering and I am happy to tell you That he is now in her full custody and he's in great hands um when we talked yesterday she's doing everything she can in the world to help him through such a difficult experience for both kids Serenity as well she actually got that c back the day that Donovan was arrested so now Serenity and Denzel

are together in her care and she's working as hard as she can to give them the most normal life that she can my call to action through Kendall's audience and through Everybody on here that is watching is that we are able to give hope to families that have lost hope in getting Justice for their families cases that if they've been ruled as suicide they've been closed in any kind of way that they don't take that as a final answer that is a final no that they continue to fight because there's always a stone that's been

left unturned and you have to find out what that is so you have to dig deep it's going to take a lot it's Going to take hours it's going to take days it's going to take months it could even take years but it's worth getting Justice for your loved one or your family member or your friend and so I just want the call to action be let's spread hope let's spread domestic violence awareness out there only only 50% of people that are strangled even show a physical symptom it is atrocious to think of all of

the things that are out there that are happening every Single day every single second and yet nobody is and they're suffering in silence and so we need to be their voice in addition I want to open a grief Center in April's memory it's going to be called grieve with me after a book that her 12-year-old daughter has written with me it's a children's book on Grief that we are we are just in the process of publishing so the grief Center is a nonprofit it's called grief with me we are now funding for it and There's

a GoFundMe site for this grief Center and we are excited to open it hopefully before the holidays when people are grieving most we know that there are people the 57% of people are going through some sort of grief right now and so we want to be able to offer a place that's for our youth and for all ages it'll have a youth center and a stress-free grief Lounge it'll have grief art therapy and free resources when you're in grief you just Need a place to just be and comforted by other people that are grieving and

so that is our hope that we are able to do this and our last call to action that we are just going to be so focused on making sure is taking place is getting policies and procedures changed within the EMT service making sure that the police are called at every call that there's a domestic partner involved when somebody is not breathing there was no reason cops were not called for 6 hours And that we had to be the one to alert them that should be automatic in addition we want to have um the policy changed

that when there is an autopsy that the detective is not allowed in and they have to meet with the um the medical examiners afterwards so that the autopsy is strictly medical and then they can collaborate later on but this needs to be done over medical facts only I think that all of these things are possible actually I know they are It's just going to take the voice of many of us and some strength and willpower but we will make it happen so please stand with us with the with with all of these um calls to

action and I know that in time change can be made without change everything stays the same with change things are better so we just appreciate and love every single person for all the love and support that we've been given during this tragedy our tragedy is going to be turned to light And we know that ail light is going to shine forever which puts a smile on our face and her children's face and she'll be so proud of what all of us are doing now I don't think it's lost on anyone that mnpd failed April especially

in the beginning of this case when no signs in her life pointed to her wanting to take her own life they spread the narrative immediately that she did and that's not only harmful to her memory but it's also Harmful to her children and all of their family not to mention the fact that they just completely dismissed Jamie when she told them that she knew her daughter was killed and it really took jimie having to get a confession on her own for them to pay attention to her at all and imagine if she wasn't able to

get that confession which really could have happened there would be no justice there would be no path to Justice I should say at all for April at this point plus Let's not forget that they put Denzel in danger by allowing him to be in Donovan's custody for an entire year before he was finally removed April is now buried a few minutes away from their church and she is missed every single day Jamie says that she finds herself watching her daughter's Tik Tok videos to feel close to her and I'm so glad that she has those

I'm sure there's so much comfort in just being able to hear her voice she's also found a lot of Healing through her faith and continues to pray that Justice will be served April was someone who was just trying to get out of her marriage and jealousy and anger of one man prevented her from doing so but one thing I wanted to mention here as well is as a result of her passing April has saved four lives through organ donation which is so beautiful to me Jamie said she knew that's what her daughter would have wanted

and it's really a massive impact To make on those people's lives and ultimately I am hoping for the day that we can all know that there has been Justice for April Holt but before I leave you all today I wanted to to say that if you are a victim of domestic violence and in need of helping get out you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 8007997233 or text begin that's b g i n to 88788 but that is all I have for you Guys today on April's case more to come I am confident

that there will be Justice for April very soon and um yeah that's going to be it for me today guys I will be back next week to talk about another case but until then stay safe out there [Music]