Haven Trevino (Facebook)
In remembering her daughter Haven Trevino, Jennifer Trevino said the 19-year-old loved music – one of her favorite songs being “Golpes en el Corazón” by the band Los Tigres del Norte. The song tells the story of a soured romance that ultimately leaves the singer heartbroken.
“In English, it’s called ‘Hits on the Heart,’” Jennifer said over Zoom. “That was mine and her favorite song.”
On Nov. 12, Haven was killed as she prepared to begin her shift at Orlando’s Italian Restaurant – located at 6951 Indiana Ave.
According to the news release, at 12:15 p.m. police located 19-year-old Haven suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. Trevino was rushed to University Medical Center where she was later pronounced deceased.
Moments, at about 12:20 p.m., police responded to St. Joseph Catholic Church, 104 N. Ave. P, in reference to a second call about the shooting. The police report states the call indicated a suicidal male was suggesting he shot his girlfriend earlier that day.
When police arrived at the scene they located 20-year-old Isaiah Mesa, who was suffering from life-threatening, self-inflicted gunshot wounds. He was transported to University Medical Center where he was later pronounced deceased.
Trevino’s aunt, Kim Hernandez, said once she was notified her niece had been shot, the severity of the situation was not clear to her until she and Trevino’s mother arrived at the hospital.
“They said that she didn’t make it, and I’m like, ‘You’re kidding me’, you know, ‘Can you bring her back?’” Hernandez said over Zoom, holding back tears. “And they were like, ‘No. We tried. We tried for 20 minutes.’”
The end to what Haven’s family described as a tumultuous relationship that began in high school and found its ending that fateful day despite their pleas to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and police. They had a child.
Baby Ezra was cooing and crying during the Zoom interview with Haven’s family – a bittersweet reminder of their loved one gone.
Haven’s aunt, Janette Rojas, and cousin, Amari Hernandez spoke about Haven living on through Ezra.
“You see her silliness, you see her smile, you see…you see a lot of her character in him,” they said. “Her sassiness, her attitude, the way she loved. He’s a little Haven.”
Both agencies declined comment specific to this case.
In addition to a criminal history including aggravated robbery and possession of marijuana, documents from CPS showed Mesa had abused Trevino and their infant son Ezra several times. This included choking Trevino, damaging her vehicle and giving Ezra chemical burns all earlier this year.
“On Mother’s Day, he choked her until she passed out,” Hernandez said. “I guess this was the first time he had choked her to that extent.”
Isaiah Mesa (Lubbock County Jail)
The incident with the bleach occurred on Oct. 2 when Mesa caught Haven packing up her belongings; Haven’s family said she was going to leave him. The incident left Ezra in the ICU for a couple of days.
Hannah Yunker, a close family friend, held up photos of Ezra’s injuries as Jennifer cried silently while her son held her. According to Hernandez, she called CPS to report various incidents at least three times and only heard back once. Haven’s family said they reported various incidents to LPD at least four times since May of 2020.
On June 22, Hernandez said she made another report to CPS following an incident with Mesa yelling outside of Hernandez’s home.
“Isaiah should have never been around Haven and Ezra at the same time,” Hernandez said. “Again, I contacted CPS, I made them aware of the situation. I contacted her case worker and I never got a return phone call.”
Haven is not alone.
According to the FBI Crime Data Explorer website, in 2019, there was a total of 69,447 violent crimes in Texas. Of the 82,364 victims who reported their incidents, 37,907 of them were female and 7,095 of the victims were in a relationship with their offender.
According to the CDC, about 1 in 3 men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime. Of those men, 97% had only female perpetrators.
In 2019, only 4.1% of abuse/neglect reports in Texas came from the victims themselves, data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services showed.
Detective Sadie Stevens, who has been with the Lubbock Police Department for almost 14 years, and has been a detective for almost 10 years, helped developed a domestic violence unit in 2015 due to the demand.
She said despite how frustrating the process of reporting domestic violence may be for victims and their families, detectives must rely on concrete evidence in order to begin investigations.
Stevens said a few early warning signs to look for in domestic violence cases is controlling behavior, isolation, and jealousy.
“It’s not necessarily about the violence itself, but about maintaining control,” Stevens said. “Cutting out people from friends, cutting out people from their loved ones, their family members, those are all really big signs. Jealousy is a huge factor within that control spectrum.”
In order to track this behavior, Stevens also recommend keeping some sort of journal or record tracking violent events.
Lastly, Stevens said frustration may also come from the length of the overall investigative process.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned from that is: listen to the victim, hear their frustrations – because that’s one of the biggest parts, is not feeling like you’re heard – and then make them well aware of what step comes next, what the full process is, and at least my version of the timeline,” Stevens said over Zoom.
Stevens said Lubbock has about 6,500 to 6,800 initial reports of domestic violence a year. By the end of October, the city was already sitting at about 5,400 reported cases; however, there are now stiffer penalties on the table for repeat offenders, cases involving strangulation or choking, or violence toward pregnant women.
Stevens said it is important for men and women to speak to someone about violence even if they are not ready to speak with law enforcement. She also said it is important for people to understand they are not at fault for being abused.
Haven’s family continues to share her story in an effort to get others to speak out against violence.
Echoing Steven’s sentiments, Yunker spoke about the importance of getting help.
“Many of us have been through something similar before and you know, if you feel like you can’t talk about something that your partner’s doing, if you feel like you need to hide away for a week, if you feel like you need to not take pictures, if you feel like you need to not be around your family for a week to let the bruises heal, to let the scrapes heal, you need to you need to be speaking on that,” she said.
With a GoFundMe account titled “Sending Haven to Heaven”, Haven’s family has raised $18,650 in their $20,000 goal. The funds, the family said, will go toward funeral expenses and a college fund for Ezra, who remains in their custody, according to CPS documents.
“Her fight is our fight and we’re going to advocate that to the end of the world,” Hernandez said. “If there had been something in place, we wouldn’t be here having to bury my sister’s child, my niece.”
For help with domestic violence, people should call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. For immediate help, please do not hesitate to call 911.
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It’s sad. Very well written article though.