Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features
Get the Independent Women email for free
Get the Independent Women email for free
An Instagram influencer in Hawaii was shot to death by her husband just two days after obtaining a restraining order against him, authorities say.
Theresa Cachuela, 33, was gunned down inside a parking garage near Pearlridge Center in Honolulu on Friday morning in front of her 11-year-old daughter, according to family members.
The model and beauty entrepreneur had about 20,000 followers on Instagram, where she went by the name Bunny Bontiti and often posted about her heartfelt Christian faith.
Police named her killer as Jason Cachuela, 44, who was later found dead behind a residence in nearby Waipahu in what appeared to be a suicide.
Court records seen by The Independent show that Ms Cachuela had secured a restraining order against Mr Cachuela just before Christmas, claiming domestic abuse (which he denied).
"I am doing this to protect myself, my children, and to hopefully get him the help he needs," wrote Ms Cachuela in her petition to the court.
She alleged that her husband had repeatedly ignored her requests to leave him alone, threatening to kill himself in front of her and at one point breaking into her garage and hiding under her car.
According to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she had also told her family that Mr Cachuela was tracking her through her phone and a GPS device in her car.
Family members told local broadcaster KHON-2 that the system should have done a better job of shielding her.
"The police are supposed to protect. They failed her; the law failed her miserably," said her father Stephen Johnston.
"I say this to the fathers out there: handle your sons, get a hold of them, teach them to treat our women with the dignity and respect they require."
Ms Cachuela's aunt Kathleen Johnston added: "Laws got to be changed because this is a heinous act and it could have been prevented.”
On a GoFundMe page set up to cover her funeral expenses, her mother Lucita Ani-Nihoa wrote that Ms Cachuela had been on her way to have breakfast with her and exchange Christmas gifts.
"My daughter did not deserve this. She was trying so hard to get help, but the justice system failed her," wrote Ms Ani-Nihoa.