A Hawaiian influencer was fatally shot by her estranged husband in front of her eight-year-old daughter two weeks after she filed a restraining order against him.
Mother of three, Theresa Cachuela, 33, was shot in the head and killed Friday morning in the parking lot of the Pearlridge Center in Waimalu, Hawaii, during the Christmas shopping rush.
Her youngest daughter witnessed the shooting and told police that her father had pulled the trigger.
Her father, Jason Cachuela, 44, fled the scene in a gray Mazda and was later found dead nearby in a suspected suicide.
The shooting came just two weeks after Theresa had taken out a restraining order against her husband, accusing him of harassment and stalking and telling the court she was doing it ‘to protect myself’ and her children.
Theresa Cachuela was shot and killed by her estranged husband on Friday morning during the Christmas shopping rush
Her estranged husband fled the scene and was later found dead in a suspected suicide
She wrote in the petition for the restraining order he had repeatedly threatened to kill himself in front of her, tried to ‘break in my garage door’, hid under her car inside her garage and held a knife to his throat, ‘scaring and traumatizing’ her.
She reported his behavior to the police and wrote in the petition he had multiple firearms.
Theresa’s mother, Lucita Ani-Nihoa, told Hawaii News Now: ‘She’s been trying to tell the cops about all the issues that were going on about the gun that he pulled on her a couple of times already. He threatened to kill her.’
She added: ‘They never arrested him, knowing that he had guns, knowing that he tried to threaten, he threatened to kill the kids and her in her own garage.
‘The court wasn’t there for her.
‘The system failed her. And now she’s gone.’
She added: ‘Her youngest daughter is the one that tragically saw everything. She’s traumatized. She has so much faith, this little girl. She just she just started praying.
‘She doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t believe her mom is gone. I don’t believe it.’
Theresa’s relatives were distraught and consoled each other in the aftermath of her murder
Theresa was shot on Friday morning during the Christmas shopping rush in a shopping center park lot
Ani-Nihoa said the couple of 11 years had been experiencing marital problems and Cachuela had recently filed for divorce, telling relatives she had been abused by her husband.
She said: ‘She wanted to leave him but he wasn’t accepting it. He tried to control her with, with everything … where she would go what she would do.’
Ani-Nihoa said her daughter’s murder could have been prevented if her requests for help been taken more seriously.
The family has started a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs and support for the children.
On the page, Ani-Nihoa described the shooting. She said she was supposed to meet her daughter, whom the family called ‘Tita,’ to have breakfast on Friday morning before the shooting.
She wrote: ‘I wanted to give her and my grandkids their Christmas gifts. ‘My daughter did not deserve this.
‘She was trying so hard to get help, but the Justice system failed her.’
The 33-year-old mother of three was a successful social media influencer and business owner
Cachuela had filed for a restraining order against her husband just two weeks ago and told police that he had firearms
‘We are so devastated with the loss of our beloved Tita. This has been so difficult for our family in which we were not prepared for.’
Cachuela’s cousin, Terrell Scott, said he wants the community to remember her as a dedicated mom and business owner.
Theresa owned House of Glam Hawaii LLC in Waipahu.
Scott told KITV: ‘She was very supportive of her kids and she did everything she could to protect them.
‘She’s super loving and an amazing woman. I love her and I’m sorry her kids are going through this.’