By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel
12:23 AM EST, January 22, 2010
Mary Thomas' hands trembled after the homicide detective delivered the news. Her only daughter, Deseree Holland, was killed, the detective said, and the suspect was the man she fell in love with less than a year ago.
Deseree, a single mother of two, met William Holland on MySpace.com last spring. Both were newly single after having just ended long-term relationships.
The couple's whirlwind romance — peppered with erratic behavior, isolation, police intervention and several bumps and bruises — ended with violence in December.
"He seemed like a gentle soul," Thomas said. "I just hate myself for believing that."
Detectives think Deseree, 27, died sometime between Dec. 26 and New Year's Eve, but they can't be sure because her body wasn't discovered until three weeks later.
Within days of Deseree's death, William, 26, committed suicide. Authorities have not released certain details, including how Deseree died.
But they have said William died Dec. 31 at his parents' Orange County home after a four-day drinking and prescription-drug binge, reports show.
Their murder-suicide capped off a bloody year for domestic-violence deaths in Orange County. Twenty-seven people died in those incidents in Orange County in 2009.
The number of batterers who committed suicide after domestic violence rose from two in 2008 to 10 in 2009.
Victims went from 25 in 2008 to 17 in 2009.
"We're doing a better job of keeping victims safe," said Carol Wick, CEO of Harbor House, a domestic-violence shelter. "The evidence is in the decreased number of victims who are being killed."
Both William and Deseree were looking for a fresh start when they met in March.
She had just broken up with the father of her second child. He was on probation for strangling his girlfriend in January.
A message left at the home of William's parents was not immediately returned Thursday.
Thomas said William, who had bipolar disorder, downplayed the prior domestic-violence charge and charmed Deseree.
He made promises about building a family and seemed to accept her for who she was — a woman who was trying to overcome substance-abuse problems, Thomas said. She was enamored by his willingness to love her completely.
Less than two months after they met, the couple wed at the Orange County Courthouse.
"It was fast, but I was supportive of her," Thomas said.
The promises quickly unraveled. Deseree later confided in her mother that William's drinking often led to physical abuse. He stopped taking his medicine and wouldn't allow her children to visit on the weekends, Thomas said. The children live with their father.
Thomas can't be sure how many times William hit her daughter before she finally called for help.
About 2 a.m. Sept. 11, Orlando officers arrived at their apartment on Commander Drive. Deseree told investigators she had been sleeping when she awoke to an attack by her husband. He screamed at her and slapped her shoulder, reports show.
William's younger brother got to the apartment and physically restrained William from hitting Deseree, reports show. The two men eventually left.
Thomas took her daughter to file an injunction for protection.
"Just the other week, he had me swallow pills in an attempt to kill me and make it look like I killed myself," Deseree wrote in a statement to obtain the injunction. "There has been countless times he has hit me and made me fearful of my life that I have not reported."
A temporary injunction was issued, and William was later arrested. He spent a month and a half in jail before being released. A judge dismissed the injunction in November.
While William was in jail, Thomas moved in with her daughter and discussed plans for the future. Both were happy when Deseree was served with divorce papers while William was in jail. They thought the nightmare was over.
But within hours of William's release, Deseree met with him to talk things out and possibly rectify their relationship.
Two days later, he was back in the apartment, and Thomas moved out. She didn't trust her son-in-law and wouldn't stay, she said.
Less than two months later, Deseree was dead. Police aren't sure why she was killed.
Wick, of Harbor House, said relationships with a history of violence have a higher chance of ending in death.
Orlando police and Orange County deputies work with Harbor House to assess the lethality of domestic- violence situations and will refer victims for help under certain conditions.
The shelter's homicide-prevention program, InVEST, had 978 referrals for help and served 262 people last year, an 88 percent increase from the previous year.
"Anytime you've got a situation where there is a history of violence, use of weapons, the batterer has been arrested before and has threatened to kill the victim, those are all high-risk factors," Wick said. "People who are bipolar cycle through manic and depression and there is a potential for suicide. All of that combined made it very dangerous."
Bianca Prieto can be reached at bprieto@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5620.
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel
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