Dominique Hardwick: Dearborn Shootout and Eleni Kassa’s Death

Dominique Hardwick and Eleni Kassa were girlfriends whose relationship ended in Kassa’s death: Kassa, a 31-year-old mother from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was reported missing on November 18, 2022, and was found dead in the trunk of Hardwick’s Dodge Charger nine days later in Dearborn, Michigan, after Hardwick led police on a chase, crashed, exchanged gunfire with officers, and fatally shot herself. Hardwick was 36 and from Pontiac, Michigan. The couple had a documented history of domestic violence in the months before Kassa disappeared.

How Eleni Kassa Went Missing

Kassa was reported missing from Murfreesboro on November 18, 2022, after she failed to pick up her six-year-old daughter from school.¹ Her family raised the alarm when they could not reach her. Investigators went to her apartment and found her cell phone inside and her own Dodge Charger still parked outside, which suggested she had not left on her own.²

Murfreesboro police believed Kassa and Hardwick had argued at the apartment in what officers called a “possible domestic violence incident,” and that the two then left together in Hardwick’s black Dodge Charger.³ Detectives interviewed family, friends, and witnesses, ran two K-9 searches including one at a creek near the apartment, and executed multiple search warrants, one of them for a residence in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Hardwick had been staying.⁴

Tracking the Car to Michigan

Investigators entered Hardwick’s Dodge Charger into the National Crime Information Center database. The Tennessee plate was flagged by an Ohio State Trooper, and license plate readers tracked the vehicle into Michigan, eventually placing it in Oakland County.⁴

The Chase, Crash, and Shootout in Dearborn

On the afternoon of Sunday, November 27, 2022, Dearborn police tried to stop the Charger near the Dearborn-Detroit border. Hardwick was driving with an unidentified 34-year-old woman in the passenger seat. She refused to stop, and the pursuit ended when the car crashed into a house at Tireman and Normile.⁵

As officers approached the wreck, gunfire was exchanged between police and Hardwick.⁶ Hardwick then fatally shot herself; the autopsy found her death consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.⁷ The passenger was detained and hospitalized for crash injuries.⁸

When officers searched the car, they found Eleni Kassa’s body in the trunk, more than 500 miles from her home. Michigan State Police said the body showed “trauma that was not a result from the crash.”⁹ A 9mm Glock pistol was recovered from the Charger.³

The Prior Domestic Violence Charges

Three months before Kassa’s death, on August 28, 2022, Murfreesboro police were called to the couple’s apartment. According to the police report, an argument over a text message escalated when Hardwick allegedly pushed Kassa, struck her in the face, grabbed her by the neck, and shoved her against a wall. Kassa told police she had difficulty breathing, and responders at the scene told her she may have a broken jaw. Hardwick allegedly stopped her from calling 911.⁶

Hardwick was charged with one count of aggravated domestic assault and one count of interference with an emergency call. A judge issued both a no-contact order and a peace order. The couple was apparently still in contact when Kassa disappeared in November.⁶

Hardwick’s 2021 Shooting in Lebanon, Tennessee

Hardwick had also been involved in an earlier fatal shooting. In March 2021, she shot and killed a man named Stephen Brown in Lebanon, Tennessee. The Lebanon Police Department and the local district attorney’s office investigated and determined she had acted in self-defense. Investigators noted allegations and evidence of “aggravated sexual assault” that had occurred before the shooting. No charges were filed against Hardwick.⁶

What Remains Undetermined

Because Hardwick died at the scene, no criminal case followed. Michigan State Police and the Murfreesboro Police Department conducted the investigation jointly, and detectives interviewed the passenger who had been in the car.⁴ Her name was never publicly released, and reporting did not indicate any charges against her.⁸

As of the last available reports, the official cause and precise circumstances of Kassa’s death had not been publicly determined. Michigan State Police acknowledged the trauma unrelated to the crash but said “the circumstances surrounding Eleni’s death have not been determined.”⁹

Kassa’s Family and the Response

Kassa had lost both of her parents when she was four years old and was raised by her grandmother alongside her siblings. Her family called themselves a “very close family unit” that had “survived multiple adversities” but said “never in our worst nightmare could we have imagined that this could happen to her.”¹ A GoFundMe organized by Micky Ghirmay raised more than $44,500 from over 300 donors to return Kassa’s body to Eritrea for burial.

The Firearm Enforcement Gap the Case Highlighted

Hardwick had been charged with aggravated assault and placed under court orders barring her from contacting Kassa, and Tennessee law prohibits people convicted of domestic violence charges or subject to protective orders from possessing firearms.¹⁰ Tennessee consistently ranks among the states with the highest rates of women killed by men, and most of those homicides involve firearms.

Advocates have pointed to how the dispossession orders are enforced. When ordered to give up weapons, a Tennessean can transfer them to a third party, but the state’s standard form does not require disclosure of who that person is or where the firearms are kept. Scott, Davidson, and Shelby counties have adopted stricter local forms that require a written affidavit from the person taking custody. Legislation to make the stricter form the statewide default was introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly but faced opposition from gun-rights organizations and was delayed.¹⁰

1
GoFundMe. Please Support Our Family Through the Tragic Loss
2
NewsChannel5. Police Say Eleni Kassa Was a Victim of Domestic Violence
3
Daily News Journal. Eleni Kassa, Murfreesboro Woman, Found Dead in Trunk in Michigan
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City of Murfreesboro. Murfreesboro Police Department Press Release
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FOX 2 Detroit. Driver Originally From Pontiac Had Violent History With Dead Girlfriend in Trunk
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Detroit News. Tennessee Woman Found in Trunk of Car in Dearborn Was Assaulted Before
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CBS News. Missing Tennessee Woman Eleni Kassa Found Dead in Car Trunk
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Detroit News. What Happened to Three Women Involved in Dearborn Crash Shooting
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People. Missing Tennessee Mom Found Dead in Girlfriend’s Trunk After Car Crash and Shootout
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Tennessee Lookout. A County’s Move to Protect Domestic Violence Victims Is Spreading Across Tennessee