UPDATE: A former Murfreesboro resident, who later moved to the Cane Ridge Community in Davidson County, has been arrested in Texas for a murder that occurred in Tennessee. The death took place last year at a home on Cane Ridge Parkway.
In July 2023, Metro Nashville Police responded to a residence and found 29-year-old April Holt unresponsive in the bathroom of her home, which she shared with her husband, 33-year-old Donovan Holt. April had a plastic bag tightly taped around her neck when she was discovered. Despite efforts to save her life, she was pronounced dead after being transported to Southern Hills Hospital.
Prior to her death, April was allegedly involved in an argument with her husband. After things seemingly calmed down hours later, the husband reportedly asked their young son to go and check on his mother, which was when she was found unconscious.
Initially, the Nashville Medical Examiner’s Office classified her death as a suicide, ruling in November 2023 that she had died from complications related to suffocation. However, in a recent conversation with a cold case detective, Donovan Holt allegedly confessed to killing his wife.
Following Holt's confession, authorities reclassified April Holt's death as a homicide. A Grand Jury subsequently indicted Donovan Holt for reckless homicide, evidence tampering, and false reporting. Since Holt had moved to San Antonio, Texas, following his wife’s death, he was arrested there on September 9, 2024. He was extradited to Nashville on Friday, September 20, 2024, and is awaiting a court date.
April's friends and family have been fighting for justice in her case over the past year, even standing by as an autopsy was performed, delaying the burial of their loved one. It wasn't until August 5, 2023, that April Holt could finally be laid to rest. She was buried at Miller Cemetery in Christiana on that day.
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