A squad of intervention troops were dispatched to a city in Georgia on the evening of September 14, 2014, after nearby residents heard gunfire coming from a three-story residence. Nobody was aware that a domestic violence incident had already escalated into a fatal case.

Officers entered the home within 12 hours of their arrival at the site and discovered that Jessica Arrendale, 37, and Antoine Davis, her companion, 30 have both passed away. It appeared to be a murder case at first glance.

Nobody was aware that the couple’s only child, a 5-month-old girl, had managed to escape the violent confrontation under extraordinarily peculiar circumstances, which would later make her mother a hero. They had a 15-year-old daughter together named Naiomi, Antoine had two other children from a previous relationship, and following the birth of Cobie, a fourth daughter brought the family back together.

Antoine served in the US Navy as a soldier and took part in the Iraq War. Although the mother of his first daughter claimed that he was a caring parent, it appears that the war profoundly affected him; the man was recently violent with his life partner and was suffering from serious depression.

When Antoine and Jessica returned from dinner in town the night of the murder, it appears that they got into a fight and things rapidly got physical. Jessica was being chased around the house by Antoine, and the mother was attempting to stop him by holding the baby in one hand and the baseball bat in the other.

The man took the rifle, broke down the door, and shot the mother before realizing, fortunately, that she had the child with her when she entered the bathroom. Jessica eventually ran to the bathroom and barricaded herself in there.

Only the desire to keep her daughter safe stopped her from dying after being severely injured. She placed her baby in the toilet bowl with her last remaining strength, sat on the lid, and passed away.

When the girl’s father had exhausted all possibilities of finding his daughter, he shot himself.

Cobie was still alive and suffering from hypothermia when she was found under her mother’s body. She had also had head injuries as a result of the fight between her parents. Currently, Jessica’s parents are caring for Jessica’s two girls.