ShareThisMarie Aimee lay awake, replaying old conversations with her best friend in her head. "We always said, 'Guerline, if he tries to kill you, just leave him,'" Aimee said. "Don't let him kill you."
Police told a family member Guerline Damas' husband, Mesac Damas, did just that, slitting her throat and that of their five children.
Saturday night at 8:30, Aimee got a phone call she had dreaded receiving for the nine years she knew Guerline Damas.
Damas was dead, and worse, her five children were found dead with her. Mesac Damas, 33, the father and "person of interest" in the case is believed to be in Haiti following a Friday morning flight out of Miami.
"Guerline had a beautiful life," Aimee said. "But she always had problems with that guy."
Guerline Damas and Aimee worked together in North Naples at a Publix supermarket, where they met.
Aimee had since left the store, but Guerline Damas, who worked there for 13 years, was always dedicated to her job and to her five children, Aimee said. They constantly played phone tag, trying to catch each other outside of working hours, but it never seemed to pan out.
Aimee went to the Publix Sunday morning, shocked, but not entirely surprised.
She said she had been telling Guerline Damas for years to leave her husband, whom she married two years ago after the birth of their fourth child together, Megan, 3. The other four children were Michzach, 9; Marven, 6; Maven, 5; and Morgan, 11 months.
They had married two years ago.
One Publix employee, who asked not to be named because he was speaking outside of company policy, said he knew Guerline Damas and her husband had been having problems.
They went to an anger management class together on Wednesday, he said.
On Friday, Guerline Damas failed to show up for work, the employee said.
The store contacted Guerline Damas' sister, an employee at another Publix, to call the husband. The employee said that when reached, Mesac Damas said his wife was sick and was on her way to the hospital.
Leanne Cagna, 28, used to date Mesac Damas' brother, and used to babysit Damas' oldest son.
"He was always really nice," she said of Mesac Damas. "He went to the gym, went to work."
Cagna described Damas' wife, Guerline, as a caring person and a good mom. Whenever she saw the couple's five children, they always seemed happy, she said.
"When I saw them at the grandparents' house, they were like little boys, playing, running around like normal," Cagna said.
Aimee said Guerline Damas was a friend to everyone she worked with. "She is a very bright girl, a very bright lady," Aimee said. "She is always focused on her kids; she always loves her job."
Aimee's daughter, Gessica Aimee, 15, said Guerline Damas' tumultuous personal life never showed at work. She always left her problems at home, putting a smile on her face when she walked through the doors of the Publix.
Collier County Clerk of Court records show a history of domestic violence charges against Damas' husband involving Guerline Damas and some of her children. Records show there also was a charge filed against Guerline Damas, with her husband listed as the victim, but it was dropped.
In a Sunday press conference, Sheriff's Office officials said they had received calls about disturbances in the Dieu-Damas home as far back as 2000. January 2009 was the only time deputies had enough evidence to arrest Mesac Damas, however. Officials said the couple had been together for 10 years.
Marie Aimee said Mesac Damas was physically violent, as well as controlling.
"Sometimes he was breaking down everything in the house," Aimee said. "He was always getting her money and spending it on nothing."
Up to 10 million children experience domestic violence every year and more than three women are murdered by their partners every day in the United States, according to Family Violence Prevention Fund statistics.
Oberhaus said the majority of domestic violence relationship murders occur when the woman has decided to leave or shortly thereafter, and that it is important to establish a safety plan to prevent such tragedies from occurring.
"The best thing you can do is encourage the victim to call their local domestic violence hot line," Oberhaus said
Naples Daily News staff writer Matt Clark contributed to this story.
(Leslie Williams is a reporter for the Naples Daily News in Florida.)
