Investigators say Jacqueline Reyes had separated from her husband and previously reported an alleged break-in at the home where she was later killed.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Months before Jacqueline Reyes was shot to death in her Daytona Beach townhome, police say her estranged husband entered the same residence without permission and poured bleach on some of her clothing. Authorities now point to that December 2025 allegation as one part of a longer history preceding her killing on July 27.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said 54-year-old Robert Reyes Jr. forced his way into the Reena Drive home and killed the 44-year-old mother of three after becoming angry that she had moved on from their relationship. Robert Reyes later fled Daytona Beach and was found dead in Titusville after a police pursuit ended with his vehicle in a pond, authorities said. Because he died that evening, the allegations against him will never be adjudicated in a homicide prosecution, making careful distinctions between police findings, prior allegations and court outcomes especially important.
The history Young described reaches back years. Jacqueline Reyes sought a restraining order involving Robert Reyes in 2017, according to the police chief and local reporting. Young said that case was dismissed after she failed to appear in court. The available reporting does not establish the allegations that supported the request, and a dismissal does not amount to a finding that those allegations were either true or false. Police disclosed the case after the homicide as investigators assembled a chronology of the estranged couple’s relationship.
More recently, Jacqueline Reyes had established a separate life in Daytona Beach. Young said she moved there about a year before her death after separating from Robert Reyes, who lived in St. Cloud. Her oldest son, David Reyes, later told WESH that his parents were divorced. Police initially described them as estranged spouses. Both accounts indicate that they were no longer living together and that Jacqueline Reyes had begun dating other people by the summer of 2026.
Police said the separation did not end unwanted contact. In December 2025, officers responded to Jacqueline Reyes’ home after Robert Reyes allegedly entered the residence and damaged clothing with bleach. Young characterized that incident as a burglary and told reporters it showed that the problems between the pair had been continuing for some time. Public reporting reviewed for this story does not show that the December allegation resulted in a conviction before Jacqueline Reyes was killed seven months later.
The fatal confrontation began shortly after 6 p.m. July 27. Young said Robert Reyes went to the Reena Drive townhome, forced his way through a back door and shot Jacqueline Reyes. Police said they believe he had been trying to resume the relationship and was enraged when he learned that she had moved on and was dating other people. That description of motive comes from investigators. Robert Reyes left no publicly reported explanation that can be questioned in court, and prosecutors will not be able to test the evidence through a trial.
One of the couple’s sons was in contact with Jacqueline Reyes as the attack began. David Reyes, 26, said his mother called him seconds before she died and that he heard screaming and an alarm in the background. Another local account quoted a son telling a 911 dispatcher that he heard his mother say, “put down the gun,” followed by a gunshot. The son contacted 911, and officers were sent to the home. They arrived to find Jacqueline Reyes dead and the man they would identify as the suspect already gone.
Investigators said evidence at or near the home also captured what happened immediately after the shooting. Young said video showed Robert Reyes apparently trying to kill himself, but the firearm malfunctioned. Police said he then drove away from Daytona Beach. At least two guns were later recovered. Young said the weapon Reyes ultimately used to take his own life was the same firearm used in Jacqueline Reyes’ killing, though a complete forensic report has not been made public in the sources reviewed for this account.
Robert Reyes’ departure turned the homicide investigation into a regional search. Authorities in Volusia County notified the Titusville Police Department that Reyes was believed to be driving a gray four-door sedan in the city. Titusville police used automatic license plate readers to track the vehicle as it traveled through the area. Officers ultimately located it around South Washington Avenue and Garden Street. Police said they attempted a stop, but Reyes fled east onto A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway.
The pursuit ended when the car left the roadway and went into a pond at Sand Point Park. Titusville officers said Reyes did not respond when they tried to make contact. He was found dead inside the vehicle. Investigators said preliminary evidence showed that he had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said no officers fired their weapons and no officers were injured. Young said there was no established explanation for why Reyes drove from the Daytona Beach area to Titusville after the killing.
The homicide also caused authorities and news organizations to examine Robert Reyes’ criminal history. Police said he had previously faced an aggravated battery charge in Orange County in 2017, but emphasized that the case did not involve Jacqueline Reyes. Local reporting said the felony charge was later dropped. Records cited by police also included misdemeanor convictions for loitering or prowling, obstruction and making a false report. None of those earlier matters proves the homicide allegation, and the 2017 battery charge did not result in the conviction that would have followed a guilty finding.
Young’s account of the case focused not only on the earlier incidents but on what they meant in retrospect. He said the problems had been occurring “for quite some time” before ending in tragedy. The statement reflects the view investigators formed after Jacqueline Reyes’ death; it does not mean each earlier allegation produced a court finding against Robert Reyes. That distinction matters because some of the known history consists of a dismissed restraining-order case, a reported burglary and a dropped felony charge, alongside misdemeanor convictions and the evidence collected after the July homicide.
David Reyes’ public comments added another layer to that chronology. He described his mother as a real estate agent who could energize a room and make people feel seen. He also acknowledged the devastating contradiction at the center of his family’s grief, saying his father had done a horrible thing while remembering him as a parent who had cared for the sons for years. The brothers were planning two funerals, he said, rather than confronting a criminal case that could have stretched through months or years.
That absence of a prosecution changes what happens next. Had Robert Reyes survived, investigators could have turned over the case for a charging decision, defense lawyers could have challenged the state’s evidence and a court could eventually have determined guilt. Instead, Daytona Beach police have classified the deaths as a murder-suicide based on their investigation, while Titusville police have handled the circumstances of the pursuit, crash and Robert Reyes’ death. No other suspect has been announced.
The public record therefore ends with an investigative finding rather than a verdict. Police say Jacqueline Reyes was killed after a history that included separation, an earlier reported break-in and a years-old effort to seek court protection. Some parts of that history were never adjudicated. What is not disputed in the official accounts is the outcome on July 27: officers found Jacqueline Reyes dead in the home where police had responded months earlier, and Robert Reyes was found dead about two hours later after fleeing officers in another city.
Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.