How One Mom Got Daughter's Alleged Killer to Confess to Murder After Police Ruled Death a Suicide

Jamie Dickerson was shattered by the death of her daughter April Holt, 29, in July 2023. Holt was found nearly lifeless in the bathroom of her apartment she shared with husband Donovan Holt, 33, and their two children, per ABC affiliate WKRN. She had a plastic bag taped securely around her neck, per police documents.

After being transported to a nearby hospital, Holt later died.

"I would do anything to have her back. Anything. She is my baby," Dickerson told local Fox affiliate WZTV.

A coroner ruled her death a suicide by suffocation in November 2023, but Dickerson wasn't satisfied. "I knew that April was unhappy," Dickerson told the news station. "She requested a divorce two weeks prior and she was dead two weeks later."

Additionally, Dickerson shared, "She had bruises on her wrists, her neck, her ankles, her thighs and none of it was taken as evidence."

Dickerson told WZTV that police refused to believe her that her daughter's death was a suicide, so she took the investigation into her own hands.

Speaking with WKRN, Dickerson said that in the immediate aftermath of her daughter being found, Donovan "was acting very, very strange." She described him as "holding his head. He was rocking and pacing."

Additionally raising a red flag for her was that she claims he told her she could make all medical decisions for April, and even gave her his wife's cellphone.

She further told the outlet that April's son was at home when the incident occurred, and he told his grandmother that he'd witnessed his parents fighting on the day of April's death. She also told the outlet she found out that Donovan had pawned his wife's wedding ring a week prior.

Dickerson's investigation also included combing through a 47-page cold case supplement report that was attached to her daughter's case file.

But it was within those pages that Dickerson found the piece of evidence that she hinged her own independent case on. According to Dickerson, the report stated that only Donovan Holt's fingerprints were found on the bag and tape, and not April's.

How could her daughter have committed suicide alone without leaving any fingerprints on the bag or tape that were secured around her head?

Rather than turn to the police, Dickerson made a bold decision. She confronted her suspect herself via FaceTime, recording their conversation.

"That is when I confronted him and he confessed to me and so that is when I went to the police," the distraught mother told WZTV.

"He just goes into how he killed her and he described how he killed her," she added to WKRN. "How he strangled her and that he didn't know what to do."

After she brought this confession to police, MNPD detectives were able to get their own confession after questioning Donovan, who finally admitted he'd killed his wife by strangulation, per the WZTV.

As to how this could have happened in the first place, MNPD said there was "no evidence to counter Holt's explanation given during interviews in that time period."

"I feel like they failed my family, I have had to fight at the same time as grieve my daughter," Dickerson told WZTV. The cause of death on April Holt's autopsy report has been changed from suicide to homicide.

After his confession, Holt was arrested by police in San Antonio, Texas and extradited to Nashville, Tennessee. He is currently being held in Davidson County Jail in Nashville on a $75,000 bond.

He has been charged with reckless homicide, evidence tampering, and false reporting. Dickerson told WZTV she believes he should be looking at a first degree murder charge instead.

The grieving mother also told WKRN that she is fighting for full custody of her grandson, while also looking to open a grief recovery clinic.