The Murder of Tiana Notice
This case was a hard one to get through and you’ll be as angry as I was when you read it. This is from an episode of Deadline Crime with Tamron Hall. It’s season 4 episode 4, titled ‘If I Can’t Have You.’
A young grad student is murdered in Plainville, Connecticut.
Background
Tiana Notice
Tiana Notice was born on February 4, 1984. She was 25 years old when she was killed. She had graduated from the University of Hartford, with a degree in political science. Her mom said Tiana loved to argue, so she always encouraged her to be a lawyer so that she could debate with people.
According to her family, the most important things in her life were God, family and friends. At the time of her death, she was dealing with an abusive ex-boyfriend and the relationship would take a deadly turn.
James Carter, Jr.
Before I get into what happened, I’m going to talk about her asshole of a boyfriend. Tiana and James met in 2007, they met on MySpace. Tiana wasn’t looking for a serious relationship because she had just ended a five year relationship with her college sweetheart. She agreed to meet James for a date, and they met out in public.
James told Tiana that he owned his own home, was a manager at a finance company and didn’t have kids, but wanted them at some point. These would all end up being false. James also gave Tiana a phone that was on his plan and he bought her tires for her car. At the time, Tiana thought he was just being nice.
A year later, their relationship was crumbling. In January 2009, James went to the Plainville police to file a restraining order against Tiana. The police filed the report, despite James not having any injuries. A few days later, Tiana filed a restraining order. James was banned from talking to Tiana for two weeks.
The Harassment
Tiana began receiving emails from a Jessica Banderas. The woman claimed to be an ex-girlfriend of James’. The emails were nasty and threatening and she kept receiving them for two days.
On January 13, 2009, Tiana went back to the police and said she had been receiving emails and thought they were from James. The police told her unless she had proof it was him, they couldn’t do anything.
James filed another restraining order against Tiana, and she had to appear in court with James to both give their sides to the story. This time, Tiana had printed out the emails and James had no proof that Tiana was harassing him. They were both given six month restraining orders against each other.
On January 31, 2009, James went back to the police station and said Tiana had sent him a flyer with her name, picture and phone number on it. The police were suspicious, but investigated it anyways.
Tiana denied the letter came from her, and by February 2009 the relationship was 100% over. Tiana began talking to her ex-boyfriend, Robert. They were planning to get back together and get married.
According to Tiana’s friends and family, she had told James this several weeks before, and that’s when James’ harassment went up another notch.
On February 7, Tiana’s tires were slashed, all four of them. At this point she knew it was James, but had no proof. She told her dad, Alvin, everything that was going on and she had him put in a security system.
One Day Before the Murder
On February 13, one day before Tiana’s murder, she was at work when she received a number of calls from James. This time she had a witness, her co-worker. She called the police, but they told her she had to call the Waterbury, Connecticut police, because that’s the town she worked in.
She went into that station after work, and the police told her they had a hard time believing that the restraining order was real. They told her to have the Plainville police fax over a copy.
When she returned home that night around 7:20pm, she found a note from James, begging her to take him back. Tiana thought she had all the proof she needed to finally get the police to arrest James. The note said:
“Tiana forgive me. I never cheated on you. If I’m lying may God take my life. Forgive me for everything else I have done.”
The Murder
On February 14, 2009, Tiana went to the Plainville police to have them fax over a copy of her restraining order and show them the note. The police told Tiana they would arrest James, however, they didn’t. THEY CALLED HIM INSTEAD. Yes, that’s right, they called James to let him know that Tiana had been in there and that if he violated it again they would arrest him.
Tiana went home thinking she’d be safe. She was just going to run home to get her laundry and go to her mom’s house for the weekend.
At 9:41pm, Tiana called 911, screaming “I’m bleeding to death, my ex-boyfriend stabbed me to death.” A neighbor had also heard the screams and had also seen James’ car leaving.
James was on the run, but he did confess to his brother that he had just stabbed Tiana.
Tiana was rushed to the hospital and died. Her dad, Alvin, said she had stab wounds everywhere and had lost too much blood.
Arrest and Conviction
Less than an hour after Tiana died, James Carter, Jr. was arrested and charged on suspicion of murder.
In the weeks before she was killed, Tiana, had filed over 30 complaints to the police and nothing was done.
In October 2011, James’ trial began. There was a mountain of evidence against him. He was seen on the surveillance camera that Tiana’s dad had installed, Tiana had identified her killer and James’ brother and his girlfriend testified that James confessed to it that night.
James was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years in prison, which is the maximum sentence allowed in Connecticut.
Tiana and James Carter, Jr.
Other
Tiana’s family received a settlement of $10 million after the Waterbury and Plainville police departments were found negligent in this case.
Tiana’s family also started the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation to toughen laws against domestic violence cases and murders.
They also a creating a GPS system that shows when an attacker is near a victim. Tiana’s dad, Alvin, said:
“If James had a GPS on his person, Tiana would have known he was by her house.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
THIS WOMAN WAS FAILED BY EVERYONE!!! How can two police departments not care that she was being stalked and was scared for her life? How can people not care? It blows my mind. They obviously cared more about calling AN ABUSIVE MAN than they did about Tiana get away from this monster.
I am so happy that they were found negligent, but what if they do it again to someone else? What if another victim of abuse dies? EVERY CASE SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Sorry guys, but this case pissed me off.
Sources
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/boyfriend-found-guilty-in-grad-students-murder/2066049/
