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She met him on a dating app. Now she is dead.

Posted at 10:40 PM, Feb 01, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-02 07:38:39-05

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, Va. -- She met him on a dating app two months ago. Now she is dead.

Donna Collins' daughter Lacey said her mother died at the hands of her new boyfriend -- Kristian Travis Jewett.

Crime Insider sources confirm the two met on “Plenty of Fish.com,” an online dating site.

Jewett, 36, of Brunswick, was arrested this week and charged with malicious wounding, however the Brunswick County Sheriff said charges associated with Donna Collins' death were pending.

Kristian Travis Jewett and Donna Collins

"We will certainly up the charges to murder," said Sheriff Brian Roberts.

"My mom was a vibrant person. She lit up the darkest places," Lacey said.

Collins, 42, of Stafford, had recently moved in with Jewett, her daughter said.

"She was a wild child. She was a rebel and always lived on the edge with no fears," Lacey said. "My mom was amazing."

Brunswick County Sheriff's Deputies were called to Jewett's Elam Road trailer just feet from the North Carolina state line early Tuesday morning, January 30, after someone called 911 and reported two women had been stabbed.

When deputies arrived, they found Donna Collins and her 23-year-old daughter Tracey Collins with stab wounds.

"He actually stabbed her [Tracey] for trying to pull him off of my mom while he was strangling [her]," Lacey Collins said. "I guess when she got him off my mom, he came behind her and tried to slice her neck open. He tried to kill her and my mom tried to get him from killing Tracey and then he stabbed [my mom] in her throat."

Donna Collins

Donna Collins was flown to VCU Medical Center where she died.

At the Medical Examiner’s Office, they found out the force was so hard the blade broke away from the handle.

"It was a gruesome scene, a lot of blood based on the injury of the victim. Life-saving was the priority, followed by preserving the scene,” said Sheriff Roberts. He said Donna Collins and her boyfriend Travis Jewett were involved in several arguments the night before.

Donna's daughter Tracey suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"It’s crazy man, it's too close to home,” said neighbor Mike Pullen. "I never thought this would've happened."

Jewett is currently being held, without bond, at Meherrin River Regional Jail. He served one year in prison, in 2013, after he pleaded guilty to strangling a woman. As part of a plea deal, four years of Jewett's five-year prison sentence was suspended.

"He had been locked up and did a couple of years for strangulation,” said Pullen. “But we really didn't talk about it, because I didn't want to get too much into his personal life.”

Sheriff Roberts said Collins' death was the first "unlawful death of a person" in Brunswick since January 2011.

"I want [my mom's story] known," Lacey said. "I'm trying to bring everyone's attention to online dating and abusive relationships."

This is a developing story. Witnesses can send news tips and photos here.

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