A Tennessee man was sentenced to two years in prison for the July 2023 homicide of his wife, whose death was initially ruled a suicide before the victim’s mother, who suspected foul play, helped crack the case.
On Feb. 18, Donovan Holt, 33, was sentenced to two years in prison and eight years in community corrections in connection with the death of April Holt, 29, according to Nashville and Davidson County court records viewed.
In November 2024, Holt had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, tampering with evidence and false reporting.
April was found unresponsive with a plastic bag around her neck, and initially her death was ruled a suicide, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said at the time. She left behind a son who was 8 at the time and a daughter who was 12.
April didn’t die right away, however, and her mother, Dickerson, told us in September 2024 that as soon as she saw her daughter on life support, she knew April’s wounds were not self-inflicted. April had bruises on her neck and ankles, as well as broken blood vessels on her cheeks, and Dickerson told PEOPLE she “knew it was foul play.”
Still, officials told Dickerson that April had tried to take her own life — after Holt claimed he’d found her unresponsive in the shower with a bag taped to her head.
April had requested a divorce two weeks before her death, and had tried to leave Holt in the past, Dickerson told PEOPLE in 2024.
Holt eventually admitted that “he was responsible for strangling his wife,” according to a statement from the police department.
Donovan Holt.
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
Holt called Dickerson in June 2024 and admitted that he had strangled April, dragging her to the shower and taping a bag over her face to make it appear as if she’d died by suicide, Dickerson told PEOPLE. Dickerson recorded the conversation and turned it over to authorities, she said.
On September 19, 2024, Holt was arrested in San Antonio after confessing to detectives, according to a police statement.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, the victim’s family said they agreed with Holt’s sentence, per WKRN. However, last November, Jamie Dickerson told Fox 17 Nashville that she was upset that Holt pleaded guilty to the reckless homicide charge, because it precluded the possibility that he would be charged with first-degree murder.
“I was kind of shocked when they called and said he had pleaded guilty, because now those charges can’t be upped,” the mother said.
