Family Of Gillette Woman Shot In Head Says 2nd-Degree Murder Not Enough For Suspect

The stepmother of 42-year-old Marissa Allen, who died earlier this month after being shot at a Gillette home, is dissatisfied that the woman's accused killer has been charged this week with second-degree murder.

Kimberly Windsor-Allen told Cowboy State Daily by phone Friday from her home in Ventura, California, that she believes the accused gunman, Javier Abeyta, 43, should face first-degree murder, making him eligible for life in prison without parole or possibly the death penalty.

“I believe it (the alleged homicide) was premeditated,” Windsor-Allen said. “At the end of the day, he doesn’t deserve to get out of prison.” 

Luke Meadows, who lives in Arizona and is the father of Marissa Allen’s 15-year-old son, agrees. 

“It should be first degree, period,” he said. “He was talking about killing somebody that entire day and the weeks prior.”

Abeyta was initially charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery as Marissa Allen was on life support for several days before dying at a Colorado hospital.

He remains in the Campbell County Detention Center on a $1 million cash or surety bond.

Now the Campbell County Attorney’s Office has upgraded one of the charges to second-degree murder, Windsor-Allen said.

Information was not immediately available from prosecutors on whether any of the remaining charges will be changed.

Abeyta’s next court date is scheduled for Nov. 3.

‘I Killed Her'

Police have not released details about the relationship between Abeyta and Marissa Allen or information about a possible motive for the shooting.

A probable cause affidavit states a Gillette officer responded Oct. 9 to a shots-fired call opened a garage door at the home in the 1300 block of O’Henry Drive and found Allen on the floor. 

Abeyta, who dropped a handgun he was holding, walked out of the garage and reportedly said, “I just shot her,” the affidavit says.

Officers immediately performed CPR on Allen, who had a gunshot wound to the head and wasn’t breathing. 

She died Oct. 12  at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado, and donated her heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver to recipients, and her pancreas to medical research, her family said.

The owner of the home told officers Abeyta came over before the shooting, was “acting crazy,” and made several paranoid statements, says the affidavit.

Officers interviewed another person who was at the house and said that a group of people there intended to use meth, according to the affidavit.

At one point while in the garage, Abeyta pointed a gun at the back of a man’s head and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, a witness told police.

The witness went on to say that Marissa Allen was shot in the head by Abeyta as she tried to gain control of the gun, the affidavit says.

Two men ran from the garage toward the backyard where they heard a single gunshot ring out. One of the men encountered Abeyta as he walked out of the garage. “Get out of my way or I will shoot you too,” Abeyta told the man, according to the affidavit. “I shot her. I killed her.”

‘Wrong Place At The Wrong Time’

Police searched the garage and recovered a bullet in the drywall and a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.

Abeyta’s sister later told police he had been paranoid and “spiraling” throughout the day before the shooting. She took him to a hospital, which wasn’t identified, because she believed he was dehydrated from alcohol use. 

He was administered IV fluids in the emergency room and released, the affidavit states.

Windsor-Allen questions why Abeyta was discharged from the hospital if he was in a mental health crisis. 

“Even if he didn’t get the mental health help that he needed, it doesn’t make what he did right,” Windsor-Allen said.

Marissa Allen, who grew up in Ventura, has 11 half-siblings, two sons ages 23 and 15, and a pair of grandsons whom she has never met, according to her parents.

Her journey to Wyoming began with legal trouble, her parents said. 

When she was about 13, she was sent by California authorities to a diversion program in Gillette for those involved in the juvenile court system.

She never left the state, earning a commercial driver’s license certification while in prison for a drug possession conviction, and was most recently employed as a convenience store clerk.

Windsor-Allen said her stepdaughter was thoughtful, kind, and caring, and in the “wrong place at the wrong time" when she was shot. 

She and Marrissa Allen’s father plan to deliver a victim impact statement to the court, either in person or via video, if Abeyta is convicted.

“Abeyta needs to hear from her family, especially her mom and dad,” Windsor-Allen said.

Scott Schwebke can be reached at scott@cowboystatedaily.com.