Man who was accused of murdering girlfriend by repeatedly running over her with his car commits suicide in prison

Man who was accused of murdering girlfriend by repeatedly running over her with his car commits suicide in prison

The horrific details of the murder of 31-year-old Tennessee woman and mother-of-two Amanda Petrowski have been revealed. Petrowski was found dead at her home in the 3200 block of Carnes Avenue, Memphis, by authorities who responded to reports of domestic violence.

The culprit was determined to be 34-year-old Santrez Traylor, Petrowski's long-time boyfriend, as well as the father of their two children. Traylor had initially fled the scene of the crime but was quickly apprehended by authorities and charged with second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

According to the Daily Mail, the savage beating Traylor inflicted on Petrowski was witnessed by neighbors in the Orange Mound section of Memphis. One eyewitness said they saw Traylor repeatedly strike the mom with a brick in front of their home until she collapsed to the ground. Then, he went on to kick and punch her. But he wasn't quite done yet. Witnesses say the 34-year-old then went back into the home to get the car keys. He retrieved them before getting into the car that was parked in the driveway and then proceeded to run over Petrowski's body four times.

A witness who wished to remain anonymous described what they saw and said, "She was standing when he first hit her and then she fell down and he repeatedly was hitting her with the brick, hitting her with the brick. Kicking, punching her. He was trying to make sure she was dead."

Speaking about the incident, neighbor Jay Smoot said, "I witnessed a murder. It's pretty, pretty overwhelming. We saw a car driving back and forth across the lawn, and we didn't know what was happening from where we could see," he continued. "But it turned out we were witnessing the murder occurring."

Traylor killed himself inside his prison cell (Source: Memphis Police Department)
Traylor killed himself inside his prison cell (Source: Memphis Police Department)

This incident was the unfortunate culmination of what had been years of abuse. WREG reported that Traylor had been arrested multiple times over the past three years for stalking or abusing Petrowski, with his most recent infraction coming as recently as last month. He was arrested then for trespassing, threatening to "beat her brains in" and threatening to put one of their two children "through the wall."

According to affidavits cited by the news station, the 34-year-old had even called her 200 times on one occasion, and that his threats to kill her are nothing new. His criminal record also includes multiple counts of domestic assault causing bodily harm stemming from two separate incidents in May and June 2015.

Traylor was reprimanded into custody at the Shelby County Jail and was awaiting a hearing when it emerged that he had hung himself inside his jail cell. Fox13 Memphis reported that the 34-year-old committed suicide at around 3 pm on October 13 and that he was pronounced dead after being transported to the nearby Regional One Hospital.

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 Mother of two killed father of children after being bludgeoned bricks repeatedly run over with car