JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- More details continue to surface about a serviceman who allegedly took the lives of his own twin daughters and their grandfather in a gruesome triple-murder suicide.
Investigators say Gawain Rushane Wilson snapped during a domestic dispute and went on a rampage.
A Waycross, Ga. woman told First Coast News the story sounded all too familiar.
Danielle Johnson said she is blessed to be alive. Johnson, who claims she dated Wilson two years prior to the slaying, said she felt some blame for the deaths of Travis Hiatt and his five-month-old granddaughters, Hayden and Kayden Hiatt.
"I felt guilty because I dropped the ball. I was supposed to go get a permanent injunction (for protection against domestic violence) and meet with a lot of other people and I didn't because I was scared. But I wish I had -- especially now," Johnson said.
Investigators said Wilson also shot the twins' mother, Megan Hiatt, who survived, before turning the gun on himself.
"Maybe to prevent it because when I went to the State Attorney's Office, she straight up asked me, 'Do you think he's capable of killing somebody?' And I said, 'Yes,'" recalled Johnson.
Johnson said she met Wilson on an online dating site in 2012. A month later, the pair moved in together, she said.
"The first time he picked me up for a date, he literally parked his little (BMW) across the street, had flowers in his hand, leaned against his car," recalled Johnson.
Wilson was charming, confident and a successful Navy man who was adored by family and friends, Johnson recalled.
Still, red flags began to emerge a few months into their relationship.
Johnson said Wilson's behavior grew more erratic, controlling and insecure. She said he would yell, break things, and demand intimacy, which she could never refuse.
"He broke three of my cellphones," said Johnson. "He'd get angry and accuse me of cheating if I looked at another man, even while watching TV."
It was a far cry from the confident Navy man she says she grew to love.
But it all came to a head one morning in April of 2013 while inside their Arlington home when she decided she'd had enough.
"I was packing up my stuff. He's yelling and screaming. He was like, 'You're going to leave me... He goes into the closet, comes out with an AK-47 and puts it right here (between her eyes)," Johnson recalled.
Jarred awake by the commotion, her daughter, who was 8 years old a the time, walked into the room, screaming for Wilson to stop, Johnson said.
"I don't know why seeing her... Maybe he changed his mind at that time or what... He just dropped it," she said.
Her daughter ran to a neighbor's house for help while Wilson continued to choke and beat her, Johnson said.
Wilson was arrested for domestic battery. Wilson admitted breaking Johnson's phone that day, but did not acknowledge hitting her, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrest report in which investigators noted finding marks and bruises on Johnson.
Years later, she still relives that day.
"The look in his eyes when he had a gun to my head, yes, he wanted to kill me, but I don't know why he didn't... It's God. It had to be."
