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Missing Tennessee mom identified as victim found in trunk of car in Dearborn crash

Sarah Rahal Kalea Hall
The Detroit News

Dearborn — Police have identified one of the women involved in a Sunday shootout with police on the Detroit-Dearborn border and the human remains found in the back of the car, which has been linked to a Tennessee mother who was reported missing 10 days ago.

Eleni Kassa, a 31-year-old woman missing from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was identified Monday evening by Michigan State Police on Twitter as the victim found in the trunk of a vehicle police were chasing Sunday. The deceased driver and suspect in the case was identified as Dominique Hardwick, 36, of Lebanon, Tennessee. Police did not identify the 34-year-old woman riding in the front passenger seat. She was detained and taken to a hospital to be treated for her injuries.

"Autopsy results for Hardwick are consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound," police wrote in the Twitter post. "The circumstances surrounding Eleni’s death have not been determined. Detectives are still interviewing witnesses, including the front seat passenger in the crash. "

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. Sunday near the Dearborn-Detroit border. Dearborn police were chasing a 2020 black Dodge Challenger SRT that was reported out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to be involved in an endangered missing person's case.

The Murfreesboro Police Department in Tennessee investigating the disappearance of Kassa said in a statement late Monday that the "missing person investigation revealed a possible domestic violence incident occurred with Kassa" and her girlfriend, Hardwick, after an argument at Kassa’s Murfreesboro apartment.

Kassa’s cellphone and car were left at the apartment, police said. The two were believed to be traveling in Hardwick’s black Charger.

Murfreesboro Police Criminal Investigations Division detectives have been searching for Kassa for more than a week. They executed two separate K-9 searches and spoke with family members and witnesses. They also had search warrants including one for a home in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Hardwick had been staying.

Kassa's family has a GoFundMe fundraiser for support in "the tragic loss." As of Monday, the family raised more than $35,000. "Eleni was a loving sister, niece, aunt and mother of a wonderful 6 year old daughter, who now has to navigate life without her mother," the family writes. "Eleni also lost her parents when she was 4 years old, she and her siblings were raised by their grandmother, they all grew up as a very close family unit. They have survived multiple adversities as a family, but never in our worst nightmare could we have imagined that this could happen to her of all people."

A man with a flashlight looks into the trunk of a car that crashed into a house on the corner of Tireman Avenue and Normile Street in Dearborn, Michigan, November 27, 2022. The trunk of the car, which is ajar, is covered with a tarp.

On Sunday, Michigan State Police said Dearborn officers saw the vehicle with a Tennessee plate and caught up to it on Forrer Street near Warren Avenue, where it stopped on the right shoulder.

As officers began to approach, the driver fled, MSP said.

The officers lost sight of the vehicle and ended their pursuit. While on eastbound Tireman Street near Normile, officers saw the car again, which appeared to have jumped a curb and crashed into a home.

"As officers approached the crash scene, there was an exchange of gunfire between the officers and the suspect," said MSP on Twitter, referring to the incident as "a officer involved shooting."

A 9mm Glock pistol was recovered from the vehicle.

Dearborn police have declined comment, deferring to MSP, which is leading the investigation.

Eleni Kassa, 31, was reported missing to the Murfreesboro Tennessee Police Department on Nov. 18.

Kassa's family told police that she failed to pick up her daughter from school and was last seen the morning of Nov. 17. She was believed to be traveling in the Charger. On Nov. 21, detectives saw the tag of the Charger in Ohio.

Murfreesboro detectives contacted Ohio law enforcement officials after the tag on the Dodge wasran by an Ohio State trooper and then Michigan State Police, which helped with the investigation after a license plate hit in Oakland County, police said.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_