Their oldest son says he wants Jacqueline Reyes remembered for the warmth she brought to others, not only for how she died.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — David Reyes remembers his mother as the person who could enter a quiet room and get everyone talking. Now he and his two brothers are planning separate funerals for both parents after police say their father killed 44-year-old Jacqueline “Jackie” Reyes at her Daytona Beach home and later died by suicide in Titusville.
The family’s loss followed a violent sequence on July 27 that unfolded in about two hours and crossed roughly 50 miles of Central Florida. Daytona Beach police say Robert Reyes Jr., 54, forced his way into his estranged wife’s townhome on Reena Drive and shot her. Police Chief Jakari Young said investigators believe Reyes was angry because his wife had moved on from their relationship and was dating other people. Officers later tracked him to Titusville, where his vehicle crashed into a pond during a police pursuit and he was found dead inside.
David Reyes, 26, spoke publicly two days after his mother’s death, shifting attention from the police pursuit and homicide investigation to the woman his family knew. He told WESH that Jacqueline Reyes worked as a real estate agent and had a way of drawing people together. “She made everybody happy,” he said. “She made everybody feel like they were a person.” The description contrasted with the final moments of her life, which David said began for him with a call from his mother that he immediately understood was not routine.
David said he could hear his mother screaming when he answered. An alarm was sounding, and he said he heard her pleading for her life. Another account from local reporting said a son told a 911 dispatcher that he heard his mother tell someone to put down a gun and then heard a shot. Young said one of the three sons had been on the phone with Jacqueline Reyes when Robert Reyes entered the home. The son disconnected and contacted emergency dispatchers, bringing officers to the residence shortly after 6 p.m.
By the time police arrived, Jacqueline Reyes was dead and Robert Reyes had left. Investigators said neighbors saw him leave the area. Young said Reyes had entered by forcing his way through the back door. The chief described the shooting as an execution and said evidence showed Reyes had intended to take his own life at the townhome as well, but that the gun malfunctioned. Police said he then drove away. Authorities later recovered at least two guns, and Young said the firearm Reyes eventually used to kill himself was the same one used to kill Jacqueline Reyes.
The attack, police said, came after the couple had already separated and were living in different cities. Jacqueline Reyes had moved to Daytona Beach about a year earlier, according to Young, while Robert Reyes lived in St. Cloud. David Reyes told WESH that his parents were divorced. Police characterized Robert Reyes as Jacqueline’s estranged husband in their initial accounts. Whatever the precise civil status of the marriage, the available reporting is consistent that the relationship had ended and that Jacqueline Reyes was living separately when she was killed.
Young said investigators believed jealousy provided the immediate motive. He said Robert Reyes had been trying to resume the relationship and became angry after learning that Jacqueline was dating other people. That assessment came from the police investigation and was not tested in court because Reyes died the same evening. Authorities did not release a written statement from him explaining his actions, and no criminal trial will take place. The motive therefore rests on the evidence and history that police say they assembled after the shooting rather than on a judicial finding.
Police said there had been warning signs before July 27. In December 2025, Daytona Beach officers were called to Jacqueline Reyes’ residence after Robert Reyes allegedly entered the home and damaged some of her clothes with bleach. Young described that episode as a burglary. Investigators also said Jacqueline Reyes had sought a restraining order involving Reyes in 2017, although the case was dismissed after she did not appear in court. A dismissed request does not establish the underlying allegations, but Young cited the episode as part of the history investigators reviewed while trying to understand the events leading to her death.
After leaving Daytona Beach, Robert Reyes headed toward Titusville. Volusia County authorities notified Titusville police that a gray four-door sedan associated with the homicide suspect was in the city. Titusville’s automatic license plate reader system detected the vehicle and allowed officers to track it as it moved through the area. Police eventually found the car near South Washington Avenue and Garden Street and tried to stop it. Reyes fled, authorities said, traveling east toward A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway.
The pursuit ended at Sand Point Park when the sedan left the roadway and entered a pond. Officers attempted to contact Reyes but received no response. Police found him dead in the vehicle and said preliminary evidence showed he had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Titusville police said no officers fired their weapons and no officers were injured. Young said investigators did not know why Reyes had gone to Titusville. What began with a family emergency in Daytona Beach had become a multiagency investigation by the time the vehicle was recovered.
Police also reviewed Robert Reyes’ prior criminal record after the deaths. Local reporting based on law enforcement information said he had an aggravated battery charge in Orange County in 2017 that was later dropped. Police stressed that the alleged victim in that case was not Jacqueline Reyes. Records also reflected misdemeanor convictions for offenses including loitering or prowling, obstruction and making a false report. Those earlier cases do not establish what happened inside the Reena Drive home, but they were among the background details police disclosed while explaining their investigation.
For the Reyes brothers, however, the case is more complicated than the labels attached to a police report. David Reyes said his father had done a “horrible thing,” but he also pushed back against portrayals that reduced Robert Reyes’ entire life to the killing. He said his father had cared for the brothers throughout their lives and that they still loved him despite what happened. His comments did not excuse the killing; instead, they described the conflicting emotions facing children grieving a mother whom police say was killed by their father.
Young expressed the same concern from a different perspective, saying his “heart goes out” to the three sons who lost both parents within about two hours. His remarks underscored an outcome that sits beyond the jurisdictional lines of the investigation. Daytona Beach detectives were examining the homicide, while Titusville police were responsible for the pursuit, crash and circumstances of Robert Reyes’ death. For the family, both investigations concern the same night and the same loss.
There will be no homicide prosecution because the person police identified as Jacqueline Reyes’ killer is dead. That means prosecutors will not present the evidence to a jury, and Robert Reyes will not have an opportunity to answer the allegations in court. Daytona Beach police nevertheless said the available evidence led them to treat the case as a murder-suicide. No other suspect had been announced in connection with Jacqueline Reyes’ death.
David Reyes said his family’s immediate work was not legal but personal: arranging two funerals and beginning to absorb the deaths. He asked that his mother be remembered for the life she lived before July 27 — her work, her energy and the way she made other people feel included. The police investigation can document the sequence that ended at her home and later in a Titusville pond. Her son’s account preserves another part of the record: who Jacqueline Reyes was to the people who knew her before her name became attached to a homicide case.
Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.