Susan Gehrke had survived cancer twice and was days from turning 62 when an alleged assault left her mortally injured.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Susan Gehrke had spent years working, survived two bouts of cancer and was preparing to retire when, days before her 62nd birthday, a nighttime visit to her boyfriend’s Tucson apartment ended with injuries that would take her life.
Gehrke’s family had expected Aug. 3 to mark another birthday and retirement to begin a less demanding chapter. Instead, they were making funeral arrangements after the 61-year-old grandmother died July 29. Tucson police say Gehrke was one of two people assaulted five days earlier at an apartment complex at 1201 N. Alvernon Way. Dahseir Edward Jefferson, 27, has been accused of punching both victims during a confrontation and now faces a second-degree murder charge in Gehrke’s death. He was held on $650,000 bond in the latest verified reports reviewed. Jefferson has not been convicted in connection with the case.
Relatives remembered Gehrke publicly less for the circumstances of her death than for what she had endured before it. A family fundraising statement said she had beaten cancer twice and spent her life working while putting other people first. Angelina Zills called her a source of light for those who knew her. The family said Gehrke had been looking forward to retirement after years of work. Her grandson, Frankie Zills, similarly described her as a woman whose effort to support her family was one of the things he would remember most. The cancer history, retirement plans and approaching birthday came from relatives and have become part of the family’s account of the loss.
Those plans were interrupted shortly before 10 p.m. July 24. Police and court records described in news reports say Gehrke was visiting her boyfriend at the apartment complex when a confrontation developed nearby. According to a probable cause statement, Jefferson had been knocking on another resident’s door. Gehrke came outside and told him that person was not home. Her grandson later told 13 News that Jefferson responded by yelling and swearing at her. Police have not publicly identified a broader motive for what followed, and available reports do not establish that Jefferson knew Gehrke before the encounter.
Gehrke’s boyfriend then came outside, according to investigators. The two men briefly argued before Jefferson allegedly punched him in the face. The blow caused the man to fall backward and strike his head on the sidewalk, according to the probable cause statement. Police said he suffered a cut below his left eye, a significant contusion to his head and scrapes to his back and knee. He was transported for treatment in critical condition. His name was not released in the reports reviewed for this story, and those reports did not provide a confirmed later update on his condition.
Investigators allege that Gehrke approached the injured man after he fell. Jefferson then struck her in the face, police say. She fell and hit her head, lost consciousness and suffered a brain bleed. Investigators said part of her dentures broke during the impact. The detail became prominent in early accounts of the assault, but the more consequential medical finding came later. According to 13 News, an autopsy determined that Gehrke died from blunt-force trauma to her head and classified the manner of death as homicide. The station reported additional injuries as well. A homicide ruling establishes that a death resulted from another person’s actions; it does not decide the criminal responsibility of an accused person.
The five days after the attack were spent with Gehrke hospitalized in grave condition. Her family said the injuries had changed her appearance so much that seeing her was difficult. Her daughter, Felicia, told local reporters that a 15-year-old relative had wanted to visit but that she did not believe he should see Gehrke in that condition. Frankie Zills said his grandmother was not someone who sought confrontation. He believed she had gone toward her boyfriend because she wanted to help him and get him inside. That explanation is a family member’s interpretation of her actions; police reports independently say she moved toward the man after he was knocked down.
While Gehrke remained hospitalized, detectives were searching for Jefferson. Tucson police said officers identified him during the investigation and located him July 28 near Speedway Boulevard and Country Club Road. He was booked on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault. During an early court appearance, prosecutors told the court that one victim was not expected to survive, according to local reporting. Gehrke died the next day. Her death changed the legal posture of the case, and Jefferson was charged with second-degree murder. Police said detectives from robbery-assault and homicide units continued working on the investigation.
The arrest also brought renewed attention to Jefferson’s record before the July encounter. Local reporting citing Arizona court and corrections information said Jefferson had a 2019 third-degree burglary conviction and a 2021 aggravated-assault conviction. He was sentenced to five years in prison in the assault case and was released in October 2024, according to those records as summarized by news organizations. 13 News additionally reported disciplinary violations during his incarceration. Prior convictions may provide background about an accused person, but they do not prove that he committed a new offense. Jefferson’s guilt in Gehrke’s death must be determined on evidence from the present case.
For Gehrke’s grandson, however, that history became part of the questions her death left behind. Frankie Zills publicly criticized the criminal-justice system and asked how many families would have to lose someone before officials changed their approach to people with violent records. The comments reflected grief and frustration from a victim’s relative. Available reporting does not establish that Jefferson’s 2024 release violated his sentence or that any government official had legal authority to keep him imprisoned beyond the term imposed in his earlier case. The issue raised by the family is therefore distinct from the narrower criminal question now before the court: whether prosecutors can prove the murder allegation arising from July 24.
The family’s attention meanwhile remained on a future Gehrke did not reach. She would have turned 62 on Aug. 3, less than a week after her death. Relatives said they had expected to celebrate her birthday and eventually her retirement. Their fundraising appeal instead described the practical and emotional burden of funeral arrangements. The appeal characterized Gehrke as hardworking and selfless and emphasized that she had previously fought through two cancer diagnoses. No details about the types of cancer or the dates of those illnesses were established in the reliable reports reviewed, so those aspects of her medical history remain private beyond the family’s statement that she survived the disease twice.
The homicide case proceeds on a different track from that remembrance. Investigators have described the alleged sequence, medical findings have identified the cause and manner of Gehrke’s death, and prosecutors have filed a murder accusation. What has not been established in the sources reviewed is why the confrontation escalated or whether there was any prior relationship between Jefferson and the victims. Law&Crime reported that an arraignment had been scheduled for Aug. 11. Reliable material reviewed for this article did not establish a subsequent plea, trial or other final resolution. Jefferson therefore remains an accused person rather than a convicted murderer in this case.
Gehrke’s family has already had to mark milestones without her while the courts address those unresolved legal questions. What would have been her 62nd birthday passed on Aug. 3, and the retirement her relatives said she had earned never arrived. The police account of her final evening is brief: a confrontation at an apartment complex, one man knocked down, Gehrke approaching him and then suffering the injuries from which she died. Her family’s account stretches much farther back, through work, cancer treatment and years spent supporting relatives. Both now form part of a case in which Jefferson faces second-degree murder and prosecutors must prove their allegations in court.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.