By admin 
Editor’s note: This story contains discussions about domestic abuse and suicide, topics that may be disturbing to some readers.
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Angie Reyes was finally doing it. After silently enduring abuse in her relationship of over 20 years, she was leaving her partner.
Subtly and without raising concern, Reyes asked siblings to help her redecorate their mother’s home so she and her son could move in. What they didn’t understand at the time was the giant step she was taking as a long-term victim of domestic abuse.
Just a few weeks later, on Aug. 20, the 42-year-old mom was shot and killed by her partner, Nicholas Uribe, at a Fresno home near Fowler and Shields avenues. Police found that Uribe, 42, also shot and killed himself.
Only after seeing the tragedy described as a “domestic dispute” by police in local media did the reality of the abuse that Reyes kept hidden become apparent to her family. The characterization led to eye-opening conversations with Reyes’ closest friends and co-workers, family members told The Fresno Bee.
“The weight of what Angie endured in silence is something our family will carry forever, along with the heartbreak of knowing that the opportunity to stand beside her through those struggles was one we never had,” said her siblings James, Jamie and Katherine Reyes wrote in a joint statement shared with The Bee.
The weight of what Angie endured in silence is something our family will carry forever
From a joint Reyes family statement
Requests for domestic violence help and services have surged over the past year in Fresno County, which has long had one of the highest per capita rates of domestic violence calls to law enforcement in California, according to the California Department of Justice.
Reyes’ murder is one of six domestic violence-related homicides in the Central Valley over the past month, including a Fresno woman who appeared to have been shot by her partner as she was walking away from him in a parking lot this Wednesday. Almost all the domestic-violence homicides occurred in the weeks after the victim left the abusive relationship.
That’s the most lethal time in a relationship where domestic violence is present, says Tiffany Apodaca, chief operating officer at the Marjaree Mason Center, a nonprofit that serves as Fresno County’s primary domestic violence service provider.
“Domestic violence is all about control,” she said. “So once the abuser feels like they have completely lost control, then that’s what they go to.”
The center saw a 33% increase in individuals served across all its programs this fiscal year compared with the same time period last year. Apodaca and others say they can’t point to a specific cause for the surge in demand for services. It’s also not obvious whether Fresno County’s increased need is unique, as specific data for domestic violence shelters across California is currently not available.
Abuse reality surfaced after Reyes was killed
The family has had realizations of red flags missed in the weeks following Reyes’ death as more information about the abuse she endured has come to light.
Red flags like increasing isolation, frequent excuses for missing gatherings, fear of upsetting her partner, and the way he monitored her and held financial control over her, family members remembered.
In the joint statement, Reyes’ family urged anyone who suspects someone may be experiencing domestic abuse, whether it’s physical, emotional, mental, financial, or sexual, to check in on them and to look out for the red flags.
“My sister deserved to live,” the statement reads. “Her child deserved to grow up with his mother. So, let’s not wait for the perfect time to speak. Angie cannot tell her story anymore, so we are going to tell this part for her; and we are going to keep speaking up because silence did not save her.”
Reyes was a lifelong Fresno resident. She attended Bullard High and earned her degree in liberal studies from Fresno City College. She was the 2007 Miss Philippines of Fresno and a lifetime member of the Filipino-American Community.
Before her death, Reyes worked as an advisor at Ashley Furniture, according to her obituary.
Her siblings remember her as kind, funny, friendly and a loving mother to her son, who was born in 2022. The family launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover the costs of childcare for Reyes’ son and the funeral.
A rosary will be recited on Thursday, and a funeral will be held on Friday in honor of Reyes’ life. The family welcomes advocates of domestic violence awareness.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the Marjaree Mason Centers’ confidential, 24/7 helpline at 559-233-4357 or call the national domestic violence hotline at 800-799-7233.
This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 3:17 PM with the headline “Murder-suicide revealed 20 years of domestic abuse. ‘What Angie endured in silence’.”
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