WOODLAND, Calif. — Carlos Reales Dominguez’s former girlfriend testified Wednesday in Yolo County Superior Court that she witnessed what she described as a gradual mental and physical decline during his sophomore year, recounting changes in his hygiene, eating habits, social interactions and behavior as the defense sought to establish a timeline in Dominguez’s retrial.
Dominguez, a former student at the University of California, Davis, is accused of fatally stabbing two men and injuring one woman in April 2023. The court declared a mistrial last June after the jury acquitted Dominguez of first-degree murder, and he is now being retried on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson used the witness’s account to create a timeline of Dominguez’s hygiene, eating habits, academic challenges, social withdrawal and paranoia. Deputy District Attorney Frits van der Hoek later questioned how the accused’s former girlfriend understood these changes and how they might relate to the accused’s use of cannabis.
The witness testified that, at some point during her sophomore year, she began to notice changes in Dominguez. She stated that he started to spend more time in his room, skip classes and miss assignments.
The DPD asked whether Dominguez underwent any physical changes. Dominguez’s former girlfriend said that he began to lose weight because of appetite loss. She also stated that he neglected his personal hygiene, stopped shaving and let his hair grow longer than was typical for him.
Dominguez’s former girlfriend said that she and her roommate fostered a kitten at the start of their sophomore year. She stated that Dominguez grew close to the kitten, naming him Ember and later adopting him. She said that she started to worry about Dominguez’s ability to care for Ember around the same time she noticed his behavioral shift.
The DPD asked how Dominguez’s relationship with Ember changed over time. The witness described the two as extremely close in the beginning. Over time, however, the defendant stopped changing the cat’s litter, stopped refilling the food bowl and stopped providing fresh water.
The witness recalled moments when Dominguez would sit and stare at the wall in his darkened room without talking. When the couple would leave his room — which she described as a rarity — he would reportedly “say under his breath that the people passing were talking about him.” The people were not talking about him, according to the accused’s former girlfriend.
The DPD asked the witness whether she had any experience identifying symptoms of schizophrenia. She replied that she did not, but that she had a cursory understanding of the symptoms. As she witnessed the accused’s gradual decline, she suspected that something “wasn’t right.” She thought about contacting Dominguez’s parents, but decided against it because they “didn’t seem present in his life.”
The witness recalled that Dominguez was very close with his two younger siblings. She said that he would regularly call them during his freshman year but stopped sometime during his sophomore year.
The witness stated that she began to consider breaking up with Dominguez after noticing she was becoming depressed. She stated that she liked to be around people, and Dominguez only wanted to stay in his darkened room without talking.
Dominguez’s former girlfriend described an incident in March or April 2022 in which he got into a conflict with another young man. The couple was heading to the elevator of her apartment complex. Dominguez turned around and accused a young man of saying something about him. The man replied, confused, that he had not said anything. In response, Dominguez tackled him, only to be pushed off.
The witness was able to verbally separate the two, but not before the man expressed concern for her safety. This upset Dominguez, who took the witness’s phone in the elevator and later threw it across her room, shattering it.
After calming him down, the witness tried to drive Dominguez back to his apartment. She had to stop a few blocks away because the accused “kept trying to jump out of the car” while it was moving. She broke up with him shortly thereafter, but did not tell him it was over concerns about his mental health because she worried it would “upset him.”
The DPD asked the witness about her relationship with Dominguez following the breakup. She said that they remained friends because she was the only person he would interact with and she did not want him to completely isolate himself.
The defense presented an image of Dominguez and Ember taken April 4, 2022. When asked to describe his appearance in the photo, the witness said that he looked visibly thinner than the man she knew during freshman year. She also noted that he had developed noticeable body odor around this time, despite having perfect hygiene earlier in their relationship.
Dominguez’s former girlfriend said that he moved to his Hawthorne residence in the fall of 2022. She testified that he was in “the worst state” she had ever seen him. She said that he had stopped showering, was completely unkempt and had long, unwashed hair hanging over his face.
The witness said that she stopped visiting the accused in December 2022 out of respect for her new girlfriend. She stated that Dominguez gave her a Christmas present the last time she saw him. The gift — a long-sleeved Playboy shirt and a pair of thong underwear — was presented in a shoebox with a horned figure drawn on it.
The DPD presented screenshots of messages Dominguez’s siblings sent to his former girlfriend in February 2023. Dylan and Mia messaged her separately, both expressing concern for their brother because he was not returning their calls. The witness called Dominguez’s roommate, who told her that he was in his room. She did not receive any messages or calls from the defendant’s parents.
The DPD asked the witness if she was aware of the Davis stabbings when they occurred. She replied that she was, and was later informed by police that Dominguez had been arrested in connection with the attacks. She reportedly told police “that’s not the person I knew.”
The DDA probed the witness about Dominguez’s relationship with his parents, his physical appearance and his cannabis use.
The DDA asked Dominguez’s former girlfriend whether she had met his parents in person. She replied that she had seen them four times: twice in Tracy, once in Davis and once in Las Vegas. However, she stated that she did not understand what they were saying most of the time because she does not speak Spanish.
The witness stated that Dominguez had several different hairstyles throughout their relationship. She said he had longer hair during freshman year but later buzzed it off. He let it grow out after that, but kept it on the shorter side. She also stated that he always kept his face shaved, which he stopped doing during their sophomore year.
The DDA expressed doubt about the witness’s ability to identify symptoms of schizophrenia, asking her whether she had ever received training in mental illness identification. She said that she had not, but that the changes in Dominguez were extremely worrisome.
The DDA asked the accused’s former girlfriend if it ever occurred to her that “it would be a good idea for [Dominguez] to stop smoking cannabis.” She said that it had, but that she did not say anything to him. She also stated that Dominguez sometimes created music after smoking, but not always.
The jury trial proceeded Thursday, June 18, before Judge Samuel T. McAdam in Yolo County Superior Court. The case is scheduled to resume Friday, June 19, at 9:30 a.m.
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