Continued efforts from victim’s mother lead to breakthrough in Antioch case

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A mother in search of answers with respect to her daughter's death has helped to effort a major break in the case: a confession from the alleged killer.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) released more information in the investigation that took place in Antioch. News 2 spoke with the victim's mother with the hope that her story would inspire others to keep fighting even when all hope seems lost.

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Twenty-nine year old April Holt died on July 31, 2023. Her mother, Jamie Dickerson, recalled the conversations she had with April in the hours before the mother of two died at a Nashville hospital.

"I get a call that my daughter isn't breathing," Dickerson said. "...I just knew."

According to MNPD, April was found with a bag over her head in the bathroom of the Antioch home she shared with her husband. The November 2023 autopsy report listed her death as a suicide.

Dickerson told News 2 that Donovan Holt, April's husband, told Dickerson she could make all medical decisions and gave her April's cellphone, which Dickerson said was out of the ordinary.

"Her husband was acting very, very strange," Dickerson added. "He was holding his head. He was rocking and pacing."

Dickerson said that after a few weeks, April's son, who was home at the time of the incident, told her that he had witnessed fighting between Donovan and April on the day of April's death. Dickerson had also learned that Donovan had pawned April's wedding ring the week prior.

Dickerson then went to MNPD with the suspicion that her daughter was murdered. For months, even as April's case was closing, she said that she met with MNPD about evidence. She told News 2 that the Community Review Board also looked into the investigation nearly a year after April's death.

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"I met with the DA. I met with everybody I possible could," Dickerson said. "Everybody was like, 'We don't see enough evidence. We don't see enough evidence,' and they just let him be free."

This past June, Dickerson said that there was a key turning point in her efforts to get justice for April. It came in the form of a confession. Dickerson had FaceTimed Donovan and recorded the conversation.

"He just goes into how he killed her and he described how he killed her," Dickerson said. "How he strangled her and that he didn't know what to do."

Dickerson brought the recorded confession to MNPD. The department released a statement Friday that reads:

A man who formerly lived in Nashville was arrested in San Antonio, Texas last week for the July 2023 homicide of his wife, April Holt, 29, after a recent confession to MNPD detectives. Donovan Holt, 33, was indicted by a grand jury for reckless homicide, evidence tampering and false reporting.

April was found unresponsive in the bathroom of the couple's Cane Ridge Parkway home with a plastic bag taped tightly around her neck. She was transported to Southern Hills Hospital where she later died.

The Medical Examiner's Office classified her death as a suicide in November 2023 and determined her cause of death was due to complications of suffocation. Holt confessed to MNPD Cold Case Unit detectives in Texas this past July that he was responsible for strangling his wife. He will be returned to Nashville soon.

On April's autopsy report, the cause of death was changed from suffocation to strangulation and from suicide to a homicide.

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However, Dickerson believes more should be done, including increasing Donovan's charges. She added that she is fighting for full custody of April's son.

"I said I'm not going to stop fighting, even when the case was closed," she told News 2. "I know that she would be the one that's like, 'you did it mom, you did it."

Since April's death, Dickerson is now planning to open a grief recovery clinic in Middle Tennessee. She told News 2 that, as of publication, she's in the process of planning fundraisers for the effort.