Law&Crime Sidebar - TikToker's Stepdad Tried Murdering Her for 'Ruining' His Marriage with Her Mom: Cops

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

A social media influencer in Miami says she’s lucky to be alive after her estranged stepfather, Luis Damas, allegedly pushed his way into an apartment and shot at her. Eixchel Berroteran and her mother filed a report against Damas, saying he attacked them and shot at Eixchel, before threatening to hire a hitman to kill them. Law&Crime’s Sierra Gillespie spoke with Christine Gallo, a former prosecutor specializing in domestic violence cases, about the claims.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarGUEST HOST:Sierra Gillespie https://x.com/sierragillespieLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A Florida social media influencer recently found herself in the line of fire last week, and it was allegedly her former stepfather firing the shots. We have what she has to say about this apparent attack on her life, as well as the charges the suspect now faces. And we're discussing it all with a former prosecutor who specialized in domestic violence cases.

Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm Sierra Gillespie. Eishel Borough Tehran, known online as Eishel B, shared details of a horrific encounter with her millions of followers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Now, according to Ischelle, her mother had been married to her stepfather, Louise DeMoss for 13 years, but they'd separated several months ago.

Ishell's mother often participates in her daughter's social media posts, and DeMoss himself has also made a few appearances in videos from several years ago, apparently in happier times. So DeMoss allegedly showed up at the women's Miami apartment on August 21st. Ishell's mom told him that she had company over and she'd reach out to him again later. But when the friend left hours later, De Maas was outside the apartment in the hall. When the former couple started arguing, De Maas reportedly pushed past his estranged wife into the apartment, asking where Ischelle was, allegedly shouting that his stepdaughter was the reason he and her mother could no longer be together. In a post on Instagram, Ishael, who's originally from

Venezuela, wrote about the alleged attack in Spanish, saying that she tried to hide. hide under the bed, but it was too low to the ground. She included some pretty graphic photos showing her hand covered in blood and the broken bed frame. A translated part of what she wrote reads, quote, I decided to crawl toward him screaming for him to stop, and at that moment I heard the shot that left me stunned, but my mom, who was already behind me, wrestled him so that the shot didn't hit me. According to the affidavit, De Maas started biting his ex, so Eeschel, hit him with a wine bottle. DeMoss allegedly grabbed Eshell by the hair

during this struggle and wouldn't let go, even after he calmed down enough to sit down on the couch. The affidavit states the defendant later demanded the victim to help him clean up the scene inside the residence. The defendant had victim one, meaning Eshell's mother, sweep and mop the floor and collect all evidence from the scene and place it in a blue garbage bag. The next day, August 22nd, the women went to the hospital,

for their injuries and then contacted the police. They said they hadn't called 911 right away because DeMoss threatened he would hire hitmen to kill them if they did. On August 23rd, Miami's domestic violence apprehension team arrested DeMoss when he got to police headquarters. He then invoked his rights. He's now facing nine felony charges. Here they all are. Attempted felony murder with a deadly weapon. Two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. firearm, two more counts of burglary with assault or battery, two counts of tampering with

evidence, two more counts of false imprisonment with a weapon, and of course, felony battery. So to make sense of all this, let's turn to our expert guest. So let's jump right in right away, former prosecutor Christine Grillo, who actually specializes in domestic violence cases. Christine, thank you so much for coming on with us. My pleasure. Okay, so my first thought in all of this, there's a a lot to unpack. But the first thing that went through my mind is had her mom not pushed away the suspect, E. Shell could be dead right now. Her stepfather allegedly fired this shot at her.

It's an attempted murder charge at this point. Is that what's going through your head too? She could be dead had her mom not intervened? Absolutely. It was very clear what his motives were. In some of these cases, the defense could possibly argue that it was in a fit of rage. I never meant to kill or, but this particular defendant was making his intentions 100% clear. He repeated, I believe, in the recount of what happened, I'm going to kill you. It wasn't just saying as if sometimes we say, oh God, if you say that again, I'm just going to kill you. That's not what this was. It was accompanied with acts of violence, something bringing forth the attempt, further attempt to inflict injury, harm, and possibly death.

So yes, he was absolutely going to continue had he not been stopped. And it kind of seems like the motive in this case. I know we don't need a motive to convict, but it does seem like there's a pretty blatant one here that he's blaming Eishel for the separation with her mother. What do you think of that? So it's interesting that you say that and that's a common thought with those that if you don't try cases or so forth. And you are right. A motive is not required. however, in all of my trial experience, the most successful prosecutions come when you provide

a jury with a motive because it gives them an explanation, because let's face it, the normal people, the people living the everyday life, this is something so out of the ordinary that they can't wrap their brain around it. So once you give them a motive, it's a better explanation as to how this person could get so violent and do the things that he was accused of doing. And the motive here goes back to the traditional domestic violence, albeit more aggressive in this actual incident, it's more about the power and control in separating those from the domestic violence victim by the abuser, separating the victim from people around them that might put them on the right path to get away from the abuser.

But this was a very aggressive, after the fact, attack on what I believe this defendant believed was the cause of his breakup. So he was going to go in there, get rid of what stopped him from having the power and control, kill her, and then be able to control his victim again, in his mind, and that's how I would be explaining it to a jury. Stories like Eshells, the one we're covering today, prove just how scary and unpredictable the world can be. And if you're ever hurt, sometimes you just don't know where to turn. But enter Morgan and Morgan, America's largest personal injury firm. They have over 1,000 lawyers. In the past few months, Morgan and Morgan saw multiple million dollar verdicts, all of which, by the way, considerably higher than the highest

insurance offer. You can see if you have a case in eight clicks or less. There's no reason not to. If you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC Sidebar, or click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. This case really has domestic violence written all over it based on what you were saying. And this next part really solidifies that. So these two women did not call 911 right away. And some of us may be thinking, why not? I mean, this man attempted to kill you, obviously.

There's battery. Why not call 911? But they said that he threatened them, that he would hire a hitman to kill them. Is that another form of control stopping them from reaching out to the authorities? It is, it is a form of control. But I do, in this particular case, and that is a common thing that the, we would get victims that would come in, they would file the complaints, and then would all of a sudden get too afraid to go through with it because, well, for two reasons. One, the abuser would either come back and apologize again, or they would be afraid that the violence would escalate or this would be the end of them, as we've seen so many times. But in this particular case, it's interesting that you bring that up as well.

I was a little, I was a little confused in that this, the person, E. Shell, was an internet person, an influencer. I tend to think her motives may have been twofold, that, that yes, he threatened us. However, we went to get our injuries checked out. They waited over a couple, over two days. I think sort of weighing out how this may affect her on the internet and her career as an influencer. I think that had something to do with it. Not that it takes away from what she should have done, but I do think that this was more along the lines of protecting a career as well as themselves. I don't need to be insulting in that regard, but I could see that they knew where this person was.

They were able to fend him off at first. There was no indication ever that he had any connection to hit men that he would be able to have the money to hire someone to do. So I feel as if they were perhaps thinking about what was best for them, as they should, and then made a decision to call the police and to file the charges. It will damage them a little bit, but not wholeheartedly. I mean, there's two witnesses, there's documented injury, clearly violent injury, the bite marks and so forth. But I do think that this delay in report was more about what they were doing, what was best for them, rather than fearing for their lives. You made a good point there. So taking look at the celebrity of it all. I mean, just on face value, this is a terrifying case. Anybody who had to go through it is obviously traumatized. But then you add another level that this is a public persona, Eeschel, has a bunch of followers on TikTok, Instagram.

And then she actually used these platforms posting photos of this abuse. I mean, there's blood. There's bruises. That also leads into my next question on evidence. It looks like they have kind of a boatload in that regard. They definitely have a boatload because you, again, can't go back to it was an accident. I didn't mean it. It was in a fit of rage.

I raised my hand and accidentally hit her. No, no, no. These bruises are absolutely, absolutely glaringly parent in proving that he had an intent to hurt, harm, and possibly kill her. I don't know how it plays out. She's posting all of this. It is a protection mechanism. I applaud her on that because if you put it out there

that someone's out to get you and you have a fan base, they're also out there to protect you. It could also work against you. It can work the other way. That's an issue for her to deal with. I'm not a famous person. I wouldn't know which way to go.

But I do think that... There's also a positive value to posting this and speaking about it. It solidifies or brings together other domestic violence victims that say, okay, if I'm a fan of Ischelle, and she's going forward, and she's pursuing this prosecution against the abuser who was abusing her mother and then her, it could lead to a trend with her followers and her fans to do the same same and to stand up for each other and to fight the fight, really. And if we're looking at the charges that he now faces, obviously attempted murder in that he

shot a gun right at her intending to hit her. But then there's false imprisonment with a weapon. That one is more of a question mark to me. Does that mean because he was there keeping them within that apartment, threatening them with this weapon? Yes. So that's where it becomes when you are held against your will and clearly they were. I'm unsure as to how they broke away. I'm unsure, based on the reports that I was looking at, that he just left, or they were fighting, clearly fighting him off. And then he just left and decided, which is not unusual. I mean, they do their thing, and then they get to appoint the abusers and they say, okay, I'll be back.

Just put this, they instill the fear of God in them and then have more control over them. But in this, yes, that is imprisonment because they were not free to go. It's not something where you have to be chained to a wall or something like that. If you, and it is subjective, it's to the victim. And if the victim, for whatever reason, deal safe enough to leave, then be imprisoned. And they can be charged with, you know, imprisoning as well as to inflict injury. It makes it a higher level felony charge when you're being beat up and imprisoned rather than just beat up or just imprisoned. And honestly, it just keeps coming back to this control aspect that the stepfather wanted on his wife, now estranged, but also his stepdaughter.

And I'm wondering if it's possible and probably likely that there were red flags along the way. I mean, obviously they'd been separated. Now he came back and executed this situation while they've been separated. But while they were together or even during the separation, could there have been alarm bells going off ahead of time? I'm sure there were. In the domestic violence cases that I had dealt with, it's not something that happens just out of nowhere. There are definite signs. What we would say, one of the bigger signs, if the abuser was in public and would yell and scold the victim in public, it was always a red flag in that in front of people, they're doing a hundred times worse behind closed doors. That was always number one. I'm more than sure that there were a bunch of indicators and issues that he was harmful to her. She separated from him. That's showing one of the

nothing more to do with him. The timeline is too. I don't know how long they were together or how long operation took, but I'm more than sure they're trying to separate and him getting more aggressive, her trying to separate more aggressive. If I were the prosecutor, I would do a deep dive and I'm more than sure there were some phone calls and complaints. Whether or not she followed through, the complaint would still be substantiated somewhere. I would venture a guess that there would be, or I would bet highly, that there is some other complaints against this defendant. If we're moving forward and this suspect pleads not guilty, this ends up at a trial, I'm wondering about the re-victimization of it all. Because we have Ischelle, we have her mom,

who've been through this traumatic incident, but they are the firsthand witnesses. So if they were put on the stand, how does all of that work because they may be going through this? They have to relive it in front of the person who allegedly did all this to them. How does that work? I'm a little less worried about Eishel than other victim. This is not a slight at Eishel at all. She is a public figure. She is famous, TikTok famous and so forth. She does not seem to have a problem at this point reliving this and posting it on her TikTok for all to see. Not only is that reliving at once, it's out there. And when something's out there, it stays out there. She is on a mission to make sure that this person, this defendant, pays for what he did. And that's wonderful.

And I applaud the strength behind that. And I think her persona, her famous, her personality influence, being an influencer is going to help in her strength to face the abuser. Her mother, on the other hand, I'm not sure. But again, with Ischelle as her daughter, providing her this extra strength. I think it's going to be a problem for either one of them at this point. Looking forward, what do you expect in this case? If he does plead not guilty, I don't know how strong of a case he has. We have talked about how prosecutors do have a pretty strong case. So what do you infer could happen next? I do not see this going to trial for for a couple of reasons. Again, because she is an influencer with a lot of fans, the defense is going to

be like you you beat up on someone the public loves so you know this isn't going to work for you the physical injuries that they've documented with the pictures that's huge that's hard to get around that's a clear bite mark he can't claim it wasn't me those are not my teeth marks I really don't see this going to trial I see a plea deal coming the only defense that he could have is a crime of passion but even that you know crime of passion you have to be It has to be just that. It has to be an act in the midst of passion. And in doing this, this was more premeditated in that he had a gun on him. He made repeated threats.

When it was going south and it was being thwarted that he may not be able to go through, he kept going. So in keeping going, his passions broke. It's not something that was a split decision. I took it out. I saw her in bed with someone else and I killed her. That's a crime of passion. This is something that was, you're not. listening to me so he got more angry. You're not letting me in. So he bangs the door down.

Like it was aggression being built on aggression. So again, I do not see this going to trial. But look, as defense attorneys, I've been on that side too. We can only counsel our clients. Our clients can either listen to us or not. And if they choose not to take the plea, then we put forth the best defense you possibly can, which I don't see a very good one here. Either way, definitely a case will want to continue to follow and see how it pans out. Christine, thank you so much for coming on with us today. It's always great when we get to talk. Thank you very much.

Right now, DeMoss is being held in the Miami-Dade County Jail with no bond and is next expected in court on Friday. That's all for us today on Sidebar, but make sure you subscribe anywhere you listen to your podcasts, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. I'm Sierra Gillespie, and this has been Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.