Woman called cops 9 times before ex-husband killed her, they didn’t help, TX suit says

A woman was found dead after she called police about her ex-husband nine times, according to a Texas lawsuit. Now her family’s suing the city.

Melissa Banda, 37, had three children and worked at T-Mobile as a district performance operations manager, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 5 in Hidalgo County.

On Aug. 8, 2020, police said her body was found in bushes on the side of a road in Donna, Texas. Her throat had been slit, according to the lawsuit filed against the City of McAllen.

Richard Ford Jr., Banda’s ex-husband, has been charged with murder in connection to her death.

The lawsuit filed by Banda’s sister, Cynthia Banda, said the McAllen Police Department failed to protect her despite her calling police for help numerous times.

“McAllen Police Department did almost nothing to protect her,” the lawsuit says.

McClatchy News reached out to the attorneys listed for the city and police department, but they declined to comment on the case.

Between Nov. 21, 2019, and Aug. 5, 2020, Melissa Banda called police nine times to report incidents where she said Ford threatened her, assaulted her or violated a protection order, the lawsuit says.

On Nov. 21, 2019, Melissa Banda reported to police that Ford was on his way to her home after he was served with divorce papers and a temporary protection order, the lawsuit said.

On Feb. 28, 2020, Melissa Banda told police Ford assaulted her by choking her, “impeding her breathing,” according to the lawsuit. Around the same time, she said Ford threatened to harm their children, the lawsuit said.

Ford was arrested the next day and released a day later, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2020, the divorce between the two was finalized, and Ford was granted supervised visitation with their children, according to the lawsuit. However, Ford filed a motion to modify the divorce decree.

A court hearing was scheduled for the morning of Aug. 6, 2020. Hours after the hearing, Ford showed up at Melissa Banda’s home, the lawsuit said.

“(He) pulled up, approached Melissa Banda from behind, forcefully grabbed her, and covered her mouth as she began to kick and scream. (Ford) wrestled Melissa Banda into the back of a white SUV. Hearing her screams, Melissa Banda’s nanny and neighbors immediately called the authorities and explained that (Ford) had kidnapped Melissa Banda,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said that the next day, she was reported as a missing person by the McAllen Police Department. Ford was found and arrested later that day, before her body was found, according to the lawsuit.

“We searched 30 hours total and I would have kept looking forever… How I wished things would have been different,” her sister wrote in a Facebook post.

McClatchy News reached out to Cynthia Banda but did not immediately hear back.

The lawsuit said the police department had “a policy or custom of treating domestic violence cases involving women and/or Hispanic women less seriously than other types of assault cases.”

Cynthia Banda is asking the court for compensatory damages and a reasonable attorney’s fee, the lawsuit says.

Ford is charged with capital murder by terroristic threat in the course of aggravated kidnapping, assault on a family member by impeding breath or circulation; violation of a protective order involving stalking; and stalking, according to the lawsuit.

McAllen is just north of the Texas-Mexico border and about 230 miles south of San Antonio.

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