Naman Shrestha
The local stage actress, Pasinetta Prince, was known for playing many roles on the theatre stage and in her personal life. So, when she was suddenly killed at the age of 40 in her home in Omaha, Nebraska, in February 2006, it sent shockwaves across the entire community. During the investigation, the detectives suspected quite a few individuals to be involved in the homicide until they zeroed in on the perpetrator responsible for the crime. All the intricate details of the case and the investigation that followed are covered in Investigation Discovery’s ‘Betrayed: Final Curtain,’ which also features insightful and emotional interviews with Pasinetta’s loved ones.
Pasinetta Prince Was Found Dead in Her Basement
Born on July 18, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska, Pasinetta Daphne Fitzgerald Prince developed a passion for acting from a young age. Pursuing what her heart desired, she entered the theatre industry through sheer talent and hard work. She became a regular fixture in plays at Beasley’s theatre. Apart from that, she also tried out a few modeling gigs and owned a daycare. In 2004, she began dating Patrick Bauldwin and eventually began living together by the summer of the same year. At the time, the Omaha, Nebraska, resident was a devoted mother to her son, Cameron, and stepson, Marvel. At some point, Pasinetta and Patrick got engaged, looking forward to spending their life together.
Her seemingly picture-perfect life came to an abrupt and tragic end in late February 2006. On February 26, her family became concerned about her well-being as she didn’t show up at church, which was uncharacteristic of her. That same evening, her mother visited Pasinetta’s home at 41st and Lake, but nobody answered the door. The police arrived soon after she called 911, and they found the local 40-year-old actress dead in the basement of the house. The autopsy revealed that she had died of strangulation and had been severely beaten.
Pasinetta Prince’s Killer Evaded Justice For Two Years
The authorities tried connecting the dots to the mysterious death of Pasinetta Prince by interviewing her friends and family. Upon speaking with her friends, the detectives were pointed to her ex-fiancé, Patrick Bauldwin. Pasinetta’s friends alleged that he was abusive and jealous towards her and that Pasinetta planned to file a restraining order against him. According to reports, a couple of days prior to her killing, she had asked him to get out of her house. By tracing the movements of Patrick and Pasinetta on the night prior to her death, the detectives learned that after attending a party with her friends, Pasinetta was escorted to her home by her friend, Michael Scott, who knocked on her home after noticing that her car was parked a couple of blocks away.
According to Michael, that same night, Patrick told him to stop following Pasinetta during a phone call. The following afternoon, on February 25, she was still alive as she talked and interacted with her mother, a friend, and her son. Later that evening, Patrick attended a birthday party of his sister Michelle Troxclair’s kids. However, he reportedly left the party around 10 pm in his sister’s car and returned around 2:30 am, when she called him to get supplies from it. When Pasinetta’s remains were discovered the following evening, Patrick was at a barbecue party. He was then interviewed by the investigators, who noticed small injuries across his body. Although he refused to take responsibility for his ex-fiancée’s murder, he gave some incriminating statements to the detectives. They also took DNA swabs from him.
The case went cold for several months until a cold-case unit reopened it in 2008. Apart from interviewing old witnesses again and some new ones, the detectives also reevaluated the evidence, including Pasinetta’s top and Patrick’s jeans. When her blood was found on his jeans and a mixture of DNA was found on her top, they arrested Patrick on June 23, 2009, and charged him with the first-degree murder of Pasinetta. During the interrogation, the accused maintained his innocence and presented his side of the story, yet made a series of incriminating statements.
Patrick Bauldwin is Currently Incarcerated at a Nebraska Prison
During Patrick Bauldwin’s 2010 trial, the prosecution told the jury that Pasinetta and Patrick shared a volatile relationship, and when the former was going to leave him, the defendant snapped and ended up committing murder. On the other hand, the defense argued that the blood found on Pasinetta’s clothes could have gotten there in any way, as the couple lived together at the time. In the end, in September 2010, Patrick was convicted of second-degree murder.
A couple of months later, on November 17, he was sentenced to life in prison. Not long after, he and his defense counsel filed a motion to get his conviction overturned, claiming that the authorities violated his Miranda rights. In the end, the Court of Appeals denied the appeal and upheld the conviction. As of today, the 62-year-old killer is serving his sentence at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in Johnson County, Nebraska.
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