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* In March 2026, Cedric Allen Ricks was executed in Texas for the murder of his common-law wife and her son. He also attacked one of her other sons, who survived, and made a heartbreaking 911 call for help, informing them that his mother and brother were dead and that he was “hurt all over.”
This is why we must stop treating women’s recognition of danger as though it is merely an expression of fear.
A woman tells somebody that a man has threatened to kill her. She explains that he follows her, watches her, violates court orders, or becomes more dangerous when she tries to leave.
And somehow, the conversation turns toward her emotional state.
Is she exaggerating? Is she paranoid? Is she overreacting? Is she being vindictive?
When will we all learn?
Some men do not become dangerous overnight. They leave a history behind them. Sometimes that history includes frightened women, police reports, protective orders, criminal charges, and children who have already witnessed violence.
Then, when a woman is murdered, we hear about how dangerous the man was. How violent he had been. How many warning signs were there.
And I keep coming back to the same question.
If we can reconstruct a man’s dangerous history after he murders somebody, why are we so often unable to respond effectively to that history while the women and children are still alive?
I am tired of hearing about prolific killers as though the number of people they harmed is some terrible achievement. There are no achievements here. There are victims. There are women whose warnings deserved serious attention. There are children who should have grown up.
The murders of Roxann Sanchez and her 8-year-old son, Anthony Figueroa, offer a painful example.
The case: Roxann Sanchez and Anthony Figueroa
On May 1, 2013, Cedric Allen Ricks murdered 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony inside their apartment in Bedford, Texas.
Roxann’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, tried to help his mother. Ricks stabbed him repeatedly, too. Marcus survived by pretending to be dead.
Roxann and Ricks also had a 9-month-old son, Isaiah, who survived physically unharmed.
Ricks was convicted of capital murder in 2014. Texas executed him on March 11, 2026.
But the most important part of this story for domestic violence prevention happened before May 1, 2013.
The violence did not begin that evening.
Eight warning signs, documented dangers, and opportunities to examine
1. Other women had experienced his violence long before Roxann was murdered.
Ricks had a history of abusing women in previous relationships.
Court records describe violence against his former wife, Teshana Singleton, including an attack at a police station during a child-custody exchange. Officers intervened, but Ricks continued assaulting her as they tried to separate them.
Another former partner, Tamara Partridge, described being slapped, restrained, and choked. She ended the relationship in 2008.
Jennifer Clark, another former partner, described an incident in which Ricks threatened to kill her when she tried to call police.
These were separate women, separate relationships, and separate incidents.
Prevention question: When a man repeatedly threatens and assaults intimate partners, how does that history inform decisions about future danger?
A woman entering a relationship may not know what previous women endured. Police, prosecutors, and courts may possess pieces of that history, but those pieces do not necessarily come together into a meaningful assessment of risk.
2. An assault at a police station showed how far his violence could go.
I’ve shared that a retired police officer turned attorney advised me to reconsider an offer to facilitate custody exchanges at the town police station. Looking back now, it was wise and sound advice. I didn’t say that every woman should reconsider, but he was right about me, especially in my 20s. I was underestimating the potential danger.
The presence of police officers did not prevent Ricks from attacking Teshana Singleton. According to court records, he continued striking her even as officers attempted to intervene.
That is a significant warning about his willingness to use violence despite immediate consequences.
Prevention question: Did authorities treat this as evidence of escalating danger, or primarily as an individual assault to be processed and closed?
We should be interested in more than whether somebody was arrested. We should also be interested in whether the response reduced the danger to the woman and children.
3. In November 2012, Roxann survived a potentially lethal assault.
Approximately six months before her murder, Ricks assaulted Roxann during an argument.
According to court records, he choked her until she lost consciousness and beat her head against the bathroom floor.
Read that again. She lost consciousness.
Strangulation is not an “ordinary argument that got out of hand.” It is a serious form of violence that can cause brain injury or death and is associated with increased risk of later intimate partner homicide.
Prevention question: After an assault involving loss of consciousness, what danger assessment, medical follow-up, prosecution, and safety planning took place?
Roxann had already survived an attack that could have killed her. That was a reason for urgent protection, not a reason to wait for something worse.
4. Roxann obtained a protective order, and Ricks violated it.
After the November assault, Roxann obtained an emergency protective order.
The order prohibited Ricks from approaching her, the children, their home, the children’s school, and other designated locations.
Court records also establish that Ricks admitted violating the order.
Roxann had already turned to a legal protection mechanism. The system had formally recognized a need to keep him away from her and her children.
Prevention question: What consequences followed his violation, and did authorities reassess the danger?
A protective order is not a physical barrier. Its effectiveness depends in part on whether violations are detected, reported, and addressed promptly.
Women should not have to discover that the protection they were promised exists mainly on paper.
5. The emergency protective order expired months before the murders.
Roxann’s emergency protective order reportedly expired on January 15, 2013.
She was murdered on May 1.
An expiration date on a protective order does not establish that the danger has ended.
Sometimes the legal protection expires while the abusive man’s behavior, access, and intentions remain dangerous.
Prevention question: Was Roxann offered assistance obtaining longer-term protection? What follow-up occurred after the emergency order expired?
We should be able to ask whether a protection system provided continuity without turning that question into another examination of what the woman should have done.
The responsibility for Ricks’ violence belonged to Ricks.
6. Police already knew about the couple’s history.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ opinion states that Bedford police officers were familiar with Ricks and Roxann because of the November 12, 2012 assault complaint.
That means the earlier violence was not merely something investigators discovered after the murders.
There was an existing record.
Prevention question: How did police use that information, and was it available to everyone responsible for assessing Roxann’s safety?
A police report is important. But recording violence and responding effectively to the danger are not the same thing.
7. Ricks appeared in court the day before he murdered Roxann and Anthony.
This may be the most troubling part of the timeline.
On April 30, 2013, Ricks appeared in court in connection with an earlier assault against Roxann.
On May 1, he murdered her and Anthony.
According to reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, prosecutors argued that Ricks killed Roxann and Anthony to eliminate witnesses in the pending assault case.
The available reporting does not establish precisely what detention options the court had on April 30, what prosecutors requested, or why Ricks remained free.
Those are important facts to establish before assigning responsibility for that particular decision.
But the proximity of these events demands examination.
Prevention question: Did the court assess the risk of retaliation against Roxann and the children, particularly given the prior strangulation and protective-order violation?
Court appearances are not simply administrative events when the accused has a documented history of serious intimate partner violence. They may also be moments when the risk to a victim increases.
8. The children were already part of the danger.
When we discuss domestic violence, we sometimes speak as though the children are standing somewhere outside the situation.
They are not.
Roxann’s children were included in the earlier protective order. On May 1, Anthony and Marcus tried to intervene when Ricks attacked their mother.
Anthony was murdered. Marcus suffered numerous stab wounds and survived by pretending to be dead.
A child should never have to make that calculation to survive violence inside his own home.
Prevention question: Were the children’s risks considered independently, and were child-protection and domestic violence responses coordinated?
Protecting a mother from a violent man is also an essential part of protecting her children.
We need to stop waiting until a man becomes a “notorious killer.”
When a man has abused multiple women, I want us to remember the women, not marvel at the man.
When a man assaults a woman at a police station, I want us to ask what happened afterward.
When a woman survives strangulation, I want the response to reflect the danger she has already faced.
And when a man appears in court on charges of assaulting a woman, I want the system to take seriously the possibility that she may face retaliation.
We cannot promise that every murder can be prevented. We can look at ourselves as a society though and realize that we are doing an ineffective job at prevention. We can demand that institutions examine warning signs carefully, use lawful protective measures, and explain their decisions when women and children face known threats.
Roxann Sanchez was more than the final victim in a man’s history of violence. Anthony Figueroa was more than another name in a murder case. Marcus Figueroa was a child who survived something no child should have to experience.
They were a family whose lives deserved protection.
The goal should never be to become exceptionally good at explaining a woman’s murder after it happens. The goal is to become much better at recognizing and responding to danger while she is still alive.
And the women who came before her, the women whose experiences helped establish that history of violence, deserve to be heard too.
Sources and further reading
Man Who Killed Mother, Young Son Apologizes Before Execution
The attached video says that he offered no words. This US Magazine article says that he did. I wasn’t there. I read the words and…..Roxann and her son are gone. One little boy will likely never forget too many horrifying things and both little boys are without their mother and brother.
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Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Ricks v. State (2017). Primary court record covering the murders, investigation, trial, and earlier domestic violence evidence.
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U.S. Supreme Court filing, 2025. Includes testimony and record citations concerning earlier assaults against multiple women.
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CBS Texas / Associated Press, March 11, 2026. Reports the April 30 court appearance and subsequent murders.
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The Texas Tribune, March 11, 2026. Documents the execution and surviving family members.
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Glass et al., Non-fatal Strangulation Is an Important Risk Factor for Homicide of Women (2008). Peer-reviewed research on strangulation and homicide risk.
Imagine How Women Escaping Domestic Violence Feel – WE Survive Abuse
Survivor Rachel Williams Highlights Strangulation Timeline – WE Survive Abuse
Released From Jail But Still a Danger to Women and Girls – WE Survive Abuse
