The merciless shooter who gunned down 21-year-old Dashanna Donovan as she fled from his fury was her ex-boyfriend, who traveled here from Virginia just to kill and immediately went back to his home in South Carolina, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Thursday.
De’Ovryion Elijha Ray, 23, of Simpsonville, SC, has been in custody since last Oct. 7, according to the DA’s Office, when he was apprehended in his home state on an unspecified, unrelated charge.
He was indicted Oct. 15, extradited to New York after a hearing Jan. 8 and arraigned in Queens Jan. 15, the prosecutors said. The charges are murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
Ray was remanded to Rikers Island and is due back in court March 6. He could get 25 years to life in prison.
The “execution-style” murder, as Katz called it, unfolded at about 9 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2025. The DA’s Office reported:
“Donovan was in the backyard of her home on 96th Street in East Elmhurst when a motion light turned on in the alleyway. The victim looked down the alleyway and appeared to recognize the individual who was walking toward her.
“Donovan screamed and ran into her apartment. The defendant, wearing a navy blue hoodie, dark pants, and a mask covering the lower half of his face, as well as a single glove, ran around the corner of the house while displaying what appeared to be a gun. He allegedly pointed the firearm in the direction of the victim and entered the home.”
The shooter reportedly let loose a hail of bullets. Police found Donovan lying on the floor with gunshot wounds to her head an torso. She was pronounced dead. Investigators recovered five shell casings in the house, two bullets and six bullet fragments, according to the DA’s Office.
Ray took a bus to New York from Virginia Beach, then a subway to Queens, the prosecutors said, and returned to Virginia Beach the same night.
A GoFundMe page set up to help defray funeral expenses for Donovan said she was shot in her aunt’s home, while “trying to escape danger.”
“At just 21 years old, Dashanna was full of energy and promise, and her bright future was abruptly cut short,” the page says.
Donovan’s mother, Helena Hypolite, told the New York Post that her daughter loved dancing and homemade chicken curry. She said Donovan was funny and liked to tell jokes, and that the thing she will miss most about her is her smile.