Jani Speaks Out

Jani Nix shares her story of abuse, gun violence, loss, and survival
By Ellen Orr

Jani finds comfort in items like this teddy bear, which was created from Emmy’s swaddle blanket. photo by shane darby.

On November 6th, 2023, 19-year-old Jani Nix (then Gailey) wasn’t answering her mother’s phone calls. While this is a typical experience for many parents of young adults, Tonya Satterfield was worried.

“Normally I’d text her, and if she wouldn’t respond, because of all the things that had happened, I’d call her,” Tonya said. “And I told her that if she ever lets her phone die, I’m gonna get her.” They had an understanding: after all that Jani had experienced, if Tonya called, she was to answer.

Months prior, Jani’s husband, 27-year-old Preston Gailey, had escalated his verbal abuse to physical abuse when he attempted to strangle her. And, in September, Tonya had called the police when Preston, who was in possession of a gun, tried to prevent Jani and their infant daughter, Emerie, from leaving their home in the midst of a verbal altercation. The police arrested Preston, and he spent a week in jail, during which he called Jani repeatedly, apologizing to and guilting her. They removed the gun from the home, and the next week, the family of three was again under one roof.

“He got real mean whenever we argued,” Jani said, “but he never hit me. It was so weird when he choked me; it was almost like he didn’t know what he was doing, like he was blacked out. I hit him trying to get him off of me, and he acted like he didn’t know what he did.”

Preston’s dissociative states made Jani and Tonya suspect he was mentally ill.

“We thought it was just depression, because he had a really bad childhood,” Tonya said. “I tried to step in and be a mother to him, and we started having a really good relationship. [After he got out of jail] he apologized and told me he was sorry and that it would never happen again.”

Jani and Tonya also blamed Preston’s aggression on the testosterone he was taking, which was being illegally supplied. Jani begged him to stop taking it and begged the dealer to stop supplying it. Preston promised that he had stopped.

Jani was trying to make her marriage work. “He was a very sweet guy when this stuff wasn’t going on in his head,” she said. “I really loved him.” 

Tonya, too, held hope for Preston and Jani’s relationship. Tonya’s husband felt differently, however.

“Darrin had an intuition about him,” Tonya said.

So, on that November day, when Jani’s phone was going straight to voicemail, Darrin asked if they ought to drive over to the Gaileys’ home on Glendale Avenue. They decided to wait a few minutes, hoping that Jani would return their call. To pass the minutes, Tonya sat on her porch and opened Facebook on her phone. There she saw a post from the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department, reporting a shooting on Glendale Avenue, with a photo of her daughter’s home attached.

As they sped to Jani’s home, Tonya driving, the police called. Darrin spoke with the officer, who informed him that, despite their previous removal of the gun, Jani had been shot and was being taken to Wadley Hospital. Five-month-old Emerie had been killed, and Preston had died by suicide. 

Though conscious, Jani was disoriented and confused. It would be months before her family would learn the circumstances surrounding her near-fatal injuries and the deaths of her child and husband.

November 6th, 2023, had been a normal Monday for Jani, Preston, and Emerie. They had visited with family in the morning and returned home in the afternoon. Jani then realized that her pet cat was missing.

“When Preston got mad, he would let [the cat] out, and I would have to go look for her,” Jani said. “He knew how much I loved that cat, but he couldn’t stand her. He said he thought the cat would get into the crib and suffocate the baby.”

Jani confronted Preston, and an argument ensued. She recognized that Preston was dissociating. “His eyes went black,” she said. She ran into the living room. He followed, got his gun, aimed for her head, and shot. Jani instinctively raised her left hand and turned her head to the right. The bullet tore through her hand and into the side of her head, under her left ear, lodging itself in her cerebellum. 

“My ear started ringing,” Jani recalled. “I didn’t even realize at first [what had happened]. I didn’t feel [the pain]. And then I passed out.”

Preston shot her twice more: one bullet went into her back, and the other grazed her side. He then shot and killed Emerie, though Jani believes that this was an accident.

“He was a great dad,” she said. “I believe that [killing Emerie] was an accident. There was a swing in front of where she was, and it was metal, and I think a bullet ricocheted.”

When Jani regained consciousness, she heard Preston’s quick footsteps in the distance. “It sounded like he was panicking,” she said. She rolled over and saw that her daughter had been killed. Then she heard a door close. Figuring Preston had fled the scene, she called 911 for help. She told the dispatcher, Kyesha Nelson, that she and Emmy had been shot and that she was about to pass out but would stay on the line.

Jani said that, right before she passed out again, she felt “a warm, comforting hug from behind.” Then she remembers waking up in the hospital, but inexplicably, she had her daughter, alive, on her chest. “I had the chance to say not goodbye but ‘I’ll see you again,’” she said. “I held her one last time before coming around [and fully regaining consciousness]. I feel that I experienced God in a supernatural way.”

After being taken by ambulance to Wadley, Jani, who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), was quickly airlifted to the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) Medical Center in Little Rock; Tonya and Darrin followed by car. At UAMS, Dr. Hector Soriano Baron, a neurosurgeon, informed the family of the severity of Jani’s condition. Due to swelling, part of her cerebellum had herniated, displaced into the opening of the skull where the brain and spinal cord connect. If they did not release some of the pressure on the brain, the doctors said, she would die.

Jani was put into a medically-induced coma; doctors hoped that this would allow the swelling to decrease. Instead, her brain continued to swell. On November 8th, they performed a craniectomy, removing part of her skull to allow extra space for her brain. Doctors informed the family that this surgery was high-risk; arteries in the back of Jani’s head had been damaged, and they said that, if she were to start bleeding, they would be unable to stop it. But, without the surgery, Jani would almost certainly die.

Incredibly, Jani made it through the surgery successfully, but she was not yet in the clear. Over the next 40 days, she would undergo various procedures at UAMS to fight against infection and cerebral edema (excess fluid on the brain). She spent much of that time on a ventilator. In late November, she was temporarily brought out of the coma. She was responsive but confused and experiencing memory loss. After another week of sedation, she woke again; this time, she was lucid. She immediately asked her mom where Preston and Emmy were.

Emerie Michelle Gailey was buried at Chapelwood Memorial Gardens the week of Thanksgiving 2023. Texarkana Funeral Home provided their services free of charge, and Chapelwood donated two plots—one for Emmy, one for Jani. The service was graveside and family-only. Jani, still at UAMS, could not attend.

“Our faith as a family is so strong now [that] it’s amazing. We know where our sweet Emmy is, and we will see her again one day.”

— Tonya Satterfield

Preston also received a private graveside service. His obituary reads, “His family is heartbroken at the tremendous loss that he has caused, but they will forever love their son, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend.”

For the first week that Jani was conscious and lucid, she was terrified that Preston was still alive.

“I had nightmares about him trying to come kill me,” she said. “I made them show me his obituary, and even after they showed me, I was still scared. I couldn’t put it all together. It was just scary.”

In the aftermath of the shooting, Preston’s family has been supportive of Jani; they are still in regular contact. They informed Jani and her family that Preston had been diagnosed with a severe mental health disorder as a child and that he required medication but would not take it due to paranoid delusions; he thought that doctors were trying to poison him.

Jani and her family also came to learn that the gun, which had previously been removed from their home, had been returned to Preston, after he convinced the family member who was in possession of it that Jani wanted him to have a firearm to protect her.

On December 18th, 2023, Jani was released from UAMS. 

“My neurosurgeon said, ‘You’re my Christmas miracle,’” Jani recalled. “And I remember pointing back at him as if I was saying, ‘No, you’re mine.’”

Since returning to her mother’s home, she has undergone extensive occupational, speech, and physical therapies. The TBI affected—and continues to affect—her ability to walk, use her hands and arms, see out of and control her left eye, hear out of her left ear, and recall certain memories. It also causes vertigo. Through hard work and determination, she has regained most of her motor functions. 

Jani’s brother motivated her through her most painful physical therapy sessions. “He just had to say Emmy’s name, keep that in her head,” Tonya recalled. “‘Do this for her.’ And it took everything she had, but she did it.”

In June, Jani successfully underwent surgery on her left hand to recover functionality, though she may never regain full use.

On June 8th, 2024—what would be Emerie’s first birthday—the family held a second memorial service for the beloved baby girl. Although open to the public, the gathering was primarily for Jani, who had been in a coma when her daughter was buried. In attendance at the gathering were dispatcher Kyesha, TAPD officer Marcos Luna and Ashdown officer Dawson O’Malley (who was with TAPD at the time of the shooting), as well as countless friends, family members, and members of Jani’s church, Legacy Baptist Church. At the service, Jani shared her testimony.

submitted photo.

“God saved me,” she said. “He saved me, and I know he has plans for me. This is just the beginning, and I hope my story can not only help bring others closer to our God but help someone live another day at least.”

Relatedly, her church community, under the leadership of Pastor Donnie Edwards, has prayed for Jani and her family, as well as supported them in tangible ways.

submitted photo.

“[The church congregants] fed my family after my daughter’s funeral,” Jani said. “And Brother Donnie Edwards [acted as] the voice for my family when they needed one. He is inspirational to me and my family.”

Tonya reflected that, despite the unthinkable grief they have—and continue to—endure, the entire family’s conviction is at an all-time high.

“Our faith as a family is so strong now [that] it’s amazing,” she said. “We know where our sweet Emmy is, and we will see her again one day.”

Jani believes that her story is an opportunity to share her faith as well as to warn others about the realities of domestic violence. She emphasized that she hopes that more people come to understand that domestic abuse is not just about physical assault.

“Even if it’s not physical [abuse], if you’re being mentally abused—leave,” she said.

Tonya added that raising awareness of mental illness is also critical in preventing these tragedies. If Preston’s mental health condition weren’t highly stigmatized, Jani might have been made aware of it before she and Emerie were in his crosshairs.

Jani’s family have helped tremendously with her recovery. Pictured left to right are Ryan and Lexie Satterfield, Darrin Satterfield (behind), Corey and Morgan Brazile, Tonya Satterfield, Jani Nix holding Emerie, and Jalen Nix. submitted photo.

Jani and her family want to extend their thanks to all of the people who have helped them survive this tragedy—the TAPD police department, UAMS medical personnel, friends, family, and Legacy Baptist Church.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), texting START to 88788, or visiting thehotline.org. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.