Aspiring Musician and Relative of Beyonce Killed by Girlfriend, Ring Camera Leads to Capture

A homicide became a high-profile murder case in San Antonio, Texas after an aspiring music producer and rapper was found shot and killed in his locked apartment. 34-year-old Martell DeRouen, who went by the stage name Kordone, was related to superstar singer Beyoncé through his mother’s side of the family — leading to media and public interest in his slaying.

“He was really starting to reach a point in his career where he was starting to get really well-known,” Erica Hernandez, a reporter for KSAT-12, said on Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen. “His career was really starting to take off.”

As police investigated what happened, a neighbor’s Ring camera footage turned out to be key to unraveling the murder.

“She had a firearm in one hand. She had a cell phone in the other. She’s outside Martell’s apartment banging on the door,” Dr. Nameeta Sahni, forensic psychologist, said on Snapped. “This is a woman who, by all indications, she gave into her passion. And in that moment, her passion was rage.”

On Jan. 26, 2021, San Antonio 911 dispatchers answered a call for a woman concerned because she hadn’t heard from her stepson, Martell DeRouen, in four days. When officers went to his apartment for a welfare check, they noticed a bullet hole in the door. The door was also bolted from the inside.

They found DeRouen laying on the ground by the door, with dried blood pooled around his head.

“The bullet hole appeared to be through his forehead,” said San Antonio police detective Lawrence Saiz on Snapped. “It lined up with him probably looking out the peephole when he was shot.”

There was evidence of a fight inside the apartment. Broken dishes and glasses were on the floor. An empty gun box was found in the closet, with the gun missing. Women’s shoes and clothes were found around the apartment. A broken-off acrylic fingernail was also found on the bed.

Sasha Skare. Photo: Oxygen

Neighbors were able to give police lots of valuable information about what might have happened to DeRouen. One heard a loud fight in DeRouen’s apartment around 8 p.m. on January 22, four days before his body was discovered, and recorded audio of the fight for the landlord. Another neighbor saw a barefoot woman knocking on DeRouen’s door and trying to get inside.

But it was a third neighbor who had the most significant evidence to give police. That neighbor’s Ring camera captured a “pop” noise the night of January 22 that police believed to be a gunshot.

“Shortly after that there’s another motion activation on his camera, and it’s a young lady walking past his apartment door who matches the description of the female seen banging on Mr. DeRouen’s door,” Saiz said. “You could see that she was carrying a handgun in her right hand and her cell phone in her left hand.”

An intriguing 911 call was also made to San Antonio dispatchers the night of January 22. In it, a woman reported a bullet in a door, and said she was worried about her husband inside. She was asked to give and spell her name: Joia DeRouen. The catch? The caller spelled both the first and last name incorrectly.

When police spoke to Martell DeRouen’s estranged wife, Joia, she denied making any calls to 911. Instead, she pointed police to her husband’s current love interest while they were separated: 21-year-old Sasha Skare, another aspiring musician.

“They’d remained great friends throughout their entire separation,” Hernandez said of Martell and Joia’s relationship. “She was a hairstylist, so she did his hair still. And they talked often.”

Joia and Martell had a solid relationship, despite their separation.

“He would confide in Joia,” Saiz said. “He would tell her Sasha would get violent. That she would want to fight or was causing problems.”

Police realized Skare had been part of a violent crime before. She and her then-boyfriend, Andrew Bass, were involved in a drug deal gone wrong in November 2019, and Bass was shot and killed. Skare was charged with aggravated robbery and assault with a deadly weapon and was out on bond when Martell DeRouen was murdered.

Text messages showed a fight between Skare and DeRouen before he died.

“You see the text messages, he tells her, ‘I had to defend myself. You attacked me, I had to get you out of here. But you need to bring my gun back,’” Saiz said.

The bullet recovered from DeRouen’s body matched the caliber of his missing gun.

A DNA sample from Skare also matched the DNA of the fingernail found on his bed. She was also identified as the woman walking with a gun in a neighbor’s Ring footage.

“[Police] theory is that they got into an argument, and he kicked her out,” Hernandez said. “She didn’t like it. But before she left, she took his handgun. He was maybe ending things. And she knew when she got his attention to come to the door that was her opportunity — and impulsively shot through the door.”

With an overwhelming amount of evidence, Sasha Skare was offered a plea deal by the prosecution for 20 years in prison for Martell DeRouen’s murder, but she declined it.

“I was really just thinking about my son,” Sasha Skare said on Snapped. “And I don’t want to be away from him that long. That was really my main thoughts … so I’m not going to just sign my life away, like I at least want to put up some type of fight.”

In August 2023, Skare went on trial for murder and took the stand in her own defense, claiming that the two got in a fight when Skare was on the phone with a videographer.

“And when he starts hitting me, I’m fighting back trying to get him off me, like I’m clawing his face … and he started choking me,” Skare said. “I started blacking out … I panicked. I was like, ‘I just need to do something.’ And my first instinct was to grab the gun.”

Skare testified that after she ran out the door to get away from DeRouen, she realized her belongings were inside and went back to get them. She claimed she was banging on the locked apartment door with the gun when the gun accidentally went off, killing DeRouen.

“It was an accident,” Skare said. “I didn’t intend to actually shoot him and kill him. He was my friend. Why would you want that to happen to somebody you were close with?”

Despite her story, a jury found her guilty of murder. Skare was sentenced to 55 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2048. She plans to appeal her conviction.

Watch all-new episodes of Snapped on Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen and the next day on Peacock.