Silent Warnings: The Deadly Cost of Domestic Violence

In this episode, we revisit the harrowing January 2025 disappearance of 29-year-old Alexis Schuler, a devoted mother of three whose life was cut tragically short. Known for her radiant smile and unwavering love for her children, Alexis vanished after getting into a truck with Devontae Gray, the father of one of her children. What began as a missing person case quickly escalated into one of the most chilling domestic violence tragedies the Capitol Heights community had ever seen. When officers finally executed a search warrant at Gray’s duplex, they uncovered Alexis’s body concealed behind a newly built wall—entombed in concrete, soil, and hay—a discovery that would shock investigators and expose glaring lapses in the system’s response to domestic abuse warnings.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to No Tears forBlack Girls and today we unravel
the chilling disappearance, thendiscovery of 29 year old Alexis
Schuler. A few days before January 10th,
2025, Capitol Heights officers answered multiple domestic abuse
calls at the home she shared with her partner, 30 year old

(00:20):
Devante Gray. Alexis's mother, Taiwana,
thought her daughter simply leftwith Devante until she couldn't
reach her and reported her missing on January 14th, when
police finally served a warrant at Gray's duplex, strange odors
and fresh drywall masked something far more sinister.
Beneath the stairs, a makeshift tomb poured full of concrete hid

(00:43):
human remains. Gray later confessed to shooting
Alexis two or three times after an argument.
In this episode, we trace the warning signs, the botched calls
for help, and the desperate search that led to one of Prince
George's most horrifying discoveries.
Stay with us as we unfold every grim detail.

(01:04):
Missing person Flyers outside the home where Alexis Schuler's
body was found today. Schuler's cousin saying it was
the outcome they feared most. Her three children will no
longer fill their mother's embrace or hear their mother's
voice, and all she wanted was tocome home to them.

(01:25):
She was young, beautiful, and full of life until she vanished
without a trace. But when authorities finally
found 29 year old Alexis Schuler, she wasn't just
missing. She'd been buried, hidden behind
a newly built wall, entombed in a chilling homemade grave.

(01:45):
What kind of monster could do such a thing?
And what horrifying secrets lay beneath the surface of this
tragic case? This is the story of Alexis
Schuler, a mother, a daughter, and a victim of domestic
violence whose death exposed cracks in the system and the
darkness lurking behind closed doors.

(02:05):
Alexis Schuler was a devoted mother of three, known for her
radiant smile and fierce love for her children.
But her life took a sinister turn in January 2025.
On the 10th, she climbed into a truck with Devante Gray, the
father of one of her children, to finalize her move out of
their shared home. It was the last time her family

(02:27):
saw her alive. When Gray called Alexis's
mother, Taiwana, days later, asking about her whereabouts,
Taiwana's instincts scream danger.
I told him she got into your truck.
Where is she? She recounted.
Grace spun wild stories, Ubers, friends, stress.

(02:48):
None of it added up. By January 14th, Tywana filed a
missing person report, but police initially hesitated.
She's an adult, they said maybe she needed space.
They were wrong. On January 19th, police returned
to Gray's Capitol Heights duplexwith a search warrant.

(03:08):
Officers noted a weird odor dismissed days earlier as
unsanitary conditions. But this time, they dug deeper.
Behind a freshly constructed faux brick wall under the
stairs, they found a plastic storage bin encased in concrete.
Inside, buried under soil and hay, was Alexis's body.

(03:29):
Her foot protruded through the plastic, A haunting detail from
what detectives called a makeshift tomb.
Gray confessed to shooting her two or three times during an
argument, claiming it was an accident.
But the evidence told a different story.
Fresh drywall, cleaning chemicals and a semi automatic
handgun registered to him. This wasn't a crime of passion.

(03:53):
It was calculated cold. And it wasn't the first red
flag. Just days before her
disappearance, police had responded to a domestic
disturbance call placed by Gray himself, where he threatened if
she enters the home, there will be problems.
Alexis was seen alive that day, but friends say she'd been

(04:13):
planning to leave him for good. In her final hours, she called
her best friend, Jasmine. I think he knows I'm leaving,
she whispered. Jasmine urged her to run, but
Alexis sighed. It's not that simple.
Neighbors later reported hearinga loud thud and muffled cries
the night she vanished. By dawn, Gray was seen hauling

(04:37):
bags of concrete into the house.When questioned, he played the
role of a worried boyfriend, even texting Alexis's phone to
fake her survival. But his lies unraveled.
The stench of decay. The bullet matching his gun.
The neighbor's testimony? It was all too much to hide.

(04:57):
At trial, prosecutors painted Gray as a manipulative killer
who'd planned Alexis's murder for weeks, text messages
revealed her terror. He knows I don't feel safe.
A neighbor testified to hearing the fatal gunshot.
And then there was the anonymousletter sent to Taiwana years
later, signed only with AT detailing Gray's prison

(05:19):
confessions. Investigators traced it to
Tyrone Willis, Gray's cellmate, who revealed Gray had bragged
about making sure she'd regret leaving.
The jury deliberated for less than five hours.
Guilty. Life without parole.
But for Tywana, justice was hollow.
I told her to be careful, she whispered.

(05:41):
I never trusted him. Alexis's story didn't end with
Gray's conviction. Her mother, Tawana, became a
vocal advocate for domestic violence survivors, while her
best friend Jasmine launched Alexis Light, a foundation
helping women escape abusive relationships.
But questions linger. Could this have been prevented?

(06:05):
Years earlier, another of Gray'sex girlfriends, Sierra Carter,
vanished under similar circumstances.
Her case remains cold, a chilling reminder that Alexis
might not have been his first victim.
As for Gray, inmates say he's a shell of his former self.
He wakes screaming, clawing at invisible hands, muttering She's

(06:29):
here. Guards report flickering lights
and cold spots in his cell. Whether guilt or something
unseen, Devante Gray will never escape what he did.
Alexis Schuler's name is now a rallying cry.
Her children grow up without their mother, but her legacy
lives on in vigils, advocacy, and the lives saved by her

(06:53):
story. As Tywana says, love should
never hurt, and no one, no one is ever truly alone.
If you or someone you know needshelp, contact the National
Domestic Violence Hotline. Behind every statistic is a
person, a story, a life that matters.
This is Alexis's story and it's one we must never forget.

(07:20):
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