Dominguez in Davis trial: ‘I realized the shadow figures were people I stabbed’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Dominguez testified he mistook victims for hallucinated ‘shadow figures’
- Defense claims schizophrenia symptoms drove stabbings; prosecution disputes
- Prosecutor links killings to anger over academic decline and personal setbacks
Carlos Reales Dominguez testified in a Woodland courtroom that he confronted what he believed were supernatural “shadow figures.” He lunged at one on a park bench, attacked another on a bicycle path, and punched at a third inside a tent—just before hearing a scream.
Months later, while confined in a state hospital, Dominguez said he came to understand the figures were not shadows at all.
On the second day of testimony Tuesday, Dominguez named the individuals in the hushed courtroom: David Breaux, fatally stabbed as he slept on a bench in Davis’ Central Park; Karim Abou Najm, killed while riding his bicycle through Sycamore Park; and Kimberlee Guillory, the lone survivor, attacked inside her tent.
“I realized that the shadow figures were people I had stabbed,” Dominguez said during his murder trial in Yolo Superior Court.
Dominguez has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the murders of Breaux, 50, and Najm, 20, and attempted murder in the near-fatal stabbing of Guillory, now 64. His defense argues he was experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia during the attacks.
Over two days on the witness stand, Dominguez recounted to defense attorney Daniel Hutchinson, a Yolo County deputy public defender, the whispers he heard and the “shape-shifters” and “shadow figures” that appeared in his dreams, room, and along the paths and parks he frequented at night.
He testified that one figure laughed and pointed silently as it approached him on the Sycamore Park bike path, where Najm was later killed. Dominguez said he confronted it because he was frightened.
“I remember the shadow, the shape-shifter coming toward me,” Dominguez said. “If I stepped in his way, he would see me and move to his right or left. He would stop laughing and pointing at me. I felt bad that he was making fun of me, not because I was angry, but because I was scared.”
Dominguez said he did not remember stabbing Najm or Breaux. Prosecutor Frits Van Der Houk noted Najm was stabbed more than 50 times, and Breaux more than 30 times.
Van Der Houk challenged Dominguez’s account, suggesting that anger—not hallucinations—drove the violence. He cited Dominguez’s declining grades at UC Davis, a breakup with his girlfriend, estrangement from friends, and jeopardized financial aid as potential motives.
He pointed to incidents of violent behavior, including punching a wall after failing a chemistry exam and breaking a toilet at his shared residence. Dominguez also wrote lyrics with knife imagery and bought a combat knife online prior to the attacks, the prosecutor said.
“You killed David Breaux because you were angry,” Van Der Houk told him. “You were thinking about killing people.”
Testimony is scheduled to continue Wednesday in Yolo Superior Court.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM.
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