Common law husband charged in aspiring singer's shooting death

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A second story window tells part of a violent story. The glass is blown out and the blind is shredded. Still, some neighbors say they had no idea there was anything amiss until family members arrived on Thursday morning.

"They were bamming on the door trying to see if someone was home and they never got an answer," said neighbor Ashanti Miller.

They never got an answer because their loved one, Rena Marie Hodges, was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. There was no sign of forced entry to the southwest Houston townhome, so who did it?

"Right now, you know, we're reaching out to family members," said Sgt. Kenneth Daignault with the Houston Police Department homicide division. "There's some that are here, some that are at other locations, so I mean basically we just have to see what information we can get from them pertaining to any issues or problems that she was having with anybody."

After talking to relatives, police charged Hodges' common law husband Jerald Dewayne Watts with murder. He is a rapper known in Houston as CDK, while she was a Gospel singer. The couple produced rap videos featuring guns and drugs and posted them to YouTube.

Neighbors tells FOX 26 News that despite being cozy and in love on screen, they had a violent relationship. One told FOX 26 that she witnessed him beating her regularly and heard a shot on Wednesday and witnessed Watt leaving the home. Was that relationship about to end?

On Hodges' Facebook account, she recently posted about starting a new chapter in her life, a life that ended after just 35 years. Hodge's death leaves three girls, whose ages range from nine to fourteen, without a mother. The oldest child just celebrated her birthday.

Watt has not been found.