Tamilore Odunsi (GoFundMe).
The family of a Texas nursing student who was allegedly stabbed 24 times by her roommate during a fight about their cats is suing the management company of the rental property where they lived, claiming it was negligent in paring the two to live together.
Chester Lamar Grant, 40, is facing a murder charge in the April 26 death of 23-year-old U.K. native Elizabeth “Tami” Odunsi in Houston. On Monday, Odunsi”s family filed a $65 million negligence lawsuit against For A Place To Live LLC, the property management company that paired her and Grant together, and SafeRent Solutions, which ran the criminal background check on Grant. The murder suspect also is named in the suit.
Grant and Odunsi had been living together for a few months, but the arrangement had soured in the days leading up to her death. Grant had been becoming “more aggressive” toward her, and they argued about their cats. He allegedly “poured a liquid” on Odunsi’s face and slapped her cellphone out of her hand. Odunsi called Houston police, but they declined to arrest Grant, per the suit.
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Worried about her safety, Odunsi contacted For A Place To Live and requested a Zoom meeting with its employees to express her concerns. It was scheduled for 3 p.m. April 26 but the company cancelled the meeting about two hours before it was slated to start, the lawsuit claims.
Odunsi completed her last clinical session that afternoon before her graduation and headed home. She wanted to be on the phone with her parents, John and Adenike Odunsi, because she was afraid of what Grant may do when she entered the apartment, her lawyers wrote. She walked inside and Grant immediately confronted her.
“They got into a verbal confrontation,” the lawsuit said. “John and Adenike heard Elizabeth scream and cry for help. Then, Elizabeth’s phone went dead.”
Her parents asked a family friend who lives in Houston to check on their daughter and call police. Cops entered the apartment and found Tami Odunsi “unconscious on the kitchen floor, covered in blood.” She had been stabbed over 24 times, the lawsuit said. Grant tried to take his own life but survived the attempt and remains in the Harris County Jail.
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Troy J. Pradia and Jonathan H. Cox, the lawyers for the family, argue that For A Place To Live “breached its duty” of care by approving Grant’s application and allowing him to enter into a lease with Odunsi. It should have warned Odunsi about Grant’s “extensive criminal history,” which included domestic violence convictions, the lawsuit said. The property management company also failed to take Odunsi’s complaints about Grant seriously and “cancelled a meeting that may have saved her life.”
Grant’s violent tendencies posed an “unreasonable risk of harm” to Odunsi, Cox and Pradia argued.
The property management company used SafeRent to run the criminal background check on Grant. Pradia said at press conference announcing the lawsuit that his assistant’s Google search turned up Grant’s previous domestic violence convictions.
“So, it was just that easy for them to find out what happened and what he was doing prior to him moving in with Tami,” Pradia said, according to local NBC affiliate KPRC. “We’re here today, just seeking justice for the family… I don’t know what I would do if something like this happened to my daughter.”
The Odunsi family flew from the U.K. for the press conference.
“She did everything right, but no one listened to my daughter,” Adenike Odunsi said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Odunsi’s family started a GoFundMe account for the woman known on TikTok as Tami Dollars or TD.
“Tami was a beautiful soul, full of light, ambition, and kindness,” the fundraiser reads. “She was just 23 years old. A devoted Christian, she was a God-fearing young woman who found strength and joy in her faith. She had a deep love for her church community, where she was actively involved and always eager to serve others with humility and grace.”
She dreamed of becoming a nurse and wanted to work with children in her new career.
Odunsi was set to graduate from nursing school just a few days before her murder, her family said. Her death is “an unimaginable loss at a moment that should have marked the beginning of a bright and promising future.”
For A Place To Live and SafeRent did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
