Murder of Danetta Henry by Alvin Dalton profiled on Fear Thy Neighbor

Fear Thy Neighbor is in Fresno, California, to investigate another neighborly feud that ended in violence and murder. On this occasion, Alvin Dalton shot and killed Danetta Henry in 2011.

On March 2, 2011, Dalton opened fire with a 9mm handgun on 37-year-old Danetta and her two teenage children at the apartment building they all shared in Fresno. The two children survived the attack, but Danetta died of her injuries.

Shortly after the shooting, one witness told ABC13 Eyewitness News: “I just heard like six gunshots right after each other, like ‘boom boom boom boom,’ you know,” said the witness. “I ran back in the house. I wasn’t trying to get in the middle of that.”

The incident had numerous witnesses, many of whom said they were not surprised that the feud, which had been going on for a long time, had turned so violent.

The police had visited the two feuding parties on numerous occasions, but nobody had ever been charged with a crime until Danetta’s murder.

Alvin Dalton claimed self-defense in Danetta Henry murder

On his arrest, Dalton told the police that he had acted in self-defense and that Danetta and her family had threatened him multiple times.

The investigators learned Dalton’s girlfriend had filed a complaint against Danetta the day before the shooting. She had asked for protection for herself and Dalton as they had been subject to attacks with pepper spray, a hammer, and a piece of a metal bed.

The police concluded that on the day of the murder, someone had shoved garbage into the keyhole of Dalton’s front door. He had then confronted Danetta, and the ensuing argument culminated in him firing the shots.

In September 2011, the then 55-year-old Dalton was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to 83 years to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2036, when he will be 80 years old.

More from Fear Thy Neighbor

Follow the links to read about more neighborly feuds that spiralled out of control and led to severe violence.

Jeffrey Weigle and Dean Keller from Greenwood, Indiana, had been arguing and fighting for nearly a decade when, one day, in 2017, they pulled out their handguns and had a shootout over the fence in the yard. Weigle was hit four times in the chest, and Keller escaped injury. The police concluded Weigle was a fault for the gunfight.

In another horrific feud, this time involving former friends and business partners, Jon Sander burst into the Mazzella family home and gunned down Sandy and his wife Stephenie and Sandy’s mother, Elaine. Despite all the evidence against Sanders, he actually tried to blame another member of the Mazzella family for the crime.

Fear Thy Neighbor airs at 11/10c On Investigation Discovery.