A Texas woman has been accused of killing her boss, and this isn’t the first time she has faced serious charges.
Deputies from the Dallas Sheriff’s Office arrested Patricia Ruth Holt, 57, after she allegedly shot her boss, Carl Donaldson, 47, in the head, according to an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
Carl worked as the safety manager at Sun Transportation Systems, where Holt had been working as a truck driver for just over a month.
This is not Holt’s first run-in with the law. Back in 1986, she pled guilty to attempted assault in the first degree after bringing a loaded shotgun to her high school in New York. According to court records, she had threatened to kill a teacher.
On July 24, 2025, around 5:35 p.m., dispatchers received a call from Carl’s wife, Tonya Donaldson. She said her husband had been shot in the head but was still alive.
Deputy Sanchez wrote in the affidavit that he and another deputy arrived at 5:46 p.m. and saw Holt leaving the parking lot in a white tractor-trailer.
Even though deputies tried to stop her, Holt managed to drive away. Police then deployed spike strips that punctured the truck’s back tires. Holt kept driving for about 1,000 feet before the vehicle broke down and came to a stop.
According to the affidavit, Holt refused to get out. She told deputies that she planned to either kill herself or provoke police into shooting her. She also claimed people had been “messing with her for too long” and that she had been waiting two years to be paid for a job.
A hostage negotiator eventually convinced Holt to surrender at 7:08 p.m.—about an hour after Carl was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m.
Holt’s past also drew attention. The Daily Freeman reported that in September 1986, she returned to Red Hook High School with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun after being sent home for misbehavior. The teacher she had threatened wasn’t at school, and staff managed to tackle and disarm her in the lounge. She was sentenced to five years of probation.
Now, Holt remains in jail on a $1,000,000 bond. She has not yet entered a plea and does not currently have an attorney.
