A husband-to-be has spoken for the first time of the moment his beloved fiancée was shot dead - as she chatted to him on the phone. Rod Hernandez, 58, from Salt Lake City, Utah, was just weeks away from tying the knot with Tanya Nikitina in 2010 when she was gunned down by her former mother-in-law. Tanya, 34, who's real name is Tetyana, was talking to Rod while sitting in the school car park where she worked as a teacher when her life was horrifically cut short. Tragic end: Rod Hernandez, right, had been due to marry Tanya Nikitina, left, but just weeks before their big day, she was shot dead her her former mother-in-law
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Rod Hernandez, 58, was engaged to Tanya Nikitina, 34
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Weeks before the wedding, she was brutally murdered
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Killer was her former mother-in-law Mary Nance Hanson, 71
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Tanya had divorced Mary's son, Dale, years before
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Bitter custody battle ensued over their two children
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Mary shot her ex daughter-in-law as she 'didn't deserve' the children
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Rod heard the murder as he was on the phone to Tanya when Mary struck
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But on January 29, two weeks before the big day, @placeholder was brutally executed.