BATON ROUGE - A 5-year-old girl was in the car when her mother was killed Wednesday, and was awakened by the gunshot, police said Friday.

The woman's boyfriend has been arrested as a suspect in her death.

Raemel Richardson, 31, had last been seen leaving her North Lobdell Boulevard apartment on Wednesday with her boyfriend Jonathan Bryant and her 5-year-old daughter, police records show.

Richardson didn't show up for work Thursday. Her car was found abandoned and burned in Zachary.

Her body was found near the bank of the Mississippi River in Hester in St. James Parish Thursday afternoon. She had been shot to death.

Richardson's daughter told investigators she "was awakened by a loud bang" while in a vehicle with her mom and Bryant on Wednesday, a police report said.

Bryant told investigators he and Richardson had argued on Wednesday, but "denied any involvement in her disappearance," the report said.

Bryant was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon charges.

Domestic violence cases are on the rise in the parish. In 2020, there were 19 total killings related to domestic violence. This year, in March of 2021, there have already been 11.