Records detail traumatic past of 17-year-old honor student Jada Sellers' suspected killer, her ex-boyfriend
Loved ones of 17-year-old Jada Sellers are preparing to say their final goodbyes this week, with her viewing set for Friday and her funeral scheduled for Saturday.
The sole suspect in the killing, Sellers' ex-boyfriend Christian Hursey, took his own life as police served a search warrant on his family's home in Baltimore County last week.
Remembering Jada
Many remain heartbroken over Sellers' tragic death, including her teachers at Milford Mill Academy.
"Of course, our hearts are heavy, but what's most important is the impact that she's had on all of us," said Sellers' cosmetology instructor Kyra Hamond. "We remember her as a strong individual, a beautiful individual."
Jada Sellers would have been entering her senior year at Milford Mill.
Her cousin said the teenager was a scholar, vice president of the Student Government Association, and a National Honor Society member. She also loved dance and cheer.
Police quickly developed Christian Hursey as the suspect, an 18-year-old she previously dated, knew, and trusted.
"Not only did we know him, but he sat at the table eating meals with our family. We know of his family and some of the challenges that [they] faced. And so, it's a different kind of grief. It's a different kind of burden and the weight that comes with this situation," said Sellers' cousin Heber Brown III.
Brown added, "Jada thought he was a real friend. He ultimately was not."
Around 8:30 p.m. on August 20, a SWAT team moved in on Hursey's home in Baltimore County.
Police said they heard a single gunshot when Hursey took his own life.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hursey's past
WJZ Investigates has learned Hursey had a traumatic past.
In April 2017, when he was 7 years old, his father, Dominick Hursey, killed his mother, Chinika.
Court records detailed several protective orders Chinika filed against Dominick.
"Chinika wrote that she was afraid of the defendant and was afraid he was going to kill her," veteran Baltimore County prosecutor Robin Coffin wrote in 2018.
One protective order WJZ Investigates reviewed from 2009 demanded Dominick Hursey stay away from the same address where their son died last week.
"[Defendant] threatened to break petitioner's face while she was at work. Severe incidents of domestic violence," the protective order stated.
The two divorced in 2010. They reunited in 2012 but did not remarry, court records show.
The last protective order filed before her death involved Dominick Hursey's violent response when the two went to sell a car that belonged to both of them.
She wrote, while at the dealership, "Mr. Hursey grabbed my left arm at my waist, twisting it to the point of making me drop everything. I dropped my purse, my truck key, papers, and sunglasses. As I reached down to grab my things, Dominick grabbed me with one hand around my neck, blocking me up against a car. Sales associates came out to grab him off me. As he was being pulled off of me, he was saying, 'I'm going to kill you.'"
Soon after, he did.
According to court records, on April 3rd, 2017, at 4 am, Dominick Hursey was captured on surveillance video breaking into the window of Chinika's home wearing a hockey mask.
He shot her in the back of her head three times as she slept. He then shot her boyfriend, Steven Campbell, 12 times, killing him, and records show he tried to cover it up, even blaming one of Christian's siblings.
Dominick Hursey claimed he went into "Daddy Mode" to hide the bullet casings to protect the sibling.
Prosecutor Robin Coffin called it "a cold-blooded execution of two people, which left seven children orphaned. It is hard to imagine the callousness… ."
The case even received international attention, featured in a BBC story titled, "Fatally flawed: The loopholes that let domestic abusers keep their guns."
Dominick Hursey was found guilty and remains in prison.
Those who work with domestic violence victims said violent patterns can repeat themselves.
"Growing up and being exposed to violence can make one more likely to commit violence later in life or become a victim of violence themselves, and when exposed to homicide, when exposed to violence, we need to be able to make sure sure that children are getting the right tools and resources that they need to help them recover from this," said Adam Rosenberg, the executive director of LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope. "It's horrific that this child who lost his own mother to gun violence is now repeating the cycle himself."
A relative of Christian Hursey declined to speak to WJZ Monday.
Sellers' cousin previously told WJZ the family wants to "help spread the word about violence against women and young ladies. That this is a time when we've seen a number of very high-profile situations like this, and our heart has been breaking as a family for other families who've been going through this not knowing that this would knock on our door."
