John Jefferson
Dawayland Hurst (Seabrook Police Department).
Cops in Texas are looking for a man who allegedly murdered the ex-girlfriend of his half-brother’s killer in a plot to avenge his death.
The Seabrook Police Department responded around 11:30 a.m. Oct. 4 to a shooting at the Teakwood Apartment Complex, at 2401 Repsdorph Road. When officers arrived, they found a woman later identified as MaryJayne Collins, 24, unresponsive. She died. It turned out she was actually stabbed. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office determined her death to be a homicide. Two young children were inside the home at the time of the murder but were physically unharmed.
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Detectives were able to identify a suspect and a motive within a few days and laid it out in a probable cause arrest affidavit. It tied back to the July 31, 2020, murder of a man named Diajwan Triplett in Texas City. Authorities arrested and convicted 25-year-old Michael King for Triplett’s slaying. King has a half brother named Dawayland Hurst.
According to detectives, Hurst in June sparked a relationship with Collins, who is King’s former girlfriend and the mother of their child. Cops did not say whether Collins knew of the connection. Police allege that Hurst was almost immediately abusive toward Collins. She showed up at her grandmother’s house with a bite mark on her face and accused Hurst of being the perpetrator. She also showed pictures to friends of other injuries she allegedly suffered at the hands of Hurst.
The day of the murder King, apparently using a smuggled phone from prison, placed a FaceTime call to Collins. Hurst answered. He proceeded to taunt King and slap his child in the face, the affidavit said. The child can be heard on the video crying with Collins saying “no, get away baby, get away from him,” cops wrote. The call ended around 10 a.m. It was the last time anyone saw Collins alive.
Detectives say it was only Hurst, Collins and the two children in the home at the time. Ring camera video footage showed Hurst leaving the apartment shortly before 11 a.m. and taking an “evasive path” to walk away from the scene, per the affidavit.
King’s mother, apparently aware of her son’s phone conversation with Hurst, posted to Facebook asking that someone check on Collins’ well-being. Friends saw the post and called 911 which led to police discovering her body. Police obtained an arrest warrant for murder.
“I believe the defendant was motivated to revenge the death of his brother Diajwan Triplett,” a detective concluded. “Thus he befriended, abused and then murdered the Victim who was the mother of Michael King’s children.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Seabrook police at 281-291-5610.
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