In the quiet neighborhood of Randallstown, Maryland, the life of 36-year-old Chinika Shari Hursey was cut tragically short on the morning of April 3, 2017. Inside her home on Bald Eagle Court, she and her boyfriend, Steven Scott Campbell, also 36, were found shot to death in an upstairs bedroom. The grim discovery was made after a friend of Chinika's estranged husband, Dominick Hursey, went to the house and found the couple's children outside.
One of the children chillingly announced, 'Mommy and Steven are dead.' Several children were present in the home at the time of the murders but were physically unharmed.
The investigation swiftly focused on Dominick Hursey, 43 at the time, who had a volatile history with his ex-wife. Just weeks before her death, Chinika had sought and obtained a protective order against him, expressing a genuine fear for her life. In her petition for the order, she detailed a recent incident where he had choked her and explicitly threatened to kill her. The couple was also embroiled in disputes over the end of their relationship and the custody of their children. Despite the protective order, which was served just days before the killings, Dominick was ordered to stay away from Chinika.
In the aftermath of the murders, Dominick Hursey was found at the scene and later arrested. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder. To deflect suspicion, he had attempted to stage the scene to look like a robbery, with drawers pulled out and their contents scattered, but nothing of value was taken. Investigators uncovered that Dominick had lied about his whereabouts at the time of the killings and found ammunition consistent with the bullets used at the crime scene in a car he had access to. Furthermore, text messages from another woman were discovered, pleading with him not to do anything rash.
In March 2018, a Baltimore County jury convicted Dominick Daniel Hursey on two counts of first-degree murder and two gun-related charges. Evidence presented at trial included his prior assault on Chinika, for which he had pleaded guilty. In June of that year, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, ensuring he would be held accountable for the brutal end he brought to the lives of Chinika Hursey and Steven Campbell.
