Jade Marie Sales was a 34-year-old White woman from Mocksville, North Carolina, remembered by her colleagues as a "beacon of kindness, warmth, and compassion." A realtor with a "heart of gold" and an "infectious smile," she was a devoted mother and friend. Her life was cut short on the afternoon of April 16, 2024, when she was shot multiple times and killed inside her home on Pineville Road.
Around 2:49 p.m.
that day, the Davie County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call from an 18-year-old woman inside the residence. Following the dispatcher's instructions, she hid with a one-month-old infant until deputies arrived and secured the scene. Court documents later revealed the 18-year-old was the couple’s daughter, who had witnessed her father assault her mother just before the shooting. Other children who lived in the home were at school at the time and were safely picked up by school resource officers. The Department of Social Services assisted in placing the children with family members.
The suspect, identified as Jade’s husband, Dennis Jerome Sales, fled before law enforcement arrived. Authorities issued an alert for his red Toyota Camry and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. The manhunt ended the following morning in Kingsport, Tennessee, when officers apprehended Dennis after a high-speed chase that reached speeds over 100 miles per hour. He was taken into custody and extradited back to North Carolina.
The investigation revealed that both Jade and Dennis had appeared in court in neighboring Yadkin County earlier on the day of the murder for unrelated illegal narcotics charges. Authorities did not state a specific motive for the killing, describing it as having occurred "in the heat of the moment." Dennis Sales had a criminal record dating back to 2008, primarily for drug-related offenses, and had previously served more than a decade in prison.
A Davie County grand jury indicted Dennis Sales on a charge of first-degree murder. While in jail awaiting trial, he was accused in a separate incident of assault causing serious bodily injury after another person suffered facial fractures. He was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder for killing his wife. The court listed the murder taking place in the presence of an infant as an aggravating factor in his sentencing. In September 2026, Dennis Sales, then 41, was sentenced to a minimum of 456 months and a maximum of 560 months in prison, or approximately 38 to 46 years.
