SEABROOK, Texas – Dawayland Earnest Hurst, 22, has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies, including homicide, in connection with the murder of Mary Jayne Collins.
He’s accused of getting into a relationship with Collins, abusing and then killing her to avenge his brother’s death. Court records show the father of Collins’ children killed Hurst’s brother four years ago.
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Hurst was arrested on October 28 in Texas City during a coordinated operation involving the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, Galveston Police Department, and Deputy U.S. Marshals, with support from the Texas City Police Department. Hurst remains in custody at the Galveston County Jail.
Hurst is facing several charges across three counties, including homicide, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, and family violence-related offenses. Court records also show Hurst has a prior felony conviction for evading arrest in a motor vehicle in Galveston County.
BACKGROUND: Woman found dead inside Seabrook apartment complex with 2 kids unharmed
What happened?
According to court documents, authorities suspect that Dawayland Earnest Hurst was motivated by a personal vendetta to avenge the death of his half-brother, Diajwan Triplett. In 2020, Triplett was fatally shot in Texas City, and Michael King, the father of Collins’ children, was convicted for Triplett’s murder.
Investigators say that starting in June 2024 Hurst developed a relationship with Collins, the mother of King’s children, as part of a calculated effort to exact revenge on King, using Collins and her family as proxies.
Court documents detail how Hurst “befriended, abused, and ultimately murdered” Collins. Evidence, including recorded video calls and testimonies from Collins’ friends, suggest that Hurst’s relationship with her deteriorated into frequent violence and manipulation. Reports show Collins had visible injuries in the weeks before her death, which she said were inflicted by Hurst.
Court records also cite instances of abuse, including bite marks and bruises, that she showed friends during video calls, adding further detail to the narrative of escalating violence in the lead-up to her murder.
On the morning of Oct. 4, just hours before Collins’ death, court documents show Hurst placed a FaceTime call to Michael King --- in prison -- using Collins’ phone.
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Court documents state that during the call, Hurst positioned the phone’s camera to show himself with Collins and one of her children in the apartment. The video reportedly shows Hurst instructing the child to make statements about his father, followed by Hurst slapping the child across the face.
Detectives describe how Hurst instructed the child to say, “Daddy, be mean, look what he finna do to me,” implying that Hurst planned to harm Collins or her child.
While the child repeated Hurst’s prompts, Collins can be heard in the background, audibly distressed, crying and pleading for Hurst to stop. She is quoted as saying, “No, get away, baby, no get away from him,” before the call abruptly ends.
Detectives later confirmed that Collins was wearing the same clothing in the video as when her body was found.
Officers were called to Collins’ apartment at the Teakwood Complex in Seabrook, where they discovered her body and found her two young children.
Initially, police thought Collins had died from a gunshot wound; however, the Harris County Medical Examiner later confirmed she died from blunt force trauma combined with a stab wound to the upper body.