Jealousy Suspected In Killing

Victim's Mother Describes Attack

By Bill Brubaker (Contact), Meghan Louttit (Contact)

Saturday, May 3, 2008

The mother of a 21-year-old man who was killed late Wednesday in a rural Loudoun County village said her son was shot several times and beaten on the head with a bat because of jealousy over a woman.

The body of Jajuan D. Johnson was found off a wooded trail near the village of St. Louis, northwest of Middleburg, after the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from an anonymous 911 caller.

On Thursday morning, deputies arrested Terence E. Dade, 23, and charged him with first-degree murder and using a firearm while committing a felony. He is being held in the county’s Adult Detention Center without bond.

Johnson’s mother, Frances Chinn, said in an interview Friday that she told sheriff’s investigators Dade was jealous of the attention his girlfriend was giving her son. The two men lived in St. Louis and had known each other for several years, she said.

“I told the police that Terence was jealous of anybody talking to” his girlfriend, Chinn said.

Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney James E. Plowman confirmed late Friday that Johnson’s relatives told investigators they suspect the slaying was triggered by “domestic or relationship issues.”

Plowman said the account that Johnson was shot several times and beaten with a bat “doesn’t sound inaccurate.”

Dade’s court-appointed attorney could not be located.

“It was a brutal murder,” said Chinn, who works at a gift shop and restaurant in Middleburg. “For one, to shoot him multiple times and then to beat him in the head with a bat . . . to the point where we’re not even going to be able to have an open casket.”

Chinn said she suspects that Dade might have been angered by two events that occurred in the hours before the shooting.

On Wednesday, she said, she witnessed an argument at her house on Snake Hill Road in St. Louis between Dade and his girlfriend.

The woman “was making fun of Terence, and my son busted out laughing,” Chinn said. “And I think Terence got mad about that because my son laughed at him.”

Later that day, Chinn said, Dade’s girlfriend returned to the house.

“She came by to ask [Johnson] to look at the stereo in her car,” Chinn said. “So my son goes across the street . . . to look at the stereo in her car.”

Chinn said she told investigators that Dade probably learned — and disapproved — of that visit.

Shortly after 9 that night, Dade phoned Johnson, inviting him to take a walk on the wooded trail where they often met to smoke marijuana, according to Chinn.

“My son was like, ‘Mom, don’t lock the door. I’ll be back,’ ” she said.

Chinn said she fell asleep but was awakened at 12:30 a.m. by a knock on the front door.

“It was the police,” she said.

Johnson was dead.

On Thursday morning, more than 20 family members and friends gathered in front of Chinn’s house, where they sought to make sense of the tragedy.

“My mom moved out here so she could get away from Leesburg,” said Jataia Johnson, Jajuan Johnson’s older sister. “My brothers were constantly in trouble. She thought if she moved to the country, things would settle down.”

Court records show that Johnson and his twin brother, Jaruan Johnson, each had been jailed for felony offenses.

Jajuan Johnson pleaded guilty in April 2005 to a robbery charge and was sentenced to three years in prison. All but three months of the sentence was suspended. In February 2006, he pleaded guilty to a probation violation. He was given a 24-month sentence, with 15 months suspended.

At the time of Jajuan Johnson’s death, a warrant was out for his arrest on another probation violation, sheriff’s officials said.

“My son was a good person, regardless of him being wanted by the police,” Chinn said. “You know, he got in trouble and he had to pay for his mistakes. But he was a kind-hearted person. He helped me with my little girl so I could work. He helped take care of his nephews, his niece. The next-door neighbor, before she passed away in January, if she got sick in the middle of the night and needed somebody to sit with her, he would do that.”

Chinn said she broke the news of the slaying to Jaruan Johnson at 4:30 Thursday morning. He is serving an eight-month sentence at Middle River Regional Jail in the Shenandoah Valley for a misdemeanor assault in Loudoun.

“Jaruan is doing as well as can be expected,” Chinn said Friday. “This is his twin brother, after all.”

A preliminary hearing has been set for June 10 in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

Sheriff Steve O. Simpson said additional arrests in the case cannot be ruled out.

Tagged: crime, St. Louis

Your Thoughts...

What action towards school development would best fit your community's needs?