Ex-boyfriend kills Stanwood teen, himself
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STANWOOD — While Dayna Fure was wrapping up her senior year at Stanwood High School with the usual festivities and awards banquets, she also was trying hard to stay safe.
The 18-year-old Fure had received repeated threats from her ex-boyfriend, Mainor Mario Valentin, and nearly two weeks ago obtained a protection order against him. Valentin was forbidden from coming within 1,000 feet of Fure's home, her workplace and Stanwood High School.
But on Monday, Valentin, 23, showed up at the home of Fure's father, in the 29700 block of 40th Avenue Northwest. He shot Fure to death, then shot and killed himself, according to authorities.
Fure's father discovered the bodies around 5 p.m. Monday. Officials with the Stanwood-Camano School District said Fure did not attend school that day.
"We don't know how he got there and he got inside," said Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Rich Niebusch. "There's no sign of force."
Pam Otterson, Fure's grandmother, said her granddaughter was a 4.0 student, a cross-country runner, and was named "Miss Congeniality" by her graduating class. Fure had been accepted to attend Gonzaga University in the fall. "Her hopes were to be on the rowing team" at Gonzaga, Otterson said. "She wanted to be a lawyer."
Otterson said Fure met Valentin, who lived in West Seattle, at a dance club two or three years ago. She said they dated off and on, but when Fure started dating someone else, Valentin didn't handle it well. According to a protection order Fure filed in Cascade District Court 10 days before she was killed, Fure said Valentin was "determined to do whatever to get me back."
"Since our breakup, Mario has made many verbal threats stating that on my 18th birthday (today) he would take his life," Fure wrote in the order. She filed it May 14, her birthday.
In the protection order, Fure wrote that after their breakup earlier this year, Valentin showed up at the homes of her parents, sister and her grandparents. On May 13, when Fure was at a nail salon, Valentin showed up armed with a gun. "He repeatedly waived the gun out which made me feel this was a serious matter," Fure wrote in the protection-order paperwork.
Fure immediately reported the incident to Stanwood Police, but later that day, Valentin showed up outside Merrill Gardens, an assisted-living facility where Fure worked. Fure again called 911 when she saw Valentin, according to the order.
Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies found Valentin in the parking lot and took him into custody after 90 minutes of negotiations. Deputies confiscated a gun Valentin had with him, then took him to a local hospital for a mental evaluation, according to Niebusch.
After receiving several phone calls from Valentin's hospital room that night, Fure sought a protection order the following day.
When contacted at their home yesterday, Valentin's family declined to comment.
Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com
Seattle Times staff reporter Michael Ko contributed to this report.