'Gorgeous, Smart, and Well Loved' Va. Girl, 17, Is Killed by Ex in Murder-Suicide Weeks After No-Contact Order

Serenity Hawley was set to turn 18 two days after her death

A Virginia teenager was killed in an apparent murder-suicide by her ex-boyfriend two days before her 18th birthday, according to local news outlets.

The Blacksburg (Va.) Police Department said in a press release that two high school students were found dead in a parking garage Tuesday, but did not identify the teenagers. The mother of one of the students identified one of the teens as their daughter, Serenity Hawley to WSLS. She told the outlet that Serenity was shot in the chest by her ex-boyfriend, who then fatally shot himself. Her parents also told The Roanoke Times and WDBJ -7 that Serenity died from a murder-suicide.

Police did not confirm if the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide, but did say there was no ongoing threat to the community.

Serenity, 17, had recently been accepted into Virginia Tech, WSLS reports. Her mother, Heather Waldron told WSLS that Serenity’s school had issued a no-contact order between the two teens, and that there had been an incident between the two about a month before.

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Serenity’s family started a GoFundMe, that has raised more than $20,000.

“To have known serenity was to have known love and kindness,” the GoFundMe description reads. "She emitted it everywhere she went and left no one untouched in a room she shared. She was gorgeous, smart and well loved by everyone, taken entirely too soon from us."

“She’s a daughter, a sister, a friend, a teammate, and a student, that will be cherished and remembered by the memories we all shared with her,” the description continues. “She’s innocence, beauty, happiness, compassion and love all blurred into one. We know that the memory of her will serve as an ongoing inspiration and reminder to make love the center of your life.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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