At the big-boy age of 8, the oldest son of Adrianna Trujillo is a star in club baseball.

Her 7-year-old daughter recently received two awards in school and lost another tooth.

The baby of the family is a curious 2-year-old, who will only know his mother through photos and stories.

Nov. 13 marks the second anniversary of the death of Adrianna Trujillo. She was fatally shot at her home near Florissant at age 29 by her husband and the father of her baby, but not the two older children, according to Lynette Trujillo, Adrianna’s mother. Sean Mills, 27, then turned the gun on himself in what authorities defined as a murder-suicide.

The tragedy touched many lives, leaders of Charis Bible College and its flagship Andrew Wommack Ministries, both headquartered in Woodland Park, said in an email to The Gazette. The couple, who met while students at the Bible school and then worked for the evangelical Christian ministry, were energetic and had a high-profile on the campus, friends said.

Though almost two years have passed, many who knew Adrianna and Sean are still affected by the senselessness of two young lives gone in a moment of despair. The fact that the case remains open, which the Teller County Sheriff’s Office has attributed to delays at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, has further unsettled family and friends.

Trujillo believes her daughter lingers close by when a stray white feather lands on the ground beside her while she’s doing yardwork, or a yellow butterfly hovers while the children are playing at home in New Mexico where they now live.

During a baseball game this season when Adrianna’s son had a particularly good crack of the bat and trip around the bases, he tapped two fingers to his heart, kissed them and sent them heavenward.

“I still can’t believe that she’s gone,” Trujillo said. “I get a pit in my stomach; I can hardly stand it sometimes. I miss her so much.

“She didn’t deserve this,” her mother said tearfully.

Children awake to horrific scene

In the days following the event, counselors were available for Bible school students seeking mental health assistance, leaders said, and founder Andrew Wommack encouraged all students and staff to pray for the grieving family and loved ones.

As employees and students are still dealing with the after effects, the organization “will continue to be a support system available to anyone needing help and healing,” the email from the ministry said.

All three children were in the family’s home in Florissant on Nov. 13, 2022, where they had just moved from living in Woodland Park. The Teller County Sheriff’s Office said one of the older children called 911 to report that there had been a shooting.

“They were asleep and woke up to ask Mommy to get a snack and saw her,” Trujillo said.

The boy tapped his mother’s face to try to wake her, and the baby was crying nearby, Trujillo said the children told her. Sean was lying on the floor.

“There was a lot of blood,” Trujillo said. “They (the children) didn’t know exactly what happened. They told me that night they could hear a lot of howling and thought maybe it was mountain lions that got Sean and Mommy.”

In 2020, Adrianna Trujillo, a high school homecoming queen, cheerleader, student body leader and baseball team manager, left her home in Rio Rancho, N.M., for Colorado. She wanted to study at Charis Bible College and escape problems associated with the father of her two children being a drug addict, Trujillo said.

“She moved away to protect her kids,” Trujillo said. “She wanted a relationship with Jesus from a young age; her heart, mind and soul loved Jesus. All she wanted was a Christian man to love her and love her children, and that’s what she thought she had with Sean.”

CBI: Backlogs in the workload

While Wednesday marks two years since the couple’s deaths, the fact that the case remains open isn’t because authorities believe there is another suspect, said Lt. Wes Walter of the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

The reason, he said, is that detectives collected samples of evidence from the crime scene and sent it to the CBI’s laboratory for analysis.

And they haven’t heard back yet on the results, said Walter, one of the first responders to arrive at the Mills’ house after the emergency call for assistance.

“They prioritize — if you have a murder case with a suspect, that goes to the top of getting done. When you have a case where the suspect is deceased, it’s not a priority,” he said.

The length of time it’s taking to return an analysis of the evidence is not uncommon, Walter said. A Teller County Sheriff’s Office detective contacted the state investigative agency in the past few months to check on the case, he said.

Backlogs in the workload can delay the process, said Rob Low, strategic communications director for the CBI.

“They investigate blood, ballistics, DNA, and they have discretion on the timing — if it’s a child kidnapping or a sexual assault, they can put a rush on the job,” Low said. “Unfortunately, it can take a while if the suspect and victim are dead.”

Meanwhile, the CBI laboratory has become embroiled in a controversy of its own, in which veteran DNA analyst Missy Woods was allowed to resign after irregularities were discovered in her work. Some 800 cases Woods processed have been identified as potentially problematic. It is unclear whether this declared murder-suicide has been caught up in the CBI tumult.  

That her daughter’s case has been left dangling is disconcerting for Trujillo, who has her own suspicions about an underlying reason for the long delay in getting answers.

“I think they might be trying to cover something up,” she said.

Trujillo and other critics think that the Charis organization influenced the couple to stay together even though they were having problems in their short-lived marriage.

“I know there was trouble,” Trujillo said. “She (Adrianna) came home that year Memorial Day weekend because he (Sean) had pushed her and taken her keys away. She wrote about it in her journal. We tried to keep her home (in New Mexico), but she went home (to Colorado) after a few days.”

Trujillo views Wommack’s operations as secretive.

“They’re borderline a cult,” she said. “They don’t want couples to get counseling, and they didn’t want people who work there to talk after Adrianna was killed.”

Charis: ‘All forms of abuse … unacceptable’

School officials refute any claims that the organization promotes that couples should remain together in the event of abuse.

“At Charis, we believe — and teach — that we are called to love one another as Christ has loved us, meaning that all forms of abuse, physical, verbal and emotional, are unacceptable in any way,” the statement from its leaders said.

“Although Charis attracts and accepts people from all walks of life, it is always the desire that students truly strive to live a life like Jesus and adamantly turn away from anything that may inhibit them from fulfilling the Godly call on their lives,” the organization said.

While Trujillo received her dead daughter’s journals, the open status of the case does not allow for the release of police reports from the day of the incident or personal possessions including electronic devices.

“They gave me one phone, but it wasn’t her current phone,” Trujillo said. “I want Sean’s phone, too. It was on my dime, so I want it. And his computer as well.”

At the time of their deaths, the couple worked in communications at the large evangelical Christian organization that produces a daily broadcast program on television and online, hosts live conferences on topics such as spiritual healing and family ministry, provides phone assistance with personal issues and teaches biblically based courses for adults to work in various capacities in ministry.

They married in March 2022, their baby was born at the end of September of that year, and the killings happened less than two months later.

Trujillo traveled to Colorado to help her daughter a week before she gave birth and stayed for another two weeks after the baby was born.

“She wasn’t perfect, she was going through post-partum (depression),” Trujillo said of her daughter. “They had just moved to Florissant, and they were both under a lot of stress. He was working extra hours because they were going to come and surprise us for Thanksgiving.”

‘Unresolved personal battles’

Both Adrianna and Sean had issues from the past that they couldn’t seem to leave behind, said those who knew the couple.

Jed Parrott, founder of Jed Parrott Ministries and who worked with Adrianna and Sean at Andrew Wommack Ministries, said his heart “still goes out to everyone who has been impacted.”

“I’m grateful for the time and good memories of Sean and Adrianna,” he said in an email.

“Adrianna shined brightly, spreading joy and leaving a beautiful mark on those she encountered,” Parrott said. “Sean was a best friend of mine and had a genuine and lovable character, though, in the end, unresolved personal battles overpowered him.”

Sean had a rough childhood that involved drugs and drinking, said friends who asked not to be named, adding that they were impressed that Sean was able to turn his life around and experience freedom in professing Christianity, which seemed to release him from the chains of addiction.

Lynette Trujillo said Sean was “trying really hard” to be a good father and husband.

“He knew the Lord and loved the Lord and had a terrible life growing up and was trying to get away from that,” she said. “It was a moment of evil that came into him.”

She describes Adrianna as a loving, adventurous and independent woman who enjoyed “sharing the Lord with whoever she could.” That included strangers she made friends with at stores, where she would pray with anyone who needed it.

“She was such a good mother,” Trujillo said, “and she loved her children with everything. Her life was her kids.”

Trujillo and her ex-husband are the guardians of Adrianna’s two older children, and the baby is being raised by a cousin and her husband who could not have children of their own.

The kids are doing OK under the circumstances, Trujillo said. She and the two older children continue to receive grief therapy. The boy had anger issues that he’s learning how to regulate through therapy.

A plea to seek help

On the first anniversary of Adrianna’s death, the family released balloons. Trujillo wasn’t sure about this year. They think about her every day, but the memories are still so painful, she said.

“The last time I hugged and kissed my beautiful daughter was when she took me to the airport after the three weeks-stay with them when the baby was born.”

The murder-suicide is one of three fatal domestic violence cases in recent years in Teller County, which had a population of about 24,600 last year.

In April 2020 an estranged husband killed his wife, who had filed for divorce and had a restraining order against him, at a campsite near Divide and then killed himself. The man had been charged with harassment, child abuse and violating a protection order three times but had been released on bond each time. The couple left behind three children.

In January 2023 a divorced father who shared custody with his ex-wife missed his court-ordered exchange and fatally shot his 5-year-old son before turning the gun on himself in his pickup truck that was parked in Florissant.

“I’d not say domestic violence murders don’t ever happen in Teller County, they do. They’re rare, but they do happen,” said Walter, the sheriff’s office lieutenant.

Andrew Wommack Ministries also held suicide prevention training at its campus after the deaths of the two employees.

Parrott issues this plea: “If anyone is suffering from suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming others, I encourage them to take advantage of community resources and support because they are available, and there are people who care and want to help. Please, let them be of assistance.”

The state’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board was formed in 2017 and renewed for five years in 2022. The board’s 2024 annual report said that 30 current or former intimate partners and seven other victims died in the context of domestic violence in Colorado in 2023. In 2022 the numbers were 38 and 22, or 60 deaths contributed to domestic violence.

The board analyze cases, detect trends and work on preventive measures, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said. 

A crisis line that immediately helps people experiencing emotional, mental health or substance use issues can be reached by dialing or texting 988. Another Colorado hotline is available at 1-844-493-8255, or by texting “talk” to 38255.