Upshur man gets 50-year sentence for murdering wife

A judge in Gilmer sentenced Craig Allen Smith to 50 years in prison last week after the defendant pleaded guilty to murdering his wife at her Gilmer home last February, said Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd.
Smith, now 41, was sentenced Jan. 15 by 115th District Judge Dean Fowler for killing his wife, Vennessa Renae Smith, 41, with a splitting maul axe, Byrd said.
Sentenced on a plea bargain, it was the first time Smith admitted committing the Feb. 26 crime, said the district attorney.
Byrd gave these details of the case in a press release:
Police discovered the victim’s body, which had multiple large lacerations, in her bed at 728 Walnut in north Gilmer after her husband was arrested nearby on other charges. He had advised officers his wife was dead, but denied killing her, said Byrd.
A Gilmer citizen had called 911 at 1:43 a.m. to report a man was attempting to get into the caller’s vehicle. (At the time of Craig’s arrest, Gilmer Police Chief Lana Davidson said the call was to the 800 block of North Street, near where the body was found, and that Smith was discovered to match the description of a “suspicious person” reported to be there.)
After arriving on the scene within two minutes, city police officers found Craig Smith “and observed that he was soaking wet on the front of his clothes and dry on the back.”
When officers asked him his identity, Smith “lied about his name and date of birth. When pressed by the officers, he finally admitted his real name and admitted to lying. His reason for lying was because his wife was dead and he didn’t want to get caught up in it.
“When asked if he killed his wife, he stated ‘No’” before saying she “had been dead for a few hours” and was at 728 Walnut. Police then identified him as Craig Smith and transported him to the county jail “for an outstanding warrant of assault on a family member/impede breath or circulation” and another charge of “failure to identity” himself.
As police transported him to the nearby jail, other officers went to the Walnut Street address, “where they met with the victim’s grandmother, who lived in the home. She invited the officers inside,” where the victim’s corpse was found “lying in blood in her bed with multiple large lacerations to the upper parts of her body.”
Lying beside the bed was the axe, “which was used to strike multiple blows to her head, face and neck. Her time of death was approximately 50 minutes before officers made contact with the defendant, which was established by the state after learning that the victim’s daughter was next door, heard an argument between the mother and father, and sent a text message to her mother at 12:55 a.m to check on her mother to see if everything was okay.
“The victim’s daughter never received a response.” After evidence at the crime scene, and Craig Smith’s clothes, were “sent off to be analyzed for potential blood and DNA evidence, a positive match of the victim’s blood was found on” his clothing.
The victim’s family and Gilmer police attended the sentencing, at which Byrd led the prosecution and Gilmer attorney Brandon Winn represented Smith.
Byrd expressed special gratitude to police “for properly investigating and working the crime scene, which was led by (officer) Chuck Head, and to the witnesses who were thoroughly prepared to prosecute the defendant. This sentence would not have been possible without you all.”

  • By Phillip Williams

 

 

 

 

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