In the summer of 2022, a young mother's life was tragically cut short in a violent act that stemmed from a tumultuous past relationship. Twenty-one-year-old Charisma Smith of Syracuse, New York, was fatally shot on the night of Tuesday, June 28th. The incident, which unfolded at the Stone Court apartment complex, was the culmination of a desperate search by her ex-boyfriend, who had been trying to locate her for over a week after she had recently moved to a new apartment without his
knowledge.
Charisma’s ex-boyfriend, identified as 44-year-old Michael Brantley, relentlessly sought her out, going as far as knocking on doors and showing her photograph to people in his effort to find her. His search ended when he discovered her new residence, leading to a violent confrontation. Inside the apartment, Brantley shot Charisma in the head. Her 18-year-old brother was also shot during the incident but was expected to survive his injuries. Tragically, at least one of Charisma's two young children, a four-year-old and a one-year-old, was present at the scene when their mother was killed.
The relationship between Charisma and Brantley had a history of harassment, and at the time of the fatal shooting, there was an active warrant for Brantley's arrest for violating an order of protection that Charisma had taken out against him. Hours after ending Charisma's life, Michael Brantley was found in his car near the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. He had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and later died at a local hospital, concluding the tragic event as a murder-suicide. In the wake of this devastating loss, Charisma's family was left to mourn the vibrant young woman and care for her two children who were left without their mother.
