Donald Bradley Smithwick, a 33-year-old male of unspecified ethnicity, was tragically murdered on October 4, 2007, in Ahoskie, North Carolina. Smithwick was kidnapped from his home early in the morning as he was leaving for his job at Nucor of Hertford County. His body was discovered five days later by a North Carolina Wildlife Officer near Edenton.
An autopsy revealed that Smithwick had been fatally shot in the head on the day of his abduction.
The investigation into Smithwick's death revealed that a taser weapon was used to subdue, bind, and kidnap him. Blood evidence found in Smithwick's driveway, in the cab of his pick-up truck, and in a vehicle driven by Raymond Christian Jedele, a police officer in Kitty Hawk at the time, linked Jedele to the crime. Jedele was involved in a vehicle accident shortly after Smithwick's abduction on the Eden House Bridge spanning the Chowan River.
Smithwick's ex-wife, Janet Denise Harrell, was also implicated in the crime. At the time of Smithwick's death, Harrell and Smithwick were locked in a custody battle over their two children. Smithwick had recently won the legal battle and was scheduled to officially sign the custody paperwork the day after his abduction. Harrell and Jedele were friends, and it was reported that Harrell played a significant role in the planning of the crime.
In November 2010, both Jedele and Harrell entered plea arrangements. Jedele pled guilty to first-degree murder and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Harrell pled guilty to second-degree murder and received a sentence of 157 to 198 months in prison. The Smithwick family expressed satisfaction with the prison terms, feeling that life without parole was a more agonizing punishment than the possibility of the death penalty.
The case shook the small town of Ahoskie and drew national attention, particularly when it was featured on the Oxygen Network's show "Snapped" in 2015. The Smithwick family's greatest commitment was to their loved one, and they sought justice for the tragic loss of Donald Bradley Smithwick.
