On New Year's Day in 2019, the community of New Tazewell, Tennessee, was shaken by the death of 50-year-old Michelle Renee Smith. Initially, reports suggested that Smith had died by suicide from a gunshot wound at her home on Sunset Lane. However, as Claiborne County Sheriff's Office detectives began their investigation, the evidence at the scene started to tell a different story.
Investigators determined that the gunshot wound was likely not self-inflicted.
Michelle was a well-regarded member of the community, working as a paramedic for the Claiborne County Ambulance Service. She had also previously worked as a nurse at the Claiborne County Jail. Her colleagues remembered her as a caring and generous person, with one describing her as the 'mother figure of Claiborne EMS'. Many were looking forward to her rejoining the EMS team on a full-time basis.
As the investigation progressed, suspicion fell upon her husband of seven years, Bill J. Smith, who was 43 at the time. Following interviews with witnesses who were present at the time of her death, authorities arrested him on a charge of criminal homicide. He was subsequently held at the Claiborne County Jail on a $1 million bond.
In April 2019, a Claiborne County grand jury indicted Bill J. Smith on the charge of first-degree murder in connection with his wife's death, which allegedly followed an altercation between the couple. An indictment signifies that the grand jury found sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial.
