The discovery of a nude body on the side of a dead-end road in the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake, Virginia, marked a grim turn in the summer of 1996. A Virginia Power worker stumbled upon the scene on Yadkin Road, near the intersection of Interstate 64 and George Washington Highway. The deceased was soon identified as 38-year-old Andrew D. 'Andre' Smith of Portsmouth.
Investigators noted the unsettling similarities between Smith's death and a string of eleven other unsolved murders in the Hampton Roads area since 1987, leading them to suspect he was the twelfth victim of a serial killer. Many of the previous victims were also found nude in rural areas of Chesapeake, strangled, and left in conspicuous locations. Like many of the others, Smith had no obvious signs of trauma. An autopsy would later confirm that he had been strangled. Police were able to identify him through fingerprints they had on file.
The investigation into Smith's death, and its possible connection to the other killings, led authorities to Elton M. Jackson. Evidence suggested that Jackson had engaged in sexual activity with Smith at his home in Portsmouth before strangling him and dumping his body on the dirt road in Chesapeake. While the FBI considered Jackson a suspect in the other eleven homicides that had plagued the region, he was only formally charged with the murder of Andrew Smith.
In August of 1998, a jury found Elton M. Jackson guilty of the murder of Andrew D. Smith. Following their verdict, the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison for the crime.
