In the city of Los Angeles, Ricky Nettles was a business owner and a devoted family man. Together with his brother Kevin, he ran a car wash and a mechanic's shop, building a life for his fiancée, Shonta Anderson, and his two grown children, Dashan and Brandi. But on November 10, 1999, the lives of the Nettles family were irrevocably shattered by an act of calculated and brutal violence.
On that Wednesday evening, Ricky and Kevin were at their family business when they were confronted by
men posing as police officers. An employee later recounted seeing a man dressed in a suit and tie, looking like a detective, leading Ricky away, claiming he was taking him in for questioning. This man was later identified as former NFL defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith. Under this guise, Smith and at least one accomplice kidnapped both brothers, forcing them from their place of work into a waiting car.
The hours that followed were filled with unimaginable horror. The brothers were subjected to brutal torture before being killed. The next day, their bodies were discovered dumped miles apart on the streets of Los Angeles County. Both men had been shot, and their heads were bound with duct tape. They bore U-shaped branding burns on their cheeks, and Ricky had also been burned across his abdomen with an object shaped like a clothing iron. For more than a decade, their family would wait for answers, grappling with the devastating loss and the vicious nature of the crime.
For years, the case of who killed Ricky and Kevin Nettles went cold. The family had no idea who could have committed such a heinous act, stating that the man eventually charged was a complete stranger to them. The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division detectives, however, did not give up. After reopening the cold case, investigators re-interviewed witnesses and uncovered new evidence that pointed toward Anthony Wayne Smith, a former first-round draft pick for the Raiders.
The investigation revealed a pattern of extreme violence. Smith was also charged with the 2001 torture and murder of another man, Dennis Henderson. During Smith's trial, prosecutors presented evidence that included witness identifications and physical evidence linking him to the crimes, such as zip ties and rope found with the victims that matched items in his possession. No clear motive for the killings of the Nettles brothers was ever established during the trial.
In November 2015, after a four-week trial and eight days of deliberation, a jury found Anthony Wayne Smith guilty of the first-degree murders of Ricky Nettles, Kevin Nettles, and Dennis Henderson. The jury also found true the special circumstance allegations of kidnapping, torture, and multiple murders. The verdict brought a long-awaited sense of justice to the Nettles family. Ricky's fiancée and children attended the court proceedings, a testament to their enduring love and quest for closure. His son Dashan expressed his regret that his father would never see all that he had achieved, including graduating from college and serving in the Navy.
On January 22, 2016, Anthony Wayne Smith was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in state prison without the possibility of parole. The case against him for a fourth suspected murder resulted in a hung jury. While the legal proceedings concluded, the pain for the Nettles family remains. They remember Ricky as a "regular guy" and a beloved brother and father whose life was stolen, leaving a void that can never be filled.
