In the early morning hours of November 11, 2023, a tragedy unfolded inside a Peoria, Arizona, home that claimed the lives of 42-year-old Susie Ephrem and her husband, Walter Mitchell. The couple was fatally shot in what authorities have described as a home invasion stemming from a soured deal over a high-performance car. Their 8-year-old grandson was present in the house at the time of the incident but was physically unharmed.
The events leading to the deadly encounter began with a
transaction for Mitchell's Ford Shelby GT500. A young man named Alexander Lee Smith, then 20 years old, had arranged to purchase the vehicle. However, the sale was called off by Mitchell after a wire transfer from Smith failed to go through. That same night, Mitchell sold the car to a local dealership.
Driven by what prosecutors would later call greed, Smith forcibly entered the couple's home the following morning. Both Ephrem and Mitchell were shot during the break-in. Despite being wounded, Ephrem was able to call 911 to report the attack. When police arrived, they found Mitchell deceased at the scene. Ephrem was rushed to a nearby hospital, but she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on Smith. In a brazen move, he appeared at the crime scene the day after the murders, telling detectives he was there to pick up the car for a collector he claimed to work for. His story, however, did not align with evidence gathered by investigators, including text messages between him and Mitchell. Further evidence, including Smith's fingerprints on a door handle and GPS data placing him near the residence at the time of the killings, solidified the case against him.
Exactly one year after the murders, in November 2024, Alexander Lee Smith was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force and the Peoria Police Department. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree burglary. Smith was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, ensuring he will spend the remainder of his life in prison for the murders of Susie Ephrem and Walter Mitchell.
