On September 3, 2024, 15-year-old Anthony Smith took a rideshare from his family’s home in Fort Mill, South Carolina, to the Brook Valley Apartments in southwest Charlotte, North Carolina. His parents, including his father Michael Burge Jr., were unsure why he made the trip. The following day, September 4, Anthony’s family reported the Black teen missing, prompting the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to begin an extensive search.
Six days later, on September 10, officers
discovered human remains in a wooded area along Silverleaf Road, near Old Pineville Road. The body had been hidden inside a concrete structure. The next day, the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains were those of Anthony Smith. An autopsy determined he had died from a gunshot wound, and authorities officially ruled his death a homicide.
The investigation was led by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Homicide Unit. Detectives appealed to the public for information, hoping that one of Anthony’s high school friends might know why he had traveled to Charlotte that day. The investigation led to a breakthrough the following month. On October 23, 2024, police arrested a suspect. Less than a week later, on October 29, a second suspect was taken into custody. Both were 14 years old at the time of the killing. They were each charged with murder and transferred to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
The two teens were identified as Isaac Grier and Samir Metoyer. Prosecutors stated that after shooting Anthony, the pair hid his body and then talked about the killing on social media. Both Grier and Metoyer later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and several other related charges. In May 2026, a judge sentenced both teens to serve between 16 and 20 years in state prison, bringing the case to a close.
