In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, a domestic dispute shattered the holiday peace and ended in the tragic death of 56-year-old Leticia Smith. On the night of November 26, 2019, Salt Lake City police were called to the Windsor Park Apartments, where they found two individuals with critical gunshot wounds. Leticia Smith was one of the victims, and though alive when police arrived, she later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.
Before she died, Smith was able to identify her
shooter to the authorities, pointing to her live-in boyfriend, Steven Howard Scruggs. Scruggs was also found at the scene with a gunshot wound. An investigation into the incident revealed that the shooting occurred inside their apartment. Text messages from Scruggs's phone on the night of the shooting indicated that he was suicidal and that he and Smith were in the process of ending their relationship.
Steven Howard Scruggs, who was 50 years old at the time, faced legal consequences for his actions. He ultimately pleaded no contest to a charge of manslaughter. In September 2022, a judge sentenced him to four years of probation for recklessly causing Smith's death while he was intoxicated. During the sentencing, Smith's daughter spoke of the profound and lasting impact her mother's death has had on their family, forever tainting the holiday season and robbing her mother of the chance to be a grandmother.
