In the early morning hours of March 10, 2019, the lives of two cousins were cut tragically short in a roadside incident in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Emeri Alexandra Connery, a 26-year-old female, was found deceased in a pickup truck alongside her 21-year-old cousin, Bailey Smith. Both had sustained fatal gunshot wounds. The initial discovery was made after a 2015 GMC pickup truck was found to have veered off Route 23 into the median.
Subsequent investigation by the Virginia State Police
revealed a grim sequence of events. The medical examiner's office later confirmed that Connery's death was a homicide and Smith's was a suicide, ruling the case a murder-suicide. The investigation concluded that Smith, a police officer for the Big Stone Gap Police Department, shot Connery before taking his own life. Evidence indicated the gun used was not Smith's service weapon.
The two had attended a family wedding earlier in the evening and later traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee, to meet with friends of Smith. They were seen on surveillance video at a McDonald's in Gray, Tennessee, shortly before the incident. A report from the Lee County Commonwealth's Attorney stated that Smith was intoxicated at the time. Forensic analysis of the vehicle, including blood spatter patterns, suggested the shootings occurred before the crash. Investigators found no evidence of a struggle inside the truck. With the perpetrator deceased, the case was closed, and no arrests were made.
