John Jefferson
Inset: Craig Smith (Upshur County Criminal District Attorney’s Office). Background: The area around 728 Walnut Street, Gilmer, Texas, where Craig Smith lived with his wife Vennessa Smith (Google Maps).
A husband and father in Texas is heading to prison for murdering his wife with a “splitting maul” ax as their daughter listened to them fighting “next door,” according to prosecutors.
Craig Smith, 41, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison for the February 2024 killing of Vennessa Smith, 42. She was found “lying in blood in her bed with multiple large lacerations” to the upper parts of her body” on Feb. 26, according to the Upshur County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
“Lying beside her bed was a splitting maul ax, which was used to strike multiple blows to her head, face, and neck,” the DA’s office said Wednesday in a press release.
That night, Smith was found breaking into a car in Gilmer, Texas, where he lived with Vennessa Smith and their daughter, as well as his wife’s mother. “Officers located the Defendant and observed that he was soaking wet on the front of his clothes and dry on the back,” the DA’s office said. “The officers asked for the male’s identity, the man lied about his name and date of birth. When pressed by the officers, he finally admitted his real name and admitted to lying.”
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Smith told the officers that his reason for lying was “because his wife was dead and he didn’t want to get caught up in it,” according to prosecutors.
“When asked if he killed his wife, he stated, ‘No,’” the DA’s office said. “The Defendant then stated that his wife had been dead for a few hours and that she was located at 728 Walnut Street.”
Smith was initially booked for an outstanding warrant of “assault on a family member [to] impede breath or circulation” and failure to identify before later being charged with murder after cops discovered Vennessa Smith’s body.
“While the Defendant was being transported to jail, the other officers went to the home address … where they met with the victim’s grandmother who lived in the home,” the DA’s office said. “She invited the officers inside where the body of Vennessa Renae Smith was found.”
According to prosecutors, Vennessa Smith’s time of death was approximately 50 minutes before officers made contact with Smith for the car break-in, which he wasn’t charged for. The timeline was established after authorities learned that the couple’s daughter “was next door” and “heard an argument” between them.
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“[The daughter] sent a text message to her mother at 12:55 a.m. to check on her mother to see if everything was okay,” the DA’s office said. “The victim’s daughter never received a response.”
Police said that after taking Smith into custody, his clothes were collected as evidence and they tested positive for Vennessa Smith’s blood, according to prosecutors.
Family members related to Vennessa Smith were reportedly at the courthouse on Wednesday to watch Smith plead guilty and be sentenced. They told local Fox affiliate KETK it was “the first time [Smith] had admitted what he had done.”
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