John Jefferson
Left: Andres Torres (Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office). Right: Michelle Smith (Obituary).
An Indiana man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of a woman who tried to resell a watch he first sold to her, West Virginia authorities announced late last week.
On Jan. 30, Andres Minorune Torres, Jr., 29, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Thomas K. Fast. In October 2024, the defendant was convicted on one count each of murder in the first degree, kidnapping, and robbery over the February 2023 murder of Michelle Ann Smith, 41.
The killer’s accomplice in the case, Amanda Soultz, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in December of last year and is currently slated to be sentenced on Feb. 11.
The victim, as it turned out, knew one of her killers before the murderous pair set foot in the Mountain State, the Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office noted in a press release.
Prosecutors say Soultz previously lived in the area some years past — where she and Smith became acquainted. Then, in January 2023, Soultz and Torres moved to West Virginia from Indiana.
At some point, Torres needed cash. So, he sold a watch to Smith for $50 — apparently intending to get it back sometime in the future.
Later, Smith herself tried to sell the watch on Facebook. When Torres saw that social media post, he “became angry” and demanded that the woman return the timepiece, prosecutors said.
But Smith refused.
On Feb. 16, 2023, Torres and Soultz showed up at Smith’s home on Deepwater Mountain Road — insisting Smith return the watch. The victim, however, said the pawned watch had already been sold.
In the end, Smith would be attacked, constrained, kidnapped, robbed, shot in the head, dumped and left to die in an abandoned car.
“In their statements to police, both Soultz and Torres claimed that they had dinner with and had been drinking with Smith the night of February 16, 2023,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “However, evidence from the crime scene did not support their claims that this was a friendly gathering.”
As the moments passed at the victim’s residence, Torres “became enraged” when Smith maintained the longed-for watch was gone, according to law enforcement.
So, the couple used a set of handcuffs found in Smith’s bedroom to restrain her. Then, Torres beat the helpless woman with his fists and whipped her with his pistol.
“Soultz and Torres then searched Smith’s residence for the watch,” according to the press release. “The watch was eventually found and Torres became even more enraged and shot Smith in the head with a .45 caliber firearm.”
Smith was found, still handcuffed, bleeding from the head, in a car outside of her home — some 12 hours after the attack — by her son after he repeatedly tried to contact her and got no response.
“Michelle Smith suffered greatly and was never able to speak about what had happened the night she was shot,” the press release says.
The woman was hospitalized at Plateau Medical Center in Oak Hill — a small town located a few miles east of the crime scene.
The defendants were quickly captured based on community tips, law enforcement said. Later, Smith succumbed to her injuries; the charges were then upgraded to include murder.
As it turns out, Torres and Soultz wanted more than the watch. Upon their arrest, they had the victim’s credit cards in their possession.
In the station house, the since-condemned man eventually admitted his crime.
“Torres admitted to police that he shot Smith because she ‘disrespected’ him,” the prosecutor’s office wrote in the press release.
Soultz, for her part, was initially less forthcoming.
“In her statement, Soultz admitted to police that she helped Torres, but she claimed she was forced by Torres to participate in the crimes and that she complied with Torres’ demands out of fear,” the press release goes on.
A subsequent investigation, however, showed that Soultz attempted to help Torres evade capture well after the fact, prosecutors said.
When that failed, the calculus for liberty shifted — but failed as well.
“After they were apprehended, Soultz and Torres continued their relationship with jail calls revealing that the couple intended to get married,” prosecutors said. “Recorded jail calls further revealed their plan was for Torres to take responsibility for the crime to allow Soultz to go free.”
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