Suspect’s mother asks him to “come home”
by Robert A. Waters
On Friday, December 3, when Tina Smith, 41, didn’t show up for work at the Richfield Retirement Community in Salem, Virginia, a co-worker called police. Investigators found Smith murdered inside her home. (Details haven’t been released concerning the cause of death.)
After they were unable to locate Tina’s twelve-year-old daughter Brittany at her school, authorities issued an AMBER Alert. “We found out pretty quickly that Brittany had not shown up for school,” Roanoke County Police Spokesman Chuck Mason said. “Nobody seemed to know where she was.”
The chief suspect in the murder and the presumed kidnapping is Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32. According to police, he had met Tina online and had recently moved in with her and her daughter.
Yesterday, authorities released a video that allegedly shows Easley buying items at a local Walmart on Friday night. The suspect used a credit card belonging to Tina Smith to pay for his purchases. In the video, Brittany is seen with Easley.
Easley’s mother, Sallie Martin, held a news conference pleading for her son to return home. "Last night I went to bed and I was worried from what I know about you and Brittany,” she said. “I wondered if you were hungry or if y'all were cold. You know you can call me and I just want you to come home and I want you be safe."
Investigators have stated that they feel Brittany is in grave danger. Until the video surfaced, the pretty seventh grade student had last been seen on Friday morning. She was supposed to attend Glenvar Middle School, but never showed up. “We are extremely concerned for Brittany’s safety and have asked Virginia State Police to extend the AMBER Alert for another 24 hours,” said Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder.
Jeffrey Scott Easley is five feet, eleven inches tall and weighs about 265 pounds. Easley, originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, is likely driving a silver 2005 Dodge Neon sedan with Virginia tag XKF-2365.
Brittany is five feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds. She has straight brown hair and brown eyes. Brittany usually wears a bright green rubber bracelet in memory of her brother who died last summer.
If you know anything about Brittany Smith's disappearance, authorities urge you to call the Roanoke County Police at 540-777-8641 or the Virginia State Police at 800-822-4453.
Jeffrey Easley, The abductor of 12 year old Brittany Smith, is scheduled to be arraigned today in the Roanoke County juvenile and domestic relations court on abduction charges. Originally scheduled for yesterday it was postponed due to weather conditions.
ReplyDeleteBrittany Smith was retrieved last Friday physically unharmed in California and brought home to her family by Roanoke detectives earlier this week.