Man charged with murder in downtown Raleigh stabbing

Norman Lee Smith Jr. grew up in Durham, but after spending the previous decade in and out of prison for attempted rape and other charges, the 52-year-old decided to live in Raleigh.

“Durham is too dangerous,” he once said.

Raleigh police say Smith died Tuesday night after he was stabbed in the Warehouse District downtown. Police have charged 29-year-old Kevin Marshall Peacock with murder.

Smith walked into the parking lot of the Ugly Monkey bar in the 400 block of West Morgan Street just after 9 p.m. Tuesday. “Help,” he called out to several onlookers. “I got stabbed.”

Smith said little else after one of the bar patrons called 911. The 911 caller told the dispatcher that he was conscious and that his eyes were open, but he was having a lot of trouble breathing.

“Come on, come on,” the caller said encouragingly to Smith. “He’s still breathing,” the caller told the dispatcher.

Emergency workers arrived within minutes of the call and rushed Smith to WakeMed in Raleigh, where he died.

Police found Peacock around the corner. He was questioned and then charged with murder about a half hour after the incident, police reported. He has no permanent address listed in arrest records.

Police have not disclosed a possible motive for the stabbing but say they do not believe it was a random act.

Smith was listed on the state sex-offender registry after he was convicted in 1996 of attempted second-degree rape, first-degree burglary and felony breaking and entering in Orange County. He had battled homelessness since his release from prison in 2004 by staying in a series of rooms in boarding houses in the shadow of downtown Raleigh, along with stints at the men’s shelter on South Wilmington Street and the Healing Place in South Raleigh.

State records show that his most serious legal challenge since his release from prison was failing to register an address as a sex offender in 2005 and 2009.

Smith, a short, wiry man with a single dreadlock that cascaded down to his knees, was a familiar sight in downtown Raleigh. He had worked for the past several years at the Men At Work car wash on South Street and occasionally worked as a handyman at the Men At Work barbershop next door.

Mike Phillips, owner of the car wash, said Smith was his hardest worker, “maybe the hardest worker I ever had. I have video of him painting the barbershop sign.”

Friday was Smith’s 52nd birthday. Phillips and his co-workers at the Men At Work car wash decided to have a little party for him the day before at the car wash.

“We had cake, ice cream and everyone pulled out their lighters,” Phillips said Wednesday afternoon. “My man went around and blew out all of the Bics, and then we sang happy birthday to you.”

Phillips said Smith showed up Saturday and told him he couldn’t work that day because he had something to do. Nor did Smith work Monday or Tuesday.

Phillips did not learn about the fatal stabbing until Wednesday morning, when one of his workers called and asked, “What was Norman’s last name?” Phillips did not want to believe that his hardest worker was dead.

“I told him there were a lot of people named Norman Smith,” he said.

Peacock had several minor encounters with police recently. He was arrested late on the night of Sept. 17 at the corner of South West and West Morgan streets for not keeping a court date on an earlier charge of being intoxicated and disorderly. He has three court dates in November and December on various charges, including littering and having an open container of alcohol on public property.

Peacock is now being held in the Wake County Detention Center without the option of posting bail.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Man charged with murder in downtown Raleigh stabbing."