Family of pregnant woman killed in Wake County says she won’t be forgotten

The family of Brittany Samone Smith vowed Thursday not to let her become another Black woman killed and forgotten.

“We just want people to know that she didn’t deserve to have this happen to her,” friend Tyaisha Williams-Troy told The News & Observer while sitting on Smith’s grandmother’s porch. “It just didn’t. We want people to focus on Brittany the victim and not focus on the predators.”

Smith’s family also released a statement the day after authorities confirmed the body of the missing pregnant woman was found in a purple suitcase by the Neuse River on Monday. Smith was 28 years old. The family said they want justice for Smith and other Black women who have gone missing.

“We are asking for everyone to stand up and join us in this fight for justice for Brittany Samone Smith, and stand up for all these missing Black girls who have now become invisible,” the statement said. “We will not let her become invisible. We will not let the light stop shining on her.

“We will continue to say her name over and over again … and we won’t care if you are tired of hearing it,” the statement said. “We will let Brittany’s cry flow through us until we get Justice because we stand for truth. And the truth is that she was massacred, and no one deserves that.”

Brittany, who was six months pregnant with a son named Aspen, had two boys under 12, Williams-Troy said.

“Her baby didn’t get the opportunity to grow, love and play and get to know his brothers,” the family’s statement said.

Late Wednesday night, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office announced it had arrested two people in the case after a traffic stop.

Thomas Clayton Johnson, 37, and Emmalei Grace Trevathan, 24, are charged with murder, murder of an unborn child and concealment of body. They are being held at the Wake County jail without bail after making a brief court appearance Thursday.

Johnson has an outstanding warrant for a Jan. 21 charge of assault by pointing a gun in Rutherford County, according to court records.

The family, in the statement, criticized the Sheriff’s Office and the media for their handling of the case. Williams-Troy said they only learned key details in the case, including how Smith died and the gender of her unborn child, from news reports.

Missing person case became a homicide

What started as a missing person case turned into a homicide investigation Monday morning, Sheriff Gerald Baker said Wednesday night. Many aspects of the case remain under investigation, including a possible motive.

Smith had been reported missing Thursday, The N&O reported. Dale Williams told the newspaper Tuesday that Smith and her boyfriend had been living in a tent behind his Wendell home since June.

Baker said detectives searched the property for clues to her disappearance. Further investigation led detectives to Johnson and Trevathan at an unidentified motel.

An arrest warrant says Smith’s body was found in a purple suitcase tossed in the Neuse River on or about Friday.

The remains were taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office, which identified the body. Detectives said Wednesday that the initial cause of death is strangulation.

Living in man’s backyard

Williams said Smith and her boyfriend had been squatting in a home and then in a tent on a vacant lot. They were only going to stay in his backyard a couple of weeks, but those weeks turned into months, he said.

“It is better than having them on the streets,” Williams said.

Smith’s grandmother bought the couple a space heater when it got cold, and Williams ran an extension cord from his house so they could plug it in. Sometimes they would come inside to do laundry, shower and cook.

Williams-Troy said Smith had troubles in her life, but she didn’t deserve to die like this.

“Let’s focus on her being a victim,” she said. “Let’s focus on how we can stop other women ... from being victims like this.”

The last time Williams said he saw Smith was the night of Feb. 3, a Wednesday, when he dropped her off at the Zebulon grocery store where her boyfriend works.

Smith’s boyfriend told Williams he last saw Smith either that night or the next day getting into a car with two people and later spoke to her on the phone while she was in the car, Williams said.

Smith’s boyfriend reported her missing to police after she had not returned for hours, Williams said.

Baker said his detectives have been working “around the clock” to find Smith. And while they’re trained to handle sensitive cases, this type of case can take its toll, he said.

“No one deserves to have their life taken, for it to end the way this one ended,” Baker said. “We’re law enforcement officers, but we’re human, too.”

Meanwhile, the family keeps thinking about Smith’s final moments, they said.

“How she was alone, maybe scared and crying and pleading,” the statement said. “We imagine how she would have fought back with all her might. How she might have tried to run and yell for help.”

Staff writer Josh Shaffer contributed to this report.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 2:45 PM.