Police: Man signaled heartache before killing
S. Dallas: He apparently sought reconciliation with estranged wife
Thursday, December 7, 2006
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
A deaf man used hand gestures to indicate that his heart was broken shortly before he fatally shot his estranged wife Wednesday in their South Dallas home, police say.
Beverly Smith, 43, died hours later at a local hospital after undergoing surgery. Her husband, Archie Smith, 44, was arrested on suspicion of murder around that time as he drove up in front of a relative’s Mesquite home, police said. He was being held in the Dallas County Jail on Wednesday evening.
“I think he wanted to talk to her about reconciling, and I think she wanted to talk to him about getting stuff out of the house,” said Sgt. Richard Wilson, a homicide supervisor.
Police reports say the Smiths had agreed to meet at their house in the 3700 block of Penelope Street. She’d asked her father to be there because she feared there would be a disturbance, police said.
Mrs. Smith’s father arrived before her, and he told police that Mr. Smith was crying and that he asked him what was wrong. “The suspect pointed to his heart and motioned that it was broken,” a police report said.
When Mrs. Smith got there, she and her husband went inside, and her father remained outside on the porch, the report said. After about five minutes, the victim’s father heard two gunshots, and she screamed, “Daddy, he just shot me!” the report said.
The father told police that the suspect put another clip in the gun and fired two shots at him, missing him, and that the suspect then fled. Mrs. Smith ran to a neighbor’s house, where she collapsed.
Mrs. Smith’s family declined to comment.
The Smiths married in July 2004, Dallas County records show.
But even before then, police had been called to the couple’s home in 2001 and 2002 to investigate disturbances. In the 2002 incident, police got a 911 call that someone was going to get killed before the caller hung up, a report said.
In March, police responded to the residence after getting a report that Mr. Smith was arguing with his 18-year-old stepdaughter. He agreed to leave the house for the night, a report said. Early last month, Mrs. Smith reported that Mr. Smith had knocked over and broken items in the house. Police found no evidence of an offense and left.
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