Who is Brittany Samone Smith? Body stuffed in suitcase found near NC river where pregnant woman went missing
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: The body of a woman has been found in a North Carolina river. It was earlier reported this week, that a pregnant woman went missing in that area. The female corpse was found by a passerby on Monday, February 8, morning near the Neuse River Trail in Raleigh, the Wake County Sheriff's Office said.
The police department has not revealed the identity of the victim but said it's possible she is 28-year-old Brittany Samone Smith, who disappeared about 10 miles away in Wendell on February 2, 2021. The case is treated as a homicide, according to Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker. Baker also added that it's "safe to say this was no accident." The autopsy of the body is underway to confirm the woman's identity and cause of death.
RELATED ARTICLES
"We're getting ready to confirm [the woman's identity]. I can't sit here and tell you that's what's in there right now. We have not gotten to that point. We have information to believe it. It's not every day, it's not every morning," Baker told reporters at the scene on Monday.
"We've got a lot of folks who are very concerned about the whereabouts of this young lady," he said of Smith. "She's a daughter, she's a sister, she's a family member to a lot of people who have been working very hard trying to find her." "If this is, in fact, that young lady we've been looking for all weekend long, someone is responsible for that," he added, according to CBS 17's report. "That just doesn't happen."
The police have alerted the residents asking for their help in locating Smith on Saturday, February 6, four days after she was last seen in Wendell. Smith had been living in a tent with her boyfriend in the 200 block of Fox Run Drive.
According to the physical description of Smith, she stands 4'11" tall, weighs around 115 pounds and is "noticeably pregnant." Baker suggested that Smith may be the victim in the suitcase. "If this is, in fact, this young lady that we've been looking for all weekend, someone is responsible for that," he said. He also said that there is a "person of interest," to whom the detectives want to speak with. "We're going to work very hard. We're going to find out who was responsible. I can tell you that. Because these things just don't happen. Someone is responsible," he added.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Follow Meaww on Facebook or click here.