California woman suspected of killing husband in 2015 captured in Mexico; daughters found safe
A woman who police say fled the country after killing her husband in 2015 has been captured in Mexico and returned to San Bernardino County, CBS Los Angeles reports. Leticia Smith, 40, is being held at San Bernardino County's West Valley Detention Center on $2 million bail, sheriff's officials said Monday.
Smith was named as the suspect in the murder of her husband, 35-year-old Antoine Smith. The couple lived together with their young daughters in Victorville, where neighbors reported hearing them fight loudly on a regular basis. Several calls were made to the sheriff's department on May 10, 2015 when Antoine had not been heard from in several days, and his friends and co-workers became concerned after receiving text messages from his cell phone that did not sound like him, according to San Bernardino County sheriff's officials.
Antoine Smith was reported as a missing person on May 11, and when deputies went to his home the next day to conduct a welfare check, they found his body. Smith had been shot multiple times.
Leticia Smith, however, was nowhere to be found, and authorities say investigators found evidence that she fled to Mexico with their two daughters, who were at the time 8 and 4 years old.
Cold case investigators took up the case last December, and with the help of Mexican authorities, found Smith living in Rosarita, Mexico. Investigators worked with the Department of Justice to have Smith arrested on an extraditable warrant for Antoine's murder.
Smith was arrested in Mexico without incident, and her daughters were found to be safe. On March 4, U.S. Marshals took custody of Smith and brought her back to San Bernardino County. She is scheduled to make her next appearance in court on April 4.
