Cell phone data collected in 2011 but never analyzed until this year helped lead to the murder charge against Dale Smith Jr. in the disappearance of his ex-fiancée Michelle Parker, according to a sworn affidavit described by CBS News on Tuesday.
Smith was arrested by the Orlando Police Department on October 14 on a single count of second-degree murder. Parker, a 33-year-old mother of two, vanished on November 17, 2011, the same day an episode of "The People's Court" featuring a dispute between her and Smith over an engagement ring aired. She has never been found. Smith has long denied any wrongdoing and is presumed innocent.
What the affidavit says
The affidavit, first reported by CBS News, lays out why detectives now believe Smith's account of that afternoon does not hold up. In 2011, Smith told police that Parker only dropped off their children, and that the two "do not talk anymore." He allowed a search of his apartment, which turned up nothing suspicious.
The affidavit says the phone records say otherwise. The two exchanged 1,013 text messages between October 1 and November 17, 2011, and Smith never contacted Parker's phone again after November 17. Her phone entered the cell area near Smith's home around 3:15 p.m., about 45 minutes before Smith said she dropped off the children, and neighbor video showed her vehicle at the home at least 1 hour and 10 minutes after he said she left.
A text reply sent from Parker's phone at 4:26 p.m. mentioned Waterford, which police at the time took to mean the Waterford Lakes shopping center. According to the affidavit, the phone was actually using a tower about 11 miles west of the center and never went near it. The phone left Smith's area around 4:18 p.m., traveled about seven miles west and sat stationary from 5:08 to 8:46 p.m. It was later recovered from a lake. Her purse and belongings were still in her car, which was found the next day.
Smith's own phone showed no activity from 4:45 to 9:45 p.m., the affidavit says, and its data indicated travel west toward the area where Parker's phone was last detected. He later went to his parents' house and returned home shortly after 10 p.m.
Detectives also reexamined photos taken of Smith during his 2011 police interview. They show what the affidavit calls "recent scratches and abrasions" on his face and left arm, which detectives now believe were "defensive wounds from the victim." CBS reported there is no record that police asked him about them at the time.
Our analysis: his account vs. the data
Parker only dropped off the children: Her phone near his home by about 3:15 p.m., roughly 45 minutes earlier than he said.
She left soon after: Neighbor video puts her vehicle there at least 70 minutes after he said she left.
A 4:26 p.m. text suggested she was at Waterford Lakes: Her phone was on a tower about 11 miles west of the center.
No suggestion of a struggle: Interview photos show scratches detectives now call defensive wounds.
None of this has been tested in court. Location data from cell towers shows which tower a phone used, not exactly where it was, and the defense will be able to challenge how the records were read. The affidavit also recounts domestic violence allegations from people who knew Smith, which a judge will have to weigh for admissibility under Florida's evidence rules.
A no-body case
When Smith was arrested, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said the department "took a fresh, focused look at all the evidence" over the past year and "reexamined testimony and conflicting statements made by the suspect," CBS reported at the time. The department said "all evidence leads to Dale Smith Jr. as the person responsible for Michelle's murder."
Prosecuting a murder without a body is hard but not unusual. The state must prove death and responsibility through circumstantial evidence alone. Because murder has no statute of limitations, as we explained in Statutes of Limitations, Why Some Crimes Expire and Murder Does Not, a 15-year-old case can still be charged. It is one of several old cases reopened this fall with new tools, along with the Spokane 1986 Turner killing.
Parker's brother, Dustin Erickson, said after the arrest: "I've been carrying a lot of bad thoughts for 15 years that weren't happy." No court dates were listed in the reporting.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
