Florida man killed ex-fiancee hours after their ‘People’s Court’ episode aired, police say

Orlando Police Department/AP

A Florida man has been charged with killing the mother of his children nearly 15 years ago, after his ex-fiancee went missing just hours after their pretaped appearance on “The People’s Court” was broadcast, police said.

Orlando police announced the arrest Wednesday of Dale Smith Jr., 55, on a charge of second-degree murder. The body of 33-year-old Michelle Parker has not been recovered, but all evidence leads to Smith as the person responsible for her death, police said.

Smith was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon. Online court records didn’t immediately list an attorney for him.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, who is not related to Smith, said during the news conference on Wednesday that the case never stopped being a priority. Smith was the last known person to see or hear from Parker before she went missing on Nov. 17, 2011, when she dropped their children off at his home, the chief said.

“Over the past year, we expanded our investigative team looking into this case and took a fresh, focused look at all the evidence,” the police chief said. “We reexamined testimony and conflicting statements made by the suspect and used advances in digital forensics to uncover and analyze additional evidence.”

Police gave few details about what evidence they had against Smith, but Detective Phillip McMican confirmed that police had collected new evidence in the past year, as well as new insights into old evidence thanks to technological advancements.

“Vehicles, electronic devices, phones, computers — we’re able to better interpret that evidence today than what we were able to do back in 2011,” McMican said.

Police continue to search for Parker’s body. Her vehicle was found abandoned a day after her disappearance, and her cellphone was later recovered from an Orlando-area lake.

Investigators have not publicly stated a motive for Parker’s murder.

On the day of Parker’s disappearance, an episode of “The People’s Court” featuring her and Smith was broadcast. Smith had sued Parker, claiming that a $5,000 engagement ring that he bought for her became lost when she threw it at him during an argument. Judge Marilyn Milian ultimately ruled that both parties were responsible for the ring’s loss and ordered Parker to pay $2,500 to Smith for half of it.

奥兰多警察局/美联社

警方称，一名佛罗里达男子被控在近 15 年前杀害了他孩子的母亲，此前他的前未婚妻在他们预先录制的《人民法庭》节目播出后几个小时就失踪了。

奥兰多警方周三宣布逮捕了55岁的戴尔·史密斯二世，他被控二级谋杀罪。警方表示，33岁的米歇尔·帕克的遗体尚未找到，但所有证据都指向史密斯是杀害她的凶手。

史密斯原定于周四下午首次出庭。网上法庭记录尚未显示他的律师信息。

奥兰多警察局长埃里克·史密斯（与史密斯并无亲属关系）在周三的新闻发布会上表示，此案始终是警方的首要任务。局长称，在帕克于2011年11月17日失踪前，史密斯是最后一位见到或联系到她的人。当天，帕克将他们的孩子送到史密斯家后便失踪了。

“过去一年，我们扩大了调查此案的团队，并对所有证据进行了重新审视，”警长说。“我们重新审查了证词和嫌疑人前后矛盾的陈述，并利用数字取证技术的进步来发现和分析更多证据。”

警方很少透露他们掌握了哪些针对史密斯的证据，但侦探菲利普·麦克米坎证实，由于技术进步，警方在过去一年中收集了新的证据，并对旧的证据有了新的认识。

麦克米坎说：“车辆、电子设备、手机、电脑——如今我们能够比 2011 年更好地解读这些证据。”

警方仍在搜寻帕克的遗体。她的车辆在她失踪一天后被发现遗弃，她的手机后来在奥兰多附近的一个湖中被找到。

调查人员尚未公开说明帕克被谋杀的动机。

帕克失踪当天，《人民法庭》节目播出了一期关于她和史密斯的节目。史密斯起诉帕克，声称他为她购买的一枚价值5000美元的订婚戒指在一次争吵中被帕克扔向他而丢失。法官玛丽莲·米利安最终裁定双方均对戒指的丢失负有责任，并判令帕克向史密斯支付2500美元作为戒指价值的一半赔偿。