Bridge Jumper Charged With Murdering His 85-year-old Mom
New details tonight on a story SCDN broke over the weekend. We now have more details from police on exactly what happened over the weekend when a man jumped off the Grant Bridge, and officers swarmed the parking lot at Kroger.
Police say a 61-year-old New Boston man severely injured his 85-year-old mom and tried to take his own life by jumping off the Grant Bridge.
It all started at 1 am on Saturday morning, when Portsmouth Police Officers responded to a call that a man had jumped off the Grant Bridge. Members of the Shawnee Boat Club pulled the man from the Ohio River, and the injured man was on the riverbank by the time police, and EMS arrived.
The injured man, 61-year-old Michael Smith of New Boston, told officers he wanted to kill himself and also that his mother was injured and needed an ambulance. He said police could find her in a silver Cadillac parked at the Portsmouth Kroger.
An ambulance transported the man to the hospital, and PPD officers headed to Kroger to search for the mother. Police say they found the injured woman “stuffed in the front floorboard” of the Cadillac with injuries consistent with an assault. An air ambulance transported 85-year-old Carol Sue Swymn to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where she died early Sunday morning from her injuries.
PPD’s Investigation Division and members of the Ohio Bureau of Investigation processed the Cadillac and also headed to the mother’s apartment on Millbrook Avenue in New Boston to gather evidence.
Detectives determined that Smith had severely assaulted his mother. By that time, Smith had been transferred to Grant Hospital in Columbus. PPD issued a murder warrant for Smith, and he was arrested in Columbus when the hospital released him. He’s currently held in the Franklin County Jail pending a hearing to transfer him back to Portsmouth.
Smith has 13 previous arrests in Scioto County on charges including multiple instances of DUI, multiple incidents of probation violation, drug possession, and multiple incidents of disorderly conduct.
Anyone with any information about this incident or prior incidents involving the suspect/victim is asked to contact Detective Lee Bower at 740-353-3684.