Man Indicted For Killing His Mom
The Scioto County Grand Jury indicted a New Boston Man for the murder of his elderly mother. Michael Smith, 61, faces counts of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, kidnapping, abduction, and tampering with evidence.
Earlier this month, 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 later died from her injuries.
Investigators determined 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.
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.
