Gaston County police identify 1979 murder victim using DNA profile

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Gaston County police have identified a murder victim using a DNA profile more than 40 years after his death.

On Oct. 6, 1979, the Gaston County Police Department began investigating after the body of a man was found in northeast Gaston County, in a wooded area off of Horseshoe Bend Beach Road. The road is off of NC Highway 16 near where Mountain Island Charter School is today.

Police told told Channel 9 reporter Ken Lemon the body had been there for months before it was found.

Officers said that in 1979 there was no way to identify the body. Because of how much time had passed before the victim was found, police said the man did not have fingerprints. The only information investigators had was that he was a 30- to 60-year-old man.

“No identification so we just had no idea who he was for literally 40 years,” said Captain Billy Downey with GCPD.

Officers said the victim had been in prison and was supposed to remain there until the mid-1980s. He had no contact with family and friends so they didn’t know he got out in 1979.

Through a DNA profile, Charlotte resident James Harold Smith was identified as the homicide victim. Detectives spoke with Smith’s family and determined he was of Lumbee Indian descent.

Smith’s brother, Elwood Smith, spoke to Channel 9 by phone. “It’s still strong on my mind,” he said.

Elwood Smith said he was happy to know what happened to his brother, but was still desperate to know who killed him and why. At the time of his disappearance, James Smith was 33 years old. He was last seen leaving a court hearing in Charlotte in June 1979.

“I can’t understand how he just disappeared off the face of the earth and nobody never said anything,” Elwood Smith said.

Elwood searched on his own for his brother for six years before reporting him missing to Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers in 2014, who created a flier.

But the police report was 35 years too late. Since James Smith’s body was found, almost all other members of his immediate family have died. It was still a cold case when GCPD detectives started reviewing the case in 2020.

“These cases are so hard to clear. Cases from the 60s and 70s, even into the 80s now,” Downey said.

In Smith’s case, the crime lab still had skeletal remains. Along with advancements in DNA testing and help from federal agencies, GCPD investigators got enough information to develop a rough sketch of their victim.

Then, investigators found Elwood Smith’s missing person report for his brother and retrieved his DNA profile. That helped them determine the victim was James Smith, providing the most important update in the case in 40 years.

Police said he was murdered though they aren’t revealing how he died.

“We believe it was somebody he knew,” Downey said. “Somebody out there somewhere knows a bit of information that can clear this case.”

Elwood Smith said that someone needs to help this family find closure.

“I still don’t know exactly what happened to him or why,” he said.

James Smith would be 75 years old in 2021. Police said anyone with information may be just as old and also may know the suspect. Officers hope that fact won’t deter anyone from coming forward from providing the family answers after four decades.

Anyone with information about Smith’s disappearance and/or homicide is asked to call Gaston County Police Detective B. Dalton at 704-866-3320 or Crimestoppers at 704-861-8000.

A reward of up to $1,000 is available to anyone who provides information leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect or suspects in this case.

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