Associated Press
ROANOKE, Va. — Brittany Smith called her friend a few months ago, scared. The 12-year-old was afraid her mother’s live-in boyfriend “would come over and take her away and hurt her mom,” the friend, Rebecca Kilian, said Tuesday.
Brittany asked Rebecca, 13, to stay on the phone with her until her mom got home.
“She told me not to call the police,” Rebecca said.
Brittany’s mother, Tina Smith, was worried, too. On Thursday, the 41-year-old Roanoke County nurse posted this on her Facebook profile:
“If I should die before I wake God bless my friends. May I be remembered for my good heart and hopeless romantic ways.”
And on Friday, the last day she was seen alive, Tina Smith posted this: “God please protect us from the evils of this world.”
As the nationwide hunt for 12-year-old Brittany Smith entered its second day, police sorted through more than 200 tips and issued an arrest warrant for the mother’s boyfriend, Jeffrey Easley, 32, whom they suspect of abducting Brittany. Dozens gathered for a candlelight vigil. And Easley’s mother appeared at a news conference, tearfully pleading with her son to keep the girl safe and “come home.”
Brittany, a seventh- grader at Glenvar Middle School, turned up missing Monday morning after her mother’s Richfield Retirement Community co-workers found Tina Smith slain in her home . Police wouldn’t say how or when Smith died, and didn’t name a suspect .
They believe Easley abducted Brittany and took her mother’s silver 2005 Dodge Neon. Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder said detectives don’t know whether Brittany went willingly.
“We still believe she’s in danger, and we’re very concerned,” Lavinder said.
The last confirmed sighting of the pair was at 8:35 p.m. Friday at the Salem Walmart, where a surveillance video shows them leaving the store, Lavinder said.
Easley is pushing a cart of merchandise purchased with Tina Smith’s credit card, Lavinder said. The chief wouldn’t say what Easley bought.
During a news conference , Easley’s mother pleaded with her son to release Brittany .
“I want you to be safe and I know you’re taking care of Brittany,” Sallie Martin said. “If you would just take her somewhere and drop her off, call 911, or give me a call, come to the house, do whatever you need to do. We’ll help you work this out. I love you.”
His MySpace page was updated on Saturday.
“Got a lot on my mind,” it said.
Easley has family ties to Alabama and North Carolina, where he was convicted of assaulting a public official in 1996, according to online court records. His North Carolina criminal history includes injury to personal property in 1995, and two counts of alcohol possession in 1998. In 2001, he was placed in a pretrial probationary program for making threatening phone calls to his ex-wife, Sheila Easley, the records say.
Brittany’s father, Benny Smith, a police officer in South Boston, Va., separated from Tina Smith a few years ago, and Tina moved to Roanoke County with her two children, the Rev. John Eure said.
Easley and Tina Smith met online this summer, police said. Easley moved into her house on the quiet cul-de-sac in October, said Lavinder.
Brittany’s MySpace page mentions working out and watching movies together with Easley. He called her “Short Stack.” She called him “Handcuff Buddy.”
Brittany’s friends and teachers prayed for her safe return at a vigil Tuesday night. An American flag snapped at half-staff and snowflakes flew onto dozens of middle-schoolers, teachers and parents clutching candles as they sang “Amazing Grace” and prayed over the frozen lawn of Glenvar High School.
“We want Jeff Easley to bring her home,” Glenvar Middle School Principal Juliette Myers said.
“We know Brittany would come back of her own accord if given the opportunity.”
Jeffrey Scott Easley, live-in boyfriend of Brittany’s mother, is suspected of taking the girl. Brittany Mae Smith, 12, turned up missing after co-workers of her mother found her dead.
More information can be found on the Help Find Brittany Mae Smith Facebook page.