A 41-year-old Columbus man was charged Tuesday afternoon with beating his former girlfriend to death.
Linda Snell, a 38-year-old resident of the Cypress Park Apartments at 300 S. Lehmberg Road, just outside Columbus city limits, was found in her bedroom at about 10 p.m. Monday after sheriff”s deputies broke into the unit.
Snell was pronounced dead at 10:53 p.m. Monday by Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant.
Lowndes County deputies began searching for Joe “Joe Thunder” Smith, of 1224 Moss St., after they found evidence linking him to the crime.
Smith, whose identity was not released until Tuesday afternoon, was arrested that morning at a convenience store in Brooksville by Noxubee County sheriff”s deputies, said Lowndes County Chief Deputy Greg Wright.
The defendant had the victim”s black 1990 Honda Accord, which was missing from the crime scene, when he was taken into custody, Wright said.
The Columbus Police Department also had warrants out on Smith for aggravated assaults against Snell.
The latest in a string of assaults was Saturday, when Smith “jumped on” the victim, sending her to the hospital, said Wendy Kelly, the victim”s sister.
Snell called a friend from her apartment Saturday evening after getting out of the hospital and asked for help leaving the unit, Kelly said.
As the victim was talking, Smith grabbed the phone and said, “By the time you get here, she”ll be dead,” Kelly said.
The friend was not able to contact family members until later, she added.
According to family members, deputies said Smith gained entry to the apartment through a patio door and fought with the victim.
Kelly said Smith was stabbed during the fight, but Wright could not immediately confirm that information.
Snell”s body was taken to Jackson for an autopsy to confirm the exact cause and time of death, said Merchant, who ruled the cause of death blunt force trauma.
“She was found beside the bed in the back bedroom,” Merchant said, noting there was no weapon used in the attack.
Snell lived alone in the unit except for weekends, when her 16- and 18-year-old sons would stay over, said Kelly. Her sons stayed in Artesia with their father this past weekend, to attend a high school football game.
“My mom”s dealing with it,” Kelly said. “(Linda”s) sons are devastated.”
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