Overview
- Police responding to a 911 call on Dec. 21 found Imani Dia Smith with stab wounds at her Edison, N.J., residence, and she was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
- Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, was arrested on Dec. 23 without incident and is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and weapons offenses.
- Authorities said Smith and Jackson-Small knew each other and have not released a motive; he is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center pending pre-trial proceedings.
- Smith played Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway from 2011 to 2012 and is survived by her 3-year-old son, her parents and two younger siblings.
- A family GoFundMe to cover funeral costs, therapy, crime-scene cleanup, legal expenses, and care for her child and dog has raised more than $50,000, and reports differ on whether she was 25 or 26.