Overview
- Police responding to a 911 call on Dec. 21 in Edison, New Jersey, found Imani Dia Smith with multiple stab wounds; she was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
- Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, was arrested without incident and charged with first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and weapons offenses.
- Officials said Smith and Jackson-Small knew each other prior to the incident, and investigators have not publicly disclosed a motive.
- Jackson-Small is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center pending pre-trial detention proceedings, according to prosecutors and inmate records.
- Smith, who played Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway in 2011–2012, is survived by her 3-year-old son, and a family GoFundMe is raising funds for funeral costs, therapy, and childcare.