Overview
- Edison police responding to a 911 call on December 21 found Smith with multiple stab wounds at a Grove Avenue residence, and she was later pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
- Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and two weapons offenses, and he is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center pending pre-trial proceedings.
- Officials said the case was not a random act and that Smith and Jackson-Small knew each other prior to the incident, and Smith’s father told CNN the suspect is the father of her 3-year-old son.
- Smith previously played Young Nala in Disney’s The Lion King on Broadway, a role cited in tributes from the theater community and in family statements.
- A GoFundMe organized by Smith’s aunt has raised more than $70,000 for funeral costs, therapy, and support for her son, and investigators are asking anyone with information to contact Edison police or the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.