The killing was either a hate crime or a crime of passion. Nathaddeus J. Smith’s attacker stabbed his face more than a dozen times, shredding his nose. His eyes were gashed and the knife was plunged into his chest.
The 25-year-old Smith was stabbed so many times and with such force that D.C. police have described it as “overkill,” the frenzied mutilation often associated with crimes of passion. Because the killing occurred early in the morning outdoors and he was seen with another man that night, police said it could have been a “pickup murder.”
Smith was gay, and police have not ruled out the possibility that his murder was a hate crime by someone who targeted homosexuals.
In the early morning hours of April 15, 1995, witnesses observed a male with a red jacket chasing Smith in the 1700 block of Kenyon Street NW. There was a struggle, and the suspect or suspects stabbed Smith multiple times. Residents could hear the screams for mercy and jammed phone lines calling police for help.
By the time officers arrived, Smith was dead.
The murder led to an outcry from those who lived nearby as well as the city’s gay and lesbian community.
Smith grew up in the District, graduated from Banneker High School, earned a degree in accounting from Strayer College and worked as a civilian clerk for the U.S. Army. About six months before his death, he was transferred to Montgomery, Ala. He returned to the District several days earlier to visit with his mother and siblings at their Petworth row house on the 4800 block of Kansas Avenue NW.
On the night of his death, police said he visited a friend’s house in Maryland and met with another friend in Adams Morgan.
Anyone with information about Smith’s slaying is asked to call the District of Columbia police at 202-727-9099. There is a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
