Ayanna Nneka Smith

• Missing Since 01/21/2017
• Missing From Enterprise, Alabama
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 02/05/1990 (34)
• Age 26 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0, 150 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue scrub shirt, blue scrub pants and black shoes.
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Smith's ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance

Smith was last seen on west Brunson Street in Enterprise, Alabama at 10:00 p.m. on January 21, 2017. She has never been heard from again. That evening, witnesses heard a gunshot in the parking lot of the apartment complex here she lived. Later that night, her boyfriend, Malcolm Theotis Hunter, was sighted driving her car up to a bank ATM. He was alone at the time.

When police recovered the car, Smith's cellular phone and wallet were inside it. There was also a large amount of blood in the passenger compartment. An anonymous tip lead police to a silver handgun, registered to Smith, in a vacant lot on west Adams Street and Warren Road. Based on another tip, authorities recovered Hunter's bloodstained clothes and shoes.

A photo of Hunter is posted with this case summary. He was arrested and charged with Smith's murder on February 2. At first he claimed he didn't know what happened to her, but the third time police questioned him, he stated his aunt had shot Smith in the chest during an argument at his aunt's apartment, then drove away with her and returned without her. Investigators checked the apartment in question, but found no evidence that a shooting had taken place there.

In the spring of 2018, Hunter was tried for Smith's murder. The blood found in Hunter's car was hers, one witness testified that he'd seen Hunter "with what appeared to be the lifeless body of a woman in his car," and another witness said Hunter asked him for help in getting rid of a handgun.

The jury convicted Hunter after only 45 minutes' deliberation. He was sentenced to the maximum term, life in prison without parole, under the Habitual Felony Offender Act; he has four previous felony convictions.

Smith left behind two young children. Her body has not been found, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.