Raleigh couple gets life in prison for killing pregnant woman, hiding body in suitcase

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – A jury has found a Wake County couple guilty in the death of pregnant woman and placing her body in a suitcase.

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Brittany Samone Smith, 26, was six months pregnant with a boy when she was reported missing in early February 2021. Charging documents said she was found dead inside a purple suitcase that had been thrown in Neuse River in Raleigh.

An autopsy concluded Smith was strangled. A gray, cloth-wrapped cellphone charger was still wrapped around her neck when she was found.

Thomas Clayton Johnson and Emmalei Grace Trevathan were both charged with murder, murder of an unborn child, and concealment of a body. After a jury trial in Wake County, both were found guilty on each count.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley sentenced them both to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Smith’s family shared a statement to with CBS 17 prior to the start of Johnson’s and Trevathan’s trial saying, “These heartless monsters have left many of our family members with broken hearts and pain that will never be eased, causing us to challenge our faith and wonder how someone could do something so detestable and how our GOD could allow it. A Grandmother should never have to bury her grandchild. A child should never have to say goodbye to his mother – not in this way.”

According to documents, Smith left her home on Feb. 5, 2021 with two people who her boyfriend said were known meth users. When she did not return home for 24 hours, Smith’s boyfriend reported her missing.

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The two were homeless and living in a tent on an acquaintance’s property.

Investigators tracked down Smith’s phone and after looking through it, were able to determine that Johnson and Trevathan were the two people Smith left with.

Trevathan’s parents told investigators they witnessed their daughter and Johnson leave their home with a purple suitcase on Feb. 5. It was the same purple suitcase Smith was found in.

A search of the motel room Johnson and Trevathan were staying in, turned up an orange and black rope like the one found tied around the purple suitcase. The same brand of suitcase as the one Smith was found in was also inside the room.

Court documents said either Johnson or Trevathan killed Smith in the back of their van while the other one drove.

“Her murderers discarded her body like she was nothing, but they were wrong. Shame on them! Her baby’s growing life meant something too! He was a growing and breathing soul; we loved them both dearly,” said Smith’s family in a statement.

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