Cops Arrest Wrong Man at Brother's Funeral While Hunting for Suspect in Decades-Old Unsolved Murder

A North Carolina sheriff’s office is under heavy scrutiny after crashing a funeral earlier this month and arresting an innocent man mourning his brother’s death, who they mistook for a homicide suspect.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement attempting to explain its actions on social media that its investigators received “information from multiple separate sources” indicating that a suspect wanted for a 1995 homicide would be at the funeral for Kabem Seagal Smith, who died earlier this month.

Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigators were searching for Willard Smith, who they say has used “several aliases, including family member’s names” while successfully evading police for 30 years. “One of which is the name Willard Partridge, which was listed in the obituary as a surviving brother” of Kabem Smith, the sheriff’s office said.

“Tips also say that he has come back to the area on previous occasions to visit family,” the sheriff’s office added.

So, the sheriff’s office went to the funeral and waited in the parking lot, according to local WRAL, WNCN, and The Sanford Herald. 

WRAL described what happened next as a “chaotic” scene in the cemetery parking lot, as police sifted through the crowd and eventually took a man they believed to be Willard Smith into custody. Family members began to crowd around the sheriff’s office vehicles, according to bystander video obtained by the outlet. 

The sheriff’s office claimed family members were attempting to “block” police from leaving the parking lot, alleging that the family members — moments removed from mourning the loss of Kabem Smith — had “started banging on the hoods and rocking the patrol cars with deputies inside.”

“There was a lot of confusion, hostility, and deception,” the sheriff’s office claimed.

Bryant McKinney, a family friend of the man who was detained, told WRAL “it was the most unreal thing I’ve ever seen.”

Deputies were eventually able to work their way through the crowd of mourning family members and took their “suspect” to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, where investigators learned they had arrested the wrong man. Family members told WRAL the Smith brother who was detained was kept at the sheriff’s office for eight hours before being let go.

Kabem Smith’s obituary says he has five surviving brothers, including Jravier Smith, Willard Partridge Jr., Arsenio Smith, Ridge Smith and Jordney Smith.

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The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, who has yet to track down the actual suspect, vowed in its statement that its investigators still hope to crack the 1995 murder case one day.

“With the persistence of our citizens and the dedication of our deputies, we intend to bring closure to the victim’s family and we are committed to the pursuit of justice,” the sheriff’s office said.