ELLERBE — A Montgomery County man is facing multiple murder charges after investigators say he killed his ex-girlfriend and two of her family members.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Steven William Smith, of Jackson Springs, shot and killed 38-year-old Latasha Devora Durham, her mother, 68-year-old Gloria Jean Durham, and her brother, 42-year old Samuel Damon Durham, at their Robinson Avenue home late Sunday morning.
Sheriff James E. Clemmons Jr. said there were also three children in the home at the time, but they were unharmed.
The call came into the sheriff’s office around 11:54 a.m.
Investigators say Smith was apprehended by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and Carthage Police Department shortly after 12:30 p.m.
Smith is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of felony breaking and/or entering, having a fictitious driver’s license and resisting a public officer. Jail records show he is also facing a misdemeanor charge of assault on a female in Montgomery County.
He is currently being held in the Richmond County with no bond.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
Records with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show Smith is a convicted felon with a violent past.
In 1995, he was convicted on two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a female.
Two years later, Smith was convicted on four counts of second-degree kidnapping, one count of aiding and abetting second-degree kidnapping, second-degree burglary, common law robbery and felony larceny.
In 2000, he was convicted of possession of stolen goods and four counts of breaking and entering motor vehicles — three counts in Montgomery County, one count in Richmond County. The following year, he was convicted of assault inflicting serious injury.
He was again convicted in 2012 on three counts of assault with deadly weapon and one count of reckless driving.
Reach William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.
