ammunition that was found at the murder scene. but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn t strong enough to charge smoot with murder. then, the crime lab released its ballistics report showing that marks on shell casings from the crime scene matched marks on a bullet found in smoot s home. his missing hand gun appeared to be the murder weapon. hat s a huge connection? it is pretty much the connection. in june of 2012, eight months after brooke was killed, shawn smoot was indicted on charges of first degree murder. did you immediately identify with her just being this young woman who was clearly so vulnerable? oh, absolutely. prosecutors bob edwards and tiffany starr smith saw this case as a relationship turned deadly. we re still talking about domestic violence. we re still talking about orders of protection, and all of the things that go wrong in those situations.
but that didn t happen. mm-mm. no. and you know, i kept thinking, well, surely, any day now. any day now. reporter: investigators had their suspicions as well and they were trying to build a case against smoot. he was the last to see her alive. they had an allegedly violent relationship. he had lied to investigators. but so far they had found no physical evidence tying him to the crime. you were able to search shawn smoot s apartment? we were. reporter: do you find anything? we find an empty box that once contained a firearm with some ammunition. reporter: no gun? no gun. reporter: the box was for a .32-caliber pistol. the same caliber as the murder weapon. and the ammo? it was the same style of ammunition that was found at the murder scene. reporter: but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn t strong enough to charge smoot with murder. then the crime lab released its ballistics report showing that
you, that okay, they can go arrest him now? we know who did it. absolutely. that didn t happen. uh-huh. i kept thinking, surely any day now, any day now. investigators had their suspicions as well. they were trying to build a case against smoot. he was the last to see her al e alive. he had an allegedly violent relationship. he had lied to investigators. but so far, they have found no physical evidence tying him to the crime. you were able to search his apartment. we were. did you find anything? we found an empty box that once contained a firearm with some ammunition. no gun? no gun. the box was for a .32 caliber pistol. the same as the murder weapon. and the ammo? that was the same style of ammunition that was found at the murder scene. but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn t strong enough to charge
well, surely, any day now. any day now. reporter: investigators had their suspicions as well and they were trying to build a case against smoot. he was the last to see her alive. they had an allegedly violent relationship. he had lied to investigators. but so far they had found no physical evidence tying him to the crime. you were able to search shawn smoot s apartment? we were. reporter: do you find anything? we find an empty box that once contained a firearm with some ammunition. reporter: no gun? no gun. reporter: the box was for a .32 caliber pistol. the same caliber as the murder weapon. and the ammo? it was the same style of ammunition that was found at the murder scene. reporter: but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn t strong enough to charge smoot with murder. then, the crime lab released its ballistics report showing that marks on shell casings from the
did it? oh, absolutely. but thatidn happen. huh-uh. and i kept thinking, well, surelyny day now, any day now. investigators had their suspicions as well and they were trying to build a case against smoot. he was the last to see her alive. they had an allegedly violent relationship. he had lied to investigators. but so far they had found no physical evidence tying him to the crime. you were able to search shawn smoot s apartment? we were. did you find anything? we found an empty box that once contained a firearm with some ammunition. no gun? no gun. the box was for a .32 caliber pistol, the same caliber as the murder weapon. and the ammo that was the same style of ammunition that was found at the murder scene. but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn t strong enough to charge smoot with murder.