Pawnshop killings still unsolved on 11th anniversary

Amid the traditional rectangular gravestones in the Oak Grove United Methodist Cemetery is one that stands out.

It is not smooth and polished granite or marble, but rough and jagged - the way sandstone naturally flakes off a mountainside.

The marker denotes a life cut violently short.

"So Much Love, So Little Time" reads the epitaph on the headstone for James Lucas Smith IV.

"We just thought it was something he would like," Jimmy Smith said recently as the 11-year anniversary of the murder of his son approached.

"He loved nature and the woods and everything," Smith said. "We thought it looked just like him."

On the early morning of Nov. 19, 1997, Havelock police officers on a routine building patrol noticed a door ajar at the back of Woodson's Music and Pawn in the Slocum Shopping Center.

Officer Derrick Weidel and Sgt. Jim Parks decided to investigate further.

What they found inside has been called one of the worst crimes in Havelock history.

Smith, 19, and fellow employee John Phillip Mattmiller, 37, had been tied up and beaten to death with a golf club.

"It looked like it was a possible robbery because there was some jewelry scattered about," recalled Sgt. David King, who was the shift investigator that morning.

"It looked like there had been a robbery that had gone bad. Instead of just leaving them tied up, they decided to just go ahead and kill them."

The building was secured and the State Bureau of Investigation was brought in to help process evidence, King said.

"I think we kept the building secure for about two days," King said.

Using records kept at the pawn shop, investigators found that several guns, jewelry and cash had been stolen.

The pawn shop had surveillance cameras inside, but the killers took the videotapes. Another big problem for investigators was that there were no apparent witnesses to the crime.

Yet, they remained confident that they would find the killers.

Months slid by without solid leads and the investigators traced tips near and far.

On the one-year anniversary, more than 150 interviews had been conducted, 10 polygraph tests had been given. Investigators had been to Tennessee, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Maine and Kentucky.

"I've actually flown to New York City and spent the night in New York City polygraphing somebody whose name had come up in this," King said.

The case even got national attention in 1999 when the television show "America's Most Wanted" did a segment on the crime.

An encouraging break came in 2003 with the arrest of Timothy Williams, a 32-year-old former worker at the pawn shop. He would plead guilty to possession of stolen firearms, pistols taken from the pawn shop during the deadly robbery.

Mike Campbell, retired Havelock police chief, said the investigation revealed that the pistols had been sold to another pawn shop in Wilmington.

Williams was sentenced to 20 months in prison and was released on Feb. 18, 2005.

King won't say whether he believes Williams was involved with the killings.

Campbell said Williams is still the main person of interest in the case.

"Well, we went all over the place looking, interviews, asking questions," Campbell said. "We did find some other things through those interviews that there were some other individuals that were persons of interest that we looked at, but again, the main point was that this Williams individual had weapons from the pawn shop."

Campbell said questions continue to surround the case.

"So, if you talk to all of the investigators, do they have a feeling about the case? Yes, they do. They're experienced dealing with this," Campbell said. "Is there possibly somebody involved? Yeah. Do we have a suspect? Yeah. But can we rule the suspect in or out? Possibly we can. Something might pop up in the future where we can.

"You don't ever know. But is there enough we know that we can go on and convict him in court?"

Campbell referenced the case of Vaughn Jones, who was recently acquitted of murder charges in his third trial for the killing of two Pamlico County residents.

"So, before you take anybody to court and charge them, you've got to make sure all your evidence and everything, circumstantial and not, can point to a clearcut conviction of an individual that did this," Campbell said.

Dorothy Smith Houde, the mother of Smith, wants the case to go forward now.

"I'm not really happy right now," she said. "It's been this long time and they haven't done anything. They know who did it and they won't make an arrest.

"At this point in time, why not just make an arrest, take it to trial and let the chips fall where they may."

The young man's father is not so sure that's the right course.

"You know, I feel like if they've got enough evidence, they should go ahead, but if not, they have to wait," said Jimmy Smith. "Because if they haven't got enough evidence and there's any doubt, they could get off scot free. I just want them to have enough evidence to convict them.

"They could wait another 10 years. I just want to make sure they've got all their ducks in a row. I don't want any mess-up."

G. Wayne Cyrus, current Havelock police chief, said investigators won't give up on solving the case.

"We are committed today just as they were committed when the incident occurred that took the lives of those two people to make sure that we do everything possible given the resources that we have and what information we have to ensure that we continue to work toward solving this case," Cyrus said.

"I don't want to take away from the seriousness, but this is like putting a puzzle together and you're looking for pieces and someone out there who thinks they have some information that they feel is insignificant, and they've not come forward, that's just not the case, because every piece of information is vital. It may be the piece that we're looking for. It might be that one puzzle piece that ties everything together and will allow us to bring this to a successful resolution."

There is currently a $30,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. Anyone with information can call the police at 447-3212.

Smith's father said he knows his son will rest in peace even though the killers are on the loose.

"I know he's in a better place and whoever did this is going to spend an eternity in hell," he said.

Eventually, the crime will be solved, Smith said.

"I feel one day that it will," Smith said. "We just have to wait. I think eventually it's going to come to an end. We'll just have to wait."