Wife of Marine charged with murder defends husband, remembers 'best friend'

The wife of a Camp Lejeune Marine charged with murder after police say he shot his roommate Wednesday while playing with a handgun said she is without her best friend who is dead and her husband who is in jail - and hurt by the community's reaction.

Courtney Smith said 19-year-old Bryan Thorkelson was like her little brother. And it was extremely painful to watch police arrest her husband, Michael Everett Smith, shortly after Thorkelson's death.

"What happened was an accident," she told The Daily News on Friday. "They shouldn't have been playing with a gun, but my husband did not mean to shoot (Thorkelson)."

Michael Smith, 21, of Bridgewater Court, was charged by the Jacksonville Police Department with an open count of murder Wednesday after Thorkelson died at Onslow Memorial Hospital of a gunshot wound to the head, according to warrants and police statements.

Thorkelson's death was ruled an accident Thursday by Dr. John Almeida, an Onslow County medical examiner.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said that Smith pointing the loaded gun at Thorkelson and firing it was enough for him to be charged with murder.

"According to state law a person does not have to intend the consequences of his or her actions to be accountable for them," said Hudson, the chief prosecutor for the 4th Prosecutorial District, which includes Onslow County.

Neighbors told The Daily News on Thursday that the Smith family and the young Marines that frequented the residence meant trouble in the neighborhood, but Smith denied that Friday.

She said that whatever contention existed in the neighborhood prior to Thorkelson's death had nothing to with him dying and should not even have been reported.

Smith said a bad situation for her family became worse when she and other family members read comments about the tragedy on jdnews.com and found that people were calling her family "rednecks" and "crazy."

She said after several comments appeared calling her family racist, she tried to explain her side of the story but was drowned out by a barrage of attacks.

Smith requested The Daily News remove the comments or at least block future comments from being made.

The Daily News Managing Editor Cyndi Brown said the company will remove comments that violate the user agreement.

"We expect people to have differences of opinion, but some of the comments do cross a line," she said. "We will remove the ones that are hateful, obscene or libelous."

She said people who come across questionable comments should click the "Report Abuse" link below each comment. Those comments are then flagged for the moderators to decide what to do with them based on the user agreement, which is available online at www.freedom.com/eula.html. 

Smith said she wanted Thorkelson to be remembered as a good person who would help anyone in need.

"Maybe people will remember him and remember not to play with guns," she said.

Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read his blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.