It was just after 10 pm on Memorial Day 2021 when Isimemen “Isi” Etute climbed the half flight of stairs inside apartment 207, which sat above the Hokie Mart store in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The 18-year-old had been there once before in April for a sexual liaison with a woman named “Angie”. The circumstances of that encounter were vague, though, because the apartment was kept pitch-black and she hid her face. This time he had come for answers.
Etute had grown skeptical about “Angie’s” true identity and decided to go to the apartment that day to determine whether she was actually a man or a woman.
He was accompanied by two of his Virginia Tech football teammates, Jordan Brunson and Jalen Hampton, but they stayed behind in the hallway. The apartment was dark again, except for a sliver of light through the kitchen window.
He could make out the shape of the person he knew as Angie Renee at the top of the stairs. Etute followed her into the bedroom where she was partially undressed and went on all fours on the bed.
Etute groped his partner, but something felt off to him. He pulled back his partner’s sweatshirt hood, turned on his phone’s flashlight, and discovered “Angie” had a man’s facial hair.
WFXRTV News reported Etute’s thoughts later, saying, “I felt violated, I felt shocked, and in disbelief that someone would trick me and lie to me.” What followed lasted a few minutes.
Etute punched the person multiple times. As they lay on the floor, Etute kicked them twice and stomped once more on the way out, leaving a bloody shoe print. Security footage from the building showed all three men leaving the apartment complex in a hurry.
Etute claimed he believed the person was still breathing when he left. What he did not know was that the man on the bedroom floor, identified as Jerry Paul Smith, was found dead the next evening.
The Man on the Floor
Jerry Paul Smith was born on May 18, 1981, in Montgomery County, Virginia, to Jerry Wayne and Sandra Cumbee Smith. His father worked at a textile plant and died in an industrial accident when Smith was only nine.
Neighbors who knew the family described a strained relationship between Smith and his mother. He also had little in common with his older brother, John, leaving him isolated.
As a teen, Smith struggled to navigate his sexual identity while living in a conservative rural community. When he eventually came out as gay to his mother, she reacted with fear and worry that he would get hurt because of it.
Jerry later worked as a restaurant manager and became associated with Centro Taco Bar in Blacksburg.
The discovery of Jerry Paul Smith’s body was initiated by a welfare check by his brother, John, a day after Etute visited Jerry. John said he video-chatted with Jerry the night he died.
The next day, he tried to place a follow-up call, but Jerry didn’t answer. Growing increasingly concerned by the lack of communication, John stopped by the apartment in Blacksburg to check on him in person.
On entering the apartment, John discovered the body on the floor. He tried to nudge Jerry’s shoulder with his foot, but he was unresponsive and stiff. John immediately pulled his phone out and dialed emergency services.
The call brought officers from the Blacksburg department to the apartment at 10.30 pm, and they officially took over the scene.
Tinder Match and Angie Renee
Smith had built an online persona named ‘Angie Renee’ using photos of a young woman and used it to contact college-aged men. He also preferred that they were straight and black.
Two years before the Etute case, a Blacksburg man named Fred Jones also received a Facebook message from the same persona.
The woman claimed to be a recent Duke graduate working as a doctor who needed to stay ‘discreet’. Jones and this person exchanged messages and explicit images before it fizzled out.
Etute matched with Angie on Tinder on April 10, 2021. He was, however, concerned about the meeting, so he enlisted backup and brought teammate Da’Shawn Elder for the first visit.
Elder left almost immediately, unsettled, as the apartment was kept pitch black and the person ensured their face was hidden. Etute stayed, and the encounter ended with oral sex.
Jerry, posing as “Angie,” paid Etute $50 afterward and texted him, asking him to keep coming back. After the encounter in April, Etute’s teammates started teasing him, suggesting that he could have picked up an STD.
They even joked that “Angie” could have been a man considering he never got to see her face. Etute got tested and shrugged it off.
On May 31, another Virginia Tech player, Jalen Hampton, matched with Angie Renee on Tinder independently. Hampton went to the apartment, looking for the same thing Etute experienced but felt uneasy and left.
Smith then reached out to Etute, telling him, according to ABC News, to “put in a good word” with Hampton. This request led to a sequence of events in which Etute, Hampton, and Brunson agreed to go back to Apartment 207 to find out whether Angie was a man or a woman.
Etute said that if he confirmed she was a woman, another sexual encounter would probably happen. If he determined that she was actually a man, the plan was to run.
Ensuing Investigation
The Roanoke medical examiner’s office determined the cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head and classified it as a homicide. Dr Amy Tharp later testified that almost every bone in Smith’s face had been broken and his brain was bleeding and swollen.
There was no evidence that Smith fought back from the encounter. The severity of the injuries also made it seem like a hate crime.
After reviewing hallway surveillance footage, police saw Etute and two teammates outside the door on the night of May 31, 2021. Investigators also found eight bloody footprints tracking down the hallway directly from Smith’s door.
Inside the apartment, they documented extensive blood spatter on the walls and a bloody shoe print on the victim’s cheek. With this information, they arrested Etute on June 2 and charged him with second-degree murder.
Etute did not raise any self-defense claims at the time. Virginia Tech also suspended him from the football team indefinitely. Smith’s family members also confronted the Etutes outside a preliminary hearing that fall.
One relative of Smith told WSET News, “He would not hurt a flea. He was the kindest guy around and wasn’t afraid to tell you he was gay.”
A month after the killing, Virginia’s General Assembly banned the use of a defendant’s claim that a victim’s perceived or real sexual orientation or gender identity provoked a violent reaction.
Democratic delegate Danica Roem told NBC Washington, “It was requested to me by one of my Manassas Park student constituents who’s out, hoping not to have to live in the same fear in 2021 that I did in 1998.”
A Murder Trial in Christiansburg
Etute’s trial opened on May 25, 2022, at the Montgomery County Circuit Court before Judge Mike Fleenor. The prosecution team headed by Patrick Jensen and Jason Morgan argued Etute was enraged on discovering Smith’s gender and killed him out of spite.
Attorney Jimmy Turk for the defense claimed Etute acted in self-defense after Smith, in the ensuing scuffle, reached toward the mattress for a hidden knife.
According to Oxygen, Turk told the jurors that Etute beat Smith because it was “the only thing reasonably could do… to ensure he got out of Jerry Smith’s apartment alive.”
Of the eight witnesses the commonwealth called, only John Smith was close to his brother when Smith was alive. Turk displayed poster-sized blow-ups of the Angie Renee Tinder profile and messages exchanged with Etute.
While on the stand, Etute testified he punched Smith five times and kicked him to buy time to escape. He believed Smith survived the attack.
He told WSLS News, “Honestly, I was destroyed. I would never intentionally try to harm someone, especially to the point of death. I was very upset. I broke down when they told me.”
The closing arguments were held on May 27. Jurors were reminded of the physical mismatch between the two men. Etute was a Division I linebacker standing at 6 feet 2 and weighed over 200 pounds.
Smith was just 153 pounds, and the prosecution also reiterated the account that Smith was reaching for a weapon only appeared after Etute was charged with murder. He did not say that during his original police interview.
Turk countered that Smith orchestrated the entire encounter from the darkness to the hidden identity and even the hidden knife. 13 News reported Turk’s statements, saying Etute was “controlling the entire environment and the entire episode.”
He added Smith “demanded that it be dark” and had hidden a knife under his mattress “in case there was something awry.”
According to Toronto City News, Jensen said, “He has a tremendous amount riding on this trial.” One prosecutor plainly told the jurors that Jerry didn’t deserve to die.
Jurors deliberated for three hours weighing the case. ESPN showed the scene as John Smith stood on the courthouse veranda. He shook his head, staring towards Etute and wondered aloud, “Do you think he’ll get to play football again?”
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty of second-degree murder. Etute collapsed into tears at the defense table as his family, friends and teammates cheered. Smith’s family left the courtroom quickly without speaking to any reporters.
Attorney Jensen declined to comment and referred any questions to his supervisor, Commonwealth attorney Mary Pettitt. Advocates for LGBTQ rights viewed the outcome as clear evidence that the new law failed to close the gap for which it was constructed.
D’Arcy Kemnitz, the executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association, told CNN, the result “sends a message that violence against LGBTQ people is acceptable and that their lives are worth less due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the trial, Turk told ESPN, “I think he’s earned the right to go back to school and further his academic and sports career. I think the school that ends up taking him is going to get a lot wiser, smarter, and an exceptional athlete.“
Days after the verdict, the Etute family released a statement acknowledging the toll the past year took. They told WDBJ News, “It will take time to decompress and feel relief from this gut-wrenching, frightening experience in life. It has made us stronger and strengthened our faith. We will continue to include the Smith family in our prayers.“
Isi is extremely grateful for the jury’s hard work, deliberation, and verdict. Isi is now focused on picking up where he left off in his pursuit of a college degree and his love of football. Isi says the process has given him trust and faith in life again. He further says it has only helped him become much smarter, wiser, and stronger, with a new outlook on life in his journey moving forward.”
That July, Etute enrolled at Iowa Western Community College, Turk told the Virginian Pilot, “He reached out to them himself, and talked with the coaches. I think it’s going to be a good fit.”
Jordan Brunson transferred to Miami University of Ohio while Jalen Hampton went to Elon University in North Carolina. Neither of them was charged with a crime, considering they hadn’t entered the apartment that night.
The Smith family, though, suffered a damaged public image. During the trial, a string of witnesses had come forward recounting previous instances of Smith’s harassment and erratic behavior.
Because the defense focused on the predatory catfishing to claim he was acting out of fear, the family felt Jerry’s memory was defined by his worst mistakes. Their family friend, Kathy Tickle, said Jerry’s death left a hole in the family.
John Wayne Smith and the rest of Jerry Paul Smith’s surviving family members continue to live quietly in Giles County, Virginia, and have largely stayed out of the public eye.
Etute subsequently transferred to the NCAA Division II program at UNC Pembroke Athletics. He became a defensive standout and earned the Conference Carolinas Co-Defensive Player of the Year award in 2025.
The murder of Jerry Paul Smith was considered accidental during the trial and by most accounts of the story. A crime of passion because Etute acted in self-defense.
Smith’s extended family retreated from public appearances after the ruling. However, like the recently closed Lewis case, where race was also a factor, they were equally disappointed with how things turned out.
The fact that the victim was also part of the LGBTQ community made it even more sensitive, considering the dynamics at play.
For more true crime stories involving unsolved murders, read our articles on Tristan Brübach and Sophia Koetsier.
