Thursday, July 17, 2008

Perp arrested and held


I didn't think she had comitted suicide by stabbing herself.


Canyon Lake man arrested for homicide
By Chris Cobb: The Herald-Zeitung


CANYON LAKE — Deputies from the Comal County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Canyon Lake man Wednesday for the fatal stabbing of his live-in girlfriend.Robert Smith is being charged with homicide after emergency crews arrived Friday night at the couple’s home at 1235 Hedgestone in Canyon Lake to find 53-year-old Nancy Shields with severe knife wounds and heavy blood loss. Shields was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center where she died during surgery.


An autopsy conducted by the Bexar County Medical Examiner concluded that her death was a homicide, and the CCSO said in a Wednesday press release that it had gathered enough evidence to issue a warrant for the 40-year-old Smith.He was arrested at about 6 p.m., Wednesday at the scene of the crime.


Neighbors told the Herald-Zeitung Tuesday that Smith was a constant problem in the Tanglewood Shores subdivision, and that the CCSO had responded to numerous domestic disputes at the house where Shields would eventually be fatally wounded.“He’s been like our number one problem,” said Robert Case of the Tanglewood Shores Owners Association on Monday. “He’s been in and out of jail. The police are called here once every three or four days.” Neighbors also had e-mailed and called the Herald-Zeitung early in the week, reporting that Smith had threatened a number of people in the subdivision.


Smith has done at least three separate stints in county jail in the last five years, beginning with a 90-day sentence in 2004 for driving while intoxicated. He was again sent to county jail for 45 days in May of last year for driving with an invalid license, and soon after getting out, was given another 90-day sentence for a violation of an occupational license.Shields’ daughter Kathleen said the two had been living together since May of 2006.


Smith is currently being held in Comal County Jail on $500,000 bond.