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Murders of Walter Mitchell  and Susie Ephram

According to the SacBee, 52-year-old Walter Mitchell was selling a Ford Shelby GT500 in November 2023 when 20-year-old Alexander Lee Smith contacted him. They eventually agreed on a price.

Smith was supposed to wire the money to Mitchell on November 10th, but the wire transfer did not go through. After that, Mitchell called off the deal. That same night, he took it to a dealership and traded it in

Mitchell probably thought he would never hear from Smith again, but he was wrong. Smith wanted that car badly and showed up at Mitchell’s Peoria, Illinois, home the following morning, where he forced his way in and shot Mitchell and his wife, 42-year-old Susie Ephram. Their 8-year-old grandson was in the home at the time, but was unharmed.

Ephram was still alive and called 911 shortly after 4 a.m. First responders showed up and transported her to the hospital, where she later died. Mitchell died at the scene, SacBee reported.

Investigation

According to the SacBee, Smith showed up at the scene the next day as authorities were investigating. He told them that Mitchell sold the GT500 to a car collector he worked for, and he was there to pick it up. They didn’t buy it, and he left empty-handed.

Two weeks later, he went to the police station and tried to get the car again, but his story was different than what he initially told the police at the crime scene. Detectives started slowly putting the pieces together. They learned from Smith’s phone records that while he was trying to purchase the car from Mitchell, he told a third person that he was the vehicle’s owner and would trade it to them.

Even after Mitchell called off the deal, Smith was telling the third party he would deliver the car on the day of the murder.

In addition to phone records, authorities found Smith’s fingerprints on a door handle at the victim’s home. GPS data also put him near the home around the time of the crime, the SacBee reported.

Exactly one year after the crime, he was arrested by the Peoria police and the U.S Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force, and was booked in on two counts of first-degree murder, AZFamily reported.

Legal Proceedings

Smith didn’t want to end up on death row, so he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. He received two life sentences plus 21 years.