Make wishtv.com your home page

Court docs: Frankfort man killed his wife with his town marshal gun

CLINTON COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – A Frankfort man faces murder charges for killing his wife over the weekend, and News 18 takes a look at the man behind the murder.

“Tell everybody I’m sorry,” 56-year-old Keith Smith repeated after crying openly in court Monday.

Smith is being held in the Clinton County Jail. Police believe he shot and killed his wife Lisa Smith in their home on West Green Street in Frankfort.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Smith admits he made a terrible decision.

Frankfort resident Starr Jones said, “I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. That’s not normal around here.”

Court documents said Smith and his wife had an argument. In the documents, Smith references a suicide pact. Smith told police he then got his gun to demonstrate how to use it when he pulled the trigger and shot her. Smith said he meant to point it at himself.

Smith called police 30 minutes after watching his wife take her last breath.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Myers said the case will still be heavily investigated.

“There’s still a great deal of investigative information,” said Myers. “As in many homicides, the evaluations of the forensic information is important.”

Residents said Smith was a quiet man and regularly saw him walking his dog.

“I never heard nothing bad about him,” said Jones. “I heard he was a good guy. This was very unusual even for him.”

But the man behind the murder is one familiar with law enforcement, he once served as a Colfax deputy town marshal.

Clinton County Sheriff’s Maj. Joe Mink said Smith worked as deputy chief for the sheriff’s office for less than a year, until he was terminated for rule violations.

Smith is currently in the Clinton County Jail.

The court has granted prosecutors a 72-hour hold to collect more information before filing charges.

The Clinton County Coroner’s Office released the autopsy results for Lisa Smith Monday. It states Smith died from bleeding to death due to the gunshot wound and have ruled the case a homicide.

Crime Map
Use Search Bars Above To Search Crime Data