A jury convicted a Hammond man Thursday for killing his girlfriend inside her home.
Anthony Carr, 41, was charged with 31-year-old Brittany Smith’s Dec. 3, 2022 murder.
He pleaded guilty to a habitual offender enhancement, which would add more time to his sentence. Prosecutors dropped a separate gun enhancement. The jury deliberated for two hours.
His sentencing hearing is May 17.
In closing arguments Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal said the case was about “love, murder and lies” with “jealousy” allegedly fueling Carr’s motive.
Smith’s mother testified Monday she called 911 around 2:20 p.m. Dec. 3, 2022 after finding her daughter dead inside Smith’s home on the 6100 block of Noble Ave. in Hammond.
She found the back door kicked down. Smith was slumped over sitting on a box in her bedroom. She died of three gunshots to the face and head, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
The shots were within close range, Villarreal told jurors Thursday.
“All of the evidence points toward Anthony Carr,” she said.
Two bullet casings were found at the scene, but a murder weapon was not recovered.
Defense lawyer Ken Elwood told jurors pieces of evidence did not line up.
For example, a neighbor testified he heard shots sometime between 7:30-8 a.m. He wasn’t entirely sure and it likely was closer to 8 a.m., but possibly later. Cell phone location data appears to show Carr left the area around 7:23 a.m.
Villarreal noted the door was kicked in. Texts showed Smith said Carr kicked down his door in October 2022. That didn’t prove anything, Elwood said. Carr didn’t kill her then, he said.
Smith’s mother also unintentionally disrupted the crime scene after she found her daughter.
“I do not blame (her),” he said. “But, it did happen.”
Carr was also seen on camera over a mile away up Summer Street in Hammond at a transport company site around 8:23 a.m., Elwood said. If the shooting happened around 8 a.m., that wasn’t a lot of time to get over there, he said.
Witnesses told police Smith had dated Carr for about 5 to 6 months. He lived there shortly and had threatened her and kicked down her back door several weeks back.
When her mother called 9 a.m. Dec 3 to bring Smith’s kids back, there was no answer.
Carr told police he and Smith dropped off her kids at her mother’s house the night before for a “date night.” When they went back to Smith’s house, they argued and he got a friend to give him a ride. Carr claimed he partied at the friend’s house, then woke up at 6 a.m. Dec. 3.
At first, the friend denied seeing Carr for months. When confronted, he admitted Carr showed up “looking like (expletive),” crying he was “going to jail for the rest of his life,” according to the affidavit.
Cellphone records show Carr left Smith’s house at 11:48 p.m. Dec. 2. He called her six times between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and his phone was back at her house between 4:45 a.m. and 7:23 a.m., according to court records.
Another witness said Carr came with a gun to a bar at 1 a.m. Dec. 3. The bartender took the gun, wrapped it in a towel then gave it back when Carr left.
Carr was charged in 2017 with kicking another woman’s back door down, threatening her and family members, according to the affidavit. Police also discovered texts between Smith and Carr from October where she accused him of kicking down her back door and threatening her.
Carr was arrested Dec. 14 at a Hammond bar.
Carr told investigators he didn’t remember much due to his drinking and cocaine use. He also said he partly lied in his first interview and didn’t want to admit he was a cocaine dealer, charges allege.
