Sherri Terese Smith was a 32-year-old Black woman from Fairfield, Alabama, killed in her Fair Oaks home on Earlwood Road in the early morning hours of November 21, 2011. Police were called after a burglar alarm sounded around 4:00 a.m.; officers found the front door slightly ajar and Sherri in the master bedroom, having been shot and stabbed multiple times. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Investigators found no clear sign of forced entry and reported nothing taken in a way that suggested robbery, leading police to say they believed Sherri likely knew her killer. About four months earlier the home had reportedly been entered and a handgun taken from her closet; after that she installed an alarm but reportedly did not change the locks. Family members later said Sherri had recently returned from visiting her boyfriend in Atlanta and that there had been conflict around the relationship, including reported harassment and a prior physical attack.

Forensic evidence recovered at the scene was initially described as promising but did not produce a break leading to an arrest. The Alabama Attorney General’s cold case unit became involved and the case remains unsolved. If anyone saw someone leaving the house, noticed a vehicle nearby, or has other information, please come forward.