It has been twenty years since 14-year-old Nacole Smith was raped and killed in the woods by an unknown man while on the way to school in southwest Atlanta. But for her mother, thoughts of Nacole are never far away.
“Every day, I’ll speak Nacole’s name, I’ll think of Nacole,” said her mother Acqunellia Smith. Oftentimes, she is speaking about Nacole to Atlanta police detective Vincent Velazquez, the lead investigator on her daughter’s cold case.
As local residents mowed their lawns and barbecued in the summery weather Sunday afternoon, Nacole Smith’s friends and family gathered with Velazquez not far from where the eighth-grader was killed off Campbellton Road to mark the 20-year anniversary of her death with a vigil.
Velazquez has worked on Nacole Smith's case for more than a decade, and noted that he is just a few years from retirement.
“Every detective has one case that’s the one,” Velazquez said. “This is one case I certainly want to solve. … We are looking for anybody who may have information on this case.”
Nacole was just a few days from graduating middle school when she left home to walk to school with her older sister and friends. She realized she left a school project at home and turned back to get it, taking a popular shortcut through the woods.
Police say a man sexually assaulted her and shot her twice in the face.
The case took a key turn in 2004, when a 13-year-old East Point girl was pulled into the woods on Connally Drive and raped. That teenager was able to run to safety, and DNA from that case showed a forensic match to Nacole Smith’s attacker.
But police have not been able to find the man, described by the East Point victim as a black male in his late 20s to early 30s, about 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds with a medium complexion and a gap in his front teeth, wearing round prescription gold-framed glasses. Police say the man would be in his late 30s or early 40s today.
On Sunday, Nacole Smith’s family and others joined in a prayer circle with a family friend singing “His Eye Is On The Sparrow,” and recounted memories of Nacole.
Acqunellia Smith believes the perpetrator has told someone about what he did.
“It’s been 20 years. Somebody knows something,” she said. “I just want them to come forward.”
Anyone with information on the case can submit it anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS, online at crimestoppersatlanta.org, or by texting CSA and the tip to CRIMES (274637).
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