Justice for Joanie

A Breathitt County jury deliberated just over four hours on Monday to convict a Breathitt County man of the murder.

Fairley Dewayne Napier, 49, of Laurel Fork, was convicted on one count each of Murder, Tampering with Physical Evidence, Abuse of a Corpse, and Criminal Mischief in the death of his former common-law wife and the mother of his two children.

The verdict, delivered by a jury of nine men and three women, was the culmination of a five-day trial following more than two years of legal wrangling after the remnants of the body of Joanie Campbell Smith were located in a burned-out car on Spicewood Branch of South Fork.

The jury recommended a 45-year prison sentence for Napier, who was found guilty on all four of the charges leveled against him by the Breathitt County Grand Jury on March 5, 2024.

The Case

Napier was charged in January 2024 with the murder of his former common-law wife, Joanie Campbell Smith.  Smith went missing on January 4, 2024, after last being seen with Napier in Jackson. 

Her dismembered remains were located in a burned vehicle off Highway 1098 on Sunday, January 6, near a logging site operated by Napier.

Fairley Napier surrendered to authorities on January 7 and was arrested after several days on the move.

Napier and his private attorney, Darrell A. Herald, rejected a plea offer in February, setting the stage for a jury trial.

The Trial

Breathitt Circuit Court Clerk James E. Turner, II, summoned the entire District and Circuit Court jury pool for jury selection on Monday, March 23, fearing some difficulty in seating an impartial panel to hear the case.

Herald and Commonwealth’s Attorney Miranda S. King whittled the pool down to fourteen of Napier’s peers who were selected by the late afternoon on March 23 to hear the evidence and determine his fate.

The Testimony

Testimony began early on March 24, as the prosecution and defense presented opening arguments that would guide the case through what officials believed could be up to two weeks of evidence and testimony from numerous witnesses, including Napier.

During his testimony, Napier described himself as a fourth-generation logger who “grew up with Joanie.”  He described their time together, saying they were in a relationship that was on and off from 1994 to 2022, during which time they lived on Laurel Fork of Buckhorn Creek at Clayhole.

Napier testified that he met Smith at Jiffy Mart and the pair went to the parking lot of the former TeePee “to talk.”  He told jurors that Smith asked him to “bust the window” out of her car so that she would have an excuse to drive a Tahoe that she owned with her new husband, Arthur Smith.

Napier said the last time he saw Smith was at Jiffy Mart.  He also admitted that he told their daughter, Chesley, that he had purchased a mattock, but “wasn’t hiding anything.”

He testified that Smith drove him to the logging operation on Spicewood Branch of South Fork to pick up a truck, and he later drove the truck back to Jiffy Mart to fill it up with gas.  He moved several other trucks around, according to his testimony.

That mattock would play a vital role in the prosecution’s case against Napier.

Commonwealth’s Attorney General Miranda King presented a much different version of events.

King told Jurors that Napier shot Joanie King while the two argued while sitting at the old Tee Pee lot.  The prosecution said that the doors of the car Napier was sitting in became locked after the shooting, and Napier purchased the mattock to bust the window of the car to gain access.  The prosecution then alleged that he drove Smith’s car to Spicewood, where he stashed it.

It was there that prosecutors believe that Napier, sometime later, dragged the vehicle up the hill to a secluded spot at the logging site.  It was there that he dismembered and mutilated the body before burning it and the car.

Investigators later discovered pieces of the vehicle scattered along the roadway leading from the bottom of the hill to the burn site.  State Police Detectives also located and collected samples of Smith’s biological tissue scattered around the area and on several pieces of equipment.

Looking for Mom

According to testimony, Smith’s daughter, Chelsey Napier, called her father and told him that she could not “get a hold” of her mother.  Napier said they were supposed to meet at Patrick O’Neill’s office, according to testimony about the phone call. 

Napier offered to help his daughter find her mother. 

The pair traveled to the Breathitt County Clerk’s Office to obtain the license plate number and a vehicle description, but the office was closed that day.  The father and daughter made another effort to gather information at the Farm Bureau office.

They also attempted to contact other family members but were unable to locate Smith.

The Motive

Commonwealth’s Attorney Miranda King told jurors that jealousy was the motive for the murder.  According to King, Napier was shown a picture of Joanie Smith and her husband, Arthur Smith, on January 4, two days before she went missing.  According to testimony, Napier’s girlfriend, Allison Napier, showed Napier a picture of Joanie and Arthur together.  Napier learned at that time that Janie Smith had remarried without Napier’s knowledge and had been married since December 2023.

According to testimony, Napier believed that Smith was living in Georgetown with her sister when, in fact, she was remarried and living in Pikeville with her new husband.

King said that “they kept it (the marriage) from him, and they knew what would happen, and it did happen.”  She said the Smiths knew Napier would become angry when he learned she had remarried.

“Joanie was avoiding Napier,” King said, and he “lured Joanie to Jackson,” where she was last seen alive with Napier.

On the Move

The prosecution chronicled Napier’s known movements after the encounter at the TeePee lot, including stops at Freddy Pelfrey’s and Missy Taulbee’s house, where he told Missy that he shot Joanie Smith in the car at the Tee-Pee parking lot.

As Taulbee took the stand, she wept because she was “telling on her friend,” King said.

Sierra Taulbee drove Napier to meet his daughter, Chelsey, and then Napier made several other stops, including some at an apartment in Mt. Sterling.

According to testimony, Napier switched cars 4 times, even though he says he wasn’t trying to hide from anyone.

He also removed the battery from his phone because he kept getting so many calls.  Testimony also revealed that he purchased a “burner phone” because of the number of calls.

Napier said he was “in a bad frame of mind” because he was being accused of crimes.

Napier’s Admission

Some of the most compelling testimony and evidence presented during the trial was the phone confession Napier had with his daughter.

Napier’s voice could be heard on the phone, admitting that he killed her mother and that he burned the car.

He explained the confession, saying that he was being accused and was “going crazy” because of “things he was being accused of.”  During the conversation, Chealsea Napier asked if she was “already gone when they drove to the log yard,” and Napier told her, “Yes.”

Napier later told his daughter that Smith remained at the site for two days before he decided to dispose of the body.

King told the jury that investigators found “24 pounds of charred bones” and that there was “not enough left” of Joanie Smith to “remove a slug from.”

Closing Arguments

King told the jurors that Napier “murdered, butchered, and burned” Joanie Campbell Smith.

She said that Napier believed he was the “smartest man in the room” and had “tried to smooth-talk his way out of it.”

“We have to tell Joanie’s story,” King said. “Because he killed her.”  She said that there were enough pieces left to tie “together to tell Joanie’s story.”

King reminded the jurors that Joanie Smith will “never see the man Hatch is or her grandson,” or “see her daughter, who looks just like her, being a great nurse.  And Arthur will never celebrate an anniversary.”

Defense Attorney Darrell Herald asked the court to show “grace and mercy.”

He asked, “Where is the deranged Napier?” that prosecutors described and portrayed through the testimony.

Herald said Napier stated Smith asked him to bust out the window of her car so she could drive the Tahoe, saying that if her car was messed up, she could drive the other vehicle.  “Who would make that story up?” Herald asked.  “It was the truth.”

The Deliberations

The case was handed to the jury shortly at 12:36 p.m. on Monday, March 30, as deliberations began. 

During the deliberations, jurors reportedly asked one question and to re-hear the phone call between Napier and his daughter during which he admitted to the murder.

Jurors notified the court that a verdict had been reached at 4:46 p.m., after a little more than four hours of discussion.

The Verdict

Napier was found guilty of one count each of Murder, Tampering with Physical Evidence, Abuse of a Corpse, and Criminal Mischief in the death of Joanie Campbell Smith.

The Penalty Phase

Two impact statements were delivered in open court as the trial entered its penalty phase.

Chelsey Napier, Fairley Napier’s daughter, testified that she had only had 7,760 days with her mother before she was taken from her.

“All she ever did was give to everyone.”  Chelsey Napier said.  “Now we will never have phone calls, Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, or grandparents’ days.”

Joanie Smith’s husband, Arthur Smith, testified that the couple was married on December 27, 2023.  He talked about the struggle of living after her death and said that “all her belongings are still in the place where she left them.”  Smith told jurors that he sold his motorcycle “because he promised her that he would never ride it without her.”  Through tears, he said that he still “listens to her voicemails daily.”

The Sentence

After a brief deliberation, jurors returned to the courtroom. They recommended that Fairley Napier serve thirty years on the Murder charge and five years each for the Tampering with Physical Evidence, Abuse of a Corpse, and Criminal Mischief.

The recommendation was for the sentences to run concurrently, resulting in a total term of 45 years’ imprisonment.

Convicted murderer Fairley Napier will be formally sentenced on May 8 in Breathitt Circuit Court by Judge Lisa Whisman.