DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit family is demanding answers after 50-year-old Willie T. Smith III died in his cell at the Detroit Detention Center just three days after being arrested for allegedly stealing a bottle of wine from CVS.
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Smith was arrested Sunday on the minor offense but was found dead by guards Wednesday morning. His family says the timeline surrounding his death doesn't add up.
"I just don't see how a person who played sports, took good care of his health, ran marathons — he served in the Navy and everything — I can't believe how somebody like that goes to jail, and now he's dead," Merari Sosa Cordero said.
Sosa Cordero, Smith's fiancé, says she struggles to reconcile what she knew about her partner with what jail officials told her about his death.
After being booked into jail Sunday, Smith was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where police say he was treated for hip pain and intoxication. He was medically cleared the same day and returned to the detention center.
What happened between his hospital discharge Sunday and his death remains unclear.
"For him to be complaining of hip pain and having to go to the hospital, something must have happened," Kimberly Massey said.
Massey, Smith's sister, says their family is still searching for answers.
"I just don't understand. I really don't want this to be swept under the rug," Massey said.
"It's like no closure. From seeing him happy, healthy, to now he's gone. I'm in shock," Massey said.
Police say there does not appear to be any foul play in Smith's death, but that offers little comfort to his family. They say Smith was supposed to appear before a judge the day he was found dead and never called or contacted them while in jail — something they believe was unusual.
"He would've told somebody what was going on. If he wasn't feeling good, he would've reached out. We have an eight-year-old son together — he would've reached out," Sosa Cordero said.
His loved ones are now left grieving and holding onto memories of a man they describe as their family's protector.
"He loved us so much. He loved his family so much," Sosa Cordero said.
"He was our family protector. He was my oldest brother. He was caring. He was funny," Massey said.
The Detroit Police Homicide Task Force is leading the investigation into Smith's death. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office is working to determine an official cause of death, answers his family says they desperately need.
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