When Wife Died, Suspect Was Under Protective Order

Relatives Unable to Prevent Stabbing

When her husband was charged with assaulting her and went to jail, Lluvia Smith told a neighbor that she feared he might do it again. Sheriff's deputies served him with a restraining order in jail.

Days later, Smith's husband got out of jail on bond and broke into the couple's Stafford County home, sheriff's office officials said yesterday. Fighting past other family members, he stabbed Lluvia Smith to death in a second-floor bedroom, they said.

Willie Todd Smith was arrested and charged with murder Thursday, one day after his wife was stabbed in their subdivision near the town of Aquia, about 30 miles south of the District, said Bill Kennedy, a spokesman for the Stafford County Sheriff's Office.

A lawyer for Smith could not be reached yesterday.

Lluvia Smith's death stunned her neighbors and domestic violence experts, who said the legal system had collectively failed to protect her. "I'm sure everyone would agree that when someone is killed, we would all like to think that as a system, as a community, there's more we could have done," said Kathy Anderson, executive director of the Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence.

Kennedy said the sheriff's office aggressively pursues cases of domestic violence, which he called "a very serious crime." He added: "If someone is determined to break the law, a protective order is like any other law."

Kennedy said sheriff's deputies charged Smith with felony assault on Sept. 30. He did not have details, but a neighbor, Christina Ayala, said Lluvia Smith said her husband had tried to choke her.

"She told my husband that she was afraid he would try to do something to her when he got out of jail," Ayala said. "She said, 'If you see something, please, call the police immediately.' "

On Oct. 2, sheriff's deputies served Smith with a protective order that instructed him to stay away from his wife, Kennedy said. Kennedy did not have details of the order.

Smith was released on $5,000 bond from the Rappahannock Regional Jail on Monday and failed to how up for a court hearing on the assault charge Tuesday. At that hearing, a judge signed a second protective order, Kennedy said.

At 10:18 p.m. Wednesday, Smith broke into the basement of his home, Kennedy said. Family members shut the door, but Smith knocked it open and ran upstairs, where he stabbed his wife, Kennedy said.

Lluvia Smith's teenage daughter ran toward the Ayala home across the street. "She said her mama was bleeding from everywhere," said Ayala, who called police.

Ayala went to the Smith home and found Lluvia Smith barely alive, sprawled on the floor between her bedroom and the bathroom. "She was saying, 'Help me. I need water. Water. I can't breathe,' " Ayala said. "There was blood everywhere."

Smith died at Inova Fairfax Hospital, police said.