Mother, son found dead in Dale City

A mother and son described as the “kind of people you aspire to be” were found dead in their Dale City home Friday afternoon, Prince William County police said.

Jean Claire Smith, 39, and James Marshall Smith, 19, were discovered by a younger son of Jean Smith at about 3 p.m., Maj. Ray Colgan said.

Mother and son were found in different rooms of their house in the 13600 block of Langford Court, Colgan said.

“It appears to be a double-murder,” he said.

How the Smiths were killed was unclear Friday night, and Colgan said police hadn’t developed a motive for why anyone would harm them.

“They would be called ‘low-risk victims,’” he said.

The family was active at Holy Family Catholic Church, Colgan said, and in activities at C.D. Hylton High School. They seemed to get along with their neighbors.
“This is a fairly quiet neighborhood,” he said as he stood a few feet in front of the Smith home.

Investigators on Friday night were trying to determine when the Smiths were slain, Colgan said.

However, Jean Smith apparently had updated her page on the social networking site Facebook about 10 a.m.

Tammy Dement, a friend of the family, said her daughter, Taylor, graduated from Hylton with James Smith last year and sang in the school choir. She first saw mention of the deaths on Facebook.

Jean Smith served as kind of the “choir mom,” Tammy Dement said.

“She just did everything” for the vocal group, Dement said. “I can’t even tell you all of the things she did.”

And, indeed, photos on Jean Smith’s Facebook page seem to show lots of teenagers.

“They were just the kind of people you aspire to be,” Dement said.

They also will be the kind of people who are greatly missed in the community.

“This is going to be a tremendous blow,” said County Supervisor John D. Jenkins.

Jenkins had known the family for several years. He said Jean Smith, and her husband, Rick, had served on countless boards and commissions in his Neabsco District, and were trusted advisers.

“That’s just the kind of people they were,” Jenkins said.

Jean Smith had served on the Prince William County Park Authority, he said, and had been president of Enterprise Elementary’s PTA when her children attended the school.

She also ran for the Prince William School Board in 2003, losing to Julie C. Lucas, who continues to serve.

Jenkins, a Democrat, said that Rick Smith was active in county Democratic circles, and that he often ribbed Jean Smith about her Republican leanings.

But if she was known in political circles, perhaps she was even better known at Hylton.

“You couldn’t ask for a more supportive mother,” said P.J. Pcsolinski, the school’s head wrestling coach. “She could walk the halls, and on a daily basis, 10 to 15 kids would yell, ‘Hi Mrs. Smith!’”

One of four children in the Smith family, James Smith had wrestled for Pcsolinski and was supposed to stop by practice on Monday to work with the team.

When reached Friday night, Pcsolinski was at Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville for a tournament. That’s where he got the news.

He quickly got in touch with several of his former wrestlers, one of whom was Smith’s roommate at James Madison University

“It doesn’t seem real,” Pcsolinski said. “It’s like a bad nightmare.”

Pcsolinski said Jean Smith had even visited the school earlier in the day to say hello and wish him a merry Christmas.

Of James Smith, a music major at JMU, he said, “You couldn’t ask for a more loyal kid.”

Some students come and go, Pcsolinski said, but James Smith was one with whom he planned to keep in touch.

“When good people and good families come into your life, you want to make sure you stay in touch with them,” he said.

The slayings were the 11th and 12th this year in Prince William, Colgan said. Last year, nine people were killed in the county.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738. Staff writer Brian Hunsicker contributed to this story.