On the evening of April 4, 2019, multiple gunshots were reported at a residence on Adams Street in Thayer, Missouri. First responders found 39-year-old Daniel Carroll of Mammoth Spring suffering from several gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. A neighbor said a white SUV sped away shortly after the shooting.

Investigators identified 25-year-old Kahlil Gregory Omar Smith of Poplar Bluff as the primary suspect. Deputies located and arrested Smith near Doniphan. Smith’s girlfriend, who was at the house, told investigators she had been in the bathroom during the shots and found Carroll on the ground when she came out; she said Smith had fired a handgun in Carroll’s direction multiple times. Smith told police he had been smoking methamphetamine that night, said he believed Carroll had made sexual advances toward his girlfriend, and gave inconsistent statements about whether he shot Carroll.

Smith was initially charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action; bond was set at $1 million. He later withdrew a not-guilty plea and in September 2021 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action, receiving concurrent 18-year sentences in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Does anyone have information about Carroll’s movements in Thayer that evening or about the white SUV the neighbor described?