On the evening of January 25, 2026, a domestic dispute at a home in the 5200 block of North Sumac Circle in Fayetteville, North Carolina, ended in a triple homicide. Officers who responded to reports of shots fired around 9:35 p.m. found 50-year-old Cheri Smith and her 29-year-old son Erin Poole deceased from gunshot wounds. Cheri’s 23-year-old daughter Amanda Smith was critically wounded by gunfire, taken to a hospital, and later died of those injuries.

The confrontation involved a known associate identified as 25-year-old Nijyle Lewis. After the violence, Lewis was found at a neighbor’s house with multiple stab wounds; he had fled the scene seeking help and was hospitalized in stable condition. Investigators reviewed witness statements, video surveillance, and 911 calls and the Fayetteville Police Department charged Lewis with three counts of first-degree murder, with warrants to be served when he is released from medical care. Police described the episode as a domestic situation that escalated and said there was no ongoing threat to the community.

Did anyone who knew Cheri Smith or her family see or hear anything that night that could help investigators?