Fifteen-year-old Anthony Smith left his family’s home in Fort Mill, South Carolina, on September 3, 2024, taking a rideshare to the Brook Valley Apartments in southwest Charlotte, North Carolina. His parents, including his father Michael Burge Jr., were unsure why he had traveled there. Family members reported the Black teen missing on September 4, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department began an extensive search.

On September 10 officers found human remains concealed inside a concrete structure in a wooded area along Silverleaf Road near Old Pineville Road. The North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains were Anthony Smith on September 11 and ruled his death a homicide from a gunshot wound. Detectives from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Homicide Unit asked the public for information, noting that one of Anthony’s high school friends might know why he went to Charlotte that day.

If anyone knew Anthony, his movements on September 3, or has information about what happened at Brook Valley Apartments, please come forward.