Montez A. Matthews was 33 and worked in construction when he was found shot to death in his Richmond, Virginia home in September 2017. His brother discovered the body after Matthews failed to show up for work. Investigators reported closets had been emptied and expensive clothes, shoes, and jewelry were missing, and Matthews’ 2007 Mercedes Benz was also gone.

Attention quickly focused on Matthews’ 37-year-old girlfriend, Shatema Smith, who lived with him and had been missing since the weekend before his body was found. Police tracked her cell phone to Raleigh, North Carolina, and three days after the discovery she was arrested in Wake County; the Mercedes was recovered in North Carolina. Smith was extradited to Richmond and charged October 25, 2017, with first-degree murder and related firearm offenses. Her trial began in October 2018, with prosecutors depicting a relationship marred by arguments over drug use, money, and infidelity; Smith said she shot Matthews in self-defense.

A Richmond woman was convicted of first-degree murder and later sentenced to 40 years in prison. Did anyone who knew Montez or lived near Frank Road notice anything unusual around the time he disappeared?