FAYETTE COUNTY, W.Va. (TCN) — A 32-year-old woman faces life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years for her role in the kidnapping, robbing, and shooting death of a 41-year-old woman over the sale of a watch.
The Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that on Dec. 6, Amanda Don Soultz pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the death of Michelle Smith. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11.
A jury found the co-defendant, Andres Torres Jr., guilty in October of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, and conspiracy. He will be sentenced on Jan. 30.
According to prosecutors, in January 2023, Torres and Soutlz went from Indiana to Fayette County, where Soultz had previously resided. Soultz reportedly knew Smith, and Torres pawned a watch to the victim for $50 because he needed the money.
Torres allegedly “became angry” because Smith put up the watch for sale on Facebook. The prosecuting attorney’s office said Soultz and Torres went to Smith’s residence on Feb. 16 to get the watch, “which led to Smith being kidnapped, robbed, and murdered.”
Soultz and Torres reportedly told police they had dinner and drinks with Smith on the night of Feb. 16, but evidence from the scene did not corroborate their statements “that this was a friendly gathering.”
Smith claimed she no longer had the watch. Soultz and Torres allegedly handcuffed the victim, and Torres used his fists and a pistol to beat Smith. The defendants looked through Smith’s home for the watch and reportedly found it, causing Torres to become “even more enraged,” and he “shot Smith in the head with a .45 caliber firearm and left her for dead.”
According to the prosecuting attorney’s office, Torres told police he shot Smith “because she ‘disrespected’ him.”
The victim’s adult son went to check on Smith around 12 hours after the shooting because he wasn’t able to reach her during the day, and he found her still alive but with a gunshot wound to her head. Smith eventually died on March 31 and “was never able to speak about what had happened the night she was shot.”
Prosecutors said Soultz confessed that she helped Torres, but she said he forced her, and she complied “out of fear.”
After the shooting, Soultz and Torres reportedly collaborated together to leave the area and avoid arrest. Prosecutors said Soultz and Torres “continued their relationship with jail calls” following their arrest, and they planned to get married. Torres allegedly intended to take full responsibility for the killing to “allow Soultz to go free.”
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