Columbia Man Connected to Murder

A man with Columbia connections is now the person of interest in the death of a Truman State Veterans Hospital nurse last month in St. Genevieve.Kristi Murphy’s death was originally ruled a suicide, when he body was found in a motel in St. Genevieve on November 17th. Investigators tell ABC 17 News Smith and Murphy were a couple and Smith’s story to detectives just didn’t seem to add up.Smith was being held without bond Saturday night on a parole violation, stemming from a drug charge. He hadn’t been charged with Murphy’s murder as of Saturday evening, as the investigation was ongoing, but investigators called Smith “the person of interest.”Stay with ABC 17 News and abc17news.com for more details in this case as they become available.