Queens man missing since October found dead in Virginia

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (PIX11) -- The remains of a Queens man who disappeared in October, after taking Amtrak to visit a female friend in Virginia, were found in the woods near the friend's house, according to the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office.

Senior Detective Earle Swift told PIX11 News Tuesday that the remains of Terrence Smith, 33, were identified in Fredericksburg. They were in an "advanced stage of decomposition" when they were discovered on Nov. 16.

Swift said the cause of death was "undetermined," but the family said investigators told them Smith could have been the victim of a homicide.

The family was suspicious when Smith didn't come home from his trip in late October and soon learned his bank account had been cleaned out, within days of his arrival in Fredericksburg, where the female friend lives. Smith and the woman knew each other since high school.

"I just don't understand what's happening down there," Smith's older brother, Michael Perry, said of the investigation on Tuesday. "We know the prime people involved."

The sheriff's office in Virginia questioned Smith's friend and some acquaintances shortly after his disappearance.

Smith, who worked for a real estate management firm in Manhattan, was last seen at a Target store near Fredericksburg, buying groceries and toilet paper for his friend and her children.

Smith's sister-in-law, Diana Perry, said the female friend gave three different versions of Smith's last movements near her home on Timber Ridge Townhouse Road.

"The first version was, he left with a girl," Perry recounted. "The second was he took an Uber, the third she mentioned to the police department was he took Amtrak to go back home. And then her son, who was present at the time, said he (Smith) went out the back door to the woods."

It turns out Smith was found in the woods, not far from the friend's house. She has since been evicted.

Smith was in great physical shape and was ecstatic about a recent job promotion. He had received a certification as a fire safety inspector at his company.

"Once he got it, you could tell the look on his face was joy," Smith's brother said. "He was very happy."

Michael Perry said they had concerns about Smith's friendship with the Virginia woman, especially after she had a "false alarm" about being pregnant with his baby last year.

"I just said, 'You know what, leave her alone, man,'" the brother recalled.

Smith had been living with his mother, who is visually impaired, in Queens.

His mother, brother, and sister-in-law in New York were planning to drive to Virginia on Thursday this week and attend his funeral Friday. Smith will be buried in a family plot in Virginia.

"Now, it's just justice that needs to be served," Michael Perry said.