On Thanksgiving afternoon in 2021, emergency medical technician Dennis Hobson was summoned to a home within the tiny village of Farmersville, Illinois. It was the home the place his good friend Chris Smith lived together with his canine Tiki.
What he encountered is the topic of “Deadly First Date,” an all-new “48 Hours” reported by correspondent Erin Moriarty, airing Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
A 911 name had been positioned to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Workplace by somebody checking on Smith, and Hobson walked right into a bloody scene.
Bethany Smith Stephan/Sharon Costanza
The facet door of Smith’s home had been damaged, and Hobson discovered his good friend — barely alive — mendacity on the ground of the blood-soaked kitchen. Smith had a gunshot wound to the top and a girl, later recognized as Leslie Reeves from close by Troy, Illinois, was mendacity useless on the lounge ground with a single bullet wound to her head, based on a sheriff’s report.
Mates later instructed sheriff’s deputies that the couple had gone on their first date the earlier evening after assembly on-line. Within the first hours of the investigation, nobody knew what occurred, however investigators believed a 3rd particular person was concerned as a result of no gun was discovered on the scene.
Smith survived the capturing however would not keep in mind something from that Thanksgiving Day. Hobson later instructed him some particulars. “He stated I had no pulse,” Smith instructed Moriarty. “He screamed my identify thrice, and I took a puff and I stated, ‘Denny, I am f***ing freezing.'”
Hobson later instructed Smith that Tiki seemingly helped to save lots of his life. The temperature inside the home on that Thanksgiving Day was a lot colder than regular as a result of the suspect had damaged the glass on the facet door.
“However any individual was holding you heat,” Moriarty stated. “I had Tiki there,” Smith replied. “My little lady, my little four-legged daughter.”
Smith had owned Tiki, a beagle-terrier combine, for 3 years. He says he discovered her in a Craigslist advert and adopted her when she was a pup. Tiki apparently was Smith’s lifesaver when she huddled with him, and supplied a lot wanted heat, within the 12 hours earlier than he was rescued.
“Inform me about [Tiki],” Moriarty requested Smith.
“Properly … she apparently — when Denny walked in and noticed her laying by me … I used to be … within the fetal place … and he or she was cuddled up subsequent to me,” he replied.
The dramatic story of Smith and Reeves’ “Deadly First Date” and Smith’s outstanding restoration is being instructed for the primary time on “48 Hours.” The printed will embrace an unique interview with Reeves’ convicted killer, a former boyfriend of hers named Robert Tarr, who denies that he was the shooter.
A Montgomery County Sheriff’s report later pieced collectively what occurred that evening. Smith and Reeves, after an evening of barhopping and attending to know each other, had returned to his rented home in Farmersville.
Someday round 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning 2021, authorities consider an assailant broke right into a facet door whereas Smith and Reeves had been within the floor ground kitchen warming up a late-night frozen pizza.
A deputy sheriff instructed a good friend of Reeves’ that she died instantly and “didn’t undergo.”
Investigators later concluded that the assailant that evening was Robert (Bobby) Tarr, an ex-boyfriend of Reeves who had secretly adopted her to Smith’s home, based on Andrew Affrunti, the prosecutor within the case.
Tarr was convicted of homicide and tried homicide in April 2024 and was sentenced to 85 years in jail.
Smith, who had three strokes within the hospital and was put right into a medically induced coma, has been recovering for the reason that capturing and making progress. He nonetheless makes use of a wheelchair and a cane however has returned to singing in his rock and roll band and is in search of work.
He has been unable to take care of Tiki himself as he recovers, however she lives close by, they usually see one another typically. Smith additionally has began a enterprise as a motivational speaker and has created a web site: ChrisSmithmotivatingyou.com. He additionally purchased a brand new home and simply proposed to his girlfriend, now fiancée, Michelle Albrecht.
