‘She didn’t deserve none of this’: Family honors teen killed 40 years ago, case remains unsolved
By Hannah Hilyard
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Monday marked 40 years since the murder of Marie Antoinette Smith, who, at just 17 years old, was discovered murdered in a Milwaukee pond near 76th Street and Brown Deer Road. Her family gathered at Northridge Lakes for a vigil, still seeking justice in the cold case.
It was back in 1986 that Smith was found floating face down, fully clothed, in the water. Investigators determined she had been strangled and beaten, but no arrests have been made in the decades since.
“Marie was a very angelic type of person; she had the most beautiful smile,” said Niani Perry, Smith’s best friend.
Smith’s younger sister, Nickhol Ashley, who was 14 years old at the time of the murder, described the ongoing struggle of not knowing who was responsible.
“Hard, a struggle, just trying to figure out why,” Ashley said.
Ashley explained why returning to the lagoon was important to her.
“This is 40 years later, so I wanted to be here in this spot where she was, where they dumped her,” she said.
The family’s emotions remain raw as they continue to seek justice.
“I don’t even want answers no more. I want justice for my sister because she didn’t deserve none of this. She didn’t get to live her life at all. But the people, or person that did this, they’ve been living their life for 40 years. Forty years, and hers was took. Come on now,” Ashley said.
Perry shared her belief that accountability will eventually come.
“You’re going to have to answer one day, whether it be in the court of law or with the man upstairs, but we all reap what we sow, and you’re going to have to answer,” she said.
Milwaukee police did not respond to questions about the case Monday. However, during a 12 News investigation earlier this year, the department stated that its cold case unit is working on the investigation and would not discuss open cases.
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