Tevin Terrell Semien, 29, admitted to killing his girlfriend’s relative, Karon “Dinkers” Conneywerdy Smith, with brick before they dumped remains in a wildlife refuge. (YouTube screengrab via KFOR; mug shot from Navarro County Jail via KFOR.)
A man said his girlfriend asked him to kill a relative she was mad at, so he beat her to death with a brick, put her body in the trunk of her vehicle and discarded the remains in an Oklahoma wildlife refuge before being caught and leading police on a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash in Texas.
Tevin Terrell Semien, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the May 17, 2023, death of Karon “Dinkers” Conneywerdy Smith, 68, whose body was found in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, prosecutors announced in a news release. As part of his plea, Semien admitted to deliberately and intentionally killing Smith. Co-defendant Nicole Leigh Logsdon, 24, pleaded guilty in January to accessory after the fact to murder and admitted to helping Semien in his attempt to avoid arrest and prosecution. Semien faces up to life in federal prison. Logsdon faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
The affidavit said Smith was found dead in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. She appeared to have suffered bludgeon wounds to her face and head.
Two days later, investigators searched her home in Lawton, Oklahoma, and found blood consistent with a violent struggle, court documents said. Her vehicle was also missing.
Law enforcement saw her vehicle with Semien and Logsdon inside on May 21, 2023, driving south of Dallas, Texas, and tried to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle took off and tried to flee at a high speed.
The pursuit ended when the vehicle crashed into a lake, and Semien and Lodgson tried to run away but were caught and taken into custody.
In an interview with authorities that day, Semien initially denied involvement in the death before he admitted that he had killed her, saying Lodgson was his girlfriend, a relative of the victim.
He said Lodgson asked him to kill Smith because she was angry with the eventual victim. He told investigators he was not sure whether Lodgson was serious, but she continued to ask him to kill Smith. Semien confessed that he eventually agreed to kill Smith, saying he went to her home, bludgeoned her to death with a brick, put her body in the trunk of her vehicle, and disposed of her body in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
Smith was remembered fondly at a candlelight vigil on June 9, 2023.
“Dinkers was loved by so many and will be greatly missed every single day,” the Comanche Nation reported. “She lived a life of service and never met a stranger. She would welcome anyone with open arms and care for those in need.”
Her obituary said she was affectionately known as Dinkers, and that she “got her nickname when she was little from her favorite cartoon Dink’s.”
“She was a happy kid who couldn’t wait to be big enough to walk to the corner store with her big sister and cousins,” the obituary also said.
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