ELIZABETHTOWN, N.C. (WECT) – Investigators searched 18 items of electronic equipment and digital media for evidence related to the deadly shooting of Aaron Daine Smith, whose wife, Charlotte Brandy Smith, is charged with his murder, according to court records.
A search warrant issued by Superior Court Judge Dawn Layton was executed Oct. 15, 2025. An inventory says investigators collected digital data from phones, tablets, laptops, memory cards, USB drives, a voice recorder and a MiniDV tape.
The warrant authorized investigators to search for communications, photos, videos, documents, internet searches, location data and other information that could relate to the shooting, its planning or its concealment. Investigators said in the affidavit they believed the devices could contain evidence of Charlotte’s alleged intent, communications around the time of the shooting and location information.
Witnesses told investigators that Charlotte frequently changed phones and kept journals, the affidavit says. Witnesses also reported that she made calls around the time of her husband’s death.
Officers were called to a home on Woodhouse Drive in Elizabethtown around 9:24 p.m. July 8, 2025, according to the affidavit. They found Aaron on the back porch with gunshot wounds. He later died from his injuries.
Neighbors reported hearing gunfire and seeing a black Cadillac CT4 leave the area, the affidavit says. Investigators said Charlotte regularly drove the car. They also reviewed Ring camera footage that they said showed the car leaving after the shooting.
Authorities later stopped Charlotte in Montgomery County after issuing an alert to be on the lookout for her, according to the affidavit. Charlotte waived her Miranda rights and confessed to shooting her husband, the affidavit says. She also made several phone calls after leaving the scene.
The affidavit describes an earlier call on June 8, 2025, when Smith allegedly called 911, said she was going to kill her husband and tried to lure him to a park. She was involuntarily committed afterward, the affidavit says.
Smith is charged with murder in her husband’s death.
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