The ex-wife of an accountant accused of running down then fatally stabbing a California doctor was reportedly afraid for her own safety in the weeks before the incident.
Vanroy Evan Smith, 39, is accused of striking 58-year-old Michael Mammone with his car and then stabbing him to death while the emergency room physician was on a bike ride in the coastal city of Dana Point.
Police were called to conduct a wellness check on Smith’s ex-wife days before the alleged murder because of “something involving Mr. Smith,” according to the New York Post.
Smith’s former father-in-law Stanley Hart told the outlet that his daughter “was concerned for her own safety before this,” and that Smith had “issues.”
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“It wasn’t like I didn’t believe it, but I never could’ve imagined this,” Hart said. “He has some issues, that’s all I can say. If the authorities do their due diligence, they will probably determine pretty quickly what those issues are.”
Hart went on to say that Smith and his daughter were involved in a custody battle over their twin daughters.
Smith’s friend Jo A. Gilliam told the Post that she believed Smith had not been seeing his children lately.
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“This is ridiculous. I’m devastated. I just spoke to him on the 23rd, and he said he was doing OK, but he was going through some things,” she said, adding that Smith had become closed off and shut down his accounting business in the weeks leading up to the alleged murder.
Gilliam speculated that “something had to trigger him because this is not him.”
Smith’s former client Alice Smith, who is not related to the alleged killer, said he spent most of his time alone and never mentioned his twin girls.
“I don’t know his personal life, I just know his business side,” she said. “I am very much shocked by…
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