‘Don’t play with me,’ Arlington man told girlfriend before her body was found: affidavit
A 29-year-old man was in custody Wednesday and accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in the head in November at their Arlington apartment, authorities said.
Tanavian Smith was arrested last week near Houston on unrelated charges.
He was being held in the Fort Bend County Jail in Richmond, southwest of Houston.
Smith is accused of killing 24-year-old Jayde Bell-Louis, whose body was found Nov. 29 in an Arlington apartment.
The woman was shot to death just days after Smith had threatened her because she planned to break up with him, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Smith faces a murder charge, authorities said.
Bell-Louis told a witness that Smith threatened her by saying, “Don’t play with me. This won’t end well,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit released by Arlington police Tuesday and written by Arlington Detective Krystallyne Holly provided these details in the case:
According to a witness, Bell-Louis set some of Smith’s belongings outside their Arlington apartment on the morning of Nov. 27. Minutes later, Smith pushed his way into the apartment.
The two argued, and at some point, Smith choked his girlfriend and threatened her, saying, “Don’t play with me. This won’t end well.”
Bell-Louis went to a witness and said she was breaking up with Smith, changing the locks to the front door, gathering his items and kicking him out.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 28, another witness reported seeing Smith and another man exit a white SUV at the complex, brandishing what looked like AR-15 type weapons, and walking toward Bell-Louis’ apartment.
Arlington police responded to the complex just before 4 a.m. on Nov. 29 after a resident reported seeing a neighbor’s door open in the 1600 block of Nandina Drive.
As they approached the apartment, police noticed that there was damage to the front door as though someone had forced their way inside.
Police entered the apartment and found Bell-Louis’ body. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim’s red 2014 Toyota Camry also was missing.
Hours later, another witness told Arlington police that Smith called on the morning of Nov. 29, requesting a rental car, but that witness refused to get him one. Smith kept telling the witness, “I (expletive) up.”
On Nov. 30, a woman reported that Smith contacted her, asking for money and “sounded scared.”
Bell-Louis’ car was found on Christmas Day in Lancaster, just off a highway. Smith’s cell phone records indicated that he received a text message on Nov. 29 at 8:41 a.m. at the exact location where the vehicle was recovered.
Smith was arrested Jan. 21 near Houston on an felony warrant out of Hill County. During an interview with detectives, Smith said he and Bell-Louis had broken up in mid-November and he had only seen her on Nov. 27 in Dallas.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 6:11 AM.
