Connecticut murder investigation may expand

PANAMA CITY — The man charged with murder for allegedly killing a man with an ax in Connecticut is not suspected in any local unsolved crimes, according to law enforcement authorities.

But according to The Connecticut Post, 35-year-old Tyree Smith, who is in the Bay County Jail awaiting extradition, might be a suspect in at least one more unsolved homicide in Bridgeport, Conn.

Smith’s cousin told the Post that Smith might have been involved in the killing of a 42-year-old former police officer, whose body was discovered on a sidewalk not far from the cousin’s address Jan. 19. Police there would not confirm any connection, the paper noted.

Smith boarded a bus to Bay County the next day, the same day Gonzalez’s body was discovered, and he was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing 43-year-old Angel Gonzalez with a hatchet in an abandoned Bridgeport house Dec. 16. His cousin told Bridgeport police that Smith arrived at her home the day after the murder with blood on his clothes, and that he confessed to killing Gonzalez and eating parts of his body.

Authorities with the Lynn Haven Police Department and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office both said Smith is not a suspect in any unsolved crimes locally.

“We have no information that he’s involved in any here,” said Maj. Tommy Ford with the BCSO.

Smith, who may have mental health issues, had been staying with a woman in Lynn Haven. She has declined to comment. Smith also declined to be interviewed Thursday, according to staff at the Bay County Jail.

At his first appearance Wednesday, Smith waived extradition and is in the Bay County Jail waiting for Connecticut authorities to transport him to Bridgeport to stand trial on a murder charge.