The 21-year-old suspect in a quadruple murder in Daphne on Wednesday pleaded not guilty due to reasons of mental defect or disease on Friday and will remain in the Baldwin County Jail on no bond for the foreseeable future.

Jared Smith-Bracy faces four counts of capital murder for the killing of his grandparents; 80-year-old Leonard Smith and 72-year-old Barbara Smith; his brother, 27-year-old Jeremy Smith; and a family friend who was visiting the house at the time, 71-year-old Shelia Glover.

Smith-Bracy was in a courtroom for the first time since the killings occurred around 6 p.m. Wednesday at his grandparent’s home at 123 Melanie Loop.

Smith-Bracy was also living at the house. He was accused of forcibly entering before shooting his grandmother, brother and Glover – all three who were found dead in the backyard – and then returning to the house and bludgeoning his grandfather with a pickaxe.

Baldwin County District Judge Scott Taylor, following a brief hearing, agreed to keep Smith-Bracy in jail on no bond until at least a preliminary hearing took place. It’s uncertain on when that might occur, though Bracy-Smith’s defense team has less than 30 days to file for a hearing to take place.

“Obviously, this court has very limited knowledge to the circumstances and facts (of the case),” Taylor said, adding he felt “under these circumstance at this time,” it made sense that Smith-Bracy be held without bond.

Defense attorney Thomas Pilcher of Bay Minette, said he has had only 15 minutes with his client, and knew very little about the circumstances that led to what authorities claim might be the only quadruple homicide to have ever occurred in Baldwin County.

“The only thing I can tell you is we’ll dig into it to try and figure out what happened and then we’ll go from there,” Pilcher said. “Someone is dead. It’s the most serious case you can be involved in. You need to make sure (as a defense attorney) to take every step you can before walking into the courtroom … we’ll make sure every box is checked.”

Not guilty plea

Pilcher and Assistant District Attorney Teresa Heinz both agreed that the process was just beginning, and that it could take a while for the case to proceed.

“We’re looking at two to three years down the road before this goes to trial, if there is a (trial),” Heinz said. “There are digital forensics that need to be done. This is the very early stages for investigators and the DA’s office.”

Heinz said she was not surprised that Pilcher sought the not guilty plea, nor was she surprised that Smith-Bracy was given no bond. Alabama law has long allowed a judge the discretion of not providing bond to a criminal defendant accused of capital murder.

“The defense attorney did the responsible thing right now,” said Heinz. “He does not have a good factual basis on anything. He has not had the opportunity to see if there is anywhere for this defendant to go and be supervised.”

She added, “With the plea (of not guilty) for mental defect and disease, you have to do a little digging into that to see what kind of risks we’re looking at.”

Pilcher said the reason for the plea was simple: It’s a capital murder case that, under Alabama law, has the potential to make Smith-Bracy eligible for the death penalty.

“Anytime you have a capital murder case, you want to make sure you take all the precautions no matter the person (involved),” Pilcher said. “In a lot of ways, that’s boilerplate. I want to make sure every box is crossed before going into the next steps.”

Early stages

Very few details have emerged as to why the killings occurred. What is known is that Smith-Bracy, earlier in the day Wednesday, had been arrested and booked into Daphne municipal jail on a charge of criminal mischief. According to authorities, he had damaged a door at the family’s home, prompting someone at the house to call police.

Heinz said she was unaware of a “family feud” or any problems within the family aside from the incident that occurred earlier on Wednesday.

“This is a very tight family,” she said. “They got together on holidays and during barbecues and things of that nature. No matter the distance, they were talking and communicating. It’s a very large network and there are other family members of the deceased, too. My heart goes out to them. I don’t know how they put the pieces back together.”

Smith-Bracy’s mother, who was not available for interviews, was in the courtroom during the morning hearing. She could be seen crying.

Heinz said his mother’s parents and her son were murdered by her other son, a disturbing reality of a “family wiped out.”

“There is not a lot you can say,” Heinz said.

The family of Glover, the family friend, also attended but declined to comment. Glover was a U.S. Army veteran and a retired mail carrier, according to Heinz. She and Barbara Smith, Smith-Bracy’s grandmother, were “best friends.”

“The only thing I’ve said to them is my job is to seek the truth and see that justice is done whatever it might look like,” Heinz said. “We might not know that for a while.”

One unknown that remains is who drove Smith-Bracy to the house after he left Daphne municipal jail on Wednesday. Police have not disclosed who the driver was but say that no criminal charges are pending against anyone else right now.

The gun that Smith-Bracy allegedly used in the killings was owned by the car’s driver. Police have since said the driver was unaware of Smith-Bracy’s intent. The driver also reportedly called 911 after hearing the gunshots after Smith-Bracy entered the house and went directly to a Daphne police station.

Heinz said she was also uncertain whether Smith-Bracy was facing any financial troubles. He applied for and received a $20,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan on March 20, 2021, according to ProPublica. The loan was part of a program through the U.S. Small Business Administration during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep businesses open and their workforces employed.

According to ProPublica, Smith-Bracy was the sole proprietor of the unnamed business that employed only one person. Almost the entire loan amount — $19,997 went toward payroll.

“It’s the early stages of the investigation,” Heinz said, adding that prosecutors were “more concerned of the crime scene than anything else.”

Grieving neighborhood

The murders took place inside the family’s two-story yellow house, tucked in a woodsy area within the eastern edges of the Lake Forest subdivision in Daphne.

The house remained wrapped in police crime tape Friday afternoon.

Donnarae Lowther, 47, who lives near the house on Melanie Loop, said the neighborhood remains in shock over the killings. She and other neighbors heard the gunfire on Wednesday.

“We are very tight here and communicate with each other and help each other out the best we can,” Lowther said.

She said she knew Jeremy Smith, who once worked at a Dollar General store in Daphne and was polite to his neighbors.

“They were a nice family and always waved at you as you drove by,” she said.

Lowther has set up a makeshift memorial in her front yard and is encouraging anyone to drop something off as a way to pay respects to the victims.

She has four flowers out front in honor of them. At night, she lights up candles that are also part of the memorial.

“We are all coming together and giving each other the time, space and boundaries, we need to grieve for the families,” Lowther said. “It’s still quite fresh.”