New England’s Unsolved: Who killed Will Smith?

Nearly sixteen years ago, someone stabbed and killed Becker College student Will Smith at an off-campus party in Worcester.

His family is still looking for answers.

“He was a confident young man, an old soul, comfortable in his skin, letting everybody know it’s going to be all right,” Will’s mother, Jeanne Smith told me. “I don’t want to know anything about (the killer) other than the fact that whoever killed my son would wind up in front of the legal system.”

On September 21, 2008, Will attended an off-campus party at 59 North Ashland Street in Worcester. The party, early in the new school year, attracted a lot of attention.

“There’s some students from Becker, students from other colleges and as tends to happen with these things, word gets out and people who were not invited start showing up,” Worcester Police Lt. Sean Murtha told me.

Investigators say the party quickly turned chaotic when two groups of uninvited guests started fighting with each other, and it quickly grew physical.

Will Smith was slashed in the forearm inside the house.

“Will was involved in trying to get these people out of the house. People who were not invited were causing trouble, he was trying to get them out of there,” Lt. Murtha said.

Out on the street, the chaos continued. Will was stabbed in the chest on nearby Dix Street

“I just remember him telling me, ‘I’m sorry to inform you Mrs. Smith, but your son was involved in an altercation and passed away,” Jeanne Smith remembers a police officer telling her over the phone.

Jeanne had just dropped off Will at Becker College two weeks earlier.

“I didn’t want to have that conversation with the man, so I threw the phone,” she remembers.

Will’s death hit the campus of Becker College hard.

Worcester Police detectives are still actively working Will’s case. One of the party crashers was charged with slashing Will’s arm, but police are still trying to identify the person who plunged a knife into Will’s chest.

“We don’t believe it’s the same person. We don’t have evidence that it’s the same person who stabbed him the first and second time,” Lt. Murtha said.

Will Smith comes from a family of athletes and champions. His uncle is famed college basketball coach Tubby Smith.

Jeanne tells me that she knows, one way or another, in this life or the next, Will’s killer will see justice.

“If they find him, I’ll Thank God. And I’ll close that book,” Jeanne said.

If you have any information on the murder of Will Smith, contact Worcester Police Detectives at 508.799.8651

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