Mother of 2 found strangled, stabbed and burnt in bedroom, Detroit cops say

A woman was found strangled and mutilated in her Michigan home, police said.

Officers responded to a residence in Detroit on June 9 and discovered the body of Stacey Smith, 48, in her bedroom, according to a June 15 news release from the Detroit Police Department.

Smith had been asphyxiated, stabbed in the chest and burned, police said.

“She was laying unconscious in her room and she had a burn mark on her leg,” Smith’s 19-year-old daughter Kaiya told WJBK. “Then I touched her and she was cold.”

Smith’s boyfriend, Cortez Xavier Coleman, 42, was arrested in connection to the incident on June 12. He has been charged with first-degree murder, police said.

The pair had recently become engaged, Smith’s daughter told the TV station, adding that her mother’s death was “very unexpected” and unforgivable.

“I know a lot of teens want to be an adult but...I’m a mama’s girl,” Kaiya Smith told the outlet.

Coleman was arraigned on June 15 in district court.

Smith was “a loving and loyal mother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, and friend to so many,” an online fundraiser for her funeral states. “She leaves behind her pride and joy, 2 beautiful children Kaiya and Keith.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Mother of 2 found strangled, stabbed and burnt in bedroom, Detroit cops say."