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Not often do residents of Edenton hear about a kidnapping and brutal murder in their small town of roughly 5,000 people.
That all changed on Oct. 4, 2007 when a 33-year-old man was abducted in his own driveway.
Donald Bradley “Brad” Smithwick was on his way to work when he was tased, bound and kidnapped outside of his home by his ex-wife’s boyfriend, Ray Jedele.
After kidnapping him, Jedele shot Smithwick in the head and dumped his body in Chowan County.
State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Nance was at the Outer Banks working an unrelated case when he got several calls about Jedele, who was a police officer at the Kitty Hawk Police Department at the Outer Banks.
Later that day, Nance drove to Kitty Hawk to interview Jedele, who was labeled as a possible suspect.
Nance walked into the police department, met Jedele and noticed blood on his shorts. He then began to question him about Smithwick.
Jedele said he did not know about Smithwick’s murder. Nance finished interviewing Jedele and was walking out the door when he turned around for one last question.
“Just one more thing,” Nance said. “Whose blood is that on your shorts?”
Nance, who is an Edenton resident himself, solved the case that shook the small town to its core and made national news.
Jedele is now sitting in prison with a life sentence without parole.
Nance has served his local and state communities for over 34 years. From working beats in Raleigh to solving murders in his own hometown, Nance has gained the respect of those he served and has contributed to the justice system in more ways than one.
Where It All Began
Nance grew up in a military family neighborhood in Fayetteville with his mother and four siblings: Robert, Connie, Michael and Rebecca.
The first memory he has of his dad was when he was 13 years old. His dad, Charles Nance, fought in both the Vietnam War and World War II while his children were growing up.
Nance and his brother, Michael, were home together when their father walked through the door.
“Girls, get in the car,” Charles Nance said.
The boys got in the car as their father drove them to Fort Bragg to get haircuts.
When Nance wasn’t playing baseball or fishing with his older brother, Robert, he was spending a lot of his time with his grandfather, William Christopher “Tiss” Johnson. Tiss served as the captain of the High Point Police Department.
Nance read several articles about his grandfather in the newspaper and grew up hearing about his stories as a police officer. He even cut out newspaper articles about Tiss and hung them up in the house.
By the time Nance was a student at Douglas Byrd High School, he knew he wanted to be in law enforcement.
“I’m sure Tiss had some influence in me choosing to be in law enforcement,” Nance said. “Well, that and the fact that I didn’t want to sit in an office in a cubical all day.”
After graduating from Douglas Byrd in 1979, he went on to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he pursued his degree in criminal justice.
As a student at Charlotte, Nance played intermural baseball and basketball. He made the most of his time in college.
“UNCC was called Suitcase U,” Nance said. “So, when all the kids went home for the weekend, my buddies and I would have a good time on campus.”
Even though he had a serious major, he liked to show his goofy side. He would race to the cafeteria when it opened and even used the food trays as sleds when it snowed in the winter.
Nance graduated from Charlotte in 1983 and returned to Fayetteville to join the Fayetteville Police Department to start his career.
“Bad Guys…I Mean Really Bad Guys”
Shortly after Nance started at the Fayetteville Police Department, he went on to work for the Raleigh Police Department, where he graduated from the police academy in the top five of his class.
Raleigh was always active. Nance worked every weekday, including Friday and Saturday nights.
He worked every call from traffic violations to robberies. He would even get calls that covered all of these crimes in the same night.
Nance put people in jail who robbed a store and committed a hit-and-run within the same hour. He even pulled someone over for littering and discovered the driver had several warrants out for his arrest.
These types of crimes were only the beginning of Nance’s career as a law enforcement officer.
In 1992, Nance was hired by the State Bureau of Investigation where he worked as an investigative agent.
As an SBI agent, Nance assisted local law enforcement agencies in investigating demanding and intense cases.
The Belmont Police Department asked the SBI to help solve a case in which a high school boy murdered his 15-year-old girlfriend and wrote “I love you” in her blood at the scene.
Nance and his team tracked the teen down and got him to confess.
On Feb. 14, 2000, a 9-year-old girl packed a backpack filled with clothes, pencils and a family photo. She left her home in Shelby at 4 a.m. during a thunderstorm and was seen walking on Highway 18 by drivers.
Her backpack was found a year later, buried along the highway.
She was never found.
Cases such as these are the reason why Nance served his community as a law enforcement officer. He’s not fond of “really bad guys.”
“We as law enforcement officers need to hold some bad guys accountable for their actions,” Nance said. “I wanted to send people to prison who needed to go to prison.”
Struggles Turned to Successes
The phone rang. It was around midnight. Nance got called out on a police shooting in Edgecombe County.
He went into his daughter’s bedroom to wake her up. He drove her to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City, about 45 minutes away, where his wife worked.
She slept in a hospital bed in the children’s wing while her mom worked.
When Nance got called out on cases late at night, he faced challenges that were difficult in many aspects, especially in his personal life.
Ann Nance, Nance’s wife, is a Registered Nurse. With both of them working in service professions, work hours could be unusual.
Nance’s wife worried about him working late nights. Sometimes, they would go days without seeing each other.
Ann Nance insisted Nance called her before midnight if he was still working.
“I didn’t want the phone to ring after 12 o’clock,” Ann Nance said. “It scared me. I was afraid something had happened to him.”
Struggles are part of the job as a law enforcement officer. Nance’s success proves he rose to the challenge.
On Oct. 27, 2011, Nance arrived at the American Legion Fairgrounds in Edenton to attend the annual law enforcement banquet.
Nance presented several awards that night, and was presented with one himself: Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.
Rhonda Copeland, an Edenton police officer, praised Nance for his dedication to assist local law enforcement agencies.
“He is always there,” Copeland said.
Nance has received several recognitions throughout his career: honor graduate of all his police academies, letters of recognition from the FBI and promotion to Agent Four in the SBI.
Nance has also been honored with the opportunity to work security for Roy Cooper, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was with Roy Cooper on the day of 9/11.
Nance’s most recent, and perhaps most notable achievement, was his promotion to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the SBI’s Northeastern district. As ASAC, Nance oversaw 21 counties in North Carolina.
At a banquet honoring Nance’s career in Sept. 2014, Nance’s wife spoke about what makes him a successful law enforcement officer.
“David is a modest man,” Ann Nance said. “Nobody has ever had a bad word to say about him. People have always talked about what a fair person he’s been and how they’ve enjoyed working with him.”
Ann Nance said she’s extremely proud of not only the law enforcement officer he was, but the family man he has become.
“He’s had judges and attorneys that would hold up his report writing as examples of what you should do,” Nance said. “Now I’m proud of that. But, what I’m most proud of is how no matter what his career demanded of him, he did what he has to do for his family.”
A Career Come to a Close
Nance retired from the SBI in Sept. 2014. He currently works part-time at the Perquimans County Sheriff’s Office.
While Nance enjoyed his time as a law enforcement officer, he now enjoys his time fishing whenever he gets the chance.
After every fishing trip, he comes home and asks his family, “Aren’t you going to ask me how many fish I caught today?”
Nance feels honored to have served his state for over 34 years.
“It’s all about protecting my community,” Nance said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.”