KINGSHILL — Virgin Islands Attorney General Designee Gordon C. Rhea announced that 35-year-old Tyley Smith was sentenced on September 30, 2024, to thirty years in prison for the June 2021 homicide of 58-year-old Nancy Nieves.
V.I. Superior Court Judge Alphonso G. Andrews, Jr. sentenced Smith, whose attorney had
requested a sentence of just ten years. Smith had previously entered a plea to Murder in the
Second Degree on July 22, 2024, on the eve of trial.
In the early morning hours of June 2, 2021, the body of an unknown woman was found by
the side of the road in Estate St. John, St. Croix. Her injuries were so severe that she had to be
identified through the use of DNA. Detectives from the Virgin Islands Police Department
(VIPD) began the process of gathering evidence. Smith, however, left the Territory shortly
after a search warrant was executed at his residence.
Tyley Smith (left) in official custody.
A warrant was issued for Smith’s arrest in February of 2022. Law enforcement tracked Smith to Ankeny, Iowa and then to California, where he was captured in April 2022. Evidence against Smith included video of him following Ms. Nieves as she walked along the road, as well as Smith’s DNA under the fingernails of Ms. Nieves.
AG Designee Rhea expressed his gratitude to all those involved for their hard work, specifically recognizing the V.I. Department of Justice Criminal Chief, Amie Simpson, from the St. Croix District as well as the VIPD’s Special Operations Unit and Criminal Investigations Bureau detectives.